Hands On Design October Redesign

Hi friends! I finally have the October "A Year of Celebrations" finish to share with you. I need to say it is by Hands On Design/ Cathy Habermann and by me! Why? Well take a look HERE at what the October pattern is supposed to look like. Now take a look at what a HUGE change I made to my October piece.

WAY different isn't it? That is because we do not celebrate Halloween at our house. This very month and pattern is the reason I am stitching these up so late. They did come out in 2014! I saw the October pattern and decided I would not do the patterns after all. But I kept seeing the cute monthly patterns and I really wanted to stitch them. I finally decided to make up my own for October!

I stitched this on 25ct New Khaki Lugana, one over one with DMC. I used mankaminta.blogspot.com for the maple leaves in the borders.

I can no longer find this blog. I had this pattern printed out 5 years ago! I also used many sweet fall motifs I have had printed out, just waiting to be used from this site CLICK HERE  The oak leaves I got from Erik Shipley's Patchwork Trees pattern that appears in the same issue this October Hands On Design pattern appeared in: Cross Stitch & Needlework November 2014.

It took me ages to come up with a fall word. I finally decided on crisp. I wanted pumpkin, but could not fit it.

Here are my three October pieces I got to display together for the last couple of days of the month. ;)

 I am not sure what I will stitch next. I will have a look at what I have waiting for me.

Today is our Jacob's 22nd birthday! :) I am not sure how that happened. This is the first year we did not have family over for cake. Just the five of us for carrot cake I made. I just was not up to it. This anemia thing. If I exert myself in the least, I lose my breath. The doctors say it will just take time for my bone marrow to crank out more red blood cells with my increased iron intake. Okay. Good thing Jacob is very understanding. Everyone is. And loving.♥

Thank you for stopping in today. I hope you have a great week!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Two Down, One To Go!

Hi friends! I have the stitching done for Emerson's Christmas ornament. His is two sided also. His ornament frame is a gift from our friend Nienke as well. :)

Now isn't he a cutie?! This pattern is called 'Let It Snow' by Plum Pudding NeedleArt. You can find this pattern in the JCS 2013 Christmas Ornaments Issue. I stitched it on a mystery piece of pale blue 28ct linen, two over two with DMC.

And I thought getting the stitched linen to sit perfectly within the metal heart frame for Madeleine's ornament was fun! The star was even more challenging. I used iron-on interfacing for all four pieces, and I am very glad I did!!

Remember this little guy I showed you? Just precious. This pattern is called 'Baby Cardinal' by The Victoria Sampler. This pattern is found in the exact same magazine as mentioned above(2013). I stitched this on 28ct light mocha linen, two over two with DMC and VMSS Valentine Red.

Well I finally finished Fates and Traitors by Jennifer Chiaverini. You may recall this is the author Brian and I saw at our public library last month. She read a bit from this very book and spoke about it. I began reading this book, got about 25% done, then the audio version came from the library, so I switched to listening to it while I stitched.

This is an excellent book. I don't know if I would say I enjoyed it. Strange right? Well, it is about the life of John Wilkes Booth. Now WHO likes him?! That is what made it strange. This is an historical fiction book. So it was very interesting to learn many things I never knew about his life. However, since the man murdered Abraham Lincoln, you just don't like him, plain and simple.

The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker returns with a riveting work of historical fiction following the notorious John Wilkes Booth and the four women who kept his perilous confidence.

John Wilkes Booth, the mercurial son of an acclaimed British stage actor and a Covent Garden flower girl, committed one of the most notorious acts in American history—the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

The subject of more than a century of scholarship, speculation, and even obsession, Booth is often portrayed as a shadowy figure, a violent loner whose single murderous act made him the most hated man in America. Lost to history until now is the story of the four women whom he loved and who loved him in return: Mary Ann, the steadfast matriarch of the Booth family; Asia, his loyal sister and confidante; Lucy Lambert Hale, the senator’s daughter who adored Booth yet tragically misunderstood the intensity of his wrath; and Mary Surratt, the Confederate widow entrusted with the secrets of his vengeful plot.

Fates and Traitors brings to life pivotal actors—some willing, others unwitting—who made an indelible mark on the history of our nation. Chiaverini portrays not just a soul in turmoil but a country at the precipice of immense change.

 I am working on an October piece! I should have done this one up before the Christmas ornaments. I usually am so very orderly in my work, but, well, not this time. ;) I will share this finish with you next time.

Oh yes! I did not have those scope tests done. They are to be done on Wednesday. They scheduled me at a facility that my insurance will not cover. So now that is corrected and I wait a little bit.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement my friends! I hope you have a stitchtastic weekend!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

One Down, Two To Go!

Hi friends! I am so happy to have one of the ornaments DONE. Madeleine's is stitched up and mounted. Here, have a look!

Rats! I see the very bottom tip shifted on me again. I spent many minutes arranging this stitched linen in this beautiful metal ornament. I will have to shift the tip of the heart over just a little bit. No problem. This heart ornament is a gift from our friend Nienke. Thank you Nienke!

This pattern is called 'Always In My Heart' by My Big Toe Designs. This pattern is found in the JCS 2011 Christmas Ornaments Magazine.  I stitched this on 28ct potato Lugana linen as called for. One over one just as directed. I used the 815 DMC as directed, but I used VMSS 1840 Heirloom Rose Petals instead of DMC 317. It was not an eggplant color, but grey! The stitched ornament showed a lovely eggplant color.

And now for the other side! Yes two openings on this wonderful heart ornament.

This pattern is called 'Love and Joy' by JBW Designs. This is found in the exact same magazine as the one above, the 2011 JCS Christmas Ornaments Issue. I stitched this on 28ct cream linen two over two using Nancy's VMSS Valentine Red. :) I see the bottom of this heart shifted on me also!! grrr. I will fix that.

I am so happy I have Madeleine's Christmas ornament completed! Yay me! Emerson's will be finished next. I will show you that next time. I have also been designing an October piece for the cubby shelf. I am ready to begin stitching on that now.

Friends, would you please pray for our friend Jenny? She is STILL fighting that nasty superbug virus she contracted in the hospital!! Actually, she has told me that is has come back with a vengeance. This is quite serious. I thank you very much.♥

Have a great week my friends! I am so glad you stopped by. :)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

November Joyful World SAL

Hi friends! I finished stitching up the November Joyful World SAL piece on Wednesday, thought I would finally show it to you today. :)

I stitched this one over one on with DMC. I chose many of my own colors. Quite a few colors just seemed to not match the picture shown online. The evenweave used is an oatmeal color and once again I found out as I stitched it is UNEVENWEAVE. 25ct across,  26 ct up and down. Oh well. It still fits in the cubby shelf.

I am almost done with another Christmas ornament. Hard to get it done with Jacob and Madeleine here all day yesterday and today because they are off for Fall Break from their universities.

Our friend Jenny told me about the book she was reading and how much she was enjoying it. I decided it would be great to listen to it on CD from my library the same time as Jenny. Kinda fun to "read" it together. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer is a great book....HOWEVER I must tell you it contains swearing. And I kept reading it. I am ashamed of that actually. Especially since in my last book review,  I TOLD YOU I STOPPED READING THE BOOK FOR MORAL REASONS AND I AM A CHRISTIAN.  Now here I am all failed and tripped up and looking like a dummy. All I can tell you is the absolute truth. I wanted to share a read with my friend. The story is a fantastic one actually. I wish the authors excluded the swear words.

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

I am struggling with this severe anemia. I have an upper and lower scope set up with the GI specialist next week. This will hopefully reveal nothing! and rule out problems. I am eating meat and lots of iron rich foods. Oh boy. And taking my iron pills. Lots of them.

I will be back next time with my ornament finish. Take care of yourselves. Have a great weekend. I will be relaxing. And napping with poodles. ;) I have been extra tired.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Hopefully Optimistic

Hi friends! Here is my November Joyful World SAL progress thus far.

