Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & FIBER ARTS

Hi friends! How are you? Did you have a nice weekend? I did. Lovely weather. Saturday was our outing to Cedarburg. Such a nice town. We went to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts. The museum is in the refurbished 1850's dairy barn. Love it. I love old farmsteads. We saw so many on our drive out to Cedarburg. :)

Lord's Prayer Sampler in German

So very many awesome crazy quilts on display.

Sweet, little doggies on this one, dated1833

Lovely colors on this 1868 sampler, stitched in Hartford, WI, where we last lived

Look at this lovely embroidery. It looks like a painting.

This quilted outfit is awesome! Look at the lovely embroidered details.

My mom bought me this wonderful book. ♥

I am soooooooo inspired! All the gorgeous punchneedle pieces featured in this book were in the museum. Marinda teaches punchneedle in the farmhouse. She was not there Saturday though. Oh boy! Just not enough hours in the day.

Here is Brewgrass, my brother's bluegrass band. Were you paying attention? Do you know which guy is my brother?

I finished stitching my current project last night, right before bed. It is a pincushion by Hands On Design called Pomegranate Pincushion. Today I hope to finish it into the pincushion. This pattern and linen was a gift from our friend Barbara. I am not making the Pomegranate Pocket that is also part of this pattern. There is enough linen to make the pocket OR the pincushion. Barbara is fine with me offering this up as a giveaway. Would you like this pattern and linen?


If you want to enter this giveaway, please tell me so in the comments below. You must be a follower of mine. I will draw a name on Monday, July 6th.

I am off to physical therapy soon. I am down to once weekly visits with the therapist. I have increased strengthening exercises at home to do during the week. I will be done with the therapist in a few weeks. :)

I will be back next time with a finish! Thank you for stopping by. I am so glad you did! :) Have a super day in the Lord, my friend!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Giveaway Winner

Hi friends! The winner of the Keep Me Sampler by Moira Blackburn is Annette! I have notified you in email Annette. It will be on it's way this week. :)

No stitching to show you today. I am working on a secret stitch right now. ;)

I read Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen. It is the newest in the Royal Spyness series. It was good. I would appreciate if the swearing disappeared. I don't think she needs to make every police officer swear, when  one appears in a story.

Brian bought me a rose. :) Just because. ♥

I am feeling a little frustrated. I finally get better with my leg, from the cancer surgery, and I can walk on the treadmill again. Then, after 3 days of walking, my hip pain on the left returns. And I walk slow! And only 10 minutes at a time to avoid the pain. And only 20 minutes a day total. sigh. I cannot exercise in other ways without pain, so I just want to walk. Man! Pain is the pits!!

I plan to have a restful Lord's Day today. Off to worship soon. I hope you have a beautiful day my friends! Thank you for stopping by to say hi! Don't forget, I have started a new giveaway. Take a look here.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Gnome Home

Hi friends! You may recall last month on the way home from our vacation I bought some stitching stash at Crosse Stitchery. One of the patterns was a sweet, little Bent Creek Snapper "Dinner's Ready". I just think it is so cute. I stitched that up a few weeks ago. While I was stitching it, I came up with a fun finishing idea. It is finally completed.

I love it! =) I figured there must be a tutorial to make a mushroom somewhere on the web, and sure enough there was. The tutorial on making a mushroom house is right here. You can see I used a lot of the directions, but also did my own thing. I had to enlarge the pattern by A LOT.

This was stitched on 32 ct lambswool two over two with DMC, except the bunny's tail. That is Wisper floss. His tail was supposed to be the small snap (Snapper pattern), but I just thought he would be so much more precious with a fluffy tail. :) Well, and I made him a french knot nose instead of stitching him up a nose as charted. Can I just say, my bunny is cuter? ;)

It is such a good feeling when you really like a pattern and then you finish it off into something you really enjoy as well, isn't it?! I am happy in case you could not tell. ;)

I would like to offer this pattern to anyone who wants it. You just need to be a follower of mine and leave me a comment here, telling me you would like it. I will draw a winner  on Friday, September 5th. We still need a winner on the 31st for the pattern I am giving away here.

The weather is nice today. I will see what weeds I can attack for a bit in the garden. My knee is already bothering me a bit. I squatted to get these pictures this morning. Duh! Not a good idea.

All three kids are in school. Miss Madeleine has been in high school for one week now. The boys started college on Monday. So far so good. Concordia University Mequon is a very good fit for Emerson. It is a smaller Lutheran college. He is doing well there. :)

Oh yes! Yesterday Madeleine passed her driver's test! Yay! Good for her. Such a relief to have that over with.

I plan on having a great day my friends! I hope you have a fantastic day doing whatever you are up to!

Stitching and reading and praying,
Vickie

The "I Am Officially Cancer Free/ 300 Followers Giveaway"

Hi friends! How ya doing? I am doing swell. I never experienced the extreme pain flare up after these cortisone shots in my hip bursa. The pain is much lower now every day also. Yay! I also went back for a recheck with the surgeon today. The pathology report shows he got all the cancer. Yay! I am cancer free! Yay for me!! =)

I recently decided to go through some of my chart stash. I had won this wonderful chart over a year ago from Nicola. It is large at 247x247. I am thinking I will never get to it. It is too pretty to just sit around in someone's stash pile.

This is the chart for Keep Me Sampler by Moira Blackburn. Would you like to stitch it? Well if you would like to own this chart, please leave me a comment telling me so. :) You need to be a follower of mine. I also would love to know how old you were when you started stitching.  I was 12 years old. ;) I will draw a name on the last day of this month, August 31st.

I appreciate YOU! Thank you for stopping by today. Thank you for your kind words, prayers, encouragement and friendship.♥

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

Taste Summer

Hi friends! I finished up 'Taste Summer' by Shepherd's Bush last week. I waited to  post about it til this Blogger Bug was over and done with.

I bought this sweet kit at my LNS, when I still had a LNS over a year ago. The picture on the pattern front shows this finished in a white weathered box. I chose to simply make it a pincushion. So of course I had to make a few red, white and blue counting pins to put in it. :) I love the fabric I had on hand for the backing.

I stitched it with the given threads on the given 32ct Light Sand Linen, two over two. There are hardly any threads left, and I used the linen up, but I would like to offer this pattern to one of you. You can have the threads too. They won't get the whole pattern stitched, but at least you can use some, and use the others to match colors if you like.

 So if you are a follower of mine, and you would like this pattern, tell me so in a comment on this post. This will be open to anyone, anywhere, as the pattern is small enough to send in an envelope, thus keeping postal costs down. =) I will draw a name in one week, next Wednesday, July 2nd.

I am stitching up a gift for my Aunt and Uncle for their 40th Wedding Anniversary on Sunday. Almost done now. Then to frame it. It will get done.

Glad you stopped by today. Have a wonderful week my friends.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The Scarlet Letter

Hi friends! I am still stitching 'Rendevous in the Park' by Kissy Cross. :) Busy week right now. Emerson graduates high school on Saturday! I am bringing tissues. ;) We will have a party for him with family and friends in two weeks. Lots of cleaning and preparing to do. I still keep plugging away at the flower beds. Thirty minutes a day. That is all I can do or I will be in bad pain. What gets done, gets done. You don't know how hard it is for me to say that. I like things "just so".

I was recently going through my patterns. I found this 1988 Just Cross Stitch magazine. It features Marsha from The Scarlet Letter.

The Scarlet Letter pattern included is the one pictured above. Interesting to note that Marsha is located 45 minutes from me. :) I have never been there. So very many of you my friends are into reproduction samplers. I am not.

Would you like this magazine? Leave me a comment here telling me so. You need to be a follower of mine. I will draw a name on Friday, June 6th.

Have a beautiful day in the Lord my friends.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Spring Has Sprung!

