I Need Cake!

Hello, I'm Patty, and this is my blog.  Tonight, I'm checking out all the links I have bookmarked, trying to find a recipe for a fruit crisp cobbler.  (I don't know why I titled this post "I Need Cake" because it's a cobbler recipe I need.)  So far, the recipe has not turned up, but there are lots of saved links to stuff I planned to make some day (yeah, right) so I've decided to post them here.  I've also discovered I have about twenty draft posts and I want to clean them out too.

First up, is a wreath made of hankies.  This is a great way to display your hankies if the idea of cutting up and/or sewing them freaks you out.  That would be me.  I think I might be able to cut the ones I've bought at flea markets and thrift stores, but no way could I do that to the ones I stole from my grandmother.  On the other hand, I would totally make a quilt out of my grandmom's hankies.

I really like this idea of a hankie bunting.  All you do is iron them and hang them up. So simple!  And, no cutting hankies!

Every Christmas, I try to make my mom some kind of ice skate ornament.  (When she was a kid, she was obsessed with Sonja Henie.)  Here's a tutorial for making a felt one.

I just like this bat coloring page.

Love this Christmas garland made from pipe cleaners and beads.  

Ok, I need a little break from clicking links.  This is Cha Cha, my last favorite dog at the shelter.  I love her and was ready to sneak her into my car and take her home with me the other day. She was available for adoption but was rescued the other day.  I heard she already has an interested adopter.  

Back to links:  this is a cute hedgehog pincushion.  My friend shares the cutest hedgehog videos and projects with me all the time.   If you love fashion blogs, check hers out at A.k.A. Ms. Smarty Pants. 

I love this little tote for carrying your stitching supplies.  You'll have to click the link for the Embroidery YOU Tote Time, right at the top of this page, to get to the pdf of the pattern. 

Could these felt stockings be any cuter?!  I seriously need to make them.

Here's a felt snowglobe from Bugs and Fishes.

And, one more:  an adorable mini card wallet via Craft Gossip  

I still haven't found the recipe I'm looking for and I have more links to share so I'll be back soon.  

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!

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!

Hedgehog Bonanza

I was just over at the sewing blog on Craft Gossip and found links to three different hedgehog appliques. Woohoo!

Henrietta the Hedgehog from Izzy & Ivy designs

Hedgehog applique from Sevi Designs

And another hedgehog applique from Megity's Handmade

Those three blogs are new to me but I'm explore them more at another time. If I do it now, I'll never get to bed.

If Only I Got Paid To Hoard

My sister got involved while I was snapping shots of my orts jar. And, no, she's not giving me the finger. She was making a sideways peace sign. (See next post down if you want to know why I was taking pictures of a jar full of pieces of leftover embroidery floss.)

Say, what does that Monetize tab up above, in between Layout and View Blog, do? Let's click it and find out...nah, nothing exciting. It just shows you how to set up AdSense so you can add Google ads to your blog. Dang. I was hoping it was a way to make my blog look like a painting by Monet. For what's it worth, I have never clicked an ad on a blog before, and most likely, never will. (Links to Etsy shops do not count.)

Ok, moving on...guess what I did last night? Besides catching up with several episodes of "Burn Notice" on the DVR, I also hoarded more patterns. I promise this will be the very last time I mention my addiction -- I'm sure everyone else is getting as sick of it hearing about it as I am. I will do something crafty or fun or even illegal over the next few days so that when I am ready to blog again, I will have something else to talk about.

My latest hoards:

Prairie Schooler's little house with rain falling on it cross stitch freebie

Easter Egg Trio Tea Towel embroidery freebie from Bird Brain Designs

Redwork hedgehog embroidery pattern from a Flickr member

Pretty Posie Pushpins from Polka Dot Pineapple

Elephant pull toy embroidery pattern from So September

Embroidered Pint-Sized Pocket Pillows from Goody-Goody

Elephant quilt block from Miri

Pretty much everything from Wee Folk Art (join their Crafting Club so you can see all of their freebies)

Hopefully, I will be back later in the week to tell you about something I made from one of these patterns. Have a great Monday!

There's Got To Be A Morning After

Earlier today, some guy knocked on the front door and I was ready to jump up from the computer and go answer it when I realized it was after 2:00 in the afternoon and I was still in a robe and pajamas. How did that happen?! I seem to remember coming up with a plan, while I was eating breakfast, to give my bedroom a good spring cleaning -- I was even going to move furniture so I could vacuum everywhere -- and then next thing I know, it's early afternoon and I'm still in my PJs and playing on Facebook. Have you tried the Pick Your 5 application yet? It lets you make lists of your five favorite whatevers -- movies, bands, TV shows, beers, sports teams, books, slopes, dog breeds, etc, and then share them on your page. I love doing that kind of thing, and also seeing what other people put on their lists. And, making fun of people who think Hannah Montana is one of the best shows ever always cheers me up.

