Cross Stitch Ice Skate

Every Christmas, I make my mom some kind of ice skate ornament for the Xmas tree.  I think I'll make this cross stitch one from Kissy Cross this year.

Back in 2007, I made two biscornus from one of Kirsten's patterns for her Kissy Cross blog.

The tops:

And the bottoms:

You can find the biscornu patterns here.

Cute Xmas X-stitch Freebies

Here's a set of three cute cross stitch freebies Christmas cards from Cross Stitcher magazine.  I really like the bunny with the jingle bell.

Have a great weekend!

March 30 TUSAL Update

March 30 was the New Moon and as usual, I forgot to post a photo of my orts jar for the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long aka TUSAL so here it is now.  For info on the TUSAL, go here. 

The cat is Katie Kitty from Brooke Nolan's Advent Animals SAL.  She isn't finished in that picture but she is now.  I've forbidden myself from starting any new projects but as soon as I saw this on Facebook (thanks, Sarah H!), I knew I had to do it.  Besides, Katie Kitty was quick to stitch -- it only took three nights to do and that was because I did part of her jacket twice.  The charts for the SAL will be free, with one released per month, and it will last until October 2015.

You can get the chart for Katie Kitty at the bottom of this page at Brooke's Books Publishing. You can see pics of the first three animals here on Liz's Tales of a Thread Spinner blog. They are so cute!  You can use Liz's Dragonflylotus Designs Handspun Threads for the SAL and the chart also has the DMC colors listed.  I used DMC.  I didn't have any blue fabric so I stuck a small piece of white Aida in a Tupperwear full of Rit dye and some water and ended up with what you see above.  Except in real life, it is REALLY BRIGHT BLUE.  

Three Posts In Three Days

If you look to the left below the cow, you'll see something called 2012 WIPOCALYPSE LIST, which shows the unfinished projects I was going to complete before the end of the world on 12/21/12. Remember that?  Let's just say I started off with good intentions but didn't finish anything on the list.  Maybe I knew the world wasn't really going to end then and I would have more time to work on everything. And maybe that's why none of the items of the list are done now.  Numbers 2, 4 and 5 have been cross stitched but need to be turned into ornaments or little pillows or needle books or whatever else I like to do with cross stitched designs. And, number 5 just needs a little more blanket stitching around the outside of the cover and then stuffed to make a pillow.  I really don't know why that one isn't done yet.  I loved the cushion cover when I saw the pattern on Bustle & Sew and had great time using Heat 'n Bond on my applique Scotties.  Here's a pic of one of them: 

The pattern for the cushion cover is no longer available as a freebie on the Bustle & Sew blog and I can't find it for sale in her store but you can see Helen's original version on Facebook and that might inspire you to come up with something similar.  (I'd love to do one with hedgehogs.)  Maybe this post will inspire me to finish my own Scottie cushion cover.

Number 1 on the WIPOCALYPSE list is a cross stitch that I started in September 2011.  I'll work on it for a few days in a row and then out it away for months.  It's called Ready for the Morning Ride and was created from a painting by John Emms.  It features a donkey and a dog, and my goal now is to complete the donkey.  Here are a few pics of my progress:

November 2011 -- two months in

January 2012 -- donkey's hiney (left) and the wall

August 2012 -- there's the saddle on the donkey

September 2013

And here's one I took yesterday:

That orange in the middle really stands out and at first I thought it was the donkey's eye and he was possessed but apparently it's a flower on his bridle.

You can get the chart for Ready for the Morning Ride from Artecy Cross Stitch.  I have a feeling this will be the only x-stitch I ever do with this many stitches!

By the way, the WIPOCALYPSE at Measi's Mussings is still going on.  Check out this post to find out more about it.  You can join in at any time and share your progress on your UFOs and WIPs.



So that's three posts in three days.  I'm not sure if there will be a fourth one tomorrow but I promise not to stay away for another nine months.

Two Recent Finishes

Before I get to my finishes, let me say if I had been blogging back in December, I would have posted a link to Rudolph the Felt and Sequin Reindeer  [via Craft Gossip's Felting blog] and encouraged everyone to make one. This totally reminds me of Xmas ornaments my mom bought in the 60's and 70's.  It was a sequin kind of world back then.

And, if you like the Rudolph ornament and/or you heart sequins, check out the other tutorials from Thrift Store Crafter (love the name of that blog).  Some day I will make the trees and little bird ornaments.  (Stop laughing.)

File this under This Always Happens:  I went looking for the link to the Rudolph ornament on Craft Gossip and found these super cute Peekaboo Reindeer Stockings from Handmade Charlotte.  Oh wow, I want to make them RIGHT NOW.

I recently did make something.  Two somethings.  Both were for my friend Mary. Once upon a time, I had a plan to make things for the friends I had made through blogging. Mary was my first victim.  I had asked for her address in December 2012, and a year later, I took a padded envelope with her name on it to the post office.  I swear it didn't take twelve months for me to embroider a dish towel and cross stitch a little pillow. My problem seems to be in getting started.  I also realized that I truly HATE transferring embroidery patterns.

Here's a bad picture of the dish towel I embroidered for Mary.  The kitty pattern is from Sublime Stitching (the book).  Nice ironing job, Patty. 

I also made this little cross stitched pillow for her.  You can find the free pattern here at The Primitive Hare.  I wish I had made it look old like the Primitive Hare did.  I believe I used all the suggested floss colors and I stitched on that 18 ct fabric I always use that I now can't think of the name of.

So, that's two posts in two days.  Color me impressed.

Memo to self:  Helvetica

"I Knit So I Don't Kill People"

"I knit so I don't kill people."  I love that.  I saw it on a list of crafty quotes on Buzzfeed.  Or would that be a list of quotes about crafting?  Whatever.

So, yeah, I am still here.  And I actually worked on a cross stitch the other night so I thought I would check in and say hello.  Here's a not-so-great picture of that cross stitch.  It's not finished --two of those toadstools do not have stems yet -- so I'll take a better pic when it's done.  And I hope to finish it soon.  And then hell will freeze over.

That chart is called The Brown Dog and it's from Bent Creek.  The Bent Creek web site is undergoing construction but you can find lots of online needlework shops that sell this pattern.  I got mine at 1-2-3 Stitch!

Be back soon with an interesting potholder I got at the local antique store.

I Wish I Were A Unicorn

I totally need to buy this chart from Subversive Cross Stitch.  In case you don't feel like clicking that link, it says "I wish I were a unicorn so I could stab all the useless people in the head."

My new motto for life!

Catching Up With Links

A few stray links that I forgot to post earlier this year. 

Tipnut shared another set of vintage embroidery patterns back in May.  (Am I on top of things or what?)  This one is kitchen themed so there's a pitcher, glasses, bowls, a frying pan, measuring cups, a cute cookie jar, a jam jar and more. 

Kel over at Kincavel Krosses has a cross stitch design of two super cute foxes called Fergie and Fergus.  I REALLY have to stitch this one.  Thank you, Lady Kel, for all your great freebies!!

There's a cute owl cross stitch chart from LucyKate Crafts [link via My Owl Barn] and a fox one too.  I saw a book called Countryside Softies in Michael's the other day and thought the cover seemed familiar, like I should know who made the fox on it.  Turned out it was by Amy Adams who is the crafty blogger behind LucyKate Crafts.  Congrats on your book, Amy!  And, no, I did not buy it since I'm broke again.

Talking about being broke reminds me that I finally paid a visit to Needlepoints Ltd (an actual Local Needlework Shop, woo hoo) in back in July.  I had been meaning to go there since 1957.  Or maybe it was 1997.  Whatever.  It's been a long time.  I think they have every make and model of floss you ever heard of.  I drooled a lot while I was there.  And, they didn't even ask me to leave!  I liked it so much, I went back another time.  Really I went twice because I forgot the list of floss that I wanted to get the first time.  Since I wasn't broke either time, I got two Little House Needleworks charts and the floss for Wipe Your Paws from Glory Bee, a chart I have had forever. 

Speaking of My Owl Barn, look to your left and you will see a widget for the Owl Lover 2013 calendar.  Go make yourself one.  It's free!

Is This My First Post Of 2012?

There's a new computer in my life and my old camera works just fine with it so I'm hoping to start blogging again, or at least post some pictures.

Since I haven't finished making anything lately, I don't have any photos to post today but thanks to Feeling Stitchy, I have a couple of links to share.  First, check out Floresita's finished alphabet. which I just love.  It's so pretty.  She's included a link to the free pattern too.  Look how her letters look perfectly centered on the fabric.  My patterns never are.  In fact, I just transferred a design on to a dishtowel and it was noticeably off to one side so I sprayed it with Resolve and washed it, and all the transfer pencil came out.  I don't know if Resolve will work with other transfer methods, (like iron-on patterns), but I've had luck with lead and transfer pencils, especially if you get the Resolve on it soon after you realize your pattern is not where you want it to be on your dish towel.

There was a link on Feeling Stitchy to Kitschy Digitals and if you haven't been there before, you need to go now.  Everything is cute and fun.  They sell printables, fonts and things for digital crafting, but I especially love their sewing and needlework patterns.  Thanks for the link, Floresita!

As I was reading through older posts on Feeling Stitchy, I realized two things:  I finally got the Sublime Stitching book (yay!)  and I bought two cute embroideries and a stitched potholder at the local antique store.  Pictures to come soon. 

Did you see the cute fox cross stitch pattern on Mollie Makes?  So many cute patterns, so little time.

A Couple Of Cute Freebies

Kel over at Kincavel Krosses is sharing a cross stitch design of two super cute foxes called Fergie and Fergus.  I REALLY have to stitch this one. 

And, check out Bunny and Clyde too (x-stitch bunnies)!

Thank you, Lady Kel, for all your great freebies!!

Cute X-Stitch Freebies From Kincavel Krosses

If you haven't seen the latest cross stitch freebies from Kincavel Crosses, you're missing out because they are really cute.  There's a brown owl, a purple owl, a blue bird and a yellow & orange bird.

The brown owl made me want to do some cross stitching so I started on it one night last week and haven't touched it since.  Maybe posting about it will inspire me to work on it tonight.  I hope you're being more productive than I am.  :)

I'm Still Here

Remember awhile ago when I was happy to find out that all I had to do was plug my old camera into the lap top I was using and Windows 7 immediately started downloading my photos?  No driver or software or anything else was needed.  Well, it's no longer working -- the downloading part, I mean.  I plug in my camera and a light blinks on the lap top and I hear a whirring sound but nothing pops up to ask me if I want to import the files.  So I can't post any pictures of all 197 things that I've made recently.  Um, make that the one thing I've made recently.  And, I can't post any pictures of my orts jar for the 2012 TUSAL or my progress for the 2012 WIPocalypse.  Grrrr.

At least I can still post links.

Here's one for a free Strawberry Fields cross stitch chart from Sew News [via Daily Craft].  They show the strawberries stitched on a cosmetics case but you could do them on anything.  The other night, my sister gave me a gingham pillowcase (long story) and I was thinking about embroidering something on it, but it might be fun to x-stitch the strawberries on it.  Then again, it's gingham so maybe I'll put some chicken scratch on it since it's been ages since I did that.  Oh yeah, I think I will do some chicken scratch.  (I seriously hadn't thought about doing that until just now.)  I'll save the strawberries for something else because I really like that chart.

I'll play around with the laptop later to see if I can figure out what's wrong but for now I am going to go check my chicken scratch pattern stash and pick something to put on the pillow case.

Make A Bunny For Easter Or Just For Fun

Tipnut has a list of links to patterns and tutorials for making stuffed bunnies.  It's amazing how many of them I already have printed out but haven't made yet.  Story of my life.   :)

Since I don't have any new bunnies to share, here's a bunny cross stitch I did back in 2009. 




It's called Rabbit with Hyacinth and you can find the free chart at Ellen Maurer-Stroh.

WIPocalypse February Update

Last summer, I stitched up a free chart called Little Blue Bungalow from Blue Ribbon Designs and did not like some of the colors of floss that I used.  The original was done with floss from Weeks Dye Works but I only had a few colors of WDW (that I bought a few years ago for yet another project I never did) so I went with DMC instead.  Picking out floss colors is always a big deal for me and I always second guess myself afterwards.  This time, I wasn't totally happy with some of my choices and didn't feel like doing it over, so Little Blue Bungalow was stuck in one of the tote bags I have with all my other WIPs and UFOs and pretty much forgotten.

Enter the 2012 WIPocalypse.  While looking in that tote bag for things to finish for the WIPocalypse, I discovered Little Blue Bungalow and decided to rip out what I didn't like about it and re-do it.

Here's the before picture:

And here's the after:

 

I re-did the scrolly orders at the top & bottom, and the line that begins with Y, and the flowers are now pink instead of white.  (If any of the other colors look different than before, it's just my camera.)  I stitched it on 18ct Fiddler's.

Now I have to figure out how to finish it. Which, in my world, is code for "Add some backing fabric, stuff it and there's little ornament #357." (Some day I will do something different and shock you all!)

The Little Blue Bungalow chart is a freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs and can be found on the Weeks Dye Works website.  (Scroll down to the very last link.)

By the way, I've also been working on Ready For the Morning Ride but you still can't see the donkey or the dog so I didn't bother to take a picture this month.

Thanks to Melissa from Measi's Musings for hostiing the 2012 WIPocalypse!

Get Crafty For The Troops And Homeless Dogs

Stitching Corp is a group that started out sending cross stitched Christmas ornaments to the troops and their families, and now they're accepting other handmade items (bookmarks, greeting cards, key rings, bags for wheelchairs & walkers) all year long.  I heard about Stitching Corp via CyberStitchers.com, which has a list of charities that collect cross stitch projects.  By the way, Stitching Corp, has a huge list of sites that offer free x-stitch patterns. 

I have several ornaments started that I should add to my 2012 WIPocalypse list so I can finish them and send to Stitching Corp.

This was posted back in October 2011 but they need bags for 500 dogs so I'm guessing it's an ongoing project.  Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in England is calling on sewing crafters to make scented bags to hang in their dogs' kennels to keep them calm while they wait for new homes.  You can find out more about making the bags and get a pattern for a Staffordshire Bull Terrier to put on them here.

Did you know that a group of kittens is called a kindle?  I just read that on the Battersea website. I also found a few dogs I want to adopt.  Did I mention they're located in England?  In 2010, they celebrated their 150th anniversary.  Wow!

It's Drafty In Here

Why do I have a bunch of draft posts?  Oh yeah.  It's because I am really good at starting things and never finishing them. 

Let's see what links are hanging out in my draft posts . . .

From the Make-It-For-Christmas-2012 file: Gingerbread Cottage has a super cute embroidery pattern.  And here's a felt hedgehog ornament from Totally Stitchin' that I'm also going to add to my Hedgehogs-To-Make-Some-Day list.

Speaking of hedgehogs, this hedgehog cross stitch freebie from JB Cross Stitch is new-to-me thanks to the cross stitch blog at Craft Gossip.   By the way, JB Cross Stitch has some cute charts for sale, in addition to more freebies.

I love, love, love this embroidered needlecase from Goosie Girl's and I've had the pattern for awhile but I don't think I ever linked to it before.

Over at Leslie's Art and Sew, there's a sewing pattern and tutorial for a mystery critter.  You can sew one up and then make a face on it any way you want and add anything else too  [link via The Toy Society blog].

How about a felt pincushion from Jenny of Elefantz?  I like this one because it has appliqued fabric flowers on it.   And, it's all hand sewn.

There's an embroidery pattern for a cute mini-sampler (with birds, flowers, alphabet) that's finished in a hoop at Patchwork Posse [link via Denise at Craft Gossip].

Did you know there's an embroidery section on about.com with stitch diagrams, free patterns and lots of information on tools, supplies and techniques?  There is!

Major Cute Alert!  Look at this adorable mushroom needlebook that my friend Loralynn at My Art, My So Called Life just linked to.  She also had a link to the fun Random Tutorial Generator. 

And, if you're like me and like to see classic movie stars and their four-legged friends, here are a couple of fun posts from I Can Has Cheezburger: part 1 and part 2.

Pardon me while I go make something!

WIPocalpyse Check-in Post #1

There was a Full Moon on January 9th so time for the very first 2012 WIPocalpyse update.

To be honest, I have a ton of unfinished cross stitch and embroidery projects that I haven't touched in months but there is one that I have been regularly working on for three months now.  I'm determined to finish it so it's on my list for the 2012 WIPocalypse. Back in September, Artecy Cross Stitch had a free pattern of a painting called Ready for the Morning Ride that I really liked because it was of a donkey and a dog.  (It's available for sale on their site now.)  Even though it was not my usual kind of x-stitch, (I like the quickies that I can turn into little ornaments), I decided to do this one.  I'm using 18ct Aida so it's going to be 13" X 9" when it's finished.  (Sounds like someone is going to get a really big ornament!)

Here's a picture of it I took on January 3rd.

And here's how it looks as of today.  I know it doesn't look like it but I swear there really will be a donkey and a dog in there!

If you'd like to join the 2012 WIPocalypse, go go Measi's Musings and read all about it.  Remember you have until January 15, 2012 to become an official participant and qualify for a prize at the end of the year, but you can join at anytime.

Works In Progress...Sort Of

I'm not quite sure what happened but I could only find one picture of a pillow I'm working on. It's my first attempt at applique the right way -- I used Heat n Bond on my Scottie dog cut outs and then blanket stitched them to the pillow cover.  This other time, I sewed an embroidered piece on to the top of a wool case for my iPod but I had no idea what I was doing and didn't use Heat N Bond or turn the edge under or anything like that so it doesn't count as applique.  Anyway, I'm close to finishing this pillow.  The pattern and idea came from Bustle and Sew.

Every two weeks, Artecy shares two free cross stitch patterns, and after seeing the one with a donkey and a dog and finding I had a large enough piece of Aida this afternoon, I decided to stitch it.  I have the very upper left corner done so far and I can tell this one is going to be a challenge.  It will be 12" X 9" when it's finished -- I hardly ever stitch anything that big -- and I used five different colors of floss today and I swear they are all various shades of grayish beige.  If you click that link after September 8th, you won't see the donkey and dog cross stitch because there will be two new free charts available but you can probably find it for sale on the site.  It's called Ready for the Morning Ride by John Emms.  Looks like he painted a lot of dogs and horses in his time.  I know nothing about fine art but hey, I like dogs and horses.  And donkeys.

The "sort of" in the post title has to do with the Hallowe'en Trio stitch-a-long over at Feeling Stitchy.  I know I'm going to do it; I just haven't started yet.  I have to get moving though since it's a SAL for September and we're already a week into the month.

Ok, I am now going to work on my donkey and dog cross stitch and make a bunch of grayish beige X's until I get bored.

Vote Early! Vote Often!

Ok, you can only vote once but if you read this before 11:59 PM PST Sunday September 4, please go here and vote for Belinda's quilt block.  The poll is in the right sidebar.  You won't have to register or anything -- just vote!  Thank you!  (And, if you've already voted earlier in the week, you can vote again now since it's down to these three finalists.) 

Belinda is the designer behind Blue Ribbon Designs and I love her cross stitch charts.  Plus she's a very nice person.  :)

Finished For Friday: Little Blue House

Disclosure:  I finished this cross stitch about a month ago so I didn't actually work on this recently, and I still need to turn it into something (An ornament? A little pillow?  Something I've never ever made before so pigs will fly?).  Oh and looks like I need to iron it too.  But I wanted to share it for Finished For Friday because it's been way too long since I did one of those.

The chart was another freebie from Maryse. I had it in my stash for a couple of years and finally got around to stitching last month.

Head on over to Lit and Laundry to add a link for something you've been working on this week.