I Finished Love Notes, Would You Like The Pattern?

Good Morning my friends! We  have been in the 100's for a week! Thank goodness, a cool down started last night. Today it will only get in the 90's. ;)

Jacob is at Marquette University right now. We took him Wednesday afternoon and will pick him up at lunch time today. He is participating in Project Beyond. It is a federally funded program to encourage leadership skills in the nursing field for men, first time college students and minorities. Jacob qualified for two of those.  He gets to sleep in a dorm with the only other young man who came. All meals are covered. They invited 25 and only got 7! Jacob's roommate is Matt. His parents both came from Thailand. Oh, such nice people. Brian and I really liked them. Jacob and Matt really got along too. Jacob and Matt are the only guys there. The other five are young ladies!! I asked the teacher how many of the one hundred nursing students enrolled this year are male. 5! The grin on the faces of Jacob and Matt!!! Oh boy!!

I finished stitching the French pattern of Love Notes on Thursday.(There are three patterns included.) I did the finishing on it Friday. This is a gift. As soon as I saw this pattern on Mii's blog for a giveaway, I knew I wanted to stitch that French Pincushion. Only not make it into a pincushion. And I wanted to stitch it for our Emerson. Yes, Emerson. He has taken French for three years and will begin his fourth year shortly.

We are a close, loving family. I tell the kids I love them most every day. And today is Emerson's birthday. My baby boy is 17!! He will be getting this gift tomorrow at his birthday party with family.

It says "I love you with all my heart" in French. I thought a bookmark for his Bible was a very good use for this. I chose a dark chocolate linen for the back. I used small patches of French General fabric from my stash.

 I decided to stitch this one over one, on a mystery 30ct Lakeside Linen. I used the dark red DMC called for but replaced the pink (gasp!!) with creamy white DMC 3865.I used a somewhat stiff fusible stabilizer.

This is the only pattern of the three I am stitching. Would you like the pattern? I received this pattern in a giveaway from Mii, who received this pattern in a giveaway from Sally, who received this as a gift from Barb! ;) If you would like to be the next stitcher, please be a follower of mine and leave me a comment here on this post. Please also pass this chart on to another stitcher after you are done with it. =) This giveaway will end on Friday, July 26th.

Crazy Daisy struggling in the heat wave

No, not rain, just watered.

Milk Chocolate Daylily

Well, I better shove off. I have a marble cake with chocolate buttercream frosting to make!

Baking and Praying,
Vickie

Somebody needs a haircut!!♥

 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34

Traveling Pattern Winner

Good Morning my friends! How are you today? Doing pretty well here. Paint ball happening for the boys today with friends and again tomorrow with my brother. They do this every once in a great while. Jacob is registered for his fall courses at Marquette University. He received the AP credit for Psychology. That was a course he was supposed to take this fall. So wonderful that he no longer has to take it, it is done!!

Now that we also own a boy poodle, I realized there aren't as many small "boy" poodle motifs to be had out there. My bottle cap magnet collection has almost all girly looking poodles. I decided to try and create my own Henry. Amazing how much effort it took me to just come up with this little guy.

I used three different shades of Anchor and DMC for his coat color. I think I am happy enough with the choices. He is stitched two over one on 25ct Antique White linen. The trim is fun. I found it at Michael's a year ago.

My daylilies finally opened up this week.

Chocolate Splash

Chocolate Ripples

The next stitcher of the Traveling Pattern is Shirlee! I have your address my friend. I will send this on it's way to you shortly. Those of you who also wanted to stitch this up, but did not get a chance, will have to watch Shirlee's blog now. =)

I did the finishing work on my two finishes of  Friends Are Like Angels. I am wondering about a bit of adornment on the flatfold. I will think on it today. I will take pictures and share next time friends.

Stitching and Praying,
Vickie

Watchful, Faithful Friends♥

The Joyous News and The Horrid News

Good Morning friends! I hope you are well? I have prayed for you this morning. I am so thankful for you my faithful friends. I know my stitching has been almost nonexistent for a month now. Thanks for still caring and stopping by. Your comments make me happy. Life has been an emotional roller coaster lately. Let us start with the happy shall we?

Jacob has graduated! =) Yesterday at the Pius XI Fieldhouse, 194 students graduated. Jacob with high honors from the National Honor Society. It was wonderful. I cried. We are so very proud of him. It is hard to believe he is now a Marquette University Freshman! I am so happy he is still living at home.

This will be a crazy week of continued cleaning and preparing the home for the party we will have for him with family on next Sunday.

On Tuesday I will be receiving the second test shot in my facet joint. I expect the same things as the last time. Relief for hours after the injection, but then heightened pain due to the strenuous activities they want me to do to "test" the injection results. If this is"positive" again, then I will get the radio frequency nerve burning done in two more weeks.

On to the Horrid. Mabel took a turn for the worse 4 days ago. She woke up in the morning unable to walk. We took her into the vet. Of course our "regular" vet had off a few days, so we saw another nice vet. She took x-rays, and poor, sweet Mabel now has 6 herniated discs total. The two new ones are pinching the nerves, causing the pain and immobility. The vet gave her a super steroid injection and gave us very, very strong pain pills for her. I have continued on with her other medications as well.

She has improved very slightly every day. She can take one or two steps. The largest problem is that she cannot void normally. She really, really holds it. We have her laying on towels in the kitchen mostly. 

We did speak with our vet on Friday. We have an appt. with him on Tuesday. He will evaluate her and be honest with us. We will not keep her if she can only remain normal from the waist forward. He did say he has seen dogs as bad as Mabel and worse, who are paralyzed, walk again pain-free. We are hoping and praying for that. What she needs right now is time. Time for the steroids to do their anti-inflammatory thing. That is what it took for the other suffering dogs he has treated.

This has been so extremely difficult. We do not want to rush her euthanasia. We love her very much. We can give it some time. We are controlling the pain for her. She wags her tail for us. Loves her treats. Perks her ears up when she hears those treats in the kitchen. How very difficult. How very saddening to end a precious little life. We will though, if that is what the vet advises.

I hope you  have a happy weekend friends. Sorry for the depressing talk. I just wanted you to know what is happening here. We are hoping. We are praying.♥

Praying,
Vickie

Sewing and Gardening

Good Morning friends! Wow! We shot right up to 89º yesterday! Lovely day for gardening. I have been getting some done every day this week. Madeleine and Brian even helped a bit on Sunday. I am so glad. I just cannot garden all day long anymore at all. Take a look at my garden pals.

These two were hanging out under the trampoline for a shady rest. They continue to get along. The biggest issue is that Mabel wants Henry's food and he wants her diet food! I have to stand watch every time or they will switch!

These two sit on the back porch now. =)

I could not find the same pink pansies as last year. These are a pretty pinkish purple. I also planted the two pots in front of the garage with the Pius XI colors, since the graduation and party are not far off now for Jacob.

I am not sure if I made mention that he is officially registered at Marquette University. He will begin the nursing program in the fall. They only had room for 125 nursing students. Over 1,100 applied from around the country and world. It will be so very interesting to see how many male students there are.  It appears there will be few. Jacob received very good scholarships and grants.

Jacob just went to his Senior Prom with a friend. They had an excellent time. It is now a whirlwind of school activities. School is done before May is over. Jacob and Emerson have both begun studying for Advanced Placement course final exams. These will be difficult, but if they do well, they will receive college credits for the courses. Lots of money saved then. ;)

This is the little bed I made for Henry. Now he has two, like Mabel. He loves it. Have I mentioned I love HIM?!?

SQUEE!!

I finished the book A Skeleton In God's Closet by Paul Maier. A very good fiction book. It is twenty years old. I read it because our Pastor mentioned it. I just began The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen last night. This is one of the Royal Spyness series I very much enjoy.

No cross stitch to show at all. I must get this latest book read and back to the library so I can begin another waiting for me. =) I just love books. I love to stitch too, but sometimes new books just need to be read. ;)

Today promises to be another hot one. I may garden again, don't want to push the pain too far. I have prayed for all of you today my friends! I hope you have a glorious day!

Reading and planting,
Vickie

It's Been A Year!

Good Morning my friends! How are you? I hope you are happy and healthy. I have prayed for you my friends today. =)

Well, this week went from craptastic to fantastic. I haven't had a serious episode of gastritis for 9 years now. I was born a worrier. WRONG to worry, I know! Kinda hard to get it out of the old system. Well that can be rough on the stomach after so many years. Little flare ups once in a great while, just pop tums for a day or two. Not this time around. I took A LOT of ibuprofen when my pain increased recently. Then you add in the citric things I shouldn't be drinking or eating and you get profuse vomitting! Ugh! I have NEVER vomitted that much in my life. Nauseous and vomiting for 14 hours. Doctor gave me acid blockers to use for two weeks. He is fine with me relying on ibuprofen instead of the percocet. I will just need to take an acid blocker during those periods he says. My tum tum is still burning right now. It will take a few days.

Now, hey! Onto fantastic!!

 Yes! That's right!! Our boy got accepted into Marquette University Nursing School. We are so happy for him. And just a wee bit proud too! For those of you not in Wisconsin, Marquette is kind of a big deal. It's like the Ivy League College of Wisconsin or something. There were 1,100 applicants to the Nursing School this year. They are accepting 125. The letter states: "In addition to your academic achievement, your commitment to community service is impressive." Our children have been delivering clothes with my FIL, from my FIL's parish thrift shop to the homeless shelter in downtown Milwaukee for years now.

Then there is also this.

Yes, he was accepted at his second choice, Concordia University also. We already found out the financial aid available for him there would be fantastic. We will wait to hear from Marquette if it is great also. As long as he gets good scholarships and aid, he will choose Marquette. They are only one of two colleges in the state that offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree specializing in pediatrics. That is his plan thus far. If he chose Concordia, it would have to be a general degree for him, as they do not specialize in pediatrics there.

Did I mention he can live at home while attending either college?! At least to start. tee hee This mama is ♥happy♥!

So yes, I have been blogging exactly one year today. =) I am so thankful to have "met" all of you. I am sorry to say I did not finish one of the gifts on time. I will work on it today. I will have a "ONE YEAR GIVEAWAY" very soon then. ;)

Oh yes, a Mabel update. Thank you for your well wishes and prayers on her behalf, we are thankful.♥ She continues on the medications, but tapering off now. She definitely took longer to "come out of it" this time. Concerning, yes. I believe she is pulling out of it and clear. A few more days will tell. She is her happy self though. =)

I am still stitching on the scissor fobs. Yes, fobs. I decided that the bargello will be "too much" to place on the back of my "V" I stitched up for the front. So that means I need to make one more front and one more back. ;) But first I will work on the giveaway piece. Really!

Thank you for allowing me to share Jacob's University adventures with you at this time. =)

Have a great day in the Lord!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

So Very Proud

Good Morning my friends! I hope you are well. I am praying specifically for some of you.♥

Last night our Jacob returned to us from the Kairos retreat he went on with school. This time he was a group leader. This retreat is lead mainly by peers, so it is secretive, you don't really get to know what it is about until you go yourself. Former participants can come back as leaders after over a dozen hours of training and developing.

Last night was the closing ceremony at the chapel at school. The parents are all there to welcome them home. I cannot believe I forgot to bring tissue again!! Each child can come up to the "open podium" to share if they choose. There were at least 5 of those students who bravely shared that they had doubted God existed. They said that God found them and they now believe. Oh geesh! I am crying again. (I cry from everything. No really, EVERYTHING!!)

The parents were asked to write a love letter to their child ahead of time. These were read aloud in front of the group at the retreat. There was one young man last night who told us because of that letter, he knew his family loved him. He said he never knew that. Stop right there friends. Can you imagine that? No, really? This quiet young man was a very troubled young man. You could see it. What is his story? I watched for him to leave later. He left alone. Where were his parents? Who welcomed him back?

So we are very proud that Jacob is moved enough, that he is Christian enough, to share his faith and to help others come to faith.

Well our Emerson has also made us so very proud.  He has won a Gold Key in the Scholastic Art Competition. There were over fifteen hundred entries from our state of Wisconsin. It is for grades 7-12. There were 325 winners of Gold, Silver and Honorable Mentions. The Gold Key winners go on to National Competitions for Gold and Silver Medals. This is Emerson's drawing.

You can click on it for a better look!

It is hanging in the Milwaukee Art Museum. The award ceremony was there as well, in this grand reception hall, The Windhover Hall.
 
 This is located directly below the Calatrava-designed Burke Brise Soleil.



Have you made it this far friends? Well, alrighty then! I made up this little sweetie.

one over one on 28ct ?pink? evenweave

This is a freebie found here. Um, that's not the exact page, but I am not truly sure I have fellow poodle stitchers out there. I may be the only NUT! ;) But if you are interested, have a look around the site. I actually, yes I really did squeal in delight when I found these. My husband doesn't see the charm in the refrigerator bottle cap magnet COLLECTION so much anymore. "Don't we have enough?" ha HA HA! Yes, remember I did say I am a poodle nut!!

I have had this teeny, tiny pom pom trim waiting for it's moment. I did change the chart colors around a bit. I have mentioned before, but I will say it again these are the large 2 inch bottle caps. They are found at JoAnn.

Still stitching on my Valentine project. It is adorable. And no, there are no poodles involved. ;)

If you have not seen, I am having my 200 follower giveaway here.

I hope your day is filled with wonderful, stitchy goodness, and more importantly LOVE!♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Baby, A Man and Another Giveaway

Good morning everybody! I have been praying for all of you affected by Sandy. We have been feeling the strong, cold winds here all the way in Wisconsin. Take care my friends.♥

I finally finished stitching up this little baby for the young mother last night.

I will be finishing this up today or tomorrow into a small ornament or door knob hanger. I got this pattern from a book at the library titled, 555 Little Sayings in Cross Stitch by Marie Barber. There are so many little half stitches. And then the backstitching! The most difficult part about this was actually finding a suitable skin tone. I had to replace the called for 945. The baby is Hispanic. Ever looked for a chart or conversion or ANYTHING with that?! Well. I just had to go up and down the aisle at JoAnn until I found a shade I liked. I chose 3864. I believe it is listed as light mocha.

The MAN. Well, that would be our Jacob. I am tearing up as I type this. I can hardly believe it. Today he is a man. Today is officially 18. Oh my!

This was the marble cake with Mr. Brown's Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting and chocolate curls on top I made. We had a good time with family on Sunday to celebrate. The five of us are going out to eat tonight. We saved a gift card we received for our 20th anniversary to use for Jacob's 18th birthday instead.♥

So that brings us to the giveaway part. AGAIN! ;) My friend Laurie gave me her second copy of Just Cross Stitch 2012 Ornament Issue. I have a copy already, so we are gonna give this to anyone who doesn't have one also but wants it.





Would that be you? If you would like this magazine please leave me a comment on this post. You must be a follower. I will draw a winner on Thursday, November 8th.

Hello new followers. Glad you are here. I am glad for all of my friends. =) Have a great day in the Lord!

Finishing and Praying,
Vickie