One Year Blogoversary

Good Morning my friends! Hello to my new followers. I am so happy you have decided to stop by. =) I have been blogging for one year now. It has been a joy to join in with all of you.♥ It really warms my heart to experience such friendliness. I have met so many nice, caring friends.♥

I would like to give a few gifts to you for this, my one year blogoversary. Firstly, I made another bottle cap pincushion. I have never made two alike. So, yes, this is another Wintery Wisconsin one, but it is white with pale blue, DMC 775 floss. I also made the pale crystal counting pins.

These are freshwater pearl earrings straight from the jeweler (never worn).

 And this is a pretty pinpillow I have a hard time parting with! ;)

This pattern is from one of my older magazines, The Cross Stitcher, April 2009. The pattern is by Olde Willow Stitchery Threads, it is just simply called Quaker Motif.

This is stitched one over one with DMC B5200 on 32ct Antique Pink linen. I loved, loved, loved stitching on the little white buttons. I have never finished like this before and thought it up and loved the idea of it!

And this is the back. Isn't this just the sweetest motif? I found it at my library. ;) It is from the book Better Homes and Gardens Stitching Pretty. I just adore this little motif!!♥ This pinpillow is so  me!!

So my friends, if you are interested in this offering of mine you need to be a follower. You also need to leave me a comment on this post, please tell me if you are interested in the giveaway. Would you tell me how long you have been blogging?  I will draw a name for the winner on Wednesday, March 6th.

Mabel is improved. She is still on her medicines. She does seem not exactly the same. Like maybe she has only recovered 90% of the way? We are working with the vet with her medicines. We hope she makes a full recovery again, and goes a long time with out another flare up of pain.

As for me and my tummy, well, it is still burning. It takes some people longer to get rid of that while on the acid blockers. If it is not gone by the time the two weeks of meds are done, I have to call the doctor of course. I do NOT want an ulcer, nope!

Still stitching bargello and little things. =) Pictures soon I hope!

May God richly bless your day my friend.♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Pumpkin and Gift Stitching

Good morning everybody! It is a very cool morning thus far. Just look at this pretty sunrise from minutes ago. I saw it from the front porch as I watched the kids drive off to school.

God is an amazing, awesome artist!

The pumpkin stitching was done last week. It rained for 48 hours straight after that. And I needed to get the picture outside because it resides on the front porch poodle. ;)

I used the pumpkins from the PSS freebie called Give Thanks. I found the wired ribbon the other day at JoAnn. It is like 18 count Aida ribbon. I knew right away it would be used for my front porch pooch.

This is the gift I sent off to Catherine. She told me she loves it. =)

She had told me months ago that she likes blues, greens, pinks and browns. Well my family thinks it looks like a chocolate cupcake! This was another fun bottle cap pincushion to make. =)  I love that textured brown felt, however it is not as noticeable on the finished pincushion, except the bottom. ;)

If you like La-D-Da and you want a pattern click here.

I am currently stitching a gift for a young woman I do not know. She is an eighteen year old student at our children's Catholic high school. She is an unwed mother. She had her baby, a girl, a week and a half ago. She has not returned to school yet. Our kids know of her, but do not know her. I just thought a little something for her baby might be nice. I don't know, I was just moved to do it. She is obviously having a tough time. Many of her "friends" abandoned her. Tough choices in life. Big consequences too. Well, praise God mom and baby are well.♥

Have a fabulous day my friends. I am happy to have new friends here.♥ I thank you all for your kind words. They warm my heart. I will share with you next time my thrift store finds from yesterday. I spent a whole three dollars and change! ;)

"Thanks ladies for your prayers! I am much improved!"

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Giveaway Win

Hi everybody! It is sunny, but there is a very cold wind today. I still  went out and took pictures of what I just made this morning. =) I will show you in just a moment. I thought I would show you what I just received in the mail yesterday afternoon first.

Isn't this lovely? Mary Kathryn made this great acorn. I have nothing like it. There are fabulous beads attached to the top, you will see if you look closely.  Sorry you can't see them better. I took this photo this morning. The sun was shining so brightly on the kitchen floor, I just grabbed the beautiful rose my husband gave me earlier this week and Mary Kathryn's acorn and put them right in the sun. Thank you again Mary Kathryn. It went from your dough bowl to mine. =)

So, I finished another giftie yesterday. You cannot see yet, so sorry. ;) I then decided to make myself a small project pouch for my counting pin supplies. I had a small mess. It is now all in one place. =)

I found this tutorial to help me. I had this pansy fabric for over one year. I love pansies. They are my favorite flower. I finally figured out what to use it for. I stopped in at JoAnn last night and found the fabric for the lining. The pink matches the pink pansies perfectly. It is called Moonstone Glitter in a rose color. It has a golden glitter to it. The pansies are outlined in gold. Perfect!!

I adapted the pattern a bit. I have no closure as of now. Don't know that I will need one, as I make my counting pins at the kitchen table. I do not travel around with them. I added batting between the two fabrics. I made a larger felt area for my counting pins.♥ All my beads, pins and glue are tucked away in one spot now. Hooray!

Would you mind terribly if I asked you to maybe say a prayer for Mabel? Her back has "flared up" on her again, starting last night. She could barely walk or urinate. I got her onto her medications right away. This morning there is a little improvement. We are still hand feeding her, as it hurts her to bend her neck. The pain pills are definitely helping her. Unfortunately, she seems to be having these "flare ups" with her slipped discs once a month. She is able to go on a 5 minute walk most days of the week. This helped her lose one pound of the three! she gained in the last few months. Now she is back on the steroid that causes the weight gain, and of course she will not be able to go for any walks for a few weeks. Argh! So frustrating. It is what the vet said it would be. Helping her back, but weight gain in the process. :(

You can see from this picture taken a few hours ago, that she is not very happy.

On to the next project. Well I have two small ones calling me. Not sure yet  which I will choose. I'll let you know next time. Til then, take care sweet friends. Thank you for stopping by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Stitchy Stuff

Good morning everybody! I hope today is a great one for you.♥ I got word from Maggee that she received my gift to her. She has been so good to me this year with patterns and linen. I am hoping she does not mind that I lifted these pictures off of her blog! What a dunce I am. I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it to her.

My gift to Maggee

Bottle cap Pincushion with Counting Pins

I used two books to help me in making this: Pretty Little Pincushions by Lark Books(from the library) and House & Garden Samplers by Mary Jenkins(my own book). Most of the flowers are ones that are in my own garden.

This is the closest Needlework Shop to me. It is about 20 minutes away. It is in Elm Grove, where Brian grew up and his parents still live.

This is what I bought with my gift certificate from last Christmas still! I know! I can't help it. It is just in me to be a saver. Brian was happy I used the gift certificate up finally. Only problem is, I DIDN'T!! I still have $25 left! This stash only cost me $12! Yes, you guessed it. I shopped the clearance bins. Did I not mention I am thrifty? This was my second trip trying to spend it all.  I think the Rabbit Stitcher is adorable.♥

I purchased the John James size 28 petite needles. I like using them, BUT they bend easy. Do any of you have this problem? Are there stronger short needles out there ladies?

Hot Cocoa Rose

Still stitching on my gift. It uses mainly the Ghiordes Knot. That will get you thinking! ;)

Take care my friends. Have a peaceful, restful Sunday.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

My Pinpillow Basket

Good morning everybody! It is a cloudy, drizzly kinda day today. Not the best for picture taking, but these are what I have to share with you.

one over two on 36ct tea stained linen

These two are with the flash. The two pinkish, purplish, brownish counting pins are made by me. The three others were made by Nataly, a gift for me. This is the freebie pattern from my last post. It is found on Nuestras Miniaturas. I knew I wanted her in this sweet, little basket. I found the ruffle and backing fabric at JoAnn. It goes very well with it.

I am pretty pleased with it. =)

When I was in JoAnn I found out that they will be moving. They are taking over one half of an empty grocery store in a strip mall. The other half will be Big Lots. I had even joked last year when the grocery store built a new, bigger store and left that one behind, that this should be a new, bigger JoAnn. We have one of the old, tiny ones. Glad to have one. I am just sad they aren't going to be one of the Super stores and use the whole space. This location is still very close to me. It will not be done til June they say.

So I am still stitching on the first of three Christmas ornaments for the kids during the day. When they are home I am stitching on my mother's angel ornament. They have not accidentally seen any ornaments yet over the years. ;)

Thank you for stopping by today. I would love to hear from you and know you were here.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The Ladybug

Hey everybody! Hello new friends! So glad you joined us. I am so happy to have all of you here. :)

As you know, I recently won a fabulous giveaway Peggy was having. When the box arrived, it was wrapped in brown paper with little ladybugs stamped all over it. I knew immediately, before opening it, that I had the theme for my thank you and birthday gift to her. Peggy's birthday is on Tuesday, so I am very happy she received her gift yesterday.

I had a book checked out from our library already, Pretty Little Pincushions. I really wanted to make some bottle cap pincushions. After receiving my gift from Peggy all wrapped up in ladybugs, I ran back to that library book. I thought I had seen a ladybug pincushion, I did!

Isn't she just adorable!♥ I am pleased to say Peggy thinks so. :) This was the first bottle cap pincushion I have made. It will not be the last!

This was also the first time I made my own counting pins. What fun!! I have made more. This is addicting.

Well, keep watch my friends. I will next be posting a giveaway. ;)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie