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

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

Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Happy Valentine's Day to you my friends! Welcome to new friends! I took part in Jo's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop once again this year. It is fun! This is the sweet Valentine picture sent by my Secret Stitcher.

Now the fun part is waiting to find out who she is! Eighteen stitchers participated in the Blog Hop this year. My Secret Stitcher just needs to visit Jo's blog, visit the stitchers on the list and once that stitcher finds their Valentine picture posted here, well they leave me a comment here letting me know who they are. ;)

I took a bit of a break last week from Theotokos.( I am back at it now.) I stitched up my Secret Stitching and did the finishing on it too. I will show you that next time. Don't want to give away who I stitched for. ;) I also stitched up a freebie. Still need to do the finishing before I show you that one quite yet.

So, I suppose I can show you this.

No, I did not make this. I saw it listed on ebay, as a handmade doll house rug. It is signed and dated on the back. It was made in 1973! It is faded. The thread on the back shows the pastel pink the poodle was.

 

The picture on ebay wasn't very great. It was cheap and cute. So I was rather surprised when I received it, to find out those are all french knots! Shirlee are ya with me?! Shirlee? Have you fainted?!  Cool huh? Well, I think so. =)

I received a wonderfully sweet RAK in the mail from Beth.

A monthly planner from Marjolein Bastin! Isn't it beautiful. I love and admire her work. My favorite part of this planner, besides the artwork, are the pages for prayer requests. I love that. I am always straining my brain to remember all my friends and family who I want to pray for. This will get me organized. Thank you again Beth. =)

Have you read The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder? It was the last of her nine children's books, where she is married to Almanzo and they have Rose. I really enjoyed this one too.

I finished reading Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I own this book. I have been picking it up and reading it here and there for months. I guess the best way to sum this book up, is to say that it exposes the lies that imprison so many women and sets them free. I like this book very much. I will be reading it more than once.

Thank you for stopping by today friends. I appreciate your friendship.

Stitching and praying,

Vickie

Finally Framed

Hi friends! Things have started warming up. Problem is that it rained and froze, so everything is very slick out there. Is anyone enjoying good weather? Tell me.

I finished Mary's Sampler over a month ago. I have been searching for a 5x5 frame ever since. Let me tell you, those are not readily available around here. Unless you want black. Michael's had two different wood ones. I bought one and tried it out. It wouldn't fit! I measured the frame, and guess what? It was 4 1/2 inchesx4 1/2 inches!!! C'mon! Ridiculous. I returned that and guess what? We finally made the trip to Hobby Lobby. Yay! It is not near us. I have been wanting to get back to that store FOR YEARS. Finally went. So glad I did. =) Found a frame. For only $5 too! =)

I found a sweet, little, vintage poodle pincushion with the original thimble on ebay. =)

This is the progress I have made on Theotokos this week.

I decided, why wait for one more week in this elevated pain? I have done some hunting down of this pain PA.She returned to work this last week at the main pain clinic she works out of. She returns this week to the clinic I visit. I have discovered the true problem is that I see her and the pain doctor at the location closer to me. The main clinic they work out of is far away and NOT affiliated with mine. The nurses and people don't seem to work together. So I called my place and had them fax over the message as usual. But then I called that clinic and asked if they received the fax. The receptionist assured me they did and she was delivering it to the PA herself. I called back 90 minutes after I knew she had the fax delivered to her desk and asked if she actually saw it. The receptionist told me she knew the PA saw it because she personally delivered it to her. She put me on hold for less than 2 minutes and then said she personally asked the PA. The PA said she had the fax sent back over with the directions, but you can tell Vickie to increase her meds to 4 times daily beginning now and I will see her in one week as planned. Do you know the nurse from the facility I deal with called me the next morning, 18 hours later? She said they received the message from the PA and the prescription is being called in for you to your pharmacy now. That was it. I didn't even discuss it with her. I will with the office manager at my appointment in two days.Being on the Neurontin 4 times daily has brought the pain level down lower. It has been better.

Off to have lunch with family in a few hours. Hoping the ice melts a lot today. I do NOT need to slip! Who does?!

Have a stitchtatic day my friends. =)

Stitching and reading and praying,
Vickie

Traveling Pattern Winner

Good Morning my friends! How are you today? Doing pretty well here. Paint ball happening for the boys today with friends and again tomorrow with my brother. They do this every once in a great while. Jacob is registered for his fall courses at Marquette University. He received the AP credit for Psychology. That was a course he was supposed to take this fall. So wonderful that he no longer has to take it, it is done!!

Now that we also own a boy poodle, I realized there aren't as many small "boy" poodle motifs to be had out there. My bottle cap magnet collection has almost all girly looking poodles. I decided to try and create my own Henry. Amazing how much effort it took me to just come up with this little guy.

I used three different shades of Anchor and DMC for his coat color. I think I am happy enough with the choices. He is stitched two over one on 25ct Antique White linen. The trim is fun. I found it at Michael's a year ago.

My daylilies finally opened up this week.

Chocolate Splash

Chocolate Ripples

The next stitcher of the Traveling Pattern is Shirlee! I have your address my friend. I will send this on it's way to you shortly. Those of you who also wanted to stitch this up, but did not get a chance, will have to watch Shirlee's blog now. =)

I did the finishing work on my two finishes of  Friends Are Like Angels. I am wondering about a bit of adornment on the flatfold. I will think on it today. I will take pictures and share next time friends.

Stitching and Praying,
Vickie

Watchful, Faithful Friends♥

Happy Birthday Mabel!

Good Morning friends! Welcome new friends!  I am so glad you stopped by today. It is Mabel's 4th birthday! ♥ She is recovered from this last horrible bout of disc pain. We hope and pray that she stays pain free for a long time now.

I wanted to share with you the wall quilt I made of her two years ago.

I saw a quilt like this three years ago on the internet. Not from a pattern. Made from a poodle lover like me. I have tried and tried to find it again, and cannot.

So I used my book,How To Make An Amish Quilt by Rachel and Kenneth Pellman. I call it Amish Mabel In A Square. I used the Diamond in a Square pattern from the book. I used plain colors (my favorites, pink and purple) as the Amish would. However, I am guessing they have never added a toy poodle in the center of a quilt!! ;)

This hangs in our front room. =) The quilting isn't the best, but I am very happy with it. It is the best that I can do.

Jo asked me to show a picture of all the poodles I have stitched. I believe this is all of them. I may have missed one, I don't think so though.

The collection will grow of course. ;) I always find another poodle somewhere and then HAVE to stitch it. Gotta say, the French Knot Poodle is probably still my favorite.

**EDIT** Yep, I forgot one. And I just stitched it too!! Geesh! Here it is.


Ready for Palm Sunday? We are!

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Have a fabulous weekend friends!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The Smiling Birthday Girl

It's Mabel!! ♥

Good Morning my friends! Has Spring come to you there? Not here! It is 10º (-12ºC) right now. Oh yes, we need to remember the wind chill values of -5, the 30 mph winds and the snow coming this afternoon. AGAIN! 0_0 But hey! The sun is shining brightly.

Have a look at what I finished on Friday. =)

 This is a freebie you can find here. Well kind of. It originally had a sleeping cat. I designed MABEL. ♥

Gotta say, I am VERY happy with her. ;) I think it is just adorable. SQUEE!

This is stitched two over two on Zweigart 28ct Bo Peep Pink. Love this color. I had never finished anything like this before. But I figured, it is just backstiched and then whip stitched together, so why not?

This now sits on the windowsill above the kitchen sink. I love to look at it when I do dishes and throughout the day. Yep, poodles make me soooo happy.

I had just been thinking that maybe, possibly I am driving my friends and followers bonkers with all the poodles. And what do you know? Jo sent me the nicest email the other day. She likes seeing my poodle work. She actually asked to see a picture of my stitched poodles together sometime. I told her I was worried people were thinking enough with the poodles already!! She reassured me, and told me that is what makes my blog special and unique. awww, thanks Jo.♥

Here is what I am stitching right now friends. It is for Easter.

Lots and lots of DMC 746, off white. Nope. Not gonna tell you what I am stitching yet! ;)

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Here's my model in her pink bed. ;)

Can You Believe It Is Another Poodle Magnet? *~*

Good morning friends. I must say I have a very heavy heart these days. The 28 victims are in our prayers.♥

I have been entertaining myself with yet another poodle bottle cap magnet. Yes, I admit, I am addicted to these.

one over one on 28ct pink Meran Linen

I found this little cutie here. I asked Claudine permission for this poodle. I stitched it up almost the same as her Daele. I am glad to say Mabel is not quite this squat. ;)

I did get a batch of what we call "Bear Claws" done.

I use Nilla cookies. Place a smooshed caramel on top. Arrange and press cashews in. Top with melted chocolate. mmm! As you might guess, these go rather quick!

I think I may be making Peanut Blossoms shortly.

Oh my goodness! I forgot to tell you the exciting, wonderful news! I convinced Brian that we could just call Salvation Army to ask if they even get tread mills in. I called and the man who answered told me, "Well, we very rarely get those in. But when we do, they go quick. I just so happened to get one one hour ago off the delivery truck." He had not even tested it out yet. He told me to come on over and we could test it. Well, it is a bit of an older model, but it works just fine. AND IT WAS $20!!! Whoo hoo! So I am back in business with trying to walk every day, depending on all the stupid pain of course. I am determined to get the 5 or so pounds off that I have gained this fall. If I walk, I do just fine. If I cannot, due to pain, the pounds creep on very slowly. My whole family is "big". I am the only thin one. I very much want to keep it that way.

I have not even started my cards. We aren't done shopping. It will all get done. I am not going to stress over it.

That is it for now my friends. I thank you for stopping by and visiting me. I appreciate YOU, I do!♥
Have a great day in the Lord.

Baking and praying,
Vickie

How about a pretty, pink post with a pretty, pink finish?

Good morning everyone!
YOU are a real piece of work!  Yes, YOU!
 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10   ♥ ;) ♥

So this is the view nowadays outside my bedroom window.

You can see my pink pansies, so happy in our window planter.  My neighbors own this lovely tree.♥

French freebie stitched on 28 ct white evenweave

second poodle bottle cap magnet finish ♥

So I found this cute toy poodle here.  I knew right away that I would use it for another bottle cap magnet.  I started with the black and stitched it all up using 2 strands.  Also did the dark pink color in 2 strands.  I was thinking that this would give it a real fullness.  When I began stitching the pink with 2, it was becoming really distorted. Yuck!  I frogged it and stitched the pink one over one.  I wouldn't do it that way again, but it seems fine.  It seems to make it cartoonish or something.  Whatever!  It is just a magnet.

stitching and praying,
Vickie