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Saturday, December 26, 2015

A Growing Family

I got to update the descendant poster for my mom this Christmas. 


There are four new spots and two more new faces. Back on the old poster Matthew and Micah were pictured in a ultra sound so their sweet faces are now included.

We welcome Jacey, Jonah, Alexander and Thomas to the poster in the last five years.


The family is still growing! 
(Oh, and Mom cried when she opened it!)

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

A December Birthday

Christmas was coming and a very special person was also about to turn 50! My aunt Jeanne (affectionately called "Auntie Jo Gracie" by my children) has a December 14th birthday. That is a wonderful celebration to look forward to and I had been...for a couple years.
Jo and I circa 1976

Back when I was in the middle of cancer surgeries and preparing our house to go on the market, Mom and I went into a local Needlecraft store and I saw a beautiful pattern of a featherweight sewing machine with a quilt draped over it. At the time, I was sitting in the recliner a lot recovering so I was excited to find the perfect thing to go into her new sewing room and keep my hands busy at the same time.

Here we are with my baby sister
Jo reads to me and my little brother
Originally I thought I had a year to get it done before they moved into their new house that they were renovating. As the year quickly passed, and my cross stitching wasn't as quickly coming together, I realized that she has a big birthday coming up the next year. PERFECT! I would finish it up and give it somewhere in the year between as a "housewarming/50th birthday" gift.

Fast forward to November 2015...I still had a quarter of the project to do and December was just around the corner. Resigning to the idea that I wouldn't get it done in time, I packed it in my Thanksgiving trip things and decided I would do as much on it as I could.

I love stitching. I had forgotten how relaxing it had been back in the days I had more time. There was a perfect chair in our condo in Gatlinburg for cross stitching. I got a lot more done there than I expected but knew I wouldn't have time to get it framed.

Armed with a frame, foam board, exacto knife and a 12x12 frame, I decided to tackle the framing so I could give it to Jo at her party. It was amazingly much easier than I expected it to be and I was thrilled to be able to have it ready. (I would like to thank YouTube for the instruction videos on framing...I couldn't have done it without those!)

December 19, 2015
Still looking good after all these years!
Framed and ready to give!
















Happy Birthday Auntie Jo Gracie!

Jo and I on her wedding day
July 1986