Carpenter🔨

Hi friends! Remember the Christmas ornament I stitched for Emerson at the beginning of September?I finally fully finished it this weekend.

This was stitched two over two with the called for DMC on mystery 29 count linen.

This is from 501 Cross Stitch Designs by Sam Hawkins. When I thought about finishing it, I realized I had the perfect fabric in my stash. I had it for years and never used it. I just bought it because I like it so much!😊

I finished stitching my mom's angel. I will share that with you once I have it fully finished. I am trying to motivate myself here!!🤨Let's see if it works!

I also am stitching the November poodle. I have to! It has to be done AND CHARTED BY NOVEMBER 1ST!!🐩

Our friend Marly sent me these two pretty pink antique linen hand towels. I plan to use them in crafting.  Thank you Marly!

Have any of you read The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes? I liked the historical fiction part. Not as much the part of the book that took part in today's time.
Paris, World War I. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born. 
 
Almost a century later in London, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.

I am so glad you stopped by today. I hope you have a wonderful week. 

"‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’" -Jeremiah 29:11

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Stitchin'

Hi friends! I have the finished November wreath for the cubby shelf to share with you.

Aren't these mums beautiful? I love them. This was stitched one over one on 25ct white Zweigart Dublin linen with the called for DMC. This pattern can be found HERE

So.....does anyone remember the Bluegrass Denim Overalls from 2015/2016???? The overalls owned by my baby brother Jonathan? They are covered by 31 BLUEGRASS ARTISTS' AUTOGRAPHS!!! All in black sharpie, all embroidered by ME!!!!! Yeah. That was not fun. Just saying. Well, my best friend Heather calls these overalls the traveling pants, and they have been traveling. 😭More autographs for me to embroider. You know that song, "This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on, my friend."?😨 Well, this PROJECT  IS NEVER GOING TO END, IS IT?!?!

I sat myself down and did the easiest autograph right away.

Yes, my brother says thank you numerous times. No, he does not truly realize how many hours and hours it takes to do all of these.

I am now stitching an angel pattern for my mom's Christmas ornament.

I bought a new pattern. I have been trying to resist, but I keep seeing our friends Barb and Lainey on Instagram stitch it and well, I caved.

I am not starting this yet. I am dedicated to Christmas ornament stitching AND finishing the December wreath, and the last two poodles for the year first. When I begin this I will be stitching this one over one on 28 count Bo Peep Pink linen, which is sort of a very pale peachy pink.

The other morning I saw this beautiful sunrise over Main Street while taking Henry out very early.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Thank you for stopping by today. I am so very glad you did! I appreciate your comments. Less and less people take the time to leave comments nowadays, SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH for taking the time and effort to do so!!!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Thank You

Hi friends,
I am sharing this message, given to me, to share with you all, by our dear friend Jenny.

Dearest Stitching Friends,

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you so very, very much for all the love, support , friendship and prayers that you have shown to me and my family during my husband’s cancer battle. They brought so much comfort to not only me but to Scott. He was so very touched that all of you were praying for our family. It really meant so very much to us both. I know that his journey did not end the way we wanted it to. Scott is now in Heaven with our Lord and Savior. My children Andrew and Emily as well as myself are heartbroken that Scott is no longer here with us on this earth and we miss him in all the little things, in all the big things and in every breath we take. However your love and support and your prayers are holding us up. They are giving us the strength we need to face each and every day. For that I am still so very thankful. It is really a special gift when friends come together over something that they love. We have all come together over our love of stitching. Scott was a huge supporter of my needlework and was constantly involved in one way or another with all the projects that I would make. He treasured the gifts that I would stitch for him whether it was a cross stitched stocking or a quilt. The last gift I stitched for him was his Christmas ornament last year. It was the Hometown Holiday Train Station from Little House Needleworks. You see when Scott and I were dating ( we have been together since we were 19 ) he lived in San Diego and I lived in Van Nuys, about 3 hours north of San Diego. We would take the Amtrak train to see each other instead of driving the busy L.A. freeways. He loved that ornament because of those special memories that we shared and now of course it is beyond priceless to me. Just as all of you are beyond priceless to me. You have walked with us during this difficult journey. You have prayed for us, sent cards, shown love and friendship and cried with us. I treasure each and every one of you and feel so very blessed to not only find you on stitching blogs but to call you my friends. So thank you my dear friends! I am sending lots of hugs and love your way.

Love,
Jenny



We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—  always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So then death is working in us, but life in you.  And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,  knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.  For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Seeing the Invisible  Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,  while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:8-18

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

🐦🐦🐦

Hi friends! I want to thank you so much for leaving caring messages on my last post about Scott. That means so very much to me and especially to Jenny. She will eventually see those messages and she will be so comforted by your loving words and your prayers. Thank you!❤️

I have a finish to share with you. Another one for the cubby shelf. It is a free pattern that was offered earlier this year on the Atelier Soed Idee website, but I no longer see it there. I am sorry about that. This is why I print off free patterns right away if I know I am planning to stitch them. Do you also print them off?

I was drawn to this free pattern because I feed the birds outside our kitchen window every morning. We only get sparrows and house finches here at the apartment, but I have found joy in my little visitors. If they run out of seed, they look in at me!👀

I changed every single color on this. I wanted it to look like me.😉That required adding some hair! The lady was bald! Also, you know there had to be pink!! I used VMSS The Perfect Rose for the House Finches. I like it a lot!

As I type this up, they are on the window sill eating once again. I have tried to get decent pictures several times. It is so hard through the window and screen and they scare off easily when I am standing there taking the picture.

This is stitched one over one on 25ct Bo Peep Pink Zweigart Lugana with VMSS and DMC.

If you want to see the current free patterns available on this website go HERE

I am now back to stitching the November wreath. It is gorgeous. Lovely mums!!

Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate was recommended to me by our friend Carol. She and her mother read it! I KNEW I had to read it then! I am very glad I did. It is historical fiction and it is one of THE best books I read this year. I highly recommend you read it.

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

My neck and shoulder are almost better. It is hard to believe that I suffered whiplash from driving with my MIL in August and still am suffering from it. I have been receiving a deep massage from my original physical therapist named Leigh once weekly for the last month. This is about to end. I will continue on with gentle exercises at home by myself. She tells me it will just take time for the nerves to settle.

I hope you have a wonderful week my friends. I am so glad you stopped by! Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Scott

Dear Faithful Friends,

There have been so many of you who have kept Scott, Jenny, Andrew and Emily in your prayers and thoughts through these last four months.

Scott passed away early this morning. Jenny, Andrew and Emily are heart broken. Will you please keep them in prayer? They need us now more than ever. Jenny is still battling breast cancer. They have a hard road ahead.

While Jenny, Andrew, and Emily of course grieve, they know that Scott is no longer suffering. They know that he is in Heaven. They are assured of his salvation. Scott was a Christian. He was a LCMS Pastor. All you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and repent of your sins my friends.

Perhaps you may like to read THIS POST Jenny did on her blog about her and Scott two years ago.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.  John 14:1-6

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Sampling Thanksgiving

Hi friends! I wanted to post sooner. It has been very rainy and dreary here. I could not get any decent pictures of my finish at all. I had to wait. So here I am now. Let me share my latest finish with you.

This is Lizzie Kate's Sampling Thanksgiving. So cute, isn't it? I have placed it in the same frame that I had  Lizzie Kate's A Little Beach on display this summer.

I stitched this with all the called for DMC and the called for WDW onyx.  I stitched it two over two on one of my mystery 30 count linens.

I have a proposition for you. Do any of you want this pattern? I have obviously used the acorn charm that comes with the pattern. Here is what I would like. I would like to give this chart to someone who would give me Lizzie Kate Merry String in exchange.

Or perhaps any one of the Lizzie Kate Flip It Months. How does that strike you?  Let me know in your comment or email me. 😊


I am stitching up the November wreath for the cubby shelf.

