This is what we in New York do after getting snow. I went outside with the boys today to play...lets make a snow fort. It was lots of fun!!

Yesterday was my youngest daughter Michelle's birthday and my youngest son, Ryan's birthday...and yes, that is correct..they have the same birthday but are five years apart. We will have a real celebration for their birthday this week and also for my "Movie Star" granddaughter, Kiara...who turned 1 on the 25th this week also.

Not a whole lot to tell you or to show you except for this one picture which says alot. Last Saturday and today I taught a group of nice, friendly smiling ...gee I don't get that...show me again, oh wait is this right, ladies how to tat in a store called Liberty Cottage that is located on Main Street here in Canandaigua where I live. All of my students have got the "flip"...and their homework is to continue practicing the "flip". We will be meeting again next Saturday in the afternoon.

The ladies have the information for the "Hector Event" and I am hoping I can have my group of students go with me to Hector. Wouldn't that just be fun??!! I also have another student that isn't in the picture. She called in sick today. One of my students also gave me a gift today. I need to get a picture of it so I can show the gift to you.

Spread the smiles all around.....

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!!
The patterns for these hearts were designed by Martha Ess from her book "Tat's Amore'" and Susan Fuller's Heart's Desire and the red/white one is from an old magazineVictoria Hearts and Flowers published by Better Homes and Gardens I think.
I hope everybody finds a bountiful amount of love today and through the year.

"The Lady and the Unicorn" Here are some picture of one of my huge cross stitch projects that I started more than ten years ago but has been sitting in a corner of my livingroom in its stretcher frame. I bought this back when as a kit. The kit included the linen, floss thread and graph. Speaking of graphs...there are nine pages to the graph. I I am on page 5 which is almost done. Then there are three more to go. The ones left go cross the top and are not as dense so they should go faster. It is just me..finding the time and forcing myself to take it back out and get to work on it. The piece also calls for going over two threads with one strand of floss. I also took a close up of one part of the picture showing the lady's dress so you could see the beautiful shading it has. I love this picture and really should get it done. In one of the pictures I also show the picture in the stretcher frame...and then I unrolled the pictures and place a yard stitch by both pictures so you can get an idea how big this picture is. In the one picture where I unrolled the picture you can see how much I have gotten done on the picture and how much I still have to go on it. I worked so much on this picture that I got burned out from doing cross stitching but I am back at it again. So who knows maybe I will get it finished so it doesn't see the garbage can because Mom didn't finish it.

I also have another needlepoint kit that is done with floss. Another really huge picture.This kit represents the sense of smell. You can see the lady with the scent bottle.

I am also showing the picture of the finished wool needlepoint that I have that I bought last year at an antique fair. I don't remember how much the man was asking of the picture exactly but I got it for $20.00. I love all three of the Lady and the Unicorn pictures I have. And here is that picture.

I also have a huge sampler that I started too over 10 years ago. This sampler is called "Hannah Sampler". I did a goggle search one day to see if there was a picture of this sampler finshed somewhere on the net. I didn't find a picture of this sampler anywhere...but you will be surprised when doing a goggle search to see how many Hannah Samplers are pictured out there when you click on image. Anyhow...this sampler is from the magazine "The Needleworker" I don't think it is still in publication...but this design is an adaption from A 1849 sampler. There are three installments to the sampler each in consectative issue of "The Needleworker" magazine. Once I finish going across the bottom of the one section as you can see in one of the pictures I will have the first installment finished. In the other picture you can see what the sampler looks like after I hopefully get the third installment finished. The reason I decided to do this sampler was because of the verse. Hopefully if you click on the picture it will enlarge enough so you can read the verse yourselves.

Then I got a surprised the other day from the UPS. A big box...which was for me. I thought...what is this...I wasn't expecting anything. Well....I opened the box and inside was this...

These trees were from Maggie Brown of MO. I was so surprised. She said I they were 90% on sale after Christmas and that they were Halloween Trees. Well...Heck....I can use these trees all year around...just think I can see hand made Christmas ornaments, Halloween ornaments and so on...I can have all kinds of fun with these trees and look they are purple. Thank you so much Maggie. If you are reading my blog...please leave me a comment. I love these trees. What fun!!

That is all for now...I am all pictured out. I Hope you all enjoyed yourselves with my little bit of writing and show and tell.