Just Can't Stop

Design ~ Joy

Designer ~ Kay Hanson Cavnar, Lilybet Designs

Fabric ~ 28 count black Jobelan

Fiber ~ DMC

I am on a Christmas Ornament Fest and I just can't stop! These things are as bad as potato chips. I was shopping in a quilt shop and came across a package of buttons just the right size for my little "Joy" ornament. Yippee! Trying to justify spending money on more stash just to cover shipping on a $1.40 button was beyond me. Don't get me wrong. I love stash. I am not in dire need of it just the now!

Just for the record, this is my seventh Christmas ornament finished since December last year. I have another on the go and two more kitted up and a pile of patterns at the ready. I won't forget the big box of finishes, though! When inspiration strikes, I'll pull one out and have at it.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Patterns Patterns Everywhere

I stitched this design once before for a Christmas card exchange in 2007. I decided to stitch it again for myself. It turned out way cuter than I imagined it.

Design ~ Pump, Leisure Arts leaflet 197

Designer ~ Anne Van Wagner Young

Fabric ~ 32 count white Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

Funny thing, I started looking through my stash last week to find the pattern. I couldn't remember what the design was in! Was it a magazine? A leaflet? Book? Where was it? After searching through everything I could think of...twice over, for five hours and even posting on Facebook for help and then another two hours search, there it was. No kidding, I searched for seven hours. My pattern stash is ridiculous. I am a terrible packrat! I would take pictures and show you but I'm too embarrassed! Let's just say there are boxes and boxes and boxes full and I cannot bear to part with any of them.

What do you hoard even though you know you will never be able to use it all?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Totally Useless Luck o' the Irish

Yesterday, (St. Patrick's Day) was the New Moon, are your ORTs ready for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long? I am late because I spent the day with my parents and didn't even turn the desktop on! I should have planned better and written my post Friday night but I didn't. Phhht!

All the thread ORTs I've saved this year are really filling up this jar! The stitching is another Christmas Ornament I've started. Looks strange now but this will be a water pump and bucket soon...

My sewing/finishing ORTs are good too:

Since I was gone all day Miss Molly was extra snuggly and sweet. Can you see the gap of her missing teeth? You can't see in the photo but she has purple stitches that will eventually dissolve. She's back to regular kibble, and didn't care one whit that it wasn't canned-food-treat any more! We have a vet visit in the morning and hopefully she can have the cone off and get toys back! She's been terribly polite about wearing the cone. She took it off twice that first full day and after being admonished that it must stay on she has left it alone.I wish she always minded so well!

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your March 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

Three Finishes

I dug this cute birdie out of the finish box and sewed it up. This sweet pinkeep is twin to ones I've finished before. This one just never got done! It's stuffed with crushed walnut shells and backed with mattress ticking. I edged the seams with a prim cross stitch in olive.

Design ~ Tweet Hearts, Exemplar #2

Designer ~ Blackbird Designs

Fabric ~ 32 count tea-dyed Jobelan

Fiber ~ DMC

Finish ~ Pinkeep

I then ruched ribbon for what seemed like hours and hours and hours. Not my favorite thing to do.

It was the perfect edging for my Fa La La ornament so I kept at it! Eagle eyes will notice I changed the lettering from the original and added a few notes.

Design ~ Fa La La

Designer ~ Plum Pudding Needlearts

Fabric ~ 28 count tea-dyed Monaco, over one

Fiber ~ DMC

Finish ~ Christmas Ornament

Another pull from the finish box was this elephant which I popped into a greeting card and it's off to my sister-in-law for her birthday. This design is one of my freebies!

With this splurge of finishing I'm sure to come up with something interesting to do next!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Simple and Fun

When I finished Les Moutons I wasn't sure what to do next. I futzed around with my WIPs, Peacock Tapestry and Finery of Nature...blah. I considered beading Peacock Cypher since Lindsay started hers. Beading...blah. Everything was just blah! All I could come up with was creating more finishing work for myself. Christmas ornaments! 

My current stitch is  Fa La La, an old Plum Pudding Needleart freebie. I've stitched this a couple times before but always for exchanges or gifts. This one's for me. Stitching over one on Monaco that was boiled in tea so it's now like 26 count.

Already finished is Joy an old Lilybet Designs freebie. I just need the little red JABC star button and it can be finished. Which means I'll have to buy more stuff to justify shipping on a $1.40 button. LOL This is stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan. I ironed black interfacing on the back already.

I've spent hours poking though my stash, finding Christmas ornament designs I want to stitch. Some of these date back to the 1980's when all we knew for ornament finishing were those plastic snap together frames! Remember those? I think I have a bunch downstairs in a craft box. Nowadays we have Vonna Pfeiffer to show us how it's done!

Do you have trouble after finishing a long term project? Tell us!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Seven Sheep Puddles and It's A Wrap

I kept thinking these looked like puddles of sheep as I stitched them. Seven silly snoozing sheep.

With group seven done...that means it's finished! Fifty five fat fluffy sheep all counted and stitched!

Design ~ J'apprends à compter les moutons 

Designer ~ Mouton Rouge

Fabric ~ 32 count Blue Spruce

Fiber ~ Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

This was such a fun design to stitch! I started this project right around the time I started this blog in 2007. A long time ago! I am glad to have it finished even though I have no idea what I'll do with it!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

Six Sheep in the Poppy Field

At least I assume these are poppy flowers! My group of six on Les Moutons is complete! I did get to work on this part during a Facebook Friday Off the Grid session a couple weeks ago. Before that, it was kind of a slog, just tough to get going! Once I got well started, they were a breeze. 

Group seven are well in hand already and I should have a finish very soon!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Mayhem Mishaps

Take one easily excitable Border Collie, add a very sturdy, and nearly invisible screen door...toss in some people playing with their dog outside and you end up with mayhem. 

Molly didn't see the screen door was closed and smashed, full speed, right into it Saturday evening. Dash and I could see she had a mouth wound and hurried her in to the emergency vet where she was admitted and given pain relief until they could get her a CT scan. Luckily, her jaw wasn't fractured but she ripped out three of her little nibbly teeth on the bottom set, which they removed and stitched closed. It was pretty scary for all of us.

She got to come home this evening. Molly is pretty doped up!

She now wants all the snuggles. She is usually too busy for cuddling. Often, one thinks one is fixing to get a cuddle but it's usually only a ruse to get one to play fetch.

We cannot tear mouth stitches as that tissue is very soft and easily damaged so this horrid cone is required for two weeks. We are also not allowed any toys for two weeks! The vet gave us tranquilizers which we hope will lessen the toy/fetching/chewing withdrawal symptoms. The poor girl has already searched the house for toys several times. (I washed all the toys and put them away.)

On the plus side, Molly thinks it's one big dog party with canned food and peanut butter! Dash and I are relieved to have her home again. And I will be sewing some ribbons into the screen door once it's repaired!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox