Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum

Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum passed away earlier this month shortly after her 66th birthday.  She had been in failing health the last few years but her death made many people, including myself, very sad.  Her obituary simply stated "she liked cross stitch" which made me laugh.  She was cross stitch to many of us.  Almost every design I have stitched has been one of her designs. She was incredibly talented and I will never live long enough to stitch all her designs - she has so many.   Many of the designs are of angels and some centered around the Amish life she loved.   Her designs had very little outlining because her use of shades of colors created the outlining which a cross stitcher really appreciated.  I hate getting all done with a project then having to go back and outline everything.   Her web site www.tiag.com has her designs and when you look at them  you think, "I could never do this" but her patterns always had a flow - they made sense (usually) and were not difficult.  I started cross stitching around 35 years ago with small projects but never would have continued without Marilyn's designs.  I would start a new project and would think about it even at work - just wanting to get home and work on it more.  Of course then the internet and knitting came along and cross stitching got pushed back on my list of hobbies.  Now that I am retired I find I have time to stitch in the afternoon when the sun is shining and I am not tired so I am stitching much more.   I found an old project last month that I started more years ago than I care to mention of Santa with two small angels in front of a tree holding the baby Jesus.  I am working on it now in hopes to finish it before Christmas.   It is called Song of Christmas if you look at the web site and want to see what it will look like someday.   The only issue I have with it is it has a ton of little tiny beads that go all over the pattern.  Those are a real pain to do. 

Each of my kids have a cross stitch from me that was a Marilyn design and two at my house have won blue ribbons at the State Fair.  One, Angel of the Morning also won Best of Show.  It is the most beautiful design that Marilyn ever did and she said in the description "If I died tomorrow and this was the last Angel ever created under my hand, I would be at peace."   I like to think the angels welcomed Marilyn home and perhaps now she knows how important she was to so many people.  She will be missed.

This was for Maranda - can't imagine why :)

This was for Stacy's wedding - changed the colors to match hers

I think this may be Laura's but can't remember  I know there is another angel like this at her house only different colors

I love this one - Dance of the Roses.  Loved making it and love seeing it

This was my first on linen - Jessica will have this someday

Angel of the Morning

Texas trip

Friday we took a trip to Stacy's for the weekend.    Son and son-in-law had tickets to an Iron Maiden concert in Dallas on Friday night so Jimmy loaded up the girls (Maranda had to work) and picked Dennis and I up Friday morning and we headed south.    It was perfect timing since Sunday was Jessica's 15th birthday so we were able to celebrate her birthday on Saturday with cake and home made ice cream.  We also went to Stacy's school to see her new classroom.   James Jr's soccer team was having a practice in the field behind the school but they took a break just as we walked out to take pictures.  On Sunday we took the birthday girl to IHOP for breakfast.  For such a skinny thing I can't believe how much that child can eat.  :)   We all ate so much for breakfast on Sunday morning we drove straight through from Dallas without stopping.  I was shocked that none of the girls had to stop for a potty break but they said they were fine so Jimmy just kept on trucking and we made it in record time. 

Stacy at her desk in her classroom

Jessica, Izzy and Audrey (Lily was not in the mood for a picture)

James of course is the red head in the white shirt

Birthday girls with the fabulous cake Grandma Becky made

Trailerhood visit

We had a fabulous weekend at the Trailerhood with some good pictures to prove it.  We went on Saturday and came back Monday - retired life is so great.   The Perseid meteor shower was Saturday and Sunday night and we had a great view.  The stars are so bright with no city lights and we sat under the Milky Way around the fire pit.  It was great.  I also laid in the hammock that was a birthday present from Dennis.   The trailerhood was quite full this weekend - only a few didn't come so we had a group picture wearing the t-shirts that Jan Mueller bought for everyone.  Was hard to get a good picture of that many but we did pretty well.

Of course we also had wild life visitors.   The weather was beautiful - Sunday was a little hot but cooled off in the evening.  Can tell that fall is coming soon which is the best season of the year (except for school starting)

Finished projects!

I finally !!  finished Jimmy's sweater.  I started one about two  years ago but it had cables - a lot of cables.  I like cables but oh my goodness that was tedious to work that many in such a big project.  So last August I got mad and ripped it all out and found another pattern.  This one was much easier but also a tad boring.  It had pockets to make the front interesting - had never made pockets before so that was a challenge.  It was another case of follow the instructions and have faith it was going to end up right and it did.   I also learned about row gauge and what to do when you don't get it.  Of course I learned the hard way - by realizing the sleeves were going to drag the ground so I had to rip them out and start over.  I did research on what to do when the stitch gauge works but the row gauge doesn't.  It was very interesting - I love learning new things and there is always something new to learn in knitting.   Jimmy liked the sweater and was impressed with the pockets - his office is very cold in the mornings so he said it will be used.  I attached a label on the inside that Laura got me at Christmas - it said "this took forever"   :)

I also finished a red vest for myself.  Both the sweater and the vest were finished in June but the seams were not sewn.  Not to brag - but I do a great job on seams on knitted objects - when I am done you can barely tell where the seam is.  I love looking at the seam when I finish.  But - I HATE doing the darn things.  I don't know why but they are tedious and annoying and take forever.    This vest is the same pattern as another one I did for myself.   They are loose fitting and look great with a turtleneck underneath.