Score!

On Saturday, I sold some old and broken jewelry at one of those cash for gold places, and on my way home, I stopped at the local thrift store because I had 97 dollars burning a hole in my pocket. The store has some nice stuff -- pretty dishes and glassware -- but I never find any vintage treasures there like some of you do when you go thrifting. The last time I stopped in, they had some sewing patterns on the shelf, but other than a few books on sewing, there isn't a whole lot of craft-related stuff. But I like to go look anyway because you never know what you will find, right?

I headed for the shelf where the sewing patterns were the last time and guess what I found in a basket? Twelve or so Ziploc bags of embroidery floss!! SCORE!! It was all I could do not to jump up and down and make a scene. Some of it was wound on cardboard bobbins and some of it was still in skeins with DMC labels on them. I was sooo excited!

The large Ziploc was $1.00 and the smaller ones were 50 cents each, and I was so tempted to scoop them all up. I thought I should be nice and leave some of the floss for another stitcher, but I made sure grabbed the four bags with the skeins still wrapped in the DMC labels. I also took four of the Ziplocs with the cardboard bobbins. Most of the bobbins are hand-labeled with numbers and they appear to be DMC colors. (I compared some to floss I already have and they matched.) A few of them have Coates & Clark printed on them but I think it's still DMC floss.



This is not vintage floss. The DMC labels are very similar to the current one except they're using a different font now. Some of the skeins are only half full but a bunch look like haven't been used at all. I love how they grouped them by colors.



I've been wondering about the former owner of the floss and how her thread ended up in the thrift store. Did she have to give up embroidery or cross stitch due to arthritis or failing eyesight, or did she just lose interest in it and move on to some other craft? Or did she pass away? I know it doesn't matter but I think about stuff like that. And as thrilling as it was to discover these goodies, it was even better because somebody took the time to write the color number on those bobbins, and made sure the labels were still on the skeins she hadn't yet wound on bobbins. Obviously, a girl after my own heart because I would have done the same thing. And I do. I wish the rest of my life was as organized as my floss boxes.

It's crazy but I'm still so happy over this. I feel like I hit the embroidery floss jackpot and for only for $4.50. I keep taking the floss out of the bags and looking at it for awhile, and then putting it back inside. Some day I may actually use it.

Happy Day After Valentine's Day!! Plus A TUSAL Report

Since it's now the day after Valentine's Day, I'd figure I'd show the little heart I made awhile ago specifically for the holiday. Oh, wait. I'm now remembering that it's supposed to be for next year. Yeah, that's right. I made it for 2011. Am I ahead of the game or what?

I love my little felt heart. :)

You can find the tutorial here on The Creative Place. I'm pretty sure I found this project linked on One Pretty Thing.

I've also started a felt heart garland weeks ago but put it aside after I ran out of the red floss (DMC 498) I was using and three different Michael's didn't have any in stock. I finally found some the other day at Tall Mouse, which I think is a store that's only in Southern California but it's similar to Michael's except they sell drool-worthy fabric as well.

My other recent finishes will have to wait until I track back to the sites the patterns were on, so how about a TUSAL Report for February? (The new moon was yesterday). These are my collected thread ends for 2010 so far.


If you'd like to join the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long, go to the sign-up page on Dragon My Needle and sign up. Then post a picture of your TUSAL jar on the day of the New Moon each month.

There's a little Shih Tzu who keeps coming in here and staring at me as I'm typing this. I think she wants a snack so I'm gonna go take care of that. (She's 16 so she pretty much gets what she wants these days.) Have a great Monday!

Thank You So Much!!

Thank you all sooooo much for the comments and emails you've made and sent after my last post. It really helped a lot to read what you wrote and made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm happy to say I am doing so much better now. For one thing, I now have access to my parents' cars -- just like when I was sixteen -- so I FINALLY was able to get out of the house on my own. I've been out to my own personal crack house aka Michael's to use up a gift card I got for Christmas, to In N Out with Maggie for lunch (we had burgers and yes, Maggie is a Shih Tzu) and to Starbucks for iced tea. Next up, I need to go back to work. And after that, I'll marry Johnny Depp and my life will be complete.

Once I get a job and start getting a paycheck again, I can finally have a giveaway. That has been a goal of mine since I started this blog, even back when no one was reading it. Before I run off and marry Johnny Depp, I promise to hold a giveaway or two.

See? I'm not only happier, I'm also delusional.

I just realized it's Friday and I have some finishes to share...which I will do as soon as I take pictures of them.

Thanks again, everyone! You all are the best!

Taking A Break

I am in the middle of getting another post ready but you know what? I don't feel like doing this anymore. I haven't really felt like blogging for a long time. I kept at it though because I thought eventually I would get back into it but that's not happening. After I lost my license and quit my job, reading blogs and posting stuff here, along with all my stupid little craft projects, was what kept me from going completely insane. But it's been three years now and I'm still not back to driving or back to work. I pretty much have no life whatsoever. During the month of September, I only left the house for a trip to the ER. The incision from my foot surgery was infected so I spent the night in the hospital. That was actually a nice change from my usual day-today. In October, my big outing was to see a doctor. I didn't leave the house at all in November, except to take a long walk around my neighborhood. I had to get out of the house that day so I wouldn't sit on my bed and just scream at the top of my lungs which is what I felt like doing at the time. And what I feel like doing now. But instead of screaming, I'm going to bed. So this is my last post for awhile. I'll come back after things change and I feel better. And when pigs fly. :P

(My apologies if this was your first visit to my blog.)

I Got Nothing Except A TUSAL Report

I do believe I've used "I Got Nothing" as a title once before.

Remember that cheer that went "N-O-T-H-I-N-G, that's what [insert name of opposing team] means to me"? Well, I am chanting the N-O-T-H-I-N-G part right now. I had hoped to have something that I had finished this week to share today but I got nothing. My reindeer is all cross-stitched but I still need to turn him into something and I'm still working on that garland that I took apart and was re-doing.

If you'd like to see what others have finished this week, check out Finished for Friday over at Lit and Laundry. And, please join in next week (that's me talking to myself).

Oh, crap. I just realized two things: 1.) you really can't type and eat cheese puffs at the same time and 2.) Friday is the New Moon so time to share a picture of my TUSAL ort jar. Where's my camera...

...so I just took this photo now and it's night time but I turned off the flash so it's not that bad. I give you my brand new ort jar, started on January 5th, for the 2010 Totallty Useless Stitch-A-Long:

See that piece of dark yarn in there? I really should take that out since it came off a sweater I was wearing. All that ecru floss is from when I took my garland apart and also from blanket stitching felt circles for the new version. You can't see it here but there's also some pale pink floss in the jar from cross stitching the reindeer chart.

When I was posing my jar on the bed for its photo shoot, I noticed it has "Don't Forgetta the Mezzetta" in raised letters on the glass. Before I volunteered it to hold my orts, my jar was full of either peperoncini, cherry peppers, banana wax peppers, or that caulifower-carrot mixture from Mezzetta. (I eat them all.) (In fact, I wish I had a cherry pepper right now.)

If you would like to join the TUSAL over at Dragon My Needle, go to the sign-up page and leave some comments.

And, I am off to find that cherry pepper.

How About Some Links to Some Freebies

Is Friday the New Moon or is it Saturday? Whichever it is, I have to remember to take a picture of my ort jar for the TUSAL before then so I can post it.

Bustle and Sew has the cutest hedgehog & turtle embroidery pattern for Valentine's day [via One Pretty Thing].

It's been awhile since I visited LaGattaC, a blog for links to free cross stitch charts . Most of the freebies are on blogs written in languages other than English, but when it comes to cross stitch, that doesn't matter all that much. And if you have to translate something, there's always Google translate.

There's a monthly Postcard Stitch-A-Long on Les grilles de Maryse. The January chart and floss list is on this post (English translation here). Some day I plan to stitch the 2007 Country Houses SAL (in English). Because I want to see pigs fly.

Stofnest is a Dutch blog with several free charts (monochromatic sampler type) that I really like. According to Google, Stofnest means Nest Material.

Over on TipNut, are two embroiderered potholder patterns of a sugar bowl and a creamer.

Look at this cute Quadropus made from a glove on Family Fun (that's an octopus with only four arms) [via One Pretty Thing].

Don't freak out but I may actually have something to share for Finished for Friday over at Lit and Laundry this week. I finished x-stitching my little reindeer and now just have to figure out what to do with him next.

My Half Finished Garland

I take the crappiest pictures. They're usually out of focus, even though I use my camera's macro and super macro settings. Sometimes I hit auto-fix once I upload them but most of the time I leave them as is. But I have to say I really like the photo in my blog header. Which brings me to my new garland:

Well, that's what it looked like before I took it apart. After I saw the photo I used in my banner, I decided to blanket stitch pairs of felt circles together, and then turn the pairs into a garland. By the way, the colors are a little off in that picture. Some of the circles are more blue and not so purple-y.

My garland was inspired by the tutorial on The Purl Bee, except I did not use invisible thread -- I have no idea why but I have a whole spool of it and it reminded me way too much of thin, blond strands of hair and that was kind of creepy so I just didn't use it. And I was too impatient to backstitch all the way across each circle so I just stitched a big X to attach them to one another. I figured the garland would be hanging up high so no one would see the X's. But now that I'm in the mood to do some blanket stitching, so much for the big X's. The Purl Bee garland was for New Year's so hopefully I'll finish mine by next January.

How cute are these decoupaged hangers over at Mod Podge Rocks? I also found out that every Sunday, there will be a giveaway of a Mod Podge Starter Set over there. It's too late to enter the one for this week but I'm writing myself a note as a reminder to get in on the next one.

Speaking of Mod Podge, there's a tutorial for covering tins with fabric on Think Crafts that I want to try. (It was written by Amy of Mod Podge Rocks.) I have a few tins that I wanted to cover in some way, plus I have a bunch of containers from The Republic of Tea that I have been saving because I'm insane. I need to get them out of the cupboard (I need the room!) and do something with them, like cover them with fabric.

Embroideroo shows you how to make a cute strawberry pincushion from fabric and felt. [Link via Tip Nut.] I'd like to make one of these too.

Of Course I'm Out Of Toner

I'm linking to the free artwork at Feed Your Soul because I want to print out a few of them but my printer is currently out of toner so I have to wait until we get some more and I need a reminder or else I'll forget all about it.

I also want to print out the adorable free 2010 calendar at Non dairy Diary

File this under Christmas: Over at What Katie Does is a link to a set of holiday patterns that you could use for embroidery or to stitch cards, like Katie did.

I did a little blog house cleaning last night and was reminded of two Stitch-A-Longs that I never finished in 2008 so I've sent emails to the bloggers in charge and asked to join them again. For both SAL's, you x-stitch an ornament according to the monthly theme, although I believe you can pretty much use any design you want. One is the Bride's Tree SAL (I completed three ornaments for that one) and the other is the Christmas Ornament SAL (I finished four of those). And since I already did January, February, March and an August ornament, I can start two Aprils now and have them all done before May hits. I hope.

By the way, I began a cute little reindeer cross stitch right before Xmas and I had just about finished with his head when I realized my count was really off. I tried removing the incorrect stitches, and since they were done in a deep red floss, they left marks on my Aida I decided I would stitch a background to cover them up. Then I got bored ripping out my mistakes so I just started the whole thing again. And when I finished cross stitching little Blitzen, I decided to add a background. Because I'm nuts. I'm still working on that as of today. I only went three X's out from the edge of the reindeer but it's taking me forever to get it done. Then again, I do have until next December to turn him into an ornament.

Mollie at Wild Olive has posted a cute embroidery freebie for January, the Perplexed Stump. And January's free pattern at Bad Birds is up too (it's squirrels).

I love that Blogger's Spellchecker tells me that bloggers is misspelled. They suggest I use loggers or floggers. It considers blogger a real word. Just don't make it plural.

The TUSAL 2010

Last March, I joined the TUSAL -- Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long -- over at Dragon My Needle. Once a month, on the New Moon, you were supposed to post a photo of your orts jar. (Orts as in thread ends or anything else leftover from your stitching projects.) Since I didn't keep up with it -- I only posted pictures through July and then fell off the wagon for some reason -- I was happy to see there will be a TUSAL for 2010.

You can join any time throughout the year but the first New Moon is on January 16th so why not register now? Go to the Sign Up post and leave some comments to let Yoyo know you'd like to participate in the 2010 TUSAL. If you'd like more information on the TUSAl, check out the rules on this post.

I think I ended up with two ort jars last year and I am ready to start a new one. New jar and new TUSAL: perfect timing.

And I am going to keep up with posting the monthly pictures no matter what. (Stop snickering, MaryBT.)

Blah Blah Blah

So my plan to get caught up on my blog reading is off to a rough start. So is my plan to get caught up on my email, my Facebook messages and to clear off the 17 empty Cherry Coke Zero cans from my bathroom counter, but I finally got "I'm Alright" on my iPod so I'm a happy camper. Yes, the Kenny Loggins' tune that the gopher dances to at the end of Caddyshack.

By the way, snottily telling an iTunes service rep via email that you never have any problems using gift cards from Starbucks or Penneys, unlike iTunes, will get her to issue you free song credits. And don't worry, I apologized to her for being rude in a later email. Once I made sure I could redeem my iTunes card and had those song credits.

Anyways, instead of tackling the empty can situation in the bathroom, I think I am going to make this nifty felt New Years banner from The Purl Bee. I never got around to making an Xmas garland plus I happen to have some invisible thread (for some unknown reason) so this is calling my name [via One Pretty Thing].

Merry Christmas!!

Since it's still Friday in California, I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! And a Happy Valentine's Day because who knows when I'll be blogging again. :P

Links to...Some Stuff

Here's a post I started the other night and forgot all about.

After I hit the lottery, I will be hiring someone just to come up with creative and entertaining post titles.

Over at Retro Mama, there's a pattern for a felt partridge ornament that I just love. I'm probably not going to have time to make one of these but if I do, I will make a mama partridge and a baby one. And call them Shirley and Keith.

Kandra of Sibling Craftery is sharing the cutest robot Christmas elves embroidery patterns. I'm not a super huge fan of robots (sorry, Kandra) but I do love these. If I ever finish the ornaments from the freebies at Wild Olive, I'll start on these robots. Or maybe I should just make things when I feel like it all through the year and if they're done in time for a holiday, fine. If not, just save them for next year.

Now let me add a few more things.

Remember those paper chains we used to make in school for the holidays? I'm sure kids still are still doing that nowadays too. I always want to...ahem, whip one up every year but never get around to it. Well, thanks to this nifty printable holiday paper over at Whip Up, I started one last night. I didn't finish it because my bottle of Elmer's is pretty dried up but I'll get it done this week.

I also plan to do something with some of the Holiday 2009 papers from A Print A Day. Look for a post about my efforts in about 11 months. :P

If I had kids, I would totally make these felt embroidered handprint ornaments for their grandparents. Thanks to The Empty Bobbin for the great idea!

Guess what? I just popped over to Craft Gossip to see what Denise had posted lately on Needlework News and found something I must cross stitch right this very minute so I am out of here. If you're still looking for holiday projects, be sure to check out Craft Gossip and also One Pretty Thing.

One Ornament Down, Tons More To Go

You should all thank me for deleting the entire post I just wrote (except for the following paragraphs) because it was SO BORING. Consider it an early Christmas present.

Mollie over at Wild Olive has been sharing her adorable daily Advent Embroideries patterns, (look in the right sidebar), and they are simple enough that you could stitch the ones she's already posted on her blog so far, and then start working on the new one after she adds it every day.

