A Baby, A Man and Another Giveaway

Good morning everybody! I have been praying for all of you affected by Sandy. We have been feeling the strong, cold winds here all the way in Wisconsin. Take care my friends.♥

I finally finished stitching up this little baby for the young mother last night.

I will be finishing this up today or tomorrow into a small ornament or door knob hanger. I got this pattern from a book at the library titled, 555 Little Sayings in Cross Stitch by Marie Barber. There are so many little half stitches. And then the backstitching! The most difficult part about this was actually finding a suitable skin tone. I had to replace the called for 945. The baby is Hispanic. Ever looked for a chart or conversion or ANYTHING with that?! Well. I just had to go up and down the aisle at JoAnn until I found a shade I liked. I chose 3864. I believe it is listed as light mocha.

The MAN. Well, that would be our Jacob. I am tearing up as I type this. I can hardly believe it. Today he is a man. Today is officially 18. Oh my!

This was the marble cake with Mr. Brown's Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting and chocolate curls on top I made. We had a good time with family on Sunday to celebrate. The five of us are going out to eat tonight. We saved a gift card we received for our 20th anniversary to use for Jacob's 18th birthday instead.♥

So that brings us to the giveaway part. AGAIN! ;) My friend Laurie gave me her second copy of Just Cross Stitch 2012 Ornament Issue. I have a copy already, so we are gonna give this to anyone who doesn't have one also but wants it.





Would that be you? If you would like this magazine please leave me a comment on this post. You must be a follower. I will draw a winner on Thursday, November 8th.

Hello new followers. Glad you are here. I am glad for all of my friends. =) Have a great day in the Lord!

Finishing and Praying,
Vickie

A Gift From June and The Giveaway Winner(s)

Good morning everybody! It is a chilly 32º right now. It will be a very cool weekend. I wanted to share with you what finally arrived for me all the way from England.

A lovely package from our friend June.♥ She told me I could decide if I wanted to open them up or wait for Christmas. So I opened the pink gingham wrapped gift along with this beautiful card.

One of the ladies in June's club made this wonderful card. It is so perfect for me!♥ Brian always, always opens gifts early. He makes me open my gifts from  him early. So, I was somewhat weak and I opened this also.

Beautiful, wonderful, pink thoughtfulness. Thank you dear June. I put away the Christmas card and the angel tissue wrapped gift. I shall open those much closer to Christmas.

I did draw the names of two winners this morning. Why two you ask? Well, Laurie (who has no blog) has generously offered her copy of the Nov/Dec Just Cross Stitch Magazine also for a second person. So the winners are Lany and Janet!! Congratulations ladies. We are so glad to have the magazines go to good homes in Ireland and England. =)

I have not stitched much lately. But I do hope to finish up the gift for the new mom and baby soon. Busy, busy. Giving haircuts, hemming pants, taking in pants.

Jacob's birthday party with our family will be on Sunday.I need to bake and decorate a cake. He turns 18 on this coming Wednesday. Hard to believe. Our 6'2" blonde haired, brown eyed young man!! Oh my! We are so proud of him. He is such a fine young man. He is in the National Honor Society. He has applied to the most prestigious college in our state for the nursing program. Yes, I am a proud momma.

Take care my friends. I welcome my new followers. Come back often everyone.♥

Stitching and baking and praying,
Vickie

Sophie and More Great Finds!!

Good morning everybody! It is going to be sunny and possibly 80º today. =) I hope you are doing well. I am! I continue to feel less pain. Thank you my prayerful friends. This is beyond wonderful. I cannot tell you what a relief and blessing it is to feel less pain. May God richly bless all of my friends.♥

I took this picture just a few days ago. When the sun was just rising and shining on this ginko tree. Our street is lined with ginko trees. This happens to be our neighbor's. Isn't it positively golden? They are one of the last trees to turn color around here. It is beautiful when the street is lined in golden trees. What is not beautiful is what happens next month. Are you familiar with ginko trees? The female trees, like the one in the picture, drop their fruit. The fruit are the size of cherries but the color of apricots. I guess they are a delicacy in some Asian countries. We say NO WAY! We are very glad to have a male tree with no fruits. Very soon our neighbor's tree drops her fruits and we have to pick our way carefully on the sidewalks to travel to the library. If you step on the fruit your shoe will POSITIVELY REEK OF DOG POOP! I mean it smells exactly like dog poop! Delightful huh?

