Some Links I Should Have Posted Awhile Ago

I guess I was saving these up for a rainy day.  Or something.

I love this felt dahlia brooch from Not Martha.  Not Martha was one of the first craft blogs I ever read.  I always wanted to make these marble magnets (from 2006).  Sad to say, they are still on my to-do list.

Another felt pin I really like is this felt poinsettia pin from Lil Fish Studios.

Every house I've lived in California except this one has had at least one bougainvillea so I was excited to see this tutorial for a felt bougainvillea garland from Art Threads.  I totally need to make that.

And, a few more before I go.

Tipnut's pincushion pattern list #1 and #2 (I need to go through these)

Grandfather mushroom embroidery pattern from Little Dear Tracks (I somehow missed this one last June)

Potholder eyeglass case from Zakka Life 

Vintage hankie pillow covers at Elsie Marley

My First Finish Of 2011

As I was typing the title of this post, I wondered if I had actually finished anything this year, other than what I was about to write about.  I know I've started a few things and still have a zillion other things already in progress, but really, do I have any other finishes for 2011?  I don't think so.

 I did all the cross stitch on this little reindeer last year.  He was then turned into an ornament (shocker!) but I was running low on poly-fill (or whatever it is that I usually use) and he wasn't fat enough for me.  So I unstuffed him and re-stuffed him some time earlier this year.  And I am just now posting about it. 

I most likely stitched him on 18 ct white or off-white Aida. I filled in all the background to cover up the white or off-white Aida. You can find the free chart for the little reindeer here.

Wordless Wednesd...Oh Never Mind

I just can't do wordless.  If I could, I would just post this picture and go back to reading blogs but I just cannot shut up about anything I put here. 

Sometimes I sit on my unmade bed and show Lucy how to blanket stitch two felt circles together but she never pays attention.  She is way more interested in looking out the window.



That's actually part of that strawberry penny rug (from Creative Breathing) I'm working on.  I'm still embroidering the separate pieces and not ready to sew it all together yet.  Hopefully, I'll get it finished before strawberry season ends.  In 2012.

Speaking of the Creative Breathing blog, Elizabeth has posted two cute Good Morning/Good Evening bird embroidery patterns over there. 

So many patterns, so little time.

I AM GOING TO START BLOGGING AGAIN EVEN IF IT KILLS ME

Lately, as I come across cute stuff to make, I write myself a note as a reminder to later link to it on my blog , which is really lame.  How's about I just put it on my blog then and there?  So that is my plan:  to blog.  (I tell myself this every other week and never do it so we'll see it goes.)

Let's try out this feature from Cut Out + Keep where you can embed a project on your site.

See Cute Deer Button Brooch and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Neat-o!  That deer is so cute and I love anything with a blanket stitch.

I started this strawberry penny rug before Easter and so far all I've done is stitch some seeds on a few of the strawberries.  And, if you like that little rug, you should check out the rest of Elizabeth's Creative Breathing blog.  She has tutorials for some of the cutest things.

I've always wanted to make a carrot cake (it was listed on the cooking bucket list I have in my head) and finally got around to it a little while ago.  I used Ina Garten's recipe and oh boy, was it good.  Really, really good.  Consider rounding up the kids to grate the carrots for you because that is a real pain.  Ina suggested using a box grater and not the food processor so that's what I did.  And cursed her the entire time.  Also, really good is her tomato feta pasta salad. 

Off to see what else I have written in those notes to myself.

June TUSAL Update

This is my TUSAL jar as of this afternoon.  I've been working on a cross stitch so I finally had some thread to add to my jar, plus I found some leftover floss on a few homemade cardboard thread holders that I no longer needed so I threw that in there too.

I really thought I was finished with the Little Blue Bungalow cross stitch but I was looking at some pictures of it and noticed I didn't stitch the centers of the flowers so it's still a WIP for now.

The chart is a freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs and you can find it on the Weeks Dye Works Free Designer Charts page.  (It's the very last one on the page.)  Since I only have a brown and black WDW floss, I picked out my own DMC colors, which is always a big deal for me.   I'm not sure if I'm happy with what I chose.  I could blame it on the bad lighting in the photo but it is hard to see some of the colors on that fabric (Fiddlers 18 ct) in person too so I may re-do the parts I don't like.

Update:  I just looked at the finish of the original version and decided I hate mine.  Ok, I don't hate it but I am not happy with the floss colors I used.  Some of those blues are too light and you can barely see the white and pink flowers.  I may just start this one over from scratch and use some different colors..