April TUSAL Report

It's time for a New Moon so I have another picture of my TUSAL jar to share.  But, first, this is what I had to deal with when I sat on my bed to take pictures.

We had to clear out of the house for five days this past week while the new floor was being installed and I forgot to take my TUSAL jar with me so I collected my orts in a Ziploc bag.  I think the embroidery I did while sitting in a motel room was the most I have done all month.



And, there's my jar with the new threads added.



Thanks to Sharon at It's Daffycat for hosting the Totally-Useless-Stitch-a-Long this year!

Dirty Or Clean In Felt

A few years ago, Loralynn sent me a biscornu that she made out of felt that I totally love.




She makes a lot of really cool things and I have to share one of her latest projects because I love it so much.  It's one of those Clean or Dirty signs that you put on your dishwasher.  It's so cute and it's made out of felt.  Please visit her blog now and check it out.  Isn't that great?!

Help With A Quilt For Japan

I was just over at Mom Wald's Place and read about the quilt project she has started to raise money for Japan.  She plans to auction or raffle off the quilt and donate the proceeds to the Red Cross.  You can help by stitching up a square with a vintage fruit or vegetable design -- she suggests checking Hoop Love on Flickr for patterns to use.  She's also accepting fruit and veggie themed fabric squares.  This post has all the details.  And, read this one too.

Great idea, Mom Wald!

Cute Idea For Christmas Ornaments

Hey, it's never too late to start making Christmas stuff and I thought these embroidery hoop ornaments from The Crafty Cupboard were really cute.

Adopt The Internet Day 2011

Today is Adopt the Internet Day.

Petfinder is asking us to promote pet adoption by spreading the word online.  You can add a badge to your blog or website, and use your Facebook status or share a link on Twitter to a Petfinder pet who is looking for a home.  In the past fifteen years, Petfinder has helped 17 million animals find new homes.  Help them get even more pets adopted.  Get more inforamation on Adopt the Internet Day here. 

Pumpkin and Lucy say thank you!

Check Out Wild Olive

Mollie over at Wild Olive is doing a series on embroidery basics, She's starting off with a post on materials you will need before you start stitching.  Go check it out.

Hearts For Christchurch

A blogger named Evie is collecting hearts for people affected by the earthquake in New Zealand. 

"Two heart shapes sewn together, stuffed or not, embellished, embroidered, CQ’d, quilted, plain or fancy, felt or fabric or anything goes. Add a loop at the top."

What will she do with the hearts?  One idea is to hang all the hearts in one place as a show of support so everyone can see them.

You can find all the details on her blog, Hearts for Christchurch.

That's the last link for today but I have more to post so stay tuned.

Stuffed Bunny

Here's a Funny Bunny Plush Doll from A Beautiful Mess.

Cute Little Bag Tutorial

This link turned up on Facebook but now I can't remember who posted it.  Thanks to whoever you are!

A tutorial for a cute little drawstring bag with directions for hand sewing.  Sign me up.

Owls!

Janet of JMD Designs is holding an "artistic event."  Make an owl based on her free design and you might win some fabulous prizes.  There are two categories to enter. One is for hand stitched needlework or hand applique and the other is for mixed media.  All the details on the Evie Owl Event are here.  Link via Denise at Craft Gossip.

And, here's a tutorial to make a baby felt owl.  Link via my Facebook friend, Shonna.

Embroidery Round-ups

You can find a round-up of free embroidery patterns on Craft Gossip and on One Pretty Thing, including the latest freebie from Badbirds:  a platypus.

Also, check out this post on Craft Gossip for some Easter embroidery patterns and cross stitch charts.

A Post Every Hour

I feel bad about not blogging.  I miss it.  Sometimes I post links to crafty stuff on Facebook and think I should be doing that on my blog instead.  I have a bunch of links to share so I'm going to write some posts and then schedule them to publish tomorrow. 

Let's start with two for St. Patrick's Day.

Jenny has a tutorial for a cute felt shamrock pin.  I made one a couple of years ago.  And posed it with a felt guinea pig I made.




And, here's another cute felt pin from Paper Dali.

Wondering why I don't have a Holidays label.

March TUSAL Update

Time for the March TUSAL update.

This afternoon, I tossed my ORTs jar on the bed while Lucy and Ethel Pumpkin* were playing and snapped a few pictures.  If you look closely, you can see a few threads in the bottom of the jar. The poor thing is not getting much action due to a lack of stitching on my part.

And yes, that is a different jar.  For the third month in a row.  After I knew there would be plumbers and work men in my bedroom to fix that leaky pipe behind my closet wall and they would see several jelly jars full of threads on my book shelf and think I was insane, I decided to combine the contents from all the jars into the large canning jar that I picked up last month at the thrift store and just use the one above for 2011.  They can still think I'm insane, just not as much. 

By the way, they plugged up the holes in the walls and re-painted them and they look fantastic.  You can't even tell it was patched, or whatever the term is.  Not sure when they will be here to install the new floor but we're halfway done now.

*My sister and I had Lucy at a new vet and when we mentioned we also had a dog named Pumpkin at home, he said we must be huge Peanuts fans.  At first, neither of us knew what he was talking about.  Probably because Linus and his Great Pumpkin story was never one of our favorites.

And, in semi-related news, this is hilarious:




P. S.  Thanks to Sheila for the reminder it was time for a TUSAL update.

Wordless Wednesday

Hello, Pumpkin!

The Latest News

Here's a post I forgot to finish last week.

The good news is I don't have to have cataract surgery for six months to a year.  Also, I don't have any new changes to my eyes from diabetes.  But I do have to get new glasses for both reading and driving.  Right now, I use a pair of non-prescription readers for the computer and reading, plus a magnifying glass for things like embroidery or cross stitch, and I thought I was doing fine, except on days when my cataract makes everything wonky, but I just looked at a photo on my huge-ass monitor of my latest stitching and I can't believe how clear it is.  Look at the weave on that fabric.  Who knew it was there?  And, now I can see just how bad my embroidery skills are.  Boy, do I need to practice my satin and back stitching.

By the way, that is a lop-sided mushroom with a round stem, in case you were wondering.


I've erased the rest of this post because it's already outdated.  We had a leaky pipe in the wall behind my closet and I had written about that and was going to show a picture of the huge hole in my wall but it's already been patched and dry walled.  Next up: new paint.  And then, and this is the big one: we get new flooring in pretty much the entire house (everywhere but the bathrooms and kitchen/family room).  Sounds good, huh?  Especially when you consider the wood floor that's already here is scratched in places, there's previous water damage by the front door, and even though the same kind of wood was used all over, some it is shiny and some of it isn't (I think there are two different finishes).  Plus the carpet in my bedroom should have been replaced years ago.  I'm excited to get new flooring but it hit me tonight that we will basically have to pack up everything from nearly every room and put it somewhere while the new floor is being installed.  It's almost like moving.


Just shoot me.

Of Course I MIssed The February TUSAL Update

I was just over at It's Daffycat and found out there was a new moon yesterday so I missed posting a TUSAL update.  I took some pictures anyway.  .

I found this canning jar at a thrift store the other day and thought I would make it my new TUSAL jar.  It's the bigger kind so it probably won't be filled up for years.



Meanwhile, this is my current jar.  I made a finished cross stitch into an ornament (shocker!) and also did a little embroidery so few thread ends made it in there.  (Last month, my jar was totally empty.)



On the left, is my 2010 jar and on the right, is my current one.  Well, it was the current one before I bought the canning jar.



Wasn't that exciting?!

Make These For Valentine's Day

I love these felt roses from Spending Less Living More.  They were linked on this post of crafty Valentine ideas from Craft Gossip.

I also love these Valentine marshmallows from The Decorated Cookie.  They were linked here on Craft Gossip.

And, nothing to do with Valentine's Day but also on Craft Gossip is Denise's latest free embroidery pattern round-up.

I love Craft Gossip.

Make A Cute Valentine Pillow

I love this cute little love heart pillow from Lynn B [link via Craft Gossip].

Another Reason To Get Off My Butt And Make Something

Well, I'm still sitting at my computer, trying to get caught up with some blog reading.

Over at The Inkling Network is a tutorial to make a cute little baby owl brooch link via The Owl Barn.

And, now it's time for a rant:  Why can't Blogger set it up so that each link opens in a new window?!?!  God, this annoys me.

Also for Blogger:  why won't links work in preview mode anymore?  Maybe I'm the exception but I like to check my links before hitting Publish to make sure they work AND open in a new window and now I can't do that.

Ok, I feel better now.

UPDATE 9/24/15:  I can't believe I am doing this.  I'm updating this post from January 2011 because the link for the tutorial for the cute owl brooch no longer works.  THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD ALWAYS PRINT EVERYTHING OUT!!

You can find the link to the owl brooch tutorial as of 9/24/2015 here.

Get Off Your Butt, Patty

I just read over at Craft Gossip that Aimee Ray is doing an embroidery stitch-a-long over at Lark Crafts and thought if only I could transfer some patterns using the stick-your-design-in-the-window-and-trace-it-with-a-pencil method right now and then I realized it wasn't 2 AM like it usually is when I'm online but only 2:30 PM and really sunny out (and 79 degrees!) so I should get up from this chair and go trace some patterns on to my fabric.

OMG, the free patterns are so cute!  You can read more about the SAL on this post.

Lucy Video

This has nothing to do with embroidery or anything I made. I just needed a place to post a video of Lucy doing her scary tail thing so I can share it with some people.

My January TUSAL Update

Today in the New Moon so here's a picture of my 2011 ORTs jar for the Totally UselessStitch-A-Long.  The jar is on the left.  The dog on the right is Lucy.  It's Lucy's and Pumpkin's fault that my jar is empty because I haven't embroidered or cross stitched since these two were adopted about a month ago.  I've showered a few times and once I cut my toenails but other than babysitting the two little darlings, there isn't much else going on with me right now.

If you're my Facebook friend, you may have thought I was close to a breakdown over these dogs last night because of what I posted on my wall.  I had reached my limit with Lucy going after Pumpkin.  One minute they're playing and everybody is happy with tails wagging and the next minute Lucy growls and snarls at Pumpkin because Pumpkin walked by Lucy's blanket.  I actually uttered the words "maybe Lucy needs a new home" to my mom because I was thinking she might need to be in an only dog household.  The fact that I even said that out loud really shocked me.  I suddenly felt like one of those loser pet owners who I've complained about or rolled my eyes at because they decided to get rid of their dog for some stupid reason.  Like the ones who were now empty nesters and wanted to travel the world so poor 11 yr old Fido was dumped at a shelter.  Or because they were moving on Saturday and if the rescue group didn't help them find a new home for their dog on Friday, well, it was going to the pound.  Last night I actually saw a classified ad for an 8 month old Shih Tzu who was being given up because "we got her after being told she was house trained but she isn't and no one here has the time to do it."[insert scream here]

 I spent a few hours reading up on dog behavior online and also emailed a bunch of my dog-rescue friends and those that have adopted shelter dogs to ask for advice.  I'm convinced that Lucy & Pumpkin hacked into AOL last night and read that email because today was practically perfect with them.  They played as much as usual but it didn't get too rough that often, and when it did, they took breaks and had little cat naps.  I don't think I heard anything other than a play grow all day.  Pumpkin even pooped in the garage and didn't even try to snack on it.  Yay, Pumpkin! 

I know we still have a ways to go until things are how they should be and we will work with a trainer as soon as I find the right one but today really was a good day.  I think my frustration is born out of a lack of sleep and not being able to make anything for over a month.  Seriously.  Laugh if you want but sticking a needle and thread through fabric calms me and relaxes me and makes me happy.  It's like your Prozac.  And, her pot.  And you over there passed out in a drunken stupor, your vodka.  Crafting and Maggie are pretty much what kept me sane the past few years and now I don't have either one.  But I can start crafting again and now instead of Maggie, I have Lucy and Ethel Pumpkin to keep me from sticking my head in the oven.  (I just wanted to use the strike key in Blogger's new editor.  And somebody PLEASE tell me they fixed it so you can set your links to open in new windows without manually adding the code yourself, which is a major pain in the ass and one reason I don't post as many links as I used to.) 

In related news, I have a $15 gift card to blow on iTunes which ranks right up there with dogs and crafting on the things-that-make-me-happy scale so I am off to do that.

If you'd like to join the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long yourself, please check Sharon's blog.

And, in honor of the TUSAL here's the New Moon on Monday video from Duran Duran.

It's Two, Two Posts In One Day

Wow, my second post of the day. And year. How unlike me.

Remember the Totally Useless Stitch A Long aka TUSAL? I started it last year and then abandoned it at some point. (It was February. How sad is that?) Which makes no sense because it's fun and brainless. (Just like I like my men. Har, har.) You don't even have to stitch anything. All you need to do is save your floss ends or ORTs, stick them in a jar and share a picture of it once a month, on the day of the new moon.

Yoyo, who used to organize it, has disappeared from Blog Land (I hope she's ok, she was a nice lady) but the wonderful Sharon over at It's Daffycat has stepped in to be the official keeper of the TUSAL. If you want to join in, go leave some Sharon comments on this post. Make sure you do it before the 4th of January because that's not only the first day to post a picture of your jar, but you will also qualify to win fabulous prizes at the end of the year if you post every month.

Here's a picture of my TUSAL jar as of last February. It's now full so I plan to start a new one and share a photo of it on every New Moon, even if it's always empty because I have two canine toddlers who never let me do anything but supervise them.



And, now I am off to make minestrone soup. And babysit the devil dogs.

Shhh, The Dogs Are Sleeping

I started on this last night and didn't get to finish because I had to put two dogs to bed. I swear, this is like having toddlers.

Happy New Year to my three faithful readers!! I hope your holidays were merry and bright, and your New Year's Eve hangover is gone by the time you read this. I figured I'd get in a little blogging while the dogs are napping at my feet. (Yes, Virginia, Ambien does work on dogs.)

Little Miss Shabby is doing a cute embroidery block-of-the-month called Birdie Stitches. You can see the layout for the quilt here and the supply list here. The first block is up on this post.
I love this embroidery freebie of Lulu and her dog, Bear, from Gina at Spot Colors.

That reminds me: I have one little dog who you take out and tell her to "go potty" and she does exactly that. I have another little dog who likes to poop on the pile of pattern printouts on my bedroom floor and then eat it. Lovely. Maybe she's telling me to put those patterns away. Actually, she has only done this once. The pooping on my papers part, not the eating part. She hasn't eaten her last two poops though so maybe she is getting over it.

I'd like to thank anyone who has continued to read this post up until this post.

Over at Tipnut, is a list of links to tutorials to make 24 softies. If I ever get a chance, I will actually go through that list. And, then pigs will fly.

Did anyone watch the Rose Parade? I had it on earlier and realized we (my sister, her friend and I) went to see it in person 31 years ago when I was 16. Frank Sinatra was the Grand Marshal. It amazes me how it never seems to rain during the parade. According to Bob Eubanks, it has rained twice for the parade (I honestly don't remember that) and both times they had a Supreme Court Justice as the Grand Marshal. Interesting.

No More Blogging, Crafting, Reading Or Cleaning For Me

I do believe my blogging, crafting, reading and cleaning days are temporarily over for now.

(I crossed off cleaning since I do believe picking up dog poop and dealing with wet-from-pee newspapers counts as cleaning.)

Yes, there are two new little doggies at my house and all I have been doing for about ten days now is babysitting them.

It's so fun! (Except for the part where one is jealous of the other and there's a lot of growling or the part where one wants to play and the other doesn't understand and there's a lot of growling. Anyone have a number for dog trainer Victoria Stilwell?)

The taller but skinnier of the two, Lucy, will not stop moving long enough for me to get a clear picture of her so I've posted a video of her made by some wonderful shelter volunteers (they called her Minnie). I've also put up the video of Pumpkin (they called her Rosie). You can see both in the two previous posts.

Merry Christmas to me!!

Rosie A4214346 ADOPTED!!!

Meet my other new doggie, Pumpkin. (The shelter volunteers called her Rosie.)

Minnie A4210086

Meet my new doggie, Lucy. (Minnie was her shelter name.)

Please Vote For Rachel

All I want to do is go to bed so I'm going to post a link to a post on Average Jane Crafter and ask that you please go read it and then vote for Rachel. She embroidered the moon in a really cool way and now she's entered in the 2010 Space Craft Contest presented by Etsy and NASA. Yes, that NASA. Read all about by clicking the link posted above.

Goodnight!

Must Make

I am just about finished with my felt sampler Christmas tree from Inspired Ideas magazine so I'm thinking about my next project. Decisions, decisions!

Little Birdie Plush from A Beautiful Mess

Puppy Pal (scroll down to the bottom of the post) from Turkey Feathers

Owl Hexie Ornament of the Week from Bee Tree Designs (make sure you check all the free patterns there)

Festive Felt Christmas Trees from All Sorts

Christmas deer and fox felt applique from Bustle & Sew

World Diabetes Day

World Diabetes Day is today, Sunday, November 14th, which is why I put the giant candle in my right sidebar. You can use the match to light it (you'll be taken to the World Diabetes website).

I'm all for raising awareness about diabetes but the majority of the time it's focused on Type 2, which is not the kind I have. I have Type 1. Sometimes I want to scream when people talk about preventing diabetes because there is no way to prevent Type 1 diabetes. And, if you're a regular reader of this blog, I am sure you know that by now because I've whined about it enough over the past few years. See how well I spread awareness? :)

I'll leave you with my favorite diabeetus video.



P.S. Thank you to Drs. Banting and Best for discovering insulin.

Looking For Cookie Recipe

Yesterday was the Marine Corps birthday and since my mom was going to her monthly lunch with a bunch of former servicemen today, she wanted to make some cookies with her giant Marine Corps emblem cookie cutter for her friends. Long story short, the dough would not cooperate when it was time to roll it out so I told her I would track down a recipe that she could use next time.

I haven't Googled it yet but I thought I would ask you all if you had a recipe for rolled cookies. Wait. Is that what you call them? I only know drop cookies. Anyway, the kind where you use a cookie cutter.

Thank you!

P.S. Thank you to all our veterans for your service!

Book Giveaways On Craft Gossip

Craft Gossip is giving away a copy of Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection. Leave a comment on this post by November 14 to enter.

They're also giving away ten copies of Amy Sedaris' new book Simple Times: Craft for Poor People and a $250 craft voucher. You have until November 21 to get in on that one. Go here for more info.

Good luck to you all! And, here's hoping I win.

Free Redwork Patterns

A few years ago, there was a set of free embroidery patterns on Bobby Socks Quilt Company of 50's style dresses (called Dress Me Up) that I just loved. I printed most of them out (I think I missed two of them), and I swear some day I am going to stitch them all up.

Stop laughing.

Anyway, I know I also printed out the freebies from the following year, but I hadn't been back to the new site in a long, long time. I was just there now and found a set of free redwork patterns for 2010, called Fairy Tails, which are really cute. Be sure to save them all now because they won't be up once the year is over. And, good news for me: the Dress Me Up patterns are available for purchase from the site.

Felt Flowers

I had a link saved to this blog post on Twin Fibers because I loved the look of the felt flowers.

Tonight I was back at Twin Fibers and saw the finished white flowers. They're peonies. Funny because earlier I was searching for patterns for peonies, for embroidery, cross stitch, whatever.

It's nice to know there is a lovely version of a felt peony out there that I can look at from time to time and drool over.

(Yes, I have been drooling a lot lately.)

P.S. I love the dahlia too.

Drool Inspiring

About ten years ago, I made a felt cat bag from instructions in Country Living magazine. I am pretty sure this was the first time I ever blanket stitched two pieces of felt together. And, when I look the picture, I hope to God that was my first attempt at blanket stitching because boy, is it horrible. (Click for larger version, if you dare.)

Did I say I made that ten years ago? I meant to say I made it when I was two. And sitting in the dark in the basement. During a power failure. And I was really drunk. And I was blind at the time. And in a coma.

I made that bag at the request of my mother so when I saw the tutorial for a felt cat bag in the Autumn issue of Inspired Ideas, I decided I should make one for my mom.


I just realized I must take pictures with my eyes closed. In the basement. Which apparently is painted white. (Memo to self: stop hanging stuff on the same white door for picture-taking.)

One thing I will say about that kitty bag is if I ever make one again, I will add the eyes and nose before I stitch the bag together. It's too hard for me to stitch on anything other than a flat surface.

In related news: Amy Powers of Inspire Co. has put out the Christmas issue of Inspired Ideas. I'm not even going to tell you what's in it. Just go take a look. I promise you will not be disappointed. You will probably be inspired to drool a little. I know I was. And I wasn't even passed out at the time. (If you can't see the e-magazine at the link above, try this one).

Click Me

This was supposed to post at 10:10 tonight. Since it's still not up, I am adding another link. Take that, Blogger.

Dutch Sisters (a new-to-me blog) has a tutorial up to embroider and make a cute toadstool. There isn't a pattern (they do sell a kit for it in their store) but I think you could wing it.

I have way too many saved patterns for little stuffed animals and I think these are too involved for me to make, but I could not pass up linking to the tutorial for making Niblet and Biscuit. Niblet and Biscuit. Such cute words. They're cute dolls too. I also just fell in love with Gwenny Penny's Welcome Autumn banner. I'd print it right now but my printer needs toner.

Who knows when I'll get to it but I am definitely making one of these felt birds from A Feathered Nest in the very near future [via One Pretty Thing].

I love this Pottery Barn inspired poinsettia pillow from Spartan Living [via Craft Gossip].

The Felt Flower Mixed Bouquet over at Creative Jewish Mom is now at the top of my to-do/to-make/to-drool over list. As soon as I decide which colors I want my flowers, I am starting on this.

Two Great Quotes

From an Etsy interview with Amy Sedaris:

"My philosophy is simple: if plain people craft, and attractive people have sex, and you find yourself a crafter, take comfort in the fact that with crafting, the risk of STDs is greatly reduced."

"If you craft, and you should, craft with abandon and don’t judge your work. It’s the process that’s important, not the final product. Remember, for every person who deems your project crap, there is another person who hasn’t seen it. The only person you have to please is yourself, and what do you know about art?"

Read the entire interview here.

The Most Amazing Unexpected Thing Just Happened

So, I'm sitting at my computer reading the latest newsletter from Bunny Hill Designs and my sister wanders in and looks at the gift tags on my monitor (linked in the newsletter) and says "How cute!" And, I say how there are tons of free printable gift tags out there and that it's too bad I don't have any presents to give, and she says "Why don't you print them out and make a garland?"

Oh. My. God.

My sister does not craft. She once made a Christmas ornament when she was in Blue Birds in first grade but that was back in the 70's. She enjoys reading mysteries, doing puzzles and eating salami but she does not sew or embroider or paint or cook or collage or whittle or knit toilet paper cozies from cat hair so I was shocked and appalled and stunned and amazed at what she said.

I really should add that she was a graphic artist at her last job, so it's not that she isn't creative. It's just that she doesn't, you know, make stuff.

The gift tags are on the free page at Bunny Tales.

Diabetes Awareness Month Now With A Meme!

November is Diabetes Awareness Month so how about a diabetes meme? [via Six Until Me]

What type of diabetes do you have: Type 1 aka insulin-dependent diabetes. And, please stop calling it juvenile diabetes. Really, people. This is 2010.

When were you diagnosed: August 1978

What's your current blood sugar: 163

What kind of meter do you use: One Touch Ultra

How many times a day do you test your blood sugar: 5-10 times a day

What's a "high" number for you: Anything over 199

What do you consider "low": Anything that makes me feel "not right," usually below 80

What's your favorite low blood sugar reaction treater: Mixed fruit glucose tablets from Rite-Aid

Describe your dream endo: One who treats me for free (I don't have insurance)

What's your biggest diabetes achievement: Living 32 years with it. Go, me!

What's your biggest diabetes-related fear: Kidney failure

Who's on your support team: Me, myself and I, and financially, my father

Do you think there will be a cure in your lifetime: Nah. And, I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all but do you realize how many people would be out of a job if a cure was found?

What is a "cure" to you? My pancreas starts making unlimited insulin again

The most annoying thing people say to you about your diabetes is: "Oh, I guess you can't eat cake." OMG, shut up.

What is the most common misconception about diabetes: That Type 1 is just like Type 2 and can be treated with diet. Which part of "my pancreas no longer produces insulin, and without insulin, I will die" do you not get?

If you could say one thing to your pancreas, what would it be: I'll bake you a cake if you start working again.

I'll leave you with my diabetes PSA from this here blog in May 2009:

Here's my PSA: Sonia Sotomayor has Type 1 diabetes. It's caused when the pancreas stops producing insulin. It has NOTHING to do 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.

Making you diabeetus aware, one post at a time.

Tie One On's New Theme

I was happy to see that Tie One On has another apron contest going on. (Would that be an apron-along?) This one is Apple Cider and you can read all about it here.

The deadline to post a photo of your finished apron to the Flicker gallery is December 1st and the prize is a randomly selected book.

FYI: Amy from Angry Chicken is behind Tie One On.

Halloween Update

Finally, something Halloween-y to share: ghosts and candy corn cookies.


The instructions for the ghosts were in Country Living (slide #7) and they are really simple to make. You'll need those white tissue paper honeycomb wedding bells that you find at party stores and black construction paper or cardstock for their eyes and mouths. (The magazine suggested glue dots to stick them on but I didn't have any so I just used my hot glue gun.) Then drape cheesecloth over the ghosts and there you go.

I saw the recipe for the candy corn cookies on a blog and then later found it on the Land O'Lakes website. The only difference was the blogger used sanding sugar on hers at the end. I just used granulated. These are just sugar cookies made to look like candy corn and are easy to make. You can find step-by-step photos here.

By the way, the recipe yields 15 dozen cookies, (they're supposed to be small), and even though I read that before I even started mixing ingredients together, it didn't hit me until I had one tray of unbaked cookies ready to go into the oven and saw I still had a huge amount of dough left. Tip from me: the bigger you cut the candy corns, the quicker you'll use up all that dough.

A Major Screw Up

Last night I finished the cross stitching on my 3D pumpkin and trimmed the material so I could sew it together and look what I did while I was cutting the fabric.



I think someone needs new glasses.

I don't see how I can salvage it. I planned to make the pumpkin just as you would a biscornu by running one strand of floss under the seam on one pointy side and under the seam on the other pointy side. I have no idea if that was going to work because there are no instructions on the blog where the chart is but I think that's what you're supposed to do. If you want to see the chart, go here.

Even though I didn't end up with a pumpkin, this is one Halloween project I'm done with for now. (I'll probably attempt another one sometime next year.)

A Night Of Clicking Links

AOL has something called My Favorite Places which is where you can save links. I rarely use mine anymore but I have a bunch stored tonight I clicked on the very last link in the "Crafty Stuff" category and was taken to a tutorial for a vampire bat softie on Silver Bug Studio. That made me want to see what else I had saved. Some of the links are now dead but I found a few things to put on my To-Do list. Because it isn't already long enough.

How cute are these little felt chicks from Comfortstitching? As much as I love garlands, I totally want to make the version with a button and ribbon to hang them up. Filing this one away for next Easter.

Here's a huge list of crochet patterns to make sweaters, etc for your pets, I love this jingle bells dog collar.

You can find a tutorial make a dog pajama bag on Timeless Truths.

Did you hear me squeal when I opened this one up? A member of Craftster shared some vintage stuffed animal patterns that her grandmother had saved. I'm ready to go make a dog and a horse and an elephant and another dog . There are also patterns for a giraffe, lion, hedgehog, calf, ostrich, ape and two for ragdolls. I'll have to put the animals on hold until after I finish my Halloween stuff.

Happy Wednesday!

More Halloween Embroidery

If you're itching to stitch up something for Halloween there's a new embroidery pattern on Badbirds and this one is a Death Head.

And, if you have time to do even more stitching, see also Bat Boy (I love him!) and Pumkin Girl.

A Halloween Tipnut

Tipnut has a DIY Halloween website with lots of free craft projects, tutorials, recipes and costume ideas. Go check it out!

Vintage Embroidery Patterns From TipNut

The nice lady at TipNut is sharing another set of vintage embroidery patterns. This is a days of the week/household chores set. What I like about them is how the designs are surrounded by the letter of each day. I've never seen that before. You can find the Monday pattern here. The pattern for Tuesday will be posted next week.

Edited to add:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Hey, Dog People Of Missouri

Edited To Add: It passed! Yay!

If you live in Missouri, please consider voting Yes on Prop B.

"The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act is a measure that will improve the lives of dogs in commercial breeding operations in Missouri. Specifically, the measure will require large-scale dog breeding operations to provide each breeding dog under their care with the basics of humane animal care including:

Sufficient food and clean water
Necessary veterinary care
Sufficient housing, including protection from the elements
Sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend their limbs
Regular exercise
Adequate rest between breeding cycles"

Honestly, I don't see why anyone would oppose it.

By the way, this will not affect hobby breeders with ten or less breeding female dogs or those who raise dogs for purposes other than breeding them and selling puppies.

If you need more information, please go to the YES! on Prop B website.

Thank you!

File Under Hearts

I started blogging so I could keep track of all the projects I wanted to make someday. Here's one for a wire heart tutorial from The Prairie Girl that I love because it involves vintage buttons. And it's a heart. And it's pretty.

And, here's one for making a small felt heart pouch (good for stashing a piece of candy) from Woolnest.

I'm labeling these Valentine's Day so I can find them again.

Stuffed With Love Plushies

Over at Vanessa Fire is a tutorial for making a Plushpuppie stuffed with love. He has a little window in his belly with a heart in it. So cute! [Link via One Pretty Thing.]

And there's also tutorial for making his friend, the rhino.

Tree Cones And A Felt Bear

I love trees made out of pretty paper and here are some from Kind Over Matter. And, the trunks are toilet paper rolls.

And, look at this cute little felt Valentine bear. I love his glasses.

I found the Kind Over Matter blog via the Crafters Medley: 27 Neat-O Projects To Make post over on Tip Nut.

This Is So Wrong

On the left is chocolate candy corn and on the right is caramel candy corn. My sister got me a bag of each because she knows I am a candy corn junkie and I was really disappointed, even though I love chocolate and I love caramel. Plain old candy corn is fine with me. Well, as long as it's Brach's candy corn made with honey.

Speaking of Halloween, the other night I saw this cross stitched pumpkin on Gazette94 and started working on it right away. (There's a translation widget in the right sidebar.) I'm about 3/4 of the way finished with the stitching. It looks to me like you put it together the same way you make a biscornu. I like the heart with the squirrels design in the same post. She has some really nice free charts there.

I have few other Halloween projects started and who knows if I'll ever finish them. My problem is I keep seeing more things I want to make. There is way too much good stuff out there! Like the ghost walkers from The Small Object Steno Pad and Jenny's pumpkin treat bags. And these vintage looking paper decorations from Martha. I was actually going to make the pumpkin tonight but didn't have enough orange paper.

If you 're looking for Halloween ideas, check out One Pretty Thing. Click the Categories tab at the top and then scroll down until you see the Halloween links.

Have a good weekend!

Super Cute Printables From Orange You Lucky

Look what I found in my draft posts pile. Since I made this list, Helen has posted three cute "Property Of" labels. I just want to stick her printables all over my walls!

Illustrator Helen Dardik shared another super cute book plate at Orange You Lucky back in May. That got me thinking about her other printables so I'm linking to all of them to make it easier to find them.

May 2010 book plate [link via How About Orange]

Xmas 2009 holiday labels

Back to school labels

June 2009 book plates

March 2009 book plates

Michael What?

I was wondering why this didn't post on Sunday morning. I just noticed I had set it for Monday morning. At least I got the year right.

The other day Jenn posted a link on my Facebook to this Michaelmas dragon and I've decided I need to make one, especially when I read this line: "If you like, you could use embroidery floss and sew the seams using blanket stitch." Well, hello! So I'm adding the dragon to my to-do list, which right now is loaded with Halloween projects. By the way, in case you were wondering, Michaelmas is a festival that marks the turning of the seasons. You can read more about it on Rhythm of the Home.

After you read up on Michaelmas and make your dragon, head on over to inspire co. and check out the new Inspired Ideas magazine. I swear the cover alone made me drool. A few nights ago, I started making the kitty cat treat bag and I'm still working on the face. Maybe it's just me but blanket stitching felt pieces on to a small bag is a major pain in the butt. If I ever make another one, I'll add the eyes and nose before I put the bag together.

I went back to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. I love when doctors show me x-rays and I can't see whatever it is they're pointing out but I nod and act like I know exactly what they are talking about. Anyway, he told me I could stop wearing the brace. My knee isn't completely healed but it's close to it. I think he was a little disappointed he didn't get to operate on me for this fracture, but hey, there's always next time, right? Har har.

Edited to add: Miri is sharing directions to make a bonnet girl quilt on Milk and Honey Quilts. Check out this post to see close-ups of some of the bonnet girls. When I grow up, I want to make quilts just like Miri. I love her work!

Dogs, Ikea Furniture, Cool Choreography And A Goat!

I know this has over four million hits on You Tube so you may have already seen it. But so what. Go watch it again. You know it will make you happy.

And, I totally missed the goat the first few times I watched it.

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.

Ew, That Smell

Happy Birthday to you
You live in a zoo
You smell like a monkey
Because you've only bathed twice in the past four weeks. Ugh.

I have been getting washed as I best I can while standing at my sink so I'm not totally gross. Just a tad gross. But there really is no substitute for a real shower with hot running water. Although at this point, I would love to sit in a patio chair in the backyard and have someone just hose me off. (I go back to the orthopedic guy on October 1 and hopefully he will pronounce my knee completely healed on that day and I can set fire to the brace in the backyard. After I take a thirty minute shower. )

I just wanted to pop in and link to this porcupine pincushion over at Prudent Baby. It was on a list of thirty DIY pincushion links at Craft Passion. You probably already know some of the tutorials but maybe some will be new to you so go check out the list.

[Thirty minutes later] Well, this always happens. I find something to link to on one blog and end up visiting more blogs and discovering more good stuff.

Look at this chair! I love this chair and want to marry it. (But only if we can hold the ceremony in June so I can have peonies in my wedding bouquet.) If this chair is not a reason to learn to crochet, I don't know what is. Also, at About Mo and me is a tutorial to crochet a flower garland. I love that too.

How cute is this rolled felt peppermint pincushion from Polka Dot Pineapple?

There's a ton of great tutorials on Creative Jewish Mom, and even more on Sundays, but I especially love this pretty embroidery and felt applique picture.

I hope you enjoyed the extra links. Have a great Monday and may you always be able to shower whenever you want.

Why Am I Here Again?

Did you ever go to blog something new but get sidetracked by reading your draft posts and then forget what you were going to write about in the first place?

Maybe I should just come back tomorrow.

Wait. Now I remember. I wanted to link to these cross stitch charts of the planets, including Pluto, that you can use to make coasters from Nerdy Needle [link via Craft].

Also, I made this lemon pasta dish for dinner last night (except I used gemelli instead of fusilli) and I really liked it. By the way, the addition of broccoli and arugula totally cancel out all the fat in the two cups of heavy cream used to make the sauce. Really.

Just Shoot Me

Sunday night, my left foot slipped on something wet on the kitchen floor and I went down on my right knee and fractured my knee cap. The same one I broke three years ago.

If it wasn't for the pain, this would be hilarious.

I can't get into see the orthopedic surgeon until Monday and I seriously don't know if I will last until then. They put an immobilizer on my leg in the ER and that has really helped with the pain but it is still awful. If I keep my right leg straight, I can ease myself into a chair or my bed. (Plus I'm using a walker to get around and avoid putting any weight on my leg.) But to swing my leg up into the bed causes pain like you can't imagine. Last night I did just that and then laid in bed for five minutes waiting for the pain to subside. If someone is around, they can lift up my leg by the ankle and raise it until it's on the bed which is tolerable. But if no one is around to do that, I'm screwed. Of all the times not to have a personal assistant. Or a butler. Or even a husband.

Last time I did this, and no, I still can't believe I did it again, I was admitted to the hospital and they did surgery and after that I was pain free. This is different because it's still hurting three days later.

I'm off to see what other shows are saved on the DVR to watch. Unless someone wants to come over and pick up my leg and put it on the bed for me. I'll give you a dollar.

On the bright side, looks like I will have lots of time to make stuff. Including a sampler that reads "I can't believe I broke my fucking knee again."

FFF: Gingerbread House Ornament

Is anyone else as shocked and appalled and stunned and amazed as I am that I actually have something to post for Finished for Friday?

I saw the tutorial for this cute little gingerbread house ornament while browsing the Sew Mama Sew blog the other night and decided to make one. The window is wonky. . . shucks, all my stitching is wonky and my little felt circles are wonky but I don't care. I like how it turned out and I am now ready to eat candy canes and put up the Xmas tree.

At first I couldn't find the right ribbon in my box of ribbon-scraps-that-I-am-saving-because-you-never-know-when-some-day-you-just-might-need-one. I wanted red ribbon and all the pieces were either red & too wide or just the right width but not red. Fortunately, this little bit of gingham turned up in my other box of ribbon-scraps-that-I-am-saving-because-you-never-know-when-some-day-you-just-might-need-one. Some days it pays to be a hoarder.

You can find the tutorial to make your own gingerbread house ornament here.

To see other finishes for this week, please visit this post at Lit and Laundry.

Needlework Links

Jeez louise. For two hours now, I have been trying to put together a post full of links but my computer is sooooo slow. I have run countless scans and nothing is showing up so I don't know what is going on. I've reached the point of boredom. So here are some needlework links.
More to come later. Much later.

Over at Wooden Sails, there's a nice cross stitch freebie based on an antique fraktur . . . fraktur? Let me Google that. According to Wikipedia, a fraktur is "both a style of lettering and a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch (also known as Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsylvanian German). Most Fraktur were created between 1740 and 1860." Interesting.

I love this free Fall pattern from Bird In The Hand. And, if you look in the right sidebar, you will see even more stitchery freebies.

Remember the Brutus and the Catalicious Quilt BOM over at Red Brolly? Well, the July block is out. (Can you tell I copy & pasted this bit from an entry that I forgot to post last month?) And, so is the block for August.

If I wasn't in the middle of this post, I'd go make this embroidered In Bloom pillow from Lark Crafts right now [link via One Pretty Thing]

You have to check out Funoldhag. Carol calls herself a quiltaholic and I know she's an embroiderer and gardener as well. Plus she is 81 yrs old. She recently shared some vintage transfer patterns of baskets.

Now I'm debating hitting the hay or embroidering something.

Links To Some Felt Stuff You Can Make

I was going to do a post of links for today but I'm tired and the dog is tired and we need to go to bed. So I'm going to break them up into separate posts and hopefully get them all up this weekend. Here are the felt projects.

Felt strawberries and more free patterns from Lit'l Brown Bird [link via How About Orange]

Free patterns from bread and buttons including felt strawberries and a Go Fish game that includes embroidery patterns (If I ever go back to teaching preschool, I will be making this.)

Felt Travel Sewing Kitty and Bits & Pieces Felt Ornaments from Sew 4 Home There are more projects under the tab at the top.

Happy Whale Pin from Sew Lovely Embroidery

Next time, I'll have some links to embroidery and cross stitch freebies. Happy Friday!

Wanna See My Yo-Yo

Wanna see my yo-yo?

The left half looks ok. The right half gets an OMG. By the way, that's the only one that survived my yo-yo making marathon back in early June. The others, like the "WTF is that?"one below, all had to be put out of their misery.

Some of them were even scarier than this. And, I swear alcohol was not a factor. Well, the yo-yo might have been really sloshed but I was totally sober. Which makes it all even more frightening.

Obviously, I need to work on my pulling-the-thread-really-tight skills.

An Embroidery Contest At Checkout Girl

When was the last time I linked to a contest? 1957?

There's a poetry/embroidery contest going on over at Checkout Girl. The embroidery has to be done by hand and include a poem or part of a poem. The prizes sound great: hoops, linen, floss and more. Melinda from Checkout Girl will be judging the entries along with Corinne from So September. All the details on the Embroidereading Contest are in this post.

After you read about the contest, go see this ring bearer pillow from Checkout Girl and also her Felty Shih Tzus. How freaking cute are they? [Link via Needlework News]

Back to work on a post full of links that I hope to have up by October Thursday.

The Stackable Cats And Me

First off, let me say THANK YOU for all of your comments about my dog, Maggie. They really meant a lot to me and made me feel better. Other than losing some weight, Maggie is still doing well. Please keep thinking good thoughts for her. Thanks!

Once upon a time, like nearly a year ago, I cross stitched a free pattern from Mochimochi Land called Stackable Cats. Then I put it away somewhere for months and months. Last week, I decided to finish it. (If you've just joined us, in my world, that means I attach some backing fabric to it and it either becomes an ornament or a small pillow.) So I did just that and stuffed it so full of stuffing that it looked like a sausage. I did a craptastic job sewing the opening closed, but other than that, I was really happy with my little sausage slash pillow. I planned to blog about it so I went to grab the link to the free chart from Mochimochi Land and noticed that the cats in the pattern had whiskers and mine did not.

Oops.

I know I could have added the whiskers after the fact (or just left them off and modified the title to Stackable Critters or something) but I don't do well adding facial features to anything that has already been stuffed). Instead, I opened up my little sausage pillow, pulled out all of the stuffing and ripped out the stitches on three sides so I could back stitch the whiskers. Then I sewed it all back together and once again had my little Stackable Cats pillow.


But here's the funny part. Before I stuffed it the second time, my sister saw it and said "Oh, is that an eyeglasses case for me?" just as I was contemplating that I could turn it into a small case instead of a small pillow. We both decided it would make a better case if it had a zipper across the top. Since I still don't do zippers (or use a sewing machine yet), once again it became the little sausage it was meant to be.


As you can see if you've clicked over to the original free chart, I changed it somewhat. I have no idea why I left off the birds or ball of yarn. Like I said, I stitched this about a year ago and maybe I was just feeling anti-yarn and anti-bird that day. And, I didn't use the suggested colors either. I think I was missing the orange one and felt brown kitties would be just as nice.

I totally love this design and I can see myself making another one into a case for my sister's glasses. Except there won't be any zippers involved. But that's why they invented Velcro. This is a freebie x-stitch chart and you can find it here, but if you're a knitter, check out the adorable patterns for the Stackable Cats and the Pile-able Pups. So cute!