Pink Gifts

Hi friends! Our friend Charlene  sent me a surprise package of many pink things from her own stash.  Oh my! Check this out!

Wow! What awesome presents for me. I have only stitched with silk once. And it appears Charlene gave me every shade of pink by Madiera!! So cool! Not sure what I will do with that minky fabric, but I just love to touch it. :)  I have stitched a few projects on that raspberry linen pictured in the back, and love it. I was down to one tiny piece, not any more. Thank you so very much for the surprise gifts Charlene!

I have my hands full with the chocolate garden. I am putting in 6 hours a day! Can you believe I can manage that?!? I am sore and very tired at the end of the day, but I sleep great! ;)

We dug out the entire thing,removing every, single plant. Digging down deep and removing all grass roots. I am leaving a large gap between the rock border and the grass lawn. I will never go through this again.  It is positively horrid getting day lilies apart and stripping all grass! Nasty! The size of the garden bed is also decreased. I am sharing quite a few of these perennials with my mom.

Back to the garden I go. My right wrist is very sore, so I have not stitched in two days. Must finish the garden first. Then back to stitching.

Have a great week my friends!

Gardening and praying,
Vickie

Hope

Hi friends! How are ya? I am doing great! Our friend Barbara..... what am I going to do with her?! She keeps spoiling me. She is so kind and generous. I received a surprise gift from her.

Isn't this wonderful? This is Pomegranate Pocket by Hands On Design and the linen too! I just love Cathy's designs. Thank you again Barbara.♥

Take a look here! I have received more pink fabrics for that Epic Pink Charm Quilt.

These pretty, pink fabrics are a gift from our friend Charlene, all the way down in Arizona. Click on her name to read about her very God pleasing work. Click on projects once you get there. What Charlene is doing is so amazing and inspiring. Thank you Charlene! I now need only 17 more pink fabrics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been stitching yet another pink Quaker motif on the Black Chocolate linen.

I read A Robertson Family Christmas by Miss Kay Robertson. Had no intention to. Just saw it before leaving the library and thought, "Why not?". It was alright. It is a fictional account of a typical Christmas holiday for the famous family through the eyes of a troubled teen. So it is interesting, just not exactly deep.

I have also begun physical therapy, yep! The last time I did p.t. was 9 years ago. It did not help much. I have a very good feeling this time. My therapist, Leigh, is a true Godsend. She listens, understands and cares. We are working with strengthening my abdominal muscles and working my pelvic floor. No one has ever addressed these issues in the 10 years since I fell. I have hope. I always have hope!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind words and encouragement my friends. I truly appreciate you and thank God for you!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Perfect Gift

Hi friends! I received the most wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday. Our friend Mii Stitch sent me a fabulous pinkeep by Joan Elliott. Have a look!

Is this not darling?! Just look at that wagging tail! I LOVE this!! Did you notice she stitched this sweet poodle on pink evenweave for me too? I sure did. :)

What perfectly matched fabric for the back. And a precious butterfly pin for the top. Can you possibly tell I adore this gift?! Ha! I forgot to share how our sweet friend wrapped this up for me. Pink perfection!

This precious pinkeep is on display in our front room with my Valentine display. Oh Ingrid, I am so very thankful. This sweet gift comes at a perfect time. I am fighting feeling down. I have been suffering a new, additional daily pain. I think this may be sciatic. I see the pain doctor next month.

I finished listening to Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good by Jan Karon. This is her latest book and I cannot recommend it enough. What a great read. This is Jan's 23rd book, and I have read them all. :)

I am currently stitching pink quaker motifs on a dark chocolate linen. I stitch this during the day. These aging eyes cannot see the holes well at night. So my nighttime stitch is a Lizzie Kate ornament. Pictures of that one soon.

Thank you for stopping by my friends. I appreciate your friendship. I am so glad to have you in my life.♥

Take care and have a blessed week in the Lord.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The Last Two Finishes

Happy New Year friends! I took a short break from Theotokos to stitch up Brian's Christmas present. (No, this is not late! Our Orthodox Christmas is in 6 days. :) It is an ornament from this year's JCS Ornament Issue.

Home For Christmas by Gentle Pursuit Designs.

This was stitched on the recommended 40ct Light Examplar linen, two over two and a bit of over one also.

I used all the recommended DMC. I also used this.

This spool is approximately 20 years old. The pattern called for Kreinik very fine braid #4, but I just separated this silver thread apart. It is actually made of three thin threads. I stitched up the silver sections with one of these thin, silver threads. I like the delicate effect. It made me think of, and sing "silver white winters that melt into spring, these are a few of my favorite things." tee hee! It does not take much to make me sing The Sound of Music songs. ;)

So now I will make it up into an ornament and place it on the tree. Last night, after I placed the last stitch, I asked Brian how he liked it. He loves the trees the best. He wanted to know where this one is going. HA! Was he surprised when I said "Merry Christmas! It is yours! I made this for you."♥

The other finish I had last night was The Slumber of Christianity by Ted Dekker. It was the book I was reading and I wanted to finish it in 2014. This is a non-fiction book by Ted. A very good one. Here is an odd quote from the book: “The world’s bumper sticker reads: Life sucks, and then you die. Perhaps Christian bumper stickers should read: Life sucks, but then you find hope and you can’t wait to die.”

I have from the library the latest Ted book I did not read yet, Hacker. I will start it today! Can't wait. Ted has approximately 45 books. I have read 43. There are two more older ones I missed that I am going to try real hard to get through our library.

I read 40 books in 2014. I read 40 books in 2013 also. That's odd. :)

Isn't this sweet?

This is a PINK snowflake made just for me from dear Anne. The winter sun is shining on it very brightly, but I promise, this is pink. I already have a nice red one from her from last year too. :)

Here is where I am at on Theotokos.

I so wanted to take a picture of my 2014 orts for you out in the snow. It is so very odd. We have no snow. None.

Do you like my cast iron poodle bank? He is about 12 inches high. :) I will be putting these orts out for the birds to build beautiful, warm nests with them.

May God richly bless every minute of every day of this new year for you my friends!

Thank you for your friendship. I appreciate every single comment you leave me.

Stitching and reading and praying,
Vickie

Warm, PINK Goodness

Hi friends! I received a Christmas package from our friend Shirlee a while ago, but I waited to open it for a little bit. Let me show you what Shirlee gave me.

I had to create some snow to go with that awesome pink scarf! ;) You may have seen this scarf? I did. Way back in October on Angela's blog. I had even commented on it's greatness. :) Her mum made this as a donation to Gaynor's Breast Cancer Research Fundraiser.  Shirlee tells me that when she saw this and her raffle ticket was chosen, she chose this for me. I am so touched.

Isn't it awesome? This very pretty, very warm cable scarf was made so very well by Angela's mum. She generously donated it for the Fundraiser and Shirlee lovingly gave it to me. What a neat thing to be a part of! Thank you again Shirlee.♥

This is the gift I sewed for Shirlee. She has opened it already, so I am going to share it with you. :)

 Do you see the mouse? That is what I made her. This is Shirlee's picture I borrowed. I forgot to take a picture of the mouse and counting pins I gave her. He is designed to be a pincushion. She placed him in the tree. :) Looks good too! I had never made this before. I wanted to make something different for sweet Shirlee, and this is what I decided on. I found the tutorial for the mouse HERE. I scaled my pattern size down to about half. It was too big for me. Made me think of a rat, not a mouse. ;)

I have been stitching on Theotokos. Were you frightened on Tuesday? Did you hear me? This was me!

Much, much unstitching was going on Tuesday on Theotokos. :(  It is all fixed now though. So on I go! Here is a progress picture of where I am at now.

And finally, look! I just knew it! I knew Santa was my kinda guy!

Oh I hope one of those poodles is for me? Or all three? No, couldn't be. I would truly prefer a teacup poodle. Santa knows that! sigh. Well, I can always hope for his snow globe, right?

Stitching and baking and praying,
Vickie

Pink Poodle Gifties!

Hi friends! I decided to allow myself to open June's gift finally. I had to be good and get Christmas preparations going first. ;) Look at these perfect patterns June saved for me from her magazines!

 And I had to get a closeup of this, my favorite one!!! squee!

And are you ready for these gifts?!?

Look at the awesome poodle pattern June has found for me. I have never seen that one! June and I exchanged poppy seeds this year from our gardens. :) You can see the sweet, little calendar she made me on the right. On the left are Angel bookmarks/calendars. I use these every month in all the books I read each year June. :) The sweet embroidered bag at the bottom held the beautiful butterfly pill box filled with pink beads. Thank you so much June. ♥

I did some finishing work on two gift pieces which are now in the mail. One cannot be shown yet, but the other can. This is a magnet I made for my friend Heather. She is the new first grade teacher. I thought a magnet would work very well for her. God bless her. She is very overwhelmed right now.

I made our first Christmas cookies a few days ago. I used a new recipe I just found on Craft Gossip. SO easy and very yummy! When I asked Jacob if I should make these every Christmas then, he said, "NO! Every week! Don't save these just for Christmas!" ;) Here is the link to the Grinch Cookies.

Sorry for the crummy pictures today. It has been dreary for a week here. Damp, cold, and cloudy. (Yes, my pain is up from this.) You cannot tell from the picture very well, but they are a light, odd green. ;) Grinchy! I will be changing a few things next time I bake these. I will use 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring. I will make the cookies smaller, mine were a little bigger than the recommended tablespoon. And I will use a bit less than the called for 1/2 cup of oil.

A few treasures from friends tucked in this display in our front room. :) You can spot the Linus Christmas card on the right. This was given to me by my brother Jonathan 3 years ago. It still plays the recording of Linus' famous Biblical quotation and " That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown." Love it.♥

No snow on the ground here. Yay! I am not worried about a white Christmas. Almost all of my 45 Christmases here in Wisconsin have been white. ;)

I am going to bake cookies again today. And stitch some more on Theotokos. And then probably wrap a few presents. I hope your day is merry and bright!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

An RAK, A Finish And A Giveaway

Hi friends! The shots on Tuesday went alright. The needles weren't so bad, it is the pressure of the injections. o_0 The pain was horrid for two days. Then the pain went completely away in my right hip. Well I rarely get pain in the right hip. My left hip pain greatly reduced for one day, then...... Well, accidents happen. Unfortunately, Madeleine accidentally kicked me. Now the pain is back to bad on the left. Barely, barely there on the right. I go for two more shots in two weeks. Yay! NOT! =( I am told you need a series of two to three shots to make the bursitis go away or get better. So I will try again. sigh.

How about happy news?! I got an RAK from Lynda Ruth! Just because I leave comments on her blog. =) What a very, very nice thing to do! Take a look.

She stitched me a sweet, little pillow, and added some of her sea glass! Her husband and her comb the beaches for sea glass. I think that is so cool to get a little piece of her world. And I got to teach my kids about sea glass. They had never heard of it!! A pink butterfly candle, Canadian pencil, more sea glass and pretty stones, and a really neat purple project pouch too. Do you see the yummy blueberry tea? Madeleine, Brian and I have enjoyed some already. When I set these gifts up to take a picture, Henry took off with the blueberry tea! Here he is right before he ran with it!

Madeleine found these nifty socks at Target. We both got a pair. ;)

I finished up Uncle Sam last week. I made him into a pillow, filled with crushed walnut shells. I was happy to have all the supplies in my stash. I backed it with denim.

This is one of the Littles by Bent Creek. I stitched it as the pattern called for, two over two on 32ct mystery linen. I used DMC, and Weeks Dye Works 'Straw' for the background, and Victorian Motto '1795 Tarnished Gold' for Uncle Sam's buttons and '1795 Sampler Pink' for his nose. He finished up at 1.5"x1.5". :)

I did not have a red star button, so I stitched myself a red star. ;)

This is one of the charts I got from Crosse Stitchery. I found out on the ride home, as I read the receipt, she just gave me this one. =) That was very nice. Now that I have stitched him, I would like to give this Bent Creek Littles Uncle Sam chart to you. Just be one of my followers and leave a comment, telling me you would like this chart. I will draw a name on Sunday, August 3rd.

I am working on the French Knot Henry. Almost done! Hundreds and hundreds of knots! I am loving the way it looks.

Thank you for your kind words, well wishes and prayers.

Have a fantastic week!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Hi friends! My pain has barely gone down. :(  I went to the pain management PA on Tuesday. She really poked, prodded and pushed. This is why I am still suffering. Percocet is getting me through. Unfortunately stitching while on percocet guarantees stitchy mistakes. puh!

I have not one, but two lovely stitchy pictures to share with you on my Summer Postcard from Mouse!

I am not familiar with either of these designs.  So fantastic!

And here is the message on my postcard from Mouse:

dear stitchy friend ... 

the sun is out,

the sky is blue .... 

my needles in my hand, 

how about you ???

wish you were here joining me :)

 

love mouse x

I was sent this postcard because I took part in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop sponsored by Jo. You can join too if you like! Just have a look here. :) Thanks Mouse! Thanks Jo!

I wanted to share with you a surprise that arrived in the mail for me yesterday.

A lovely lavender pillow filled with lavender. Didn't Jacquie do a wonderful job?! It is backed with a wonderful purple fabric too. Thank you so much Jacquie! I certainly was taken by surprise. :)

That's it for me today friends. I am trying to get better. I hope you have an excellent weekend. :)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

RAK

Hi friends! I received a RAK from our friend Carol. What a happy, beautiful surprise. :)

Carol tells me that she admires how I live my life to the fullest in spite of my chronic pain. So she stitched me this LHN "Hope" virtue. She hopes and prays that some day my pain will be erased altogether. Oh me too Carol, me too!

I cannot even put into words the excellence of this little pillow. I am NOT exaggerating. I told my husband that this is the finest stitching and finishing I have ever seen. Carol also included an extra bit of cording so I can use this pillow as a Christmas ornament. What an excellent idea! I will do just that. :) You can also see the pretty, little note pad she gave me.♥

Busy times with Emerson. He graduates in less than two months. Then on to Concordia University Mequon.

The campus is right upon the shore of Lake Michigan. He will live at home and commute. He is going to major in History, so far. ;) He decided not to major in Art. He was also accepted at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He loves art and history. The choice was his to make. And he waited as long as possible, let me tell you! He is definitely not done creating art. We will see what God has in store for Emerson.

I finished my least favorite Springtime chore. You still have a chance to guess what chore that is for a free chart I am offering here.  I will draw a name tomorrow. :)

Plodding along with the beading of Theotokos. THAT takes a long time!

Well off to worship on this beautiful Sunday morning. I hope you have a lovely day in the Lord my friends. Thank you for stopping by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

RAK For Me

Hi friends! It has been mild here. The snow is slowly melting. :)

I left a comment on Kim's blog the other day, telling her how awesome her new poodle thread keep is. She comes up with designs and her talented husband uses his new scroll saw to make beautifully crafted thread keeps. Well Kim emailed me back. She told me she would like to send me it! She and he made it for me! What?! Well my gifts arrived yesterday from sweet Kim. Take a look.

Isn't the poodle fabulous?! This is my first wooden thread keep. :) You can see Kim also gifted me with the JBW Designs French Country Poodle. Yay! And pink floss for it too. Yay! I did not have this poodle pattern. Do you also see the Journal of Gratitude Kim gave me? She wrote it! Yes, Kim is also an author. I am amazed at Kim's many talents. There are some photos of her paintings in the journal too.

Thank you once again Kim for your friendship and kindness!

I have finished stitching the bottom border of Theotokos. I will now roll it up to the top on the scroll bars and stitch up the top portion.

I am trying harder this Lent to focus on God. More than I ever have before. I hope to improve every year. I have given up hot chocolates and tea chai lattes (I do not drink coffee), meat, and chocolate for the whole duration of Lent. I have eliminated these foods, not because they are somehow unclean or sinful, but because human beings when content and satisfied, find it much more difficult to focus on God. Jesus did not say, if you fast. He said, when you fast. Fasting is part of the spiritual life. I find it kinda hard. I am hoping to strengthen my spirit through this.

Have a wonderful day my friends! Thank you for spending a little time with me today.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Wonderful Surprise

Hi friends! Hello new friends! Glad you all stopped in. Still snowy and cold here. How is your weather?

I got a wonderful, unexpected gift yesterday. It came all the way from England, from our dear friend Mouse.

She made me a pretty pink stitcher's tray. Absolutely perfect fabric, isn't it?! And look at this!

Yes, it is Miss Mabel! My very first needle minder. =) I love it! Thank you so much Mouse.♥

I have been doing a bit of unstitching this week. So frustrating. I am trying to be so careful. I have completed all the DMC areas on the chart for Theotokos. I have begun using the woolen thread. I thought I would not like it, but I do. It gives fabulous coverage on this aida.

All of the olive green you see surrounding Mary thus far is the woolen thread.

I finished reading A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert. I liked it a lot. I just wish she did not feel the need to put in a few swear words. I read plenty of fiction that is not dull and the feelings and messages get across without cheapening it. So anyhow, that book got me interested in Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder. I just listened to Little House In The Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I really enjoyed listening to it.Well, except for learning how to make head cheese. ;)  I am now listening to A Little House Sampler: A Collection Of Early Stories and Reminiscenses. It is very, very interesting. It is by Laura and Rose.

I did see the pain PA on Tuesday. I am now on Cymbalta too. I hesitated to even bring up the whole "pain thing" here, because I still don't know where it is going. I began Cymbalta on Tuesday. My pain is only a 1 or 2(or 3 after I use the treadmill. Yes, I am trying to get walking again. I can for 10 minutes at a time). That of course if fantastic. Problem is I have a headache for 3 days now. I am hoping it goes away during this adjustment period? What a trade off: low hip pain, new constant headache. And I did not say a word at the clinic to anyone about all the trouble I go through. I got a survey, done by an independent company, right before the appointment. I gave them terrible ratings on most everything. They asked if I wanted someone to contact me regarding the survey, I marked YES! I think this will be better. The office manager is in on the problem. I don't want the mess covered up, I would love to see the system fixed up!

Have fun stitching away the weekend my friends! Take good care of yourself. There is only one you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

A Beautiful Gift

Hi friends! How are ya? Freezing like me? We have been barely making it above zero for our daytime highs around here lately. I gave Mabel her much needed haircut a few days ago. Henry needs a cut too. He is very, very fuzzy. I will have to wait just a bit longer. He needs that extra protection. It is going to get even colder in the next few days. The kids will get off of school one extra day, extending their Christmas vacation yet one more day. The schools have already decided to stay closed on this coming Monday. It will be a high of -11ºF with a windchill as low as -45ºF that day. That is just too dangerous for little and big people to be waiting for a bus or to be outside at all!

I received a lovely package in the mail from Anne yesterday. A beautiful Christmas card, great tea that we have all enjoyed, one of her sweet, little crocheted snowflake ornaments, and just look at that beautiful pillow made just for me! Oh Anne, it all so very nice, but that pillow really, truly touched my heart.

Thank you my friend! I am so blessed to call you my sister in Christ.

I do not take part in the TUSAL thing, but I do save my orts. I put them out for the birds in the spring. =) They use them to build soft, pretty nests!

These are my 2013 orts in a 10 inch tall vase.

I am going to pick up Theotokos again. I, um, took a small break already. I have not stitched a poodle in quite some time and just wait til you see these two cuties I am working on!! One done, one to go. They are small. One is apricot and one is grey. Imagine that! ;)

I continue to use the Voltaren gel for extra pain relief. It helps some. I go to the pain PA in less than 2 weeks now. I hope to get my Neurontin increased in dosage at that time. Thank you for your prayers and concern.♥

Keep warm my friends! Behold the Lord's glory and you will grow in grace.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie