A Giftie And A Finish

Hi friends! Rainy days here all week. Causes extra pain. puh! So I have been completing finishing work on some smalls I stitched up. First I would like to show you a birthday gift I received yesterday from sweet Maggee.

What a wonderful pillow in pink and chocolate colors. LOVE that combination. Thank you Maggee. :) If you look closely you can see the rain drops on the peonies. ;)

You may recall this poodle freebie from Kissy Cross?

Ta da! It has been stitched up for weeks, but I did not get around to the finishing til yesterday. This is stitched on 25ct white linen, two over one. I just love it! I did change many of the color shades. And well, I just needed to make the flowers and the letters pink too. ;) Don't you just love the backstitching in Mabel and Henry's coats? Love the texture it adds.

I was so happy to use one of my vintage poodle fabrics for the back. =)

'Rendezvous In The Park' was such fun for me to stitch. Thank you Kirsten for this adorable tribute to my Mabel and Henry. ♥

I will be back soon with more finishing to share with you all. Thank you for stopping by. Leave me a comment if you like. I love to respond to them all. You brighten my day. =)

Have a fabulous day my friends!

Stitching and finishing and praying,
Vickie

All pooped out after their Rendezvous in the Park. ;)

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

Glorious Gifts!

Hi friends! Emerson's graduation party was wonderful. We had fantastic weather. My loving husband and children helped with some scrubbing and yard work too. I am very thankful for this, as it saved me from severe pain.

I received two wonderful packages on and right after my birthday. :) Kim sent me FANTASTIC poodle fabric! I squealed! Yes I did. I do not have these and I cannot wait to use them.

See the Paris In Springtime on the left? The lady in blue has a pink poodle. =) I love chocolate brown and pink together. And the last fabric on the bottom, right has the cutest, little birdie with a beret on the poodle's nose. Thank you Kim!

Jacquie had a first blogoversary giveaway and I won second prize! She not only sent me MANY gifts, she made me a birthday present as well! Here is the birthday gift from Jacquie.

Isn't this wonderful?! Jacquie only recently discovered redwork and you wouldn't know! She made me a tote bag with Henry and Mabel. ♥ These are the many gifts she sent me for the giveaway.

Madeleine has claimed the sweet birdie paper weight you see on the upper left. I hung the cute cream dove on my display board already. I will be sharing the milk chocolate with the family. :) Such a nice selection of patterns too.

Such great garden gifts here. The bee pin pillows she made me are so sweet. There is a very nice bee pin also. Miss Madeleine has her eye on that too! Lovely yellow Anchor flosses that I cannot get locally. And wild flower seeds that I will be sowing. Thank you so very much Jacquie!

I have been stitching. Just cannot show you at this time. Very soon though. ;)

I finally decided on a Henry drawing I will be happy with for more french knots. I really, really hesitated to show you this, as I think it looks very weird, but here is the french knot Henry failure.

See? Weird! Adorable as embroidery I think. Not all filled in with knots. The ear is just plain lost. He looks like his brain is falling out! Or something. This Henry is getting set aside. I don't have the heart to toss it just yet. So very many knots went into it! I will cut myself a new piece of white linen blend fabric today and draw out a new Henry to be filled in with knots.

Rainy day here. Perfect for finishing up another stitched gift.

I hope you have a beautiful day my friends.  As always, I thank you for stopping by and your kind words.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

45

Hi friends!  Beautiful day here. It just happens to be my birthday. I am now 45 years old. How did that happen?!  Brian gave me this.

A pewter poodle thimble from England. :) And this.

A gorgeous rose gold Orthodox cross and chain. Brian had bought me my last gold cross and chain when I was 18 and he 19. ;)

Not too much excitement today. Out to lunch with the in-laws. We will also go shopping for party food for the graduation party on Sunday.

I read Child Of Mine by Beverly and David Lewis. What an excellent book. Really enjoyed it.

It is not looking too good for the French Knot Poodle/Henry. The drawing I did of him on the fabric, isn't looking right once I am filling it in with the knots. He looks like he has an unusually large head. The ear doesn't look distinct. It is just making his head look huge. I may scrap this version and come up with a new Henry. I have already done over a thousand french knots. Oh well.

Oh my goodness! I forgot til now. I drew a name for the 1988 Just Cross Stitch Magazine featuring Scarlet Letter. Jo! You are the winner of the magazine. Please send me your address and I will get that on it's way to you. :)

I hope you have a beautiful day my friends! Thank you for stopping by.♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Birthday Present

Hi friends! We have been busy around here. Emerson's graduation was a wonderful celebration on a beautiful, sunny day. He got registered for fall classes this week. He likes his schedule too. He will be commuting to Concordia University in Mequon. It will take him about 25 minutes to drive. Not a bad drive. No expressway driving. A little city driving. Mostly country roads. Lovely scenery. When we drove there on Tuesday, we saw deer, cows, horses, and Sandhill Cranes.

I received my first birthday present this year in the mail this week. I do not usually open presents early. We are busy preparing for Emerson's upcoming graduation party, and I decided to go ahead and open my package from our dear friend June, as a little reward for my hard work. ;)

Beautifully and perfectly packaged in pink! I agree! That card IS just for me! =) Madeleine and I enjoyed looking through the Vintage Teatime Recipes book. It is filled with beautiful photographs.

Look at these most perfect poodle patterns June has given me from her British cross stitch magazines! I had no idea. I love them and will DEFINITELY be stitching these sweeties up!

Isn't this nativity pattern lovely? Thank you June. What a precious friend you are! Always so caring and thoughtful of others. God bless you my friend.♥

I did finish up 'Rendevous In The Park' by Kissy Cross. I just have to do the finishing on it. No pictures of that today. I have begun another small stitch. It is to be a gift, so no pictures of that one either.

I have been getting into the garden every day that it is not raining. Not for long mind you, but I want the flower beds to be looking perfect for the upcoming party.

"Cocoa" in the Chocolate Garden ;)

I have thanked God for you today! Thank you for your kind words. I love to hear from you. And if you are interested in my giveaway, there is still time. See my prior post.

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

The Most Awesome Kissy-Cross Freebie EVER!!!!!! :) ♥♥♥

Hi friends! I am ÜBER excited!! Our friend Annie alerted me to the brand new freebie released just today from Kirsten Schmidt , the designer of Kissy-Cross cross stitch. When I saw it, I squealed! WE ARE TALKING POODLES PEOPLE! NOT JUST ANY POODLES. NOPE. IT IS MABEL AND HENRY! UH HUH. FOR REAL! TAKE A LOOK HERE.  Click this link here to see it and get it!
 

So very, very cool! Can ya tell I am excited?! I am stitching this puppy up. HA! Get the pun?! Sorry, I need to calm down a bit. ;) Kirsten told me this pattern is available as a freebie for a limited time. She told me to print it quick. You bet I did! So much fun.

Thank you ever so much Kirsten! My teenage daughter and I are thrilled. My husband was amazed you did this. REALLY! My teenage sons think this is "nice and cool". :)

The Henry French Knot Poodle is coming along slowly. I can put in 10 minutes at a time I have realized, before the wrist pain comes back. I will work on it maybe twice daily then. I should have used more than two strands of floss at a time to make bigger knots. Too late now. I have over one thousand knots done already, and a long way to go.

I finished reading City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen. I kinda had the mystery figured out about half way through, but it was an enjoyable read. This is the latest Molly Murphy Mystery.

Woo hoo! I am off to pull linen and floss for Rendezvous in the Park.

Have a super night everyone!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie