Hello everyone, as you can see I am making great progress on The Fisherman.  This is a beautiful piece and I like the way the colors are blending in.  I had to convert SB (Susan Bates) threads over to match DMC threads.  This gentleman reminds me of the Gorton's fisherman.  Plus, I love the smell of pipes' tobacco.  At RJ Reynolds in Smithfield, there is a section that sells cigarettes and pipes and whenever I visit that store I always go to that section just to smell the tobacco that goes inside the pipes.  My opinion, there is totally a different smell when smoking a pipe compared to smoking a cigarette. 

Trayvon Martin

I am asking everyone that reads my blog to post the link and a picture of Trayvon Martin on your homepages, blogs, websites, just post it. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
Everytime I see this beautiful picture, it rips out my heart.  The reason is because this young man should be alive today, smiling today and with his family today.  Instead he is dead, due to the foolishness of the killer, George Zimmerman, a 28 year old man.  From what I have seen on the news, this young boy was minding his own business, went to the store to get a snack and was confronted "not confronted", but PURSUED by his killer, because the killer felt this young man should not have been in his community.  What the hell?  Who has given George Zimmerman the right to say who can and should walk in his community?  It just sickens me that a grown tail man (because I do not want to cuss) pursued and killed this young boy that wasn't doing nothing but minding his own business, talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend and returning home to family.  The way I see this is that George Zimmerman provoked this young man (just like if it was you or me, we would have been provoked by an overgrown big tail man), yeah maybe a fight did ensure or words were exchanged..... but whose fault is that?  I guarantee you it wasn't the fault of Trayvon Martin, because he was 1) talking on the cell phone and even mentioned to the person on the cell phone that he was being followed by some guy.  My Lord, and you people tell me "where is the justice when someone can shoot another person, not get arrested, and go home like nothing has happened?"  Where is that justice people?  I do not care if Florida has that Stand Your Ground law.  George Zimmerman took this law out of context.  Now it is time to show George Zimmerman that justice will be served.  Not only show George Zimmerman, but it is time to revamp the police chief and get a new police chief that will follow through, not turn the other cheek.  Suppose it was their child?  Trust me, they would not be taking this laying down. 

The link under Trayvon Martin's picture is where you can go and sign the petition to bring justice for Trayvon.  I signed it yesterday and it was under 900,000 signatures now it is getting close to the 1,000,000 mark.  If you feel that you do not want to sign this petition or that you will turn the other cheek, guess what...., I hope this never happens to your child or grandchildren.  Think about it!

The cross stitch you are viewing was stitched and framed by me.  This piece is called Susie.  Isn't she just gorgeous?  I love her eyes, such a cute face and the dress is just too cute.  Reminds me of a dress I used to wear as a little girl. 

This piece was the very first cross stitch I entered in the NC State Fair in 2008. 

TGIF everyone!  I have framed The Soldiers.  If you reside in the Wake/Durham/Franklin/Clayton, and surrounding areas, please come to the East Regional Library in Knightdale, North Carolina.  Sharon and I will be displaying our cross stitches inside of the library's display window from March 4 - 31.  The two soldiers will be featured in the attractions.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Yes, I do praise my needlework, because this is a talent that was taught to me from my mom, and with all talents I was told they come from the one on the throne, his majesty The Lord. 

I want to begin by giving thanks to everything that the Lord has blessed me with and all the trials and tribulations he put me through.  I know I have posted pictures of my son on my blog, but my cup runneth over folks.  I cannot stress enough that being a single parent is hard and you have to put a lot of work into it.  What I want to say is that doing all my trials and tribulations with my son, I never gave up.  It is easy to kick our children out of our homes or send them to a boot camp, but why?  I had many people that I talked with say put him away, he is out of control and they would not be going through all that.  Really now?  I had enough Faith to trust the Lord to intervene especially after I gave my son back to him.  So I want to say to all the people that read my blog, keep Faith, hold steadfast and be consistent with talking.  Talking to me is a powerful tool (it will bring out the best or the worst in people).  I noticed when you speak the truth, a lot of people want to fuss and feel like you are throwing salt on the wound instead of taking accountability for their actions.  But enough on that, I am not hear to preach this morning.

Black History month (February) is almost over, but I want to give honor to all of the Buffalo Soldiers.  I enjoyed cross stitching this piece and the colors are brilliant.  With this piece, I feel like reaching out and softly stroking the side of this man's cheek.

Beloved

Lord,
Thank You for giving me a son.  Thank You for giving me unconditionally love, wisdom and lots of forgiveness and understanding in raising my son and also in growing me intellectually and spiritually to be able to raise my son.  I have tried to raise my son according to your word (and with the awesome help from great grandparents Walt and Alice) and I pray as he grows into a young man, he will always remember you Lord and remember your beloved son Jesus.  Thank You Lord for Blessing my home.  I love the Lord, couldn't have done it without you!

It is raining cats and dogs (literally not cats and dogs), but we are getting an old fashion down pour.  I know we need the rain, because over the weekend while washing clothes I was thinking to myself how much water was in my well because we have not had rain in a while.  With that thought, I limited my washing but tonight it is on.

I am posting a picture of Carolina Moon by Ginnie Thompson.  This is another piece that is on my list to be stitched.  This piece was featured in the 1978 American Cross Stitch Calendar Series.  What so amazing about this piece is that Ginnie Thompson must have been a well known household name back in 1978, so when I received the calendar I guess 3 yrs ago give or take, I did not know that for this particular piece I would have to use Ginnie Thompson threads and one DMC thread. 

So, I went on the internet and came across a flower thread converter, which helped out a lot.  So with all my cross stitch that I do not stitch right away, I decided to file this chart away. 

Couple of years later, I came across this beautiful case with lots of Ginnie Thompson threads, DMC cotton threads, etc.  You know my radar went up and I am one of those lurkers on Ebay that wait for the last minute to bid.  Yes, I won all this thread...

just to find out that for the above cross stitch piece there was only one Ginnie Thompson thread that I could use.  I am not going to call it a waste, because I paid a costly price for these threads and if I sold them again on Ebay, the price might be even higher.