AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE...

This whole week has been a celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Godfather. Being totally obsessed with the films, I've completely enjoyed the week. Today is the Godfather Saga, which is a compilation of all three movies in chronological order. Now I've got to order this one.  It has some added scenes. Only problem is, I've got orchestra rehearsal at 6PM tonight and this continues until 7PM. Have to order have to order......

Good thing is, I've been stitching and finishing while watching TV. Here's what I did:

This is from the 2011 JCS and it's by Charlotte's Web. It took FOREVER but was worth it. I changed some of the colors and added some beads. It caught my attention because it reminded me of all those wonderful, old churches I visited on my trips to England.

This is a freebie by Blue Ribbon Designs. It's called "Cardinals for a Cure". I finished it like all the others because it will hang on the same tree.

Here's the last. It's a LHN and also came from JCS. It took almost no time at all.

My mojo still isn't back, so I'll keep plugging along on my ornies. Only have about a dozen to finish by the end of the year! I have all of them-including JCS- except the newest out. I'm also doing the CCN ornies, too, because it's a mother-daughter thing.

Now if we'd just have a Jane Austen Week..........

SOME FINISHES

This is Jo's bear. I began it before I received the call telling me she was not doing well. The next day the bad call arrived. I tried to work on it some a couple of days ago, but it just wouldn't come together. I finally finished it last night and now it's ready to be mailed. I didn't make it to her memorial service. I just chose to say goodbye in my own way.

Marty Bell has long been a favorite of mine. This is Morning's Glow. It's all connected to the English thing I have. I've now completed these three: one for each of my grandchildren. I actually framed it myself- how impressive is that!! It sits on my Marty Bell wall. Just to the left you can see part of my Jane Austen wall. Sometimes I have a small smattering of the organization thing. Not very often, though. You should see my kitchen table!

The Blackbird SAL starts tomorrow and I'm ready. Can't wait to get started. Some pics will follow when I get started and have something to report. Until then, HAPPY STITCHING!

TOTALLY USELESS SAL UPDATE

Yesterday was a quiet day. I had hopes to go downtown to the USS Kidd but it decided to rain, so I decided to stay inside. Michael was here and he and I ended up the day with a tutorial on pictures. I'm finally deciding to scan some more old photos and to organize what I have.

On the stitching scene, here's the monthly report on my contribution to the Totally Useless Sal. It looks like a lot, but not quite as bad as it seems. I cleaned out my thread stash and added to the jar. I did some frogging because I couldn't decide on a color for a project. Still, it's interesting to see what the New Moon brings.


I'm going to spoil the surprise for Donna, but while I had the camera at hand I decided to get a snap of what I hopefully will be sending her by the end of the week. No, my frilly, little pink bunny won't be in the package!!!

I pulled the threads for the Butterfly Quaker. The photo on the front of the chart doesn't do it justice. The colors are muted and soft. I may just have to go my LNS, to my drawer and bring the companion home just to see what those colors are like. I'm tempted to stitch them on aida just to have a change of pace and to make the stitching faster. We'll see. I still need to retrieve my personalized sampler from Nouveau Encore.

Until next time, happy stitching.

Addendum: Here's one for all of us:
http://www.komen-houston.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Quilt_Forget_Me_Not

TOTALLY USELESS SAL: BIG PROGRESS

I really didn't think I did that much work this month but I was wrong. My jar grew. There's some fabby from the Traveling Stitcher, ribbon from my Stitching for a Cure projects, a label from GAST and some magenta colored thread from a project I decided to re-cycle. This is an eye-opener SAL!

And now it's time to punch the threads down to see if I can get a few more into the jar.

THIS AND THAT AND JULIE'S FINISH

Yes. I actually made it to church, Donna and Julie! One of God's miracles!!!! Got there 30 minutes before the service started. Since I quit taking my little white anti-aging pills I stay up a little longer. And forget things, too. And grow wrinkles.

Julie, the Peacock Chair is

unbelievable! All of you guys, go to Julie's Stitchyknitter's Journal and check it out. So cool!

Donna, I have 5 stitched so far and am going to start putting them together. I have some great breast cancer fabric (that sounds funny!). And I've finished the Lizzie Kate (?) Peace, Love and a Cure and am thinking about making it into some type of patchwork knob knocker.

I did come home from church and napped. Later we met our friend from Plaquemine, Doris Pettus, for dinner at Ruffino's. The food was wonderful as usual, but I got a little nuts and ordered my favorite pizza-Margharita. No, that's nothing to do with the drink (which is NASTY). It's named for some Renaissance queen or so. I have to say that it was a bit of a dud. There's a little place here in town called Schlitz and Giggles. They make the genuine article. A Margharita pizza is one with a paper-thin crust, sliced Roma tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and olive oil. Tasty! No red sauce-which Ruffino's had. No no.

Doris is great. She lost her husband a year or so ago. She is a corporate travel agent and is pretty good at her job. We talked travel tonight: she's going to the Mediterranean this fall. We both love London and we talked about places we visited. London is my favorite with Rome a close second.

We talked a lot about the Vatican and St. Peter's, as well as St. Paul's in London. She didn't like Russia and I want to visit. I didn't like China and she would like to go there. So that's why we're all different! Boring world if we were all alike.

We're supposed to be getting the new roof this week. Right!!! Heard that before. I'll be even more glad when the hole in the bedroom ceiling is fixed. It's just a couple of months until hurricane season starts all over. Unfortunately, Michael's new promotion will mean that he stays here in the city if we have a hurricane.

Enough gibberish. If I'm lucky I may have some pictures to post tomorrow. Ann, my friend at With My Needle, has completed her heart on my Friendship Sampler Round Robin. You might stop by and see it. She does beautiful work.

So for now, ta.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!

I'm in the middle of one of those series of sleepless nights that I go through every now and then. So here it is, 10:30 at night and and EARLY service lookin' at me in the face in the morning. So, what does an intelligent person do? Instead of counting sheep, reading her Bible, doing her cross stitch? She plays on the computer!

If I don't turn it in soon I will be the Ghost of Christmas Past in the morning. And I'm not a morning person anyway.

It was a nice evening. Michael came over He's got a promotion (he thinks!) at work. Certainly a raise in pay. He brought his new rod and reel-the first he's ever bought for himself-and says we don't want to know what he paid for it!!! He'.s taken up kayaking. You should see it. And he's been doing a little tournament fishing. That would figure: he's a marine biologist. I can't believe that little strawberry blond that nearly drove me crazy so many years ago now has graying hair and beard. I'm so glad he's ours.

I worked some on the ornament's for Donna's Stitching For A Cure. I'm not really sure when the deadline is, but I'm enjoying doing the ornies. And I hope she raises a bundle for breast cancer.

Might as well through in a recipe. This is one my mother used to make. Along with the Rum Cake, she would bake this one with the boys in tow. It used to make me nuts seeing one or both of them sitting on the kitchen cabinet, pouring ingredients into the mixer bowl. I was just waiting for an accident to happen. If it ever did, no one told me. Good idea!!! Here goes-and it's actually pretty good.

DUMP CAKE

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 small pkg. lemon jello
2/3 C. Wesson oil
2/3 C. warm water
4 eggs
1 tsp. lemon flavoring

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare pan. Dump mix into bowl. Mix jello in warm water.
Add to cake mix. Add rest if ingredients and bake for 45 minutes or until done.

Well, that's about it. I'm going to try reading now.

I WON AN AWARD! CAN YOU BELIEVE?

Friend Donna a Stitching for A Cure tagged me for this award. It's the first I won and can't thank her enough. "Cute" isn't a word often applied to me, I think! But I appreciate it so much.

So now I have to tag five more people. Donna beat me to Elisa. She's a great mother to 2 great kids and is a beautiful stitcher. Oh, well.

Here's my five. I'm not sure how to do this, so bear with me. I'm going to have to do some research:

Ann: http://www.with-my-needle.blogspot.com/

She's a great friend of many years and has truth faith.

Julie: http://juliesstitchingjournal.blogspot.com/

Another new great friend from across the pond.

Edgar: http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.com/

He is such a hoot and says it like it is.

Coral: http://astitcherslife.blogspot.com/

She has such a kind heart and is SO nice.

Carol: http://carolsxsblog.blogspot.com/

She is a great stitcher and has neat cats.

Now for something important. I don't know how many of you out there in cyberspace are aware of what Donna is doing, so here it is. She is collecting cross stitching ornaments which will be placed on a tree and auctioned in time for Christmas. She has chosen the patterns and colors so that the ornies will match. All of you out there who can cross stitch should check out the website and pitch in and help. Breast cancer research is close to our hearts--literally--and we just need to help. Check it out:

http://stitchingforacure.blogspot.com/

Thanks again, Donna