🐝🐝🐝

Hi friends! I have a finish to share with you from last week. Here is August-Beeskep from Rainbow Gallery, the 2005 Cross Stitcher's Surprise Series.

I chose my own DMC colors. The Rainbow Gallery charted background colors were purple and green! I kinda think this gives it more of a golden honey feel. Don't you agree?🍯Since I did not have the three tiny bee charms, I stitched three tiny bees!🐝 I stitched this one over one on 25ct cream evenweave. This is all ready for the cubby shelf for the August display!

I will be back very soon with Emerson's gift! I did receive the floss from California from Annette. It was a good match. I was already stitching Madeleine's gift, so I kept at it, and finished hers! Her birthday is the 31st. I plan on finishing Emerson's today. Then I will frame it. I wanted to share my little bee finish and ask you this⤵️

My stepfather, Jim has just been diagnosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer. Since this is a very aggressive cancer, he started chemo the next day. He has very bad heartburn thus far. He will begin radiation soon also. He will have an MRI of his brain to determine if it has gone there. And a PET scan of his body. The oncologist said it is curable IF it is caught early. He had a MRI of his chest 4 months ago actually and nothing was there. We hope and pray this IS early. Would YOU pray with us? God bless you. Thank you❣️

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

Thank you for stopping by today. I am very glad you did. I hope and pray you have a blessed Sunday my friends.🤗

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Stitchin'

Hi friends! I do NOT have Emerson's gift to share with you today. ☹️ I ordered the floss I ran out of from 123Stitch and it was a horrid match. My floss was at least 8 years old. This new hand dyed floss "of the same color" was a teal color. Yes, the floss is called Milady's Teal, but my two skeins were GREY! I even asked when I bought them at my LNS (back then I had a LNS!!) why on earth it is called Milady's Teal. The owner of the shop said she had no idea either. Well, when I got the new floss, I figured it right out alright!! I am NOT stitching Emerson's tools teal. This is what I am stitching. Ink Circles Arranging Tools.

Is that not perfect for a carpenter son of a stitcher?! I did show him what I have done thus far, since his birthday was on the 20th. He does like it. Or in the words of a twenty-three year old young man, "That's cool. I like it."

I have been rescued by our friend Annette. She has a skein of Milady's Teal that appears to be a perfect match in the mail on it's way to me now! Thank you once again Annette!

In the meantime, I am stitching the August Rainbow Gallery piece for my cubby shelf while Madeleine is home, and stitching her birthday gift while she is not.😉

The winner of the Land of the Free by Elizabeth's Designs 🦅 pattern is: our friend Linda!

I have a new giveaway for you my friends!

This is a pattern that was given to me by our friend Robin. If you would like this pattern, you must: be a sidebar follower of mine, and leave a comment on this post stating that you would like this pattern. I will draw a name on Monday, July 29th.

“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.” Psalm 25:15

I hope you have a super week my friends! I am grateful for our friendship!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

💌Happy Mail💌

Hi friends! I would like to show you happy mail I received this week.

I sent our friend Barb a patriotic pattern recently. She kindly sent me this one in return❣️

Thank you once again Barb! This is a pattern I have long admired. I look forward to stitching it!

Our friend Cathy sent me this adorable patriotic pattern.

She was having a giveaway, and I was the winner! Thank you once again Cathy! I look forward to stitching this cutie up!

On the next blog post I will share the winner of my current giveaway(scroll back to see and enter!) and announce yet another giveaway!😍

I will also share my completed cross stitch gift for Emerson. A perfect stitched gift for a carpenter if I must say so myself.🤭

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:22-26

Thank you for stopping by, I am so glad you did! Stay cool!😎

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

🎶"It's you I like"🎶

Hi friends! I have three tiny finishes from last week to share with you. I made these for my adult children. They know of my great love and respect for Mr. Rogers. He honestly was a rock in my unstable, violent childhood.

This is a free pattern made available by Diana and Michelle on Instagram. If you also would like this pattern to stitch you can find it HERE

If you have never seen Mr. Rogers, here is a very short video of him singing the exact song that I stitched.

I am now stitching furiously away on an Ink Circles pattern for Emerson's birthday present.

Oh this book! Did you read Kitchen House the first book? Glory Over Everything is the sequel to Kitchen House and this is just as excellent a read! I highly recommend both books!
The latest New York Times bestseller from the author of the beloved book club favorite The Kitchen House is a heart racing story about a man’s treacherous journey through the twists and turns of the Underground Railroad on a mission to save the boy he swore to protect. Glory Over Everything is “gripping…breathless until the end” (Kirkus Reviews). The year is 1830 and Jamie Pyke, a celebrated silversmith and notorious ladies’ man, is keeping a deadly secret. Passing as a wealthy white aristocrat in Philadelphian society, Jamie is now living a life he could never have imagined years before when he was a runaway slave, son of a southern black slave and her master. But Jamie’s carefully constructed world is threatened when he discovers that his married socialite lover, Caroline, is pregnant and his beloved servant Pan, to whose father Jamie owes his own freedom, has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. Fleeing the consequences of his deceptions, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation to save Pan from the life he himself barely escaped as a boy. With the help of a fearless slave, Sukey, who has taken the terrified young boy under her wing, Jamie navigates their way, racing against time and their ruthless pursuers through the Virginia backwoods, the Underground Railroad, and the treacherous Great Dismal Swamp.

