Pink + Poodles = Fabulous!

Hi friends! Do you remember last month I received an RAK from Kim? Well one of the gifts she sent me was the JBW pattern, French Country Poodle. I stitched it up using the pretty, pink variegated floss Donna sent me in February. I finished it into a "knob knocker"/ door knob hanger for Madeleine's bedroom.

I stitched this one over one on 25ct white evenweave. It is finished with the adorable, pink poodle fabric you see. Thank you Kim! This won't be the last time I stitch this poodle up. :)

My heart finishes aren't always what I want them to be. I find it so hard to keep a uniform shape. Do you have troubles with hearts? This is what hung from Madeleine's door for a few years.

I believe this was from a Cross Stitcher magazine. I substituted my own purple DMC colors to coordinate with her room. :)

I took a picture of Theotokos when I took it off the scroll bars three days ago. You can see I began the beading in the upper left corner.

I want to thank Vicki,Lee and Dani for their advice on beading. I have not heard back from Riolis. That is okay though. Had I looked at the needle they included for beading, I would have noticed it is impossible for one OR two strands of wool thread to fit through those beads. DUH! I did say that I have not done a big project with beads before. I did! So, I took myself to JoAnn right after Dani told me to use Nymo thread for beading. I am happy to say it is working very well. Slow, but very well.

Remember my Spring Poodles post? Wanna know something I think is very cool? Kissy of Kissy-Cross saw my post. She said she was inspired by concrete Mabel and Henry wearing their bows with her freebies on them! She decided to create another freebie because of it! She made two bunnies wearing poodle bows! tee hee! She says, "Okay, you can't see the poodles on their bows but I swear there are some ;-)" Yay! Use the link above to check out this new freebie. I printed it off. :)

I hope you have a super day in the Lord my friends. It is rainy here, so I will be beading today. Thanks for stopping by.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention if you are interested in a free chart I am giving away, see my previous post. :)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Cross Stitcher In Residence

Hi friends! It will be another lovely, warm day here. The nights have been wonderfully cool. What is your weather like?

I received Cross Stitcher In Residence from June last year. It has been patiently waiting in my "must stitch folder". I stitched this last week, and made it into a knob hanger. It now hangs from a knob of my grandmother's china cabinet.

I stitched this one over one on 28ct lambswool, using DMC. The pattern calls for 2 over 2 on 28ct. I left 3 of the colors the same and changed 4 of the colors. This is what the actual pattern looks like.


 
 You might notice, I pinked it up!! ;)

I had every intention of stitching this as charted when I received this. When I sat down to actually stitch it this last week, I thought, "This house should be pink. If this is for me, it needs to be pink!"

I used tiny, vintage, pink ric rac trim. I backed it with a solid pink of the same color. I decided it needed just a little something up top, so I made a pale pink, crackled glass beaded pin for the center.

I love this sweet, little finish. Thank you June. This pattern was originally gifted to June by Karen (no blog). June introduced me online to Karen this year. It turns out Karen and I live 20 minutes from each other. We have not met in person yet, but I am sure we will one day. Isn't that neat? This little pattern came from the same LNS I shop at, because it is Karen's LNS too.=) But it made it's way to me through June in England!!

Would you like this pattern friend? You may have noticed, I like to give almost all of my patterns away after I stitch them up! ;) Well, I have been thinking. And I have been wanting to ask a question of you,just 'cause I am curious, and just for fun! So if you would like this pattern you must first be a follower. Second you have to leave me a comment here telling me you would like it! And thirdly, answer this question. No answer = no pattern. ;) It's easy! This is the question: What color purse(handbag) are you currently using this summer? Yup, that's what I was wondering. I will close this giveaway on Thursday, August 15th.

For more fun, you can guess what color purse(handbag) I am using this summer. ;) tee hee! You need to be rather specific, okay?. It is one color. It is unusual. And we have all heard of it and know it! BUT probably not your first guess! That is all I am saying. IF you can actually guess the color it is, I have something for you too! I do believe no one is gonna guess this!!!

There! That made this giveaway a little different and fun =) So glad you came. You brighten my day with your visits. Mabel and Henry say hi!!  Have a stitchtastic day my friends.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Friends Are Like Angels

Good Morning my friends! I am so glad you stopped by. Thank you for your kind words on my tiny Henry design. Even such a small attempt at designing gave me a real appreciation of the hard work our cross stitch designers do.

I have forgotten to mention that I gave the small poodle tin to the mail carrier last week. She was actually amazed. She was very happy with it, and told me she has just the place for it with her mail work. Well, that made me happy. She is really such a very, very nice person. =)

I would like to show you the two different ways I made up Friends Are Like Angels. This first one I am giving to my friend Heather. I made it to be a door knob hanger.

The trim I chose may appear to be red and white here to you, not sure, but it is dark pink and cream. It matches very well. The back is a dark  pink. I agonized over the perfect pink fabric. And I have small quantities of many pink fabrics in the hundreds I have to admit! tee hee!

Here is the flatfold. I had a pale pink organdy ribbon in the perfect shade to match the pink cross stitch border. So I made a bow for the top.

I used the same dark pink fabric as the "knob knocker".

Take a look at what I just received in the mail from the UK.

This came from our wonderful friend Mii. =) I was chosen as the next stitcher of Love Notes. I am a true chocoholic, so the Cadbury really hit the spot!! I even shared a tiny bit. ;) Now I am not a tea drinker, but never fear if you have ever sent me tea! My husband and Miss Madeleine are. Ha! You should have seen! BOTH of their eyes lit up for this tea packet. They both wanted it. So, they made two cups from it. ;) And they both liked it very much. Thank you Mii. That was very kind.

I really took my time choosing the linen for this one. I have decided to stitch the long french pattern you see at the bottom. I will not be making a pin pillow however. I have something special in mind. Not sure of the exact outcome quite yet, but I have ideas rolling around the old noggin. We shall see. I began stitching just before bed last night. Looks to be quick, but I am busy, busy with the garden too. So hang in there. You will be seeing this pattern posted for the Traveling Pattern Giveaway soon. =)

Last night, at church, our pastor opened his sermon with a story that is really sticking with me. I did a search just now, and found the story. It really is not long at all. I have no connection with this site, but it has the exact same story our pastor used last night, so this is the link I am giving you. If you care to read this short story, click here. We sang the exact song mentioned, after pastor's sermon. I am still singing it right now. =)

Have a wonderful day in the Lord my friends! Thanks for stopping by. See ya soon!

Stitching and Gardening and Praying,
Vickie