A Cute Embroidery

I just saw this cute embroidery hoop art at Flamingo Toes via the Mother's Day embroidery round up at Swoodson Says via Craft Gossip.  

Werewolves of Wild Olive

I was looking for something Halloween-y to make this weekend and found two good ones on Wild Olive.

One is a no-sew Werewolf Hoop Art project and the other is a trick-or-treating werewolf embroidery pattern. 

I can't wait to get started!

Number Two Post Of the Year

I posted three times in 2016 and I hope to beat that record this year. Welcome to the second post of 2017.  

While going through my email, I found three things I wanted to share.  I'm not sure how or when I discovered The Spruce but I'm now getting their newsletter.  Looking around their website led me to this cute bunny embroidery from Mollie Johanson of Wild Olive fame.

And, the Printable Hexagon Floss Minder is also from Mollie and on The Spruce.  When I have a lot of floss to use for a project, I make my own floss minders by punching holes in old scraps of cardboard. Mollie's minders are much nicer and neater.  

One more embroidery pattern from Mollie:  Funky Farm Friends

And, if you have some time. check out The Spruce.  There's some neat stuff over there. Not just crafts, but recipes, pet care, and home decor.

Give Thanks And Stitch

Here's a super cute So Very Thankful embroidery pattern that I must make this month.  [Link via Craft Gossip]

Edited to add another embroidery pattern from Creative Kismet.  This one says Give Thanks Every Day!  I really like them both.

Six Page Views

So Blogger tells me I had six page views today.  Woo hoo!

I think the reason I'm thinking more about crafting these days is because Halloween is coming up.  I love cute-and-not-so-scary Halloween stuff.  Before I start any new projects, I think I will go through my UFOs and see if any spooky & cute ones are worth finishing. In the meantime, I would really like to stitch up this cute Happy Candy Corn embroidery [via Craft Gossip's Needlework blog].

Speaking of Halloween stuff to make, in September 2011, Feeling Stitchy had an embroidery stitch-a-long with a super cute pattern.  (Go look at the cuteness!)  I actually embroidered it back then but I just did it on a piece of fabric, which wasn't the smartest decision because then I didn't know what to do with it after it was finished.  I don't machine sew or make quilts or aprons or pillows or outfits for my kids.  I've decided to hand sew it on to a kitchen towel and maybe add some trim or rick rack, and just hang the towel up somewhere in the house for Halloween. Right now I am at "the dyeing the towel black" stage.  I dyed it once already and it was too light and looked more purplish than gray but I think I got the right shade today.  Once it's dry, I can start attaching of the embroidery design to the towel. Which will be fun since I don't really have a plan worked yet.  (Tip of the Day:  If you ever get Rit black dye on your bathroom counter and in your sink, Clorox Clean Up Cleaner + Bleach will take care of it and make everything look as good as new again.)  (Tip of the Day #2:  wear rubber gloves when dyeing and bleaching.)

Since I'm volunteering at my local animal shelter now, I have to share at least one dog that's up for adoption.  This is TRUDY.  I saw her with a volunteer on Friday in the play yard, having a blast.  She would run around on the grass and then she would jump up on to the bench and give the volunteer lots of kisses.  Trudy also kept trying to get the dog I had on my lap to play with her, even though a fence separated them.  She really is a happy and friendly little dog.  If you know anyone in the Orange County, California area who is looking for a small dog to adopt, please let them know about Trudy.

TRUDY

A1345389

Female, 4 yrs old

Wire-haired Fox Terrier mix

OC Animal. Care

561 The City Drive South

Orange CA

Have We Met?

Hey, blog.  Remember me?

I spend lots of time on Facebook these days, posting photos of shelter dogs that need homes.  A few months ago, I started volunteering at my county animal shelter.  I still don't have a job (or even a car) but this dog thing has really made me feel like I'm doing something with my life.  It's often sad (dogs end up on the euth list and don't always get saved) and frustrating (adopters return dogs to the shelter for lame reasons), but I've met some great like-minded people and many of the dogs and cats and rabbits and guinea pigs and snakes do get adopted or rescued.  And, as meaningful as it is to me, I know I need something more.  

