Look what hippity hopped....

...into my mailbox!
A delightful Plaid Bunny Floss Tag by the very talented Harmien! I was floored when I saw a package from sweet Harmien in my mailbox and imagine my delight when I saw the goodies contained within:

Like a good bunny, I've got it loaded up already with bobbins and I'm stitching away :) Thank you Harmien, I love it and always thing of you when I see it peeking out from the ring.

On Saturday evening....
at approximately 7 p.m. I found out that on Monday at approximately 6 p.m. (so less than 48 hours) I had to have two cakes prepared and decorated for my boy's Boy Scout Pack Meeting. YIKES! Well....since I had to work on Sunday I told Daddy that he needed to get the supplies and that as soon as I got home we'd get to baking. The cakes are supposed to be a family effort with the boys doing most of the work so after I got home from work yesterday afternoon, we got to baking. By 7 p.m. we had this:

Jake and his "Pro Bass 100" Fishing Pole

(complete with bobber and hook)

AND.....

Ian with his Swiss Army Pocket Knife

AND.....

although Katie and Ellie are not in Boy Scouts they wanted to decorate their own cake and here's the results - which the family enjoyed after supper:

*notice* the line dividing the cake....Ellie couldn't cross the line with her decorating talents. I'd say Katie divided it up equally....wouldn't you? LOL!

There you go on a....

Pfeiffer kind of weekend. We really had fun making the cakes together as a family. Tonight the boys will turn their cakes in and all the boys will be graded and ribbons will be handed out. I hope they win something!

Now....

I AM stitching, but it is always a rat race after Spring Break and I'm supposed to be at about 50 places at once. Between tutoring, concert band, Tae Kwon Do, softball, baseball, cub scouts, preschool, etc. I have also agreed to: hosting a spring teacher's luncheon, helping with the spring carnival and heading the graduation committee for the 6th graders graduation - which Katie is in the class and will be moving from Elementary School to Middle School next year. So you understand, if my posts will be sporadic - I'm not getting much done around here stitching wise. But it all will return soon and when I have something to show you I'll be here tapping on your shoulder saying read my blog! :)

Until next time....

my dear friends and readers (whenever that may be),

"Hands to work and hearts to God"!

Love and hugs,

Vonna

News Worthy...

Happy Hump Day!
I've not gotten much accomplished anywhere on anything so I thought I'd share some recent happenings at the Pfeiffer Haus....

Ian and Jake started Tae Kwon Do yesterday. Here's the obligatory pictures to show off their new TKD duds. And before I get questions, yes they really, truly are twins, and Jake really is tall for his age, it is just that Ian is going to be a huge man one day. He's about 6 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Jake. Jake is just a scrawny chicken like his paternal grandpa (looks like him too).

Katie....
is so cool she can hardly stand herself! :) She's a preteen...what do you expect?

Ellie....

doesn't care about being cool...she just wants to sit in her tent and eat Cheetos undisturbed. Here she is peeking out from her "tent", the remains of the Cheetos is the orange discoloration on the corner of her mouth :) Sweet girl....

Mama....

was awarded with her 16 weeks of attendance charm today from Weight Watchers and I feel like I need to wear it like an amulet - but instead I hung it from my rear view mirror :)

I have a long way to go yet and many more pounds to lose for good, but I was proud to earn this charm and know that I've been fighting the good fight for 16 weeks. I've had people that have left comments about it being easy to lose weight. It is not easy. I am a scientist and I understand less in, more movement, more off - but if it were easy no one in the world would be fat. I'm fat. I admit it. Food is my drug of choice and it is a struggle each and every day to deny myself my drug. Simple as that. Sometimes I fail, but for the past 16 weeks, I've won. And the steps I've made this far will be the impetus to get me to the big goal. I'll be a weight watcher for the rest of my life. But I can win and with Weight Watchers I will win. If any one out there is thinking of the program, take the step - it is backed up with years of scientific data. It's a great program based on every day foods, that we all have in our pantry. You can have anything you want to eat. You just can't eat the whole box.

Goals...

I've met my goals that I had set to date. So my leader was telling us last week that we have to make sure to set new goals and when we set them we also need to pick what our reward will be when we meet them. I've been thinking of what my reward will be. I know what my goal will be. It will be another 25 lbs weight loss. I was thinking a good reward would be a small tattoo of a needle with thread swirling through it. Just a small one on my ankle in black. I asked my husband if I could do that and what did he think about it - and I wish I had been filming it. The look on his face was priceless. In fact, I think if I had been filming it, I could have won 10K on America's Funniest Videos. Guess I won't be getting a needle and thread tattoo.... ;(

I still think it would be perfect for me though....

Until next time...

"Hands to work and Hearts to God!"

Love and Hugs,

Vonna

A Bird in Hand....

....is worth two in the bush. What a wise proverb and definitely one to live by.

"Bird in Hand"

by Blackbird Designs from the "rewards of merit series"

Stitched on: 32 ct. Picture this Plus "Mello" Belfast

Fiber: Crescent Colours "Manor Red"

*finished as* pincushion filled with crushed walnuts and edged with chenille trim

I'm glad....I have this bird in hand and roosting cozily in a basket by my stitching chair. I hope more birds of a feather come to visit soon!

Thank you...
for your continued visits and comments. Comments from my readers and friends are like a bag full of potato chips and I can't stop at one :) Thank you from the bottom of my pea pickin' heart! :)

Until next time....
"Hands to work and Hearts to God"...
love and hugs,
Vonna

One Bluebird....

...for a dear friend of mine on her birthday! Who's a true blue buddy! Happy birthday Amy :)

Bluebird

by Blackbird Designs rewards of Merit series

fabric: 32 ct. belfast "Mello" by Picture this Plus

Fibers: Crescent Colours "wavy navy"

*finished* as stuffed pincushion with crushed walnuts

accented with antique bone buttons and rusty safety pin with chenille hand-dyed trim

Now then...

I have a question: have you ever used Vicki Clayton's conversions? If so would you e-mail me privately to let me know what you stitched and how you felt about it, please? I have a couple of conversions I'm thinking about buying....but I've never used her fibers before and would like some feedback.

Until next time...

"hands to work and hearts to God"~

hugs and love,

Vonna

Drive by posting...

A harried hello and howdy doo....
to you my dear friends and readers. My goodness time does fly! That seems to be a central theme here at The Twisted Stitcher, doesn't it? I think it's been close to 14 days since my last post, and I really don't have much to show you in the way of my own stitching. Oh, I've been doing it....but a little here and a little there....I've determined that I have Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), only of the stitcher's variety. Believe me I'm not making light of the disorder as I have a son that lives with ADHD, but I believe that truly is the way I've been now for about a month. I flit from project to project. Starting new ones, losing interest, putting them in a bag, only to dream of them, pull them out, stitch a couple of hours, put them away again, start something new....my clicky finger keeps adding stuff to carts, my Toyota Sienna keeps mindlessly driving to my Local Needlework Store, both of their own volition and accord. What is a girl to do? Stash, stitch, stash, stitch and stash some more, I guess.

That is....
until Mr. Twisted Stitcher comes after the missus with the credit card bill in one hand, the checkbook in the other, a red face and eyebrows that look like lightening bolts. YIKES! That's enough for a girl to straighten up and stitch right - right out of the stuff she's already got, I guess. Yowza! He's been watching A&E on television and has threatened an intervention of my hoarding tendencies. I guess straighten up and stitch right is my motto as I whistle a merry tune "hi ho, hi ho...it's off to stitch I go - YES FROM MY STASH Mr. Twisted Stitcher!"

So....
with that dilemma off my chest. Here's what I stitched up for the fabulous Pinkeep Exchange over on the Friends Through Threads private exchange board. My recipient was Hazel and I saw on her wishlist this pattern, so I stitched it up and made this for her:

"Be Joyful In Hope"

Designer: Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks

Threads: Crescent Colors

Fabric: 32 ct. Sassy's Fabbys Mud Pie Lugana

Finished as a pinkeep with rusched ribbon edging

*this was a scripture thread pack distributed by Crescent Colours*

To be....
completely honest it was very hard to put this in an envelope and ship to the U.K., however Hazel is a delightful young lady and I knew she'd give it a good home. I do so hope that she loves it as much as I did ;o)

Well...
those rascally rascals the Pfeiffer kids will be out on Spring Break at the conclusion of the school day this afternoon. So we have the Sienna (or Mama will have) it loaded down for a trip to Haubstadt to visit Poppas, Memes, Grandpas and Grandmas for a few days. We'll see Aunts, Uncles and cousins too while we're there. Then bright and early Monday morning, we'll load up again and travel to French Lick, Indiana (keep your nasty thoughts to yourself) for a day of fun at an inside water park. (oh joy...can't wait....me in a bathing suit for 12 hours...I'm thinking positive thoughts and deep breathing) Tuesday we'll be up bright and early again to go spelunking at Mammoth Cave. Then Wednesday Mama is gonna sit her bottom in a chair (or I dream of sitting it in a chair). The Twisted Stitcher kiddos have movies, zoo trips and other things in mind....I wonder who will win? You're right...probably not Mama.... :)

So...
that does it for this installment of keyboard upchuck. I hope that you all have hours in a chair stitching resulting in that dreaded syndrome of all syndromes - numb butt....I'm planning on some Grandmas, Grandpas, Poppas and Memes doing a little entertaining while I advance my numb butt case myself. Oh the horror I plan on my rear end experiencing! You all really need to experience the restorative healing of a trip to Haubstadt, Indiana! The little hamlet does a lot for the mind and soul :)

So until next time...
"hands to work and hearts to God"!
Love and hugs,
Vonna

Spring in the air....

Can you smell the sunshine?
well personally - I hope to someday! So since I can't yet....I updated my blog background with spring-y colors and elements to make this gray, rainy and cold weather that has been hovering over the great state of Indiana seem a little less gloomy :)

Today...
however there was a slice of sunshine in my mailbox! And here it is:

Friends Through Threads Pinkeep Exchange

from: Gabi

to: me

Isn't this the most beautifully stitched pinkeep?! I love it! Gabi, my partner, couldn't have picked anything more perfect for me. It's from the "Friends" leaflet by Prairie Schooler and she stitched it one over one on 25 ct. using a variety of threads. L-O-V-E it! Thank you Gabi, so very much!

Today....
was the deadline for mailing our pinkeeps in the group exchange, so mine is now flying on to its new owner....I hope she likes it! More on that, at a later date.

This morning...
Michael's called me and said I had two pretties to pick up and here they are:

Flowers of Lebanon

by The Goode Huswife

Valentine Sampler
by The Goode Huswife

Aren't they pretty? I just can't get over these frame jobs I've been picking up. I really *really* am loving all these 60% off frame deals! :) My Michael's has done a fabulous job, they really have.

Well....

I've got a couple of irons in the fire, spoons in the pot, fingers in the pie - so hopefully in the near future I can dazzle you with something....I hope. One project I'm going to start working on, I can't tell you about until next fall. Phooey! The other one is a big A$$ project, so I may not be back for a week or so until I get it all finished up and I can show you my efforts. But you all know I'll be back with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes ;o)

One more thing before I leave....

(now this is NOT to toot my horn - cause I've got a lot more, more, more (think to infinity and beyond) work to do) but this weekend for the very first time someone that DID NOT LOVE ME (meaning not someone in my own family or with my blood running through their veins), told me: "You're looking good Vonna. What are you doing?" It was our Priest and I wanted to stag leap across the vestibule, cartwheel over the baptismal font and dance a jig with St. John's statue! But.... I contained myself and just said: "Thank you, I'm doing weight watchers." Oh, that is rewarding....and helps me to continue on in the battle - and believe me, no matter how you Splenda coat it (ha ha - get it SPLENDA coat it) - it *IS* a battle. :)

So...

until next time.....hands to work and hearts to God!

love and hugs,

Vonna