Feeling Stitchy Wants You

Feeling Stitchy is looking for bloggers to do a weekly post about crafty stuff.

Please check this post for all the details.

Toto From The Wizard Of Oz

Thanks to For The Love Of Dog Blog, I just read this very interesting post at Hollywoodland about Toto from The Wizard of Oz and her trainer, Carl Spitz.  Toto was originally called Terry and made a bunch of movies that I now want to watch so I can look for her. And, did you know she was paid more money than the Munchkins were?

Toto had been buried at Carl Spitz's dog training school but her grave was destroyed when the Ventura Freeway was built through the San Fernando Valley.  A memorial marker for the pup was recently unveiled at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and you can read all about that here.

By the way, this was my first visit to Hollywoodland and I think I need to spend some time there.  Lots of interesting stuff about old Hollywood (and new) on that blog.

Time For A Few Links, Miri Finally Included!

Time for a few free cross stitch and embroidery links.

I think this cross stitched heart is so pretty. It calls for Anchor floss so you would have to figure out which DMC colors to use instead, but there aren't that many so that shouldn't be too difficult. For me, I mean. I'm sure some of you have no problems choosing your own colors. :)

I found that link on a blog called le blog friendstitch. Go visit when you have some time for lots of links to cross stitch and embroidery freebies plus sewing tutorials.

Have you been to the Liberty Primitives Needlework blog yet? Lots of really nice x-stitch free charts there.

Check out the Saints 'N Stitches post at Waltzing Matilda for patterns to make embroidered Catholic saints dolls. Right now, the patterns are on Scribd and set to Private so you can't print them but Charlotte of Waltzing Matilda is working on fixing that. I have a thing for patron saints and would love to stitch up a few of these, especially St. Clare since she's the patron saint of needle workers and embroiderers. And television.

There's a copy of a 13 page embroidery design catalog over at Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions Blog.

Over at No Pattern Required are vintage embroidery patterns for a lamb. a bunny and an owl, two Scottie dogs, another bunny and another lamb and a kitten softie. I love that blog. So much vintage goodness.

My friend Debra sent me a link to the freebie page at The Noble Wife. There are patterns for a quilt, an apron. a tote bag and cute embroidery designs.

I've been meaning to link to the Sleeping Bunnies embroidery pattern for awhile (or maybe I did) and now I see that there a bunch of other cute free patterns on the Sew Charitable blog. Go see! They're all listed in the right sidebar.

Back in September of last year, (Yes! September!), Miri of Milk And Honey Quilts shared her Bonnet Girl With Umbrella pattern and I have been meaning to link to it ever since. (I always have great intentions. Just not the best follow through.) She had traced the pattern from a vintage quilt that she found on eBay and then used it to make blocks for her own quilt. How cool is that? And, in December, Miri finished her yo-yo quilt, which, I swear, I would go steal if I knew exactly where she lived.

That's all for now. Have a great Thursday!

Egads! 1200 Emails!

Right now, I have 1200 emails in my mailbox. This is what happens when you completely abandon reading your email and spend hours on Facebook instead. At least 800 of them are new and have not been opened yet. I would love to just delete them all and start from scratch but I can never do that. So my goal for this weekend is to open, answer and clear out as many as I can.

Before I go on a deleting spree though, I want to blog since it's been awhile, so here are a bunch of links from some draft posts that I never finished. Did I mention I've been spending hours on Facebook?

There's a French blog called Broderie d'Antan, which is loaded with a bunch of old embroidery patterns (monograms, alphabets, flowers). You can probably figure out the categories listed on the right by looking at the illustrations, but if you want an English translation, use the Yahoo Babelfish widget in the left sidebar. By the way, the blogger writes that Canalblog will sometimes automatically reduce image size so you should enlarge the patterns on a copy machine. [Link via Needlework News.]

Denise at Needlework News also linked to the Alice in Wonderland embroidery patterns from Anne over at Green Jello and some pretty flower patterns from Willowberry Designs. Don't forget there's a free BOM called Under the Sea going on at Willowberry Designs too.

Speaking of things called Under the Sea, I forget how I found them now, but Tigerpup Embroidery has some cute embroidery patterns for sale, including one called Under the Sea with a cute squid. Now, there's something you don't hear everyday: a cute squid. You can also find some freebies (including a kitty) at Tigerpup Embroidery.

Stitchy Britches is sharing an owl pattern originally from the late 1960's for crewel work. It's nice to see her blogging again over there.

And, here's one I discovered a little while ago on a new-to-me blog (which is what prompted me to post something today): a vintage embroidery transfer of some children and toys at Just-a-mere. And a second one with animals that might have something to do with nursery rhymes. Or not. (Drunk clown alert!) And, if you have some time, check out Jan's blog. She quilts, embroiders and buys vintage fabric. I love her already.

Ok, I am tired of linking so this is it for now. Why can't Blogger give us the option of allowing all links to open in a new window so I don't have to add the code in every time. It's such a pain.

Happy Monday...er, Sunday

I totally forgot to post this entry last week. I also wanted to mention that I am finally going to start working on my three Pay It Forwards that I signed up for back in (I think) March, and make a few other things for friends. I am not making anything else for myself until I finish all these either projects. Except for this koala biscornu. [Link via Needlework News.]

Sew Mama Sew is having their annual Handmade Holidays theme this month and will be posting brand new tutorials on their blog everyday. Plus they're giving away fabulous prizes, and there are recipes and printables to check out. And, if you don't want to make anything, they'll suggest handmade products you can buy too.



If you'd like to get the code for the button, you can find it on this post.

Happy Wednesday

Hey, did you guys know Sew, Mama, Sew was doing a month of hand sewing on their blog? Monday's post is from Margie of Resurrection Fern and she's doing a tutorial on a nature- inspired easy embroidery sampler. I love the pattern she is sharing and I'm eady to go stitch it up now. And, she mentions a new-to-me way of transferring designs to your fabric which I have to try out.

Be sure to check out the previous posts on Sew, Mama, Sew to see more photos and tutorials on embroidery, working with felt, hand piecing, chicken scratch and cross stitch. (All my favorites! Woo hoo!)

Handmade Help For Bush Fire Victims

There's a new button in the right sidebar that will take you to the Handmade Help blog. They have listings there for eBay auctions, Etsy sellers and others who will be donating portions of their profits to the Red Cross and Wildlife Victoria to help victims of the bush fires in Australia. If you're a seller who would like to get involved, please read this post for more information.

Anyone is welcome to add the Handmade Help button to their site or blog to help spread the word.

Way Too Many Blogs

I read way too many blogs.

I'm going through what I consider my favorites now and catching up on posts about the election, and in some cases, Halloween.

I was recently given two blog awards and have put off posting about them because I know I have to decide who to pass them on to, and where that was once a fun thing to do, now I see it as a chore because I'm overwhelmed by choices.

I skip participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday and Blue Monday because I feel obligated to check out everybody else's blog and I know I won't always have the time.

I will leave comments on a blog and the blogger will email me a response and I will let it sit there for a month (or five) because I am too busy reading blogs to answer my email.

I miss giveaways because by the time I read about them, it's too late to enter.

This is insane.

And, ridiculous.

And, sad to say, it isn't as fun as it used to be.



P.S. People who only blog once or twice a week rule.

An Award For Something I Don't Have Yet

Suzanne over at Colorado Lady recently gave me the Fabulous Fall Decor Award (thank you! thank you! thank you!) and when I read her post about it, it dawned on me how my blog was seriously lacking in anything to do with Autumn or Halloween. So, for one thing, I made a new header. I hope to add a few more seasonal pictures this week.


The rules for this award say I get to pass it on to six other bloggers. I know I have seen some great Fall decor on lots of blogs lately. Now, if I could just remember six of them.

Ok, here are my six:

1. Diane at Little Birdie's Nest -- I love glass pumpkins and I love thrift stores

2. Llyn M -- Llyn has some cute pumpkin-head creatures and other decorations in her yard

3. Green Jello -- the blog header is enough for me but check out October 18th's post for the Halloween party

4. Two Crazy Crafters -- Twyla and Lindsey do Halloween up in a big way on their blog (even Barbie gets invited)

5. The Floss Box -- Emily has created an amazing Halloween stitchery. I totally hate her now. No, really, I love her and her work. She is soooo talented!

6. Jenna at CorgiPants has decorated her entry hallway with some fun things, including a fantabulous banner and another one she made for her office.

Edited to add: I changed my header again. This is the one I was talking about in this post.

A Birthday Giveaway From Jane

It's giveaway time over at Jane's Fabric and Quilts. Jane is celebrating her upcoming birthday by giving away some pretty fabric and three patterns so check out this post for details on entering.

By the way, I discovered Jane's blog through Vintage Thingies Thursday (check out the quilts Jane posted) so go click the links to the participating bloggers when you have some a few hours to kill. And, then just like me, you too can have 27 new blogs to read.

Oh and look at Jane's cute bull dog puppy, Sophie. Awww!

There Really Is A Corgi Pants

You how I recently said I couldn't pass up clicking a link to a blog named CorgiPants? For one thing, I love Corgis with their short legs and pointy ears, plus that name always makes me think of a Corgi wearing pants and just imagining that cracks me up. Well, the other day, my goofy dog, Maggie, had been sunning herself on the patio in the backyard for at least ten minutes. After she came back into the house, she was panting like crazy, and while watching her, I suddenly thought what if the pants in CorgiPants stands for a Corgi who pants and not a Corgi who wears pants? How disappointing would that be?

(I can't be the only one who has blogs on my mind even when I'm away from my computer, can I?)

Earlier today, I discovered something that personifies embodies the blog's name. Look at this! I love it!

(Can a dog personify something? I don't think so, which is why I changed it.)

Only About A Month Late

Once upon a time I discovered I was given a blog award by checking my sitemeter (it had a link back to the blogger who gave it to me). I was pretty excited about it so you know what I did? I forgot all about it. Seriously. I didn't even leave some comments to say thank you. I still feel guilty about that. I also decided if I ever received another award, I would post it about that very day. So, let's pretend it's June 29th, shall we?

Kellie has given me the Arte y Pico Award.

The "Arte y Pico" award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents, no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award it is considered a "special honor" and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to at least 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria.



Pretty cool, huh? Thank you so much, Kellie!!!! And, I apologize for not mentioning this award earlier and waiting until you were out of town to do it.

I'm passing on the Pico de gallo award* . . . I mean the Arte y Pico Award to these five extremely talented bloggers:

Emily at The Floss Box -- Emily has done some amazing stitching projects, she creates and shares free patterns, she posts beautiful photos of Sweden, and she is always trying new things, which is very inspiring to me. I was really happy to see her entry was chosen as a finalist in the Feeling Stitchy banner contest. I hope she wins!

Maria at Lil Birdie Stitches -- Lil Birdie is so creative. I believe I found her blog through her super cute Felt Heart Valentine project. She's the kind of person who uses a pattern to make something and then makes something else with it or puts her own spin on it. Check out what Maria did with an empty Cool Whip container. Pretty neat.

Barb at Woof Nanny -- Barb's blog is always full of interesting, fun and creative stuff (OMG, Flicks!) and you really should be reading it regularly. She shares old family photos, cool videos, dog pictures, and recipes, in addition to craft projects. She also blogs at The Purse Project (a purse challenge that we should all join) and Artful Ties (a blog about making art from men's neckties). And, none of that low fat yogurt crap for her. Yeah!

