Happy Birthday, Maggie

Happy 17th Birthday to my Shih Tzu, Maggie!

You Have To Go See This

If you haven't seen the animated embroidery on spool spectrum yet, go look now. It's really cool. Really really really cool.

Edited to add: And, it goes backwards too!

Testing Testing 1 2 3

None of my posts are showing up on Facebook but I think I fixed it so let's see if this works.

Something To Do With Embroidery

If I ever hit the lottery, I swear I am hiring someone just to think up titles for my posts.

Sometimes when I see links posted on Facebook, I forget to add them here because I figure everyone has seen them already. But maybe you aren't a fan of Wild Olive or DMC Threads on Facebook so you missed the adorable cupcake embroidery patterns that Mollie created for DMC.

Over at Bad Birds, you will find a huge list of free and not-so-free embroidery patterns. This is totally worth checking out. Go do it now. We'll wait.

Oh and Denise has another post with links to a bunch of embroidery freebies on Craft Gossip. I love when she does this.

And, here are the last of my already scanned patterns. Now I need to scan the rest of them and post them here.

A Few More Dog Patterns

I found a few more scans of some vintage embroidery patterns that I posted last year on a now-deleted blog. More dogs, of course. These are all from Artex 2200. Thanks to Barncat at Always Home, I learned how to clean them up a little.

This Makes Cry

I just read the latest post from Teresa on the Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue blog and it made me really sad. Teresa wrote about the twelve dogs that she has been asked to take into her rescue during the first six days of the month. Twelve of them. This doesn't include any dogs already facing euthanasia in local shelters, and trust me, there are plenty of them out there.

If you have ever considered fostering a rescue dog in Texas, please contact Lone Star.

P.S. According to Facebook, Teresa got an email from someone whose father needs to give up twenty Shih Tzu. It never ends.

Scotties On The Brain

This post could be a drinking game. Take a swig every time I mention the word Scottie/Scotty.

The other night, I went through the pile of papers on my bedroom floor and found over 40 cross stitch, embroidery and sewing patterns that I had printed out over the past couple of months. These are the tutorials and projects that I don't bother to download because I am going to start making them the very second I turn off my computer.

I'll give you a minute to stop laughing.

Anyway, in the pile was a pattern for a patchwork dog pillow on Ohdeedoh, which reminded me that Kellie had linked to a similar pattern from Denyse Schmidt on Facebook not too long ago. (I think it was Kellie. My apologies if it was someone else.) I must make one of those Scotties. Never mind that I don't know how to use a sewing machine or make a patchwork anything.

That patchwork Scottie made me think of the cute Scottie dog pillow over at Bustle & Sew? I must make that too. Never mind that I don't know how to applique.

Next, I somehow ended up on Flickr and found some groups for Scotties: Patchwork Scotties, Vintage Scottie Dogs, and also one for Scotty Stuffies, which I believe I joined after I actually made the AllSorts Scotty dog. And then pigs flew, hell froze over and the world exploded.



By the way, Jenny at AllSorts is having a giveaway for one of her Scotties. You have until "sometime next week" to enter so go do it now.

More Embroidery Transfers

All of the embroidery transfers that I've been posting are from Artex 2200 b. I had scanned these last year and forgot the cats, dogs and Poodles were all from the same pattern.

Kandra's Virtual Quilting Bee

Kandra of Sibling Craftery is holding a Sew Bee Wonky Virtual Quilting Bee on Flickr. I'm not joining because I don't quilt, although I bet I would fit in with the wonky part, but I'm looking forward to seeing the finished blocks that everyone makes. You can get all the details on Kandra's blog.

P.S. I just posted some more embroidery patterns so check out the last post for that.

Dog And Kitty With Yarn Embroidery Transfer

Time for another scanned pattern from my now-deleted other blog.

I had a little bit of trouble getting this one re-sized. Click the image for a larger version. Sorry about the crease down the middle.

Vintage Poodle Patterns

Enjoy the poodles!

Alert The Media

Don't have a heart attack but I actually finished a few cross stitch designs this weekend.

This is the hedgehog that's going to become an ornament as soon as I iron him & his little pal, find some fabric to add to the back and sew the pieces together.

And, this is the other hedgehog that will eventually become an ornament for my mom. When I told her I was stitching up some hedgehogs. she said she didn't like them because they reminded of her rats but then she claimed this one when I showed it to her. And, once she decided she wanted it, I didn't feel the need to stitch the entire design. (I still have to do the back stitching along the left edge.)

And, this is the hippo who will someday be a needlecase. That was my original plan for this hippo and I have an idea in my head how I'm going to do that but you never know what will happen once I start cutting fabric. I especially wanted to take a picture of this one in case there's a mishap during the needlecase making process.

Both charts are freebies from Olka's blog and you can find them here. She offers two different charts of each design and I did both versions of the hedgehog using her suggested floss colors. For the hippo, I didn't cross stitch the entire chart -- I just wanted the hippo part. I chose my own DMC colors (I wish now that I'd gone with a darker pink) and filled in the background because there seemed to be a lot of plain fabric surrounding the hippo.

All three are stitched on the same piece of 18 ct aida that was so blindingly white that I dunked it in a bowl of tea for a couple of minutes just to see what would happen. That left me with a slightly off-white aida with a few random tea splotches. Next time, I'll pay more attention to my "tea-dyeing."

I hope to totally finish these this week. On Wednesday, I'll post some more vintage patterns.

Sammy The Senior Shih Tzu Needs A Home ASAP

UPDATE: Sammy has been adopted. Yay!



Sammy is a 15 yr old Shih Tzu in Maumelle, Arkansas who needs a new home because his owners are moving to a place that does not allow pets.

My heart always goes out to senior dogs in shelters or with owners who can no longer keep them. It's not as if people are lining up to adopt the older ones. But I know there is that special person out there who can give Sammy a wonderful home for the rest of his years. We just have to let them know Sammy is out there.

For more information, please check Sammy's Petfinder page.

By the way, with a click of a button, you can post Sammy, or any animal from Petfinder, on to Facebook or Twitter. Spread the word! Thanks!

Embroidery Transfers

Remember when I started another blog so I could share scans of my embroidery transfers and I put a few of them up over there and then forgot all about it and the poor blog died a slow and painful death?

Actually, it's still clinging to life so I am going to go put it down and just add the patterns to this here blog and eventually I'll scan the rest of my transfers and post them too. And if I ever get a job and have an income again, I will get a pro Flickr account and add them to the Hoop Love group.

The end.

P.S. I found what could be a perfect job for me. It's working with toddlers and it's only a few minutes away by car and I could walk there if I was so inclined -- but I'm not -- so please think some happy thoughts for me. Thank you.

Enjoy these Artex kitty patterns! (I have no clue when it comes to scanning so I hope the size is ok.)

The Verandah Views BOM Is Back

If you missed the Verandah Views BOM the first time around, you're in luck because Cheryl of Willowberry Designs has posted them all on her blog once again. Yay! I think the only one pattern I saved from before is the The Buffet block where the bunny is surveying the vegetable garden. Because, you know, some day, I am going to stitch that up. (Yeah, right.) Go to this post for links to all the blocks and finishing instructions.

By the way, you'll find the Under the Sea BOM over there as well. Looks like Cheryl has shared four blocks so far.

Thanks, Denise!

More Freebie Links

Quite awhile ago, I found some free tea pot embroidery patterns on the Cathron Country Designs blog and printed them out but forgot to save a link to the blog or post it here, and I have been too lazy to actually pull out the patterns from the binders I keep them in -- hey, it's a huge accomplishment for me to go through the stacks of patterns on my bedroom floor and get them organized and filed away -- and check where they came from. Fortunately, I just found them linked on another blog, so here ya go:

tea pots & tea cups
baby animals
sewing items
ABC stitcheries
teddy bears

The blog I found the link on is The Best FREE Craft Articles which has a ton of interesting things that I'm still going through. For example, there are 53 links in the list for embroidery crewel cross stitch punch needle etc alone. If you have some free time, go see what all is there. And, please let me know if you find a pattern for a hedgehog, donkey or wombat of any kind. Not that I will actually ever make it but I still have some room in my pattern binders. :P By the way, I don't know if it's just me but each page takes forever to load.

And, if you have even more free time, Denise at CraftGossip has another great post chockfull of x-stitch freebies and one with free embroidery patterns too. I always check the sewing blog over there too. Lots of good links to tutorials and patterns there as well.

Happy Monday!

Matter Of Trust Needs Your Hair

An organization called Matter of Trust is collecting human hair and dog hair/fur to stuff into nylon booms that can be used to soak up oil from the spill in the gulf.

Seriously.

Watch this video:



Go to Matter of Trust for more information on getting your hair clippings and your dog's clippings to them.

They will also take wool from farmers.

I love this!

An Update On Things I Have Not Finished

I saw this finish of this little rabbit cross stitch on the Freebie Gallery blog and fell in love with it. I tracked down the site that had the chart and started stitching it a few days ago. And that's when I fell out of love with it. Only because my aida is too light and you can barely see the white floss. So I'm giving up on it. I might try it again if I get some darker fabric.

You can find the little rabbit chart here. Click the Free Chart link at the top and then click Petit Lapin at the top of the list in the left sidebar. (English translation)

I'm still working on the Victorine Sampler (Google's English translation). On the original, the needleworker stitched her name and hometown, so I'm going to have to chart my name and city in old-fashioned letters. Thanks to the internet, I know I can find a vintage French embroidery alphabet to use. I just haven't been in the mood to do that so who knows if I will ever finish the sampler. Like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about it tomorrow. Or next week.

Thanks to Denise at Needlework News at Craft Gossip for linking to the x-stitch freebies on Olka's blog. Her blog is in Russian but there's a Google translation widget in the left sidebar. To see all of the free charts in English, go here. She has some cute animal designs (I like the giraffe too). I finished stitching up the hedgehog a few days ago. I liked it so much, I'm now doing another one in different colors.

That's all for now. I've been doing a lot of reading lately and not so much crafting but hopefully I'll get something finished soon.

Another Embroidery BOM

I keep posting links to embroidery freebies yet I haven't actually stitched anything since 1957.

Here's another free BOM for you. This one is from a blog called The Contented Quilter and it's called "Take time to..." The first block ("put your feet up") is linked here. You'll find the second one ("smell the roses") linked on this post. I really like the designs.

Thank you, Deepa, for mentioning this one on your blog.

Edited to add: Check out Deepa's finished bedspread embroidery project. (Click the photos to see a larger version.) It took her 7 1/2 months and more than 35 different stitches and techniques to complete and she did a beautiful job!

And I Feel Fine

Gina Matarazzo has an Etsy shop where she sells her embroidery patterns and artwork. Check out her site for two adorable free patterns of kitties and hot dogs.

And Vicki over at Turkey Feathers is sharing patterns for a state flower quilt. I'm lazy tonight and don't feel like linking to the patterns she's posted so far, so here's a link to all the entries that are tagged with the State Flower Quilt label. I really would like to make this one.

Please get your affairs in order because if I actually make this quilt, it's the end of the world as we know it.