TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

Today I am thankful for the support of friends - not for me, but for another.

If you haven't seen this yet, where have you been?!

This quilt was made for Danielle Jones, aka Stitcherista, who is being treated for breast cancer. She lives near me and we've met at the Stitching Post and had lunch several times - our group includes Jill, DJ, and Denise.

This quilt idea was started by Laura Johnson Ellis, stitched by many wonderful people, and quilted by Cindi Jackson. What a group effort!

And if you know Danielle, you'd know this is totally her.

Cindi Jackson's photo on fb.

I stitched the Oriole bird - sometimes while watching Nathan play baseball in the spring.

The cats kept me company many times.

I almost made the Ravens bird too, but just couldn't do it!

So I am thankful for a community that cares, and in this case, it's the stitching community.

Danielle is on flosstube if you want to see her reaction to opening it, it should be this one. Jill recorded her opening it when she gave it to her on Saturday.

Fun in the Fall, so far!

Karen, Nathan and I went to the Pottery Stop before school started and painted these pieces.

This was the end result, what fun! 

Gman2 asked me to make this for his friend, who I'm guessing likes Godzilla.

Laps for Lexi was a huge success...

Look what they raised for Children's Hospital and the scholarship fund at school!

Getting spooky for Halloween.

I think our ghosts are actually deflating dying, I had to "amputate" an arm to keep them up!

Is it just me or does the pumpkin look a like the Kool-Aid Man?!

The latest Harvest Moon, loving it!

Hopefully more adventures this weekend...

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

Today I am thankful that Karen was able to come over and visit, especially since she was HIT BY A CAR on Sunday evening! She was leaving work (she's a nurse at Shock Trauma in Baltimore) and in the cross walk when she was hit by a car turning left and said he never saw her. So even though he ran over her feet and knocked her down, it could have been so much worse. There were nurses behind her who saw it all and came running to help her. Her left foot ended up being broken, she's bruised and sore all over, and probably has a concussion.

I'm thankful she's okay and on the mend!

TH Thursday

The late edition of Thankful Thursday!

Laps for Lexi is tomorrow, which is the last day of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This is a special event for me because it's for a daughter of a friend I grew up with. She died at age eight from liver cancer. This event raises money for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's National Medical Center and the Lexi Speight Scholarship fund at SSFS. Every year it gets bigger and bigger, what a wonderful thing out of something so sad.

It doesn't matter how much time goes by, her family and friends still think of her, miss her, and love her dearly. So as Petr says, "Today hug your child a little tighter, tell them 'I love you' a few more times and even embrace the not so good moments. Take it from me, you will cherish EVERY moment as they grow up." 

And what he ALWAYS says, "Hug your kids every day because you just never know."

So as sad as this day will be, they have made it into a wonderful event to help donate money to help those children with cancer.

This year Gman2 will be joining us and will actually run the 5K! I'll be happy to walk the mile with DH, Nathan, and friends!

And here's Lexi's friend, Davison and his sister, Madison, with their song, Forever and Always. It was written for Lexi and can be purchased on itunes. 

What event or charity are you thankful for?

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

Today I am thankful for the generosity of others.

A couple weeks ago, my gf's mother dropped by with a pattern booklet and fabric for finishing. She's a quilter and I had previously asked her if she had any baking fabric when I made Nina's block. She didn't, but found some later and brought it over for future use. What a sweetie!

Next...

My gf, Kim, had tickets for the Orioles game tonight that she couldn't use so she offered them to me - four tickets right behind the Orioles dugout!

I drove to her work to pick them up, what a beautiful drive in the country! Areas that I had never been before and it was lovely. The leaves are starting to turn, but not much.

I stopped here on the way home to say some prayers.

With four tickets, DH, Nathan and I went, but the Gmen weren't interested so Nathan brought a friend.

I'm not sure why we're blurry, what's up with that?!

Can you see I'm taking pictures?

Getting a high five from Poe.

They were ready almost the entire game, but no balls came their way.

Now Nathan wants to go to more games (there's only two left!)

I told him that's fine, but don't expect these seats every time!

So thank you, dear Kim, for helping us make memories, we are truly thankful!

Clean up, clean up! And stitching

Nathan's toy area in the basement, a total mess. Although this isn't as bad as it was before this picture. I don't think the floor had been vacuumed in over a year!

Some things put away, but Lego pieces were everywhere! He was not a happy camper when I made him pick them all up.

He actually donated some toys and we stored some things in a closet (planning ahead for grandchildren!) So much better, he just needs to clean up the table.

Next project, his room. 😧

As for stitching, I bought a HAED pattern years ago but stopped because I didn't like the way it looked.
I started in the middle on 22 count. I tried using one, then two strands and it didn't matter.

Last week I bought 30 count and restarted it, starting in the upper left corner this time. This fabric is much stiffer, which I think has helped.

I am liking this so much better! So far I've only used two colours, so it's been pretty easy. I don't quite know what I'm going to do when it gets really busy, but I'm not too keen on parking.

I have a bigger one, but thought I would start "small" and see how it goes! Any suggestions on stitching a HAED would be greatly appreciated!

And I'm behind again on my replies and blog reading, sorry!

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

Tonight I asked Gman2 what he was thankful for. He said, "You." Awe! I asked why and he said because I do stuff for him. Not much detail there!

But we did go see IT last week, maybe that was part of it?

How about you, what is your child or children (young or old) or even grandchildren, thankful for?

Taking after his Momma!

This sweet girl, Gman1's gf, had a birthday coming up and he made her gifts.

I'm not sure where he saw this, but he wanted to make it for her. 

The finished piece, how awesome is this?!

He also put together a photo cube with pictures of them, but I didn't see the final result.

And on top of that, he made three different kinds of bath bombs for her!

Not be be totally outdone, I found out she likes turtles and made this Mill Hill one for her. It's a magnet, but I also added beads in case she wanted to hang it up.

This was our gift package to her. She's also being treated to The Pottery Stop when they can find a time to go together.

So I think she had a good birthday, next year is the big 21 - legal 🍹🍻🍷 age!

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

Sad day last weekend, one of my classmates passed away on Saturday afternoon. This was the third classmate this year, all were just 50 years old. Two from cancer and this one was sudden, a heart attack I believe. All leaving behind families, friends, and such heartache. 

So I am thankful for each and every day.
I try and live each day the best I can, because as they say, tomorrow is never promised.

I try and treat people the way I want to be treated, and we've raised our boys to do the same.

I forgive for when asked forgiveness and even forgive when not asked - for the most part, it's hard!

If I can compliment someone, I do. If I can encourage someone, I will. If I can help someone, I do.
And I know I can always smile! And hugs? Always willing!

It's time for Fall, Y'all!

I waited until September 1st and it's finally time!

We went to the lake for Labour Day weekend.

It rained, like it always does on a holiday weekend! But hey, the colours are slowly coming out.

 Max and Ming did a little exploring when the sun finally came out.

View of the Deep Creek Lake.

Loving the red!

The boys just before Gman1 left for UMBC.

Nathan's first day of school, trying not to laugh!