Needles have been working!!

Well, my needles have been working but not my dialup service. This morning it was very generous and allowed me to download photos. Yippee!!

I have made good progress on my Little Book of Stitches. This is page 5 - only three more to go.

Next time I will include a photo of the first 5 pages so you can see how this is coming together. And as I look at this page I realize it is upside down. OOPS

Noddy and friends is clipping right along. When I pick this stitch up I find I get quite a bit done at a time.

The never-ending Paradigm got some good work too. I finished the large motif on the left and added some smaller motifs. I am looking forward to finishing this page as I will then be officially 1/2 way there. I am hoping to have this completed by years end.

My ornament for May is a freebie "Catch a Falling Flake" by Vivian Bales of Northern Needles.

A quick stitch as I was behind this month due to my trip to Texas.

Here is the finished Swedish weaving afghan for the new bride in June. I have to turn the left and right borders under and stitch them down and it is ready for wrapping and giving. The long car ride to Texas and back gave me the time to finish this.

My DIL's parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary the weekend that I left for Texas. Although I was unable to be there, I stitched this little Anniversary sampler from JBW Designs for them. I learned that the 35th anniversary is Coral and so---coral it is. Ann from Knowledge and Needles so generously donated the tiny gold hearts.

And a little advance notice if anyone is interested. Dear Dani was here for the weekend and we had some wonderful stitching time. On Saturday Beatrice and Barb (no blog) came to stitch with Dani and I and the conversation went "My next Miribilia will be....." At the end of the discussion, it was more or less decided that we would all start a Miribilia as a loose SAL starting Jan 1, 2009. I will be doing Royal Holiday and I cannot remember what the others are starting but will keep you updated. If anyone would like to join please keep it in mind and we will give out further info closer to that date.

The trip to Texas as you can imagine was very stressful. My sister was and is still in shock. She cannot really believe that Jim is gone. Even though he was quite ill after his last seizure I think she believed that he would pull out of it. It has difficult to understand that he is gone at 57.

My two sisters and I are very flamboyant personalities - we are always right,the only one right and know better than the other. LOL. To have the three of us and my mom together for 9 days was quite the challenge. Regardless as to how much we disagree and at times dislike each other, when it comes to a crisis we all pull together. We got through it with amazing grace and are all still friendly - quite the accomplishment.

My sister is doing okay - she will not suffer financially for the next few years. The children are understandably upset. They are having a difficult time understanding this process as well. The emotional ups and downs are expected and she will deal with them for herself and the children very well, I am confident.

My thanks to all of you who extended such warm wishes to myself, my sister and our families. It is very much appreciated.
And the rainbow at the end of the day. This was the view out my back door on Thursday. It doesn't get more beautiful than this.