Heart, Hounds & Hobbies

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  • My 2020 Stitching Plans

    I’m hoping that 2020 will be a calmer and less emotionally draining year than 2019. With that hope in mind, I am making my plans for what I’d like to stitch in the coming year. This year should, hopefully, be a nice balance between active WIPs and new starts. I also have plans for getting some completed projects fully finished as well as some backend organization of projects, floss, patterns, etc.

    2020 Stitching Plans

    Active WIPS

    Pumpkinville – 2019 Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery SAL, only 2 blocks to go!

    Nutcracker Parade – 2019 Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery SAL

    Year of Celebrations – 12 month series with four months left to stitch.

    Thai Elephant

    Spring Quilts

    Moonstruck – Mill Hill kit with only the beading left

    Bubba’s Memorial – a piece I designed to help process the grief of losing my beloved cat

    New Starts

    Teacup Banner – Small piece requested by Mom

    Mighty Oak Quartet – Mill Hill series

    Animal Almanac – 2020 Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery SAL

    Midnight Owl – Mill Hill kit; challenged by my husband to complete before October

    There will most likely be a sprinkling of small projects throughout the year as well, but I don’t plan those out.

    Happy Stitching!

  • God Our Banner

    First Sunday of the New Year, and we had a lovely teaching on the Book of Acts today. Our pastor this morning taught on the Doctrine of Ascension and it’s inherent promises for the church as inspirationally laid out by Luke in the first chapter of Acts. One of the talking points that resonated with me is the realization that we, today, continue the Book of Acts! Just as in the early days of the church, what we do and say reflects on whom we claim to follow, Jesus Christ. This reminded me of one of the attributes of God that we learned in Women’s Bible Study this past semester.

    Jehovah-Nissi: God Our Banner

    Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines Jehovah-Nissi as “…the title given by Moses to the altar which he erected on the hill on the top of which he stood with uplifted hands while Israel prevailed over their enemies the Amalekites (Ex 17:15).”

    Banners are everywhere in today’s world. People put up banners to announce a birthday, new baby, retirement, etc. Seasonal parades are filled with banners announcing what groups are marching past. Some people even wear sash banners for pageants and/or special events.

    Not too long ago, however, banners were used for a more specific and somewhat frightening purpose. Banners were carried ahead of marching armies to announce not only that an invasion was coming, but also, under whose name the army marched.

    When I march out into the world, whose name is on the banner I carry? Jesus Christ. What tells the rest of the world that I march out under the banner of Christ?

    Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

    Matthew 7:20

    My actions and words say more about whose child I am, than any banner I could carry. This is my challenge this year, to go through life purposefully, with the intention of announcing Jehovah-Nissi through my words and actions.

  • My Year In Stitches 2019

    To say that I am glad 2019 is over would be an understatement. It was one of the most difficult years we (hubby & I) have faced together since the first year we were married. Thankfully, I had my stitching as therapy and hubby has his model trains. Unfortunately, illnesses and other tragedies created obstacles to my stitching, so I did not get as much stitching done as I had planned. However, I did have a few small finishes and many enjoyable hours stabbing fabric repeatedly with my needle 😂 Here’s an overview of the pieces I worked on in 2019:

  • What I Read in 2019

     

    Somehow every year I just barely miss my reading challenge goal. How many books do you have to read in a year in order to keep your bibliophile card? Regardless, I am still an avid lover of books. This year I spent time in multiple genres, exploring time travel, futuristic fairytales, historical fiction, cozy mysteries, and rereading a few urban fantasy favorites. The highlight of the year was discovering The Others by Anne Bishop. This urban fantasy series captured my attention and love from the beginning, while also giving me an escape during some of 2019’s trials. In fact, I read the series three times this past year. Hopefully, I won’t need to escape that often in 2020, but I still think The Others might show up again at least once this coming year.

  • Heading Into Wonderland

    To bookend my yearly reading activities, I thought I would try to start and end 2020 reading a favorite and/or classic book. Thankfully, my very thoughtful husband gifted me a beautiful classic edition copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This is one of my all-time favorite stories, however it’s been a long time since I’ve actually read the books. It will be interesting to see what I remember and what might not quite match up with my recollections.

  • The Journey Begins

    Thanks for joining me!

    When today began I had no idea that I would be headed down this path. This morning was the final session of the women’s Bible study I attended this fall semester. Throughout the study, I was drawn each week deeper and deeper into the Word of God, while being expertly guided by the faithful women who designed and ran the study. Today, all the women from the Bible study joined in a time of praise & worship, sharing the good works the Lord had begun in all who participated. As I left the church and made my journey home, the Holy Spirit moved in me, sparking a desire to continue to share & praise the Lord. By the time I made it home I had the title of this blog and the conviction to follow the challenge. Only the Lord knows where this journey is headed, but I shall faithfully share all that is put on my heart and pray that the Lord do all according to his will.

    The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. — Ruth 2:12

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  • WIP Wednesday – Episode 46 – Back In The Saddle

    Happy WIP Wednesday! Today I have a brief stitching update to share because in the last week and a half I haven’t stitched much of anything! Saturday before last I actually ended up having my husband take me to Urgent Care because of a very severe flare-up of my chronic back pain. Now I use the term flare-up frequently when referring to days when I have more stiffness, soreness, muscle spasms, and nerve pain than usual. This time the flare-up was more than what was bearable.

    In any case, Urgent Care treated me excellently and gave me wonderful anti-inflammatories as well as a very short course of painkillers. While those medicines did help lower my pain level, they also lowered my consciousness level, as in I slept a lot. I did try periodically try to do some stitching, however, I was moving so slow and also making a lot of mistakes because of the brain fog.

    Also, I wasn’t able to read any of my books or work on blog posts so it was a very frustrating week and a half. Yet not all things last forever and Monday morning arrived with me feeling better than I had in a while. So Monday I was able to get some housework done that had gotten laid to the wayside and that left room for me to pick up my stitching on Monday night and I have been working on Into The Jungle since then. I don’t have too many progress pictures to show but I have finished the rest of the block borders and have started on the June block.

    My rotation for this month, just like last month, is going to be completely off. So I’m just gonna work on Into The Jungle until I feel like stopping and then move on to something else.

    Well, that’s my stitching this week, thanks for checking in & happy stitching!

  • Sunday’s Stitches & Stuff – Episode 36 – Millennium Frame & Aristo Stand Review

    Sunday’s Stitches & Stuff – Episode 36 – Millennium Frame & Aristo Stand Review

    Welcome back to another episode of Sunday’s Stitches & Stuff, a weekly chat about stitching and, well, other stuff. This week I thought I would finally share my review and opinion of the Millennium Frame & Aristo Stand, from Needle Needs. (more…)

  • WIP Wednesday – Episode 44

    Happy Wednesday and welcome to another weekly update on my cross stitching. I hope this finds you well and enjoying life. This week I have been working diligently on Fabulous Women in History. This was the 2017 SAL from Cloudsfactory, but due to stash and monetary restraints, I had to wait until this year to get started. (more…)

  • Sunday’s Stitches & Stuff – Episode 35 – Binge Worthy Shows For Stitching

    Welcome back to another episode of Sunday’s Stitches & Stuff, a weekly chat about stitching and, well, other stuff. As I’m sure you are aware, based on the predominant content on this blog, cross stitching is my number one past time and there are three things I enjoy doing while I am cross stitching.

    1. Enjoy the sounds of nature from my porch
    2. Listen to music or audiobooks
    3. Binge watch TV Shows.

    It is the last item that I thought I would talk about today. (more…)