Thank you very much for taking time to visit me today. I appreciate you leaving comments! I hope you have a great week my friends!

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

🌷🌸💙

Hi friends! I have a very sweet finish to share with you! This is a free pattern too!

You can find this free pattern HERE

I finished this into a flatfold using the time trusted tutorial given to us by our friend Vonna

I am now working on tiny, little gifts for my three kids.😊

Jim Qwilleran and his cats, Koko and Yum Yum, have a close encounter with a killer in this mystery in the bestselling Cat Who series. UFOs in Mooseville? Rumors abound that a missing backpacker has been abducted, and it looks like Jim Qwilleran’s sedate summer may be interrupted by an investigation—with the help of his own little aliens, Koko and Yum Yum. And when the backpacker’s body turns up—and transplanted Floridian Owen Bowen is found dead soon afterward—the search for intelligent life turns into a hunt for a murderer...

When a visiting estate jeweler is found dead, prizewinning reporter Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, must do their best to find the purr-petrator in this delightful novel in the New York Times bestselling Cat Who series. As the Highland Games approach, Jim Qwilleran and the citizens of Pickax, Michigan, prepare to celebrate their Scottish heritage with such evens as bagpipe skirling and tossing the caber. But the traditional revelry is marred by troublesome rumors when a visiting jewelery dealer, renowned for his romantic streak (and his mysterious cash-only policy), is found dead in his hotel room. His assistant is missing—and soon, the winner of the caber-tossing content disappears as well. Qwilleran and his snooping Siamese are willing to go to any lengths to find the killer and set the town at ease. But first they'll have to contend with a highjacked bookmobile and an attempted bank robbery. Qwill has a lot of mysteries to sort out—not the least of which is Koko's sudden interest in photographs, pennies, and paper towels...

Hooray! Hooray! I have read two more of The Cat Who.. books! I just love this series and will miss it terribly when I am done. How are you and Nathan enjoying the first book Astrid?

 I have a giveaway going. Check out my last post for that.

“The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18

Thank you for stopping by today friends! I am so glad you did. You brighten my day with your words of encouragement!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

💖💙💖

Hi friends! I have another patriotic finish to share with you. Land of the Free by Elizabeth's Designs 🦅

Love this satin stitched border so much!💖💙This kit was a gift given to me by our friend Robin Thank you Robin❣️This will be for the July pedestal frame. This was stitched on mystery 32ct linen, two over two with the provided overydyed flosses and DMC.

Would you like to stitch this? I am giving this pattern away now. There are just tiny, little pieces of the overdyed floss left. And the eagle charm has been used on my piece above obviously, but this is for the chart only. You must be a sidebar follower of my blog, and you must leave a comment on this post stating you would like this chart.  I will draw the name of the winner on Monday, July 22nd.

I am now stitching a sweet freebie.

The winner of the Lizzie Kate Fip It Blocks With Charm July chart is:  RJ!

I just got done listening to The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz. I checked this audio book out from my library totally based on the title alone! This is a true story of a British POW in Auschwitz who traded places with a Jew on several occasions. Just unbelievable, except it really happened! He could not talk about it until he was an old man.
The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into the concentration camp, Buna-Monowitz, known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944, Denis Avey was being held in a British POW labour camp, E715, near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could. He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate and smuggled himself into his sector of the camp. He spent the night there on two occasions and experienced at first-hand the cruelty of a place where slave workers, had been sentenced to death through labor. Astonishingly, he survived to witness the aftermath of the Death March where thousands of prisoners were murdered by the Nazis as the Soviet Army advanced. After his own long trek right across central Europe he was repatriated to Britain. For decades he couldn't bring himself to revisit the past that haunted his dreams, but now Denis Avey feels able to tell the full story—a tale as gripping as it is moving—which offers us a unique insight into the mind of an ordinary man whose moral and physical courage are almost beyond belief.

“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’” Luke 9:23-24

Thank you my friends for stopping by. I truly appreciate your kind words. I hope you have a great week!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

⭐💖Happy Fourth of July!💖⭐

Hi friends! I have a patriotic finish to share with you. This has been done for two weeks!

I wanted to wait to show you until I had it framed. 5x5 frames lie! I picked up a 5x5 frame from Michael's and the opening was truly 4 1/2 x 4 1/2. I ordered one from Walmart and it was the same thing! Three frames later... I just got a 6x6 Mill Hill frame and the opening is 5 1/2x 5 1/2🙃 Whatever! It works for me, so I am happy!

I stitched this one over one with DMC and VMSS Tarnished Gold on 32ct cream linen. I am very happy with my remake of the Bald Eagle. 🦅

See the pattern.

 And I had to take out the cat and put in a 🐩 Me and my Henry❣️

To all my American friends: Happy Fourth of July!!

"in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Stitching and praying,
Vickie