Friday, December 30, 2011

New Addition to the family, a finish, and stitchy goals

My family was blessed this past week with a new addition. My first granddaughter was born on Dec.27 at 8:59 p.m. Hailey Jade Parker is 18 inches long and 6 lb. and 11 oz. She is the first child for my stepson and his fiancee and she is a beauty!
My daughter, Brianna, returned to Ky today after a ten day visit. It was wonderful spending time with her. Mr. Aiden got a new haircut while she was visiting.
I finally finished CCN's "Apple Picking." I took it to the framer and picked up my framed "Spring's Promise." It turned out really nice.
I am still working on Prairie Schooler's, "Santa's Night." I have not stitched since I have been on Christmas break. I just seemed to always be busy.
I have some stitching goals this coming year. I want to finish "Santa's Night," two blocks on Autumn @Hawk Run Hollow, finish "march" and "april" from LHN's monthly samplers, and work on "Monticello." I have joined a challenge on my blackbird group. I had to choose a dozen patterns that I would like to complete this year. My patterns are:june stocking-new arrival;blackbird sampler; spring blessings; summer offering; with my needle-loose feathers no.2; mother's honor due; morning star-motif; casting a spell/rave; loose feathers summer; loose feathers autumn; loose feathers winter; and a new design. I know I will actually be lucky to finish a couple of these but the challenge should get the stitching mojo going. I also want to do a couple of prairie schooler designs and a smaller carriage house sampling design. So many things to stitch and so little time!
I,also, have personal goals. I want to make sure that I tell the people I love that I love them everyday and to thank God every day for the blessings that he has placed upon me. I want to be more patient, kind, and caring. God bless you all and I wish all of you a Happy New Year!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

thankful

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us and we, as humans, sit back and think of all that we are thankful for.I am thankful to God for showering me with blessings. I am thankful for Tim. He is the most amazing husband on this planet. I am thankful for children and stepchildren. They have enriched my life. I am thankful for Aiden. He is the most wonderful grandson a grandma could have. I am thankfu




l for my mom. She has raised me to be honest and hardworking. I am thankful for my brothers and sisters. They always have my back. I am thankful for my friends, whether they be in person or online.
Your prayers through my recent surgery made a difference in my life. I am thankful for my school that I work at. I work with amazing teachers and wonderful students. My first grade team sent me some beautiful flowers and I have posted a pic. I am also thankful to be able to stitch and read. My mom has almost completely lost her eyesight and no longer is able to quilt or crochet. I would be lost without my hobbies. God bless everyone this Thanksgiving!
I added a few pics of updates on current wips. I have country cottage needleworks, Apple orchard; prairie schooler, Santa's night; and carriage house samplings, Autumn at hawk run hollow.

Friday, November 11, 2011

And the winner is.....

First I would like to thank all of the Veterans and our current military for protecting and serving our great nation.I respect and appreciate all that you do.
My giveaway is a Prairie Schooler Santa, Prairie Schooler Amish chart, a 13 x 17 piece of straw linen, a small piece of pomegranate linen, and a skein of threadgatherer floss that is autumn colors. And the winner is.....
Milly! Send me an email with your address and I will send your prize out next week. My email is angelparker63@aol.com Congrats to Milly and thank you to everyone for participating!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

about time for a giveaway

I have reached fifty followers so I thought I would celebrate with a giveaway. I have a piece of linen and a prairie schooler amish pattern to giveaway and I may throw in a few more items to go with them! If you would like to be entered into the drawing,just leave a comment that you would like to participate. On November 10, I will put all the participants names in a container and I let Aiden choose the winner. Good Luck to everyone!
I do have a few pics to share. I have a blueladie design finish that I turned into a trivet. I am participating in a Fall SAL and have pic of that wip. I am, also, working on Prairie Schooler's "Santa's Night." I am stitching it on Navy blue 18 count aida instead of black. I am using gentle arts threads. Thanks for looking and Good Luck again to everyone!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

forgot the finish!

I forgot to add the pics of spring's promise to the last update! Here they are!

Class reunion

In September, I attended by 30th high school classroom. It was a lot of fun! Tim and I attended a pigroast on the Friday night and I saw people that I had not seen since we graduated. On Saturday morning, our class rode on a float in the Septemberfest parade and then we went to a class picnic at a local park. Probably about fifty-sixty people were at the picnic. Saturday night we went to a cocktail party and saw a few more people that I hadn't seen.I, also, got to visit with my good friend Patty at this event. Patty and I have been friends since we were seven years old. It was wonderful seeing all of my classmates. I really can't wait for our next reunion.
While in Kentucky, Tim, Aiden, and I were also able to spend sometime with my family and I have added a few of these pics too. My wonderful mommy will be turning 80 this month and I think that she definitely doesn't look it!
Tim and I had lunch with two of my good friends that I used to teach with in Kentucky on Sunday afternoon. It is always great visiting with Dianna and Cheryl. On Monday we flew back to Florida but it was a great visit.
I also have a stitching finish! I finished Blackbird's Loose Feathers number 1: Spring's promise. It is worked on a light green fabric. The pattern called for a black fabric but I thought what I chose looked more springy. I will take it to the framer's next weekend. Thanks for following me and I appreciate everyone's wonderful comments. Until next time, Happy Stitching everyone!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Key Largo and a small finish

