Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles

The Old West is finished!!!!

It is indeed a wonder and a miracle.

I have never made so many mistakes and had to frog so much.

One example is these sleeping cowboys.

While I found out way back in March that they and the cacti on the right were all

one hole too low, I didn't fixed them until 2 days ago.

My little buddy kept encouraging me to finish as it is going in his room. He liked reading the chart and figuring out where I was. Thursday afternoon he was helping me with the border on the bottom. He worked the needle on the top and I stitched from the bottom. He was getting the hang of over 2 pretty well.

So I finished everything except the gold x's for the gold nuggets. He wanted to help with those.



At one point when we were working, he said, "This is gonna be great." 



 

And the final stitch ----



 

Gold nugget x's! Finished by my six year old! : )

Just need to find the right frame.

I have also been working on another piece but I can't show it yet.

Next up? Too many choices! I thought I knew what I was going to do until a couple of freebie SAL's jumped out at me. Two new ones in one week: Plum Street Samplers' and Heartstring Samplery's.  My stash pile also grew again with some charts a dear friend was cleaning out. Such a problem! : P 

The fiery attack is still on here but lessening somewhat with the heat of intensity. Thanks to those of you who are praying! It means the world to me! We are getting in our homeschool groove here. This is the first year ever in 17 years that I have only 2 children to teach. It's refreshing!

My college girl, Miss Over-Achiever, was taking a break from homework at 9:30pm on  Friday night and called. She shared all about the speakers and artists on campus this week: Kirk Cameron was promoting his new movie, Unstoppable, which she also got to see; Mandisa was there singing; yesterday it was Willie Robertson and the David Crowder Band. Last week it was John Piper. Sigh! When she said she was writing a paper on a book by Tozer, I was really groaning with envy! I'd love to "have" to read Tozer. Think I could be 20 again and go back to college? That really would be a "miracle of miracles!"

Speaking of a miracle of miracles, anybody know where the title from this blog comes from?? If you do, leave me a comment and I'll send you a little something. But, no fair googling for the answer!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Victoria

What Remains

Cheerful colors of summer beauty still remain in my backyard. 

The flowers my 8 yr. old started in little covered pots back in May

are continuing to grow strong.

Sunflowers, zinnias and marigolds!

With no frost yet and a few warmer day here, it seems almost summer-like.

But this afternoon's roadside walk with my girl here showed another story.

 

Fall is definitely here. 

Goldenrod, marsh asters, and New England asters

 decorate the fall roadsides here in Wisconsin,

giving a show of color in the ditches.

Wild, natural, and beautiful in their own right.

 

Soon their season will end as well.

Snow will pile up heavy and deep.

Life and growth will cease for a time.

And while those seasonal changes must go on,

I am ever so glad that one thing will always remain.

Simply,

Victoria

 

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40: 8 

DTGTWTH

Hey Friends,

I have been off the radar for a bit and now that I am back, I come with an obscure blog post title. I'm sure that seems quite unusual but there is a reason and I shall explain.

Part of the reason I have been absent is the fact that we have had a fiery attack here which has threatened to take us all out.

Monday, I was emotionally exhausted and just down.

But God in His goodness blessed me with a lift in the form of mail.

I suppose you could say I received a RAK. But there was absolutely nothing random about the act of kindness that was given to me. So, I found myself in need

of an new acronym much more specific.

 

Thus, DTGTWTH!

It is not really pretty.

It has too many consonants and no vowels.
It's not even pronounceable!

BUT, it works for me.

 

DTGTWTH

Divinely Timed Gift That Warms The Heart

 

And, that is what I have received - a divinely timed gift that warmed my heart.
From Shirlee!

I had asked to borrow her tea chart and look what she sent.

A very special card and a dear pillow too!

She says she is not good at color choices. hmm...

Look how she coordinated the tissue paper to match the fabric and even

 the colors on the chart. 

Does this rickrack and rose look familiar?

Myra posted it last week on her blog.

I thought it was so pretty. Little did I know it was for me.

Myra, this is lovely! Thank you, too, for your lovely work!

Your finishing is gorgeous and I am proud to own a piece!

Shirlee, I am blessed to be called your friend
and call you friend!

Yes! It was made with love : )

The same day I also received an envelope with some new charts from 123 Stitch.
Actually they were from Shirlee too. She drew my name last spring on her giveaway. Even though I entered the wrong category, she gave me a g/c to 123.

I say that while Shirlee's physical heart is not working correctly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with her heart in the truest sense of the words.
Her heart is beating steadily with generosity and kindness.
I am blessed to be a recipient of her heart's overflow!
Please remember to pray for her tomorrow!!

Shirlee, you are a DTGTWTH!
Thank you for your friendship, gifts, and for standing in the gap and praying!
Love you!

Victoria

 

 



Tales of a Wonderful Trip

Hello all!  Thanks for stopping in to read about my life, loves, and the relentless pursuit of finding time to stitch. And welcome to a couple of new followers! Hope to check in with you soon-ish.

I've been back a few days from the trip to take our 3rd child to college with lots to report. It was a very blessed trip and I am so proud my girl pursuing her dream of worship and music studies.

First is a bit of stitching progress. Despite bumpy interstates, especially in Indiana, and the windy, mountain roads of West Virginia, I was able to frog my goofs and finish this one on the way out.

 Lizzie*Kate ~~ Time for God

Weeks Straw linen 30ct.

WDW threads

 

I already have a frame for this one and will get to that once the wedding is over and life settles into the fall and homeschool routine.

 

Of course no trip taken by our family is complete with a stop here and there. On the way to VA we saw New River Gorge Bridge, the 5th highest bridge in the world and the 4th longest. It is also the one depicted on the back of the West Virginia state quarter. (Just call me Vickipedia : )

 

As expected, I was sad and prayerful after we left Kase at college. Thankfully though, I had some fun to look forward to. You see, Peggy Lee from Kentucky Sampler and I had been emailing about lovely spots in Kentucky for us to see on our way home. She also graciously offered to meet us if it would work out. What an honor it was to meet her and her husband!! Lovely couple! They did not mind driving to Cumberland Falls where we had spent a night 

and gave us a warm welcome to KY.

 

We were so blessed to visit this spot and make new friends!

Me and Peggy Lee

Peggy is so kind and thoughtful with gorgeous blue eyes and a warm, friendly smile.

It was a true joy to meet a fellow blogging, stitching sister!



Look what she made me!

A lovely little needle book made out of a really neat piece of pressed paper from a journal she had that even had hair in it. She added one of her rusted pins as well. : ) It was such a sweet gesture that I treasure. Thanks again, Peg! So great to meet you!! : )

 

A historic spot we stopped at was the Mary Todd Lincoln house in Lexington. I have been on a bit of a Lincoln theme this year. That was interesting to see and I came home with these designs.



And we viewed a little bit of the gorgeous horse country.

 A peek at a wealthy race track

 where this famous horse was being exercised.

Not the best view, but these century plus, old stone fences line the roads.

Kentucky truly is a lovely state. We wished we would have had more time to see some other attractions there as well. A return trip someday...with hopes of meeting another stitching sister!! (Next time, Shirlee, if you are still there!)

 



On the way home, I worked some more on The Old West.

I jumped around on this one so I wouldn't have to struggle with the counting which gets a bit crazy in the car. There were times when we were rocketing down the road and I just wanted to tell BNH to pull over so I could find the right hole to start an "x."

 

As I did say I had lots to report, there's a little more. When I got home, a little gifty was waiting for me. I had guessed that the Poodle Princess, Vickie, had a fuchsia purse.

She sent me two little charts and some of her pretty counting pins.

Thank you, Vickie! So very kind of you!! Hope you don't mind me using Shirlee's nickname for you. : )

 

September 1st is the big wedding day for my oldest child and daughter. Here is a little glimpse of what I worked on yesterday:

I haven't done anything with florals in ages, but the bride was pleased with what I created!

That's what counts! : )

Now to figure out what to do with grapevines and silks on a cross...

 

Not sure how much time I will have in the next week or so to keep up with you in blogland. I shall do my best to catch up with you when I can.

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend and week everyone!

Joy to you!

Victoria

 

 

***One last thing to mention is that Miss LindaLee is having a giveaway until Sept. 26. Please stop by to visit her and her southern hospitality!

 

 

 

 



Stitching? And Counting? What's that?

When summer started, I made a very conservative goal of stitching 30 minutes a day.

I started out keeping up with that.

Then an engagement happened and a son moved home and summer fruits needed processing. (stitching time had to play catch up on the weekends)

 

Next, addressing invitations and bridal shower planning and summer camps transportation added to the busyness. (stitching time happened once or twice  a week, counting errors crept in)

  

And college prep and wedding clothes shopping and late night discussions joined the fray. (stitching time - maybe weekly and errors multiplied)

 

Before I knew it, I was going to Michael's to find some silks to help de-stress the bride and offer to decorate for the ceremony.
(stitching "time" only existed while at Michael's in picking up that DMC thread that I ran out of )

 

 And this week it's been more summer camps and stressing out over buying a 6 yr. old a black suit and a free ballroom dance lesson - now that was fun.
(stitching time consisted of 15 minutes of frogging, more to do)

Today it was practicing updos and curling-dos and making 5 gallons of refrigerator pickles.

This is the back of my head. I've been practicing how to curl it in order to know how to make my middle girl's updo as the gorgeous maid of honor. 

Her whole head needed to be curled first and then I pinned it up.

Still needs a bit of polishing but not bad. She likes it slightly messy anyway.

And, joy, it is still holding together by the afternoon!

We are taking her to college next week and there will be no time to practice this style on her after she flies home for the wedding.

 

So, on the long drive to VA and back home this is what I hope to fix and finish:

The last "times" and "God" are one hole too low.

Marvelous, I know...

And I have to finish pulling out the "h" by the "T".

With such an easy pattern goofed up and still not finished, you can tell that my head space is definitely not too clear.

I am hopeful that a nice long car ride will help with that.

However I don't think that I will be able to see too well on the way home...I will be crying after dropping off our beloved Kase.

 

Talk with you all in a week or so!

The MOTB and soon-to-be mourning mama of her college girl

(who incidentally should have her kids teach her counting this fall in homeschool math class)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One more thing:
Just to give credit where credit is due, if you or your daughters want to learn how to do hair beautifully, you must check out the very talented Kate at The Small Things blog.
She is absolutely darling and has fabulous hair tutorials. (She also blogs about fashion and makeup if that's your thing.)

Life Lessons from the Berry Patch

Some Saturdays there is a plan in place.

Some Saturdays the plan comes in the moment.

Like yesterday when my oldest daughter texted me from her favorite place of employment - the local vegetable farm.

Did I want to come pick raspberries? They have more than they can sell.

No need to ask me twice!

Raspberries are my favorite!!!

 

BNH, the chili peppers (our 8 and 6 yr. old kiddos), and I headed out to the patch.

We were given a section in the best row of the patch.

 

The peppers started out just skimming the tops and outside.

That was easiest for them. It was eye view and not a lot of work. 

I told them that picking raspberries is like being on a treasure hunt.

Some of the treasure was hidden and we needed to search carefully underneath the leaves to find all the berries.

We had to show them how to find more by not being in a hurry to move on.

 

How like life!

We can breeze along and think we are getting the best and most out of it by just
 skimming along the surface.

It's easy and we like to look ahead at where the next big berry is.

Wanting quick treasure.
 

Sadly doing that makes us miss much of life.

We miss being in the moment.

We miss the hidden treasure--
Always wanting what's next that might be better.

We get only a small portion of God's blessings because we are too impatient to see
what He has for us if we stay in the same spot.

 

Staying in place and going deeper for the treasure.

Pushing aside the foliage.

Each dense leafy layer.

Knowing that the prickles will scratch us.

Bending down and rising up again. Despite the aches.

Reaching and stretching for each berry - each blessing.

Looking and searching carefully.

Yielding a greater produce because we had lessons to learn right where we were.

So much so, that some spills out of our hands - unable to hold it all.

 

 

Sometimes it is even necessary to look back.

We may think we are ''done" in a certain spot and not want to go back there. 

After all, there can't be much left behind that's worth the trouble.

But when we do, we see a few more berry (buried) blessings.

And a certain sense of satisfaction comes, knowing that looking back can bring it's own treasure - that of seeing healing and wholeness which comes from thoroughly picking through a section.

Some people came to pick while we were finishing up.
They spent 15 minutes. They skimmed.
Maybe that's all they wanted.
But for me and for my family,
I want more than the skimmings.
I want all that God has for me - for us,
even if that means sometimes feeling stuck in the same spot,
  getting scratched and bloody, and hurting from the stretching process.
I want more than 2 pints.
I want 22 lbs.

 

I want all of His good measure of great treasure.
~~
Victoria