Embroidery Finishes

Andrea Zuill has posted her free embroidery pattern for June. This one is a cute little Dutch girl. Love her clogs.

I recently embroidered two of Andrea's free patterns. Here's the gnome:

Gnome embroidery
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

I really like Andrea's gnome but I think mine is a little too boring. I should have made him more colorful. I didn't stitch the mushrooms in the pattern because I wanted to put the finished design into a hoop and there wasn't enough room for the mushrooms. And, why did I want to put my gnome into a hoop? So I could hang him on the wall.

Remember the Swatch Portraits on The Purl Bee where you put some gorgeous fabric in a wooden embroidery hoop and voila, instant wall art? Well, I never got around to doing that, as much as I wanted to, but I recently found three embroidery hoops while looking for something else and it dawned on me that I could put something I had embroidered in them instead of fabric, and hang them up.

I also did Andrea's unicorn (yes, that unicorn). I really liked how he turned out, especially the flowers. You can't really tell from this photo but he was embroidered on a piece of the pink pillowcase that I scorched when I was ironing a different pattern on it. And, I swear this was not intentional but notice his right front leg is wider than his left one. Just like my feet these days.


Unicorn embroidery
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

You can find the free gnome pattern here and the unicorn here. And, check out Andrea's artwork and embroidery patterns at her Etsy shop, Badbirds (her donkey pattern is on my To-Buy list).

I had the pattern for this puppy for a long time and finally got around to stitching him up. I went a little crazy with the French knots on his hat but I figured I needed the practice. He's embroidered on linen that came from some pants my mom no longer wanted and he's in the hoops that she got me when she taught me how to cross stitch thirty some years ago.


Party puppy embroidery
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

The Party Puppy pattern is here on Needlecrafter.

Embroidery SAL

The Embroidery group on Flickr is having a Mid-Year 2008 Stitch-A-Long. It runs from June through August.

I didn't finish any ornaments for April or May for two cross stitch SAL's I'm doing, and another one ends on May 31 and all I've done for that one so far is get the floss. I am so on the ball.

I Missed Thursday

Well, I missed doing a Thursday post. I was hoping to get it up before midnight but looks like I missed my deadline. Tonight, I was busy sorting through the stack of papers that has been piling up on my desk for the past month. I found a postcard addressed to me about a lawsuit someone filed against Lenscrafters. The card said (yes, it spoke) I could choose to opt out of the settlement and get a $75 voucher for the store or $30. I decided to take the money. It's been awhile since I bought anything on eBay and I am going through serious withdrawal.


I finally finished Part 3 of the chart for the Hungarian Sampler SAL. Part 4 was recently posted so I'm not too far behind. I'm stitching it in red and black because I read on the blog that those are the traditional colors.

Super Cute Refrigerator Magnets

Just like the title says: super cute refrigerator magnets [link via Craft].

Cross Stitch Chart Giveaway at Stitch Pink

You can win a Survivor Tree Ornament from M Designs over at Stitch Pink [via Patternnuts Place]. Enter by leaving some comments on this post (you have until June 7th). And, please mention the giveaway on your blog to help make people aware of Stitch Pink. Thanks!

(Hey, I am doing pretty good with A Post A Day In May. Yeah, now that's it's nearly over.)

Niki's Blog For Quilters

Niki of Niki's Ventures has started a new blog for a list of quilters. Go here to sign up and be listed on Just Us Quilters. I'm not a quilter but I know at some point, I will be going through that list and clicking the links because if there is one thing in my life that I don't have enough of, it is blogs to read.

And, be sure to check out Niki's Ventures if you haven't been there before. She posts all kinds of crafty goodness (lots of free patterns).

Redwork Quilt From Connecting Threads

Connecting Threads has a free pattern for a redwork quilt.

Patterns At My Craft Book

I just found a bunch of animal patterns on My Craft Book that could be used for embroidery and redwork. There are butterflies, ducks, kittens, lambs, bears, an elephant and a pig. I'm not sure where the patterns are from but that have that vintage look to them. And, there are also some flowers and border patterns on the site. And, a bunch of craft projects too (I'm still going through all of them).

Drawstring Bag Tutorial From Lil Birdie

There's a tutorial for a drawstring bag over at Lil Birdie Stitches and included is Birdie's cupcake design that you can transfer on to your bag. So cute!

Cats At Kissy-Cross

I had this link ready to go in a draft post but since Cat #3 has been posted, I figured I'd better get it posted now.