Last night, I spent a few hours embroidering all seven of the patterns she has shared so far the mitten and making an ornament out of it. Why did it take me so long to do just one? It was due to a busload of dumb mistakes on my part, but my mitten is all finished, and wonky eyes and wrinkled fabric aside, I am happy with it.



You can see some pictures from last night's ornament making project on Facebook.

So, now I am going to stitch up the rest of the posted patterns tonight so I'll be all caught up when Mollie adds another one tomorrow. [insert hysterical laughter here] Well, maybe I won't get all eight finished but I know I can get a few more done this evening.

Let's Say Thanks To The Troops Part Two

Let's try this again...

I tried putting the widget in my sidebar but it was too wide. Then I added it as a post but couldn't edit it without erasing the widget.

So, just go to Lets Say Thanks.com, pick a Thank You card, and Xerox will print it and send it to a someone currently serving in Iraq.

Let's Say Thanks To The Troops

Obviously I Need New Glasses

Beware: Bad Photos Ahead

I wanted to show you the felt turkey I finished last night (just in time for next year's Thanksgiving!) and the daylight is fading so I quickly snapped a few pictures of it after picking the poor thing up off the floor (it had fallen off my night table) and tossing it on the bed. I had no idea there was stuff stuck on it until I looked at the uploads. I've circled them so you wouldn't miss them. See where it says "Open" -- well, that's really a circle around the pen mark that I noticed as I was stitching the turkey together. I tried but couldn't remove it and hoped it would blend in with the orange felt.



Those other two circles are drawn around things that were not there when I put the turkey on my night table last night. I'm not sure what they are, which is why there are question marks next to them. I guess I could walk down the hall to where the turkey is still lying on my bed and inspect them. Or I could go vacuum my bedroom rug, especially around my night table. Or maybe I'll just show you my garland. It's still Autumn, right?


(Sorry it's so dark. The wrinkled sheet is a nice touch.) I can't find the link to the blog where I found the tutorial but I'll add it as soon it it turns up. I didn't follow the directions very well anyway. Basically, you cut a bunch of fall-colored felt into leaf shapes (I found one on Google) and then back stitch them as you're attaching them together, placing beads in between the leaves. But I'm not that talented so I did it my own way.

First, I cut out one set of leaves and back stitched each one. I didn't like how the backs of the leaves looked and that you could see them so I stitched a second set and then whip stitched them together in pairs. Then I attached three beads to the ends of the leaves and put them all together, and 17 months later, I had a garland. And it was still Autumn!

By the way, I checked the turkey and the two extra marks on it were just fuzz. Here it is again, fuzz, ink and all.

You can find the turkey pattern at Wee Folk Art. I stuffed mine instead of doing it as an appliqued block. I wish I had stuffed the feet as well since they're a little too flat.

Be sure to check out all the fantastic free applique patterns and other patterns at Wee Folk Art if you haven't been there before.

Lilith, A Shih Tzu Who Needs A Home

It always kills me when I hear about an older animal who needs a home. My dog, Maggie, is 16 years old now and I just think it would be so sad if she ended up in an animal shelter for whatever reason. She is relatively healthy for her age but there sure wouldn't be a line of people, waiting to adopt a senior Shih Tzu who doesn't hear much anymore or see very well these days.

I moderate a Yahoo group for Shih Tzus in need of rescue. That's where I heard about Lilith. Sorry it's not the best picture.

Lilith is currently at the Loudon County Animal Shelter in Tennessee. I don't how she came to be at the shelter but I read she was matted when she arrived and has since been shaved down. Lilith is an older dog and she may possibly have cataracts. The assistant director of the shelter says they have had some inquiries about her, but so far no one has come in to adopt her. If the shelter gets more dogs and runs out of space, Lilith will be put to sleep.



I posted the link to her Petfinder page on both Facebook and Twitter, and I'm going to do that again. I thought I'd post it here as well. Feel free to crosspost the link below to anyone and anywhere you think it might help. Thank you!

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15068924

Are You Following The Gum Tree Designers?

Um, why are my titles in the form of a question? That's twice in a row. Maybe it's because I'm writing the second entry right after I posted the first one.

Anyway, every Monday, the Gum Tree Designers are sharing a new freebie. Last week's pattern was for an embroidered felt heart ornament that I love, and this week's is for a lovely Christmas apron that someone should make for me that you should download if you're the Xmas-apron-wearing type. Or know somebody who is. Named Patty. Be sure to read the entire Among The Gum Trees blog so you don't miss any of the freebies. (Next week they'll be sharing the last one.)

What is the difference between someone and somebody?

Do You Like Embroidering Elves? How About Skiing Koalas?

I have got to get back to blogging regularly. I keep jotting down things on random scraps of paper that I want to link on here, when, instead, I should just post them as I come across them.

Do I use too many commas? Whatever.

So, tonight's first link is to an elf embroidery freebie from Tangarang. That entire design would make a cute Christmas card, now that I think about it.

The second pattern is for a skiing koala from Follow the White Bunny. I love his reindeer sweater.

One more thing: does anyone remember visiting a site with vintage postcard images, including one of a boy with an ax?

Giveaways At Needlework News

Hey, Denise at Needlework News at Craft Gossip is giving away several books and some note cards. Go to the main page and check out all the November 15 posts. (Yes, I am too lazy to link to each one.) You have until next Monday to enter. Good luck!

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.

Finished For Friday: Donkey Pillow

For this week's Finished for Friday, I have a little felt pillow to share.

One night, I was looking at this pillow that I made...




...when a song called "I Will Dare" by the Replacements came on my iPod. The line that goes "meet me anywhere...meet me tonight...if you will dare, I will dare" just seemed to fit in with the two little dogs on the pillow. Except it was daytime on the pillow. So I decided to make a night time version.

I went with donkeys instead of dogs this time. I knew I wanted a moon and I knew I wanted the donkeys facing one another. The rest, I kind of made up as I went along.



Did you ever see moonflowers? They only open up at night. Mine look nothing like the real thing but I had to add something in a chain stitch so moonflowers it was.



The pillow top was all finished, except for attaching the bottom and stuffing it, when I got the brilliant idea to cut the piece of blue felt that the donkeys are standing on. Of course, I didn't cut it straight. So the black ribbon was added to hide the uneven edges of the blue felt. The ribbon came with the white stitching but I hand sewed it on and that took forever. Also, black floss on black felt will hide many of your mistakes but boy, is that a pain to sew. I had such a hard time seeing my stitches.

I typed the words out and then traced them on to my fabric. I forget which font I used but I really don't like the Y's.



I'm pretty happy with how my little pillow turned out. By the way, I used the same pattern for the donkeys in the pillow as I did for my blog header. It's originally from a set of vintage stamps and you can find it here.

If you'd like to see who else is sharing their finishes this week, check out this post on Lit and Laundry.

Sibling Craftery Giveaway

It's giveaway time over at Sibling Craftery and the prizes are pretty fabulous. To celebrate their one year blog anniversary, Kandra is giving away embroidery floss, fabric scraps, two tea towels to stitch, and a copy of Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart. You can read all the details on how to enter here.

And be sure to check out Kandra's latest Homemade & Heartfelt embroidery freebie and printable gift tags. They're really sweet.

Holy Toledo, Another Post

I'm going through my 518 emails (seriously) and I was reminded of an embroidery freebie of a slice of chocolate cake I had wanted to link to back in September from Dawn Hay Designs.

Reading Dawn's blog just now led me to the Life's a Hoot BOM at Sew Much Time, Sew Little Fabric. It started a few months ago so the first two patterns have already been shared and are no longer available for free (but you can purchase them). I printed out #3 and will make sure I get #4 next month. I had wanted to link to Sew Much Time, Sew Little Fabric awhile ago because of the other freebies from Paula but I don't think I ever did.

There are scraps of paper all over my messy desk with notes about stuff I wanted to blog about and I promise I am going to get to all of it this week. And with tonight's post, I can cross off two of the items. That is, if I ever find the paper I wrote them down on. [sigh]

The second Quaker Motif embroidery pattern from Needle 'N Thread is now in my stash. Mary has "translated" two Quaker cross stitch designs into embroidery patterns. You can find the first pattern here.

I also wanted to link to this Heart Christmas Tree cross stitch pattern that I really liked from Matrioshka Biscornu. I see now that she's posted a second Heart Christmas Tree Chart. Instead of wasting hours on Facebook tomorrow, I should stitch up one of these.

I'm pretty sure, in one way or another, these links all came from Denise at Needlework News at Craft Gossip. Thanks, Denise!

I think one reason I haven't been blogging as much is it's a pain to add the code so all my links open in a new window. Why can't Blogger do that for us?

Happy Halloween!

I was halfway through a post about my lack of blogging but it depressed me too much so instead I'll just show you my recent finishes and wish you all a happy and safe Halloween.

Here's a little bag I made because I wanted to embroider Tubby* as a pirate on a pillow. Somehow she morphed into a witch on a little felt bag.



I used a picture of Tubby for the pattern for her body and Anne's bat & spider patterns (click the pdf to get them) but everything else, I just kind of did on my own. That's why her eyebrows are not even. I'm still not sure what the chain stitch around her neck was supposed to be. (A lace collar?) It's against my religion to cut in a straight line as you can see. And, yes, the purple felt needs to re-glued where I unstuck it so I could attach the handles.

I also made this little pumpkin pillow out of felt. For the original, you used a t-shirt and a sewing machine. (Ooooh, scary!) I planned to make a larger version and also his little kitty friend but I ran out of time.



The Friendly Ghost pillow pattern can be found here at Value Village. [Link via One Pretty Thing.]

One more thing: My mom got this witch somewhere a few years ago and I've always liked her. She hangs on the front door around this time of year. I don't know what she's made of but it's something hard (clay?) and I worry she's going to break when she bangs against the door as someone closes it. You can't tell from the photo but her face is all glittery.


I just realized she looks like the model for Tubby as a witch even though I hadn't seen her since last year. And, here, I thought a pointy hat, a black dress with a lace collar, striped socks and a pumpkin bag (at first, Tubby was going to have one of those) on a witch were so original. :)

Have a Happy Halloween!!

*Tubby is from the game, Pet Society

Yoo hoo!

I am not leaving this computer until I come up with a post for this blog. Oh, wait. Is that lasagna?

(Be back later!)

