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A little blog about my big loves; family, friends, stitching and yep, chocolate!

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Sunday, March 2, 2014

Marines, Samplers and Friends

Dear friends!

     Okay.  I have so much to tell you!  First, and most importantly, allow me to introduce you to the newest Marine in my family!  
Private Tyler Malinovich, USMC.

He graduated from boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina on 2-14-2014. 
Isn't that an awesome graduation date and an awesome official portrait!?


Do you know our young marines have to buy all their uniforms?  
Including their dress blues you see in the picture above.  
Not only do we pay our guys and gals squat, they have to pay for their own uniforms.  Grrrrr....

This next picture was taken on Family Day (the day before the graduation) and Ty got to show us all around the depot.  Marines only get to pass through these doors one time... the night they arrive for in-processing.  
That's when the torture transformation begins.


Tyler was so honored to have not only his dad and me at the graduation but also 
my parents and my uncle Charlie and his fiance, Nelly.  
My uncle graduated from Parris Island in August of 1959 and this was the first time he'd been back.
My dad has a brother who was also a Marine and I wish he'd been alive to see this.  
He would have loved it, I think.
You may notice that Matthew is not in the pictures.  
His flight on Wednesday evening was cancelled due to mechanical trouble and by the next morning, the big snow storm had hit and his flight was cancelled due to bad weather.  
So... he wasn't able to attend.  
We (and Matt and Ty, especially) were so disappointed.
It was a cold and windy day on family day and by the end of the day, we were all a little worse for wear but as you can see, all happy to be there.  
Not sure that Tyler had relaxed enough to smile at this point.

Uncle Charlie and Nelly, my mom, Ty, me, Rob and my dad.

My dad and mom on the left, Tyler and Uncle Charlie after graduation.


Rob, Ty and me.


Before Rob and I arrived at Parris Island, we spent a few days in Savannah.  
What a beautiful place that is with so much to see and do.
We had a most wonderful dinner at The Pink House and just shopped and bopped around town for a couple of days.  

The problem with blogging is that instagram and facebook often get the pictures before I get them up on the blog because it's so quick and easy.
So, all you guys that are FB friends and Instagram followers, 
my apologies for the duplicate pictures.


This was taken at the best store (IMHO) in Savannah, The Paris Market.  
They had this sweet banner hung up for pictures and we couldn't resist.
Actually, some other people that we didn't know were taking our pictures, too.
Why would anyone want pics of someone they didn't know?


This may be my favorite wall of all places I've ever been.  
It is in the DAR cemetery in Savannah and I just love it.  
These are headstones that have floated out of their resting spot at some point and put on the wall for safe keeping.


Finally, some stitching:
This pic is from my friend Lynn's FB page but it's a part of the group of 13 friends from our guild (Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild) that will be stitching a Friendship Sampler over the next year.

Edwina, Lynn, Mary, Pat and Nancy (in back), Julie, me and Paulette.

We all will stitch the same band on each others sampler but because of the rotation, threads and fabric selected by each individual stitcher, they will all look different.  Each person provides their own threads so no two samplers will look the same.  
You may or may not choose to stitch something at the top of your band.  
I chose to stitch something in advance because I know when I get it back in a year, I will not want to put one more stitch in it!  
This is what I came up with:  
The top portion was taken from "A Quaker Pincushion" from A Carriage House Samplings.  Because this is a friendship sampler, I amended her words (a name and removed the quaker medallions) to include this passage from the Bible.


The bees and skep were taken from A Goode Huswife chart called "The Bird Tree" and the flowers are from a Blue Ribbon Designs chart called "Heart of Gold".
I'm pretty pleased with how it came together and can't wait to see what the other 12 bands will look like!  Each band is supposed to be 20 stitches tall and 80 stitches wide.  We are able to increase or decrease the height slightly but the width is an absolute.  Check back in a year for the grand reveal.  

Tonight is Ty's last night with us before heading to the 
School of Infantry in North Carolina for about 8 weeks or so.
I wish him luck and love!
I'm so very proud of him.  
He has worked hard and overcome some major obstacles to get the right to earn the title of 
United States Marine.  
OooRah!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!  Thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely comments you leave.  They make this process of blogging worthwhile.  After all, if no one read or commented, what would be the point?  So a hearty thank you!!!

Check me out on FB and Instagram if you haven't already.

Love and Peace,
Terri




36 comments:

marly said...

Congratulations to your young man. I didn't know they are responsible for their uniforms. But they are the best in the service!

Barb said...

Congratulations to your family! You must be so very proud of that young man! I did know about buying the uniforms. My son is in the Army and had to buy all of his uniforms, even the one he got married in! I could not agree more, for all these young people do, the least thing our Nation could do is buy the uniforms!!

P.J. said...

The few, the proud, the MARINES! Congratulations to Tyler and his proud family! The friendship samplers will be awesome; can't wait to see the variations.

Mouse said...

ohhh well done and doesn't he look grand in his uniform ... and ggrrr back re having to buy his own ... lovely photos of you all and may be they thought you were film stars ...lol
and love the sampler start ... looking forward to seeing the end result :) love mouse xxxxx

Cari said...

