Giveaway Winner

Hi friends! The winner of the Keep Me Sampler by Moira Blackburn is Annette! I have notified you in email Annette. It will be on it's way this week. :)

No stitching to show you today. I am working on a secret stitch right now. ;)

I read Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen. It is the newest in the Royal Spyness series. It was good. I would appreciate if the swearing disappeared. I don't think she needs to make every police officer swear, when  one appears in a story.

Brian bought me a rose. :) Just because. ♥

I am feeling a little frustrated. I finally get better with my leg, from the cancer surgery, and I can walk on the treadmill again. Then, after 3 days of walking, my hip pain on the left returns. And I walk slow! And only 10 minutes at a time to avoid the pain. And only 20 minutes a day total. sigh. I cannot exercise in other ways without pain, so I just want to walk. Man! Pain is the pits!!

I plan to have a restful Lord's Day today. Off to worship soon. I hope you have a beautiful day my friends! Thank you for stopping by to say hi! Don't forget, I have started a new giveaway. Take a look here.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Gnome Home

Hi friends! You may recall last month on the way home from our vacation I bought some stitching stash at Crosse Stitchery. One of the patterns was a sweet, little Bent Creek Snapper "Dinner's Ready". I just think it is so cute. I stitched that up a few weeks ago. While I was stitching it, I came up with a fun finishing idea. It is finally completed.

I love it! =) I figured there must be a tutorial to make a mushroom somewhere on the web, and sure enough there was. The tutorial on making a mushroom house is right here. You can see I used a lot of the directions, but also did my own thing. I had to enlarge the pattern by A LOT.

This was stitched on 32 ct lambswool two over two with DMC, except the bunny's tail. That is Wisper floss. His tail was supposed to be the small snap (Snapper pattern), but I just thought he would be so much more precious with a fluffy tail. :) Well, and I made him a french knot nose instead of stitching him up a nose as charted. Can I just say, my bunny is cuter? ;)

It is such a good feeling when you really like a pattern and then you finish it off into something you really enjoy as well, isn't it?! I am happy in case you could not tell. ;)

I would like to offer this pattern to anyone who wants it. You just need to be a follower of mine and leave me a comment here, telling me you would like it. I will draw a winner  on Friday, September 5th. We still need a winner on the 31st for the pattern I am giving away here.

The weather is nice today. I will see what weeds I can attack for a bit in the garden. My knee is already bothering me a bit. I squatted to get these pictures this morning. Duh! Not a good idea.

All three kids are in school. Miss Madeleine has been in high school for one week now. The boys started college on Monday. So far so good. Concordia University Mequon is a very good fit for Emerson. It is a smaller Lutheran college. He is doing well there. :)

Oh yes! Yesterday Madeleine passed her driver's test! Yay! Good for her. Such a relief to have that over with.

I plan on having a great day my friends! I hope you have a fantastic day doing whatever you are up to!

Stitching and reading and praying,
Vickie

Mandolin Santa

Hi friends! How are you? I am doing well. I finally finished up the Mill Hill kit I have been working on. Boy, those can take a long time. Quite a bit of work goes into one ornament, but it was worth it. :) I completed 'Mandolin Santa' today. I am giving this to my youngest brother, Jonathan, for this birthday. My mom is having us all over on Sunday to celebrate the birthdays of Brian, and  two of my brothers, Michael and Jonathan.

 Jonathan plays mandolin. I am thinking/hoping he likes this. Pretty sure he will.

This was my first Mill Hill kit ornament.  I love that everything is included. I am not really a bead person, but the rest of the family thinks it looks great. I appreciate the look, just prefer plain ol' stitchin' I guess. ;)

I have been able to get out into the garden a bit. With hat and sunblock, yes. But still only for maybe 20 minutes. My hip pain has been very low since the cortisone shots, but I cannot bend my knee fully. The incision for the cancer surgery was right above my left knee. It is about an inch and a half long. Bending my knee causes some pain. I certainly cannot kneel on it yet. The skin has some stretching to do over the next few months. So bending over from the waist , with slightly bent knees to weed the garden causes back pain! sigh. So, yes, I have weeds in the garden. Hey, life is short. There are worse things.

I am celebrating the good riddance to my melanoma and my 300+ followers, in case you did not know. Take a look here to see if you want to enter my giveaway. =)

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend whatever you are up to. I plan to!

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The "I Am Officially Cancer Free/ 300 Followers Giveaway"

Hi friends! How ya doing? I am doing swell. I never experienced the extreme pain flare up after these cortisone shots in my hip bursa. The pain is much lower now every day also. Yay! I also went back for a recheck with the surgeon today. The pathology report shows he got all the cancer. Yay! I am cancer free! Yay for me!! =)

I recently decided to go through some of my chart stash. I had won this wonderful chart over a year ago from Nicola. It is large at 247x247. I am thinking I will never get to it. It is too pretty to just sit around in someone's stash pile.

This is the chart for Keep Me Sampler by Moira Blackburn. Would you like to stitch it? Well if you would like to own this chart, please leave me a comment telling me so. :) You need to be a follower of mine. I also would love to know how old you were when you started stitching.  I was 12 years old. ;) I will draw a name on the last day of this month, August 31st.

I appreciate YOU! Thank you for stopping by today. Thank you for your kind words, prayers, encouragement and friendship.♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Jesus ♥ Me

Hi friends! This is one heck of a week so far!! Yesterday I had the surgery to remove the possible remaining cancer and all the surrounding tissue from the melanoma. The surgeon told me he would go deep and and wide. I have to say that after the surgery was done I was quite relieved. He came to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said "Congratulations. You are cancer free." Whew. That feels very good. The nurse told me, after he had left that she truly believes just what he said. She said he took very wide margins and the pathology report will most likely show he got it all. Unfortunately we have to wait most likely a week for that pathology report, but I am not even thinking about it. I trust God.

Today I went to have the second round of cortisone shots in both my hip bursa. Yep. I may be crazy. This appointment was already scheduled before I even knew I had cancer, so I figured I was already in pain, let's just get this done. Not sure if that was the best decision, but what is done, is done. The cortisone shots I received two weeks ago helped reduce the pain. Now my hip and back pain has been high for the last 24 hours because I have to walk and rest and sleep in odd positions, due to limited knee movement. The melanoma was just barely above my left knee.

I stitched up Jesus Loves Me from My Big Toe Designs last month. This is a sweet freebie I wanted to stitch for a troubled young lady. She went to school with our Jacob from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, at our church grade school. I worked with her mother at my first job. Her mom died from cancer ( a long struggle) when this young lady was in the fourth grade. She has never been the same since. At all. She became pregnant this year, and is going to have a baby girl next  month.

I decided to made a flat fold. I stitched this on white 28ct linen, two over two. I used DMC 3687,340, 727, 799, and 341. I had the perfect match in pink, solid fabric to the 3687, so that is the fabric I used.

I had a recent Bent Creek finish (no pictures). I have what I hope is a fantastic finishing idea. I will work on that soon, but first I am making up Mandolin Santa by Mill Hill. It is a Christmas Ornament for my brother Jonathan. He plays the mandolin. I want to have it done for his birthday on the 21st. I think I can do it.

I see that I have 299 followers! That is super! :) When I reach 300 I am going to celebrate you all and my cancer removal with a giveaway. It is a large chart. Stay tuned. ;)

That is about it for now my friends. I am off to check out your wonderful, inspiring blogs before the crazy, bad pain from the  hip injections kicks in tonight. It lasts for about 3 days, if it goes like last time. Then the pain decreases. I hope it stays decreased. I do believe it will!

Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Thank you for your friendship.♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

Sweet 16

Hi friends! Miss Madeleine turned 16 on the 31st. :) Oh my! We gave her a record player. We went to a huge antique mall in downtown Milwaukee yesterday. She got some albums. The Eagles, David Bowie, Buddy Holly, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. We had family over for birthday cake on Saturday. This is the cake I made. Madeleine made the marzipan bees.

I have never had help with any of the 51 unique birthday cakes I have made over the years. It was real neat to have Madeleine help. :)

I forgot to post the winner of the Uncle Sam chart by Bent Creek on the 3rd. I have however already told the winner. Annette! It will be in the mail, on it's way to you shortly. :)

I had the full body exam by the dermatologist yesterday morning. I have no other melanomas. I do have 4 atypical nevi. Basically they are odd moles and need to be watched. Because I have many moles and have these odd 4, I am at high risk for another melanoma. In three days I go for the consult with the surgeon. In 6 days I get the tissue surrounding where the melanoma was cut out.

All three of the kids need exams now from the dermatologist. Madeleine had hers yesterday and is all clear. The boys will get in there soon. They will have to get exams every two years for the rest of their lives now.

We are going to the State Fair today. :) All five of us together. We are going with sunblock and hats. New way of thinking. New way of life.

I have not been doing any gardening, other than dead heading. Brian has been watering for me. I have thinking to do. It hurts my heart to cut back, but I have to. I will be making my chocolate garden much smaller. I am not sure I can just get rid of it all together. That is the garden that is too big for me to handle because of weeds. It causes me pain in my hip and I would be outside a lot in the sun. These are specialty plants I have toted from two prior homes to this home. They are all chocolate in color, name and some actually smell of chocolate too.

Oh yes! My hip pain has gone done. The cortisone took about a week to truly help me. It does seem to be helping me though. :) I go to get another two shots in my hips next Tuesday. The day after I get the surgery on my leg!

I have been stitching. I need to do finishing work on a few projects. I have been kinda preoccupied! No pictures of stitching for you today friends.

Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for your friendship. I cherish it. ♥

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

"I Have What?!"

Hi friends! This is the French Knot Henry. Way over a thousand french knots in there. A few thousand? I don't know at all. I had fun making it.

I looked at some vintage poodle embroidery and drew myself a Henry on this white linen blend. I used a combo of DMC and Anchor. Now I need to find the perfect golden or coppery frame to compliment this French Knot Mabel! They will hang together. :)

If you are still wondering about the first French Knot Henry, the flop, well don't!! I threw it out. Yep. Life is too short to hang onto things I will never need I decided. Let me tell you why I picked up this new attitude.

I started going to the dermatologist for acne a few months ago. Nothing major, but I am 45, and I do not want any pimples. I went just for a routine discussion/check up about the meds with the doctor. I decided right before leaving to show him a new mole on my left leg, above my knee. I have had it for less than half a year. It is odd in shape and color. He was very interested. He removed it.

I got a call from him Tuesday evening, at 8:41pm. I knew that wasn't going to be good. It is melanoma. That is the deadliest skin cancer. It was in the early stages.  The dermatologist feels he got all of it.

I now go in early Monday morning for a full body exam by my dermatologist. If you get one melanoma, the risks are high that you may have more.

I go in Friday, the 8th to the surgeon. They always go back and take a wide amount of surrounding tissue out. I will have an elliptical incision, 2 1/2" by 1". A large scar. However, large scar = life.

My dermatologist has told me at least three times how very fortunate I was to show him that mole at my appointment. Melanomas cannot be left in place. Before this mole, I really didn't give my spots and dots a lot of thought. Now I must think about them the rest of my life I am told. If he finds something on Monday, he will remove that also. I will get rechecked by him in 6 months. Then again in 6 months. Then once a year, every year as long as I am clear. Otherwise, ever six months.

Would you take one moment and check out these melanoma warning signs and images from the Skin Cancer Foundation? Please? I care about you!

Melanoma may be hereditary for me. Or it is from the sun. I have never used a tanning booth in my life. I have to stay out of the sun. My doctor said I have to wear sunscreen every day. Even if it is not sunny. A car drive on the way to work is enough sun exposure to cause melanomas in me he said.

My hip pain is lower. The right side is almost perfect. The left starts fairly low every day, but by evening is not good.

I know you weren't expecting such depressing news here today, but I wasn't expecting this either. I care about you my friends. I truly do. I want to share my life with you, just as you share your lives with me. :)

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

I just finished a small My Big Toe freebie. I need to do the finishing on it. I started a Bent Creek pattern last night.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie

The little therapy dog