So, moving on to better things!! This is Sophie. She is Shirlee's  cat. I stitched her up for her at the top of this month for Shirlee's birthday.

I used my book Stitchy Kitty Fuzzy Puppy. Her pretty fur is made with lots of Ghiordes Knots. It is also called the Turkey Rug Stitch. It forms loops, which I then snip and sculpt to shape.

Her little ears are the raised leaf stitch. She was such fun to make.♥

We had a dental appointment yesterday that took us to a different part of town I am rarely in. So afterwards I stopped in Bethesda Thrift Shop. =) I am very glad I did!

 Hooray for me! I bought the framed Scherenschnitte for the frame. It should be perfect for my stitched up "Praise God". Not the best picture to show you details, but you will get to see it hopefully soon, all framed up. It was 75% off purple tag day. The framed piece was marked $6.99 with a purple tag. I got it for $1.75! And it is a beautiful wood frame! Awesome. One of the magazines was marked with a .29 purple tag. I got it for .7!!!! My total spent yesterday for all this was $3.99.♥

I finished the book Bonhoeffer last night. A large book. Very good. It was about his short life. He became a Lutheran Pastor. He refused the Nazi version of Christianity. He started up the Confessing Church with other pastors. Because he had relatives working in the Nazi government, he knew of the true horrors going on before many did. He, with many others tried to kill Hitler quite a few times. The only bomb that ever went off never killed Hitler. But this was to cause the Pastor's death. He was murdered 2 weeks before his concentration camp was liberated. It was the best book I have ever read about WWII for the church aspect. I have read many, many WWII books that are about war. This is the only one I have ever read that explains the whole reason for the war. Hitler was truly mentally diseased. He hated all things Christian and Jewish. He labeled himself a Christian to appease people. He was called evil incarnate by so many. He was so warped. I could go on and on. I will not.

If you want to enter my giveaway you have until Friday. Just enter here.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Let's Do Another Giveaway!

Good morning everybody! This weekend should be sunny and mild. So I simply must get out there and clean up a few garden beds.

Yesterday Amanda won my La-D-Da Giveaway. I thought I could begin another giveaway today. I am offering you the newest issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine, November/December.

I just received this, less than a week ago. I just do not feel that I will be stitching from this issue. So I would like to see it go to someone who will stitch from it. =)

Well then! That is a lot of pictures! I hope you find something you just really want to stitch. If you do, just be or become a follower and leave me a comment on this post telling me you want the magazine. I will draw the winner on Friday October 26th.

I wanted to say thank you to those of you who have been praying for me and my pain. I do not know how many of you out there are praying, but I know that you are. I was so hesitant to mention this because I was afraid it would disappear. Well, I know that is just not right to think that way. I have been having reduced pain for 2 to 3 weeks. It is not gone, but much more tolerable. And that is why I say thanks. I am so grateful for you my friends. I am still waiting on the pain specialist to call me and make an appointment. Wouldn't you know this is not the best time. They are moving their offices to a nearby new place. I suppose this is the delay.

Have a great stitchy weekend my friends. I am so glad you visit me. Thank you for your kind comments.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

La-D-Da Winner and Vintage Finds

Good morning everybody! A cloudy, rainy day here. I drew the name for the La-D-Da pattern this morning and it is Amanda from Samplers,Silks and Linens. I am waiting for Amanda to email me back her postal address. "Praise God" is going on a loooong road trip to Taiwan!!

So the other day Madeleine and I went to Good Will. And I bought this for $3.00.

I know right?!? Ha! Just kidding. I do realize it is a bit, how shall we say it, ugly?, weird? But someone handmade this from wood. It is in perfect condition. I just plan on having it out in the garden somewhere. It makes me smile. =)

She and I also went to Salvation Army. I found this neat recipe box for a dollar.

And I found these, 3 for one dollar.

There were twice as many as these. I took the time to go through them and bought only the ones I would actually stitch from.

I am still stitching my little gift for the young mom and her baby. She stopped into school yesterday to say hi to her homeroom teacher. She looks good and is doing well. She did not have the baby with her! She will return to school at the start of November. Her mom will watch the baby during the day. God bless her mom and dad! Baby will be in a loving home with her mom and grandma and grandpa.♥

Have the best day you ever had my friends! I am so glad to have new followers! Hello to you! Come back now! =)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Pumpkin and Gift Stitching

Good morning everybody! It is a very cool morning thus far. Just look at this pretty sunrise from minutes ago. I saw it from the front porch as I watched the kids drive off to school.

