Matroyshka and Poodles

Hi friends! It has turned cold, windy and rainy here. blech!

That darned frog came to visit over the weekend. Rats! Of course I noticed the problem AFTER I was halfway done stitching the back of the matroyshka. All over one on 28ct. puh! So after many frustrating sessions of ripping out and fixing it back up again, she is done!

I decided to whip stitch this little doll closed. I hand sewed the last matroyshka that was half this size. I think hand sewing the smaller one was easier!

This is the back I designed for her. I used the same flower pattern from the front. This freebie can be found HERE.

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I used a coordinating fabric to cover a little washer for her base. I hot glued this in place.

I used all DMC for her. I used B5200 instead of white,and also used 948, 894 and 304 instead of the called for numbers, because I liked them better. ;) Love this color combination.

I am trying to get time in on Jacob's ornament.

I finished Salt Of The Earth by Saint Paul Florensky in one week. It was a good book on the life of a saint. My favorite quote from this saint is, "A kind man will lend freely to God, and God will pay for everything." Father Isadore.

I found this fun pincushion from 1958 on Etsy. ♥

 I found these match boxes with matches still in them from the 50's/60's, on Ebay. ♥

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your kind words and friendship.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Matroyshkas And Stuff

Hi friends! I am stitching a sweet little matroyshka. This is a different pattern than the one I made last year. Remember her?
 
 Well, it was hard for me to do, because I love this little doll, but I gave her to a friend from church for her birthday. My friend is Ukrainian and she collects matroyshkas. I knew she did not have one like this. ;) She likes her very much and I know this little doll has a good home. =) I will make myself another. Yep! Just not right now. ;) Here is the one I am going to make up in the same way.

This precious little doll is a freebie you can find right HERE.

I decided to stitch up a back for this doll, instead of using fabric. The little doll up top, I used coordinating fabric for the back.  Stitching a back is taking a long time! Ugh!

I do have a finish this week. This is Emerson's Christmas ornament this year.

Not the most exciting stitching. Especially using  only DMC 311. I did it all in half cross stitch because it is stitched over one on 45ct linen. I had to, to make it fit the silver 2-inch frame.  I used an alphabet, I modified a little, that I found in my 365 Alphabets by Kooler Design Studio. Madeleine and Emerson's ornaments are done! Now I have begun Jacob's.

I listened to Ted Dekker's new book on CD from the library. FABULOUS! If you have never read a book by Ted before, go read this one! He is my favorite author. "He is known for adrenaline-laced plots with incredible confrontations between good and evil."  This is "a sweeping epic set in the harsh deserts of Arabia and ancient Palestine. A war that rages between kingdoms on the earth and in the heart. The harrowing journey of the woman at the center of it all. Step back in time to the year of our Lord...".

Yes, I am still going to share with you about this book. Two of my favorite snippets.
"Yeshua's(Jesus') Way is surrendering what we think we know about the Father so we can truly know Him. It is the great reversal of all that we think will give us significance and meaning in this life so we can live with more peace and power than we have yet imagined."
"Clarity came to me like the clearing of dark clouds. In Him! Not by believing the truth about Him, but by surrendering to Him and trusting in Him, I would have no need to protect myself from this or any storm. Would it then matter what happened to me, if my life was submitted to him?"

Jacob thanks all of you who have wished him a Happy Birthday! =) It was! This is the cake I made him. He requested marble cake. I found a new recipe for fudge frosting. It was perfect. It was NOT overly sweet. I cannot stand overly sweet frosting on my cakes.

Stitching and  praying,
Vickie

First Two Finishes Of The Year

Hi fr fr friends! I am freezing. School was closed yesterday and is again today! The last day of school the kids had was December 20th! They don't mind extending their Christmas vacation.Yesterday it was -16º with a -45º wind chill. Today is just as cold so far. It will begin warming up tomorrow. It will get up to a whole 10º!! ;) Our bathroom sink pipe froze. Brian got her going again. He also did some work to prevent this from ever happening again.

Wanna see my first two little, sweet finishes I have for this year?

Are they not absolutely adorable?! I made very, very minor changes to the patterns found in Sam Hawkins' 520 Christmas Cross Stitch Designs. They were supposed to be white and grey lambs. Drop the hooves, shorten the ear a bit, and bammo! You got yourself poodles.

one over one on 28ct mystery green and hand dyed Santa's Suit linen

I had two more of these copper rectangle charm frames from Darice, found at JoAnn. Perfect. The linen tends to want to shift between the glass, right when you are ready to clamp it shut for good, but an easy finish. I used the fabric you see above them for the backing. That is the only piece of it I have left. I guess it is good to save scraps after all. ;)Yes, they are hanging out with the rest of the dogs on the Christmas tree. =)

I wanted to show you a picture of my Christmas gift from Brian. It is a hand painted matroyshka from Russia. She is called girl with pink roses. He said he knew THAT was the one for me. ;)

 She is wonderful. I love her.

I have been back at stitching Theotokos. And reading.  I finished reading Lost Mission by Athol Dickson on New Year's Eve. That was a very good book. I am now reading A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert. This is fictionalized history about the life of Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter. I am really liking it so far.

I am staying inside again!! Keep warm my friends.♥ Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your kind words of encouragement.

Stitching and reading and praying,
Vickie

Matryoshka

Good Morning friends! It is supposed to get above freezing tomorrow. Yay! It has not been above freezing in weeks. Today is the funeral service for Brian's 94 year old grandmother, my MIL's mother. This is the grandma that we took Henry to visit last month. It is a blessing for her to go Home. She had advanced dementia.

Do you remember the freebie I stitched last month. She has been waiting for some finishing. Once I realized she could not live in my snow globe, I knew what I wanted to do with her. Check it out.

Isn't she just adorable this way? I love her. Yes I do!

She is stitched one over one on 28ct evenweave with DMC 815. I hand stitched her to the backing fabric. Turning her right side out was challenging. She is so tiny! I had applied Fray Check to the edges of the evenweave. Very glad I did that! I covered a tiny washer with a bit of matching fabric. And hot glued it in place. I was going to use a dime for the base, but that was too big!!

I found 3 thimbles on ebay recently. Two of them were pewter and I could care less about them. It was the third one listed as " a metal poodle thimble" that I wanted. I felt guilty for a bit, since I knew, just knew this was an unmarked silver poodle thimble I have been wanting for half a year. They rarely come up on ebay or etsy. When they do, they sell for more than I want to pay. However if you persevere and are a poodle nut like me, you watch and wait! Some of them are marked sterling or .925. This thimble came to us as dark as the pewter ones. I got out the silver cleaner and went to work. It took a lot of work, but just look at it now! =)

Love. LOVE. LOVE!!! All three thimbles were bought for the total of $6.00. Hooray! Deals still can be found!

We still have to shop for a few of the children from the Dove Tree. We will do that today.

We all went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug last night! Wahoo! What a great movie! I was not ready for it to end. And it was 161 minutes long!

Have a super day friends! I am hoping all is merry and bright in your world. Take care!

Stitching and baking and praying,
Vickie