Kissy-Cross is doing a series of cats cross stitch charts. One chart will be posted every week. Make sure you save or print them because the previous one will be taken down once the new one goes up. Cat #3 is here. (I missed #1 and it's too late to access #2 now. Sorry!)

Make Some Flowers

I just found 31 Crafty Flowers in 31 Days at Pink Paper Peppermints (thanks to Mostly Knitting) and now I want to go make some flowers.

Monday the 26th

I haven't done a very good job with keeping up with A Post A Day In May so far but I am determined to post every day for the rest of the week.

Uh, I don't have much to post right now (hey, I've been up all night) (never mind that I slept all day Sunday) (I am trying to enjoy my final days of being a bum) so please enjoy these links to pink Pyrex (I'm drooling), blue Pyrex and softie patterns at Meet Me at Mikes.

Fake Liddle Kiddles

My sister and I played with Liddle Kiddles when we were kids. We also had some Kiddle knock-offs. These are the only two that are still around. They have to be close to 40 years old.



Liddle Kiddles knock-offs
Originally uploaded by PipStitch




Fake Liddle Kiddles
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

More fake Kiddles on Flickr:
liddle kiddle wannabes
mini doll suicides
march of the kiddle klones

Wacky Weather

Ok, y'all. Time to guess where I live based on today's weather. We've had thunderstorms, lightning, floods, snow, and a tornado. And, I am freezing my butt off. And, it's May.

This is completely insane.

Time For Some Links

I love that Cute Overload is being taken over by embroidery patterns. Now up is a Doxie for Baroosday. (If baroo makes no sense to you, read this.)

Some people find my blog by searching for free scottie dog cross stitch charts. I just found one by accident at About.com.

I've neglected to link to Linda's Count Down to Japan before now. She and her family will be taking a trip to Tokyo in August and after Linda returns home, there will be a giveaway. But you can't enter unless you've previously left some comments so go get started on that.

There are two springtime biscornu charts (one with bunnies and one with snails) at Les chroniques de Frimousse (English translation). You can find the instructions to make the flower pincushion shown in the post here (translation) or you can make it into a cover for your tape measure (translation).

Roger Ebert has a blog now. So does King Arthur Flour, Bakers' Banter. I like Bakers' Banter because when someone ask a question in the comments about the recipe, it gets answered.

Another blog I've been reading is Matt, Liz and Madeline [via Pop Culture Junk Mail]. Liz passed away the day after Madeline was born and Matt has been blogging about that. You can also read an article about them, Without Liz, but not alone.

Scattergories Tag

I saw this Scattergories tag on Random Stitches and thought it looked like fun. I found an extended version on some other blogs. Use the first letter of your name and find words that start with that letter. I'm not going to tag anyone so let me know if you do this one.


Your name: Patty

Four letter word: puck

Vehicle: Pinto

TV show: Psych

Movie: Platoon

City: Pacoima

Boy's name: Pablo

Girl's name: Petula

Occupation: pilot

Something you wear: pants

Celebrity: Patti Page

Food: potatoes

Drink: punch

Something found in the kitchen: plate

Something found in the bathroom: powder

Cartoon character: Porky Pig

Reason for being late: pregnant (I just crack myself up)

Something you shout: Play ball!

Animal: pony

Body part: pinky

Word to describe you: pumpwearer

I Made Cookies

A couple of nights ago, I saw a link to a recipe for Jam Dotted Shortbread Cookies on Heartfelt (in this post). I've made shortbread before but was in the mood to do something different so I decided to make them yesterday. The recipe was originally from Coconut & Lime and while reading that blog, I discovered a Blogiversary Contest. All the details are here. You have until June 5th to enter.

The recipe mixes up pretty quickly and the cookies turned out really good and buttery. I've lost track of how many I've eaten already. The jar of strawberry jam that I thought was in the cupboard was nowhere to be found so I used plum jelly instead. And, I left some plain too (I like them better with the jelly).

I have to read more of Coconut & Lime and check out the other recipes there. But first I need to go have one more cookie as a midnight 2 am snack.

Pocket Album

I have relatives who either don't have a computer or choose not to use one. Since I can't email pictures to these family members, sometimes I print stuff out and send it off in a letter, which is fine but I have found a better way to share my pictures: the Pocket Album [link via Craftini] It's pretty nifty. I'm off to make some more!

Wanna See My Dead Peony

My peonies are not dead as in "I killed them" but I should have taken some pictures a few days ago. I waited too long and now they're on their way out. Maybe if you squint a little, you can imagine how pretty they were last week.

Yiotas XStitch

You can find a variety of free cross stitch charts at Yiotas XStitch including a Victorian lady (I like her), flowers, a butterfly, some sea shells and Santa Claus. Go check them out!

I also found a several dog charts I would love to order from Yiota, like the Dandie Dinmont. (I don't think I ever saw a Dandie Dinmont dog in person, just on the dog shows on television. I love their big heads and short legs.) She really has some nice dog charts. (I HAVE got to go back to work soon. There is just too much good stuff out there to buy!)

Donkey News

DMC had a free cross stitch chart of a donkey on one of their websites and I was happy I printed it out when I found it because I couldn't find it again later on. But it's now on the Italian DMC site (or it always was and I was just too lame to figure out how to get to it).

If you click here, you will be taken to the log in page for the Italian version of the DMC Club. If you're a member, your log in and password should work. If you're not a member, go to the USA DMC site and sign up. Then go back here and log in. You should see the donkey chart. Click the picture for a pdf. (This probably seems like way to much trouble for some of you but I like donkeys so I didn't mind.)

I stitched up the donkey last year but didn't do anything with it until the other night.

Donkey cross stitch
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

My original plan was to make a needlecase but I couldn't get it the way I wanted it so I gave up. I did add some brown felt to the back so I can use it to a hold a needle or two. (If I had left on the button, the donkey would not be off-center now.) The chart calls for DMC's Color Variation floss but I just used some of my gray stash, and stitched it on 18ct Fiddler's Cloth.

I also wanted to mention Donkey Dreams: Call for Aprons. (I saw this linked on both tie one on and The Apronista Network.) Artist Katherine Dunn of Apifera Farm (blog: Apifera Farm) is collecting donated aprons to sell for Pino Pie Day on June 28th. (Pino is a cute little donkey.) Katherine is raising funds for her donkey therapy program. How can you resist a donkey wearing an apron and holding a pie?

Farmer Pig

Once again, I missed Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Confessions of an Apron Queen. But had I remembered in time, I would have shared this piggy bank that I found in an antique store back in the days when I was collecting pigs. I thought he was cute, like here's Farmer Pig and his adorable bunny sidekick.

Depending on how you have him tilted, Farmer Pig's eyes appear open . . .

. . . (wow, he looks a little insane, doesn't he?) or shut . . .

I'm not sure when I noticed what Farmer Pig was holding in his other hand. (It's an anthropomorphic pig so I can say hand. And yes, I had to look that word up.)

At first I thought, Oh my God, the pig shot the bunny and now he's going to eat him for supper! But the rabbit is obviously alive so maybe the farmer just caught him stealing carrots or something. He seems to have that expression. "Oh, look. Farmer Pig got me."

I don't know how old the piggy bank is. Even though there's a shotgun involved, this is still one of my favorite pigs.

The Fabulous Non dairy Diary

I have a little calendar page taped to my monitor and knew it came from a blog but I could not find the saved link. It's only taken me a month to realize I should look at the entire calendar and see if there was a link to the blog somewhere on it. On the first page was "del4yo" so I googled it and found the blog, Non dairy Diary. I am pretty sure it was originally linked on Meggiecat, which would have been my next place to search if I hadn't found it by now.

This is one of those blogs you can get lost in for quite awhile. There's all kinds of neat stuff to look at and to download and print.

I know the year is nearly half over already but here's the cute 2008 calendar. And, the 2007 calendar is adorable.

Now I have a new background for my desktop and a little red rabbit on my Google profile.

Blogging Meme

I found this meme last night on Not Quite June Cleaver.

Why did you start your blog?
I started my first blog because I wanted to link to sites I found funny or interesting or goofy. I started this one so I could post links to free cross stitch patterns.

How did you come up with your blog name?
My sister started calling me Pip like the little limey zombie on that Halloween episode of South Park. I have no idea why. When I was trying to come up with a needlework name for a blog on Diaryland, I thought of PipStitchery. I shortened it for Blogger. Oh, and I dislike it immensely.

Do your friends and family know about your blog and if so, what do they think of it?
Yes, they all do and no one ever comes here unless I send them a link to a specific post and say "read this." As a result, I am no longer reading any of their lame MySpace blogs. So there.

How do you write posts?
Usually, I find a link and feel the need to share it so I just start typing away.

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments?
No, I haven't. Everyone who comments on my blog has been soooo nice. I decided to moderate comments after I saw all the spam Eric got on his Katrina dog rescue blog. That was ridiculous. He'd write about how there were not enough volunteers to check out all the addresses of the places owners had reported leaving their pets behind and someone would leave spam about the dog vitamins they were selling. Ugh. So far, I've approved all the comments I've received.

Do you check your stats?
Of course! I like to see which countries people are from.

Do you care how many people read your blog?
I got over that a few years ago. I think if I were a writer, I would want more readers but I'm not so it really doesn't matter.

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?
Blogs about aporns, embroidery, crafty goodness, food and dogs . . . oh look, I typo'ed apron. That's because I love me some apron porn.

What do you like and dislike about blogging?
I really like the feedback (comments) I get. I like putting some of my text into italics because I'm a geek. I dislike that I can't swear as much I would like to. I don't even know why I censor myself when I blog but I do.

Another dislike: this is more about other people rather than my own blogging but some bloggers post really cool stuff, whether it's their writing or their projects, and I always feel bad when I see there are very few or no comments. Then, on another blog, there are 23 people all saying the same exact thing about one post: "that is so cute!" Makes me wanna scream. I encourage everyone to leave comments on blogs where there are none.

My Vintage Charm's Apron Giveaway

My Vintage Charm is having an apron giveaway for National Wear Your Apron Day so go enter and win a pretty apron!

Don't Forget What Today Is

Mother's Day After The Fact

In keeping with my blog tradition of not mentioning holidays, I forgot to post about Mother's Day. So, let's pretend it's still Sunday* and I am wishing all the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day, especially my mom.

*it will be once I change the date of this post!

Kerri's Chicken Scratch Bookmark

Kerri over at Kerri Made has written a tutorial on making a chicken scratch bookmark [link via Sew Mama Sew]. This is such a terrific idea!

Last month, I started doing some chicken scratch on a pillowcase and I enjoyed it but it's going to take me forever to finish so I've already put it aside.. (I'm not doing the entire pillowcase, just the border.) I'm sure I'll go back to it at some point but Kerri's bookmark is more my style. It won't take a year to do and I won't run out of white floss while stitching chicken scratch-ing it.

Be sure to also check out Kerri's pretty purple chicken scratch star and her crafty tool belt tutorial.

Kimba the White Lion

Time for another episode of Indulge the Old Person.




(I watched that cartoon as a kid and yes, Kimba does look like Speed Racer.)

Meet Sizzly Friddle

In April, Emily at The Floss Box started a monthly challenge. The first one was to make a postcard. I thought I could do that, even though I've made a few postcards in the past and was been disappointed by the end results. I'm not very creative. I can follow someone else's pattern but coming up with something on my own? It's not going to happen.

I remembered this Kewpie ATC and decided to cross stitch a design on a postcard. That way I could use a chart I already had or one I found online. I wanted to do a reminder that May 12th is National Wear Your Apron Day. I won't bore you with the details except to say that my final attempt, postcard #3, is over on the sidebar here.

I feel the need to explain it. The stripey paper is not crooked. I guess I didn't hold the camera straight when I snapped the picture. (Some day I will hook up my scanner.) The text was cross stitched on a piece of Aida and then I stitched it to the postcard. I used a Liddle Kiddle paper doll because she had an apron as part of her wardrobe. Her name is Sizzly Friddle, by the way. On the inside of the back cover of the paper doll book, she's grilling a hot dog. The postcard is kind of blah, and I wish I used a darker colored floss, but it works for now.

Oh yeah, for May, the theme for Emily's challenge is food.

Happy Thursday

I don't know why I didn't mention this yesterday since there isn't much time left to enter but there's a hankie giveaway at Miscellany of me. Go leave some comments right this second.

There's a free embroidery block of the month called Noah's Ark at Lynette Anderson Designs. A new block will be posted every month (there have been three so far) for the next year. I really like the dove pattern (thanks go to Deepa for this link). And, check out Lynette's quilt, punchneedle and stitchery patterns (there are links on the left sidebar of her blog). I really like the Springtime Needlecase.

Bravo, Mom

I saw the most amazing thing yesterday.

My mom and I were having lunch out and there was a little boy with his mother at the table across from us. I saw them get up and go the salad bar, which was behind where I was sitting so I'm not sure what happened but he ended up bursting into tears over something. His mom brought him back to their table and from what I could hear of their conversation, it sounded like he wasn't happy with whatever she had put on his plate. She told him they were going to go outside until he stopped crying. He kept crying so SHE ACTUALLY WALKED HIM OUT OF THE RESTAURANT.

She didn't ask him if he wanted "a time out when we get home" or tell him he couldn't watch "Bob the Builder" after his nap. She didn't give in and walk him over the dessert bar so he could get ice cream. She just told him they were leaving the restaurant and going outside until he was ready to stop the tears. And, then she followed through on that. How often do you see that happen??

I was shocked and appalled.

A few minutes later, they came back in and sat down at their table. The little boy was no longer crying and was once again his happy little self. He climbed into the booth and went back to eating his lunch. And, when they were all finished, he and his mom went to the dessert bar and to get an ice cream cone.

If I was able to, I would have paid for their lunch. Dang, I would have bought her a BMW if I could have. I was so impressed by how she handled the situation.

I hope she gets a super fantastic out of this world Mother's Day gift this weekend. She sure deserves it.

Hey La Hey La

Here's a new meme from Pop Culture Junk Mail: Who was Time Magazine's Man/Woman/Couple/Person/Object of the Year for the calendar year in which you were born? You can find out here.


Mine is Martin Luther King, Jr (1963).


Also, what was the #1 song the day you were born? For me, it's "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels. Look up your song here.

Another Pincushion

Found another cute pincushion to make over at Tara Sweet Tara. I mean, for YOU to make. I'm just the linker.

Looks like you use a plastic bottle cap and two kinds of material. The directions are in French so check the Google translation of the blog post too.

There's a tape measure version at Les chroniques de Frimousse (English translation). I love the cat fabric.

The Donkey and the Dog

I'm not sure I've linked to the latest embroidery patterns from TipNut. They're a set of six designs with kitchen proverbs and a girl and sometimes with a dog and/or cat. Really cute.

I know I linked to the French cross stitch blog Swappons some time ago but it looks like I missed the main page for all the old embroidery booklets. Start here and then either click each cover or the page numbers at the bottom. I got excited the other night when I came across the chart for "L'ane et le chien." It's No 104 on this page. Sometimes I search French blogs for donkeys so finding a cross stitch chart with both a donkey and a dog was a bonus. I started stitching it the other night. I also made another biscornu and guess what? It's lop-sided. So it's not uneven Aida. It's me. I'm going to leave it as is. That will be my thing: lop-sided biscornu. (biscornus? biscorni?)

A Post a Day in May

(First off: Susan and Brian, if you're looking for Missy, scroll down to the next post.)

Jenny at All Sorts is going to do a post a day in May and has invited everybody to join the challenge. I don't know if I will be able to keep that up but I love her cute button so I'm officially beginning now. Get the button here.

Edited to add: I started going through the other blogs that are participating and already found a new favorite, Two Crazy Crafters. Look at the adorable Poodle planter!

Caturday Embroidery

So I went to Cute Overload to make sure I spelled Caturday correctly -- it looked goofy to me -- and found a cat embroidery pattern.

There's some debate in the comments over copyright infringement. But this pattern was produced in the 1940's and came from Monarch (who?) so it should be ok to post it, right?

Alpha Stamps

I just got a newsletter from Alpha Stamps and wanted to link to the web site. They sell the neatest stuff for making ATC's or collage or whatever: rubber stamps, ribbon, felt, oilcloth, stickers, etc etc. (A couple of years ago, I got some scrapbook paper from them so I have been a customer and was very happy with my purchases.)


Happy Caturday!

What Would I Do Without Google

I found some interesting stuff a few nights ago while searching for some apron clip art.

KF Studio is a Japanese site with a page of cute stuff (notepaper, envelopes, business cards, even fax cover sheets and little bags for chopsticks) you can download (they're all pdf's) and print out (Google translation -- after clicking this link, click at the top where it has Paper Goods). [link via Zakka: The Art of the Handmade]

The last set of photos in this post on Et pourquoi pas moi? shows you how to make a cute fabric flower (Google translation).

Burda Style has also has instructions on making a fabric flower.

Edited to add: I just remembered I once made a flower out of felt like the one on Turkey Feathers. I had made a collar cover out of felt for my dog Maggie and I attached the flower to that. Because Maggie likes to play in dirt, the white flower soon turned gray and was recently removed from the coller cover and thrown away. I haven't made another one yet. I should probably use black felt next time.