God is an amazing, awesome artist!

The pumpkin stitching was done last week. It rained for 48 hours straight after that. And I needed to get the picture outside because it resides on the front porch poodle. ;)

I used the pumpkins from the PSS freebie called Give Thanks. I found the wired ribbon the other day at JoAnn. It is like 18 count Aida ribbon. I knew right away it would be used for my front porch pooch.

This is the gift I sent off to Catherine. She told me she loves it. =)

She had told me months ago that she likes blues, greens, pinks and browns. Well my family thinks it looks like a chocolate cupcake! This was another fun bottle cap pincushion to make. =)  I love that textured brown felt, however it is not as noticeable on the finished pincushion, except the bottom. ;)

If you like La-D-Da and you want a pattern click here.

I am currently stitching a gift for a young woman I do not know. She is an eighteen year old student at our children's Catholic high school. She is an unwed mother. She had her baby, a girl, a week and a half ago. She has not returned to school yet. Our kids know of her, but do not know her. I just thought a little something for her baby might be nice. I don't know, I was just moved to do it. She is obviously having a tough time. Many of her "friends" abandoned her. Tough choices in life. Big consequences too. Well, praise God mom and baby are well.♥

Have a fabulous day my friends. I am happy to have new friends here.♥ I thank you all for your kind words. They warm my heart. I will share with you next time my thrift store finds from yesterday. I spent a whole three dollars and change! ;)

"Thanks ladies for your prayers! I am much improved!"

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

La-D-Da Giveaway

Good morning everybody! It is a bright, beautiful, sunshiney day here! =) I want to thank all of you who said prayers for little Mabel. She is improving much. The medicine is working well. The prayers are working great. Praise God!

And that is the name of the chart I would like to give to one of you! Praise God by La-D-Da

 

I did stitch this earlier this year if you recall. I am still keeping a watch for a frame I can use for it. If you look in the right places, you are sometimes able to get one right off the shelf instead of custom ordering it. I may have to, but I will keep trying to find one out there.

So dear friends, if you would like this chart (with a small gift made by me) please leave a comment for me on this post. You must be a follower. I will draw a name on Friday, October 19th.

I have two packages in the mail, so there will be things to show soon! I am stitching pumpkins right now. Cute little project.♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Giveaway Win

Hi everybody! It is sunny, but there is a very cold wind today. I still  went out and took pictures of what I just made this morning. =) I will show you in just a moment. I thought I would show you what I just received in the mail yesterday afternoon first.

Isn't this lovely? Mary Kathryn made this great acorn. I have nothing like it. There are fabulous beads attached to the top, you will see if you look closely.  Sorry you can't see them better. I took this photo this morning. The sun was shining so brightly on the kitchen floor, I just grabbed the beautiful rose my husband gave me earlier this week and Mary Kathryn's acorn and put them right in the sun. Thank you again Mary Kathryn. It went from your dough bowl to mine. =)

So, I finished another giftie yesterday. You cannot see yet, so sorry. ;) I then decided to make myself a small project pouch for my counting pin supplies. I had a small mess. It is now all in one place. =)

I found this tutorial to help me. I had this pansy fabric for over one year. I love pansies. They are my favorite flower. I finally figured out what to use it for. I stopped in at JoAnn last night and found the fabric for the lining. The pink matches the pink pansies perfectly. It is called Moonstone Glitter in a rose color. It has a golden glitter to it. The pansies are outlined in gold. Perfect!!

I adapted the pattern a bit. I have no closure as of now. Don't know that I will need one, as I make my counting pins at the kitchen table. I do not travel around with them. I added batting between the two fabrics. I made a larger felt area for my counting pins.♥ All my beads, pins and glue are tucked away in one spot now. Hooray!

Would you mind terribly if I asked you to maybe say a prayer for Mabel? Her back has "flared up" on her again, starting last night. She could barely walk or urinate. I got her onto her medications right away. This morning there is a little improvement. We are still hand feeding her, as it hurts her to bend her neck. The pain pills are definitely helping her. Unfortunately, she seems to be having these "flare ups" with her slipped discs once a month. She is able to go on a 5 minute walk most days of the week. This helped her lose one pound of the three! she gained in the last few months. Now she is back on the steroid that causes the weight gain, and of course she will not be able to go for any walks for a few weeks. Argh! So frustrating. It is what the vet said it would be. Helping her back, but weight gain in the process. :(

You can see from this picture taken a few hours ago, that she is not very happy.

On to the next project. Well I have two small ones calling me. Not sure yet  which I will choose. I'll let you know next time. Til then, take care sweet friends. Thank you for stopping by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Stitchy Stuff

Good morning everybody! I hope today is a great one for you.♥ I got word from Maggee that she received my gift to her. She has been so good to me this year with patterns and linen. I am hoping she does not mind that I lifted these pictures off of her blog! What a dunce I am. I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it to her.

My gift to Maggee

Bottle cap Pincushion with Counting Pins

I used two books to help me in making this: Pretty Little Pincushions by Lark Books(from the library) and House & Garden Samplers by Mary Jenkins(my own book). Most of the flowers are ones that are in my own garden.

This is the closest Needlework Shop to me. It is about 20 minutes away. It is in Elm Grove, where Brian grew up and his parents still live.

This is what I bought with my gift certificate from last Christmas still! I know! I can't help it. It is just in me to be a saver. Brian was happy I used the gift certificate up finally. Only problem is, I DIDN'T!! I still have $25 left! This stash only cost me $12! Yes, you guessed it. I shopped the clearance bins. Did I not mention I am thrifty? This was my second trip trying to spend it all.  I think the Rabbit Stitcher is adorable.♥

I purchased the John James size 28 petite needles. I like using them, BUT they bend easy. Do any of you have this problem? Are there stronger short needles out there ladies?

Hot Cocoa Rose

Still stitching on my gift. It uses mainly the Ghiordes Knot. That will get you thinking! ;)

Take care my friends. Have a peaceful, restful Sunday.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Happy Anniversary

Good morning everybody! I am so glad you are here. =) Thank you for all your kind words and well wishes for our 20th anniversary.♥

I am glad to say the yarn bombing went well.♥

I began this when the kids left for school and Brian had yet to arrive home from working all night. It was dark and 44º. By the time I had finished, my nose, fingers and toes were almost frozen. I decided to just do one heart for each of us. =)

Here we have the Pixel People made up into a framed flatfold. I love the petite cluny lace.

These are my gifts from Brian. He wanted to give me the traditional gift of china for our 20th. So he chose a beautiful china tea cup for me with my favorite flowers, pansies. The pansies are also on the wonderful Polish pottery candy dish.

Well, embarrassing dust is in this picture, but I thought that was really neat the way the sun shone right through it.♥

So here is the "To Thee My Heart" from Erica Michaels I worked so hard at. I found this frame at Kohl's Department Store. I found the perfect color paper to back it with at Michael's. I like the way it really lights up the silk gauze.

These pictures are not very good. I tried and tried. I have to tell you, there were real sweat and tears put into this piece. If you should decide to stitch an Erica Michael's Petite, DO NOT follow this part.

I must be real naive. I never stitched on silk gauze, so I followed the directions exactly!! Duh. In hind sight, I can see it was a bad, bad, bad decision to mark from corner to corner with pencil. Guess what would not come out when I finished stitching and was ready to frame?! I called my LNS. Cheryl did not know how to get it out. She suggested I call Linda Stolz, the designer of Erica Michaels. I did. I told her I was reduced to tears because it would not come out. "She said we have all been there at some point." What?! She asked if I marked the pencil lines from corner to corner? "Yes, that is what the instructions told me to do." She said, "Yes, I found out the hard way the first time too. You only need to mark small lines at the center." So I told her, "Yes, I did not know that. I only followed the directions." So Linda offfered to send me a new piece of silk gauze!! What?!? To which I told her, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO WAY! This was a labor of love. It took many hours." She told me she never found anything to take the pencil out.

So yes, I could have matted it right up to the stitching. That is not how I envisioned it. I want the silk gauze showing. I tried 4 different erasers (artsy things). I washed it with a tiny amount of dish soap. I talked with another LNS and a framer. I finally thought of something after many tears. I have an at-home dry cleaning kit. It has a fine fabric stain remover in it. It says it is safe for silks. I used it. The pencil is gone. Happy story at the end. THANK YOU GOD!

Well then! Now you know! Whew! I am currently stitching a gift for my friend. It is looking very cute thus far. It is actually embroidery I am doing.So no pictures of that yet. But we need a poodle right? ;) Ha! At least I do!

My sweet baby girl Mabel.

Have a fabulous day in the Lord my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie