Totally Uselessly Completed

The New Moon on Friday marked our last Totally Useless Stitch a Long post of 2015! Did you post a photo for each New Moon? It doesn't matter if you were late, early or right on time! My ORTs added up fast this time! They are all sewing ORTs this go-round.

I've been a very busy bee since our last New Moon. I finished my king-size quilt. No photos to share yet as it's been mailed off to be quilted. I should get it back around the New Year and you can see it in all it's glory. But here is a photo of the ORTs it created:

Yes. I went through nearly five spools of thread sewing this quilt! This pile fills a gallon size zipper bag.

This is the small bundle of fabric and unused blocks I had left over. One of these bits is an entire row because I can't count past five or six before I get confused!

These are the bonus blocks I sewed while working on my king. I keep something under the needle at all times, continually chain piecing. One day, these bonus blocks will be a whole quilt.

After I finished my king quilt top, I was waiting for fabric to arrive for my next quilt. So I dug out the bits I had waiting to create a Christmas Tree skirt and it went together in no time!

Sadly, I miscalculated the amount of backing fabric needed so I need to either purchase more or find something else. This sits unfinished until I make up my mind. Another of those math/counting past five problems!

Then, the fabric I ordered arrived and I got busy on a new quilt! This one is an Irish Chain.

Lots of sewing, ironing, and cutting, and sewing back together involved in this one but it is a super easy design. My bonus blocks grew fast with so much back and forth:

The stack needs ironing to open them up! Can you say...lazy? lol

Here I sit with four quilt projects...1. king size, 2. tree skirt, 3. Irish chain, 4. bonus blocks...and NOTHING to show that is actually finished! I do feel like I've accomplished loads though so don't feel sorry.

Another Totally Useless Stitch a Long year is done. I've so enjoyed stitching with you these past few years! I will have the sign-up post for next year up soon so continue saving those ORTs!

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your December TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

The Cat's Pajamas

I just had to share my new PJ's! Aren't these the most incredibly awesome pajamas ever? EVER?

I probably won't wear these for actual sleeping, I'd overheat. I'm thinking more along the lines of entire weekends holed up at the sewing machine or with cross stitch in my lap watching Netflix and drinking cocoa. Sounds cozy, eh?

You can get yours here at Target.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Busy TUSAL

It's been a very busy time for me. I wasn't able to post our New Moon update and hardly anything crafty has been accomplished. Not many ORTs can be manufactured this way. You can see how far behind I am on the 12 Days ornaments. BOO! 

See, I haven't even been able to finish the first one! 

My quilt is still mostly just rows, draped all over the room, waiting to be sewn. Hopefully things will even out for me soon. I need to create or I go a little bonkers!

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your November TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Snowflake Reindeer

Our little reindeer is back again for 2015. This one is looking back over her shoulder at the first snowflake of the season...and it's a BIG one! Hopefully, this giant flake doesn't foretell a miserable winter! Read below how you can receive a copy of the pattern.

I wanted to get this little guy finished and posted early this year. The next few weeks might be unpredictable for me and I'd hate to not have time. I wish you all, my dear friends, many happy stitching days!

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Please email me to receive a copy of the design at daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com. Tell me the name of the design you are requesting. This one is Snowflake Reindeer.

Respect my copyright and do not upload my designs to any website or share with other people. Yes, they are free but I still retain copyright.

My designs are published as PDF. You must have the free Adobe Reader installed on your computer to view/print my patterns ~ or a similar PDF viewer.

As always you can click the cat in my sidebar to see my other designs. They are always available for the asking.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Change of Plans

I finished my little Cardinal stitch. Would you believe I had no trouble placing those branches? The last Victoria Sampler birdie I did was a booger...I think the bits of snow helped me on this one. All these little guys need are beads for their eyes and finish-finishing.

Design- "Love"

Designer - Victoria Sampler

Fabric - 32 count Jobelan, tea dyed by Daffycat

Fiber - DMC

Finishing that, I was free to start Plum Street Samplers' Twelve Days of Christmas series. Here was the fabric I was going to use. A lovely 28 count black Jobelan. Shelly, of An Arizona Stitcher gifted me a 123Stitch gift certificate for guessing the artist of a song she mentioned. I used that to purchase the fabric. Isn't it gorgeous? Carol, of Stitching Dreams often stitches Christmas ornaments on black, and they look amazing. So I was going to pull a "Carol" and stitch these freebies on that dramatic black fabric.

Then, Paulette went and added four blackbirds in the Fourth Day ornament! Noooooo! I'm glad I had to wait to start stitching. Here is my start on "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" on 32 count Daffycat-dyed Jobelan.

This means I need to find more ornaments to stitch, right? I have all that fabric, after all. Thank you so much for the fabric, Shelly!

There are still quilt rows to be sewed. They are not waiting patiently. Sitting there. Staring. At me. It's a lil' creepy...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Darn It, Paulette!

I know I've been posting a lot of quilting this past year...but I still stitch! The pumpkin pillow in my latest Pumpkin Day post was finished in recent months, I just saved posting about it for that special day. There is a little project going right now:

I adore The Victoria Sampler's birdies. Too cute! The pine branches always seem to get the best of me, I can never get them placed as charted! Never!

I need to get this one finished, yesterday, if possible. Yesterday? Because OMG have you seen Plum Street Samplers new Sunday Mystery Sampler? AS IF I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH PROJECTS ON THE GO Paulette is gifting the lot of us with the rest of the 12 Days of Christmas designs she started in Just Cross Stitch magazine. Now, I love me some 12 Days and these are just too nice to save for later! I have fabric ordered from 123 Stitch! so as soon as it's here, wahoo! Just kidding about cursing over it...many, many thanks to our dear, generous Paulette!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

ORcTober

We just aren't going to mention the fact the New Moon was five days ago and I am late again, okay? My ORTs are still being collected in this huge, ugly Ziploc storage bag. There were lots of new triangles added...I miscounted how many setting blocks I needed, wait, let's not mention that either. The large tangle of thread is the bits from bobbin ends, no mentioning of the two times I sewed with no bobbin thread or the one time with no needle thread!

The bag is sitting inside my pretty wooden leaf bowl, if that makes any difference! The little 2 inch squares are my leader-ender blocks. Those blocks will one day be their own quilt, for now they just start and end my chain-piecing.

Some of you have have asked where my cross stitch has gone. I promise, it's just on hiatus while I get some of this quilting bug cured. I started learning to quilt because I wanted a made-by-me quilt for my own bed. 

You wouldn't believe how much fabric and how many rows it takes to cover a king-sized bed!

I have all the rows completed. I think. Unless I have miscounted. I could have miscounted! I'm no great shakes at math and quilting takes so much math!

I've started sewing all the rows together. It won't take long now! This will have to be sent off to be quilted as there is no way I can quilt it myself on my little machine. It's HUGE! I am getting excited about finishing this project.

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your October TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Happy Pumpkin Day!

Remembering Cathey.

You are still missed, dear friend.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Yet Another Late TUSAL

Many apologies to those Totally Useless Stitch A Long participants that end up waiting on me every month. The New Moon was one week ago and I'm just now posting. We were out of town last weekend and I just wasn't up to posting until today.

My only ORTs are more triangles added to my gallon sized Ziploc bag. There may be a few thread snips and squaring up bits added as well.

All those ORTs were created from making this!

One full row completed on my quilt. I have most of another row in the works now but I didn't get a photo.

I mentioned we were out of town. We went to the Gathering of the Guard for the Oklahoma Patriot Guard Riders. Remember I sewed tote bags for the silent auction? Those sold really well. I was bidding on this cute, brightly-colored quilt another member donated. I kept getting out bid. After the auction, Dash went and paid for the items we won and surprised me with the quilt. He'd went in and added one more bid to ensure I got it! What a sweetheart!

It's really bright! So cheery!

Quilted in paisley.

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your September TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Totally Uselessly Late Again

I ORT to be on time. I am the leader of this stitch a long, after all. It seems I can't get with it this year! It's the New Moon again, time for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long, and I have loads of ORTs to share. In my bowl I have bits from the tote bags I finished up last month and some empty spools from the quilt I started this month.

In the bag are tons of triangle ORT bits from starting said quilt. Lots and lots of triangles.

Wait, I started a new quilt? Yes! As an anniversary gift the end of July, (our 30th!) Dash semt me off to a quilt retreat at Prairie Quilt in Hennessey, Oklahoma. Since I didn't have any projects going I had to start something. The retreat was so much fun! I sat for three days and snowballed the corners on  2 1/2 by 5 inch blocks. Lots and lots of them!

The photo above is at my table during the retreat. You can see my stack of snowballed blocks in the corner. 

This picture is parts of the quilt in progress. The plastic box is full of the  2 inch scrap fabric squares I'm using as leaders and enders. Those little squares will eventually become a postage stamp quilt...all sewn while I'm working on other projects.

Here are the pieces that go in my current project. Pieces on the right are the base and the left side shows what they get sewn into.

Here are the pieces laid out (not sewn together yet!) how they will look when finished. Pretty!

Just this morning, Miss Molly helped me make a mini ironing table out of a TV tray table. I just need to get a teeny iron to use on it.

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your August TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Boring ORTs are Totally Useless

While snapping the photos of my ORTs for today's Totally Useless Stitch A Long update I realized they are really quite boring as ORTs go. All tan threads and empty thread spools. Plastic empty thread spools at that. Oh well, at least I have ORTs to share!

I decided to leave them right where they are to take the picture. Look at all that stuff! Have I been busy? Yes! I've made three quilted tote bags in patriotic fabrics.

These will go up for auction at our upcoming Gathering of the Guard meeting. Every year the Oklahoma Patriot Guard has a get together. We gather donations for an auction to raise funds for the next meeting. The entire event is great fun.

Still no cross stitching ORTs. Too many quilting ideas of late!

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your July TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Empty and Totally Useless

I kept seeing Totally Useless Stitch A Long Posts and thought why? TUSAL isn't until next week...nope. It was Tuesday. I Totally...Uselessly...missed it. I've been too busy this last month. I haven't stitched a single stitch! My ORT bowl in situ:

Empty. So sad. This old wooden leaf bowl always sat by the telephone when I was growing up, filled with pens, pencils, paperclips, stray screws, and other pocket debris. Now it sits by my sewing machine collecting threads.

This is what I was creating last month and couldn't show. Aren't they cute? I made these potholders and oven mitt for my daughter, Jessie. She loves to cook! I found the fabric at JoAnn's and quilted it crosswise at one-inch intervals. The oven mitt is a free tutorial from Professor Pincushion.

What are you working on?

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your June TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Sew A Crinkle Flying Disc Dog Toy

There were so many questions and emails after I posted about sewing Molly some dog toys I decided to do a tutorial to show exactly how they were made. These toys have become Molly's all-time favorite fetching object. My favorite too, as they are soft and don't tend to break stuff in the house when you've made a bad throw or the dog misses her catch. These are also machine wash and dry so when they get all dog-spitty and nasty - into the laundry they go. You should see how excited Molly gets when I take them out of the dryer...it's like brand-new toys!

Supplies needed:

2 pieces of fleece, a few inches larger than your desired finished circle.

A sheet of plastic, you can use the clear inner liner plastic of a boxed cereal or crackers but I've been using extra-thick drop cloth plastic because it holds up longer.

A piece of cotton batting.

Matching thread.

Basting spray.

Pins.

Scissors, use your craft scissors not your good fabric ones because you will be cutting plastic.

A dinner plate or some other round object.

A marker or pen.

Sewing machine.

Cover your work area before you spray! If you are taking pictures with your cell phone, cover your iPhone too. TRUST ME! Basting spray is nasty on your phone.

Layer 1 piece of the fleece pretty side down and give it a dusting of the basting spray. Put the plastic sheet on. Spray the plastic then stick the batting on. If you are worried about the basting spray harming your dog just wash the toy before use. If you are REALLY worried you can skip the spray and just use pins. I use the spray because the fleece and plastic is really slippery and the spray makes it so much easier to sew.

Now center the round object on the batting side and draw your circle.

Put your 2nd piece of fleece pretty side up and put the sandwich you made on top with the batting part up. Pin these together around the outside of your line. Don't trim yet! It's much easier to hold all the layers together while you sew the circle if you trim after it's sewn.

Now sew around the circle you drew leaving a 3-4 inch gap and backstitch at the start and stop. Don't worry how neat your sewing is, this is a DOG TOY after all!

Trim off the excess. I leave a good wide margin for extra strength. I have to put my scraps up up high since now Molly knows I'm making toys and she will fish the scraps out of the trash! I guess they smell the same.

Carefully turn it right side out, try not to stretch the fleece out of shape. Make sure you get it all smooth and flat(ish) around the edges. Fold the edges on the open seam inside, mimic the curve as best you can. Feel free to pin it closed. I don't pin, I'm making a DOG TOY so I'm not too worried...

Next, top stitch around the outside, close to the edge. This closes the gap you turned it through and makes it lie flat. Feel free to do some fancy quilting in the center. I never have time because someone is usually whining at me to hurry up...

Finished! It's all soft and floppy with that delicious crinkly sound dogs love.

You can give it to someone who will love it. Molly grabbed this one, gave it a furious shake and spit it right out for me to throw it.

Molly often naps beside me while I sew, but if I am sewing a tog toy she is sitting, watching, and waiting. I can't resist making these for Molly...she loves them so much.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Totally Useless Secret

I'd show you what I've been working on but I can't because it's a gift. I can't spoil the surprise, even for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! I can show you a few sewing ORTs though! It's the New Moon, what is in your ORT jar?

Things continue to be chaotic around here. Between work and home I hardly have time to think! My blog is way too quiet lately. I'm almost to a little well-deserved vacation time and can hardly wait for it to arrive. I will be patient though, it will be over before I know it...

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We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your May TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox