Trick or Treat Blog Hop 🎃 2020

👻 Boo, Happy Halloween!

Although since March it's felt like we've been tricked the whole time, it's finally Halloween so let's have a treat! 

In the stitching world, that means it's time for Jo's Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop. Start there to collect the letters from other blogs to get the Halloween phrase she's chosen for this year.

This is an oldie that I finally framed, I think I made the cat a little extra fluffy by mistake!

Hinzeit Boo Bee, I changed the banner to add a little colour.

Just a little throwback, I miss when the boys were little and dressed up for Halloween. Now I have to do it on my own!

Here's what you've been waiting for, your letter for the phrase.

For your next letter, please visit Cheryl @Today I Found....

And now I'm off to do some blog hopping, thanks to Jo for treating us to another fun hop!

Friday's Stitching Ground 🍁

Today was much nicer than yesterday's rain, although a bit colder.

DH and I took Chewie for a short walk this afternoon. I love walking through the leaves. They were still damp so I missed hearing the crunching!

Love in the leaves.

So I think I finished with Mr. Zombie, but I think I need to do some outlining on him. It's a little hard to see his decayed body since it sort of blends in with the fabric. I don't think he's too gory?

We watched the 2nd season of The Mandalorian tonight, it was good! I think this will be our new Friday night thing, when Gman1 gets home from work after 9pm. It's worth the wait!

I know it's on Disney+, but has anyone watched any of it yet? We had a free year, but looks like we'll have to pay so we can continue watching it. Goodbye HBO, we don't need you both.

Thanks to Mary @ Stitching Friends Forever, for suggesting this one. It definitely has a grapefruit flavour, which I love!

Scavenger Photo Hunt, October 📷

 In spite of the rain yesterday and a bit of a dreary day today, I'm loving the fall! It's been cool, although a little too cold at times, but the colours sure have been beautiful. Now it's time for Katie and her I live, I love, I craft, I am me ... scavenger photo hunt.

The words for October are...

Sweet treat...

When the Gmen played football in high school, I used to make these mini pumpkin donuts for the team. Twelve dozen, every week for the season. Guess what Gman2 has asked for when he comes home for Nathan's birthday next month?!

Starts with a W...

Waterfall! Niagara Falls, Canadian side specifically.

We went to Canada to celebrate my 50th birthday several years ago and this was our first stop. Beautiful and VERY loud!

Reading now...

I started reading this when dear Tina gave this to me earlier in the year when she and Connie came over for a lunch visit. Sadly, I put it aside and haven't finished it yet! It is written by her Dad, about the radio ministry he started with his brother, which is 95.1 SHINE-FM, the radio station I listen to and volunteer at when I can.

Hobby/crafting...

Here's where the crafting starts, and sometimes finishes! In the midst of making masks and trying to frame long finished cross stitching, it can get busy in there.

This is a piece I finally framed, although I'm not really sure I like it. I might have to switch it out later for a bigger frame and add a mat or two.

Something Purple...

Whenever I think of purple I think of Lexi, it was her favourite colour. I've known Petr since we were in kindergarten, and Lexi was his precious daughter who died of cancer when she was eight. Every year they have a fundraiser, Laps for Lexi, where there is LOTS of purple! 

My own choice...

Ahh, roasted PEEPS on the fire, yummy goodness!!

Sadly there are no Halloween PEEPS this year due to Covid19, but there's always next year. They will have them at Easter though!

I realized I never finished reading and commenting on last month's hunt, so I'll be catching up on them when reading this one.

Please note, I try and respond to each comment but I can't when there's no email with your account. I do appreciate them though!

Until next month, Happy Halloween if you're a big kid like me!

Friday's Stitching Ground... a little late 🧟‍♂️

Oh my, seems like my Friday went until today!

Friday was a quiet one, I was working on other things (you'll see another time) but I did pick up The Haunted Mansion again and worked on finishing the door, lights, and back stitching the steps.

I decided on adding a zombie at the door instead of the skeleton, but I think it needs more gore! I'm going to try and dangle an eyeball, we'll see. Any other suggestions? Are you a zombie "fan"?

I also spent some time outside with Chewie, he loved running through the leaves and being chased.

The update on him is that he's not throwing up anymore, but now has issues at the other end. In the middle of the night last night, he cried four times to go outside. I think that's worse than any of the boys were as babies!

Tonight's dinner was rice and pumpkin, I read that was a good thing to try. Poor pup can't catch a break.

And then before I knew it, it was Saturday evening and I got a few more stitches in before the festivities began.

It was finally ghoulfriend time and Kerri made a Hello Kitty Zombie cake for Cori, I think I suggested the zombie knowing how much Cori "loves" them... not! 

We enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches on the fire, some s'mores, and even some toasted Peeps, delicious. And don't forget the wine!

Luckily it wasn't too cold and we had was a lovely evening together.

Unlike Sunday morning, which became cold and rainy.

Baseball hadn't been cancelled yet, so we went to the field early since DH is the coach and the boys were supposed to arrive before the game. Just after we parked, the email came to notify that all games were cancelled, go figure. The empty parking lot should have been a big clue!

This evening I had Ming with me since Chewie was in the basement with the guys. I started the zombie, but only one shoe so far!

Well shoot, that didn't last long.

Friday's Stitching Ground 🦌

Thankfully we didn't get the rain like we were supposed to today, instead it was a beautiful cool day with stunning colours in the evening.

Even though I still have Halloween pieces to get back to, I though I would put a few more stitches in this one. I have a tiny bit of frogging to do, which is a super PITA since I'm doing this over one.

I thought I would give you a view of what's behind me this time, just a little something new.

In Chewie news, things could be better. Earlier in the week, he got sick and included in the disgusting mess were a few small pieces of chewed hard plastic. They might have been Legos, I'm not quite sure. He got sick again the next afternoon, and I noticed it was after he drank water. I ended up taking him to the er-vet, since our vet wasn't in, and his vitals were fine and nothing was showing in the xray. They gave him some anti-nausea medication and also a couple cans of wet food to hopefully help his stomach. Yesterday he ate and then had some water with ice cubes and promptly got sick again! Back to the vet to get some anti-nausea pills, and then only let him have a little bit of water at a time. He did well today, although he only drank a tiny bit of water until this evening when DH gave him a couple ice cubes. That was a mistake, he got sick again, but not as much this time. So maybe it's the ice? How weird is that?! Any dog lovers out there with any idea what's going on? I will be calling the vet again tomorrow, but even they are stumped. This stinks, I feel so bad for him.

Happy 80th to my Dad! 🎉

On October 6th, my Dad celebrated his 80th birthday!

Growing up, he never had many photos taken of him, but here are a couple. He says that's why he is always ready with his camera and tripod... say cheese!

He had plenty of curls, but when they were cut they never came back.

He sure was a cutie!

His turn for the birthday flag, Happy 80th!

Although it was a small celebration, with just Mom, their friend Kay, and myself. He requested chili for his meal, and it's something Mom enjoys even though it gets pureed.

Thank you to my blogging friends (Jo, Christine, Vickie, Dianna, Faith & Debbie) who sent a card to him, he was pleasantly surprised! And with one more on the way. Also the email and Instagram greetings.

He honestly doesn't need anything, and it's getting harder to find room for things to display in the house. So I thought I would get him a couple more mugs for tea, he drinks plenty of it! I also got him another Welsh flag to fly, they certainly wear out quickly flying on the flagpole in ALL types of weather. Oh, and a Welsh flag mask is coming too.

I sort of finished the Welsh Santa for him, but I'm just have to figure out the moustache and beard. I'm not really sure I like the beard, and I still need to add the moustache. I could cut the bottom of the beard so it wasn't so loopy, or maybe use beads instead? I might also tent stitch the background since he would like it in a frame. 

Thoughts, suggestions for either one?

Now that he's been diagnosed as a diabetic, I couldn't make a regular cake for him, so I made him a sugar-free cheesecake instead. I made it before for another friend, so I knew it wouldn't taste terrible! He enjoyed it and even my Momma could eat the cheesecake part, just not the crust. Poor Addie got nothing but some loving!

It was a beautiful day for a birthday.

This is the driveway to their house, with the chapel straight ahead.

Addie enjoys our walks, I let her sniff and pull me along where she wants to go, for the most part.

I ended up spending the night, an additional little birthday present! Nathan didn't have school the next day so it made it easier not to worry about getting him there.

I think Dad had a good day, in spite of this crazy year. Let's hope next year is better for us all!

Friday's Stitching Ground 🚗

 Waiting to pick up Nathan at school has some stitching benefits, but unfortunately I didn't finish this for my Dad on his birthday. Although I did show him what he what he would be getting. And it's a good thing I asked him about how he'd like it finished, he said a gold frame which I hadn't even though of. It shouldn't take me that much longer, I didn't add as many beads as the pattern calls for.

His birthday mini celebration will be coming up in the next post.

I've been decorating outside a little and had some more spiders help me, how nice!

I added this guy to our Weeping Cherry, it looks like he fits right in!

His eyes were a little dark so I used some glow in the dark spray paint to try and brighten them up, but it didn't work well at all. Next try will be using some glow in the dark paint.

I found another pumpkin beer, or rather Paul or Gman1 did!

Yum, just the right amount of pumpkin and spices.

I'm still enjoying my pumpkin coffee and today treated myself to a pumpkin donut after taking Nathan for an orthodontist appointment. He chose a strawberry and a chocolate, he doesn't take after me in the pumpkin loving! I then made a pumpkin cheesecake this evening for tomorrow's dessert with friends coming over.

Have you gotten in the pumpkin kick yet? 

Friday's Stitching Ground 🧡

Happy October! 🍁🎃🍂🧡

Oh, that beautiful moon! Now I didn't see it this clearly from where I was sitting, but my camera helped.

This was my stitching spot this evening and I was enjoying a couple Downeast Pumpkin Blend Ciders, it's my new favourite drink!

Tonight's stitching is brought to you by Wentworth, Season 8. It's a Australian prison drama and this is the latest season. I had to watch the last episode of season 7 to remember what the heck was going on!

As for stitching, I'm trying to get this Welsh Santa finished in time for my Dad's birthday next Tuesday, I think I can do it.

I have received some cards for my Dad for his 80th birthday, thanks to those who sent them! I was also thinking emails might be nice too. I'd say send them to him directly, but it might go to his spam and I'm not sure he checks that regularly. If you're interested, please just send it to me and I can forward it, or maybe print it out for him.

Does anyone have a good sugar free/diabetic recipe for a cake? I want to make my Dad one, but I would like it to be one that someone has actually made and LIKED!