Calendar Poodle SAL

Friday, June 23, 2017

Farm House

Hi friends! I finished Farm House this week. What a pretty sampler this is. It is Madeleine's sampler.
Stitched one over one on 25ct cream Dublin linen
I made many color changes. I used DMC and VMSS I used VMSS Antique Var Lilacs for the birds and VMSS 1795 Faded Celery instead of DMC 833. The purple suggested in DMC, 553,  for the flowers was replaced with 3041 because it was nowhere near the cover picture. 543 was replaced with Ecru so it showed up on my linen. The front door to the house has almost a bluish color to it. I replaced 3799, a solid grey with 3768. It compliments the house color nicely now! The roof color suggested, 3787, was so wrong, I replaced it with 317. Finally, I stitched the windowsills up in 738.

As you can see, Madeleine has quite a long name, so I had to take out a few motifs and one bird. I also moved that remaining bird on the left up one. I once again left off some of the small diamond motifs. I like the simplicity of the sampler better this way when it is stitched one over one.

I am now stitching up BBD The Lily of the Valley. This is a class project from a BBD retreat that our friend Catherine has borrowed me. Thanks again Catherine! 😊 It is such a pretty piece. It does not give the DMC conversions, so I had to look those up. I only had two of the WDW flosses. It took me ages to settle on flosses and linen. Only to discover my perfect linen choice was 28ct not the called for 32ct. I just decided to stitch it one over one on the 28ct. Imagine that, huh?! 😉 I know. I know. So many of you do NOT prefer one over one, but I DO. What can I say? Right Carol?
I just finished an audio book, Songs of Willow Frost and what a good one it was! This was a new author to me. His name is Jamie Ford. This book intrigued me with the main character, a little Chinese boy who is an orphan in a Catholic orphanage. It was just so different than anything else I had read,so I wanted to read it. And it was different. I am glad I read it. It was good and interesting and I learned too.

Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese American boy, has lived at Seattle’s Sacred Heart Orphanage ever since his mother’s listless body was carried away from their small apartment five years ago. On his birthday—or rather, the day the nuns designate as his birthday—William and the other orphans are taken to the historical Moore Theatre, where William glimpses an actress on the silver screen who goes by the name of Willow Frost. Struck by her features, William is convinced that the movie star is his mother, Liu Song.

Determined to find Willow and prove that his mother is still alive, William escapes from Sacred Heart with his friend Charlotte. The pair navigate the streets of Seattle, where they must not only survive but confront the mysteries of William’s past and his connection to the exotic film star. The story of Willow Frost, however, is far more complicated than the Hollywood fantasy William sees onscreen.

Shifting between the Great Depression and the 1920s, Songs of Willow Frost takes readers on an emotional journey of discovery. Jamie Ford’s sweeping novel will resonate with anyone who has ever longed for the comforts of family and a place to call home.
On Tuesday all three of the baby robins left the nest. How fun to watch Mom and Dad Robin teach the little ones how to live out in the big world.
Thank you for your kind words my friends. I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie





30 comments:

Marilyn said...

The Farm House is pretty.
Cute Baby Robin, they are fascinating to watch.
Have a great weekend!
Marilyn

Mii Stitch said...

Beautiful stitching and sweet bird!!

Barbara said...

you amaze me with how fast you are. beautiful

hugs

Stasi said...

The farm house turned out great--love all your changes to make it yours!

marly said...

Very pretty house, love the colors!

MartinaM said...

Dear Vicky, your little Farmhouse looks great, and the changes are nice, love the colors.
Happy Weekend, Martina

Stitchy Mc Floss said...

Lovely stitching sweet friend. Oh such a sweet little bird on the fence. Thank you for the sweet little poodle shot, too! Happy Weekend sweet friend. :)

Robin in Virginia said...

Congratulations on the Farm House finish! I like your color changes, Vickie. Enjoy your weekend!

Manuela said...

Hello Vickie,
I love the farmhouse and I like your colour change.
Have a nice weekend and best wishes Manuela

Linda said...

Congrats on the pretty finish Vickie.

Linda

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Madeleine's house is lovely, a great addition to the sampler.
Both my boy's have long names, makes name plate buying fun!

Barb said...

Your house is beautiful!! I love the way over one looks but my "old" eyes seem to have trouble seeing the small spaces. Looks like you found another good book. Thanks for the review!!

RJ said...

I love your house...quite charming. And your additions are perfect. I also love to stitch one over one and I really like how it looks. Can't wait to see the stitch you are working on that Catherine sent you that sounds so pretty. Beautiful stitching Vickie. Have a lovely weekend. RJ @ stitching friends forever

moreofhim said...

What a gorgeous sampler for Madeline! You have such a beautiful sense of color. The book you read sounds very good and I'll have to put that on my list of books I want to read. The baby robin is adorable! What a blessing to get to see the little ones.

Blessings - Julie

butterfly said...

Beautiful stitching looks beautiful .
Oh what a sweet baby bird.

Kerryp77 said...

What a lovely project. I really enjoy stitching over one on 25/28cts too.

Jenny said...

Oh Vickie how beautiful Farm House is! Love the changes you made ! Just perfect! :)
Isn't it so much fun to watch baby birds leave their nests? One of the birds that nest in our yard...the mother bird follows the baby and still feeds it...on my patio chair...on the bird bath...etc. Watching a baby hummingbird learn to drink from the hummingbird feeder is exciting too!
I hope you have a good weekend my friend!
Sending hugs and love!

Lili said...

Beautiful colours on Madeleine's house, a lovely block!
Your new project is so pretty! Thanks for the blog link, your friend Catherine have such a pretty stitching!
Have a great weekend!

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Congratulations Vickie on your really lovely finish,it is so pretty.
Love your picture of the baby robin.

Justine said...

What a pretty finish, I love the soft colours you chose. Bye bye baby birds!

Beth said...

Wonderful personalize stitching Vickie. How fun to watch the robin family.

Hilda said...

Such a pretty "Farmhouse". You have done a great work on all the floss changes. The result looks so harmoneous and pretty.
And I am admiring everyone who is stitching 1 over 1!

Now I am looking forward to see your "Lilly of the Valley"!

Hugs
Hilda

Andrea said...

Wonderful stitching. Looking forward to seeing the next "over one" piece. You are a gluten for punishment!!

woolwoman said...

I enjoyed your post Vickie - your newest finish is so pretty. I'm someone who doesn't care for over 1 stitching. I was reading what Brenda Gervais wrote in her blog about her new over 1 series and thought - yeah - I can probably do that *IF* I want to but not sure I do. I just ordered a new Stella light so we'll see if that makes dramatic difference. I think my eyes are just getting tired but I've had my Daylight for almost 10 years and I'm sure lights are improving.
Have a great week - Mel

Brigitte said...

Oh, great to see that another house is finished, Vickie. And you were doing well with all the colour changes. It looks very harmonious. Good luck with your new BBD project. Somehow it does't surprise me that you stitch it over one, lol.

Margaret said...

Love Madeleine's sampler! She has the same problem I do -- a long name. lol! I love Jamie Ford. He writes good books and even answered a fan email from me once. :D

Carol said...

Madeleine's square turned out so beautifully, Vickie! (I do love her name, too!) Glad you were able to fit it in... Your color choices are wonderful and I like the simplicity of it without the additional motifs. Yes, over one isn't most people's cup of tea, but we love it :)

Happy July to you!

Maggee said...

Another lovely finish! I love the purple change... 3041 is my favorite color! I just added another book to my reading list... Unfortunately, not many have been at my library. Sigh... Hope you are doing well!

Sarah in Stitches said...

Gorgeous stitching! I'm sure Madeleine loves it (I'm not sure I've ever said this, but I love her name! What a great choice) :D

Astrids dragon said...

Oooh, I love the Farm House, the colours look wonderful!
That sounds like a sweet book, might be another one to put on my list.
Adorable Robin picture, he was posing for you.