What a change in my life.....

I know that many of you that are my faithful followers and blog readers know that my mom was supposed to come live with me on hospice. Well...she came last Tuesday afternoon and passed away Wednesday night. I'm totally lost. I had so looked forward to having some special time with her, but she never really even knew she was here. I've always called her at least once a day for a gazillion years, and sometimes twice. Now I don't know who I will call. It's just been part of my life for so long. My only consolation right now is that I have no doubt that she is with God and with my dad (they were married 53 years), and that she isn't suffering anymore. Watching her literally gasp for every breath for five hours the other night nearly did me in. I wanted so desperately to breathe for her or do SOMETHING, but there was nothing I could do. What a helpless feeling.

The funeral was today and it was a lovely service in her honor. The church was totally packed, which did my heart good knowing how many people loved her. I'm so very tired from all of the arrangements and glad that I can wind down for a bit until we have to handle all the other things that come along with this. I'm the executor, so alot of it will fall on my shoulders, but I will definitely be asking for help from my sisters, and they will gladly give it.

Here is the most recent picture we had of our sweet mom taken in December at my niece's wedding:




ANYWAY, I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that have sent emails, comments, cards and said prayers for our family. It has meant more than you could possibly know. I hope to be able to be back to posting more regularly and hopefully something more positive. I'm also hoping to get some stitching done now. I've literally had no time at all.

I love you guys.....and I'm sending huge hugs from Texas.

I wish you enough,
Carolyn

Spring Giveaway Winner is................

Carolyn of "Stitchinowl"! Carolyn, please send me an email with your address so that I can get your package out to you ASAP. Congratulations and enjoy! I will be doing another themed giveaway next week, so come back and see what I have in store for you!

Thanks to all that participated. :)

I wish you enough,

Carolyn :)

Time for another giveaway!

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm doing some major de-stashing, and you, my friends, get to reap the benefits. I'm going to TRY to do one a week, time permitting, and they will be themed. The theme this week is "Spring". I'm not going to list all of the charts, but if you click on the picture, you should be able to see them pretty well. Some are gently used....some are new. Here is what is up for grabs this week:



If you are interested, please post a comment on THIS POST, and I will randomly draw a name on Sunday, March 14. Come on, you know you want to! LOL

MOM UPDATE: She is still in the nursing home, but thankfully I've been able to get her on hospice for when she comes home to me, so I will have some help. I've literally worried myself sick about how I was going to care for her on my own, and my prayer has been answered. They will be bringing all the equipment, including hospital bed, etc. next Wednesday, so we are back to moving furniture around again. I am just so thankful. She took 12 steps today and even though that doesn't sound like much, it's better than what it has been. She had to sit down half way through, but at least she got her 12 steps in. Any improvement is something. We know she is not going to get "well", but just want her to get stronger so she can have some quality of life. Laying in a hospital bed for nearly 7 weeks has totally taken a toll on her muscles. Please continue your prayers for us. I'm looking forward to getting her home with me, but I'm also scared.

Guess what??? My kiddos will be here Sunday and I'm OVER THE MOON!!! Time for Papa Bob to break out the camera and take tons of pictures (just warning you in advance! LOL). I can't wait to stock up on some more grand baby sugars. YUM YUM....nuttin' better in my book! :) Kevin and Shannon took them to my nephew's college baseball game the other night. Kayla (who is only 16 months old) kept turning around and looking at this poor man that was trying to eat his hot dog and kept going MMmmmm..... Guess who got a hot dog? Yep...Kaylabug. Kevin felt sorry for the poor man and was a tad embarrassed. It wasn't like he was going to offer her a bite of his. LOL

Well, I'm crashing. I only had four hours sleep last night (I've had a sore throat, laryngitis -Bob's answer to prayer LOL, coughing and just ache all over), so I need to take some Nyquil and hopefully get some sleep. Thank you all for coming for a visit and don't forget to sign up for the giveaway. I love you guys! Please come again soon. :)

I wish you enough...

Carolyn :)

My stash haul and Carol's ornament

I received an email from Carol that she had received my ornament from our Christmas Ornament Swap. Mine was late, but thank goodness it finally got there. Here is a picture of what I sent her:
Back

Front

The pattern is by Historic Stitches and is called "Redwork Christmas Ornament". I stitched it on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha (my ALL TIME favorite fabric) with DMC 115. I hope she likes it. :)

Okkaaaayyyyy.....I know I promised a picture of my new stash haul. I'm almost embarrassed to post these pictures, but I've had many ask, so here goes. You should be able to click on the pictures to get a closer look of the patterns. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to email me. What to start on first??? Any suggestions? :) MANY are calling my name. Actually they are screaming at me! LOL





I still have a couple of French charts that are on back order, but other than that, I think I've done enough damage for quite some time. Actually I do have one more GC to use, but I'm holding on to that to buy fibers that I may need for some of these charts. Did I do good? I haven't had any new stash in quite some time, so I'm totally in hog heaven. I hope nobody thinks I'm bragging....far from it. Like I said before, I get GC's for Christmas and birthday and hoard them until after Market.

Tonight is movie night. We hit Blockbuster and rented some pretty cool things, so I intend to sit and stitch the evening away. Right now we are watching "Australia". So far, so good.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments and emails about my antique sewing collection. It's small, but I love it and it's dear to me. I look so forward to hearing from each of you. It's totally makes my day.

Coming soon.....another giveaway. Be on the lookout!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend, my friends.

I wish you enough,
Carolyn :)

My antique sewing collection

Hello dear friends,

Since I don't have any stitching I can share with you right now, I thought I would show you some of my most prized possessions. Some of these things belonged to my grandmother and my great-grandmother. I'm probably the most sentimental person on this earth, but I just love each of them. Others might consider them junk, but not me! I adore each and every piece. There are few non-antiques added for decoration, as well. I hope you enjoy my little collection!



The small quilt in the background was the very first quilt I ever made. It's small, but it was fun and it was my learning piece. I was hooked from then on and haven't stopped yet! I have sooooo much fabric that is calling my name. :)

I have been using up my Christmas and birthday gift certificates lately and will show you soon what I've bought. I have an order coming in tomorrow and then maybe I'll share a picture with you. My family all know what to get me....stash GC's and I usually wait until after Market so I can get some of the new goodies. Boy....did I this year!! I can't decide what to start on first. Did I tempt you enough to come back again soon to see what I got? LOL Seriously, I LOVE seeing what others buy, and most every time it enables me to buy something that I had not seen before.

My mom had her hair washed, cut and styled yesterday at the nursing home, and she said she feels like a new person. I bet so!! It's been forever. She's still not able to walk with her walker yet, but is going to PT every day, so I'm hoping her strength will be back soon so I can bring her home. I go every day and have lunch with her....it's our special time together. :)

Well, time to stitch. I just wanted to share a little piece of my home with you. Be on the lookout for the stash haul picture, and when/if I can ever get my sewing studio organized like it's supposed to be, I'll share a picture of that with you, too. :)

Thank you to all that come often, follow my blog and leave sweet comments. They are such an uplifting thing for me to come home to after a trip to the nursing home. :)

I wish you enough....

Love,
Carolyn :)

And the winner of my first giveaway is........

ALICE! Alice, I will be emailing you soon to get your mailing address so I can get these right off to you. I hope you enjoy the charts. :)

I've already lined up things for several more giveaways, so check back soon. I will post the next one VERY soon. :) I see these going on for quite some time.

I'm stitching on a special piece right now, but it's for a dear friend, so I can't share my progress right yet. It should be finished soon barring no frog visits. I'm trying to decide what type of finish to do on it.

Time to go stitch. Thank you to all of you that visit, comment and are followers. I love each of you and so enjoy your comments. Please come back often. :)

I wish you enough...

Love,
Carolyn :)

A Giveaway to thank my dear friends :)

I'm so very, very grateful to all of you that have prayed for my mom and me, left uplifting posts and sent sweet emails, that I've decided to have some giveaways for the next several weeks as a thank you. I've been wanting to for a long time and just haven't done it. The drawing is open to anyone, new or old, and all you have to do is leave a comment on THIS post and please, please leave me your email so that I may contact you if you are the winner. I will have my DH draw a name on Wednesday, March 4th. You have until noon Wednesday to add your comment. Soo....here is what is up for grabs. I thought it was appropriate since Easter and spring are right around the corner.



Aren't they cute? They are by Cricket Collection. You can click on the picture to see a larger view of the carrots. Tooooo cute!

A quick Mom update: A finally got her out of that H*** hole of a hospital that she was in and she is now in a nursing home here in town supposedly for about 20 days. Personally I don't see her being ready to leave after that, but I'm going to think positive. My home is ready and waiting for her to make it her own, and I'm ready to be her personal nurse. :) I just love her so much, and hate seeing her so weak and unable to do for herself. I feel if I can get her "home", I can help her with that.

I should have some stitching to show you in a few days. I finished a Christmas ornament for an exchange, and once the recipient receives it, I'll be sure and post it to prove that I actually DO stitch. LOL

Speaking of stitching, my needle and thread are screaming at me, so I think I'll go put in a few x's. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway, and keep coming back. There is MUCH more to come. I'm de-stashing BIG TIME!

Thank you all so very much for being there for me. I love you all!

I wish you enough...

Love,
Carolyn :)