Plaid Greetings

I saw someone on Facebook posted a picture of their finish of this design and I had to stitch it myself. When I went to kit it up, I found I didn't have any blue 32 count fabric. What? So 9:30 pm found me pouring royal blue RIT dye, salt and boiling water into the kitchen sink...all trying to be quiet because Dash was already in bed asleep! A quick 30-second dip and a good washing with laundry detergent gave me the perfect sky-blue shade. I ironed it dry so I could start right away!

Design ~ Plaid Greetings

Designer ~ Ladybug Lane Designs

2009 JCS Ornament Issue

Fabric ~ 32 count Daffycat Dyed Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

I used one of the buttons I bought for the "Joy" ornament and the called for Mill Hill gold beads. I had never done the rice stitches called for in the border and found them to be a lot of fun. After futzing around with all kinds of bows and trims I settled for the simple ribbon hanger.

Have any projects had you dying fabric (or something similar) late at night after everyone else was abed? 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Two Red Birds

The first red bird is this cutie decorating his house for the season. White bows blow ALL the light back in your face when you take a snap. I love how the birdhouse has an actual smoking chimney. Not that birds decorate for Christmas either, right? SIGH, I was sewing on the last of the cording when I realized I had forgotten to stitch all the falling snowflakes...

Design ~ Waiting for Santa, 2008 freebie

Designer ~ Helga Mandl Designs

Fabric ~ 28 count tea-dyed Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

Our second red bird is so sweet! This isn't a Christmas design at all. This is Bent Creek's Plum Berry Sampler! I stitched the bird in red and added a topknot, the charted bird is bald and blue. If you look close, I stitched my initials in green. Stitched 1 over 1, I stitched the little sampler bands only in Smyrna stitches. 

Design ~ Plum Berry Sampler, modified

Designer ~ Bent Creek

Fabric ~ 28 count tea-dyed Monaco

Fiber ~ DMC

The teeny tiny micro buttons rock this design. I can't wait to decorate my Christmas tree this year!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Merry Christmas!

Don't let my title throw you, spring is still here even though we keep warming up, then falling back into cold winter. It's been lovely here this week and I'm sitting at my desk drinking Lady Gray tea after a nice lunch.

I thought my lunch was pretty so I snapped a pic. My dinnerware has seen better days though. Is it cheating making your tea by popping a tea bag into a reusable K-cup and running it through the Keurig? Oh, how lazy!

But I didn't title this post Pretty Lunch and Cheaters Tea, did I? Here is Merry Christmas:

Design ~ Merry Christmas

Designer ~ Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee

design from the JCS 10th Anniversary Collection book

Fabric ~ 32 count Lugana, tea dyed

Fiber ~ DMC

I did something different when finishing this, after I sewed it up I thought it looked awfully nice, just the way it was. Instead of stuffing it, I added a piece of cotton quilt batting that I put iron-on interfacing on both sides of to stiffen and trimmed to fit inside. I hand-sewed the turning space and trimmed the seams with cording to match.

The result was this flat, but still soft ornament. I probably won't make many of these because usually I need to stuff them to hide imperfections, but this one looked great. I love everything about this ornament, the design, with the crammed together "MAS" to make it fit and the smyrna stitches in the border and I love the unusual finish. 

I leave you with a picture of Molly and her tongue tip poked out. She goes about like this ever since she lost those three little front teeth, it's much worse when she sleeps, an inch or more. My conclusion is those three teeth were a key component of the tongue retention system...

  

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Chickadee Dee Dee

Chickadees are one of my favorite birds. You can imagine my glee a couple years ago, when a pair nested in the box on my front porch! When I took this quick clip, they were starting to fledge, calling back and forth to the parent birds, "Chick-A-Dee-Dee-Dee!" Before the day was over they were gone from the nest but I was able to watch the parents teach the babies sunflower-seed-cracking-skills at my feeder for a few weeks.

Design ~ Snowy Garden

Designer ~Susan Penny

Design from the book "Cross Stitch Greeting Cards"

Fabric ~ 28 count glass blue monaco

Fiber ~ DMC

I love how this one turned out! I may need to swap the bow for blue in later years when the white is dingy but I think it's adorable. Yet another Christmas ornament this year. Are y'all getting tired of Christmas ornament posts from me yet?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Warm Hands, Warm Heart

A happy Easter evening! We spent a quiet holiday. Dash happily colored eggs, I happily munched egg salad sandwiches!

I stopped by a local quilt shop (yesterday) and found this charm pack:

Here are the prints in the package of five inch squares:

Thanks to The Fat Quarter Shop for the image! You can buy the fabrics in the line here.

Aren't those fun prints? When I saw them, I knew they'd be perfect for backing smaller Ornaments like this:

Design ~ Warm Hands, Warm Heart

Designer ~ The Little Stitcher

Fabric ~ 28 count black Jobelan

Fiber ~ DMC

This is such a darling design! I changed the colors to brighter ones since I stitched it on black fabric. You can find this one in the Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments 2017 issue.

Why do you only see the giant red fuzzy stuck right in the middle after you took the photos, transferred them to the computer, and your blog post is written? Whhyyyy? 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

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

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

Mystery Birdie and a Dyeing Fail

I pulled a couple of finishes out of that box and started preparing them for final finishing. I got the first of those finished last night watching floss tube.

I then thought, when did I stitch this? I searched my blog the last seven years and I guess I never posted about stitching it! It's a mystery birdie!

Design - Button Up Birdie #1

Designer - Victoria Sampler

Fabric - 32 count tea dyed Lugana

Fiber - DMC

Such a handsome fellow! He turned out very sweet! I really wanted some red chenille to trim him with. 

How to clean up after the murder.

Oh wait, that's not blood! Last night I poured a little scarlet dye in the sink and tossed in salt and a yard or so of chenille. 

But when I washed out the dye and dried it the chenille was coral not red. I settled on making cording out of the 321 and trimmed Mr. Birdie with that instead. Now if I hadn't washed the dye out so thoroughly it would have been the correct red but I don't like the chance of it staining my projects.

Well, that is one down from my giant box of UFFOs. What can I come up with next?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Wee Sheep

Ever since I stitched the group of five "stacked" sheep on Les Moutons I kept admiring that bottom sheep. Wouldn't that make a cute ornament? He wouldn't leave me alone!

He begged to be made...

I found some Daffycat Dyed 28 count Monaco and stitched him quick. The blue star fabric is the backing but it sucked the color out of the Monaco in the photos.

The actual color is very rich, like this. I trimmed it out in Daffycat Dyed chenille and a festive red bow. Maybe not typical Christmas colors but I liked it! Vonna has an excellent video tutorial how to make this type ornament here: Pillow Christmas Ornament

Yes, yes..I know I have a box FULL of stuff waiting to be finished! I have a couple of those pieces in process already, I promise!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

And They Were Swinging!

I have been sitting on this photo all week, don't know why I haven't posted it. Three more sheep swinging in the garden. I somehow added a row in the third sheep so he's extra fat!

I finally got around to getting red pompom trim for my Grinchy ornament. This freebie is still available here.

I'm working on the set of four sheep now, and they are nearly finished. I had to go get more B5200 floss as I've gone through nearly 2 skeins since I picked this back up. These sheep are deceptively fluffy! A couple of the sheep are stitched in oatmeal GAST, I guess for a bit of variety? Once four are done, I'll just have six and seven. Closer to a finish!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Squirrel!

I took a quick break from Les Moutons to make a wee Christmas Ornament. I'm really pleased how nice it turned out!

The squirrel is from a 1978 leaflet by Carolina Cross Stitch Inc. Titled Woodland Christmas Series #6. Their squirrel was grey so I changed the colors to red as we have brown squirrels here. I stitched him one over one on 25 count unknown fabric that I tea dyed. The fabric is really stiff, I suspect it's Monaco, I have a giant cut of it from who knows where. The little stitched border I nicked from a Shepherd's Bush design from a Just Cross Stitch Christmas issue. This little guy is just under 3 by 3 inches! Thanks, Vonna for the cute finishing help.

While straightening up my studio I came across this unfinished strawberry emery fob. No clue why it sat unmade but I stitched it together in less than five minutes. The berry is stuffed with a teeny bag of white emery to polish and sharpen your needles. You can find white emery here. The fob turned out so sweet!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Grinchy Freebie

I was feeling mischievous and designed a funny freebie for you. Just a line in the song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Don't you think everyone needs a bit of Christmas humor for their tree? 

I stitched the model on Crossed Wing Collection 28 count Rainforest linen, a proper Grichy green with spots. You should have fun and dye a bit of fabric bright green! Once it's dry, stitch the Grinch's description and finish however you like. I finished mine on 3.5 inch metal ornament forms.

Merry Christmas!

=^..^=

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 Grinchy.

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