Some Stitching To Share

After losing my parents and packing up the house and then losing one of my little cats, I've taken some time to get my own house back in order.  I still have a few loose ends to tie up and a few things to organize and put away but I'm doing it a little bit at a time.

I have been stitching and have a few things to share.

First, I started this piece last Summer when my dad was sick.  I just finished it about a month ago:

The pattern is by Kiralyn's Needlearts and she's on Etsy.  She has some of the sweetest patterns!  I'm sure I'll purchase a few more of her patterns once I stitch up some of the things in my stash.

I also stitched up one of the new Mill Hill Magnet kits:

 

I used to really enjoy making the little beaded kits but lately, I'm finding them really tedious and they're just not using as many beads as they used to.  I don't buy as many as I once did but I thought this one was really cute.

Over the weekend, I stitched up a crazy quilt block:

The pumpkins are a pin and earrings from Avon.  The spider web is worked with a metallic, variegated sewing thread.  It's similar in weight to Kreinik's Blending Filament.   It was in with my mom's sewing things.

So basically, after being a caretaker for so long and getting things settled from my parents house, I'm taking a little time to "get my brains back in my head", to quote my mother.  She used to say that all the time.  I'll get back to designing but I need some time to wind down from the stress.  

I also have my parents dog.  When my dad's hip broke, I had to bring him to my house so he's been with me almost 2 years now.  My mom was legally blind and he was her 3rd seeing eye dog:

His name is Ozzie and he's a beautiful yellow lab.  Good as gold and sweet as can be.  But he's scared to death of the kitties!  Ozzie came from Leader Dog For The Blind in Rochester Hills Michigan.  He'll be 8 years old around Thanksgiving.