Calendar Poodle SAL

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

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


22 comments:

Margaret said...

The cat you made for Shirlee is amazing! So cute! Never heard of Ghiordes Knots before. Interesting! Also interesting about Ginko trees I had no idea the fruits were stinky. Ew! lol! Nice stash you found too! And hooray on the pain! Continued prayers of course. :D

Carol said...

Such an adorable gift for Shirlee, Vickie--I saw it on her blog and could tell how tickled she was with it! I don't think we have Ginko trees around here--not sure the smelly fruits would be welcome either!

Such great stash--I am amazed you got all those goodies for less than $4.00!!

Hope your pain continues to lesson and enjoy this truly lovely fall day :)

Barb said...

Oh Vickie that cat is absolutely fabulous. I may need to go search for a book lol. Thanks for the comment on my blog by the way , I loved the Cottage tales just need something to replace them now.
The tree is just so glorious ,however I do not like your description of female traits.
Hope the visit to the dentist was painfree and well done on your bargains.

Poussy Stitches My Love said...

oh j'adore vos photos, beautiful pictures


bisous my friend from FRANCE

Sally said...

Love the kitty you made!!

cucki said...

aww i love the kitty so much..
so cuteee
hugs xx

Samplers, Silks and Linens said...

adorable pussycat! and fab thrift store buys - now about that gingko tree - yes the fruit smells but it is not the fruit that is eaten but rather the nut inside - and i assure you the nut taste rather nice - a little bit sweet - fairly common here in Taiwan - supposed to have health benefits though not sure what - i mainly come across them in both sweet and savoury dishes at weddings and special occasion dinners - that and shark fins - but thats a whole nother story!

Michelle said...

Cute gift for Shirlee and such great stash at a great price!

Krista said...

What a sweet gift you made for Shirlee, love the fringe look of it.
You found some great new stash, Earth Threads had some very nice patterns. I went to one of Betsy Stinner's classes and I was hooked on the historical background of samplers after that, she really detailed it so well I am glad are feeling much better.

Michelle said...

Wow wonderful new stash well done. Love the kitty you made x

Annette-California said...

Vickie the kitty you made for Shirlee is so amazing. I got to see it on her blog yesterday & you made very happy. I had not heard of the Ghiordes Knots. Very pretty finish. And your finds? wow you did really good. I still am praying for you everyday...I pray for all your pain to go away:)
love Annette

Maggee said...

I saw the kitty on Shirlee's blog too... very cute! You did so well at that thrift store!! Great finds!! Hugs!

Nicola said...

You had an amazing bargain on the SANQ magazines, i have never seen a Ginko tree before, they look magnificent but how weird that they smell of dog poo.

marly said...

Love that cat. I used to do a similar stitch but can't remember how. Beautiful tree!

Giovanna said...

I'm glad you're feeling better. The cat finish is gorgeous, and what great finds at the thrift store :-)

Chris said...

Hey Vickie!!
I am so glad that your pain is better. The gift for Shirlee is just wonderful. So sweet and such a different technique.
The tree is beautiful.
You scored at the thrift shop!!!
Happy Thursday!

Parsley said...

The tree...WOW! And your thrift find...WOW! I think I need to go shopping with YOU! lol My hubby read that book. It's on my list.

Janet P said...

Loved Shirlee's cat, when embroidering a bee I used ghiordes knots, they are very effective. Snap I had a visit to the dentist this week for a checkup, but no bargains for me!

Kathy Ellen said...

Shirlee must be thrilled with the fabulous kitty you created for her! What great things you found in the thrift shop for almost pennies!
The Ginko Tree is amazing. Thank you for sharing so much detail about it.

Blessings!

merumo said...

What a wonderful find you got! Good for you :) Your post makes me to feel like I need to plan to hit the thrift store some time soon...

Melanie said...

You always find the best little bargains. :)

What a cute little kitty! It's a great little gift. I bet she will love it! Not sure I would have the patience for all those knots. WOW.

Meari said...

Great thrift store finds! I love picking up older frames... they're inexpensive and made of wood... especially the ornate ones.

Love the photo of the tree. I don't think I'd like my shoes smelling of dog poop either, but at least it wouldn't be the real thing. LOL