Vickie from A Stitcher's Story

A special Blogger of the Week for all Poodle fans!  I am sure that her followers will be able to guess who it is from the colour of this font too.  We have been followers of each other's blogs for many years and she is a keen participant in my various blog hops too.  This week I'd like you to welcome Vickie (also Mabel, Henry and Murphy) from

A Stitcher's Story

1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

Hi, I am Vickie, a stitcher from Wisconsin, USA. I will be married 25 years this year and we have three adult children. We have two toy poodles, Mabel and Henry, and a miniature poodle named Murphy.

2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

 I began stitching at the age of 12. My mom gave me an aida kit with a cat that has it's head stuck in a fish bowl, stating "Some things in life are harder to get into than out of." My mom still has this framed piece.

3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

I have been blogging for 5 years now. I was inspired to start mainly by Carol of Stitching Dreams.

4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

I am pretty much a OOAAT who is mostly organized. 

5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

I really like Hands On Design and I adore A Mon Ami Pierre.

6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

I am most proud of Theotokos. I stitched this in 2014 with wools. This is the first project I beaded.

7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

Since I cannot think of one, I must not have one?

8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?

I plan to do punch needle. I even have two books and all the supplies. I have just not made the time to do it.

9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

Sigh. Yes. I now have a small pile of about 5 finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces. I used to be very good about always finishing after stitching each time. Used to.....  If I am stitching a tiny piece, which I usually am, I love to just finish the piece into a flat pinkeep type finish and pop it into my cubby shelf.

You can see Vickie's cubby for May on this blog post - May Cubby

10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

I have quite a few pieces stitched up with poodles on them. I think anything with a poodle on it represents me quite well. And if it is pink AND had poodles, well Hip Hip Hooray!

11. Tell us a secret about yourself. Or a joke. About anything!

I am not so sure it is a secret, but I have not shared this with anyone on the blog. I have been trying to learn conversational Russian. I stress the word trying!!! I took four years of German in high school and that was much easier. And that wasn't easy! First of all, I was younger and secondly I think Russian is just plain hard to pick up. I am not even attempting to write it or read it. Brian and I belong to a Russian Orthodox church for several years now. We English speaking only Americans are definitely in the minority in our church. Almost all of our friends speak English, yes. I still think it is very nice to know how to say Good Morning, thank you, please, Good bye, Hi, and such in Russian. Especially to my Babushka friends. 

Thank you Vickie, I followed your example and will finish this post with a vintage image from this website - Free Vintage Art