Hi friends! Spring has sprung, Theotokos is done. Well, the cross stitch anyways. Now the beading is left to do.

I bought this pattern on ebay. It is from 2006. It was open, but they stated that everything was there. I did some checking on the internet this weekend. It seems that the patterns come with directions in 6 languages. Well not mine. It is only in Russian. I am unsure if I should use one strand of the wool or two to attach the beads. I emailed Riolis over the weekend. I hope they respond and let me know soon.

So since almost all the snow is melted, the weather has been milder, and I can see a few plants beginning to peek out of the soil, I will now accept that Spring is here. ;)

I was looking for a poodle chart this weekend and came across this one.

I bought this pattern at a thrift shop. It has a few notes in pencil inside from the previous stitcher, so it is not in mint shape. But I know I will never get to stitching this. Would you like to stitch it? If you would like it, you need to be a follower of mine. AND... just for fun, you also need to answer this question correctly. :) If more than one of you get the correct answer, I will draw a name. I will draw a winner on Monday, April 7th. Here's your question: What is my least favorite spring time chore?

I finally finished reading My Heart's Cry by Anne Graham Lotz. I really liked this book a lot. I am glad it is my book, as I have pages marked off to go back to again and again. Simply put, this book is all about saturating your life with Jesus.

Well, if someone has a Riolis kit, and wants to tell me if I should use one or two strands of wool for attaching the beads, please tell me! Or maybe you just know, please tell me! I would love to begin today. Otherwise, I may be taking another break with a small stitchy project. :)

Have a super dee duper day!  Ha! Did your kids watch Barney over and over too?! Some of the songs are stuck in my head FOREVER from kid's programs.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Second Blogoversary

Hi friends! Tomorrow marks my second blogoversary. Two years of sharing my stitching and my life with you, my stitchy friends. =) Thanks for being so inspiring. I am thankful to God for needlework and YOU!

I have two gifts to offer. These are both new, never used charts. I would like to offer them separately. If you would like a chance at both, just mention that. I will have two drawings, and will enter your name in the drawing for the chart you name ( or in both drawings if you would like either one).

My Home Is Built In Glory by Heartstring Samplery Primitives

Field Aray by Carriage House Samplings

To enter the Blogoversary Giveaway, just be a follower and leave a comment here telling me which chart you would like. I will draw two names on Monday March 3rd.

This is where I am at with Theotokos. Many beads will be added later.

I am stitching two smalls right now. As in small. Two samplers over one on 45 ct. Pictures soon I hope. =)

Have a restful Sunday my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Flora McSample Heart Sampler Giveaway

Good Morning my friends! Cooler weather here. The leaves are starting to change color. Emerson returned home to us last night from his Kairos Retreat. He had a very good experience. =)

I purchased Flora McSample Heart Sampler from Lizzie Kate back in June from The Stitch Inn. I just finished stitching it up a few days ago.

Isn't she sweet? I stitched this two over two with DMC on the provided 28ct Mint Green Cashel linen.

I went straight off to the thrift shop to look for a suitable frame. There was one in the correct size but not the right look. I will keep looking for a while yet.

You know what I do with most of my patterns once I have them stitched up don't you? ;) Yup! I offer them to you! So, would you like to stitch this sweet little  sampler? You will get the pattern and the remaining beads for the flower. There are more than enough still. You would have to come up with your own charm or idea for inside the basket. And as you can see, I kinda used the linen. ;)

If you would like to own this pattern, please leave me a comment here telling me so. You need to be a follower. I will draw the name of winner on Thursday, September 26th.

I found a few cute things for myself while shopping this week. Gotta love these slippers, right?!

Look at this cute little hand sanitizer holder from Bath & Body Works! I told the cashier I was quite sure this was intended for perhaps girls 40 years younger than myself, but I love poodles and I love pink. She told me it was just for me then! ;)

Have a stitchtastic weekend friends! I am so glad you stopped by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie