New year...new ideas...

 ~ Greetings and Warm Welcome to my Blog ~

Here we are burgeoning on the edge of a new beginning....

every year this time I try very hard to evaluate my life. As I get older I make evaluations harder in some ways, but perhaps more developed and aged - like a fine wine. I don't do "resolutions" go to a health club/gym atmosphere for one month in January and you'll understand why those don't happen here. (LOL! and have no doubt about it I would be, have been one of those here's my resolution and two week later...yeah not so much.)

Probably around the time I turned 40....

I realized that perhaps evaluations of a kind to change my inner workings, my head thinking, my heart, my direction in life were ones of a more lasting, solid kind. I evolve, like we all do. So what am I going to focus on in 2023? Read on to find out...you know me, I'm like a scandal sheet - I tell it all!

Stitching:

I am doing a personal stitching challenge over the 12 Days of Christmas. Traditionally the 12 days begin on December 25 and ends on 12th Night or January 5. Keith and I are truly enjoying a 2 week "Staycation" he has been off work since, well really since he was sick (Dec 16) but it wasn't supposed to start until Dec. 21 and he will be off until January 3. I am not finishing, I am not doing one thing (other than essential daily tasks: cooking, light cleaning and going to mass) but boy buddy am I stitching! I chose to do a personal 12 Days of Christmas stitching challenge. What does that mean? That means, I dive/dove into my extensive stash and choose a project I have long admired and never stitched and start it. I have created a Stitching Scrap/Bullet Journal and I keep notes on what I've started and when I stitch on it - all the essentials of where, what, when and how. My plan is to focus on these 12 starts and ALL my other Works in Progress that has languished through the years and focus on the bounty I have rather than the bounty I have not. I am all about supporting designers, dye houses, linen companies, notions companies, etc. But sometimes one needs to know when to stop, rest and know that what they have is fantastic. 

I feel that in the last 10 years, particularly with the evolution of YouTube "flosstube" videos that it has become a "one-up-manship" on what you can buy, who you follow to be in the "cool kids crowd", what color you stitch with, what microscopic linen and needle you can stitch on/with, what venue you can go to, what club you are in, what exclusive design you can purchase. I understand people need to make a living, but I can't be the only person out here thinking that the over-commercialization, hawking and materialism of things leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm sort of tired of it honestly. 

So to stay true to me and my own value of what I loved and purchased - spending hard earned money on - I must of loved it, so why am I hording it? I have put things into rotation during my 12 days of Christmas personal stitching challenge. Here's what I've done in the first 4 days:

DAY 1:

 "Santa Knows" by Teresa Kogut. Found in the 2018 Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher magazine (or she also has it in her ETSY shop for PDF download) 

I have a dream....of a mantle and hearth (maybe a hutch and a few tables) filled with stand-up Santas. I love Santa Claus - I am sure you could tell that from my previous post where I share my trees and home). Santa to me encompasses everything I want to be in life: kind, compassionate, giving, caring, sharing, jolly.... A "slew of stuffed santas" would be just the thing for my home and would bring me great joy! 

I am stitching my first "santa slew" on 25 ct. Vintage Country Mocha 3/2 using called for colors which is a mix of Weeks Dye Works and DMC. Stitching on this large of count will make him around 10.5 inches tall. 

*I am not stitching the entire piece, just santa the sheep and some holly sprigs tossed around edges. I have (in my mind) and idea that - of course he will be a shaped stand up (meaning unusual shape not sewn in an arch) and I will create a tiny wool bag that will be a dimensional piece for added interest to tack to the bottom next to Santa's feet. 

DAY 2:

Have always ADORED Country Cottage Needleworks' Glitter Village. I have created a border to surround the entire village, I started smack dab in the middle because I'm deleting some design elements and adding other things I want. I also am stitching a bit differently in that I've added Kreinik for the snow and snowflakes, going to add some beading, also using silver DMC Diamant to give lots of glitter. Here is my start on 32 count natural/silver linen from Fabric Flair using called for colors in Classic Colorworks

DAY 3:

Started another Santa for my "slew" this sweet, design found in  the 2009 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue, by Heartstrings/Artist Colony. Again he will be a stuffed stand up so I am stitching him on a larger count so I can get a nice size: 25 ct. Steel Blue 3/2 DMC. He will be about 6.5 inches tall when complete.

DAY 4:

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH in 2002 when it came out. When right out and bought it and promptly - never stitched it. Bringing 4 My Boys back! LOL! 
"A Savior is Born" on 32 ct. Steel Blue 2/2 Gentle Arts and DMC

So there we are....My first 4 days of my personal 12 Days of Stitching. What's next? Oh, I've got plenty planned! Tune in again to see what comes out of the dark!

What else is going on for me? WELL....

I've got my new Prayer/Praise/Thankful journal for 2023 all set up and ready to go. I started doing these journals quite some time ago to help my prayer life. Can I just say that it helped me then and continues to help me. Praying for others always ultimately helps me as much or more than the people I pray for. In the last couple of years, I have added Thankfulness to my journal. I have found it very helpful to remember ALL that I have to be thankful for. I write 1-3 things down in my journal every evening of something I'm thankful for from that day. On days when you feel "woe is me" -  everything has gone wrong...it's good to reflect and realize there are so many hidden blessings in life. It's good for my head. 

As I do every year....I always leave the floor open for all of my friends here...

if you would like prayers, are in need of prayers, email me: thetwistedstitcher@gmail.com

I am happy to put your name, a loved one's name in my journal and pray for them. I don't need specifics - for God knows those - all I need is names - if you would like a specific intention and you'd like to share it with me, rest assured I never think about or share it with anyone else. 

Finally I'd like to end this post with something that I am trying for the very first time this year....

I am Catholic - I am sure you all picked up on that 😂 As a Catholic, we like to ask saints for their intercessory prayers - that doesn't mean we are "praying" to the saints, rather it is like this: 

A Friend talking: "Hey Vonna will you pray for me? I am having problems focusing on my life issues." 

Vonna talking: "it would be my pleasure to pray for you about these issues."

Yes, I go straight to God for my prayers, but it sure never hurts to have others praying for me. As a saint, that means these passed HUMANS have walked the earth, had the same human issues as I have, knows the struggle life can be and they are up there in heaven wanting to help me, wanting to pray for me...praising God through eternity. 

Anyway...

I was reading that there is a practice of getting your "saint of the year" so for example I know many people who have a "word" of the year...this is the same sort of idea. 

Aletia is a website I frequent often and when I saw they had this Saint of the Year generator I took advantage of it. What could it hurt? I learn about a possibly "new to me" saint.

HERE is the Aletia 2023 Saint for the New Year Page

Would you like to know who I got?!

St. Damien of Molokai

I had never heard of him before. See...fruit already! 

He was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II and raised to Sainthood in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.

St. Damien was born in Belgium in 1840. He longed to be a priest and missionary. He became a priest and was sent to Hawaii in 1864. For 9 years he worked as a parish priest there. In 1866, Hawaii established a lepers colony in Molokai on the Kalaupapa Peninsula. These colony was isolated, and basically was rife with all sorts of vice. In 1873, St. Damien decided to travel to Molokai to be a missionary there, serving the people for their spiritual and medical needs. Long story short, St. Damien was to serve there only for a short time, he ended up living there 16 years. He too became a leper and died there in 1889. He loved his people there, made many improvements to their living conditions and most especially their spiritual conditions. He embodies faith, hope and love. St. Damien is the patron saint of lepers and outcasts.  

Outcasts. Have we not all felt like one of these at one point in our lives? 

ST. DAMIEN pray for us!

St. Damien's photo is pasted in the front of my 2023 Prayer/Praise/Thanksgiving Journal and I am ready to go!

If I am not back by the New Year, please know, your presence in my life, makes a huge difference. 

Thank you for being a part of it!

Happy New Year!

Love in stitches, 

Vonna xxxx

Well....

 ~ Greetings and Warm Welcome to my Blog ~

What do they say about the road to hell is paved with good intentions? That sort of explains about what happened to the end of my 25 days of Christmas...

Keith had to travel for work...

that included flying on 4 different planes....

Meetings with lots of people in tight surroundings....

for a week....

24 hours after he got home (which was the 15 of December)...

It happened. 102 degree temperature. Congestion. Coughing. Aches. Exhaustion.

I had him quarantined. He took several tests - all negative. BUT if we would have had a flu test, that one would have been positive. He still is fighting exhaustion, some congestion. But for the most part he's well. 

We were able to celebrate Christmas as a family...

Our Christmases are LOW KEY. Typically involve Mass in the morning, then being dressed in PJs the rest of the day.. Just us - our family. Presents, eating, a game or two then we all go do our own thing. 

It was no different this year. We all gathered. Then those that live apart went back to their abodes and the ones that lived here....two went to the movies and the other two (old geezers) retired to their bedroom and watched tv while the other stitched :)

I love Christmas this way, no stress, no anxiety - just me, my family and our love for each other celebrating the birth of our savior. Easy. Nice.

Here's some pictures of the day:

This is what I got from Katie and Austin for Christmas:

nothing better than receiving Jesus for Christmas!

To Sum up our Christmas season and fill in the gaps where I left off, I'll let the pictures do the talking....

 

This was a new thing I did this Christmas...

I have 6 totes/tubs of ornaments that I have stitched through the years (40 years of stitching and crafting). . . I have 4 trees. I don't have room for another. So I tried out an idea I had, instead of putting a tree in the dining room this year I tried this garland over my windows: 

You know what?! IT worked like a charm...next year - getting more garland and doing more windows AND I'm going to continue stitching ornaments because: HELLO! I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I had thought about stopping stitching ornaments. I can't do that!

Our Main Tree, filled with over 378 ornaments (I lost track counting when I was putting them on)...

 

 

My Granny's ceramic tree and a Santa and Mrs. Claus that I painted to match the ones she had when I was growing up.

My Santa Tree:

Another tree....

filled with hand painted ornaments and Santa's from around the world 

My Grandmother Epperson's ceramic Nativity sits at the foot of this tree...

 

 

 

 

And finally...

Ellie wanted to gift our Priest, Fr. Dennis a drawing. She chose to draw the Blessed Mother with the baby Jesus. Here is piece:

and here she is presenting it to Father. We love Fr. Dennis. I can go as far as to say of all the priests I have known in my 52 years of life and always attending church, Fr. Dennis is in the top 2, if not the number 1 priest I have ever known. Humble, acknowledging the trials of life, caring, kind, soft spoken, he has WONDERFUL homilies....yes, he's my favorite of all. And I am so glad Ellie shared her gift with him, because there is no other way to describe her talent other than it is surely God given. Sacred Art seems to be a calling for her. 

I'll be back before the New Year to go over what I'm stitching, what my plans for 2023 is for me and some other bits and bobs about life. 

Merry Christmas one and all!

All my love, 

Vonna xxxx

Merry Days 9, 10, 11, 12, 13...

 ~ Greetings and Warm Welcome to my blog ~

What happened?! 

5 days gone...I don't know necessarily what I did or what happened, but I bet it was pretty A-OK 

😀

So I last night I released another video tutorial...

it is based on two ornaments I created, that I am calling: Diorama Ornaments

Here they are:

If you'd like to learn how to make these, please watch my Video Tutorial: HERE 

There is more on the way....'tis the season of giving. I'd make sure to subscribe to my channel and ding the bell. 

Ellie is done with classes for now. She starts college classes, January 17. So we bought some puzzles and she has been working on them with her highness, Ms. Sophie:

Today I have lots scheduled...

including teaching/leading my adult religious education class at my church.

So I gotta run....

until next time, keep smiling and spreading that Christmas Joy - that's what every day should be about!

Merry Christmas!

Vonna xxxx

Merry Days 6, 7 and 8....

 ~ Welcome and Warm Greetings to my Blog ~ 

Well here it is 3 a.m. and I can't sleep....

of course Keith had us go to bed at 8 pm he was tired, it was dark, cold and rainy and so off to bed we went. I don't know if I've ever shared this before, but here goes:

Keith will not go to bed unless I go to bed. 😂

We do absolutely EVERY little thing together. Not much is done apart from one another, including bedtime. I usually am OK to go to be when he wants to - we get up very early in the morning (typically 4:30 - 4:45 am is when our alarm goes off) So getting into bed by 9-10 pm is the norm. But sleeping through the night....that's hard for me - has been for years. Some nights sleep like a baby. Some nights...sleep like a baby until about midnight then it is a struggle the rest of the night. Probably hormones (or lack there of). 

So anyway.... I woke up this am, and instead of laying quietly and waiting for the alarm, I was hankering for a cup of coffee...so I got up. One of my favorite things to do is get up in the early morning (read still night time) and look outside...I love the quiet of the night. Although I will say it is amazing to me how many people I will see outside at this time of morning: jogging, walking, walking dogs...

There is a Mama deer and her two yearlings that will sometimes lay in our yard or in the yard across the street and I see them. Precious little lives...

OK let's get to talking about what's been going on....

I've made 4 tutorial videos in the last week:

I'll give links to all of them for your viewing pleasure:

Bows - 3 ways

Chenille Edged Pillow

New Technique on Making Cording

Mounted Flat Ornament

Guess what...

I have more that I'm in the process of making. My goal is to share as much as I possibly can to help anyone learn to finish as much as they can on their own. I have been mightily blessed in life. And I am a firm believer in “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48)

To him the Glory, always. 

~ Please remember I DO have a TUTORIAL BLOG - where all links are compiled by type of tutorial either video or written ~  AND not all written tutorials are video and not all video tutorials are written...meaning I have different finishes and different ways of showing you how to do them - either via video or pictorial written.

How about some Christmas pics of my house. I'll share just a few so as not to bore you....

I have 4 trees this year....

about 500 stitched ornaments both from  my hand and from friends through the years and likely about as many or more of ornaments that are Hallmark, other crafts, made by my kids, special trips and meanings to us....

Our Main Tree:

This one houses mostly our family memories and ornaments....

I have so many ornament that I am struggling to get them all up....my trees are full so I bought some garland swags and hung them above our dining room window and hung ornaments on there.....

Another view...

I tell you that worked out so well I'm going to buy more for the other windows in our home for next year. I think it looks just darling!

The old Prairie Schooler Santa (prim) tree that I had was too small to house all of my Santa ornaments...so last year I bought a 7.5 foot skinny (ier) tree for a New Santa Tree...

it houses all of my Prairie Schooler Santa stitched ornaments, my Hallmark Toymaker Santa Series Collection and a NEW Hallmark Santa Series called - Young Santa...

I am a Santa collector. What person or thing embodies (Christmas or me for that matter) more than a rotund, jolly elf who loves sugar cookies, giving back and Christmas?

😂

Nothing, to me says my childhood like Charlie Brown...

I need to get working on my Shepherd's Bush Stockings....

I have one out and just last night I finished stitching a second (in a series) of ornaments I wanted to get done before I started anything new. Done now, so I'm ready to start a few things!

Here is a close up of a portion of my new Santa Tree...

you can see a mix of my Prairie Schooler Santa ornaments, my MMMcrafts Felt Santa doll ornament I made, Toymaker Santa Series and two of the New Series Young Santa. 

Well folks....

that does it for today! Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception - a feast day of the conception without original sin of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Next Tuesday is another Marian Feast Day - Our Lady of Guadalupe. I happen to have a Design Works kit of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Joan Elliott. I worked yesterday to get fabric loaded up on scroll rods - I've decided today I'm going to start her. She looks like this:

Alright friends....off I go for another round of coffee...it's 4:50 a.m. so Keith is up and I can go up and get started on Our Lady and my new start!

Have a fantastic day ahead!

Love, 

Vonna xxxx