I NEED TO MAKE STUFF!!!


Every so often, I end up on Pinterest -- not pinning anything but just looking -- and it really makes me want to, not only make something, but also blog about it.  I have made a few two things recently. And, by recently, I mean last December and this past April.  Let's see if I can find some photos.

I embroidered the kitties on a kitchen towel for a friend.  The design came from the Sublime Stitching book.  I was happy with my embroidery, but boy, does my photography and ironing need some work.

Pardon me while I laugh my ass off.  I just discovered I already posted that photo in February.  I do not care.  At least I am blogging again.

The other thing I did was embroider an Easter egg on a kitchen towel.  Now I need to track down a photo.  Until I find it, enjoy this one:

Be back soon!

March TUSAL Update

The New Moon was on March 1st and I totally forgot to post a picture of my orts jar for the Totally Useless Stitch-a-long, aka TUSAL, but here's my jar as of 3/9/14.  (Usually, I collect orts in a small jar all year long but I didn't do much crafting in 2013 so those are from last year too.  It looks like a lot but I know the majority of them are from threads I ripped out because I changed my mind about the color or the stitching looked horrible or I screwed up the count on a cross stitch.    

For more info on the TUSAL, please check this post at It's Daffycat.

My orts jar is sitting on a dish towel I'm embroidering with an Easter egg.  I saw this Easter Egg SAL from Needle Knowledge linked on Craft Gossip and decided to stitch the egg on a dish towel, but there's a tutorial to make your egg into a puffy ornament here.  (I'll have to try that some day.)

There's a second New Moon this month on March 30th.  I'm hoping to post a photo of my orts jar by April 15th.  :P

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

A Mushroom Needlebook Made By Me

I just read this in the latest newsletter from the Toymaker:

"Then I had a thought that if I spent more time actually making and doing the things that I wanted instead of just looking at pictures then I would be a lot happier in the here and now. How about we take a deep breath and make the things we want to have and do the things that actually make us happy, even if it is in a small way?"

I love that.  So from now on, there will be more making things and less drooling over pictures going on in my life.  (I swear!)  To get on the right track, I just ordered two embroidery patterns from Penguin & Fish.  Remember the giant hedgehog pillow?*  I  am so going to make one.  (You can get the normal sized version of the hedgehog pattern on Etsy and then just blow it up on a copy machine.  I once asked Alyssa from Penguin & Fish if it was ok to do that and she said yes.)


large pillow versions of alligator and hedgehog embroidery patterns
Originally uploaded by Penguin & Fish

The other pattern I got is the Maltese puppy one.  I love Alyssa's adorable patterns.  I ordered the paper patterns but they're also available as pdf's.

While going through some pictures today, I found some of the mushroom needlebook I made back in February.  I know I did something a little different than the tutorial but I have no idea what that was now.  When you put the original together, you machine sew the spine of the needlebook.  I did mine by hand so maybe I put it together in a way where you wouldn't see the back of a back stitched seam.  Or something.

You can find the pattern for the mushroom needlebook here over on Generation Q. 

*You probably don't remember the giant hedgehog pillow since I can't find a link for it here so I bet I only posted it to Facebook.  Yay for Flickr!

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!

Vote Early! Vote Often!

I've used that post title five times now.  I am so creative.  Anyway, I just wanted to remind you to vote in case you forgot there was an election happening today.  Because you just came out of the coma you've been in for the past four years.  Personally, I don't care who you vote for.  I really don't.  Just do it.




The pattern was a freebie from Urban Threads four years ago but looks like they no longer have it.  Sorry.

Even If It Kills Me

I just saw this cute Christmas project on One Pretty Thing and got this urge to link to it so here I am and here it is: Merry and Bright Garland from Kojo Designs.

It has been awhile since I made anything.  I had plans to make a couple pumpkins or ghosts and finish a few things for Halloween that I had started last year but I got sidetracked by other things.  Important stuff like googling random crap.  My sister got me an e-reader for my birthday so I use it for Facebook, checking email and Google while lying in bed.  Have I downloaded any books yet?  No.  But I do use it to place holds on real books at my local library.  Oh and I have been taking pictures with it too.

I did embroider this towel but I had transferred the pattern on to it months ago.  It was starting to fade away.  Sorry for all the wrinkles but I'm actually using it in the kitchen so I didn't bother to iron it.  This is towel number two of three.  I'm hoping to finish the last one before the pattern transfer is completely gone.  It's Aunt Martha's Adorable Puppy #4015 pattern.  The towel is also from Aunt Martha and I got them both at Hobby Lobby.  It has red stripes down the side that you can't see thanks to my nifty camera work.

I so want to go iron that towel and take a new picture now.

Here's something else I need to iron.  A set of towels that I got at our local antique store back in July.  

This will not be my only post in November, I promise!

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.

Iron Day

Writing that last post reminded me that I had picked up some Aunt Martha's patterns and a pack of kitchen towels at Jo-Ann's back in March.  So far, I have only stitched one of the towels.  And, here it is.  It's funny to me that this has "Iron Day" on it and it's wrinkled and has a couple of creases in it.  I'm actually using it (alert the media!) in my kitchen so I didn't bother to iron it.

My original plan was to do the letters in brown and red with couching.  I was about halfway through when I realized I was doing them in black and red.  (I really should write this stuff down.)  .  And, I was not consistent with my colors.  Sometimes I used red as the surface thread and sometimes I used black.  If I was making this for someone, I would have been more careful, but I wasn't so I just considered it good couching practice. 

I'm thrilled that I not only finished the towel but that I'm using it too.  It's Aunt Martha's 4015 Adorable Puppy pattern and the towels were from Aunt Martha too.

Speaking of embroidery, you can find a Days of the Week set of patterns with bees doing chores (I love the bee with a broom) over on Tipnut.  I've seen a couple of these patterns before but not the whole set.  Thanks, Tipnut, for sharing them!

Little House On The Planet

I am really in the mood to go make something but I wanted to share this cute embroidery pattern first.  It was posted on a new-to-me blog called Mason Bee and it's called Little Home Planet and I think it's adorable.  [Link via Craft Gossip's Needlework blog.  Thanks, Denise!]  And, thank you, Laura, for your cute freebie!  (For some reason, I keep thinking it's called Little House on the Planet.  I must have Laura Ingalls on the brain.)

P.S.  They've opened a Hobby Lobby  near me and I think I'll be going by tomorrow with my 40% off coupon in hand to check out their needle arts section.  I hope they sell cute embroidery patterns.

Easter Embroidery

I know it's June but I haven't been able to post pictures for awhile so I have some catching up to do.

There was a tutorial for an adorable fabric Easter basket posted on Red Brolly back in March.  I wanted to make it and only got as far as doing the embroidery, but hey, at least I did that.  Now that I can upload my pictures again. I'll take a better one as soon as I iron this.  And, thank you to Sarah and Mary for the floss.  Other than the brown for the bunny and the white for his tail, everything else is the variegated stuff you both sent me -- Cosmo Seasons from Sarah and Janlynn from Mary.  (Hard to see in the picture, I know.)

I have a bad relationship with French knots.  I hate them and always will.  My first one will turn out fine and sometimes the second one will be ok too, but then everything goes downhill and they end up deformed and I have to start over, which is frustrating.  I think some of these are alright but I can see which ones are too loose.  (Sorry for the lousy picture but I just cropped the one above.)

Cute Winter Embroidery Pattern

Check out the adorable little quilt over at Little Miss Shabby, complete with an embroidered bear and penguin.  You can find the free pattern for the embroidery there too.  I'm drooling over all the fabric she uses.  I really need to start machine sewing!

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!

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.

Nothing To Do With Duran Duran

So, it's time for another new moon (on Monday) and that means I need to share another picture of my orts jar for the TUSAL aka the Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. 

Next to my orts jar, are a couple of embroideries that recently did.  They are part of a set so I still have three more to do.  (I'll tell you more about them in my next post.)

Thanks to Sharon over at It's Daffycat for hosting the TUSAL!