Spring Cleaning

The tulips are finally blooming here. I think it is safe to say that it is officially spring. (We will just ignore the fact that it goes from 80° to frost and back.) That also means it is time for spring cleaning.  

I never mind doing spring cleaning. It is refreshing to get at it, actually. The house always feels neglected after the long school year. My trouble comes in dealing with all the clutter. Yikes! I catch myself groaning, "We have too many people in this house with too much junk!"

Most years I wait to start the "really dig into it" stuff until we have finished up with school. It is much easier for me to have several hours in a row for many days to get at it. However, this year we have homeschool graduation here in less than 2 weeks and waiting isn't an option.

 

 Thankfully I have been motivated and inspired at just the right time. You see, last week I finished up a 28 day challenge over at GraceWorks. Our own dear sister stitcher, Tricia, runs this wonderful home-based business and created this challenge to work on managing the tasks in the home with a godly perspective. It truly was just what I needed when I needed it.  Now I am working on the "Continuing On" portion. What lovely words of wisdom Tricia has to share! Please check it out and be blessed!

 

One of the tasks in the 28 day challenge was to declutter a certain amount of minutes every day. Here's a "keeping it real" example of what got tackled: 

A bit of a hot mess, wouldn't you say?!

 

 

Now it looks like this! Peace for my soul. : )

Of course, no one who comes for the grad party will be looking in closets. But, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am working on being diligent and orderly. I have used GraceWorks planner pages off and on for 12 yrs. or more. I am convinced now more than ever that I need to use them consistently for His glory and my peace of mind!

 

 

Now if you stitching readers have been gracious enough to read this far, I have also cleaned out my stitching pile. I have a few LHN charts that I would love to pass on:

Psalm 145

Simple Joys

Pumpkins 4 Sale

All is Calm

Good Tidings

 This is not a giveaway of the usual sort - just a sharing. So no need to post about it. Just comment here if you are interested. I won't be able to send these out until early June. So you have until then to let me know if you would like one, more, or all of these.  I can draw a name if more than one of you wants something, otherwise you name it - you can claim it. These are all used patterns, no writing on them. Just a nip on the bottom of "All is Calm" when I didn't see it hiding under some fabric my rotary cutter went over.

 

Stitching is in the basket for now. Windows need a washing and a very wrinkly graduation gown needs a press.

My hope for you today is that you find joy in the work your hands do whether it be fun or necessary jobs to be done.
Joy to you,
Victoria


Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Ecc. 9:10

A Lot of Love on Mother's Day

While life has been rolling along here, I have experienced difficulty in carving out much time to stitch. However, two weeks ago I found this freebie and it just spoke to me of my own mom. So I set out to make it for her. (Oh, I was all set to post the link and see it is no longer available that I can find...It came from Feathers in the Nest)

I picked these colors as my mom loves lavender. My 8 yr. old dd was with me when I went shopping for some fabric and that was the first one she picked. Matches perfect and just right for Grandma. I was ironing it last night and when I ironed on the interfacing, color came off of the linen. Can you see the white areas? The one over the "y" in pray is especially obvious.  ;(  I don't know what happened as I have used the same stuff before with never a problem. I was sad after spending hours working on it to have it marred. I wanted it to be perfect for her. I didn't have time to tea stain it and then finish it into a pillow. My oldest daughter was taking it to my mom today as she has gone to paint my mom's kitchen for her and stay a couple of days.

I might have cried about it but I think I had already cried out my storehouse

of tears for the day. Here's part of the reason why:

Roses from BNH, daffodils from my oldest girl, and the ones on the right from her boyfriend.

Yeah, he's a good one! ; )

Cards from the Chili Peppers :)

 

Also a gift from 3 of them that went waaayyy beyond what they should have done.

I really couldn't stop crying last night. But, really, it had all started Friday morning when BNH brought in Thursday's soggy mail. He spread it out on the counter to dry when I caught a glimpse of my son's handwriting on an envelope.

This bit of blurry goodness is a letter from my oldest son who lives in northern VA. He is flying me out to see him graduate from fire school, spend a day hiking with him, attend church with him (I love his pastor) and then drive home with him as he coming back here for a bit

before heading out for the next phase in his life. 

I was a puddly mess, completely surprised and overjoyed!

 

I'm not sure which was more like the floodgates of heaven pouring down here

in the past couple of days - all the gifts or all of my tears!

 

From a momma who taught me to pray to a family that loves me in spite of all my many failings, I am humbled and thankful to God for the gift of my mother

 and the gift of being a mom of 6.

 

With thankfulness and joy,

Victoria

The Weirdest Weirdy Thing

Sometimes it is a challenge for me to blog. How much do I share? How much don't I share? Do I post pictures of myself or no? My favorite blogs to follow are those that let you in to their lives and post pictures of who they are. It's fun "getting to know" someone through their blog. When I first started putzying around here, I just posted a few things for me. I was looking for "something more" and wanted to have a creative outlet. My middle kids did not want to be in any photos nor mentioned by their first names. They have been well drilled in the school of precaution online. The bummer for me is that it is limiting. Family and friends read this who don't stitch, but like to hear about my family's goings on. So there lies the conundrum. Lately I have been thinking about letting the guard down. I mean really, what kind of internet creeper really cares about a cross stitching blog anyway? Especially when I have no picture of myself and no email available.

Yes, well, that is where the weird part comes in. Friday night I was catching up on reading some blogs I follow and out of curiosity I wanted to check my pageviews on my dashboard. Looking at my traffic sources I saw an unfamiliar address. So I went to "more" and saw a link that said something like getbits with a back slash and then my blog address. Wondering why my address was there, I clicked on it. BIG! MISTAKE! I had no idea that I would find anything so horrid and felt very creeped out. Also the "audience" area showed a country that I do not have any followers from. All kinds of questions swirled through my head like did a pick a scanky blog name? Is it too similar to a lingerie company? But even then how did that work? I was stumped because I have really tight security and you can't find my blog by goggling it.

I had been planning a call to our IT guy anyway and knew now was no time to procrastinate. After a busy weekend I went back to my dashboard Sunday night to check it again to be sure I knew what it read to report to our computer guy. (No intention to click on it or have my dh either!) The weirdest thing was it was gone. My traffic source shows absolutely nothing and I have had pageviews. Also gone was the foreign country listed under audience. BUT, the weirdest, weirdy thing was that there is absolutely no history of it. I cannot find the link I clicked on. Ok, am I really dumb to technology here and you can click on a site and it will not show up in your history? I just don't know. Really, I'm ok great with it all being gone. I am just baffled by it and I don't want it to be a snake hiding in the bushes waiting to strike again at an unexpected time.

BNH sweetly suggested that maybe God wiped it all out to protect me. I like that thought but don't like being naïve.

All that to say, maybe, maybe some day, you will see the back of some heads or even some faces of my beautiful daughters and handsome sons, their smiling father and their photo-insecure mom. haha   And, maybe I will figure out how to fix the "no-reply" comment" and setup another email account.

In the meanwhile thanks for following a private girl here. I am blessed by you all and appreciate you joining me along this adventure called life! You are among the best blogging friends a girl could have!!

Simply,
Victoria

A Bit of This and That

Last weekend as we were on our way to the college visit for my 20 yr. old dd, we had all of 20 minutes to stop in at the site of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox before it closed. Here is the house where it all took place.

 

And the room

Can you imagine being the woman of the house, with fighting going on in the vicinity, and having 16 men come in to do their negotiations and business in your parlor while you and your family are in an upstairs bedroom waiting until they are done? Never imagining the significance of the history that took place downstairs? What a very different world it was!

 

Down in the basement kitchen was a sampler in a back corner. Please excuse the quality as the only camera of sorts was my dh's phone and we were out in the hall.

It says "Teach me thy way, O Lord." Not that you can tell, but it truly was beautiful! It would be a shame if no one would ever reproduce it. I have been thinking about it all week and wondering if I can get back to feast my eyes on it again when we take dd to school in August.

 

Here is what I took along and have been working on as of late. I needed something sweet and simple!



I have tried once to get back to "The Old West" and have found more frogging to be done. I dropped it immediately. Good Grief!!! I really have some major issues with it for whatever reason. If it weren't for my darling son, I would put it in basket until who-knows-when and forget about it. Why is it that there are some of those stitching pieces that are just trouble from beginning to end? Please, tell me that it isn't just me!

On another note, if any of you are also Austen lovers, have you seen The Primitive Hare's latest? Oh, she has such a unique style and I wish that I needed a new project to purchase! I love it in both of her dyed fabrics.

 

I had to share one of Isobel's photo. Isn't it lovely?! She has many other photos worth viewing as well.

She also has some pretty P&P thread keeps. And I just saw she has a brief sale going on. sigh...

Well, self discipline must reign - no shopping and on to do some mild Pilates.



Thanks for visiting with me and joining me in my ramblings!

Joy to you!

Victoria



Catching Up and a Last Minute Giveaway

Catching up a bit here...Life has been distracting and blogging has taken a back seat.

First of all I want to let you know that tomorrow Fiona is drawing a name for her giveaway. So head on over and check it out quickly. Sorry I forgot to mention it earlier, Fiona! I was afraid if I didn't do it right away I would forget and I almost did.

I wanted to share my birthday photos even tho' it was over 2 weeks ago.

Some wonderful Jane movies of my own and some good reads.

Love that light!! Thanks BNH!!!

  A sweet note from my middle girl.

And here is the floss bracelet my 8 yr. old made for me. She got a kit called Friends 4 Ever by Alex that uses floss and a couple of pattern wheels. I help her get started and she moves the floss around the petal slits to weave a bracelet. It's pretty fun to do if I do say so myself. And I am glad she like to create! She has done a canvas yarn project and I hope she will want to stitch some day.

This last gift is from Drema. Do you all know who Drema is? She is the sweet owner of Needlecraft Corner. I just love her! When I first got back into stitching, Needlecraft Corner was one of the first sites I found to order from. And it is the first site I will order from if I can. While some may not care for the fact that you must call or email your order, I love to chat with Drema when I place an order. We chat about her dog and other points of interest and I love to listen to her East Coast accent. :) I love the fact that almost everything is always 20% off. Silk threads are always discounted. (I have yet to allow myself the luxury...) The final bonus is a birthday discount that you get the month of your birthday - 30% off your first item and 25% off the rest. Drema includes a birthday gift as well. This year it was the Piecemakers needles. That was a sweet surprise as I have never used that brand and had wanted to try them at some point.

 

Here is what I splurged on with my discount:

The colors in this will look great in my house.

So, check out Needlecraft Corner if you wish. You won't be sorry!

 

Well, thanks for reading along here and sharing in my goodies.

Wishing you all a joyful rest of the week!

Simply,

Victoria

 

 

 

 

 



A Quick Hello!

Hello Friends!

Here's what I have been up to:

• frogging, frogging,and more frogging and restitching "The Old West"
• sludging through our school days
• still reading Mary Lincoln: A Biography of Marriage
• going to the budget theatre to see Lincoln for $2 on date night
• staying dry from the past 5 days of rain
• packing, currently, to head out to VA for a college visit tomorrow with dd #2
• smiling at the thought that it will be 80º there

I was so blessed on my birthday - I got a Mighty Bright light. Who would have known how much of a difference it makes when stitching in the evenings! It works great!

Next time I will post a picture of the sweet gift my 8 yr. old made me out of floss!

Must go for now... Wishing you all joy!
Victoria

Celebrating Life

Many years ago when I was a young teen, Easter fell on the day before my birthday. For my gift that year, my sweet grandma gave me two lovely pillow cases that she embroidered. Being a young girl I thought they were special, but today I appreciate them even more. They were made by hands that helped to shape my love of needlework.

 

 She even hand-crocheted the lace along the bottoms.

These treasured pillow cases are a special reminder to me of the gift of life. My life and also the life I have because He gave His life for mine.

 Tomorrow for the third time in my life, I will be celebrating my birthday on Easter.

It really makes me pause with wonder and gratitude for the gift of life, because it goes beyond being just a historical event that changed the fate of the world.

It encompasses the real life I have yet to receive.

And that my friends is a whole lot to celebrate!

 

Wishing you all a blessed celebration of Easter!

Victoria