You Can Embroider These For Next Halloween

Yeah, I know I should have posted this a month ago. Halloween is practically tomorrow but there's still some time to whip out a few spooky scary projects, right? Or, to get started on making stuff for next year. I'm re-posting some of last year's embroidery freebie links because I totally think they are worth sharing again.

Pumpkinhead girl, candy corn, owl, bat, kids in costumes from Green Jello

Bunnies in costumes from Craft Blog

Pumkin Girl from Andrea Zuill at Bad Birds

Witch and vampire from Quixotic Pixels

Ghosts in costumes from Annie Oakleaves

And, I can't forget Jenny's adorable Dangly Spider.

And, thanks to One Pretty Thing, here's a prim Fall Stitchery (pumpkin head with cat mask) from Cash Strapped Crafting (I totally need to check out that blog) and Bat Boy from Andrea Zuill. If you don't regularly visit, One Pretty Thing, you really need to start NOW. Rachel posts so many great links to freebies there.

I haven't done anything for Halloween except for turning some older cross stitched designs into ornaments, but I made a garland of felt leaves last week and I'll share it on Friday. (Have to take a picture first.) And I am almost finished with an embroidery of Tubby as a witch for a little bag. (For those of you just tuning in, Tubby is my Pet Society critter. Here she is hanging out in her back room where she pretends to sell baked goods and lemonade while wearing fish nets and a witch hat.) (Why, yes, I do live vicariously through Miss Tubbalicious.)

Here, Have Some Links

Remember when I used to post links here all the time? Yeah, me either. I just put a couple up on Facebook and wondered why I wasn't posting them here as well.

CakeSpy is giving away a $50 gift certificate for Bake It Pretty. You have until Friday October 16 at 12PM PST to enter. Check this post for details. By the way, Bake It Pretty has a blog and I was just there for the first time and saw this recipe for Ginger Tea Bread. I think I need to make that.

Speaking of recipes, last week my mom and I made this Asparagus, Artichoke, and Mushroom Saute with Tarragon Vinaigrette -- well, I made the vinaigrette and she did everything else because I was dealing with some evil antibiotics that made me nauseous every time I moved my head -- and it was really good. I love anything with a vinegar dressing on it and I love tarragon so this was perfect for me. It's served warm and it was totally fine that way but it was even better the next day after it sat in the fridge overnight.

Jenny over at Allsorts, renamed Owlsorts for now, is sharing some free patterns for making Halloween spinners. How fun!

Edited to add: I just came across this thanks to Denise at Needlework News at Craft Gossip: The Gum Tree Designers are sharing a free Christmas pattern every Monday in October and November. The first one is a gift bag that I just love. I'll definitely be checking their blog every week to see more of their freebies.

Some Links For Wednesday

Thanks for the nice comments about my Pekingese embroidery! :)

I have a few links I wanted to share:

Here's a super adorable fabric dollhouse tutorial from UK lass in the US. If I ever learn to sew, I will make one of these.

I found the dollhouse tutorial from this list on Blue Bird Studio and I just realized that I have been to Blue Bird Studio in the past because I remembered her embroidery patterns of dollies, eggs and bunnies & chicks, and the wall hanging she made with them. I even commented on that post. I swear there are just too many blogs and projects and free patterns to keep track of. (Hey, Patty, isn't that why you started a blog in the first place? To keep track of them all?) (Shut up, voice in my head.)

Heather of Blue Bird Studio also put together a nice list of free BOM patterns.

And, here's a tutorial for a super cute Little Letter Needlebook from Skebba.

Did you see the Apple Tree Applique block from Wee Folk Art? I really want to try that woven spider wheel stitch now.

There are two cute Vintage Pots embroidery transfers over at No Pattern Required. There's lots of other vintage stuff on the blog that's worth checking out. I especially love the posts in the Mid-Century Menu category. You have to read the one about the Welch's Grapelade Cake. Um, yeah.

Pekingese Embroidery

A few years ago, I found a coloring page with a Pekingese and thought I could use it for an embroidery pattern. I printed it out, filed it away and forgot all about it. When I finally did get around to stitching it last year, I ended up tossing it out not long after I started working on it because there was a scorch mark from the iron from when I was transfering the pattern.

Not too long ago, I decided to embroider it again, and even though I wish I had used more of a variety of colors for the lanterns, I am pretty happy with this.

It seems like every time I take pictures of this embroidery, I notice more marks on it. First, there were several pencil smudges on the material (I had traced the pattern with a regular pencil and not a transfer one the second time around). Luckily, they came out with a little spritz of Spray N Wash and a little rubbing with a toothbrush. The second set of photos showed some pieces of floss left behind. I thought I finally had it all cleaned up for the latest round of pics but look at this lantern. See the mark on the lantern near to the pink symbols? (I think it's from a pen.) That was not there last time. I swear this thing is possessed.

Unfortunately, the URL for the Peke coloring page no longer works, and I can't find a similar drawing. But the patterns for the lanterns came from Hoop Love on Flickr.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this embroidery now. I'd love to make a pillow from it. That is, once I make sure I got ALL the the spots out and cleaned off all the thread ends.

I Love You, System Restore

For the past several days, I couldn't get on the internet. Windows suggested I shut off the modem for ten seconds and then turn it back on. I decided I would try that during the following day when there was enough light to see which cord was which under the desk since the flashlight was not where it was supposed to be. I should buy a miner's hat. It would really come in handy at times.

Well, then my sister got involved. There were phone calls made to Cox Cable, which were of no help, so last night, one of their techs came out. He looked at my computer and said something along the lines of "Sorry, I've never seen this before so I can't fix it. It's a hard drive problem."

After he left, the System Restore button caught my eye and I said "What the hay" and clicked on it. I followed all the steps and changed the settings back to September 14th. Guess who's back online now? That would be me, thank you very much.

While my computer was refusing to be friends with the internet, I was using my sister's and all I did was go on Facebook to play Pet Society, so I now have a ton of email to go through and a bunch of blogs to read.

And, for reading this entire thing that has nothing to do with crafting, your reward is a link to The Stitcherhood. Thanks to April Mechelle for posting her finish of one of their freebies. I hadn't heard of The Stitcherhood before I read her blog. I love their designs and they have some nice free charts too. I think I'm going to start one later today.

Enjoy your weekend!

I Swear It's A Caterpillar

Before I get to the crafting, I need to ask this: Can Kanye West be any more of an a-hole?

Ok, moving on to something that would never think to interrupt a Taylor Swift acceptance speech.

This eyeglass case from Betz White made me drool (Argyle sweater felt! Rick rack! Pretty fabric lining! Caterpillars!) so I made one that looks absolutely nothing like hers. I shrunk the pattern a little bit because I wanted a smaller case for my cheapie magnifiers. Which, by the way, were less than three bucks at Michaels.



I used some nubby eco-felt which is stiff enough to protect my cheapie magnifiers when I toss the case in my purse, but the dark color made it tough to see how far apart to place my blanket stitches. However, the softer white craft felt that I used for the lining makes it easy to see how uneven my blanket stitches are.



What's that? You want to know what's up with the random buttons. Try squinting a little. See the caterpillar now? No? Squint some more. Memo to self: use a darker colored floss for the antenna next time.



I also used the same felt to make this little bear. Here he is balancing on one foot in my TUSAL jar.



I keep calling it eco felt but it's felt made with Eco-fi which is a polyester made from recycled plastic bottles. It comes in a variety pack in an assortment of textures and colors. The brown felt that I used for the case and the bear has a rough surface and it's not as flexible as regular felt but you can easily get a needle through it. It's perfect for the eyeglasses case.

If you're not a regular reader of It's Daffycat, you may have missed Sharon's cute Elephant Hello cross stitch freebie.

Finished For Friday: It's Tubby

Time for another Finished for Friday post!

My new favorite Facebook game is Pet Society where you create an adorable little critter and then feed it and play with it, decorate its house and visit its friends. Thanks to the cuteness factor, I am now obsessed with this game.

My pet is named Tubby and her turn-ons include guitars...

...making googly eyes at her stuffed horse (which is cute and creepy)...

...and lattes.

Recently, I decided I needed to immortalize Tubby in felt and ended up making a pillow with her image on the front. Sorry for the dark picture. When I lightened it up, it looked cartoonish so I just kept it as is.

I printed out a picture of Tubby and used that for a pattern. One copy worked for the body shape and then I cut up a couple of others for patterns for the eyes, nose and the white fluff on her head. The dress I cut out freehand but used the body as a guide. She's made from a combination of craft felt, eco felt and wool felt. (Jo-ann, if you're reading this, the felt for her dress came from you. Thanks again!)

Here's a close-up of Miss Tubbalicious.




If you'd like to share anything you have finished lately (a craft project, a book, a bag of Cheetos), head on over to Lit and Laundry and leave a link to your blog on this post so we can see what you've been up to this week.

Vintage Thingies Thursday: An Old Book

There was a link to "a recipe for roast beef" on a great new-to-me blog called Bookmark Collector and I HAD to click it. (I'll click most anything to do with a recipe and/or food.) That led me to this post on my new favorite blog, Forgotten Bookmarks. The recipe had turned up in a book by Louisa May Alcott called "Eight Cousins." It looked like the one I have, except the color on the spine and cover was green and mine is orange-y. That reminded me it had been a long time since I did a post for Vintage Thingies Thursday so I thought I'd share my copy of "Eight Cousins" today.


"Eight Cousins" is one of the books in a set that my mom gave me in 1974. (Or was it 1975?) (And, boy was my handwriting sloppy when I was 11 or what?) The set includes "Little Women" and "Little Men." After the Little House series from Laura Ingalls Wilder, they were my favorite books when I was a kid.



I remember being fascinated by the color illustration before the title page of each book. (You can click the image to see a larger version.)




Visit Suzanne over at Coloradolady to see who else is sharing their vintage treasures this week.

Bookmark Collector is full of links to bookmarks you can buy, ones you can make, to bookmark contests and collections, so go take a look if you have a thing for bookmarks.

And, be sure to check out my new favorite blog Forgotten Bookmarks for more random ephemera (postcards, post-it notes, credit card receipts, etc) found in old books by someone who works in a used and rare bookstore.

A Day Without You Know Whats

Today, 09/09/09, is A Day Without Cats on the Internet, so please enjoy I Has A Corm. The hammie is not playing the piano but it still cracks me up every time.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

My Life As A Hamster

I've become nocturnal -- sleeping all day and up all night -- so I keep missing opportunities to take more pictures of my Tubby pillow in daylight-- the first round did not turn out well -- and of my TUSAL jar. So, tonight, I am just going to share some links.

There's a cute 1960's kitty embroidery freebie at Primrose Design. That blog was one of the first "crafty" ones I ever read. I still refer to Janet's Stitch School posts when I need a reminder on how to make certain embroidery stitches.

Look at the cute cute cute Jingle Owls from Eileen's Attic. I have got to make one of these! And, have you seen the adorable Kokeshi stuffie from Melly & Me? [Both links via Freebies For Crafters.]

Speaking of softies, it's once again time to make one or two or seventeen and send them off to Pip at Meet Me at Mikes so they can be donated to The Mirabel Foundation, and then given to kids who have been abandoned or orphaned due to drug-abusing parents. For all the details on making softies, where to send them, and links to free patterns, go to this post. I actually made a small bear last night for this project but I used some eco felt which is kind of rough and scratchy (and would make lovely carpeting in a doll house) and I would rather my softie be, well, soft. So I'm considering him a practice run. My goal is to make at least three softies for Mirabel.

Stop laughing, you guys.

I Really Do Make Things

I still have about two inches left to stitch up the opening on Tubby's pillow and then I'll be done. I was working on it earlier today while listening to the radio about the fires burning in Los Angeles County. Forget the earthquakes. It's the fires that scare the crap out of me. And now that I live a street away from hills full of dry brush, it's even more scarier. Anyway, I hope to finish my pillow tomorrow.

I usually don't post anything on Flickr until I'm ready to blog about it but sometimes I put pictures of things I've made on Facebook and forget all about blogging them. Like my Revoluzzzionary monster. The pattern & tutorial has been in my stash for awhile but one night I ran across it on two different sites and I thought that was a sign it was time to make one. Here he/she/it is before I stuffed it. I like his/her/its fang. I used patterned eco-felt. (If you enlarge the photo, you can see the butterflies in the felt. The ones I didn't notice until after I took the picture.)

Remember the Little Pink House Tutorial posted on Sew Mama Sew a couple of weeks ago? Here's my version. Which I hate. Apparently, cutting out round circles is beyond my capabilities. So is sewing a running stitch. (And, trust me, doing a halfway decent whip stitch is out of the question.) I didn't have a seven inch hoop so I made a pillow instead. I'm much happier with my monster than my pink house.



Speaking of embroidery, did you see the cute redwork pattern on Loobylu? [via WhipUp]

And, the two embroidery projects from Mollie at Wild Olive: her August workshop is all about making Button Buddies (hedgehog and owl alert) and her Tasty Paste pattern (scroll down a little) over at The Sampler? I don't remember ever eating paste when I was a kid but I do remember my friends and I coating our hands with Elmer's glue and then peeling it off when it was all dry.

One more thing before I go: Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. Make it. Simple, quick and really good. I'd share a picture of mine but it wasn't around long enough for me to take one but you can see Barbara's here. I'm making it again later today.

Tubby Doesn't Have Sexy Boots

My new favorite Facebook game is Pet Society and I have no doubt it's because the critters are so freaking cute. Here's a video someone made of their pet, Bamboosha, dancing to U2.

By the way, my pet's name is Tubby and I am in the process of making a felt Tubby pillow. I have to embroider certain features of her face and will have to wing it so I've put off getting starting on it but I'm hoping to get it done today so I can post it for Finished for Friday.

FFF: A Few Recent X-Stitch Finishes

I was saving this post for Finished for Friday and I got so involved with playing Pet Society on Facebook, that I forgot all about posting it this afternoon. Luckily, it's still Friday in California.

Time to share some recent cross stitch finishes for Finished for Friday.

I took these two pictures right after one another (and without using the flash for either one) but look how different they are.



I actually stitched those back in 2007 and last week I decided it was time to add some felt to the back, a loop to the top and stuff them, because that's pretty much what I do with everything I cross stitch these days. The black spider chart may have come from the DMC web site and the others were freebies for members of a Yahoo group. Helga Mandl was the owner of the Yahoo group and the Halloween charts are now available for sale on her site. She has some other free designs there too.

When I first saw this Red Sweatered Teddy cross stitch chart, it was on DMC's Italian website. You can now find it on their USA site but you'll need to join the DMC Club to access the chart. (It's free to join and your log-in will work on their other sites too.) I used all the suggested colors of floss and stitched the bear on 18 ct Aida. And, I backed it with some blue felt, stuffed it and added a yellow loop. I am so predictable.

This Korean website has a ton of free cross stitch charts. Forty-nine pages worth! Since there are no thumbnails for each one, you'll have to click on the links. Google's English translation will give you some idea of what you're clicking on but it seems not all of the chart pages will translate. You can pretty mnuch figure them out anyway. I had no idea how to finish off the koala and or bear so I just added some felt to the backs, and I may stick an ornament hook in them and hang them on my Xmas tree this year. The pattern for the bear in the blue shirt is here and I'm still tring to track down the koala chart. (I'm up to page 20 so far.)

Thanks to Lit and Laundry for hosting Finished for Friday every week!

Vote For Mya!!

Is this not the cutest goat you ever saw? Please vote for Kellie's dog, Mya! Thanks!