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

Garden Welcome

Hi friends! And a Garden Welcome to you! ;) Take a look here at my latest finish.

This pattern is called Garden Welcome, you can find it in the May 2014 issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework.

I have had this idea to add a sampler to the space above the pink and purple garden on the side of our garage. I decided this pattern was perfect for my plan.

I stitched this on 14ct perforated plastic. Three over two to make it bigger! I used the called for DMC.

The first pictures were taken on an overcast day. The last one on a sunny, early evening. I knew this space above the table and chairs would not be directly hit by sun or rain (unless it comes down sideways I suppose).

I am very pleased with this. I found the large wooden tag for cheap at JoAnn. Miss Madeleine offered to paint it pale pink for me. I used the pretty, pink ribbon that Noni sent me with her pink fabric gift. :) What do you think?

See my pretty, pink peony bush in that garden on the end? I know the sun is bright there, but you can maybe see the white  rain downspout at the corner of the garage, at the back.

The downspout has a hinge so it can lift up for mowing the lawn. When you lift it up you see my little garden friend. He has lived there several years now. We have named him Timothy Toad. He is the largest of our toads. We have many in our yard. Brian moves Timothy every time he cuts the grass. ;) And Timothy comes back every time.

Ha! Yes, we are a bit odd. ;) We name them all.

I am almost done stitching up another project. I have finishing to do on a few things. I have been putting them off.

I finished Love Letters by Beverly Lewis. Another great book by her. Do fellow Beverly Lewis fans also know exactly what is going to happen in her books? I always do, very early on. I sill read the stories though. She is such a talented story writer, that the books are always enjoyable.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend my friends! Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

June

Hi friends! I want to show you the bookmark I made for Our friend June's birthday. She has opened her gift, so it is safe now. :)

June loves flowers and bunnies and of course butterflies!  I had this sweet freebie printed out since Spring of 2013. And I am glad I did! I can no longer find it for you. This is just a small portion of the pretty pattern. I had printed this pattern with June in mind from the start! ;)

Happy Birthday dear June!

Two varieties of lavender bearded irises. The ones on the right smell of grape!

Chris, these are the geraniums you gave me. They have a pinkish hue after all! ;)

We have been getting lots and lots of rain here. When it finally dries up, I will get back out in the garden to pull the fresh  weeds. I have the same problem Marly does. When the barometric pressure falls, my pain goes up. It is best to wait inside til these thunder storms pass. So I have been stitching. I will be back soon with a pretty FINISH! It turned out great and I love it! I hope you will too. :)

Have a super week my friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

My little garden helper on a hot afternoon.

Woo Hoo! I Am A Gardener Again

Hi friends! How are ya? I am doing well with my physical therapy sessions twice weekly. Still doing my home exercise program.  I am able to work in the garden again!! :) One hosta bed that was neglected is all fixed up and pretty. The chocolate garden now needs lots of help. I am beginning.

I sent another bookmark as a thank you gift to our friend Charlene for the pretty, pink quilt fabrics she sent me. I forgot to get a picture of both sides of the bookmark. The other side, not shown, is the side with her initial.

I also sent her some unwanted aida fabric I had.  Please CLICK HERE to see what she does with people's leftovers. She has an awesome mission. Maybe you have unwanted materials you want to send to her?

Can you spot the bee?

I have a large cluster of these beauties. They all popped up from seeds I spread here last fall.

Native columbine. Which happen to be PINK and yellow.

I love these purpley blue columbine so very much. I have grown these same flowers at 3 different homes now. I gave a handful of friends seeds for these last year? Was it you? Did you plant them?

Huckleberry Fudge Bearded Iris

I hope you are doing well my friends. If not, and you would like me to pray for you, let me know. I am glad to. Thank you for stopping by. Have a super weekend!

EDIT: Our friend Jacquie needs prayer. Would you please pray for her. She is in the hospital again. Thank you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

June

Hi friends! How are you? All is well here. A few weeks ago I stitched up this sweet little bird for our friend June. Now that June has opened her gift, I can show you. :)

Had to borrow this picture from June. I forgot to take one! ;)

The pattern is by Lesley Teare. It is called Free As A Bird, and it is found in the Rustic Style pattern book by Cross Stitcher. I made this dear, little birdie into a magnet for June. I also made her counting pins, and gave her blue columbine seeds from my garden.

 

I held out as long as I could. You all know I like to share quite a few of my charts and magazines with fellow stitchers. Well, the international postage has become too much for me. I just cannot swing it any longer. I just mailed off the last magazine I can share internationally. It cost me $14.00 to mail a magazine! I am sorry. It saddens me. I will still be offering small charts internationally. :)

I made another gift  last week for a fellow stitcher. It is a new way to finish for me. :) I will share it with you this week, after she receives it. ;)

I am stitching up a patriotic Shepherd's Bush kit right now. Watch for the finish and the chart. I will be giving away the chart and whatever threads remain.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

My Garden Pals

Love Notes Winner

Good Morning my friends! It has cooled off here wonderfully. =)  I did finish stitching the little Snappy Sampler a few days ago. I even pulled a perfectly matching backing fabric. Just need to make myself finish it off!! No pictures yet. Although I am going to show you an image of the Snappy Sampler here.
 
Would you like to stitch this cute little thing yourself? The little black snaps are still included, I used the black snaps Donna sent me from a German antique store. =) I also changed up one of the colors. I will show you when I complete the finishing. I received this as a gift from my friend Laurie in Texas.

I did not forget about my Love Notes Giveaway drawing yesterday. I just didn't get on to post until now. The winner is Julie! I have emailed you Julie and I am waiting for your address. If you are one of the ladies who wanted to win it, but did not this time, please keep an eye on Julie's blog for a chance in the near future. =)

I never showed you Emerson's birthday cake I made last Saturday. I have to get busy and make another birthday cake this morning for Miss Madeleine. Her party is tomorrow. Emerson's birthday is the 20th and Madeleine's is the 31st. Wish me luck! She wants a "Henry Cake". (｡◕‿◕｡)

This is a beautiful pinkish purple dahlia I have had for a few years. My first dahlia to bloom this year.

Do you remember this little tree we planted last year? Yes, this is what our Espaliered McIntosh Apple tree looks like nowadays. No fruit. That may be next year.

This is little Mabel waiting for a green bean. =) We check the vegetable garden together. We both love fresh green beans.

Here are my first cherry tomatoes. Love them.

And here I just had to show you how Mabel helps me pull the grass that grows in the daylilies. ;) She takes a seat in the Chocolate Garden and grabs the grass and chews it up! Notice Henry is in training.

So that is it for today. If you want to stitch Snappy Sampler tell me so on this post please, so I don't have to guess! Also you must be a follower of mine. I will draw the winner on Friday, August 2nd.

Have a fabulous day in the Lord my friends! I am off to bake now.

Stitching and Finishing and Praying,
Vickie