At the beginning of the month, we went to Key Largo and spent six nights at our favorite condo site, Kiwauma yacht club. We had a wonderful time. Tim and the kids went fishing on a party boat and Chris caught a huge grouper! He caught the biggest fish on the boat that day. We had that grouper for dinner and he was delicious! The kids(aged 15 and 19) watched Aiden one afternoon and I got to g







o out fishing on the partyboat with Tim. We had a wonderful time. We didn't catch any great big fish but we caught about a dozen or so grunt and snappers. We had dinner one evening at the Islamorada Fish Company. Great food and great scenery. Since our return from the Keys it has been back to work for me. I started back the 15th and students started this past Tuesday. Every school year brings great excitement and great challenges. In two weeks, we will be flying to Kentucky so that I can attend my 30th class reunion! Where has the time gone!

I do have a few pics of wips and a small finish. I finished the horse from Prairie Schoolers barnyard Christmas and turned it into a trivet. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings and for all the comments that you leave. Happy traveling and Stitching!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Anniversary Vacation- The final chapter

Tim and I did two tours at Mammoth Caves. I told about the historical tour in part 3. The second tour was the new entrance tour. It was a two hour tour and we rode propane powered buses to the entry site. This tour had lower areas than the first tour. On this tour, two different guys that were walking in front of me hit their heads because they didn't duck! I actually liked the historical tour better but this one ended at the frozen niagra. This is an area that looks like a frozen waterfall. It was gorgeous and worth walking all the steps.
Tim and I left Mammoth Caves and headed to Slade,KY where we spent two nights at natural bridge state park. Natural bridge is a gorgeous area and the view from the bridge was voted as the best view in the state of KY. I bet it is really beautiful in the fall. Tim and I walked up to the bridge our first day there. It is less than a mile but is a steep little walk. The next day we took the skylift to the top and did a couple of trails on the top. We walked to lover's leap and another area that I don't remember the name. That evening we played putt-putt at the course in the park and then Tim did a walk back to the lodge while I went to a naturalist presentation. The naturalist told me and the other couple attending that they have flying squirrels at the park and that they visit the feeders at night. Tim and I went to the birdfeeders at then and sure enough there were two flying squirrels in the bird feeder! We took pics of the little guys. The next day we left for Louisa to pick up Aiden from my family and then headed home after the 4th of July. The 4th was great because Aiden got to see the parade and watch fireworks for the first time. The city of Louisa lets off fireworks on top of a hill that overlooks the town. We were able to sit on my sister's front porch and watch them. Aiden was afraid at first but eventually fell in love with them. We left for home the next day. We were gone for sixteen days and they were sixteen wonderful days!
I didn't add any stitching pics to this post but will add some soon. Thanks for reading my ramblings and my next update will have some pics from our family vacation at Key Largo! Happy traveling and stitching to everyone!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Anniversary Vacation Part 3

Thanks to everyone that has been leaving comments and following my vacation travels. Vacation Part 3
Tim and I left Amish country and drove about six hours to Bardstown,KY. We spent one night there. I love Bardstown. It has lots of old buildings and is in the middle of bourbon country. Makers Mark and Jim Beam are just minutes from Bardstown. My favorite place to visit there is "My Old Kent


ucky Home" state park. I had been there once before as a kid. It was nice to share this visit with my husband. Kentucky' state song was written by Stephen Foster when he visited the family that owned "My Old Kentucky Home." The house is set up for tours and they have beautiful gardens on the ground. Stephen Foster also wrote the state song for my current state, Florida. Florida's state song is "Suwanee River." Mr. Foster was one of America's first professional songwriters. He copyrighted his music but music piracy was even more prevalent in the mid 1800's than it is now. Stephen Foster died poor but he left us many great songs. I think that "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair" are ageless melodies.
When Tim and I left Bardstown, we headed to Mammoth Caves National Park where we spent two nights at the lodge at the park. I lived my first 40 years in Ky and never made it to the caves.So it was on my list of things to do this summer. Mammoth Caves did not disappoint! Tim and I did two different tours. They have probably about a dozen different tours that encompass different levels of physical activity. Our tours were considered moderate.
The first tour we took was the two hour historical tour. We entered the cave the way visitors in the 1800's entered. The park ranger, Jerry, who gave us our tour was an anscestor of one of the African-American slaves that had explored many areas of the cave in the early 1800's. Jerry was full of information and had a great sense of humor! If you ever tour there, I hope you are lucky enough to get him as a guide. A few things that I learned is that the cave was used for mining sulphur during the war of 1812. Original cave tours allowed participants to write on the ceiling with candles. One area of the is The Rotunda. This area is huge. In the mid 1800's church services were held in the cave and even singing events. We had a choir from Arizona that was on our tour and Jerry allowed them to sing a song at the end of the tour. It was amazing to hear their beautiful voices echoing inside the cave. Mammoth Caves is a dry cave, which means it does not have a lot of stalactites or stalagmites ( I am sure that I probably said and spelled these names incorrectly). Wet caves produce these forms. Mammoth caves is home to species of fish and crickets that are eyeless. Living their lives in darkness, these creatures had no use for their eyes and over time they evolved into their current eyeless state. I will save the second tour at mammoth caves for my next vacation part. I hope I didn't ramble too much! I also have a pic of my finish of "February" from LHN monthly threadpack. Stay tuned for my last installment of my anniversary travels soon!







Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Anniversary Vacation Part 2

After we left the Lake Erie area, we headed to Amish Country Ohio. We spent two wonderful nights at the Inn at Amish Door Village. It is a great place to stay. It is a fourstar hotel that seems to be in the middle of nowhere but is only fifteen minutes away from most "Amish" areas. The Inn is part of a village that has a great restaurant, a general store and craft area, and banquet hall. The






Inn was immacualte and had wonderful service.
While in Amish country, Tim and I visited an Amish farm that is open to the public. It gives tours of several farmhouses, barn, schoolhouse, and gives carriage rides. The farm houses reminded me of my grandparents houses when I was little. Wood cooking stoves, no indoor plumbing, etc. The school tour was interesting. The little girl that gave us the tour was probably around 15 and was Amish. She was finished with school. Amish children only go to school to 8th grade. Then they work. Many of the Amish women and girls work in restaurants. I wasn't sure as a teacher how I felt about only going to school until the 8th grade. My mom had to do that growing up but as an adult in her early 40's she went and got her GED and even took two college classes. Our guide through the houses was an elderly lady named Mary that reminded me of my Grandma Chaffin. Grandma was only about 4ft 9in tall and little Mary was the same. Mary used to be Amish but she had left the Amish and now she is a Mennonite. One of the tour participants asked Mary if she had been shunned when she left. Mary told us that she had not been because she had belonged to a new order Amish. She told us that there are seven orders of Amish. Some being more strict than others. An interesting fact I learned was that Amish have church at their homes and they do not have their pictures taken. They believe that is having a graven image. The Sunday morning that we left, Tim and I passed all kinds of Amish families on their way to church. Some were in their buggies and others were walking. It was an amazing sight and I admire them sticking to their beliefs despite the outside worlds interference.
Since I have been home I have finished my first block of Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow. I omitted a few things from the design. Ms. Barrick had a bunch of trees behind the house but to me they looked suspended in air. So I didn't put them in. I also changed the color of the horses eyes. They were yellow in the design and I changed them to a sable brown. Thanks for all of the great comments and stay tuned for Part 3 of Anniversary Vacation!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Anniversary Vacation Part 1






Tim and I just got back last Sunday from a sixteen night trip. It was great! We went to several different destinations and I thought I would blog about each one. Along the way, I got a stitching finish too!


Tim and I spent our first three nights in Paintsville, KY. Paintsville is about twentyfive miles from my home town. We visited with family and then left on the Monday for Lake Erie. We stayed in Huron, Ohio for four nights. Huron is about fifteen minutes away from Sandusky, Ohio. We had a great time there. We rode a ferry over to Kelley's Island and island that is in Lake Erie and spent a day there. Kelley's Island has glacial grooves that were made by the Wisconsin Glacier. The Wisconsin Glacier created the great lakes. Kelley's Island also had many historic sites and some great restaurants! Kelley mansion is in one of the pics I posted. It was a gorgeous house. While in the Lake Erie area, Tim and I also visited Marblehead and its historic lighthouse. I could have stayed at the lighthouse area all day. There were lots of rocks and people were catching fish. The waves were crashing and the birds were everywhere. It was so calming and peaceful, the kind of place that when you leave you have contentment in your heart. We also went to Vermilion, Ohio and I found a stitching store! I bought some fabric and another set of qsnaps from her. The store was Claire's Stitching Post and she had all kinds of patterns and fabric. I think that she had every Little House Needlework pattern that has been created! Claire was a very nice lady and if you are in northern Ohio, look her up. She is trying to make a go with her shop and we all know that that is hard to do nowadays!


While on our trip, I started LHN's monthly threadpack series. I am going to do six each on a piece of linen aida. I finished "January" while on the trip. I will continue my excursions in another post later this week. Thanks for reading and for all of the nice comments!