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