Sunday Linkage

It hit me the other night how I hardly ever print out free patterns anymore. That's because I hardly ever look for free patterns anymore. Not that I'm addicted to Facebook or anything. So, here are some links to some freebies for you and me and all the other hoarders out there.

First off, you can find some adorable summer embroidery patterns over at Green Jello. I will definitely be stitching the glass and the lemon slice design on to something.

There's a super cute cross stitch chart of some Stackable Cats at Mochimochi Blog. Also on her blog is Reason #47 I must learn to knit.

I love the Kettle Dolly embroidery pattern [via Craft] from Misako Mimoko.

There are some woodland critters embroidery patterns (owl, hedgehog, squirrel, mushrooms) [via Craft Gossip] at Tangarang.

At One Red Robin, you'll find a sweet little bear to embroider and at Feed Dog, there's a pattern for making a yummy looking Swiss cake roll and mini jam roll out of felt. [Both links via Whip Up]

Now, I need to decide what to make first.

TUSAL May Report

Well, I totally forgot about the new moon last week so I'm late with my picture for May for the Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long aka TUSAL. My jar and I had a nice long photo shoot a little while ago but the majority of the pics were out of focus and had that glare on the glass so I ended up deleting them. Here's one (complete with glare) of the jar lounging on my bed.



And, here's a nice shot from up above. I wanted to show off the one strand of gold in there.



The TUSAL is hosted by YoYo at Dragon My Needle. If you'd like to join in, please go here for more information.

I'm off to circle June 22 on my calendar so I don't miss next month's report.

Tagged By Bea

Bea over at Bea's Babbler tagged me to share eight things about myself.


8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. lunch with Dawn (who I have not seen since we were 8 yrs old -- yep, she found me on Facebook)
2. wearing regular shoes again
3. crafting with my new stash of made-from-recycled-plastic-water-bottles felt (thanks, Mom!)
4. having a piece of the ricotta cheese pie I just took out of the oven
5. wading through that pile of papers on my bedroom floor and hopefully finding my lost pocket calendar
6. the new seasons of Burn Notice and The Closer
7. using the sewing machine (finally!)
8. getting enough coins on Farmtown to buy a little house


8 things I did yesterday:

1. ate a porkchop and some brown rice
2. read some of Linda Fairstein's latest book (not sure if I like it enough to care who the killer is)
3. used my dad's computer because I thought my keyboard and mouse were ruined from a spill
4. cursed my dad's keyboard and mouse because they didn't feel "right"
5. sniffed a peony
6. put groceries away
7. watched several episodes of Chelsea Lately
8. yelled at cat for knocking things over on kitchen counter


8 things I wish I could do:

1. buy cute fabric
2. knit
3. crochet
4. get caught up with all my favorite blogs
5. type with all my fingers
6. turn back time so my dog would be here for another 15 years
7. get a pony
8. talk to my grandfather


8 shows I watch on television:

1. 24
2. Bones
3. The Closer
4. Law and Order
5. House Hunters
6. The Real Housewives of New York
7. NCIS
8. What Not To Wear

That was fun. Thanks, Bea!

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you decide to do this, please leave me some comments and so I can check out your answers.

Finished For Friday -- Pincushion

Guess what? I plugged my computer back in just to see if the mouse and keyboard would still work -- I had given them both up for dead since they acted like they had drowned after I spilled iced tea on them the other day -- but they've both recovered and are working just fine right now. Maybe all they needed was some time to dry out. And, let me add that iced tea is perfect for removing the layers of dust off your desk and the dirt off your floor.

I'm excited to share a finish for Friday FINALLY. Last weekend, I made a pincushion based on the tutorial on Creative Breathing. The fabric and rick rack came from a place mat that I had in my craft cupboard. (Some people have a craft room; I have a cupboard.) The puppy dog came from a website a few years back -- I bought it because it was cute -- and for now, he will just sit atop the pincushion.

Earlier in the day, I had attempted the Bitty Bug pincushion but I had problems sewing it all together -- the fabric was puckered in some places and the felt I used for the head was so thick, it made it very bulky. Plus hand sewing a seam in the shape of a circle and having it actually look like a circle instead of a roundish blob is way out of my league so I scrapped that project and decided to give the Creative Breathing pincushion a shot. One thing that made a huge difference was sewing along the circle I had drawn on the wrong side of the material per Elizabeth's instructions. I actually had a circle seam when I was done. (I'm going to try making the Bitty Bug pincushion again because it is the cutest thing -- I love how the wings are folded back.)

I like how Elizabeth uses beads to add words to her pincushion. I have an idea for doing something like that the next time I make one of these. However, I don't have any beads with letters on them so I may have to improvise. But making more pincushions will have to wait for now because I think I just discovered my next project: check out this adorable reindeer from Creative Breathing. The owl and the bluebird are also on my to-do list. Oh, wow! While going back through her blog to find the post with the bluebird pattern, I found the Airedale pattern. Adding that to my list too.

To see who else is participating in Finished for Friday, check out Lit and Laundry.

Public Service Announcement

Before I get to the PSA, I wanted to say that I knocked over a full glass of iced tea on to my desk the other day and drowned my mouse and wet some of the keys on my keyboard so until I hook up new ones, I can't get to the photos saved on my computer and blog about the pincushion I made or tea towel I embroidered for my mom. Good thing I can get to Facebook from any computer!

Here's my PSA: Sonia Sotomayor has Type 1 diabetes. It's caused when the pancreas stops producing insulin. It has NOTHING to with diet or being overweight. If I read one more comment about her having type 1 diabetes because she's fat or ate too much candy or junk food, I am going to kill someone.

Here, Have Some Links

When was the last time I posted some links? I really have been neglecting my blogging responsibilities.

Thanks to plaid & herringbone, I have another hedgehog pincushion pattern to add to my collection. This one is on a French blog and I think you can figure out how to put it together without translating it. The pattern is not a pdf or clickable so I just saved it as a jpg and then printed it out. And, then added it to all the 471 other hedgehog patterns I have saved. [sigh]

Oh, I just remembered, I did start making a hedgehog sometime ago when I was in my pom-pom phase but stopped before I gave my poor hedgie a face/head. Maybe I can get him finished up this week. The tutorial for making a pom-pom hedgehog is over at Zakka Life.

Craft Hope has its second project underway, and for this one, they're collecting handmade dolls for an orphanage in Nicaragua. You can find out all the details here [link via All Sorts]. And, if you need a doll pattern, check out the list at One Crafty Place. The deadline to get the dolls to Craft Hope is June 13th so get sewing!

There's an elephant pattern (another thing I tend to collect and never use) at Cicada Daydream. I like how he's made with all different fabrics. And, Amazing Mae has a great owl applique pattern that you could also use for embroidery [both links via One Crafty Place].

This Japanese site has a bunch of cute coloring pages that could be used for embroidery patterns. Thank you, Kellie, for finding this one!

One Pretty Thing has another great Embroidery Pattern Round-up.

This post was not written while I was under the influence of Vicodin. I couldn't get in to the clinic to have a physical and EKG done before my foot surgery on the 15th so the operation has been postponed for about a month. Knowing I have another four weeks of being stuck in this house in addition to however long it takes to recover from the surgery (2-6 months) depresses me to no end and I'm hoping someone will take pity on me and send me a bottle of vodka and/or some happy pills. Let me know if you need my address.

Happy Monday!

P.S. To clean up my vintage transfer patterns, do I need Photoshop? Or is there another way to do that?

Finished For Friday -- Watch Pincushion

Every so often, I actually take a break from playing Farm Town on Facebook and make something. Behold my wrist watch pincushion.



This was fun and quick to put together. I did make one change. When I started to stitch the strap pieces together, my fabric began to fray so I cut another slightly larger piece of fabric, folded all four edges in (and ironed them) before I began sewing it to the felt piece. I also left off the winder.

You can find the tutorial to make your own wrist watch pincushion on LucyKate Crafts [link via Craft].

I finally finished something for Friday! See who else is showing off their finishes at Lit and Laundry this week.

Did You Wear Your Apron Today?

Here I am, celebrating National Wear Your Apron Day by hanging out with my camera in the bathroom. Don't I look super excited?

Mia's New Apron

The subject of Crissy dolls came up on Facebook this past week. I no longer have my childhood Barbies or Dawn dolls, but I still have Crissy, Mia and Tressy, and all of their clothes. Last night, I decided I would make an apron for my Mia and show her off today for National Wear Your Apron Day because I wasn't sure I would find someone to take a picture of me to mark the occasion. Plus, it gave me a good reason to stitch up that cute puppy dog pattern I posted yesterday. I had some major issues sewing on the bias tape by hand (I really need to learn how to work that sewing machine), and finally I just dug out the fabric glue and used that to attach it. Mia doesn't seem to mind my craptastic glue job, does she?



Back in 1973 or so, I made Mia her first apron. I can honestly say my hand sewing hasn't really improved much since then.


I am off to get dressed and choose an apron to wear today. Happy Apron Day and don't forget to tie one on!

Edited to add: The Apronista wants links your apron posts today, plus there's a giveaway.

National Wear Your Apron Day

I recently found a Scottie dog pattern on some website that was divided into two parts. So I printed out both of them. One was scanned at 117% and the other at 129% so the pieces are not the same size and don't match up. I'd like to thank the braniac who created those pdfs.

Today is National Wear Your Apron Day so I might go make an miniature apron. Or I might go to bed. Or I might go eat something. The spinach dip in the fridge is calling my name.

If you've never made Knorr spinach dip, you should. Even people who claim they hate spinach, love this stuff. Here's the recipe but you can also find it on the back of Knorr's dry vegetable soup mix. I always leave out the water chestnuts because as everyone who has read my Facebook page knows, they serve no purpose whatsoever and the world would be a much better place without them. Oh and don't wimp out and use low fat mayo for this dip. Use the real stuff. As Best Foods. (Or Hellman's depending on which side of the Mississippi you're on.)

Thanks, Kellie, for the image!

My New Blog

I finally got out my vintage embroidery patterns that I had bought on eBay and other places online a few years ago and decided to scan them. None of them are made by Vogart or Aunt Martha, (one is labeled Artex), so as far as I know, it's ok to post them on my blog. Just not this blog. They're on a new blog. This way, all the embroidery junkies could find them easily and not have to wade through posts about my pathetic, retched, miserable existence in order to get to the good stuff.

I scanned about half of one sheet of patterns and then I lost interest. I'll be adding more patterns this coming week, but for now, you can check out the poodles and cats on Pip Stitch Patterns. (Oh, my creativity just kills me sometimes.)

National Wear Your Apron Day Is Monday

I haven't felt much like blogging lately since I haven't made anything since last week (thanks for all your nice comments about my needlebook!) plus I'm having trouble with my cataract eye so I haven't felt much like working on anything and I have a broken tooth and it looks my foot surgery may be postponed until June. Hopefully, Jack Bauer will kill Tony Almeida on Monday night and I can get happy again. I did want to remind you that Monday is National Wear Your Apron Day (thanks to Kellie for the reminder!) so don't forget to tie one on. And, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I'm off to stick my head in the oven.

My New Old Vintage Needlecase

To enter the not-a-contest giveaway at Apron Memories, you have to create something from vintage "fabric, hotpads, handkerchiefs, table coverings, curtain paneling, toweling, embroidery, doilies, placemats, napkins," so I took this vintage embroidered piece, some bias tape (pretend it's blue in the photo -- there was a change of plans after I took the picture) and some gingham...



...and, made this needlecase



No, I was not drunk when I stitched that.

Here it is, opened up, so you can see the inside.



I was inspired by the needlecase project that Barbara from Oodles and oodles shared on her blog awhile back. I modified her instructions a bit -- she forgot to include a step on attaching your bias tape with the most crooked and uneven hand stitches you have ever sewn in your life and then tell everyone your two yr old did it -- I had to come up with that one all by myself. And, I put my needlecase together differently and now see lots (tons!) of room for improvement. Next time I make one, I'll completely follow Barbara's directions.

And, can I just say it KILLED me to cut up that embroidery...um...piece. What is that anyway? It's from a set of three that was part of a larger group that I found on eBay and bought because one was a dresser scarf with puppies embroidered on it. (Got all that?) It wasn't stained or dirty but it was spending its days stuck in a drawer. At least now I'll get some use out of it.

I'm still laughing hysterically at my "sewing." (Why didn't I just blanket stitch it?)

Thank you, Barbara, for the bias tape, the gingham, and the inspiration to make this!

How About Some Embroidery Links

After a certain someone told me my blog was feeling neglected, I vowed to post something every day for the rest of my life. Or at least until I got a boyfriend. Ok, not really but I did want to share some embroidery freebies with you all today.

A little while ago, Miri over at Milk and Honey Quilts posted some vintage Springtime embroidery patterns of a lady bug, a butterfly, birds, flowers and a boy and girl.

If you don't regularly check One Pretty Thing, you may have missed the recent Embroidery Pattern Roundup.

Did you see the corset pattern from Flickr member Rectangle that was linked on Feeling Stitchy? How fun!

Need a pattern for the skateboarding bull dog, a LOL cat or Rick Astley? Check out the internet memes at Totally Severe.

And, if you're new to embroidery, check out Kandra's post on Sibling Craftery for links to some great resources.

Two Giveaways

I have a couple of giveaways to tell you about.

First off, Llyn is celebrating her one year blog anniversary by giving away some cool prizes. Go see them and enter here before Friday, May 1st.

And, over at It's Daffycat, you could win some of Sharon's hand-dyed cross stitch fabric. All the details are on this post. The contest ends on Monday, May 4th.

Alert The Media!

Don't have a heart attack but I actually made something this past week (in between taking countless quizzes on Facebook). I wanted to do a cross stitch quickie so I used two charts from a Japanese website with loads of freebies. (As soon as I figure out how to get back there, I will link to it.) I did a koala first (pictures later) and then I did this bear. What do you think that thing on his head is? A flower? It was supposed to be done in an off-white but I didn't like that so I substituted a darker color, which made it look like a birth mark to me so I just ripped it all out and re-stitched it in the same yellow color as the rest of his head. Also, there was a bright pink under his eyes (that's missing in the picture below) and I didn't like that either so I just used more of the same yellow.



I used 14 ct Aida which I really stay away from these days. I hate how you can see all the holes in it. Here is "Pookie Bear, Blue Shirt" all finished. And, yes, both pictures came from the same camera and I have no idea why the colors are so off in the second one.



I toss all of my floss ends in my orts jar but I save longer lengths on cardboard. Since running to Michael's is not an option for me right now, I try to get as much use out of my threads as I can, but sometimes I wonder if keeping an eight inch piece of three strands of floss is worth it. Well, most of what I used to stitch up the bear and the koala came from this collection of leftovers.


I have a little room left on my Aida so I'm going to add one more animal from that website.

The Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long April Report

There's a new moon today so that means it's time to report in for the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long over at Dragon My Needle. So, here is my orts jar. I started this one about a month ago.

Look At What I Found In My Backyard

Anyone know what this is? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?



It's leaves on my peony bush! I discovered them the other day and was soooo excited. I really thought it was dead. I know they hibernate (or whatever) for a bit over the winter but there really were no signs of life going on at all and I was about ready to write it off until I saw the leaves.

I just checked my blog and found that my peony had buds on it on April 23rd of last year so it is running a little behind this Spring. I'm glad it finally came out of its coma.

Not a lot of crafting going on at my house. I'm still having fun on Facebook. But my foot surgery has been scheduled for May 15th (FINALLY) and there's a two to six month recovery period so I have a feeling, I will have crafts coming out my ass in the near future. A few ideas for things to make have been bouncing around in my head for awhile now. I just need to log off of Facebook long enough to actually do them.

One more thing: Mollie over at Wild Olive is sharing a cute Earth Day embroidery pattern.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Girl Scouts

Yesterday, I posted a picture of two of my friends and me in our Brownie uniforms from when we were 9 years old in 1972. I really enjoyed the comments I received so I thought for Vintage Thingies Thursday, I would share a few of the things from Girl Scouts that I've held on to all these years (and not old pictures of my mom's family as originally planned).

Like my time in Brownies, I don't remember much about being a Girl Scout. I think I only lasted one year wearing the green uniform, and once again, no s'mores were ever made. My troop didn't sell cookies but we did sell calendars. My memory is really hazy but I think there was some kind of event held at the Anaheim Convention Center to celebrate our sales and the sales of a zillion other Girl Scouts in the county. I could be wrong but I think that's where I picked up these patches. It's funny because as soon as I dug the Scout Sampler '74 one out of the shoebox where I keep this stuff, my first thought was "I could totally make that!" because of the satin stitch and cross stitch on it. (You can click the pictures to get a larger version.)



Karen mentioned having a sash for her Girl Scout badges. We did too but for some reason, my badges never were sewn on to mine. I get what the GS one stands for but what does the cup of coffee mean? I keep thinking we did some kind of cooking project to earn a badge but maybe we just learned how to make cappuccino (yes, it's the barista badge*). As you can see, we had to make our own soccer badge. If only I knew how to embroider back then. I could have made a nicer version with some black and white floss.

I no longer have my Brownie purse but hello, I still have the Genuine Cowhide Girl Scout green one. You can't tell from the scan but the Girl Scout logo is still a nice shiny gold.

And, what's inside the little purse? An identification card which cracks me up. Employed by? No one. Sex? Girl. Blood type? Red. The humor of a ten year old. (Who told me my hair was frosted?)



Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from my days as a Girl Scout. but here's one more from Brownies. In case any of these girls decides to Google herself one day, that's Nicole Royer, Leslie Talley, Shelly Adler, Shelly Monroe, Cristi Bondra and me.



*The cup of coffee badge was for Hospitality. The Vintage Girl Scout Online Museum has photos of tons of badges and I found the coffee one on the page for Junior badges 1963-1980. The one I drew the soccer ball on is called Our Own Troop. Look at all the nifty purses on this page and the hankies and aprons and needlework. Who knew?

Next week, I'll post my Girl Scout pins. Thanks for visiting my blog! To see who else is sharing their Vintage Thingies today, check Colorado Lady's blog.

Did I Miss Christmas?

(This has nothing to do with the following post but was anyone shocked to see Kim Bauer Monday night? And, I don't even want to talk about Tony. I can't wait for Jack to kill him.)

I've been sitting here, working on a post for Vintage Thingies Thursday and thinking I need to hurry up and finish it and then post it before I go to bed, when I realized it's just after midnight on Wednesday and not Thursday like I was thinking it was. (Later today, I am totally making myself a giant calendar to hang up on the wall I'm facing so I can keep better track of which day it is.)

I'm posting some old pictures for VTT tomorrow but this one doesn't quite fit with my theme of Meet The Kraygers (my mom's family) so I'll share it now. This was taken in June 1972, after the Brownie ceremony where you "fly up" to Girl Scouts. That's me in the middle with Leslie Talley on the left (your left) and Shelly Monroe on the right.

I know Leslie is on Facebook but I'm still debating sending her a message about our time in Brownies together. She may not have fond memories of it. Mine are kind of sad. My mother was the troop leader and I don't know why not but we never got to make S'mores. Once, we went to the local fire station for a tour and only one fireman was there because everybody else and all the trucks were out on a call to put out a fire in the field next to our elementary school. (I wish I could remember the name of the kid who started that fire -- we all knew him.) That's really all I remember about Brownies. And, now I'm wondering why I didn't have the cool orange tassels on my socks like Leslie did. Good times.

Happy Not Vintage Thingies Thursday, People!