A birthday and a beady finish!

Hello! We've had rain almost all weekend, but we need it! We still had a pretty good weekend. My grandson, Gabe, turned 3 last week and his birthday party was yesterday. We all had a good time and he made out like a bandit! Lots of toys, books, clothes, and a bike! Here are some pictures from the party.

Anna and Connor playing.

Jasper and "Big"

Gabe on his bike with his mom, Robyn. The 3 people seated on the left are great grandpa Mike, great grandma Sally, and great grandma Yona.

I finished a hummingbird amulet bag. The first picture is just the bag.

The next picture is with the fringe added

And the completed bag.

I used Delicas, fire polished beads, and pressed glass leaves. I used fireline for the bag and strap, and One G for the fringe. The pattern is from the book, Dancing Light by Suzanne Cooper. Love this book! I will probably start another soon. I absolutely LOVE doing amulet bags!

Off to stitch a while. I hope you all have a great week!

Eskie smiles,

Easter Sunday

Hello! I hope everyone had a great Easter! I did! No stitching or beading to show this week, but here are some pictures from today.

Connor - cake face!

Jasper trying to get out of his car seat - the little stinker!

Jack drinking some juice.

And the whole crew - well, are that were here today. L-R Anna holding Jasper, Sean holding Connor, and Tom holding Jack. Jack and Jasper are Tom's sons and Connor is Sean and Anna's son. Handsome bunch, aren't they? Gabriel (step-grandson) was at his dad's this weekend and Robyn (Tom's SO) was at work. Andrea (Jack's mom) was there, but I didn't get a picture before she left.

That's it for this week. This time next week, I will be returning from a retreat (YAY!) that I leave on Thursday for. It's with the Hoosier Stitchers and I CAN"T WAIT!!!!!

Have a great week!

Eskie smiles,

Merry Christmas!

I know, it's a little late, but I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did here! Here are a few pictures.


My new crock pot!

A stand mixer I've been wanting for years!

My great-nephews Braden, Christian, and my great-niece, Ariana.

My Christmas tree with almost all handmade ornaments.


Gabe and Allie, Tom and Jasper. I love this picture of Gabe and Allie!


I call this one Motley Crew! LOL!! L-R Connor, Sean, Anna, Tom, Robyn and Gabe. Jasper is sitting on Tom's lap. It's rare that I get all of them here at once so I grabbed a picture when I could. This was taken Chrismas Eve.

I don't have any stitching pictures to show, but I did start LHNs Winter Wonderland to go on a project keep. I'm almost done, so will take a picture when it's finished.


It's not a very good picture, but I think these were my favorite gifts this year. On the left is a locket that belonged to my grandmother and inside are pictures of her and my grandfather when they were very young. My mom gave me this and I cried! On the right is a perfume bottle attached to a pin. My grandparents brought this back to me when I was a girl in the 70's from Bulgaria (where my grandfather was from). I never noticed until mom gave it to me this year, but the rose is petit point on silk gauze! What a treasure!

It's snowing here today and we are under a winter weather advisory, so I doubt I will be venturing out.

We are supposed to get 1-3" and blowing and drifting. I know it's not much compared to what some have had this year, but it's enough!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!!

A funny

This is from my DILs facebook page - used with permission. (click on picture to enlarge)

Connor has a t-shirt that says "Mommy's Cookie Tester", and I told Sean that Connor was going to be my official cookie tester since Sean didn't have the t-shirt. (I told him he could be a tester, too if he had a t-shirt that says "Wifey's cookie tester".) He said BRB, runs upstairs, and 2 minutes later, comes down wearing this shirt. I laughed so hard, I almost started crying.

Halloween, retreat, stash, finishes!

I know I'm not very original with titles, but oh well! I've been so busy since I got home from retreat last Sunday! We had a WONDERFUL time! It was so great to see all of my stitching friends and what everyone is working on. We had lots of finishes, lots of show and tell, good food, and stitching, of course! Here is a picture or two from the drive down (about 1.5 hour drive).










It was a nice drive. No sunshine, but it wasn't raining either. There were 25 people total, I think. We had a few people just come in for the day on Saturday and a couple that had to cancel, one with an injured back. I hope she's better now!
There is a shop on the way down that I stopped at in Bloomington, IN, called Fancy Works. Liz and Diana are the owners and it's a great shop! IF you ever get to the area, please stop in and see them! Tell them I sent you!
I bought a few things, of which I only have 1 picture right now. A pair of scissors.

They are called Tudor Rose by Kelmscott Designs (I think that's the name!) They are very nice and I'm working on a special scissors fob for them. I bought a few other things, but have to wait until tomorrow to get pictures.

We had a fabric and floss dying class and it was fun! Here are a couple pictures of the results of that.












And I finished a large piece while at retreat - Ellen Maurer-Stroh's Rose Sampler. This was a free SAL for 2008, which I didn't get started until May or June, I think it was. I'm pleased with the results.



I took a close up picture, but it didn't turn out very well. I'll try again tomorrow when I take stash pictures.




I also finished Woodland Sampling by Little House Needleworks, but that wasn't until after I'd been home a couple days.










I got to see 3 of my little "ghouls" this evening. Here are a couple pictures of them and my great-nieces. Aren't they cute?

























Well, this post has been long enough. I will post again some time tomorrow with some more stash pictures and I may have the scissors fob done, too.

That's all for now!