Michelle at My Boring Life -- Pay no attention to the name. Michelle is far from boring. She spins! She makes pink lemonade! She paints pottery! (So does her husband. And no, I don't know if he has a brother.) And, she knits and crochets some fantastic things. Awww, look at the sweater she made for Nimitz. Bonus points for all the sweet pet pictures and for adopting a dog from a rescue.

Jenny at Jenny S Stitcher & Scribbler -- Jenny makes some of the cutest felt creations ever. Her podlings, tea bags and cakes are just adorable. The cuteness of the baby cakes will make your head explode. And, Jenny can also draw too. She turns her "scribbles" into amazing dolls and totebags. She even made nuns cute! Now if we could just get her to make her Ollie scribble into an embroidery pattern.

*I'm not the only one!

Update Time

#1 -- There was nothing good to be had at last weekend's parish (what the sign said) rummage sale, although I would have totally scored if I liked to knit with glow-in-the-dark orange and green yarn. Afterwards, my mom and I had a nice lunch at yet another Mexican restaurant here in town. Here's a review of it by someone else, complete with pictures. (Note to self: the next time you bring your camera with you while out & about, be sure to take it out of your purse and use it.)

#2 -- Did I have more than one update?

#3 -- Oh yeah, I did. Jazz, the Katrina Cocker Spaniel I mentioned the other day, was finally returned to her owner. An anonymous commenter left a link to this story and video. (Thank you!) The owner, Shalanda Augillard, was arrested (and later released) during the hand-off because of an outstanding failure to appear warrant for allegedly assaulting the woman who adopted Jazz. The police have known of Shalanda's whereabouts all along and could have picked her up at any time but they had to do it on that particular day? Like that wasn't orchestrated by the adopters' attorney. [eyeroll]

#4 -- In personal news: I don't know if anyone noticed but I edited my Blogger profile so that it no longer has that I am suffering from a degenerative foot condition. Why? Because it was misdiagnosed. Oops. Actually, I'm pretty happy about the mistake since I spent two months waiting for a referral to a foot surgeon, convinced I was going to end up unable to walk and in a wheel chair. At some point, I did fracture four bones in my foot, (probably when I fell and broke my knee last year, and not due to Charcot Foot as first thought by my doctor), and the bones were dislocated and have since healed that way, which explains my now deformed extremity. Between the gigantic bunion below my big toe and all the swelling (leftover from knee surgery), (and, yes, I curse that doctor on a daily basis), I cannot get a regular shoe to fit my right foot so now I have to have a pair custom made. Hey, maybe that means they won't be as ugly as some of those other orthopedic shoes out there. I wonder if they could whip me up a pair of Mary Janes. In red.

Ok, enough updating for now.

TipNut has another list of links to free apron patterns and tutorials!

You have got to go see the cool pincushions that won Excellence in Needle Arts Awards from Piecework Magazine. There's a link to the pdf with photos of winners for 2008 on that page, and also links to previous year's winners.

Check out all of the entries in the Feeling Stitchy banner contest. I think they should use them all and change them out every week.

Your probably already know but Pimp Stitch is now open and selling patterns. I love them all but my favorite is Made in the 80's because I have a thing about mix tapes.

There are several new free cross stitch charts at Brooke's Books. Go to the freebie page and scroll down to the photos of Butterfly Wings and Land That I love. Brooke has also released the M is for Measure block for her Stitcher's Alphabet. Clicking the pictures will take you to the charts. To keep up with her new releases, check out Brooke's blog, and for access to exclusive freebies, join the Brooke's Books Interactive Yahoo group.

Over at Stitch Pink is an x-stitch chart for a breast cancer awareness biscornu called Be Aware. And, there are charts for two of Mary Engelbreit's Mini Flower Pots on her web site. And, more of her craft freebies here.

A Busload of Freebies

This past weekend, I wondered if I should start a blog just for links to free x-stitch charts and embroidery patterns. It sounded like a great idea for like half a second. Then I realized I was insane. I still have links to post here that I stumbled upon back in March. Of 2005. And, if I'm always behind with posting them even though I spend 99% of my time online, how in the world will I ever manage another blog in addition to this one, plus read all the blogs I (try to) keep up with every day? So, forget that crazy idea for now.

I've joined another network, Stitchin Fingers. This one is for anyone interested in textiles. I heard about it thanks to Gina at Patra's Place. It was started by SharonB of In A Minute Ago and there are over 600 members already. I still have to add some photos and join some groups -- I'll probaby join the one for redwork.


The summer theme for Tie One On is gingham. I am bound and determined to make an apron (FINALLY) for this one. I'm thinking of adding some chicken scratch to it too.

On to the freebies . . .

Deepa recently sent me a link to Tiny Garden, which has a bunch of free patterns (click the downloads tab at the top). I'm not sure if some of the patterns (the ones with the girls) are embroidery or crewel or what (I'd love to hear what you guys think). I can't get Google to translate the site so I'm going to link to the photos. You can then click the Downloads button on each photo page to get the pattern and instructions. Edited to add: Thanks to Meggiecat and Angela, we now know that Babel Fish will translate the Downloads page to English.

a freaking adorable chicken coin purse with a zipper
floral alphabet
walnut pincushion
cute little purse
coasters with little bag
flowers in a pitcher
small case for needles and scissors
girl with pink flowers
girl in pink dress with giant flowergirl in blue with yellow flowers
girl with red flowers
girl with yellow hat
girl with blue and purple flowers
girl in pink with purple flowers
girl in green


You'll find lots of cute charts at Mausimom's Freebies (English translation). Deepa sent that one too. Thanks, Deepa

Little Clover Garden is a Japanese site with some simple cross stitch charts that would be cute for pincushions and needlebooks (English translation). If you go to this post on Aurelle's blog, you can see what someone made with the Happy Stitches chart. It's really cute.

I think Aurelle's chicken is cute too.

La Fee Rie is the new site of Faby Reilly who blogs at Le blog de Faby. She has some really nice free biscornu charts.

Have you been to Aury's blog, Acerca del bordado yet? You have to see her Quaker style animals. The latest is a kangaroo. And there's a giraffe and a snail, and several others -- you can click on the "freebies" label to see them all plus Aury's other free charts.

Aury is participating in the Old Sampler SAL. You can find the chart here (Google translation). I really like the part with the bunnies and deer under the tree. In addition to the SAL, there are more free charts at Ricamo Le Tue Idee, including the Italian Sampler that I had previously seen but forgot to save the link. The chart is here. Clicking the British flag at the bottom of the page will you give you the English version.

Looking for a free fox cross stitch chart? Check out all the free projects at AOK Corral Craft & Gift Bazaar.

That should keep you busy for awhile. :)

Free Sunbonnet Sue Redwork Pattern

I think I've linked to SunbonnetSue.com before but I just discovered that Kim, the woman behind the site, has a blog too. And, on this post is a link to a pdf of a Sunbonnet Sue redwork pattern.

***** If you're looking for more free redwork patterns, click the REDWORK and EMBROIDERY links in the left sidebar. *****

Pimp Stitch

I just discovered Pimp Stitch by following a link from CraftGossip. They're just getting started and it looks like it's going to be fantastic source of cute embroidery patterns. Check out the really cute embroidery freebie from Missy Ballance (of Crafty Carnival) on the Pimp Stitch blog. I want to go stitch it up right now.

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).

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.

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.

Shorpy Pictures

I'm fascinated by the pictures on Shorpy. Today, I found a couple of shots showing a lady in an apron. According to the comments from her son on this one, she made the dress she's wearing so I bet she made that apron too. Check out her shoes in this picture.

And, even more pictures of Lynn and her husband are this board (scroll down a little). I especially like the photos of her kitchen.

You can also see a picture of Rose O'Neill, creator of the Kewpie doll, at Shorpy.