Wow... almost a year

since my last post.  I really do suck at this!  LOL!  It's a good thing no one is counting on me for their entertainment.  =D

In the last year:  my grandson has grown cuter (and I didn't even think that was possible), I have not won the lottery so am still forced to work at a real job, and I have read some really good books.

I've also made some fun shirts so I'm going to post a few of those here:

This one for my daughter, so she never forgets:

This one I made for myself and wore over at my Dad's on Father's Day:

I gave this one to my MIL because she admired it:

Some fun here with variegated thread (red/white/blue hearts for the 4th of July):

The front (heart with wings) and back of a shirt I did for myself.  The veteran ribbon is smaller and at the center neckline on the back o the shirt:

 
This one is hard to see all of the colors, especially the little feather I put at the back collar line.  I love the elegance of the swan and the fun of the Art Deco style:

 This shirt was a gift for my father on Father's Day.  He's a big fan of trains so I thought this would be fun.  When I went over for the BBQ (which was amazing, thank you Jamie and Sam!) I handed him his new shirt and he immediately went to put it on.  Yay!  What a fun day with the extended families (my SIL Sam had her family there as well)!

It looks like the back of the shirt (caboose) is a different color.  Odd, but of course not true.  The blue of the front is the actual color of the shirt.  Brought out the blue of my dad's eyes!

There were more, but that's enough for this post.  Maybe I'll be back before next summer to post more!  =D

Drive-by post...

Just a quick post to say wish me luck! I am entering to win an iPad mini from Rose Pressey. She's giving one away to promote her newest book, Crime Wave.  I really enjoy Rose's books!

Back later with more embroidery and stuff.  =D

It's only been a month!

Are you shocked?  =D

I'm actually here to post about a contest I just entered at www.rosepressey.com, in an effort to win the iPad mini she's giving away.  It's all to promote her newest book, Charmed Again.  I love her books and would have purchased it anyway, but it would be amazing to win the iPad!

I'll be back later to add more embroidery to the blog.

Smooches!

Have you missed me?

Hello again!  I'm such a slug, I should have updated this blog long ago.  Sorry!

It's still not Spring in Minnesota.  =(  I can't believe snow is in this weekend's forecast.  BAH.

I've been holding off on posting pictures of the embroidery projects I did for Christmas gifts, because not all the gifts have been GIVEN yet.  Yes, my sister from CA is dragging her feet about coming home.  Can't imagine why... (see the previous paragraph). So here are SOME of the things I have done, more to follow!

You know I have a new grandson, these shirts were made for:

 My Dad:

 My Mom:

 My Husband:

 My Son-In-Law 

 This was another I made for Mom:

 Dish towel sets I made for some of the ladies in the family:

This one was for me:

Tee shirt for me...

I think I showed you this one before.  My Fair shirt:

Another one for me.  I LOVE this design!

There are a bunch more but I have to save something for another post!

Last night was a lot of fun.  I took a Thai Stir-Fry cooking class, and it was wonderful.  So glad I decided to take that one!  The beef curry was out of this world and I will definitely make that again.  The cashew chicken too, since Jim is not a big fan of curry.  Tomorrow night is another class, International Dumplings.  It'll be extra fun because my friend, Mary, is taking the class with me.  

Have a good week!  Or month... whatever.  I'll be back when I have more pictures!

Getting ready for a New Year!

I hope everyone's holiday season gave you happy memories to last a lifetime.  Ours was beyond amazing, due of course to our newest family member.  My grandson, James, was born on December 16th and he is as cute as can be.  Both mother and son came through wonderfully.  Pictures will follow, when I get them on this computer.

One of the gifts of the season was a new computer!  My husband and I gave it to each other, but it lives near my chair so guess who uses it most?   It's an all-in-one with a touch screen and I love it.  My embroidery software looks so much nicer on the 20 -inch screen as opposed to the 11-inch screen I had been using!   But I haven't put any of my photos on here yet, so will have to add them at a future date.

I made many of the gifts we gave this year, on my embroidery machine.  Photos, again, will follow.

My mother gave me a waffle iron, my first ever!  Sunday morning we had waffles and bacon for breakfast and it was wonderful.  One neat thing about this waffle iron is that you can adjust the darkness.  VERY cool.  I had a sparkly new waffle iron, so I decided a new blender was in order since my old was was about 30 years old.  It still worked fine, so I donated that one to the Bibles for Missions Thrift Store near our house and bought THIS ONE:

The Ninjas get wonderful reviews and are very powerful.  Hopefully it will last for the next 30 years.

I was shopping with my brother, a confirmed Apple fan, and ended up buying my very first Apple product.  I got the iPod Touch (32GB, blue) and have spent the last few days setting it up.  Happy birthday to ME!  Now I'm on strict spending restriction.  LOL!  Anyway, this thing is so cool!  It's much lighter than my old Zune, and does a lot more.

Enough rambling, I'm off to watch a little TV.  My husband is off with family tonight and won't be home until tomorrow so instead of a New Year kiss I expect a New Year phone call.  If I'm still awake.  Otherwise a New Year voice mail.  =D

Have a safe New Year's Eve.  Drive carefully if you're out there tonight.

May we all be blessed in this new year with health, happiness, prosperity and PEACE.

Good grief!

Has it really been 7 months since I posted?!  Obviously blogging is not my strong point.  Sorry!

So much has been going on!  My darling daughter is FINALLY going to make me a grandmother.  The baby is due in early December and we are on pins and needles.  This little boy is already very loved, and a lot of people can't wait to meet him.  After THAT news everything else is minor.

I had carpal tunnel surgery in September and was out of work for 8 weeks.  I took advantage of the time off to spend 10 days with my sister at her house in San Jose, CA.  We had a day in Monterey and one in  San Francisco, and spent one weekend in the Calistoga mountains camping with horses.  All in all a perfect get-away.  Here are some pictures I took while I was there:

Calistoga:

The view from my sister's front yard:

 Monterey:

 Alcatraz:

I've finished making my Christmas cards and am going to get them in the mail next week.  Maybe.  I wish there were a way to print labels from my Google Contacts.  If anyone knows how please leave the instructions in the comments!

There has been some jewelry made, and some embroidery done.  Getting ready for Christmas, and trying to CREATE some of the gifts that will be given this year.

That's about it!  What have YOU been up to?

Caftan and Fleece Jacket

Almost a month ago I promised photos of my finished projects.  Here they finally are!

The caftan material is navy blue satin with a floral print.

The fleece is a tie-dyed blue, and the edging is blue cotton and silver stars.  It's warm and toasty!

So, there you go!  Sorry it took so long.  Guess who likes blue?!  LOL!

Starla and I did a 3-day crop at Archivers a week ago.  I'll post pictures of the cards I finished... after I've sent/used them!

Not much else to report, so I'll see you later!