Stitching Progress

Here's my bit of progress in the past week and a half.

 

 

This is using the fabric I dyed last week. I stitched it up for a valentine for BNH. :)

Jane Austen Love Letter

28ct. hand dyed French Country Latte

DMC colors suggested on chart

nun stitched edges in DMC 3031

 

Before I started that one, my youngest was looking through my box of projects

and really wanted me to start The Old West by LNH.

I promised I would start that one next.

I think he is tired of the romantic sentiments of Jane Austen. haha

Cowboys and the Alamo, now that is intriguing to a 6 year old boy!

Here is as far as I have gotten. 

One sleeping cowboy done!

 My boy likes to "read" the charts and see the progress I am making. Yesterday when he was feeling poorly, I asked him if he would like to have me read to him  or play a game. He wanted to spend time with me by watching me stitch. Tonight he thought I could play Trouble with him and stitch at the same time. Umm, not quite. Unless I want to drag the game out and frog out a bunch of stitches.

 

I am not sure what I will do with this one when it is finished. In some ways it is not me- my decorating style. But in other ways it is me. I LOVE San Antonio, The Alamo, and the Texas Hill Country! Almost a year ago BNH had a business seminar in San Antonio and I got to go along. Happiness!!! While he was in meetings I walked the River Walk and went to The Alamo. 

It was great, just absolutely great.

I had some refreshing quiet time in both places and found a sweet little chapel

where the Lord met me in a profound way.

It "just so happened" that while we were there it was my birthday. One of my birthday requests was to visit the local needlework store down there. So off to the Stitches from the Heart we went, and it was there that I purchased this chart.

So that makes it extra special to me too.

Maybe I will give it to my boy when it is done for his room or maybe I will save it

 "if" we ever move down there and southwest becomes my decorating style.

 

Well I promised I would make some progress tonight so I had better pop off here and stitch up another cowboy.

 

Have a relaxing and refreshing Sunday, friends!

Simply,

Victoria

Battling

It's a battle.
Each and every day.
Some days I have my armor on and it goes well.
Other days, well...
Well, my arms are weak and I am not holding my shield and sword up high but rather down by my sides. Yeah, that is how it's been here lately.

I was talking to my BNH the other night. He had been out visiting and encouraging our oldest son in VA for a few days and we were trying to catch each other up with all the news. I explained to him how I felt that I was going along so strong covered by Grace and wham! it was completely the opposite. He said, "Yeah, it's like you get flipped on your back." That was exactly it! Immediately the image of a bug lying on its back pathetically waving its legs back and forth came to mind. I was feeling pathetic too. Torn between wanting to flap around for awhile in self-pity mode and fighting with the fact that it was going to be a true struggle, i.e. work, to get myself righted. Not just righted for the moment either.

A battle.
A serious front line battle.
One that starts with choices.
Choices that are intentionally made not passively slipped into.

Will I be like a bug and choose to flail around for an extended period?

Will I choose to lift up my weak arms and strengthen my feeble knees even if I fall on my back again in minutes?

And, if when I fall again, will I be determined to get back up yet again??

We've been hit with another illness in the house. We are tired. My poor 6yr.old has coughed himself to the moon and back. :(  It was so easy to want to complain this morning after little sleep and a long day of work ahead. But after spending some time in Philippians yesterday for my study, today I said "no." Not gonna go there.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault... Phil. 2:14-15

My friend in my small group said she noticed that the verse about complaining was 2:14.
2-14 as in "it was just Valentine's Day."
2-14 as in LOVE.
If I really believe He loves me, I'm not going to complain. He's got my best in mind even, and especially when, the going gets tough and I fall on my back.

It's a battle to believe in His great love for me. And it's a battle to love His will more than my own. There's no room for sneaky doubt or those proud thoughts that say, "I know what's best for me and this is so not it!"

My desire is to be blameless and pure without complaining, accepting His good will for me.  My desire is to battle well.

Simply,
Victoria

Trying a bit of Dyeing

Yesterday I decided to play around with dyeing a small piece of fabric. I have been intrigued by it for awhile.
This is what I want to do next:

I thought since the piece is called "Jane Austen Love Letter," it would be cool to try dyeing the fabric to give it an old look.

Part of me was nervous. I didn't want to wreck the fabric because it is one I have

loved working with and I have another quick stitch project

 that I could use the leftover piece on. It is 28ct. French Country Latte.

 

The other part of me said what have you got to lose. 

Following Vonna's steps made it really easy.

I did use both tea and coffee to stain it. Because it is such a small piece of fabric, it was only in the oven for 15 minutes and then another 7. It was almost completely dry then.

 

I was really surprised how quickly it went and how much it dyed the linen.

Before I put it in the oven it didn't look all that mottled.

 

This picture has less natural light on it and you can see how it took the stain.

 

Here it is after I ironed it.

Pretty cool!

But maybe a tad too dark for the Love Letter.

So I placed it in the sink in cold water for 30 seconds or more to soak.

 

Here it is dry and ironed.

A little more subtle and not so bold.

A complete transformation from the first picture.

I will definitely try this again for the right project and play around more with the bunching up of the fabric in the oven.

Maybe certain areas are still to prominent.

 

If any of you have tried this, please share your tips or suggestions with me!

 

Have a blessed day!

Victoria

 

 

 

Much Better x 2

When I was a little girl, my family gave me the nickname "Picky Vicki." Not very flattering but I suppose it did fit a bit. I'd like to think I have outgrown the picky part, but I am starting to wonder.

After I stitched up "Joyful Hearts" as a giveaway for my Bible study, something about it just didn't look giveaway worthy. The corners seemed to suddenly empty out and look flat, and the whole thing looked a bit rumply and squished. Since I had already started stitching another, I decided to take some time on Sunday to finish and see if I could make it look better.

I think it does. So does BNH.

Here are the 2 side by side.

Second one on the left, first one on the right.

Something about the second one just seems bolder and straighter.

I did use a different thread color, DMC 815, cause I was out of WDW Lancaster Red.

I feel much better about giving it away.

(At some point I will open up the one on the right and restuff it.) 

For the past couple of weeks, every morning I would come down the stairs to start breakfast and see this:

I would look at it and think "Oh, I like it, but it is too stretched out. There really needs to be one more triangle point in there."

 

The trouble was I bought as much of the batik fabric as there was. The sales lady was so helpful in trying to refigure the pattern to make it work.

 And it did...

...but not quite.

So after asking at another quilting shop, I discovered that the cloth is not new

and may be hard to find.

I didn't want to spend hours online looking for it either.

So also on Sunday I decided to piece the scraps I had left and see what it would look like. I was able to get a fat quarter of the gold piece so the back has a complete square.

The top is made of 3 pieces.

Can you tell?

 

 Now this is what I get to look at:

 

Much better, hey?

 

Guess it just takes a rainy Sunday to tweak things around a bit. 

 

Because sometimes you just know when things could look better and you gotta do whatcha' can to change them.

Simply,
Victoria

Now, if I could do something about my blurry photos...


Snow's Embrace

As the snow falls all around

 

Gently covering all the ground

 

Whispers of His love embrace

 

Grace to cover every place

 

Drops of red paid all my cost

Oh, for joy, I am not lost.

 



My Joyful Heart

Here is 11:00 Sunday night:

Here is last night's 11:12 finish:

A little late night blurriness and shadows - sorry.

 

"Joyful Hearts"

by Widgets and Wool Primitives

28 ct. Sandcastle (leftover from Mr. Darcy)

WDW Lancaster Red

 

This makes my heart joyful. Truly!

How often do I get a new chart on Friday and have it sewn up completely by Monday? Umm, this would be the first!

The reason this feels so good is because I got inspired on Saturday,

when I was cleaning the bathroom.

 Mmm...hmm. Bathroom cleaning.

 It provides great inspiration as well as time to reflect and pray. I got inspired to stitch this little sweet thing up and have a giveaway at the Bible study I spoke at this morning and have to repeat tomorrow night.

 

The joy part on the little verse fits perfect with the book of Philippians and the happy home thing was what I was sharing about in Phil. 2:1-4. I was so happy and

grateful to get it done and not just have it be "a good thought."

 Not getting it finished until 11pm was pushing it a little, but it wasn't too stressful.

 

I had plenty of stress thinking about delivering my talk!

Yikes! I am not a public speaker.

God so totally gave me everything I was going to say, so knowing

the material was no problem.

I was afraid my voice was going to quiver and I was going to turn into

a puddle of sweat. 

 I was afraid that my sympathetic nervous system was going to play a wonky game of teeter-totter with my parasympathetic nervous system.

You know, one calls out, "Fight!"

The other shouting back, "Flight!"

Back and forth. Up and Down.

Leaving me cold and shaking afterward.

 

Now several, relieved hours later, I can say that none of that happened.

Praise Jesus! He was and is so good to me!

Many wonderful people were praying away for me, as well.

My heart is joyful that I have one talk done. Yay!!

 

But if you hear something that sounds like a faint knocking, it just might be my knees not feeling so joyful over the prospect of giving the talk again!

 

With joy for you!

Victoria

 

 

 

Two Finishes

I am happy to share a couple of finishes I got done this weekend.

First, Mr. Darcy~



Another fun Sampler Girl piece!

 

Friday I found myself going a bit out of the way home from an appointment to check out the closest LNS to me. Since the one only 20 minutes from me closed in September, I thought I had better familiarize myself with the now nearest one. ;)

I have absolutely no need for anything but wanted to take a gander and build a relationship with the store owner.

 

I have been pondering the idea of lacing my own pieces to save money.

So I asked her about it.

I did a quick Google search and learned a bit there, as well.

Some lace; some simply pin.

The whole process doesn't look too complicated but just rather putsy.

I am not sure if I want to invest the time but saving $$ is always appealing.

 

Dear Gentle Readers, do any of you out there do that?

I'd love some practical advice!

 

But back to the store, I didn't feel right about just gathering information

for my benefit without giving the lady some business.

So I poked around a bit and fell in love with a sweet little design.

I love the script and it gave me a bit of a Valentine's feel.

So home it came. I started it Saturday afternoon and got it done after the Super Bowl.

 

The designer is Widgets and Wool Primitives. Apparently she/they (?) had been local until this past summer. I had not heard of them. There is a really cute finishing design on the pattern that I am planning to do this week.

 

Must pop off to bed for another busy week ahead.

Hope you all have a blessed week!

Simply,

Victoria