Win, Wander, WIPend, and a little bit of Whine...

Have you been wondering where I've been?  I guess I did drop off the grid for a wee bit.  It's been a bit of a mad house here at DJ's digs...but I think my head is back in the game.  LOL

I'll try to explain my crazy title in a sec, but first there are some people who have been waiting for too long to find out who won the scissor fobs from a couple of posts ago.  

WIN:

Let me congratulate the three people who actually signed up for the giveaway.  They are....

Linda who asked for the house and so will receive the house!
Virpi who will receive the sunflower and rabbit!

Astrid, who has already received the lady with the flower!

Linda and Virpi, if you would please email your mailing address to tickledpinkone@yahoo.co.uk I will be sending those out shortly.  Thank you for your patience and congratulations!!

WANDER:

I have been blessed with the wonderful gift of a friend I met through a yahoo group.  She probably doesn't know how much I admire her, or enjoy our get togethers, or how much her friendship means to me.  A lot of people came into my life when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I truly do cherish the friends I've made.  But Astrid has become like a sister to me.  For my birthday this year, she took me to Harpers Ferry where she patiently waited for me to hobble up hillsides and across bridges and through the woods.  Then treated me to an awesome lunch before we had to hurry back to pick up her son from school.  It was the best time I've had in a while.  Here are some of the sights we say.  Thanks again Astrid, I had a blast...and the next impromptu trip is on me!!

WIPend:

I've been trying to get some Disney Princess stitched up and framed for some very special girls.  They are three sisters who are the children of my Pastor and his wife.  I had stitched this Snow White the year my son was born.  I ran across it not too long ago and wondered what I should do with it since I didn't have any daughters or nieces...so thought about these three girls.   I couldn't give them just one princess...so I scurried around and found two others to stitch for them.  I can breath a sigh of relief now as they are finally finished and will be framed soon.  

Here is Snow White framed (sorry for the craptastic photo)

Sleeping Beauty finished

Cinderella close up and finished...thank you so much Ally for allowing me to borrow the pattern!

Now that those are done I can finally relax and see about getting a few other smaller pieces done for Christmas and such.  I feel like a huge burden has been lifted!

I have been working on a couple of stitch-a-longs when I have time to throw them into the rotation.  The first is Mary's Sampler being offered through Plum Street Samplers...

And the other is  la Pensee Positive being offered on this blog.

Both of them have been a joy to stitch and are working out beautifully.  They are both being stitched over one linen thread, though I will admit, I think I will restitch Mary's Sampler on black over two once I have a chance.  I personally think it will look better over two linen threads.

WHINE:

I've made note of what is what so you can skip any portion that you want.  LOL  This is my little corner where I will explain where I've been.  A couple of weeks ago I was slammed, with my son's car needing repair that was not worth fixing, then finding a car but taking two weeks to sort out the paperwork.  We were fortunate that I wasn't working and we could sort out my guys getting to work and me getting to appointments.  The furlough happened at the same time and both my guys were home for a while...and we were sweating the situation for a wee bit.  I heard from my mother that she might have a very serious condition (she still does but the uncertainty of how it would be managed has been settled), and I thought I might have to make a mad dash to Northern New York to see about her care.   That would have been difficult with the car situation being what it was.  And I found a lump under my arm, that turned out to be scar tissue from a previous surgery.  On top of all that, I'm having some issues with a medication I am taking that is causing some side effects that have been difficult to deal with. All of this happened within a week of each other, and took some time to iron out all the issues.  I must say I was a bit overwhelmed, and I will say I spent a lot of time in prayer.  Most of the things have been ironed out, though I am still very concerned about  my Mom.  I don't think I've had so much go wrong in such a short period of time, and I'm thankful that I have faith in a wonderful Savior who never left my side.  He literally carried me through when I had no idea how I would work everything out.  I tend to retreat within myself when things go wrong, so that's why you didn't hear from me.  The trip to Harpers Ferry was truly a Godsend, and I'm so thankful for my dear friends who may not have known how far I was sinking but still got me out of myself.  God surely knows how to help us when even we don't know where to begin.

And that...as they say...is that!  Have a great day!  And here's hoping my world slows down so I have more time to stitch and blog.  See you next time!