A cube finish, an early Mother's Day Gift and of course a drawing!

I decided to finish off "Chicks Rule" as a cube. This is my first attempt at a cube finish and I am somewhat happy with it. I need to get some round wooden beads to attach to the bottom to make it stand straight. But I do like it. Here is a pic:

This week I also received a gift in the mail from my daughter. I love brooches (to say the least). And I love brooches that are eclectic.
I do not wear any other types of jewelry except my wedding ring unless it is a special occasion and then I might wear a pair of earrings.
But I have wanted a Mother's brooch with the birthstone colors for my daughter and grandchildren. We have searched everywhere and the only ones we could find were very expensive.
My daughter checked on Etsy and there was a woman making Mother's necklaces out of silver wire and colored beads the color of the birthstones. Jen (my DD) contacted the seller and asked if she could make a brooch. The answer was yes and so she ordered one. Since my DD and first grandson are both July birthdays, I have two red beads and then a teal/aqua color one for my second grandson born in March.
I have to tell you I love this pin. It is first of all handmade which I really appreciate and second, you won't find this pin on anyone else. It is just mine.
The picture was difficult to take, but here it is:

I just love it!
Now for the moment you all have been waiting for! The winner of the Lizzie Kate limited edition Spring Fab Fob with scissors!
The winner is...... MEARI! You can thank my oldest grandson for picking your name!
If you will e-mail me your mailing addy I will get it in the mail to you next week!
Congratulations!

Finish on Chicks Rule and my daughter is stitching!

While my daughter was visiting, she picked up an embroidery kit from Sublime Stitching. It is an old fashioned, iron on pattern company with a new look to it. Really cute patterns, updated to the looks of today, that you can make tea towels, pillowcases, etc.
She got the kit on Thursday and was really excited to get started. She stitched and stitched and finished her first tea towel. I am one proud Mama. She can crochet and knit, both of which I cannot do. But to take up stitching, whew! Just thrills me. Here is picture of her first piece:

And she inspired me to finish a new project. My intention this week was to do 2 verses on my Time for God. I did finish one of the two as I previously talked about in a post.
But getting the new purple fabric and the new Lizzie Kate "Chicks Rule" made me itch to stitch it. And stitch I did! I finished it tonight. And it is so cute. I just love it! Here is a picture of it:

I don't know what I am going to do with it. I might do a folded stand up like she has on the photo or I might do as a hanging flat fold. Have to find some cute fabric for it!
Don't forget to read my post before this for your chance to win a Lizzie Kate of your own!

More vacation pictures, a new project and just for reading to the end of the post, a giveaway!

Ok, yesterday we went to the zoo! It was great fun! My dear, sweet Mother was exhausted by the end of the day, but I think she wouldn't have missed it for the world. Here is a picture of the entire bunch at the beginning of the zoo trip!

These are a few more at the zoo!

I thought this fish was quite interesting!

This is a picture of my youngest with a statue of the orangutan! Have I told you how much I have looked forward to seeing the orangutans? They are fairly new to our zoo and I have really wanted to see them. Here is a picture of the smallest one. Sometimes I wish I could hang around like this!

And this is a pic of my 2 grandsons on the Komodo Dragon statue!

Today we went to the Rainforest Cafe in Grapevine Mills Mall. This is our second trip there. Last year we went there for my youngest grandson's 5th birthday and he requested we go there this year for his 6th birthday. Wow! He turned 6 today. Unbelievable!
Here is a pic of my husband, the boys and myself. My daughter was taking the picture so she is not in it!

This is the birthday boy blowing out his candles:

And no trip with my youngest would be complete without a train. There was a small train that did trips around the mall for children. Here is the pic with the boys as they were about to take off. All aboard!

Now onto some stitchy news. Have you seen these pieces? They are by Lizzie Kate, my fav designer!
I am doing the Chicks Rule (which is a limited addition) on 28 count lavender Lugana. I think it makes the colors just "pop"!


I really love the ABC's of Aging Gracefully. I am going to do it on my fav Silkweaver color, Days Gone By (the same fabric I am using for Time for God).
Now, you are at the end of the post. Whew! Long, huh? Think you deserve something for reading so much? Well, I have been blessed and Easter is upon us. So I want to bless one of my friends with something.
The Spring Fab Fob is a limited edition by Lizzie Kate. It comes with the pattern, some beads and most importantly these little, tiny blue and pink scissors.
This can be yours:

All you have to do is leave a comment and mention you want to be included in the drawing. I need some way of contacting you (e-mail addy would be lovely). I will draw for the giveaway on Saturday, March 27th. Good luck to all!

An award, some stitching and more pictures!

I received this award from Meari from "Meari's Musings". I have so enjoyed reading her blog and have learned many neat tricks from her. Thank you Meari for passing the award to me. :) It makes me feel good to know people enjoy my blog.

The rules are simple:
1) Accept the award.
2) Thank the person who gave you the award
3) Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
4) Put the award on your blog.
5) Write 10 things about yourself others might not know about you.
6) Pass the award on to 10 others.

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Me
(And Probably Don't Want To Know)

1. I am not naturally a red head. Really don't know what I am naturally except gray now.
2. Until I was 30, I never held a job longer than a year.
3. If I had my way, I would ride a motorcycle. (Of course, I would have to majorly lose weight)
4. I loved the color purple until I was 42 and now my favorite color is green.
5. I am afraid of snakes. REALLY AFRAID. Like I won't go into the snake house at the zoo afraid.
6. Sea World in San Antonio is my favorite place to go on vacation. I could just stay there all year round.
7. I have seen Six Flags over Texas in Arlington at all different times of the year. In fact, there is a snow cone stand that changes to a hot cocoa stand depending on the time of year.
8. I waited until I was 44 to get married for the first time. And then I married a guy 14 years younger than me!
9. I only care to stitch small projects. My days of doing huge WIP's are done.
10. I hate stitching with white thread. I don't care if it is GAST, WDW or DMC. I hate white thread.

Here are the winners

1. Carolyn at Just One More Stitch...

2. Rene at Rene la Frog's Ramblings
3. Kathy at Kathy's Stitching Comments
4. Marilee at Yarnplayer's Tatting
5. Cindy at Lonestar Stitcher and her Ramblings
6. Penny at Mind Wanderings
7. Janet at Crossed Stitch Bibs
8. Marian at Gumbo and Grits
9. Dani at Blackbelt Stitching Wizard
10. Mary at Frazzled Needle

On the stitching side, I have finished another verse in my "Time for God" piece by Lizzie Kate. I stayed up until 1:30am finishing this verse. First time in a long time I stayed up that late stitching!
The next one is "Quiet Times, Worship God". I am telling you, stitching this piece really makes you reflect on your relationship with God. I hope to have the next verse done before I return to work on Monday. Here is a pic of the completed work so far!

As many of you know, my daughter and grandsons are visiting. Today I went bowling with them and out to eat. My sweet Mother came along to "supervise" us as she put it. Here are a couple of pics of our outing!


I am having a blast on vacation. I hope to have more pictures tomorrow as we are going to the ZOO!

An update

I have been stitching on my new project. I showed you pics of the fabric, threads and pattern in the post just before this one.
It is called "Time for God" by Lizzie Kate. It is funny how a stitched piece can affect you. The first part of the piece says "Happy Times, Praise God". So I have been praising. The second part says "Difficult Times, Seek God". I have reflected on that part quite a bit this weekend also.
I am making it for my friend Lisa's birthday, which isn't until June. She will appreciate this piece, I am sure.
This picture is terrible. The colors are just absolutely beautiful on the piece itself. I am not sure what is wrong with my camera (or maybe it is me!). I took several shots and they all were slightly blurry.

I stitched quite a bit today, which made both Mom and myself happy. Mom because it means I was in the living room with her and not in my room on the computer. Me, because stitching brings me joy. I sometimes forget that.
I also had to "visit" my sister's dog this weekend while she was away. Gator was happy to see me.
On my way home from visiting with The Gator I stopped by the Arboretum. I looked at the daffys. They must have really split up a lot of the bulbs and transplanted them all over because they were EVERYWHERE! And on the way home, I saw my final sign that spring is definitely here. I saw the little reddish, purplish buds on a red bud tree that is a few blocks from my house. Red bud trees can make me smile even on a bad day. So there you have it folks. I saw a robin last week, daffys are out and now the red buds have burst onto the scene. SPRING! Skip de do la! It is SPRING!
Hope you all have a week that is as beautiful as you all are!