A Titillating Tuesday....

Greeting dear friends!
It's a titillating Tuesday here....OK, well not really, its cold, gray and spitting snow....but I thought I'd be positive about it ;)
First up today is my Creation all framed up:

"Creation"

Designed by: Diane Williams

Stitched on: 28 ct. Vintage Light Examplar linen

using DMC as charted

A little frame detail:

On the wall:

And my Adam and Eve "wall"....

Well....

to be totally honest, this is not the "wall" I have planned but it's a little short wall in our living room and I thought I'd take down the pictures I had placed there already and put these in their place. Not bad for a temporary solution....plus now I can say that I do, in fact, have an Adam and Eve wall! But the one I have envisioned in my mind is much more grand and larger and more wonderful than this one is ;)

So I continue to mutter and murmur to myself:

"Gotta get stitchin', gotta get stitchin', gotta get stitchin'..."

Just like the little engine that could....

Since I visited with you last....

I finished my "He's a Flake" monthly ornament. And here he is all duded up for his Christmas 2010 debut:

"He's a Flake"

Designed by: Little House Needleworks ~ Diane Williams

Stitched on: 35 ct. WDW Dove Linen

with DMC and Crescent Colours as charted

I have had a handful of e-mails asking me how I achieve this "look" for my ornaments finished in this fashion, so rather than e-mailing it over and over, I just finished up a tutorial and it can be found here: Vonna's Wool Felt Flat Ornament Tutorial for those of you that are interested.

What's up next?...
Well I'm totally STINKING, I mean **PU** on my goals for myself this month- stitching wise. Geez...but I have something almost finished on my snaps right now, 'cept it is for an exchange. So no lookie until the recipient has it in her hot little hannies....

Remember....
I mentioned finishing a block a month on the Village of Run Hallow? What about the Prairie Schooler ABC....well...no go for February I'm afraid...maybe two in March? We'll see....

Until next time...
"Hands to work, hearts to God"
Love and hugs,
Vonna

How about these pinkeeps...

Snowmeggeddon the Reunion Tour....

made it's way through southern Indiana Sunday night and all day Monday, so that meant snow days and no school Monday and today. Being that it is Fat Tuesday, I wanted to have a last HURRAH! before it was abstinence and self denial for the next 40 days...but phooey on that, the roads are too slick :( and I don't want to have Daddio PO'd at Mama for wrecking our new van so, we just had Papa (of Papa John's that is) deliver some of his pizza and we had a luncheon pizza party. I feel a little sick now....but I think I could get a bit better if only Betty (of Betty Crocker that is) whip up some sort of delectable dessert and deliver it. But I don't know Betty's number, so I guess I'll start my abstinence and self denial early. No boozing it up on sugar for me this Fat Tuesday, which totally stinks. Anyway, since we're stuck inside the house I got to work and made some sweet little pinkeeps. Without further ado, here they are:

Harvest 1828 Pumpkin Pinkeep

By: Heartstring Primitives ~ Beth Twist

Stitched on: 28 ct. Vonna's Bake and Baste evenweave using DMC as called for

Finished as Pumpkin Pinkeep

Play in the Dirt
By: Stacy Nash Primitives
Stitched on: 28 ct. Vonna's Bake and Baste evenweave using DMC as called for
Finished as: Pinkeep with antique bone button and rusty safety pin embellishments

So...
there you go a productive couple of days! And I've got my next project started and about 1/4 of the way completed. I'm stitching like a loon to meet my goals that I have in my head and with February being a short month I feel like I'm racing the clock.

Speaking of Lent....
for those of you who practice, have you made any Lenten Promises? I have, I'm going to exercise 30 minutes every day (all 7) on my trusty elliptical and I'm going to stay within my points. I've been at a stand still with my weight loss since December 18. Now ~ I've cheated some and I'm not proud of it, but I've for the most part stayed on points most days and I'm still exercising 6 days per week, my leader thinks I'm on a plateau. I think I've been a little bad, so I'm gonna be a whole lot good for the next "40 days of Lent, Oh Lord". It's a process people and I admit that I've been bad on some days with the food part. But I'll be better. I've lost 25.8 lbs. since 9/21/09, that's nothing to sneeze at although in my head I wanted to have about 10 more pounds gone by now. So I'm picking myself up by the bootstraps and I'm going to give up being a cheater for Lent and I'm going to not take a day off of exercise. I feel better anyway exercising every day, so I'm not giving anything up, I'm making myself stronger.

I think...
that does it for me for this installment...OH! next time, I'll be able to show you my "Creation" all framed up. It's a beauty! Got it on Saturday when I dropped of my "Flowers of Lebanon" and my "Valentine's Sampler". Daddio told me to slow down on the framing...so these will be the last of the framing for a bit, then I'll have to lay things aside for a couple of months. So until next time my dears ~
Hands to work and hearts to God,
Hugs and love,
Vonna

Won't you be my valentine?

Happy Valentines day!
This is a little sampler I cranked out today for my sweetie :)

Valentine Sampler

designed by The Goode Huswife ~ Anne Brown

Stitched on 28 ct. Vintage Country Mocha

using DMC threads in my own colors

I don't....

know how I'm going to finish this yet. Either a nice antique looking black frame or as a penny rug. I can see it in my mind's eye both ways. I don't know which I'd like better.

A little surprise...

arrived in the mail for me today from Sweet Stitchin' Sue - she's the nice lady that gave me the inner stitcher loan on Flower's of Lebanon, and she's borrowing my copy of Song of the Sparrow, so in thanks for me loaning it to her, she sent this sweet little stuffed valentine:

Darling isn't it?! It's all snuggled in a little wire basket and on display in our front windows.

Well that....

my little cupids, is all she wrote on this post. Stay tuned!

Until next time....

"hands to work and hearts to God"

Love and hugs,

Vonna

Ben...

received his wings one year ago today.

We love you always.

New Tutorial Available...

for Vonna's Twist on the Floss Tag tutorial click HERE

Flowers...

Salutations my dear friends!
Are you all surviving "snowmeggeddon 2010"? The Pfeiffer Clan has been holed up in our cozy cave now for nearly a week. The kids have only gone to school 1 time in the last 4 school days. They are basically eating me out of house and home! :)
Between cooking, suiting up 4 Pfeiffers to go out sledding twice a day for the last 5 days, and then de-suiting 4 Pfeiffers after the great sledding adventures - Mama is tired! Not to mention the mountain of laundry awaiting me tomorrow...UGH!
However...the Winter Olympics have propositioned us about the possibility of using our back yard as their luge tunnel. My kids (without my prior knowledge) made a "snow chute", then they poured water on it (using their sand box buckets) which quickly froze because its so doggone cold, and let me tell you (although I had my stern face on) that was a pretty impressive sledding tunnel they had going. I even took a run this afternoon. :) The whole neighborhood must have thought the tunnel was pretty impressive too, because for the last 2 days we've had every kid under the age of 16 here sledding in our backyard. Living in the hills and hollows of Southern Indiana has its advantages, I suppose...well that and the ingenuity of 4 little Pfeiffer minds.....I dread the thought of when they start driving.....

While luge tunnels were being engineered in my backyard....
Mama was cozy in front of the fire stitching this beauty up, dreaming of baskets, flowers and robins:

Flowers of Lebanon

Designer: The Goode Huswife - Anne Brown

Stitched on 32 ct. Black Belfast Linen

using DMC

Started: February 2, 2010

Finished: February 10, 2010

This chart used to be.....
hard to find and so it is borrowed from a friend in an "inner stitcher loan". But now you can purchase this from The Goode Huswife herself on her shopworks site! I think it really turned out beautiful, these pictures do not do it justice. Hopefully we'll thaw out soon here and I've got a coupon for 60% off framing and I'm going to drop it off to get framed soon!

In other news...

I had to make a trip to the ER on Tuesday morning because I woke up with the middle finger of my right hand looking like a Oscar Meyer hot dog. Not only was it the size of a hot dog, but it was red, hot, throbbing with blisters down the side. I took my temp and I had a low grade fever too. This obviously is not a good sign and being a microbiologist in my working life, I knew I had a doozey of an infection. I figured it could get bad really fast, so I promptly put my rear end in the van and got myself to the ER. The doctor looked at it and told me to get my antibiotics filled NOW and take one IMMEDIATELY. Which I followed and today, looks like brand new. How did it get infected? The best I can figure is that I use that finger as my "needle pushing finger" and I stuck myself (which isn't anything new...I do that all the time) but I must have stuck it really deep and deposited some bacteria, the wound closed which created the perfect environment for the bacteria to party it up down there. The doctor said there was a "pad of pus" under the skin. Lovely! When I explained what I used the finger for, the doctor said, "well use a thimble from now on!" So.....I guess I will.

Other than that....
life is status quo around here. I've got LOTS more projects lined up and my clicky finger has been getting me into problems recently. But I'm sure that I've got it under control now. (Yeah, right...Nashville around the corner....) but any hoo, I'm cranking finishes out so I'm holding my own as far as input and output (I'm just going to keep on telling myself that...)

Valentines Day...

is coming up and I told my husband that I'd like to go out on a date to a really cool new restaurant called Sweet Grass. We've been for lunch and it was phenomenal. I want to try it for supper :) So I've been saving my points for a big blow out Friday evening (Keith is working overtime Saturday and I'm working Sunday). That is one great thing about living in a college town, there are lots of local eateries that aren't chains.

Well....
I suppose that does for this installation of The Twisted Stitcher's regurgitation :) I've got a new project loaded up on the Q-snaps and we'll see what comes of that in the next few days. Until next time my dears....

"Hands to work and Hearts to God"

~Vonna

In the village...

Hello dear friends....
well, I didn't meet my goal, but it wasn't without trying my darnedest! My final goal was to finish block #12 on the Village of Hawk Run Hallow by the end of January. Sadly, I didn't make it :(

I gave it the old college try, but honestly all that night sky defeated me - really it did - my hand is cramping and I'm seriously thinking I don't want to stitch for a couple of days! However....on the 1st of February about 12 hours off my mark - victory was mine! And it tasted sweet! May I introduce Block #12 of The Village of Hawk Run Hallow:


Now....
before you get all excited, I haven't finished the village. NAY! I have only blocks 1, 2 and 12 done, I still have 9 to go. (astonishing mathematics skill, hmm?) But if I stay on course, I could have a huge wonderful finish by the end of the year. I have the perfect place to hang this, and I love all these pieces so victory shall be mine someday - God as my witness! (please envision Scarlett O'Hara holding up a rotten carrot, shaking it at the heavens)


Next Up...
Margie came home from her spa treatment and I must say, I'm rather impressed with how she turned out. This is the first needlework I've had framed at Michael's and I think it turned out fabulously. So much so that I came back picked up and then dropped off "Creation" (I live about 5 miles from Michael's). Anyhoo...here's Margie ready for the party:

Margaret Pence

by The Goode Huswife (Anne Brown)

Stitched on: 28 ct. Autumn Fields Linen

using DMC

Here's a close up of the frame detail....

Well...
that does it for me for today, probably for the whole week, as I don't think I have anything in me to get something done by the end of the week :(
I have another set of goals for this month. But it is sort of scary when you think that this month is only a meager 28 days. Anyway, a new start is loaded up and ready to go. Hopefully I can swing a finish in a week or two, fingers crossed....

Until next time...
hands to work and hearts to God!
Love and hugs,
Vonna