Easter Blog Hop 2015

Hi friends! Hello to new friends! I am glad to have you here.

Today's post is all about the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2015. I have been taking part of Jo's Blog Hops for several years now. If you do not know what I am talking about, have a look HERE. That link will take you to Jo's blog. She has a list of all the participants blogs in order. You just need to visit everyone on the list in order to retrieve a letter. Write the letters down in order, and you will come up with a short Easter Phrase. You then return to Jo's blog and receive the last letter and you need to comment there telling her the phrase. You just may win her giveaway!

I stitched this piece, called Spring String by Lizzie Kate, last month. Sorry to say I still have not done the finishing on it. I will! Soon. I have just been very busy making gift after gift for special sharing friends!

 

 I did stitch some spiderweb roses in pale pink on a pink burlap wired ribbon yesterday. I was feeling very painful and not very happy yesterday, due to the cortisone shot I just received in my left hip joint. So I decided to make the concrete Mabel on the front porch a Springtime bow. Henry's dapper bunny bowtie is still in good shape. Mabel's bow from last year faded out terribly from the sun.

The letter you have come to retrieve here is E. You now must go visit our friend Anne to find your next letter in the phrase. Have fun!

Thanks for stopping in today! Leave me a message please. I love to meet new friends! I always want to hear from old friends! :)

My pain is slightly less today. I would be happy to just return to how I was pre-shot at this point.

A Blessed Easter to you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Gift Given

Hi friends!

I wanted to share with you another small gift I have made and given. This was sent to our friend Carol. She had sent me some pretty, pink fabrics to use in the Epic Pink Tumbler Charm Quilt.

Yes, another bookmark. I thought this a very useful gift for our librarian friend. :) I used pale blue crepe I had in my stash. Also the lace is from my stash. The Art of William Morris is my own book. I chose this blue floral motif for Carol. I stitched it one over one on antique white 32ct linen using all the called for DMC. Here is the other side.

I am so glad Carol like it and will use it too.

I have been asked if I have included pink poodles in this quilt? Come on now! What do you think?! Yup! I only have a picture from last year of two of the pink poodle fabrics that are cut into tumblers now and are going to be sewn right into that Epic Quilt. Both of these are from our friend Kim. I am using the two on the right, as my personal rule with this quilt is that the fabric is all pink or mainly pink.

I am unsure yet what to think about the cortisone shot yesterday. I am trying to remain positive here, I am. However, the shots, I felt four different needles, I never look, hurt massively. She went in from the front. Very different and very bad. The pain seemed less for a few hours, then increased and became worse. It hurts to sit with that hip now. I do know that the cortisone can take 24 to 48 hours to become completely effective.This of course does nothing for the degenerative disc disease that has begun. It runs in my family strong. I have already lost one inch in height. When I mentioned this to Dr. Wu last week, she actually told me that I am too young to have arthritis in my back. I told her I feel and hear the clicking and pain in my very low back. She told me to be sure to get lots of calcium. I feel exasperated from that. I am not sure anything can be done for that problem anyhow, but positive thinking, well, I am beyond that. I have been dealing with this for 10 years. Please! I am waiting to see the results of the shots in my hip. I had the pain managed as of late, at a 2 or 3 level daily. I can cope with that. I had told her that last week also, before we did the shots one week later. This did nothing for the pain in the right hip of course. This very rarely comes anyhow, it is mainly my left side and lower back now.

Sorry to be so glum this morning. I am trying to remain positive. It is sooooooooooo hard with this pain, my constant companion of 10 years now. I am reminded of Job. He asks his wife in Job 2:10, " Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” 

Watch for a post from me tomorrow. I am taking part in Easter Blog Hop 2015. 

Thanks for being such great friends. I truly appreciate you. I have thanked God for you today! May God richly bless you!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Little Gifties

Hi friends! It is mild here this week with a bit of rain. I do not mind though. That means the grass will become green again.

We celebrated our church friend Hosea's birthday on Sunday. Did you know that we have a lunch after every Divine Liturgy Service on Sundays? We do! And Brian and I have really experienced many new-to-us foods this last year since becoming Christian Orthodox. Our church is a Russian Orthodox Church. I have become a HUGE BORSCHT FAN! Matushka's is the best of all! Matushka is the title given to the priest's wife. Did you know that? I never did before last year. So if you want to, you can sign up to provide the meal when it is your special day. Wow! Hosea and his wife Marina are excellent cooks. It is of course still Lent. We abstain from meat, fish, eggs, dairy, oil and wine for all of Lent. Let me tell you it can be challenging to cook for Brian and I. At least for me. I am still new at this! I still cook a separate, "normal" meal for the kids. What do I miss the most? Ask Anne. She knows. It is CHEESE OF COURSE!!! Love cheese! Don't you have to if you are born in and lived in Wisconsin your whole life?! So I have obtained a few new recipes this year. Kinda fun actually.

You may recall our friend Frances sent me pink fabrics to use in my Epic Pink Charm Quilt. I sent her a little thank you gift made by me. A bookmark made just for her. :) I forgot to take a picture of it! duh. Frances kindly took two pictures for me to share with you. Thank you Frances!

 I used a combination of black and white and grey fabrics from my stash. I stitched her initial and a delicate silver cross, one over one on 28 ct white evenweave.

I received more pink fabric goodness! This time it came all the way from California from our friend Annette. Just take a look!

Thank you so much Annette! Now I only need 58 more pink fabrics!

This sweet, little chipmunk lives under our front porch. Shh! Don't tell Brian. I have seen him a few times now, in the morning when I raise the shades in the front room. He comes out and watches the sun rise. Yes! For real. I am sure he is warming up or something. He stays like this for about 4 or 5 minutes. :)

I read The Edge of Dreams by Rhys Bowen last week. A good mystery book. Another Molly Murphy one. I have finished the book of Joshua now in the Bible. I have begun Judges.

I am still working on secret gifts for friends. Cannot show any more at this time. ;)

I saw a new-to-me pain management doctor one week ago. She gave me the most extensive physical exam I have ever had since I fell and was injured 10 years ago. She feels the pain is not under control because it is coming from my left hip not my left SI joint. Well then. I am to get a test cortisone/lidocaine injection tomorrow in my left hip. I am anxious of course. These hurt very much. The pain is deep and intense. I just keep telling myself it is over in one minute. That one minute really stinks though, to put it mildly.  I would appreciate any and all prayers. Thank you so much. The doctor also is weaning me off of Cymbalta. She asked me why I am taking Cymbalta and Neurontin. I said, "Because they told me to!". I guess I do not need to be on both at the same time. I am hopeful. (also nervous!)

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Pink Gifts

Hi friends! I am unable to share my current stitching projects with you and it makes me crazy! ;) I have SIX gifts I am creating. tee hee! Need to get to the post office real quick!

I received some lovely pink fabrics all the way from the Netherlands from our friend Carolien. You can see I have the fabrics cut into the tumbler shapes already here.

Carolien was my inspiration to get going on this Epic Pink Charm Tumbler Quilt once again. Thank you Carolien!

Our friend Marlene also sent me some pink fabric.

Oh man! Check out the one with the Vespas! We used to have  a Vespa. :)  Thank you Marlene. I now need 71 more pink fabrics to reach the goal. ♥

Thinking of pink (and who doesn't? Quiet now Rosey ;), here is a sunrise from a few mornings ago.

 

Here is a sweet pewter poodle thimble we won on ebay.

That is everything I have to share with you today my friends. Thank you for stopping by. I hope the rest of your week is super!

Stitching and praying,

Vickie

 

Irish Cutie

Hi friends! I made up a little freebie for my mom last week. My mom is really into her Irishness. (She is 25% Irish.) And she has become a crazy cat lady, so what better gift for her than an Irish Cutie?

This looks like their cat named Cutie. ;) You can find this freebie HERE.  I have had this pattern printed off for years now. This seemed perfect! And I gave it to her on Sunday. She loves it!!! She always tells me she is so proud of me and my talents. tee hee! It is nice to have appreciative recipients.

This was stitched two over two on 28ct Light Teal Green Meran linen using DMC. I got the sweet shamrock fabric at JoAnn for the back.

This is my little St. Patrick's Day/March display this year.

I received some pink fabric for the Pink Tumbler Charm Quilt from our friend Carol.

I also received some pink fabric from our friend Frances. You can see she tucked in a sweet chart too.

Thank you again Carol and Frances! You ladies are helping me get closer to making that Epic Pink Quilt!! I now need 142 different pink fabrics.
EDIT: I bought some more new pink fabric. I now need 106! Yay!

I have finished reading Numbers and am now reading Deuteronomy. Every day! :)

I can actually see tiny bits of green trying to come up in a few spots out in the garden. All the snow is gone from our yard. Yay!

I hope you have a good day my friends! I am so glad you stopped by.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Two Hogs

Hi friends! It has been sunny and warm(er) here! Love it! Much of our snow is melting! Yay!  This has had me, my next door neighbor and the next neighbor down doing the same thing. All three of us ladies have been picking up dog poop in the backyards. Yucko!!

So I have two cute hogs to share with you. :) The first is a groundhog. This is a free pattern from Bent Creek. You can find the pattern RIGHT HERE. I found the pattern through our friend Yuko.

Isn't he just adorable?! I could not resist this stitch. Even though I could care less what a groundhog has to say about Spring arriving early or late!!!!

I used neutral, solid fabrics and my Sweet Liberty-Tuffets pattern to make up this pillow. It turned out the slightest bit wonky. Oh well. I don't know how that happened. I usually get freaky about stuff like that. This time I am letting it be. I still find it cute. :)

This little fella is stitched two over two on 32ct Lambswool linen. I used DMC 3865 and Crescent Colours Milady's Teal. Which I think is a dumb name. No teal involved at all. Just variegated grey. Whatever!

The only pretty sign of Spring around here is this orchid in bloom.

That is the same flower. I took the two pictures in different lighting. The first picture shows the color more accurately. I am so glad this and my other orchid have survived and thrived for almost one year now. I was given one by Brian and this one by my mom. Interestingly they were both given to me when I had cancer surgery last year. I should mention that I just went for another skin exam by the dermatologist and all is well, no more melanomas. I go for yet another exam in 3 months time.

This is the second hog.

The Margaret Sherry freebie you can find HERE. I found this perfect grey frame for him at Michael's. I will be giving him to my hairdresser before the end of this month. :)

Several of you generous, kind hearted friends are gifting me with pink fabrics to be used in my Epic Pink Quilt. I thank you once again. Because of your gifts, I will be able to start that Pink Charm Tumbler Quilt all the sooner. You can see how many different pink fabrics I still need, by checking above  in my sidebar.  I will keep the countdown over there. :) My quilt will be all the more special when fabrics from friends around the world are stitched right in.♥ June and Peggy, I have cut tumbler patches with the pink fabrics you have given me.

I have stitched up yet another freebie. This one is for St. Patrick's Day and it is for my mom. I will be doing the finishing on that today. I will share pictures next time.

I hope you have a really wonderful weekend my friends. Thank you for stopping by today. I thanked God for you today!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Miss Mabel snoozing away in Jacob's jackets. She is waiting and waiting for that young man to wake up!

The Epic Pink Dream

Hi friends! Hello new friends! I want to share with you what has become a dream of mine.

About a dozen years ago, I discovered charm quilts. Do you know what a charm quilt is? It is a one block quilt with no two fabric pieces the same. No repeats at all. Well once I get an idea in my head, I have a hard time letting it go. ;) So I have been collecting fabric for at least the last 7 years. And then........ nothing. I stitched. I made wall quilts, bed quilts, lap quilts, just not THAT quilt.

At the beginning of this year, I came across Carolien. She was making a Thimble Quilt. GO CHECK IT OUT!!! This is a tiny version of the Tumbler Quilt. She inspired me! Then I figured out how many different fabrics I would need to make a charm Thimble Quilt. HA! Forget that!!

So I decided on a 4 inch tumbler block. I did NOT prewash my hundreds of small pieces of fabric. They are all in the same color range. They will shrink a bit after the first wash, and I am great with that! Oh I did not tell you!! This is a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PINK CHARM TUMBLER QUILT! tee hee! THIS is my dream my friends!

I have been busy this last week cutting 322 tumbler blocks. I need 162 more pink fabrics though. I need a total of 484 for my charm quilt. Here they are.

Doesn't look like that much, but it sure does take time to cut them all. Especially since I fussy cut each one so it would look great. So I will keep seeking out pink fabric and then cut them up til I reach the goal.

Here are all 322 different pink fabrics lined up. I took this picture one second before Henry jumped across the stack.

In the mean time I will still be stitching and then starting Jacob's quilt. He has been patiently waiting on me. :) I am currently waiting for batiks to go on sale at JoAnn. I want to do the entire quilt in blue and yellow batiks. I have never sewn with batiks. I am going  to prewash the fabrics. Could you imagine if the fabrics bled, and the whole thing turned green?! Does anyone have advice for me about batiks? I would love to hear your tips.

Thank you for stopping by and listening to my epic pink dream. :) I appreciate you. I will be back soon with a stitchy finish.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie