Ahhhh.... The Memories

My 14yr old niece has been saving old tshirts and fabrics that have sentimental value and meaning for her. I bought her a Mickey & Minnie Mouse Florida tshirt when we took her to Disney World at the age of 7. At 14, she still loves that shirt and even tried it on before we cut it up. Why did we cut it up? To make her a Memory Quilt. Some shirts had logos, one was a puffed paint shirt we made together a few years ago. Other fabrics include basketball themes, Scooby Doo, favorite PJ's, school mascots, and pieces I used to make her outfits when she was a toddler. After each one was cut into squares she arranged them into a design she liked. Much to everyone's surprise, she is even going to cut up her Barney baby blanket that she's had since she was 2. We are going to put that on the backside of the quilt. Here's the layout:

It took us two days to cut out all the squares. We also managed to get the top two rows stitched together:

So far she thinks it "SO AWESOME!" We didn't anticipate it being as big as it is. She keeps commenting on how "ginormous" it is (a bit of an exaggeration). I told her that she'll never be cold and she'll always have a bit of home with her. She already has plans for taking it to college with her!

SBQ - Scissor Collection?

Many of us have a few pairs of embroidery scissors and some even have a "collection". How many pairs of scissors do you have? Feel free to share a photo of your favorite pair or pairs with us!


I have 3 pairs of embroidery scissors that get used pretty regularly. My oldest pair and best is the gold stork scissors. I always tell everyone it was the best $15 I've ever spent. I've had them for over 10 years and they are still very sharp and do an excellent job at snipping. Since I made my scissor fob in April, I've been using the pink scissors quite often. The blue stork scissors are pretty new. I was at an event where I could get some stitching time in and didn't have anything to stitch, so I bought on of those Brass Stitchables kits and the blue stork scissors. I wouldn't say that I have a "collection", but I wouldn't mind 'collecting' a few different types of embroidery scissors -- There's SO many out there!

You Might Be A Redneck If....

...you have to tow your motorcycle home with a pickup truck.

Earlier this evening, I arrived at my brother's house to find my niece who tells me he went for a motorcycle ride with my other niece. I ask: "Was that before or after I called to say I was on my way over?" She says: "After" LOL, OK! So I call to say I'm coming for a visit and then he promptly leaves. What a way to make your sister feel special!

After about 10 minutes of visiting with my niece, the phone rings. I hear my niece laughing and asking, "Where are you at?" She hangs up and still laughing, she tells me: "You have to go get Dad. The motorcycle died." Serves him right, don’t ya think? LOL After getting into my car, I notice a missed call on my cell phone. My brother called me first!

I meet up with my brother sweating profusely from having to walk in the hot summer sun... bare-chested, shorts, and tennis shoes... and my little niece (Who just turned 9 today) in a tshirt, skirt, and sandals. Out of the kindness of my heart, I offered them a ride. LOL

After getting back to his house, he asked me if I wanted to help him pull the motorcycle back. I start to put my sandals on and he looks at my feet, then looks at me with a goofy look on his face. “You’re not wearing those, are you?” I answered, “What do you think I’m gonna wear? This is all I have.” Straight-faced he replies: “You should wear tennis shoes if you’re gonna pull the motorcycle back while I’m riding on it. Those there aren’t going to cut it.” Then he busts up laughing. Yeah, OK. Picture me wearing a rope harness pulling a motorcycle home.

We hop into his truck to go get the motorcycle. Now, here comes the redneck part… He attaches one end of the rope to the back of the truck and the other end to the motorcycle (There are clips on each end). He gets on the motorcycle and I drive the truck. So there we are, toodling 20-25mph down the rural country road... a BIG 4x4 diesel pickup truck pulling a motorcycle and him riding it. One of the times I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw him smiling and waving at one of the neighbors. At one point he got the motorcycle running. He tried to get along side the truck so he could unhook the clip only he wasn’t fast enough and ended up pinching his finger between the rope and cycle causing a big cut. He had to pull back behind the truck and at the same time I must’ve swerved a bit and as I was looking in the rearview mirror, I saw him trying to keep control of the bike. He didn’t crash it... thank goodness... That would not have been a pretty sight. He tried a second time to get around the truck and unhook the rope – succeeding. He pulled in front of me and for a while things were going good. Then the motorcycle died again. So I pull his monster of a truck in front and we hook up again. This time he just rode it the rest of the way home.

As we go in the house, he showed me his finger. He washed it up and as he was looking for a bandage, his youngest daughter asked what happened. What do you think he said? “Your aunt tried to kill me.” Yes, LOL, that is what he said. He was kidding of course, and then he went on to tell the true story. Of course, none of that would’ve happened if he would’ve just stayed home when I called and told him I was coming over. LOL

Bookmark Finish

Here's my second finish for the weekend! It's a butterfly bookmark from the leaflet called Mark That Spot by C.R.O.S.S. M.Y. H.E.A.R.T. I stitched this in 16 hours on an 18ct aida bookmark. This is for the ILCS bookmark exchange. I hope Cate likes it.

Little Sisters.... And a Finish

For anyone who has a younger sister, you will certainly relate to what I'm about to say. Remember when you were young, and she followed you everywhere? She got into your stuff and with an angelic look on her face proclaimed her innocence. She wanted to be like you, act like you, and do what you did. Even though she may have been a PITA, she was also your playmate and your savior when bad dreams scared you at night... at least mine was. As we grew older and got jobs, my sister followed me into the hotel business, and then into the number crunching game until she found her own cup of tea. I know... I know... You're probably thinking "Where is she going with all this?"

If you recall, back in February I stitched up a scissor fob. Well.... after seeing me use mine for several months, she decided SHE wanted one, too! After all the sweet-talking and "favorite sister of mine" comments, she convinced me to stitch her one. LOL, doesn't take much! Without anymore adieu, here's my latest finish:




The pics are of the front and back. It was a kit by Shephards Bush that took me about 12 hours to stitch and another hour to make it into a fob. It's stitched on 32ct waterlily linen with DMC and Weeks Dye Works floss. I altered the date on the chart to say 2006 instead of 2003.

She will be so excited to finally get it!