I watch Barb and Leanne from "Lost In Floss"/Flosstube, they live right here in Southeastern Wisconsin. Barb has great success going to her Goodwill store. She finds wonderful cross stitch stash and other cool finds. So I went this weekend. Thought I would give it a try. I had not gone in half a year to look for "good stuff". Our Goodwill store reeks of mildew and it triggers migraines for me. Unfortunately scents really affect me. Anyhow, you wanna know my GREAT find?? A 50 cent kit. Complete with hoop, aida, needle, floss and pattern. For a happy face poop emoji!!!

Um, no thanks! Barb has all the luck!

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen was a great book. I love all the books in the "A Royal Spyness Mystery"series. They are fun and keep you guessing. I love the characters in the series as well.
In the days leading up to her wedding to Darcy O'Mara, Lady Georgiana Rannoch takes on the responsibilities of a grand estate, but proving she can run a household just may be the death of her in the new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service.

If only Darcy and I had eloped! What I thought would be a simple wedding has been transformed into a grand affair, thanks to the attendance of the queen, who has offered up the princesses as bridesmaids. Silly me! I thought that withdrawing from the royal line of succession would simplify my life. But before Darcy and I tie the knot in front of queen and country, we have to find a place to live as man and wife...

House hunting turns out to be a pretty grim affair. Just as we start to lose hope, my globetrotting godfather offers us his fully staffed country estate. Mistress of Eynsleigh I shall be! With Darcy off in parts unknown, I head to Eynsleigh alone, only to have my hopes dashed. The grounds are in disarray and the small staff is suspiciously incompetent. Not to mention the gas tap leak in my bedroom, which I can only imagine was an attempt on my life. Something rotten is afoot--and bringing the place up to snuff may put me six feet under before I even get a chance to walk down the aisle...

🙏🙏🙏
My friends, Scott's health is failing. He is in the hospital hooked up to a machine to help him breathe.Please pray for him, Jenny, and his two adult children, Andrew and Emily, in this very, very difficult time.
🙏🙏🙏
I hope you have a wonderful week my friends! Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate all of your comments and I reply to all of them, as long as you are not "no-reply".

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." -Luke 19:10

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

October Poodle

Hi friends! I have stitched the October poodle and charted it up too!

I  stitched it on a piece of 32 count mystery linen given to me by our friend Barbara quite a while ago. I thought it had a nice autumn glow to it. I stitched this all two over two using DMC.

The poodle's nose and eye are French Knots made with 839.

When Through Deep Waters by Rachelle Dekker was a let down for me. I read it because I wanted it to be good. Rachelle's dad is Ted Dekker, one of my very favorite authors. I guess, just because your dad is an awesome writer, that does not make you an awesome writer. Rachelle is a good writer. Just not awesome. I was disappointed that she used fictional concepts from her dad's stories and put them right into her stories.
Alicen McCaffrey finally has the life her mother always dreamed for her: beautiful home in Santa Monica, successful husband, adorable daughter. Then tragedy blows her carefully assembled façade to pieces. Worse yet―Alicen feels solely responsible. At rock bottom, she decides to accompany a childhood friend back to Red Lodge, Montana, where they spent summers together as kids.

The peaceful mountain landscape, accented with lush forests and small-town charm, brings back happy memories of time spent with her beloved, eccentric Grandma Josephine. Alicen begins to hope that perhaps things could be different here. Perhaps the oppressive guilt will lift―if only for a moment.

But when Alicen starts hearing voices and seeing mysterious figures near the river in the woods, she begins to fear she’s completely lost her sanity, as it’s rumored her grandmother did. Or might there be more to Red Lodge than meets the eye? Could the voices and visions be real―and her only means of finding the healing she so desperately needs? Or will they prove to be her final undoing?

I am working on a small Lizzie Kate piece right now. Bridget, my physical therapist,has given me the go ahead to stitch once again. I am improving, as far as feeling less pain daily in my neck and shoulder.

I hope you have a wonderful week. The weather has certainly turned cooler here. We are having highs around sixty degrees with rain most days this week.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie