The TUSAL 2013

Sharon over at It's Daffycat is once again hosting the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long aka TUSAL.  I didn't participate much last year so I really want to do it in 2013.

What is the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long?  It's not an actual stitch-a-long where everybody cross stitches or embroiders something.  With this one, you just save all your orts or thread ends in some kind of container (like a glass jar) and share a photo of it every time there's a new moon.  That's usually once a month but there's always at least one month that has has two new moons so you would have to post two photos that month.

Why do this?  Well, why not?  And, if you have to ask, you probably need more fun in your life.  You can read all about the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long aka the TUSAL here.

Thew new moon this month was on the 11th so here is the state of my current orts jar.  

It's practically empty because I've only stitched one thing in 2013.  Just a little blanket stitching on my Scottie pillow.  [insert photo of Scottie pillow here...yeah., I forgot to take one today]  But I plan to cross stitch, embroider and hand sew a BAZILLION things this year so my jar will fill up fast.  (Everyone should have a dream.)  

This was what my jar looked like at the end of 2012.  

At the end of the year, I dump all the threads ends into a larger jar and start with an empty one for the new year.

And, in case you're wondering, yes, most of my pictures are taken on my bed.

Come join us for the TUSAL 2013.  You know you want to.

Something I Made In 2011

Happy 2013!!  Time for my daily weekly monthly whenever-I-get-the-urge-to-write-something post.  I haven't made anything in quite awhile -- not even for the holidays -- nor did I finish anything over on that 2012 WIPocalyspse List over on the left.  (The idea behind the WIPocalypse was to complete your unfinished projects before the world ended on 12/21/12.  Good thing the world did not end because I have a bunch of crap to finish some day!)  This was not my year for crafting!  So here's a post about something I made back in December 2011.

Back then, I decided to make felt Christmas stockings for both of my dogs.  I gave myself plenty of time to do it.  And then waited until the very last minute to get started.  I did not finish Lucy's stocking until Christmas morning at 2 am.  I was too sleep deprived to notice I had put the loop on the wrong side of it until my sister pointed it out.  Lucy didn't care but I did so it has since been fixed.

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This picture bugs me because the letters are done in dark green and you can't really tell. At least I can't.  (Maybe it's just my bad eyes.)  I think I used a stocking pattern from Martha Stewart's website but you can find tons of free ones out there if you just Google it.  You do know how to Google, don't you?  (I'll save my rant for another post but I'm convinced the majority of people on Facebook wouldn't know Google if they fell over it.  I do believe bloggers are way smarter though.)

Here's a close up of Pumpkin's likeness, which I love because it so cute, just like Punkie herself.  (Pumpkin = Punkie = Bunka Bunka.  Don't ask.  That's just how it is.)  I think the pattern was an embroidery freebie from Annie Oakleaves and I have been searching online for it so I could link to it but no luck finding it so far.  And, the hard copy that I used has gone missing.  Unless I stuck it somewhere so I could find it easily when I was ready to blog about it.  Ahem.

And, here's a close up of Lucy.  The pattern came from a site with free coloring pages (beware, there are lots of pop ups on that site so I hope you have a blocker) and I thought it was perfect because Lucy HATES having a doggy sweater on her, but she does kind of prance like that.   The coloring page is here.

So there you have my final project of 2011.  Woo hoo!

 

Going back to that list on the left, I have been working on the Scottie pillow.  I've started attaching the top piece to the bottom piece so it should be done soon. There's a lot blanket stitching so I do a little and then get bored.  Hey, maybe I could use one of those nifty sewing machines instead!

 

Happy New Year!!  (she said on January 12th)