And, it wasn't just Facebook that kept me busy today. I also wasted a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a pattern to print. Normally, I'd give up after the second try but it's for this adorable donkey on Etsy's blog and I HAD to have it. Who knows why but I couldn't get the pdf to open no matter how many times I tried, and printing the page only gave me the sidebars -- the entire middle section with the pattern itself was blank. Signing into Etsy didn't make a difference and neither did using Firefox instead of AOL's browser. To make it more fun, my computer kept freezing up when I was trying all these things so I had to keep starting over. The weird thing is I had the same problem a few months ago while trying to print another pattern from The Storque blog. I would love to link to that other pattern now but I just got stuck on Etsy again and had to re-start AOL. Anyway, the donkey is cute and I am sure you will have no issues printing the pattern. I think I'm just special that way.

On to the good stuff . . . You can win a copy of either The Apron Book or The Kitchen Linens Book by EllynAnne Geisel from The Apron Goddess. All the details are on this post. You have until midnight, Saturday, March 28th, to enter.

Kandra & Renee at Sibling Craftery are holding their first giveaway for some great prizes. (fabric! a pincushion! floss!) You have until Sunday, March 29th, to get in on this one. And, I know I've linked to them before but in case you missed it, be sure to check out their fun embroidery patterns too. I heart the Valentine's Day one.

There's another way to win one of EllynAnne's books but it's a little more involved: EllynAnne, along with Colonial Patterns Inc., is giving away six prize packages (full of Aunt Martha embroidery transfers, some towels to stitch them on, and copies of her books), over at Apron Memories, but to enter this not-a-contest giveaway, you need to create something using vintage household goods, (fabric, handkerchiefs, toweling, embroidery, doilies, place mats, napkins), and then post it in their Kitchen Linens Flickr pool. The deadline to enter is April 30th.

I am really in the mood to stitch something now but first I must print out even more patterns. I wouldn't want to get kicked out of Hoarders Anonymous any time soon. They're all are for embroidery except the felt Easter cone, which is now on my to-do list. (I'm considering joining Felt Anonymous as well.)

Bunnies and chicks at Orange Flower: Patterns and Tutorials [via Meet Me At Mikes]

Springy Chicken Day, flower for Spring, and (my favorite) Itty Bitty Circus and (even more favorite) a felt Easter Favor Cone at Tangarang

Henry the Hedgehog and Padraic O'Malley (links are in the right sidebar along with a few more) at Chichiboulie

Bunny pattern for March from Bad Birds (thanks, L&L!)

Have a great Thursday!

My Floss Boxes

The Pimp Stitch girls wanted to see how we store our embroidery floss so here are my three floss boxes. The top two are for DMC floss, which is labeled and in numerical order. (And, I swear nothing else in my life is as organized as those two boxes.)



The bottom box is for everything else: extra DMC floss, unidentified floss, number stickers, buttons, bobbins, gold threads and beads.



Remember the floss bobbins you could make from Craft Chi? They're much nicer than the cardboard or plastic ones you get at the store. (I just realized I never notched mine on the sides. Oh well. They work fine.)



Sometime along the way, my mom gave me her stash of floss from her cross stitching days. She used to wind the leftovers around pieces of cardboard and paper. It's always fun to see which matchbook covers she used. The Hunts one has part of a recipe on the reverse side.



I wish I had the other half of this one just to find out why we should know our pharmacist better.



If you want to see more floss boxes (and, who doesn't?), check out the Pimp Stitch Embroidery Gallery on Flickr. And, check out their embroidered buttons tutorial on the Pimp Stitch blog, complete with free patterns. (Hedgehog & owl alert!)

A Post About Cross Stitch

(I really need to hire someone to come up with more creative titles for my entries.)

Tanya at The Sampler Girl has two free cross stitch charts up on her site this month: one for the election (both parties are represented) and a Halloween one. You will also find links on that page to her other freebies. I've been wanting to do the one called Pumpkin House for awhile.

There's a free owl chart at a French blog called Vick et pique et colle and also a hedgehog from the side, on his back and from the front [links via LaGattaC]. Google Translator keeps giving me the French version for some reason. Maybe you'll have better luck with that.

Of course, I had to print out the Garden Puppy freebie from Artecy. I don't know when I will stitch it but it is cute. (ETA: the chart is no longer available. Sorry! I guess they change their freebies every couple of weeks.)

Belinda of Blue Ribbon Designs is one of my favorite cross stitch designers, which is odd since I don't actually own any of her charts. (I did stitch up one of her freebies a couple of years ago -- and I always obsessively print out the others.) Look at this fun set of smalls called Creepy Crawly. I love that casket! The latest freebie is a Christmas ornament called A Star On Top.

I've always wanted to do a Round Robin but never joined one until now. It's not a traditional RR where one person stitches part of it and then sends it on to another person who does another part, etc. The only stitcher for this Round Robin is me, myself and I. In fact, that's what it's called: Me, Myself And I Round Robin. The first one already has 100 members so a second one has been started up. I still don't know if I actually can do this. I can handle the cross stitching but coming up with a plan for my own neighborhood kind of freaks me out. I already know I will be doing houses, most likely in a row, but I don't want them to look disconnected. I need to figure out what to do when one design ends and another begins. The good thing is you can't start stitching until December 31st so I have plenty of time to plan this all out.

More Of The Same

How's about yet another giveaway link, some free embroidery patterns and a pincushion pattern?

Denise over at Needlework News @ Craft Gossip is giving away some Sublime Stitching patterns so go leave some comments on that post.

I think I forgot to link to this cute pattern [link via Craft] from Melissa at Elemental Stitches. And, be sure to check out Melissa's newly opened Etsy shop for more embroidery patterns.

Amy at Early Bird Special is sharing a vintage kitten pattern. Not sure what to do with it? Maybe Amy's adorable embroidered onesie will inspire you.

And, there are flower patterns galore at Lovestitches.

Last year, I linked to this hedgehog pincushion pattern, and, of course, I never got around to making one, but you can see a finished version on Craftster [link via Craft]

Monday's Post

I am already planning how to stay busy during my three month long recovery period, even though it won't actually begin until I get a cast put on my foot, which won't happen until I see a specialist, who I won't get a referral to until the 28th. I've come up with a few projects that I want to get done by the time the cast comes off. (At the rate I'm going, I should be up and walking again by next January!) My sister and I went to a couple of craft stores today so I could stock up on floss and also get some Aida for the Hungarian Sampler Stitch-A-Long. The first two parts of the chart have already been posted so I have some catching up to do.

I also wanted to get a tote bag to embroider for my sister. I had stitched a Pillsbury Doughboy on one last year for her birthday, and when I started doing another Doughboy on the reverse side, I stupidly did not keep track of the colors of floss I was using, so there's a finished Doughboy on one side and a half-embroidered Doughboy on the other. Michael's did not have a blue tote bag in a medium size so we went to Tall Mouse, and not only did we find exactly what we were looking for, but I also found tea towels on sale, five for $10. I am not a huge fan of flour sack towels because I'd rather have a smaller kitchen towel and these are a perfect size. They had them in solid colors (and patterns too) so I got two in white, and one in red, green and blue. Let the embroidering begin!

It seems the majority of my recent cross stitch finishes have been done with floss and fabric scrounged from my stash, so it was really fun to go and get new supplies. Then I came home and excitedly wound all my new floss on those little plastic bobbins. And, then my head exploded because I was so dang happy.

Doe-c-doe is having giveaways all this week. To enter, leave some comments on each post (more information is here.) It looks like she will be sharing an embroidery pattern every day as well. Monday's is a cute squirrel.

And, don't forget the quilting book giveaway at Studio-259.

Of course, I forgot to add this earlier: Over at a blog called Meet Me at Mikes, Floresita is posting a week's worth of embroidery patterns. I don't know if these are ones that she has posted elsewhere or not. There's also a blogroll of other people participating so check those links too, like the freaking adorable pattern at The Lark with an owl, squirrel and hedgehog.

I Heart The Internet

The other night, I was looking for some Valentine images and I clicked on Meggiecat, thinking I'd check her archives and was very happy to see Kathy aka Meggiecat began blogging again last month. If you've never been to Meggiecat before, you really should go. There is SO MUCH good stuff there. And, even though it hasn't been updated for awhile, be sure to check The Frankie Files too. There, Kathy posts images from the US Patent Office. The last entry has two fabric swatches from Pat Prichard and one is of some bunnies. Over at knitting-and.com, you can find the same bunnies resized to be used as embroidery patterns. I'm pretty sure I have linked to knitting-and.com before but in case you missed it, the embroidery patterns are here.

And, I forget how it happened but I also ended up at KidPix, a Russian community on LiveJournal, to see illustrations from a book called "Hedgehog in the Fog." There's also an animated film which I found thanks to Bibi's Box.

Winter Wonderland Hedgehog

Winter Wonderland Hedgehog
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

I originally was going to make this hedgehog for a friend but decided he was too cute to give away. He hasn't become an ornament yet but it's on my to-do list. You can find the free chart at The Chart Shop.

Hedgehogs

A few years ago, I went through a hedgehog phase. I thought they were so cute and wanted one. But then I found out they were illegal to have as pets in California so I guess I'll have to stick to making a hedgehog.

Here's a free pattern for a hedgehog pincushion from Urban Debris.

Then, there's Prickles from Turkey Feathers. Prickles was made from the Urban Debris pattern linked above.

I found Hedgie (I love the pins on this one) and Hedgehog Fred on Flickr. I also found an adorable porcupine named George there.

Children's author, Jan Brett, has two free hedgehog cross stitch patterns on her site, Hedgie and Valentine Hedgehog Friends.

And, here's a free x-stitch chart of two hedgehogs.