Congratulations to a fab Marine and his wonderful family. Love all the pics. Your guild stitch will be wonderful. What a great idea !! Hope the weather starts to warm up for you. You've had a real time with the snow this year. Hugs dear friend !!

Ann said...

Congratulations to Ty and to his family for raising such a fine man!

Annie said...

Congrats to your son and the whole family! A very exciting time for all of you.

Love the great pix! You are so photogenic.

The sampler plan sounds like real fun. Your stitching will be a great contribution.

Prims By The Water said...

OOHRAH for Tyler! My dad was proud to be a Marine in the Korean War. He said there were none better. I love old tombstones. They have character. Great stitches as always! Janice

Lucy May said...

It is so good to see a proud momma!

Faye said...

Tyler is just awesome!!! I feel all the excitement and sense of pride in each word.... Send him on to North Carolina for a while... We will take good care of him~

Robin in Virginia said...

Congratulations and best wishes to Tyler! Way to go!

Love the idea of your sampler!

Robin in Virginia

Blu said...

Congratulations and best wishes to Tyler!

Annette-California said...

Congratulations to Ty and all of his family! I am so surprised to learn that they have to pay for all their uniforms. How proud all of you are and should be. What a beautiful sampler start. Looks like your guild enjoyed getting together.
Thanks for sharing. love Annette

Susan said...

Congratulations to Tyler, and to his proud parents! Nice to read your post and find out what you've been up to. We visited Savannah in January and loved it!

Chris said...

Great update Terri! I am so glad that Everyone made it to Ty's graduations! You must be so proud, please thank him for me for his service. I am glad that you made it to Savannah too, such a lovely city.
What a wonderful project with your stitching friends!
Have a great week!

Vickie said...

Congratulations Tyler! And Mom and Dad!! ;)

Sherry said...

Congratulations on your new Marine! Sending him a big thank you for serving our country to help keep us safe! You and your entire family must be very proud!

Margaret said...

So very exciting about Tyler! Huge congratulations! Love the pics. I agree -- Instagram gets the pics first. Such is life. lol!

Jane in Wisconsin said...

CongratulTions on your son's achievement! I love Savannah and The Pink House is my favorite restaurant!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to your son! I did know they're responsible for their dress uniforms - I'm the senior negotiator on a contract for NSGL which gives our Navy Recruits their first issue uniforms. Crazy, right? I have the utmost respect for our men and women in uniform.

Love your sampler! Looks like you had a great time down south!

Melody said...

Congrats to your son! You must be very proud of him.

Lovely photos, plus it was fun to read about your Savannah trip. I hope to visit there someday.

Melissa said...

Congratulations to your son and your family! (That is crazy they have to buy their own uniforms!)

Love the stitching! What a great idea too.

Carol said...

You must be so very proud, Terri!! My nephew was a marine and I know all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the process :) Best of luck to him!

The Inspired Stitcher said...

Congrats, proud momma! What wonderful memories. Can't wait to see the friendship sampler grow. You all come up with the neates ideas. Hugs!

Myra said...

I am so happy for Tyler! Congratulations! He is headed down my way. I hope the Marines show him some of our Southern Hospitality. :o)

Giovanna said...

Congrats to your son. What a very nice start to your band sampler, and what a great project - it will be very precious when you get it back.

Andrea said...

Congratulations to your son. Great photos. Looking forward to see the sampler grow.

Sonda said...

Congrats to your son! Lovely sounding band sampler...can't wait to see it all finished.

Brigitte said...

Congratulations to your son. And to the whole family, too. You must be so proud of him.

This frinedship sampler sounds terrific. I'm very curious to see more of it.

woolwoman said...

Congratulations on your son's accomplishments and his acceptance into the honorable United State Marine Corp. So glad that you and your folks and some other family members got to be there to support him. Think of all the young men and women that establish that distinction and no one is there to honor and support them. Ty is one lucky guy to have you as a mom. So glad you had great fun and more memories of Savannah. It is a truly awesome place full of history and mystery. Cheers Mel

Linda said...

Hi Terry
First, Congratulations. What an awesome accomplishment for your son. How proud you must be. And for sure, it's wrong for them to have to buy their uniforms, Ahh, the little tidbits we aren't aware of.
Love Savannah. My DH was born there, so we have visited several times. Like you said, very interesting, charming. Next time, eat at Mrs, Wilkes. Her place has been there for several years and it's very traditional Savannah fare.
Great to hear from you,
Linda

Alice said...

Big congratulations to you and your family!

Lois said...

Terri I've loved seeing your pics on IG and know how proud you are of Tyler (rightly so!). What a wonderful achievement by him and I hope the next 8 weeks go well. Love the idea of your Friendship Sampler!

Karoline said...

Congratulations to Tyler & you all on his joining the Marine Corps. I wish him all the best for the future.

Your trip to Savannah looked fun & I shall look forward to the completed Friendship sampler in due course

Sally said...

Congratulations to Tyler! What wonderful photos. That is so bad that they have to buy their own uniform.

Love the new start.

Sherry :o) said...

Missing seeing you today but I had too much to catch up after many bumps in my weekends lately...

So glad to see your pics and hope Ty is doing well on his next leg of this adventure.

Love the sampler...

Sherry :o)