Let's see, I had blood work done that shows I am anemic and deficient in iron, magnesium and severely deficient in vitamin D. My doctor actually said my levels are what he sees in nursing home patients. Nice. Any surprise? I have not gone in the sun AT ALL FOR ALL OF JUNE, JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND NOW OCTOBER! He said, "Yes, I can see that. Your numbers prove it!" So I am on some super high doses of slow release vitamin D for 8 weeks and I will get my blood rechecked. And my fingernails should start regrowing and quit splitting and cracking and peeling! I am on iron and the magnesium too. I have an appointment with a GI doctor. I had x-rays for my lower back. An MRI will be next for my back.

I am hopefully(and cautiously) optimistic though, because I had two doctors and one PA tell me that all three of these low levels can cause headaches by themselves. They think that I will have greatly reduced or removed headaches once my blood gets fixed up. No one knows how long I have been anemic for. Oh, I pray it is so!!

The winner of the Shepherd's Bush Glory Scissors Fob is Beth! Beth please email me your address. :)

I hope YOU have a SUPER weekend my friend!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Little Bit Of October

Hi friends! I took time out from ornament stitching to get the October pattern from our friend Palko stitched up and put into the cubby shelf.

I stitched this on 25ct white evenweave fabric, one over one with DMC 4128.

I have put off mentioning this for months because I did not want to whine about pain. I thought I could go to physical therapy and get things well again. Well think again!! This summer my lower back got injured. Like a dummy, I waited weeks to see the doctor. When I finally saw her, she referred me back to physical therapy. I went to my same physical therapist that helped me in the past. We worked at it for a month with little to no improvement. I have a disc bulge at L4-L5. My therapist thinks I need to get an MRI or something to see what is going on. Maybe there is further damage in addition to that bulge? My problem is that I have nerve pain/tingling all day and night down my leg and into my foot. My left foot feels like a block of ice. Sometimes I swear it feels I am standing in a puddle of water. She tells me nerve damage takes a very long time to settle down. So I do my exercises at home daily. I have never stopped doing my SI joint exercises daily either! I also have self back traction exercises now. These are supposed to be done every two hours! And I use my TENS unit. I have a recheck appointment scheduled with my doctor in just over a week to get some diagnostic testing scheduled.

And I still have headaches from the oven heat and sunlight. (Yes, a headache every day.) The insurance said NO for me to receive Botox shots friends. It basically comes down to, I do not have migraines, so I cannot have Botox. They approve Botox for migraines, not my intractable tension headaches. So I have these appeal forms to fill out. I need the doctor's help on this! Thank God it is cool now. I mostly am fine now. :) Praise the Lord!

Junk. Junk. And more Junk. BUT.... Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. 2Thessalonians 3:16

Off to stitch an ornament! How about you? Are you working on any Christmas gifts yet?

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. What a blessing you are in my life. Truly! Have a super week! 

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Ornaments! Ornaments!

Hi friends! I certainly came up with stitching projects! Yes, more than one. I am overwhelmed. I decided to kit up the kids' Christmas ornaments. I thought I knew what I would stitch them this year. Well, those ornaments will be next year, BECAUSE I got a BIG idea. HA! BIG idea = more work

Last year I was gifted  these lovely ornaments from our friend Nienke. Click on her name there to see my post from last year and the ornaments. I knew I wanted to stitch up some some sweet patterns to fit inside all three of those ornaments. The light bulb went off in my head last week. Wait a minute! THREE! And, and, I have three kids to make ornaments for!! Woo hoo! How exciting! How amazing! How awesome this is going to be! Yes! Then I realized something. Um... wait. Each ornament has two openings. One on each side. I  need to stitch up SIX? ornaments?!? Oh man.

So I grabbed my stack of Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments magazines with all the little post-it notes sticking out of them and flipped through them. And flipped through them. And flipped through them. Decisions! Wow. Yikes. Finally I found one to begin with and away I stitched. And then guess what happened. I finished it and it fit, because it was small enough, but it does not look right inside the tree opening of the ornament. I did not think this through well enough beforehand. GRRR. The rectangle shape gets partially obstructed by the tree opening shape. RATS! This is the finished stitching.

Really neat, isn't it? This pattern is called Scandinavian Tree by Scandinavian Stitches. It can be found in the 2013 JCS Christmas Ornaments Magazine. It is stitched with the DMC called for, one over one on 28ct white Cashel linen. It is little. :)

This was going to be for Jacob. I set it aside to make up into an ornament for someone else in the future. That is great, but I want to get started on my SIX ORNAMENTS!!

Get the JCS Christmas Ornaments magazines back out. Flip. Flip. Pick. Stitch. And a finish! This is Baby Cardinal by The Victoria Sampler.

Precious, isn't it? This one is for Emerson. It will fit nicely in his star ornament. I stitched this two over two on 28ct light mocha linen with DMC and VMSS in Valentine Red because I kinda redid the reds as I liked. ;) I also used french knots instead of beads. I stitched up a star, as I did not have the yellow star button. I like it!

One down, five to go friends!

Our friend Jo recently sent me a pdf RAK. She gave me a Curtis Boehringer October One Two Three chart. Perfect little October stitching for the cubby. I thank you once again Jo.

I received another RAK from our friend Barbara. She has been collecting smaller pieces of linen to give to me. And a few NOT smaller pieces! ;) Thank you my friend.

I had to stop reading a book last week. This was a fiction book, written by an author that I have read all the books in the series. I let little details in the stories slide in the past. Things I should not have. This time I could not let it go. I was 40% done with the book when I just stopped and returned it to the library. I am a Christian. My actions AND my reading have to show this.

I decided to finish reading a book I was 90% done with. This is one I have been working on for months. It is not your typical reading. This book is called  Wounded By Love by Elder Porphyrios. This is an excellent book. It was given to us by a friend a church. This book is powerful. What an inspiring life!


Elder Porphyrios, a Greek monk and priest who died in 1991, stands in the long tradition of charismatic spiritual guides in the Eastern Church which continues from the apostolic age down to figures such as Saint Seraphim of Sarov and Staretz Silouan in modern times. In this book he tells the story of his life and, in simple, deeply reflected and profoundly wise words, he expounds the Christian faith for today.
The vibrant personality of Elder Porphyrios at all times shines through his words with great transparency and charm. In his introduction to the Greek edition Bishop Irenaeus of Chania writes: 'The words of blessed Elder Porphyrios are the words of a holy Father, of a man with the gift of clear sight, who was ever retiring, humble, simple and ardent and whose life was a true and authentic witness to Christ, to His truth and to His joy. Through his presence, love, prayer, counsel and guidance he supported an untold number of people in the difficult hours of illness, mourning, pain, loss of faith and death. He is a god-bearing Father of our days, a true priest and teacher who in his ascetic way fell in love with Christ and faithfully served his fellow man.'
This book was compiled after Elder Porphyrios's death from an archive of notes and recordings of his reminiscences, conversations and words of guidance, and was first published in Greek in 2003. Since its publication in English in 2005 it has been reprinted five times.
Quotes from the book
Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a simple glance or a sigh influences those around us. And even the slightest anger or indignation does harm. We need to have goodness and love in our soul and to transmit these things.



We need to be careful not to harbour any resentment against those who harm us, but rather to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our fellow men does, we should never think evil of him. We need always to have thoughts of love and always to think good of others. Look at Saint Stephen the first martyr. He prayed, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. We need to do the same.

Last week I gave away a chart to a non-American friend. This week I am having a giveaway for an American friend. To take part in this giveaway you need to live in the USA. You need to be a follower of mine. You also need to leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to be entered in the giveaway. Here is the chart I am offering, Glory Scissor Fob by Shepherd's Bush.

I will announce the winner on Friday, October 14th.

I am working on another Christmas ornament. One for Madeleine. Also I am stitching up the October design by Palko for my cubby shelf when Madeleine is home. ;)

Thank you for stopping by the blog today my friends. I appreciate the comments you leave. Have a stitchtastic weekend!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie