Valentine Finishes

Hi friends! Very cold here. And of course, still blanketed in white.

I stitched up two Valentine pieces for Jo's Valentine Blog Hop I took part in. I did the finishing on them and want to share them with you. Did you spot this one on Jo's blog? This was a Valentine for her.♥

That is June the poodle on the right. A gift from, you guessed it, June.

This first one uses a freebie for the word LOVE. You can find this tiny freebie by clicking right here. Have a look around while you visit the blog. There a few more small freebies too.

How do you like the poodles? I designed them! tee hee! I am happy because I do NOT find designing cross stitch easy at all. And, I think I captured Mabel and Henry.

I stitched this two over two on 30ct Antique White linen. I used Nancy's/Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Floss in Valentine Red ;). For Henry I used DMC and Anchor flosses. Mabel is in all DMC.

I also used Nancy's red rick rack in the finishing. I had the Valentine fabric, pink ribbon and poodle charm in my stash.

Just so there is no misunderstanding, Mabel and Henry are NOT in LOVE. I was expressing MY love of poodles. ;)

My second Valentine finish is also a freebie. I came across THIS FANTASTIC BLOG THAT HAS MANY FREEBIES FOR US. Click this link here for this next pattern. You have to scroll down the page a bit. Go check out this wonderful site if you love freebies. You will NOT be sorry.

So, isn't this sweet? I just found it adorable. This is the Valentine stitch sent to my partner in the Valentine Blog Hop. I stitched this one over one on 32ct Angel Blush ;) Linen. I used Nancy's 1795 Faded Sampler Red Light floss. I asked Miss Madeleine for fabric and floss input. She chose both. And no, she did not know the linen was called Angel Blush.  I occasionally ask her for input on linen and floss colors. I hope to keep her involved, even in just that small way, with stitching. She has stitched only a handful of items in her 16 years of life so far. I am hoping she takes stitching up again one day. How great it would be to sit and stitch with her.♥

I simply encircled this sweet pinpillow with some x's. The backing fabric is just pink linen fabric, slightly darker, I had in my stash.

I am not done sharing freebie links with you yet friends. If you love poodle freebies, wait. You do don't you? Am I REALLY the ONLY one who loves poodle freebies? NO, this cannot be. Well, in case there is one more stitcher out there who also wants to stitch up more than one free poodle pattern, yes, seriously!, click on this site link: Fearn Abbey Needlework. Take a look under designs. tee hee!

I did finishing on the Lizzie Kate ornament also. I will share that next time.

I finished Exodus. I am now reading Leviticus. Keeping up on my daily Bible reading!

I am so glad you stopped by today friends. Have a great week in the Lord!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Whoo Hoo! Now There Are Two!

Hi friends! After an irritating unstitching session, I am back on track. There unfortunately are a few mistakes in this Theotokos pattern. It is easier when you catch them first, hey? ;)

Yep! I am down to two remaining partially done pattern pages to finish, before I am FINISHED! No updated picture for you today.

Here is an updated picture of Mabel for you. ;) I gave her a haircut half a week ago.

She is looking tired and worn out here. I took this a few minutes after we were done with the grooming. I love the haircuts about as much as she does, but poodles do need their hair cut! She is the prettiest dog we have ever owned. I just love this precious, grey poodle.

You all know I love Henry too. He is cute, not pretty! ha! Here he is being the watch dog he is.

The latest baking I did was chocolate chip cookies. I have to make a double batch around this place, let me tell you! Everyone in the house wants some cookie dough to eat first. Yes, I know. Well, we do eat a bit of raw cookie dough. This is what the cookie jar looked like after I was done baking. And this is even after dough is eaten and over two dozen warm cookies are eaten.

I am still keeping up with my daily, chronological Bible reading. I am over half done with Genensis now. That is the only reading I am allowing myself presently. I am pushing on for the big finish on Theotokos.

Thanks for checking in. I appreciate your friendship!  Have a super week in the Lord my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Mabel Christmas Ornament

Hi friends! Happy Mother's Day to you moms out there. :) I spent the afternoon with my mom yesterday. We got the whole family together for cake and happy times. Today we head to the in-laws for a BBQ.

Here are the first flowers to appear in my garden.

I have begun planting pots and urns with annuals. They are still waiting in the garage. Not all that warm yet at night.

I had this freebie for a few years. I am sorry, I do not have the link. After Miss Mabel's latest episode of back pain, I realized I did not want to put off stitching this any longer.

Totally adorable right?! Looks so much like our girl. :) I stitched this on 32ct white linen, two over two. I chose my own DMC colors.

I found this sweet fabric for the back in my stash. I used bordeaux velvet ribbon for the trim.

Mabel is off all meds and is doing alright. She is a tiny bit slower than she was before. Much more reserved in play than hyper Henry! ;) We have decided to lift her down out of the house and our one porch step every time now. Why risk flaring up her back pain again.(She has not used the stairs or jumped on/off furniture for a long time.) She is smart and will wait for us to lift her up and down. :) She is definitely the smartest dog we have ever owned. Henry is smart too. Kinda. Well... He is adorable, sweet and oh so loving.

Started stitching on yet another small. :)

I hope your day is a beautiful one my friends! Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Jura Point de Croix

Hi friends! Sunny and warm here. :) I want to thank you for all of your heartwarming comments on Theotokos. I took it to church on Sunday. Father sanctified and blessed it. We will have it framed soon and hang it in our home. :)

Last month Annette posted her wonderful stitching and finishing. She also posted a link to Jura Point de Croix blog site, for this lovely freebie. I knew right away that I needed to stitch this up. And I knew exactly how I wanted to finish it too. ;)

I received some spools of thread and a few sewing supplies a few months ago from my FIL. His Aunt, Brian's Great Aunt, died. She sewed a bit, and he wanted to pass along a few things to me. I used the thread from this spool to make the valances and foot stool in the front room. :) And the spool to make this little cutie for me.

I used 25ct unknown color linen, and stitched two over one. The heart I did stitch one over one though. I chose my own DMC colors.

I am sorry I do not have a link for the "V". I collect V's for future use, and I have had this one a while. I do remember it is from an antique alphabet pattern. I do not even have the whole alphabet printed.

I have begun stitching another small. It will be a Christmas ornament. I have put this one off tooooo long. Now is the time! It is my favorite stitching subject. Guesses?!

I have been reading The Burgess Bird Book For Children by Thornton W. Burgess. This was written in 1919. It is a very sweet book in which Peter Rabbit and many, many birds and critters converse. It really is to teach children all about many bird varieties. I got over a third of the way, and I just don't think I can read on. It is too sweet. It is a book for children. I just thought since we own the book (Jacob read it as a youngster) why not read it. Oh well.

Mabel is doing okay. She is still on her meds. We have had to begin backing off with the prednisolone.  It is a steroid. She was doing just a little bit better with the higher dose of the prednisolone. We will continue on with all her meds and hope she pulls through alright. She may just end up more like a geriatric poodle. She just can't run. She walks alright, just slow and steady. We have to play with Henry a bit more, since he misses playing with Mabel. We also try to stop this.

We have three  dog beds for them. He just loves to cuddle with her. You can see she is thrilled. ;)

I hope you have a splendid day my friends! Thank you for stopping by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Wahoo!

Hi friends! Take a guess what I finished beading yesterday?!? YUP! Theotokos!

 Whoo HOO! 30,178 stitches! Well, I never counted all the beads. ;) A lot of those stitches are beads with a full cross. But you get the point.

I am pretending to Happy Dance. Can't do the real thing or I will be in BIG pain. ;)

I have learned a few things while stitching this over the last few months.
1.  I am a smalls girl. I missed stitching my smalls very, very much. I stopped Theotokos a few times so I could stitch smalls.
2.  I really don't care for beading! Dani had suggested Nymo thread for beading. She told me one spool would go a long way. I used almost the entire thing! Beading sure takes a loooong time.
3. I prayed a lot while stitching this. This piece in particular really kept my focus on God.

Brian is very happy with it! He has thanked me many times. We will take it with us to church and have Father bless it. Then we will get it framed. In a bit. Need to scrape up a little cash for that.

I started stitching a tiny small last night. Feels great! :)

Mabel is improving! Thank you for all of your loving wishes and prayers. She will continue on with her meds and hopefully continue to improve and pull through this.

Have a super day my friends! I thanked God for you today!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

I Have Been Sewing

Hi friends! How are you today? It has been raining for over half a week straight here. That makes the pain go up unfortunately.

I did finish off the front room valances. Chocolate and cream fabrics. Same fabric as the foot stool I showed you a few weeks ago. Not sure you can see them very well, but the buttons are covered in the same fabric. Brian and Madeleine wanted to help me cover all the buttons. Sure! That was nice. :)

For the first picture I caught the few minutes of sunshine we had. The windows are clean! The two screens need to be removed and cleaned. Brian does that with the hose. ;)

Here are the two chocolate table runners I made.

This was my Great Aunt Ethel's end table with a book shelf. Not in the best condition, but I love it anyways. The rooster planter was my Grandma's.

This is my Great Aunt Ethel's cedar chest she left for me.

Aren't these neat? My friend Tatiana made them. They are discarded CDs from her work. She then crochets over them and gives them as gifts to use as coasters. Never would have thought of that!

I am beading away on Theotokos. Nearing the end!

Our dear Mabel's back is flared up again. We took her to the vet on Monday. She is on her 4 different medications to hopefully bring her back to her normal. She can still walk some. One of the meds is a pain pill.

We are praying. If you want to pray for her too, I welcome that and appreciate it. We love her so much. The vet did not mention taking another x-ray, and we probably won't. She already has 7 slipped discs. We know more can slip also. Another may have. This incident was triggered by, believe it or not, her anal glands. She had full anal glands, so she was scooting her rump around on the grass trying to alleviate herself. The hunched position and the pressure, hurt her little back.

We are giving her the best of care and keeping her as comfortable as possible. We have learned since her back problems began just over one year ago now, that recovery takes weeks.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a beautiful day my friends!

Beading and praying,
Vickie

Happy Easter!

Christ is risen! Happy Easter my friends!

I stitched up this freebie, available from alita designs, for this Easter.

I used all of the called for DMC colors. I stitched it on this 14 count Charles Craft Hopscotch fabric I have had sitting in my stash for a long time.

I needed a little something to cover the goodies in my Easter basket. What Easter basket you ask? Well, this one.

I also created this Easter basket liner last week. It is not perfect at all. I will not even give you the link to the tutorial I followed, because I should not have followed it! It skipped steps and I had to wing it. I spent hours embroidering the pussy willows. I am not remaking it.

As soon as I set the basket down to get a few pictures, Mabel and Henry both had to come check it out. Of course!

One of the things I changed on the freebie from above is the cross. I made up my own Orthodox cross. Why? Well, last Sunday, Palm Sunday, Brian and I became Orthodox Christians. Brian has been considering this for years. The both of us together have been considering it for a year. All three of our teenagers live at home with us still. They are all Lutheran. Two of them have attended Orthodox church with us. We do not expect them to change. We will continue attending Lutheran church with them as long as they live in our home with us. We attend church every week. We always have and always will. We are strong in our faith and beliefs. We do not want our children to fall away from the church. We simply could not wait for many years to make this change in our lives. I just cannot describe the awesome reverence and holiness of Orthodox Divine Liturgy.

So this is what our Pascha (Easter) basket looked like on Saturday morning when we took it with us to church. Father blessed everyone's baskets after the Liturgy.

I embroidered pussy willows because our Orthodox church uses pussy willows on Palm Sunday instead of Palm branches. We were given the Pascha bread (Kulich) by a member. The kids and I made pastel Easter eggs this year. You can also see a butter lamb. Orthodox Christians fast from meat, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil during the entirety of Lent.

We have had this Lord's Supper icon for over 15 years. We put our pussy willows on top of it, in our kitchen.

Well, I am off to worship! Then lots and lots of family time. The kids last day off is tomorrow.

Oh yes. I have already attacked my chocolate bunny! mmmmmmm! And I had a pumpkin chai latte too! LOVE!

Thanks for stopping by. I am so glad you did! Be blessed!

Beading and praying,
Vickie

Poodles and Pansies

Hi friends! Did you get yourself an Easter hat like this?

This is another one of my vintage poodle cards. :)

This is what Henry looked like before his haircut yesterday.

Here are Mabel and Henry after I gave them both haircuts this week.

The weather has been mild enough that I have been working in the garden for 30 minutes at a time, every other day now without increasing my left SI joint pain. Hooray! Thank you God. What a blessing.

Pink and purple pansies! Another blessing. ♥

I finished Man's Search For Meaning. This a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. He was a Jewish psychiatrist. It was a very interesting book. This was an assigned book for Jacob's Philosophy course. I decided to read it also.

Here is a picture (not the best, sorry) of the beading I have done thus far.

That is it for today my friends. I hope you are well AND happy. :) I am glad you stopped by. Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate them AND YOU!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

5

Hi friends! Today is our sweet Mabel's 5th birthday!
 
Last year was a rough year for her. She now has 7 slipped discs. Last spring we thought we would be euthanizing her. Thank God we did not!

She cannot enjoy the walks we used to take. She goes on about two mini walks a week. We learned last year, that if she gets frequent walks, her back flares up and she is in pain.

She has not had any disc related issues for half a year now. She has gained weight, from the meds she was on, and not getting much exercise. But we still love her of course. :)

This is what we are looking forward to! Beautiful weather! We still have snow and ice here. yuck! BUT, Ispotted our first robins yesterday! Yay!

Still stitching away on Theotokos.

Have a super weekend my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie