A Year Younger

Hi friends! We just had the best weekend this year. :) Gorgeous weather on Saturday. Almost gorgeous (just a touch too hot and humid) weather yesterday. Saturday was my 46th birthday. I can say with all honesty I do not feel a year older. I truly feel a year younger. This physical therapy home exercise program is giving me my life back. I am able to do things, most everything less painfully. As you know from  a prior post, I am a gardener again! Yay!

On Saturday we went to my mom's for my birthday party. :) Yes, my mom still has birthday parties for me and my three younger brothers, along with parties for the rest of the gang. We open presents, sing Happy Birthday and eat birthday cake. ♥

Our friend June sent me birthday gifts.

Poodle patterns, ribbon, a bookmark, a lovely sachet, notebook, a PINK bird, and a file folder, which I use!! Thank you again my sweet, dear friend June.

Yesterday we went to Father and Matushka's. Their youngest child, Sophia just turned 14 years old and graduated from 8th grade. Their middle son, Dima, just graduated from high school. All three of their children are so nice and very close in age to our three. We both have two sons, then our daughters. :) We had a wonderful time, all five of us. Great food, conversations and fun.

Now the chocolate perennial garden does not look like much at this point. The irises are done. And the day lilies will not be blooming this year, due to being dug up and moved I believe. But I did take a picture of the new set up.

So very much work to remove every, single plant and pull out all the grass and replace everything in a new spot! Glad that is done. Glad every one of the family helped me. :)

I am reading Love Letters by Beverly Lewis. Very good. I have yet to be disappointed with a book of hers. Do not believe that will ever happen!

I am still reading the Bible daily too.

I hope and pray you have an excellent week my friends! I have thanked God for YOU today!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Sweet Surprise

Hi friends! A sweet surprise arrived in the mail for me yesterday. All the way from Canada. Our dear friend Anne sent me a few lovely, belated birthday gifts.

Anne crocheted me a fabulous, pink cup cozy. Madeleine actually put it on Henry for a scarf! The poor 6 pound boy! Not very macho. And yes, you read that right. He is now 6 pounds. When he came to us he was 4 pounds. The vet said he was too skinny and needed to add weight. :)

Anne also included a lovely Crescent Colours 'Clay Pot'. Her friend made that sweet bird card.:) And I am happy to announce to you that I have finally had a black tea that I like! This is from Anne also. It is called Cream Earl Grey. It has the prettiest purple bergamot petals in it too. :) Thank you again Anne.♥

Yesterday was our dear Emerson's 18th birthday! We had the family over for cake. He wanted marble cake. I made a chocolate pudding type frosting for between the two layers. I frosted it with chocolate cool whip to keep it lighter. Had to make my own chocolate cool whip. Can't find it anymore.

I finished reading A Man Called Blessed by Ted Dekker. This is the sequel to Blessed Child. Another older book by Ted. And another one I recommend. I really enjoyed it. :)

Tomorrow morning I am subjecting myself to more pain and torture. When I had an exam from the pain management PA two weeks ago, she pressed on my outer, upper thighs. I thought I might scream. YIKES! She said I should not have pain there at all, and that is unusual. She says those are my bursa. What?! They are fluid filled sacs that cover your joints in your body. So I am having cortisone injections tomorrow by the doctor in both hip bursa. I hope and pray this takes away the pain completely in my hips. She said it will do nothing for my back pain. I understand that. I am willing to try this. ONCE at least. I hate to go through the whole sedation/IV thing, so I opted not to tomorrow. However, I tend to get myself worked up ahead of time. I do not want to, I just kinda do it. So now my stomach is starting to hurt. I am second guessing that decision.

If you care to, would you please pray this goes well for me and ACTUALLY WORKS? I will take pain relief of any kind!! I would love for the pain to go away for a few months. That is a possibility. Thank you!

I am so glad you stopped by today.  Take good care of yourself! There is only one you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Two poodles on Winky Watch(Madeleine's parakeet).

A Giftie And A Finish

Hi friends! Rainy days here all week. Causes extra pain. puh! So I have been completing finishing work on some smalls I stitched up. First I would like to show you a birthday gift I received yesterday from sweet Maggee.

What a wonderful pillow in pink and chocolate colors. LOVE that combination. Thank you Maggee. :) If you look closely you can see the rain drops on the peonies. ;)

You may recall this poodle freebie from Kissy Cross?

Ta da! It has been stitched up for weeks, but I did not get around to the finishing til yesterday. This is stitched on 25ct white linen, two over one. I just love it! I did change many of the color shades. And well, I just needed to make the flowers and the letters pink too. ;) Don't you just love the backstitching in Mabel and Henry's coats? Love the texture it adds.

I was so happy to use one of my vintage poodle fabrics for the back. =)

'Rendezvous In The Park' was such fun for me to stitch. Thank you Kirsten for this adorable tribute to my Mabel and Henry. ♥

I will be back soon with more finishing to share with you all. Thank you for stopping by. Leave me a comment if you like. I love to respond to them all. You brighten my day. =)

Have a fabulous day my friends!

Stitching and finishing and praying,
Vickie

All pooped out after their Rendezvous in the Park. ;)

Glorious Gifts!

Hi friends! Emerson's graduation party was wonderful. We had fantastic weather. My loving husband and children helped with some scrubbing and yard work too. I am very thankful for this, as it saved me from severe pain.

I received two wonderful packages on and right after my birthday. :) Kim sent me FANTASTIC poodle fabric! I squealed! Yes I did. I do not have these and I cannot wait to use them.

See the Paris In Springtime on the left? The lady in blue has a pink poodle. =) I love chocolate brown and pink together. And the last fabric on the bottom, right has the cutest, little birdie with a beret on the poodle's nose. Thank you Kim!

Jacquie had a first blogoversary giveaway and I won second prize! She not only sent me MANY gifts, she made me a birthday present as well! Here is the birthday gift from Jacquie.

Isn't this wonderful?! Jacquie only recently discovered redwork and you wouldn't know! She made me a tote bag with Henry and Mabel. ♥ These are the many gifts she sent me for the giveaway.

Madeleine has claimed the sweet birdie paper weight you see on the upper left. I hung the cute cream dove on my display board already. I will be sharing the milk chocolate with the family. :) Such a nice selection of patterns too.

Such great garden gifts here. The bee pin pillows she made me are so sweet. There is a very nice bee pin also. Miss Madeleine has her eye on that too! Lovely yellow Anchor flosses that I cannot get locally. And wild flower seeds that I will be sowing. Thank you so very much Jacquie!

I have been stitching. Just cannot show you at this time. Very soon though. ;)

I finally decided on a Henry drawing I will be happy with for more french knots. I really, really hesitated to show you this, as I think it looks very weird, but here is the french knot Henry failure.

See? Weird! Adorable as embroidery I think. Not all filled in with knots. The ear is just plain lost. He looks like his brain is falling out! Or something. This Henry is getting set aside. I don't have the heart to toss it just yet. So very many knots went into it! I will cut myself a new piece of white linen blend fabric today and draw out a new Henry to be filled in with knots.

Rainy day here. Perfect for finishing up another stitched gift.

I hope you have a beautiful day my friends.  As always, I thank you for stopping by and your kind words.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

45

Hi friends!  Beautiful day here. It just happens to be my birthday. I am now 45 years old. How did that happen?!  Brian gave me this.

A pewter poodle thimble from England. :) And this.

A gorgeous rose gold Orthodox cross and chain. Brian had bought me my last gold cross and chain when I was 18 and he 19. ;)

Not too much excitement today. Out to lunch with the in-laws. We will also go shopping for party food for the graduation party on Sunday.

I read Child Of Mine by Beverly and David Lewis. What an excellent book. Really enjoyed it.

It is not looking too good for the French Knot Poodle/Henry. The drawing I did of him on the fabric, isn't looking right once I am filling it in with the knots. He looks like he has an unusually large head. The ear doesn't look distinct. It is just making his head look huge. I may scrap this version and come up with a new Henry. I have already done over a thousand french knots. Oh well.

Oh my goodness! I forgot til now. I drew a name for the 1988 Just Cross Stitch Magazine featuring Scarlet Letter. Jo! You are the winner of the magazine. Please send me your address and I will get that on it's way to you. :)

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

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Birthday Present

Hi friends! We have been busy around here. Emerson's graduation was a wonderful celebration on a beautiful, sunny day. He got registered for fall classes this week. He likes his schedule too. He will be commuting to Concordia University in Mequon. It will take him about 25 minutes to drive. Not a bad drive. No expressway driving. A little city driving. Mostly country roads. Lovely scenery. When we drove there on Tuesday, we saw deer, cows, horses, and Sandhill Cranes.

I received my first birthday present this year in the mail this week. I do not usually open presents early. We are busy preparing for Emerson's upcoming graduation party, and I decided to go ahead and open my package from our dear friend June, as a little reward for my hard work. ;)

Beautifully and perfectly packaged in pink! I agree! That card IS just for me! =) Madeleine and I enjoyed looking through the Vintage Teatime Recipes book. It is filled with beautiful photographs.

Look at these most perfect poodle patterns June has given me from her British cross stitch magazines! I had no idea. I love them and will DEFINITELY be stitching these sweeties up!

Isn't this nativity pattern lovely? Thank you June. What a precious friend you are! Always so caring and thoughtful of others. God bless you my friend.♥

I did finish up 'Rendevous In The Park' by Kissy Cross. I just have to do the finishing on it. No pictures of that today. I have begun another small stitch. It is to be a gift, so no pictures of that one either.

I have been getting into the garden every day that it is not raining. Not for long mind you, but I want the flower beds to be looking perfect for the upcoming party.

"Cocoa" in the Chocolate Garden ;)

I have thanked God for you today! Thank you for your kind words. I love to hear from you. And if you are interested in my giveaway, there is still time. See my prior post.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Surprise In The Mail

Hi Friends!  So glad you stopped by.  A surprise came in the mail for me yesterday. Hooray! Hooray for me! That is the best,isn't it?! Guess who it was from?

Our sweet friend Annette, that's who! ;) She made me this beautiful card.♥ And take a look at what else she created for me.

A fabulous floss fob! Beautiful DMC flosses too. I love it! I now own my very first floss fob. Here is a better picture of the lovely stitching.

 

ooOoo! I just love those initials she stitched for me! They are fabulous. And the crown! I asked her if this means that I must surely be the queen of this household? And do you know what dear Annette told me? No, you don't, so I am going to tell you. She told me that when she sees a crown, she thinks of Jesus. "So it is like a subtle blessing from Him representing the crown to watch over you ( your initials)." I could just cry. That is so beautiful Annette. What a special, wonderful gift. Thank you! Oh yes, and Annette did say that me being the Queen of the household works too. ;)

 See the beautifully matched fabric on the back. As you can see my pink peonies finally opened up. =)

We took a trip this morning, Brian, Jacob and I. We took the Freeway Flyer from our home to Marquette University. What a great, convenient benefit for Jacob this bus will be. He will save money on gas and parking. Yay! We walked around the large campus in downtown Milwaukee. We found the buildings that are used for nursing. We also bought some t-shirts and a sweatshirt. ;)

Friends! I MAY have some exciting news for you all! I did not experience the severe sunburn pain sensation after my radiofrequency nerve ablation on Tuesday. The pain was very increased, but has slowly subsided. The bus trip today was a test of sorts for me, because.... I woke up this morning with very low pain. As in a "one or two" on the ten scale. Friends, this has not happened in many, many months!! It appears to be working.

Now for the dumb, dumb, dummy move. Yup! Do ya know what this is? I had one of these as a girl. Oh what fun! It is a Skip It. Madeleine has one like it in the garage, without the lemon, it's a pink thing on the end instead. Anyways, it was calling me. Mocking me. I had to give it a try. Ya know, just a few times right?

Dumb! Dumb! Dummy! Now both hips hurt and my left leg. =( I honestly just wanted to have fun. Really. Then I remembered the doctor saying not to do things that I know will cause the pain though. =( Man! So I took the percocet. =( Time will tell. For crying out loud!

You can still enter my giveaway here.

I will leave you with a few happy pictures of the pups taken just yesterday.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

SANQ Vol. 9 Giveaway

Good Morning my friends! So glad you all stopped by for a visit. Your wonderful comments brighten my day. Thank you! I am still thinking about my finishing for the two Friends Are Angels. You gave me good ideas. Thanks. =)

Our lovely friend June has gifted me yet again! That had Brian puzzled. ;) She tells me THIS is my birthday gift. ♥

Well, I think June has me figured out. What do you think? ;) Pink and poodles! Does it get more wonderful? Why yes. Yes, it does. I did not take the best photo, but just click to take a look at the wonderful pansy pin she made me. Love it. Pansies are my favorite flower. The tiny pink bag contains wonderful dog themed pink ribbon. With a poodle,of course. June, I thank you so much. You are so very kind to me. Your gift is just so very perfect for me my friend. ♥

I was digging through my stash the other day and came across this.

Would any of you, my dear friends like it?

I found it while thrifting about half a year ago. I had plans to stitch up one of the charts. I just do not think it is going to happen.

Rather than leave it languishing in my stash, I would very much like to offer it to you. I know how quite a few of you love to stitch reproduction samplers.

The last time I offered an early SANQ many of you wanted it. So I am glad to offer you a chance at another.

I think there are great samplers in this addition. If you would like a chance to win this, please leave a comment on THIS post only.

You need to be one of my followers. I will draw one of your names on Sunday, June 23rd.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie