Glory Bee....

Hello Friends! Last week Nancy Boyarski of Glory Bee fame contacted me to finish a set of smalls for a class that she is teaching at "Stitching Jubilee" this fall. I received them yesterday and started right in, they turned out so sweetly that I got Nancy's permission to post the pictures of the finishes. These were all stitched by Nancy, I just did the finishing work on them:

A Stitcher's Companion Set ~ Needle Keep, Ruler Keep and Scissors fob

Designer: Nancy Boyarski ~ Glory Bee

Class to be given at Stitching Jubilee in Lancaster, PA in October 2009

Isn't the set just darling? The class is limited to 24 people, so if you're going to the Jubilee...sign up soon! :)

Thank you Nancy for entrusting your needlework with me. It was an honor! Now on to my regularly scheduled stitching :o)

Until next time...love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXxxxx

Something deep in all of us yearns for God's beauty, and we can

find it no matter where we are.

~~Sue Monk Kidd~~

Monday, Monday...

Happy Monday Friends! Might as well celebrate it, rather than hiding from it :)

Today I've got a jam packed full day of running...I throw the "Star Party" at school this a.m. for all the weekly STARS. The Star Party is basically breakfast witht he principal for all the kids that have been named Stars for the following week. The previous week the "Stars" have led by example and have had all their homework turned in, used their best behavior, been a leader, been a friend...etc. Luckily this Monday, one of my kiddos (Jake) is a Star, so I'll at least be able to party with him. After the party and clean up....then I get to come home for an hour or so...then it's off to Noon Mass - our church is hosting a mission and the Archbishop is here giving Mission talks, I want to attend - so Ellie and I will spend an hour or so with the Lord. Then its zoom back home in time to pick up the kids from school, then band, then supper, then cub scouts....then bed, hopefully. Somewhere in there I hope to stitch.... :) There is no rest for the wicked.

A little something to share today, I recently made two ornaments for the Christmas Ornament Swap Exchange group that I am in until June. Here is March's ornament for Jill :

Taken from: Prairie Schooler's December Leaflet

Fabric: 28 ct. black lugana

Fibers: DMC

Finished as: flat ornament

Stitched by Vonna for Jill

Jill requested that all her ornaments have a pine tree in them, so I figured nothing says Pine Tree like a Christmas Tree, right? I was a little hesitant to stitch it on black...but boy...it was gorgeous when it was finished, and I love this finish - I see some ornaments like this in my own future!

Then April's recipient is Julianne. Julianne is a such a sweet, sweet friend that I wanted to stitch something that reminded me of her...so I stitched this monochrome motif taken from an unknown Quaker design that I had printed off...and I made a sparkly bob hangy beaded deal and I think it turned out quite nice. Here it is:

Ornament for Julianne

32 ct. white belfast linen

DMC 814

Unknown Motif/Unknown Designer

So friends, that does it for me today....I'm still stitching away on block #12 of the Village (no I'm not finishing it...I just wanted to get the solid stitching block out of the way)...whew! Seems I've been stitching and stitching and stitching (!) on this block and it just never gets done! Hopefully soon.....after I get that block done then I think it's back to the BBD and try to finish it up (or get a bit closer) then who knows what is after that????

Until next time my dear friends and readers.....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXxxxx

The truly happy people are those

who have a source of happiness too

deep to be seriously disturbed by

ordinary troubles.

~~Marion K. Rich~~

The ABC's of a New Start....

Hello Fellow Needlework Junkies.....my name is Vonna and I have a problem. I think I'm a needleworker with ADD :) Yep, I did it again...(imagine me in a short skirt, 75 lbs lighter and with Britney's face please)....I fell in love with another.....pattern. Introducing:

ABC Lessons

Designer: Lizzie*Kate

Fabric: 32 ct. Belfast - Cafe au Lait by Sassy's Fabbys

Fibers: As charted ~ Mixed Crescent Colours and DMC

I love this one.....and find that they are "words to live by" so I purchased this little gem and now have it started. I'm stitching this one as a Thursday SAL with two other friends - AmySC and Terry P - I think all three of us find these words meaningful in our present lives. We started yesterday and I didn't do too bad considering I worked maybe 2 hours on it total ~maybe. Catch next Thursday for an update ;)

Well the day is young.....my kids are in school, minus one very precocious toddler - and I have to work this weekend, so I'm going to get a cup of java ~ my NEW love is Dunkin' Donuts Coffee, tried it? LOVE it! I figure I can't have their donuts, so I'll just drink their coffee. And. I. Have. Pots full, gallons of it....good to the last drop! Oh, whoops...lost my track of thinking after I was thinking about Dunkin' Donuts Coffee....Ok...What am I going to stitch today? Another OLDIE, but a goodie that I started in 2007 and put away because of my exchanging commitments - The Village of Hawk Run Hallow.....yep....gonna do it. I figure we're in the third month until next Wednesday, so I can finish one block...which would bring me up to 3 blocks done in total...and I could have the Village done by January if I stick to one block a month. Simple right?! I can do it! We'll see....

Until next week.....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours. XXxxxx

May the Lord of peace Himself

give you peace at all times

and in every way.

~~2 Thessalonians 3:16~~

Into the Daylight!

Happy Thursday Friends! Hope this finds you all well and with a spring in your step!

Today.....

I worked on my Dear Diary Sampler! I've decided that I'm going to try to stitch one of the Dear Diary patterns each month...wouldn't that be grand if I could do that? We'll see.... but before I count my chicks before they are hatched - I have to share with you my finish. Today I slipped in the final stitches on Abigail Winslow and here it is:

Dear Diary Series ~ Abigail Winslow

Designer: Little House Needleworks ~ Diane Williams

Part #1 of Vonna's Dear Diary Sampler

And..... here is the big piece of fabric that I'm stitching it on....I have a vision for this, let's hope that it comes together as I have it charted. But basically it will incorporate each of the 8 Dear Diary Patterns, plus their beatitude squares "framing" it. In between the beatitude squares I will link each one with a flowering ivy. Or that is what I have envisioned :)

big 'ol hunk of Dear Diary Sampler fabric

32 ct. Sassy's Fabbys Belfast in Creamy Cocoa

Well as for my new start.....I'll surprise you - but its next up on my frame and I can't wait to start it!

Until next time..... love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

~Simone Weil~

Cathy's Neighborhood Finished!

Happy Hump Day Friends! I'll get right down to it since I just heard my washer buzz....you know life around here on Wednesday's - Laundry Day.... argh! :o(

Cathy B . . . . participated in Hello Neighbor Round Robins but she was in a different group than I was....someone had issues in her group, therefore she had a "hole" - I offered to be the "cork" for the hole and this is what I stitched for her:

Motifs taken from: "Bless Our Home" by Country Cottage Needleworks

We were supposed to add in our square homes, motifs, landmarks that related to our state or country. Since I, of course, live in the Midwest I figured a quaint cottage with an American flag would nab me just fine...that's pretty much how our house is - all American. The redbird or cardinal is Indiana's State bird....so I have Mr. Redbird sitting on the roof.

Here is Cathy's completed Neighborhood....isn't it just gorgeous?!:

Cathy B's Neighborhood Complete!

Well I guess that does it for me today....I believe tomorrow I will have another new start....maybe....

Until next time....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.

~~John Keats~~

This is the Day....

Hello Friends! I've been "jonesing" for another start....I know, I know.....but anyway, I decided after I finished Earth Sampler I'd start this little gem:

"This is the Day"

Designer: Hands to Work

Design from the February 2009 Just Cross Stitch Magazine

Fabric: 28 ct. Days Gone By Silkweaver Lugana

Fibers: Victorian Motto Sampler Threads

Started: 3/22/09

As you will notice from my "fibers" listed above - I chose my own color conversion using Victorian Motto Sampler Threads, I have a couple of DMC in there too, but the vast majority is VMST. I didn't fancy a pink/salmon colored house - so my house will be plum colored (I think...) Anyway, I do love this design and it will be a fabulous (some day) addition to my sampler wall - don't you think?

Well that's it for me today - just a drive by posting of my new start! Thank you so much for your visits, your comments and your friendship! And Until next time.....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

When others are happy, be happy with them.

If they are sad, share their sorrow.

~~Romans 12:15~~

My first...

Happy Sunday Friends and warm Hello's! I hope that this finds you all well and happy :) Last week, AmySC had a birthday and I chose to try out my FIRST EVER floss tag. I'm slow to get on the band wagon, and I know these are "old news" but I thought I'd give 'er a whirl. And here's my first attempt:

"Rabbit"

Designer: JBW

Fabric: 25 ct. bake and basted by moi Lugana

Stitched: one over one using DMC 115

Finished as: Floss Ring Tag

Stitched for: AmySC's birthday

I can see....more of these in my future! I absolutely love how it turned out. And I certainly hope that Amy liked it as well....she's a special friend and I wish her many more happy birthdays in future!

The salad with the real dressing was......HEAVEN! I tell you....YUM-O! But Keith had to eat the other half....I got too full and since I've worked so hard at shrinking my stomach, I sure didn't want to stretch it back out! LOL! I've got a long "row to hoe" on this weightloss journey, but I think a splurge once per month isn't bad practice...gives you something to look forward to the other 29 days of the month!

Last night we watched ....."Same Time Next Year" with Alan Alda...oh, my Granny used to think he was the cat's MEOW! I had seen the movie multiple times in my growing up years, however it had always been edited for t.v. some of the language...though not "rough" by today's standard...made me blush a few times. It was an oldie but a goodie, we enjoyed it.

Well that does it for me for today.... so until next time...love and best wishes, as your count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

It is in the shelter of each other that people live.

~Irish Proverb~

Earth Sampler...

Hello Friends! Long time no post, eh? My kiddos have been on Spring Break this week, so we've been tooling around town and just hanging out together. We've played a lot of "CLUE" this week and I think I've been the murderer about every time we've played ;)

I just slipped.... the last stitches into "Earth Sampler" by The Primitive Needle....and here's how it turned out (the pictures should be clickable):

"Earth Sampler"

Designer: The Primitive Needle

Fibers: DMC done in my own conversion

Fabric: Picture This Plus "Mello" 32 ct. belfast

Started: 3/18/09

Finished: 3/21/09

Darling isn't it? I just love it! I didn't use the recommended mixture of GAST and WDW fibers as it called for, I just came up with my own conversion using DMC and I think it looks pretty darn good. I just pleased as punch :)

I made a couple of changes .... you'll notice: First instead of the swirly gig in the hand, I put my initials in there....I am an avid fan of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and in one of the books, Laura wrote that her Mama always placed her palm print in the top of her corn bread and that her Pa said that it made the corn bread sweeter....so I figured my initials in the palm made this sampler Sweeter too. I also changed the one flower from red to blue and instead of that white motif with black specks in it (what is that?) I substituted my own strawberry. I like how it all turned out. And I really like the DMC on the Picture This Plus fabric...it makes the fabric "pop" that much more I think.

I also pulled out.... BBD's Blessings and Kind Wishes...and this is where that WIP ended up:

Blackbird Designs

"Wishes and Kind Blessings"

WIP

My Mama....is here for a visit and she's staying until Tuesday. I love having her here with us. We're maybe going to take a trip "into town" in a bit and I think we're going to go out to supper tonight after Mass...if so - this would be the first time I went out to a restaurant since I started my diet 3 1/2 weeks ago. I figure after losing 21 lbs. to date, a salad with real dressing is in order...don't you?

Well until next time...we wish you nothing but love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

Love never gives up. Love cares

more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

~~1 Cornithians 13:4 The Message~~

Thursday...

Hello Friends! I've been remiss in showing my stitched ornaments for the Christmas Ornament Swap that I am in, so here is the last two installments I've stitched for the monthly recipients:

Designer: Mary Garry

Design: Seasonal Momentos

Fabric: 28 ct. bake and basted

Fibers: DMC as charted

Finished for: Carol

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: 1999 Yearly Santa Claus

Fabric: 25 ct. ivory lugana stitched 1 over 1

Fibers: DMC

Stitched for: Cathy B

Then last week, the sweet, sweet Julie sent my sweet Chatty a set of kitten mittens filled with cat nip....here is the sweet prince after I opened them and gave them to him:

eh??? what are these?


ahhhh! I LUV them :o)
~~Thank you JULIE!~~

It's going to be a Turbo Thursday here at the homestead....Katie's got an Orthodontist appointment today....tightening of the braces...that means mashed potatoes and ibuprofen for the big princess today. Poor dear.... A quick stop at a burger joint for Katie and Ellie - then it's back to school for the preteen. Mama and Ellie, get to go back home for a quick Chatty catch, box into his pet carrier and off to the Vet for dear Chatter. He's due for his Feline Leukemia test and the little dear has been having some bathroom issues so I've asked for them to evaluate him on those. I think changing his food *again* is in order....He's already mad at me because I don't let him have his Fancy Feast any more and he just has dry food....so I'll see what the Vet recommends. THEN it's back home for a Chatty release back into the wilds of his kingdom - back to school to pick up kid #1 and kid #2 from the 3:10 end of school bell, to the homestead to start homework for kid #1 and kid #2. WAIT maybe 1/2 hour - then back to school to pick up kid #3 from tutoring. Back home to drop off kid #3, grab kid #1 and her clarinet -THEN on to band practice. Back home for 1 hour. Hurry make supper....*hurry* *hurry* ..... then back in the van to go pick up kid #1 from Band practice. Back to the homestead....to plate supper and welcome the dear husband home from a hard day of work. WHEW! I think I'll go back to bed..... :o) Oh, and though I don't mention kid #4 very much, she's always safely ensconced in her toddler seat and in the van....she calls it her van - that's because she's in it so much! LOL!

Before I go....I'd like to share with you some news my Mama received on our Ben's organ donations. Mama called me yesterday and I could tell she was upset, however it was because she had received a lovely package of information about Ben. He was able to donate a kidney to a 13 year old boy, a kidney and his pancreas to a 55 year old woman, his entire liver to a 61 year old man, a cornea to a 26 year old man and a cornea to a 22 year old man. Ben lives on in two people from Indiana, one person in Michigan, one person in Virginia and one person in California.....his gift of life - if you think about it - spans the entire USA and it is like he has spread his arms from the east coast to the west coast in a loving embrace. It is oddly comforting to know that in our grief, his last wish was fulfilled and the young man with a heart as big as the sky above was hope for the hopeless. He helped sustain lives for the hopeless and the sightless. His mother, my Aunt Sarah, received two corneas when she was still living...and I can remember how happy we were when she got the call to go get her surgery performed, yet how we thought that someone had to die for her to get the call. So, with us being able to know see it from both sides - it is even more poignant. Our hearts still ache, we still grieve, today marks one month since his death and sometimes I cannot believe that he is gone. We love him so dearly, it is heart breaking - yet to know that in his death he gave hope to the hopeless...is a blessing in and of itself.

This is a work weekend for me....so I won't be around again until next week sometime...so stitch with joyful hearts for me, I shall be thinking of you all....

Until next time....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

The real secret of happiness is not

what you give or what you receive;

it's what you share.

~~author unknown~~

Grand Champion!

Hello Friends! :) I finished "State Fair" yesterday and I'll let the pictures do the talking:

"State Fair"

Designer: Diane Williams

Fibers: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 ct. evenweave ~ my own bake and basted coffee/tea dyed

Started: 3/7/09

Finished: 3/10/09

That is smack dab wonderful isn't it? I love it! I'm going to order a frame, but before I do that, I'm just going to lay it in a box and let it set for a while....last night as I was trying to sleep, I was redecorating my walls. Well I figure Mr. Pfeiffer wouldn't be too pleased if I keep making holes in the walls changing my wall decorations around after every finish I have, so I'm going to let this one sit a while and then - when I have more finishes done and ready to frame and hang...then I'll do some more hole making (and I patch too, of course). :o)

What to start next....hmmm? Well I promised a dear friend of mine that I would stitch a square on her NRR, because of issues they had in their group. . . so that's next. Then? Hmmm...I think it will be the Earth Day Sampler by Primitive Needle. It's in WDW and GAST fibers, and you know me - I don't like them....so I'm going to redo the whole colorway in DMC or Crescent Colours...we'll see I have picked out my fabric I'm going to stitch it on - and I'll leave that as a surprise, but it is yummy...and I didn't dye it myself....

Onward Stitchers.....that does it for me today :o) Today is Laundry Day (argh!) but I am doing it with a happy heart (really trying to anyway).....and I have some finishes for clients to day (yay! I'm really excited about one set because of the fabric chosen is scrumptious!) and then hopefully in betwixt all of that fun - I may find a bit of time with my needle and thread...fingers crossed!

Until Next time....love and best wishes, as your count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXXX

"It isn't the great big pleasures that

count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."

~Jean Webster

Weekend Start...

Happy Monday dear friends! Our weekend was very low key - the *best* kind to have, we got the grocery shopping done, all four kids clothes "weeded out" (stuff too little given away (or handed down), raggy stuff tossed) and I started this:

Designer: Little House Needleworks ~ Diane Williams

Design: "STATE FAIR"

Fabric: 28 ct. evenweave my own baste and bake

Fibers: DMC as called for

Started: 3/7/09 to be hopefully finished today? ~ we'll see....

You know..... I guess I've not stitched a LHN in quite a while...and I have to tell you, Diane's designs are soothing. Just in and out...no hard counting, easy peasey and CUTE finishes....I just LOVE stitching LHN designs....so much in fact - since I believe I own every chart the woman ever put out (really, I think I do....even when she was designing with Leisure Arts) - I've decided that maybe I need to put a LHN day in my rotation. My rotation was going fantastically until February. :o( I think I need a Prairie Schooler Day too. We'll see, I'm going to work on it, figure it out, and then see what is what...

This weekend... and today (in fact all week if I can swing it) I'm taking some "me" time. I always put myself on "hold" and I've decided that this week there is nothing "pressing" and I need to take some time for myself....of course I still have 4 kids to raise and two jobs that await me on the weekend, some finishing jobs for clients, laundry and toilets to clean....but they'll get done....but not today - today is for me :o)

Until Next time....love and best wishes, as you count your blessing and stitches, from our house to yours! XXXXX

You're blessed when you care.
At the moment of being "carefull," you find yourselves cared for.
You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right.
Then you can see God in the outside world.
Matthew 5: 7 - 8

A tisket, a tasket, a kitty in my basket...

Hello sweet friends! I've been neglegient in my posting about this most lovely of sweet gifts that I received from my friend, Harmien. Its a little friend for Chatty :)

Isn't he lovely? I absolutely love it and when I received it, was during some dark days - so a smile he brought with him all the way from the Netherlands. I cannot tell you what he means to me. Thank you dear Harmien!

I sure haven't been doing any stitching :o( But I've been doing a lot of creating and finishing! There are a couple of new finishes that I've come up with for The Twisted Stitcher's Finishing Service I now can create for stitchers Wall Hangings custom made to my client's specifications. And a Front Double Mount Flatfold (or Flatfold *B* as I'm calling it at my service) - this first one I made turned out really, really cute...I see a lot of those in my future with my own finishes!

On a personal note - my Mama and I started a lifestyle change on Ash Wednesday. I'm proud to report that 1 week in - I've lost 14 lbs! I couldn't be happier. I know that it won't drop off this fast from here on out, but I am pleasantly surprised at just how good I feel about "being hungry"! LOL! :o) It's a hard, long battle I've got in front of me, but I am resolute in my mind, my will is firm and I shall conquer this one thing that has alluded me the past 10 years. I've never in my life not been able to accomplish something that I've set my mind to, and this too shall come to pass.

This weekend.... I have a date lined up with my stitching chair and I hope "numb butt" syndrome will be headed my way! I need a good does of numb butt syndrome...and I hope this weekend is THE weekend for it.

Until Next time....love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXXX

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.

Psalm 23:1-3