It is the Wishing Well that Embroidery Library had last month. It took me all day to get the material cure out and backed and the design sewn out. I used 6 full bobbins of thread and almost the 7th. I can tell I have not been doing very much lately. I sure was slow. I also put some angels on some dish towels last night. They came from Sic. I guess I am on a roll now!

by lflanders 09 Oct 2010

Thanks so much!

by lflanders 20 Sep 2010

This was one of the gifts for my son and his wife on their 1st anniversary. Yesterday was their 2nd anniversary. They are out of town for the week-end so it will be later in the week before I can doo anything for them this year. I am fixing Dinner for them and all the rest of her family on Wednesday. They are worn out from their trip and very late getting home on Sunday night and will most likely turn in early on Mon. night, Tues night is her night to clean the Harley Store so Wednesday Night is the 1st chance I will have to get dinner for all of them. I am going to fix it and deliver it to their house because it is so hard for her to get her Mom up, dressed and out of the house. She is very frail and not doing well at all. Of course, I will have an embroidered gift for them also.

Thanks for the nice comments. I have no idea who brought this old picture back up. It was done a year ago. It was also my first real piece I had done in a long time. I did embroider her a sweat shirt when she and my son first started dating but it was just a mailbox with flowers climbing all over it. It did not take but an hour start to finish. I have never seen her wear it. For all I know, she might have sold it at a yard sale for $1.00. She is a yard sale fanatic!!!

by lflanders 19 Sep 2010

It was an almost white piece, with just a smidgen of off white, soft brushed denim. It had some substance to it but was not too thick. I bought a huge piece just to do pictures on several yrs ago. That is all I have ever used it for. The surface is smooth but not slick like a regular piece of cotton. The design was from Embroidery Library and very dense so I did have some thread breakage while I was sewing but not as bad I thought it would be. I did change my needle in the middle of the design but it did not help with the thread. E.L. designs have a reputation of being more dense than most. That piece was what got me back on my machines after a few yrs of not doing much of anything at all. I had a very serious operation that put me out of commision for a long time. I have crippling arthritis but I do live alone and do for myself and my furbabies. My house is not as clean and straight as it used to be but I have to do a little bit along.

by lflanders 12 Jan 2010

Thank you so much! I was proud of it myself. I would just like to know if it is hanging in their house or not. I was there Christmas but did not even remember to see if it was hanging. MyDIL seemed to be excited over it but my son, not so! Of course, he is just that way all the time so it is hard to tell! It was 1st real attemp in some time. Have done a few small designs but would not tackle such a design until this one.

by lflanders 10 Oct 2009

Thank you! It made me feel good to get back to my machines.

by lflanders 28 Sep 2009

Thank you! I am trying to get back to my sewing. Linda

by lflanders 28 Sep 2009

I have done a very few small things but not very many in the last few years. You could probably count them on my fingers. The stress was not worth it. I am doing alot better now but still not back to being my live wire self. I wonder if that will ever be again. I got really antsy wanting to get through with this project but saw it through. I have some beautiful designs and the things I want to put them on sitting out ready to sew for the holidays. I need to get busy! Linda

by lflanders 23 Sep 2009

It has been hard and it continues to be at times! I'm on my way back. I do not think things would have been so hard if my son had been there to back me up but that is the time he decided to leave home and move 3 hrs. away but I won't get into that. I had to go through it with my best friend. She put me in the hospital and stuck with me thru my stay at the nursing home and carried me home. I only say my son 3 times in that 9 month period. Then I let him talk me into moving to the Atlanta area to be closer to him, alot of promises he has not kept! My one salvation has been the Dr's up here. They have found out why my legs keep erupting and have healed the left one completely and I have skin grafts on the right one and the place is 1/3 the size it started out being. Once they are well, I will have to wear compression stockings for the rest of my life but if anything should happen, they can heal it almost immediately. It is poor circulation. The blood will flow down but can not come back up on its own. The valves are too weak to open to let it flow back up with out help. Legs swell to the point the the skin erupts. The stockings will keep them from swelling. What these Dr's have done here has been out of their office and I have been able to get in my car and drive myself home each time. No horrible surgery or nursing home or wondering if I was going to live or die. The most I have needed is an extra pain pill once in a while. The Lord has brought me through this with grace this time! It is time for me to try to start living again. I am crippled with arthritis but have been living with that for more than 15 yrs. I can deal with that if I don't have all the other to deal with also. It isn't fun but it is alot better than the alternative. I refuse to give up and go to bed. I am up at 6:00 most mornings and do not go to bed until after midnight most nights. That has always been my lifestyle and I see no reason to change it unless I am really feeling bad! The really big change in my life has been my eating habits. I don't eat very much at all and I try to eat better than I have all my life. Sometimes that is not easy, because I don't always feel like cooking. I am sorry you have had a hard time also. Life does not always hand you what you worked so hard for and that is cruel. Living off disability does not pay my bills and I worry all the time. My son promised that if I would move up here that he would pay my lot rent. He has paid it 1 time since Nov. of 2007. It is just a few $ short of half of my disability check. Since he got married a year ago, I have barely seen him. He lives 25 minutes from me and works 5 minutes from me. He spends all his time with his wife and her family. She has 2 daughters and 3 grand children. I am never included in anything except Christmas and Thanksgiving. I did get invited to the baby's 1st B-day party on Aug 1st. I was shocked! It was his first marriage(at41)and she had grown children. I love my DIL. She is a very good person. She just has so much going on herself that she does not get this way very often.

by lflanders 23 Sep 2009

With the Lord's help, I am going to make it! I really have no other choice! You do what you have to do. I have done a few small designs but not many. I found this design that I wanted to do for my son's 1st anniversary and just got busy. I had no idea it would take that long but now I am ready to do another one. I think...Heehee

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much! I do hope and pray that this is my start back into my embroidery. I have been sitting here trying to figure out what I am going to do next.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Lillian, I did it! I actually got through it. The last piece I started, I picked out the design, got the T-shirt, put the backing, got it hooped, and started to lay it out on the shirt and went all to pieces, started crying, pulled it out took off the backing, pressed the shirt and gave it to my great grand son just plain. I felt so guilty but I just could not do it. That has not been a month ago. I went from not doing a toy train to doing this. The last thing I did was for my son and it is still hanging in the sewing room. He did not like it until... I put a service van on it and I did not want to be pressured into anything. I think I might be able to finish it now!
This design had 21 colors, 26 color changes and 76,196 stitches. The top thread broke 4 times and I changed the needle in the middle. It had the colors that E. Library used and the the colors that popped up on the sewing machine printout. I used the colors that E. Library used on their sample. I am still in awe at your hand done Biltmore Castle. It is just beautiful! The first piece of cross stitch I ever did in my life was on 22 and was a design of the Ga. Bulldogs. I did it as a gift. When I bought the material I thought the bigger the number the bigger the spaces. I had no idea what I was doing but it turned out just fine. You can bet that the only 22 I ever used again was in a kit and a small one at that! I was 17 when I started the counted cross stitch and did it for years. I can not see to do it now. I just went through all my counted cross stitch sets and I am going to send them to by best friend since high school. She is 1 day older than I am. She was born an Christmas Day. Her name is Glenda. We have never had a cross word in all these years. We have very little in common but we have always loved each other like sisters. She has a heart of pure gold! It is time to head toward the bedroom. My T.V. is in there and my back is killing me. I am not sure I even collected all the necessary alpha letters today but if I didn't then it is too late to wory about it.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks Gerry!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you! I think it really took more effort to get started than it did to sew it. Of course, I might not have started if I had known it was going to take so long. I got real antsy before I got through with it! I am ready to do another one now just to see if I can get through it! I have several shirts promised out so I guess they will be next.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you! It had my heart in it. I have been on a long vacation from my machines.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you! They also got a Thomas Kinkade Print. She loves his work as much as I do! I guess I will have to see which one she hangs first. Heehee It was alot easier to frame T.K. than do the other.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you, I am glad to be back at the machine. Now I can feel like one of the group!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much! Linda

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much for your kind words Marie! I don't know if they are deserved but it does make me feel good! Love, Linda

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

I'll have to wait and see if she hangs the Wishing Well or Thomas Kinkade first Heehee. She acted like she was proud to get it! My DIL is a very sweet person! If I am going to put this much work into something it would be for her first. I did not just get a DIL I got a daughter!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks for you nice comments. I wind my own bobbins. In fact, I had to go to the other Babylock and wind some while this was sewing. They are sitting side by side on the same table.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks, Migs. It's about time for me to get started again!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks Yoriko! It is time for me to get started again.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much! My vacation from everything all started with a horrible surgery that was blotched and I had to go to a nursing home at 57 for 8 months and wait to see if I was going to lose my legs and/or my life. Nothing was the same when I went home. My son finally forced me to move 3 hrs away to the Atlanta area where he was and then he got married and I have been alone since then and can not get back home to be closer to family and friends. My legs were giving me problems again when he forced me to move up here but I have had wonderful Dr's here and one leg is completely healed and I have skin grafts on the other. the place on it is 1/3 the size it was to start with. I drive myself to the Dr and I drive home. I go where I want to go alone and I feel safe doing so! I am getting my life back 1 piece at a time. It is not without alot of pain but I can deal with that as long as I do not have to worry about what is going to happen to me tomorrow! You see, I have severe arthritis on top of all the other. I have had the arthritis for more than 15 yrs. I have learned how to deal with with it for the most part. It isn't fun but it is better than giving up! I have only let the Dr's increase the dosage of my medicine 1 time in all those years. I fight it everyday, all day and all night. What I could not fight was the damage the Dr's did to me when I had the surgery on my legs for poor circulation. It is a long story best left unsaid right now. The Lord gave me my life for a second time. That is the only reason I am alive today! I am thankful everyday to Him! Again this year in March, the Lord gave me my son's life for a second time. He was 42 and had a major heart attack and worked all day afterwards until he got my house and I took 1 look at him slapped the blood pressure cuff on him and rushed him to the hospital. This had started at 11:00 A.M. in the morning and his last customer who worked for CDC here in Atlanta told him he was having or had had a H.A.and wanted to call an ambulance. He told her no. He was not going until he saw what his B.P. was. He had a major artery 100% blocked. Without the Lord neither of us would be alive today. His dad and I divorced when he was small and I raised him alone. I had complete custody of him. He did not leave home until he was 37. He has always been my best friend as well as my son. I thank the Lord constantly for his life and for mine. It has been a hard few years but it is time to get back to living.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much! It made me feel good when I was through with it. It was a long time in the coming. I had been on a vacation from my machines for a long time. I probably have not done 10 simply designs in the last 5 years. I tried a comeback about a year ago but was not ready yet. I think I am ready to make a clean start now. At least, I am going to try. I really do not think anything will ever be right again until I get back home but I am trying.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you so much!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thank you! The colors did not show up right in the picture but they are fairly close.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks for your kind words! I have 3 embroidery machines. I had a craft/consignment business as well as a 60 hr. a week job until I had to have surgery a few yrs ago. It was a horrible surgery that went bad and I have been trying to pick up the pieces since then. My whole world has been turned upside down since then and I have worked hard to get things back in order.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks for you kind words! I do intend to continue my embroidery. I have been on a vacation from it for some time. My whole world kind of fell to pieces a few years back due to a horrible surgery gone wrong. I have had to pick up the pieces a few at the time.

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks a bunch! It's my rebirth as far as the embroidery machines go!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

Thanks Shirlene! The colors are not right on the computer. The flowers are pink and they look lavender on the computer and the browns are not true colors. My camera is not the best in the world but it isn't trash either. I was surprised at the difference in the colors/shades. It will never shine a light to your beautiful lace!

by lflanders 22 Sep 2009

I kind of lost my self confidence and my patience also. When I moved to the Atlanta area I could not find half of my stuff and the whole place was in a mess and my son has failed to do anything to help me as promised. With everything all together, I just gave up for awhile. When I got involved with Cute, it made me want to get back to my machines. It has taken me a long time to get this room together enough to feel like my "old embroidery room"! As of yet, I can barely walk through my paint room. Yes, I did paint also. All my saws that were left on the carport in Sandersville, bolted to the tables, were either stolen are thrown away. I have a feeling that my son either gave them away or carried them to the dump to keep from having to move them. I don't have anywhere to put them here so I am sure that he did not want to move them. I know that the thousand's of bottles of paint that I have need to be thrown away also. Some have never been opened. My paint tables are stacked up in the living room and have never been put together. I have a new living room suite that I have never been able to even sit on. My son brought in stuff from the old house and stacked everything in the biggest room. I have not seen the top of my dining room table since I moved. It has a spread on it with boxes of stuff stacked to the ceiling on it. I can pick up anything any haevier than my little pekingese without ending up in the bed for a week or more. I have severe arthritis and 3 disc in my back that are deteriorated. I refuse to have surgery on my back until I get to the point that I can no longer function. When my son met his future wife right after I moved up here, I could forget about him doing anything for me ever again. Their 1st anniversary was the 19 of this month. He forgot he had a mom when she came along! I am sure most of you know what that is like. He has done nothing that he promised that he would do! It has taken alot more than will power to get me back in the sewing room! I had to put my sewing room together a little at the time. I have 5 sewing machines in this room plus a computer and a printer plus my ironing board/iron. 3 embroidery machines and a serger are sitting on 1 long table that I did get him to set up for me. There is also a T.V. in this room but it was in the way so I got him to move it up on a top shelf out of the way so I can not use it now. The connection for it was over across the room where the computer is set up. I am on Comcast for the computer, television and the telephone. Actually the table and the sewing machines were the first thing that went in this room. I just had no idea where the hoops or anything else that went with the machines was until I searched for it! I had clear craft drawers stacked nearly head high for my embroidery thread. I have a different color in each drawer, reds & pinks , greens, blues, black & grey together and so on. That is for the Sulky. I don't have much Maderia so all of it is in a drawer together. I have a drawer just for scissors. If I have to look for everything then I do not want to sew! I have another set of drawers that have all the purchased design packs. I have the Singer, the memory cards and then the disc. Then I have tubs and tubs of floppy disc that I can just throw in the Ellageo that I have gotten for free or have converted from the other desigsns. This is just a few of the reasons it has taken me so long to start sewing.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

Thank you very much!

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

I can not type with this arthritis. I cut out the material to sew this on. It is on a lightweight off white denim. I also sew or did for many years. I did not mean to confuse anyone. I also cut another piece to do the same design for someone else.

by mariahail 21 Sep 2009

Thanks!!! you do wonderful work.Hugs.****

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

Thanks! I am trying to get back to my machines. I have had a long vacation except for very simple things.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

It uses alot of thread and time but it is worth it! This picture looks a little fat at the bottom for some reason. My son had to resize it to get it online and I am wondering if that has anything to do with it. I have no idea how to get it online. Good luck on yours!

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

It is a very pretty design. I understand that all of the Emb. Library Designs are very well done. I have purchased a few more since I got that one. My next purchases are going to be the some of the wild animals with another one super-impose in the same picture, like the wolf, buffalo, deer. I think they are beautiful for a man's den or office. One step at the time though. I am trying to ease back into this. I just about gave it up when I was so sick several years ago. Did you use my colors or the ones that came up on the computer?

by pcteddyb 16 Sep 2010

I use the colors from the emb library printout and pull them and look to see if they look "right" (I don't use the same thread so I have to convert to my thread type). I like how they show what parts are stitched in that color change - makes it easier to be sure I have the threads right. They have really beautiful stuff there.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

Thank you! My son and his wife got it matted and framed for their 1st anniversary on the 19th along with a Thomas Kinkade print. She loves his work as much as I do! I also fixed a big dinner for them. That is hard to do because my son is so limited as to what he can eat since his Heart Attack. They both seemed very pleased.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

Thanks Bev! I hope this will get me back on my machines. I have been on a prolonged vacation since I almost lost my legs and/or my life several years ago. I have done a few small things but nothing that I would call work. I would sit down to sew and go all to pieces. I had to learn how to use the machines all over again.

by katydid 21 Sep 2009

Sure enough, send it in to the Stitchers showcase.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

I could not believe how much thread it took! There was 26 thread changes. I used the colors that Embroidery Library used instead of the colors that came up on my machine. It did look prettier in person than the picture I took with my "not so good camera. The colors don't look just right on here. I used to have a craft/consignment store of my own before I had surgery on my legs the 1st time. I have spent the last few months trying to heal my legs again. Dr's in Atlanta are much better than my old hometown. I have been trying to get myself back together since the 1st time.

by maryanns66 20 Sep 2009

I hope this is the start of you being able to embroidery again. At least you know how to use your camera and post a picture of your beautiful work. I can't even do that...sigh.
Wishing you the best and hope your legs are better than before real soon.

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

I got real antsy before I got through with this piece. I could sure tell it had been a long time since I sat at the machine for that long. It was an anniversary gift for my son and his wife and I had to get through! Their 1st anniversary was the 19th. Brian actually bought the design along with several more that I told him I wanted. He has been trying to get me back on the machines. I sit here all day and collect designs and do not use them. I DO hope this is my comeback! This picture looks distorted. The bottom of it looks too fat. My camera is not a very expensive one but it does take fairly good picts. Brian had to resize the picture to get it online for me. will that make it look funny? My bottom looks too fat also but it ain't the camera on my part! heehee Thanks Chris! Coming from you, this makes me feel good!

by pennifold 21 Sep 2009

Hi Linda, It's 7.00pm on Monday night here and I've just read your reply to my post of your beautiful well.

I am so glad you didn't get more than "real antsy" when doing this because that would have been a shame. This is just gorgeous. I am sure Brian and his wife loved it.

I have to say this - it's just tickling my sense of humour too much -

BUT YOUR BOTTOM DOESN'T LOOK BIG IN THIS PICTURE! LOL!!! AND ROTFLMBO!!!

I am so glad to see you at least trying to do some designs - it's that first initial step isn't it? There are so many things I'd love to do, but haven't as yet - my greatest admiration to all you who do such beautiful work - it's inspiring just coming on this Cute site to see all the talented people.

Love and blessings and I'll keep praying for a complete healing of your legs.

Love and blessings chris

by lflanders 20 Sep 2009

This was actually a gift for my son and his wife. Yesterday was their 1st anniversary. I matted and framed it and gave it to them along with a Thomas Kinkade print. She is as crazy about his work as I am. Thanks for your kind words.