New Stash and Old Stash

I went and spent a good bit of my piggy bank savings money on some fat quarters, a bit of Christmas yardage, clearance buttons and a roll of patriotic trim.

I was frugal and still have money left over though!

Nothing was tickling my fancy in the cross stitch pile that's labeled "want to stitch" so I dug through my stash and unearthed this great Trilogy kit called Frightfully Fun. It comes with fabric, a 32 count Natural Belfast Linen, Week's threads, and JABCO button. I seldom stitch with overdyed threads so I'm having fun with the changeup. 

The Dresden blocks are now sewn together and waiting for borders to be created.

Lastly, Miss Molly hasn't been featured in a while. We've been spending a lot of time with the undercoat rake, covering the neighborhood in dog hair. Adorably gap-toothed.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Progress, Questions and Stash

The sheep are rockin' and rollin' right along. I tried stitching for the Friday Off the Grid Stitch In but I kept getting interrupted and simply gave up. Sometimes you gotta go with the flow. However, that left me one sheep not connected to his legs!

I swear, my favorite parts of this stitch is that fat sheep beside the number five (he's so stinkin' cute) and that silly sun. I had to save the sun for the last thing on that section as my little reward for finishing it!

Deb had some questions...what is the fabric I'm stitching Les Moutons on? It's 32 count Blue Spruce, unknown brand. I bought the fabric at the Silver Needle. The model of this was stitched on a light baby blue, not my style but I wanted the fabric to really contrast with the white sheep. 

Deb also wondered how my broken arm was feeling? Much better! I forget it was even injured now. It's been 14 weeks and I have finished therapy but I still have stretching and strength building exercises to do. The doctor said it would be a year before I had full strength and movement back. It was just about six weeks on when the Mystery Quilt started and I had just gotten the go-ahead to use the arm. Wow! I feel like it healed fast.

I finally spent the $50 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop I won a year ago. Boy, their packaging is nice! I got this sweet layer cake called Fresh Market by Bella BLVD for Riley Blake. This was also in a plastic wrapping but I took it off as it was too shiny for photos. I gots plans for this layer cake! I also got two yardage cuts for another project. A green stripe and a green dot. More to come on both of those!

I found a project I really wanted to do but it is an appliqué design and I've never done that. The closest is the Dresden Plate quilt I've been (not) working on. I'm not one to shy away from something new so I've been researching and gathering supplies. I still need to either buy or make myself a pressing pad I can use sitting down. The stripe and dot fabric above is part of the planned appliqué project, along with some fabrics from my stash. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Shoppin'

A late post today because I went to the city and did some shoppin'! Had a great dinner with my family and then Jessie, Matt and I went shopping at Jo-ann's and Hancock's fabric stores. I found some great stuff but did not find that "perfect" fabric for my Prairie Schooler ornaments. The search continues...

I did find some awesome Christmas print fabrics. I can never resist these. Oooo ~ Neat Halloween trims on sale and should have bought more. The metallic ric rac was 39 cents and the pom pom trim was 89 cents. Why didn't it occur to me they were that cheap until I got home? It's kind of got a shine of light reflecting badly but the little box thingie is a tub of Bag Balm. Always heard how awesome Bag Balm was but I'm not too impressed. The camphor scent is horrible. Do I really want to smell like horse liniment? Wait, worse ~ this is COW liniment, isn't it? They could make this stuff Lavender scented and I'd buy it by the gallon tub.

Since I've been away all day I haven't had time to add the new members to the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long guest list. Don't worry, it will be first thing on my list tomorrow! For now, I think I'm going to drag my cow nipple scented self off to rustle up a snack.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Stash and More Stash

The last of my birthday stash arrived and since so many of you requested a peek I thought I'd share. I don't usually buy so much stash but it was my birthday and I felt like treating myself. I never worry about how much stash I am accumulating. I think of it as "saving for retirement." One of these days I will be on a limited income and will be glad I have so many fun projects to stitch. Hummmm, an investment in some 11 count fabric might be a good idea...as my eyesight will probably go before I actually run out of stash to stitch. ROFL

Bigger charts. Freakin' adorable.

Smaller ones.
Do you think I have a "thing" for Bent Creek?

Lizzie*Kate and Val's Stuff too. Notice how most of this is Halloween or Christmas? What I notice is that the majority of these charts were stitched by one of you recently. You shameless enablers!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!
xox

Stash!!!

I forgot to mention before now, I could not resist buying fabric last weekend. Aren't these fun?

This one you must click to embiggen. Is that not the most beautiful stuff in the world?

Today, I had a rare week day off work so Jessie & I went stash shopping! I had a 25% off total purchase coupon and went a little crazy. I bought floss. Loads of floss. Scads of floss. Heaps of floss. I am in stash heaven. I could wallow in this much floss.

And more fat quarters. The checkout lady was so patient as she scanned in each floss. Then her computer refused to scan any more. I had reached the limit of items you could purchase on one receipt! I suppose the computer has only so much memory. She had to ring up the rest of the floss on another ticket. This purchase gave me one 7-foot-long receipt and a shorter one as well.

What a fun day! Now I shall go wallow in floss until I am batty with stash overload!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Fabric Sorting

It has been too long since I have posted! Sorry about that, I'm still learning the new job and trying to become adjusted to working an extra ten hours a week. Plus, I've been exchange stitching so I can't share what I'm working on and I'm fresh out of ideas for stitchy blog posts!

Today was my day off work. I decided I had better finish the ornament for my exchange so it can be mailed off to Lisa V this week. I had a little panic attack, thinking I might not have "that perfect fabric" for finishing the ornament. Where would I buy Christmas fabric in March? Every store I've been to lately has it all put away until the season gets closer. Trembling, I pulled out my fabrics and to my relief I had "that perfect fabric" ~ whew! Lisa, dear, your ornament is finished and will be mailed soon...maybe even tomorrow!

When I got out my finishing fabrics I was slightly frustrated. Too much fabric ~ not enough box! Rick was headed to Wal Mart so I asked him to pick me up another box.

Then I sorted out the different fabrics. I have lots of "everyday" fabrics (right) and quite a bit of Christmas and Halloween (left). You can tell what my favorite holidays to stitch & finish for, right?

Oh my, now I have loads of room! I might have to go fabric shopping just to fill up the empty spaces in the boxes! It is comforting to know I have some choices in Christmas fabrics. After all, I have four more Christmas ornaments to stitch & finish before the end of the year.

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I'm interested to see how you store your finishing/quilting fabrics. I am always looking for better ways to do stuff!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Embroidery Floss

Everyone has their own idea about the best way to store their floss. Well, there are beginners out there still searching for their best way so I thought I'd share mine. I start with a full skein of DMC floss.

I start by labeling a floss bag and adding a 3x5 index card inside. The index card makes the floppy bag stand up, plus, I can see the thread color easier on top of the white card. I hole punch the card where it's punched in the bag.

The small "DMC" label gets removed and tossed into my band-jar. OCD, I can't help it. I save the long numbered band. I open the skein, doing this carefully so I don't get tangles.

Then I unwind the entire skein, putting the two ends together. Using one hand to hold the ends I carefully pull the threads through my fingers to fold it into halves. Then fold it in half again and in half one more time.

This should give you a folded length with eight equal strands. It's about 38 inches long, give or take.

Snip the loops on each end. Now you have eight cut thread lengths.

I remove one thread length to start working with and fold up the rest and slip it back into the numbered band. As I stitch, if I end up with short threads that can still be used, I tuck these bits in the bag on the back side of the index card.

My floss bags get filed away in my floss cabinet (seen HERE, scroll down.) When I kit up a project with lots of colors these index card file boxes (in the picture) are very handy. The index card in the bag make them stand up straight. This box here contains the colors for Crabby All Year.

When I have only a few colors to use the bags get threaded on rings. These are the threads for this quarter's Crabby blocks.

Now, you might want your lengths cut shorter than I have shown here. I use the loop method start so the 38 inch thread is perfect for me. I like to have all my threads cut right off as it eliminates running short if you just pull some out and go. I used to end up with 5 or 6 inch bits at the end of a skein before I started using this method.

I've added a poll in the sidebar for you to vote on the fabric for Snapper Year. I can't promise to use what is picked...but it's fun ~ go vote!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Essentials

There are some things I just can't do without when I'm stitching. I know that all you really need to cross stitch is fabric, thread, needle, scissors and pattern but I'm sure all of us have those few things we just can't settle to stitch without.

Here are a few of my essential stitching supplies.

1. Not pictured, but I can't do without my scanner/printer. It's so handy to make a copy of the pattern that I can mark all over and still keep my original in good condition. Not to mention I need to print out the thousands of freebie designs I've accumulated.

2. My Crayola colored pencils for marking up said copied patterns.

3. The little magnetic Sheepie needle minder I got from Holly when I won a giveaway on her blog. I use this little beauty every day, I'd be lost without it.

4. The button tin I received from Lindsay for my birthday. I use this when I travel, it is perfect to hold my little scissors and needlecase and I can put my ORTs inside to keep them safe until I return home. I'm a little obsessive about my ORTs.

5. The scissors I received as an RAK from Jill and the fob from a giveaway by Ranae. These small scissors fit perfectly in the button tin and the smooth fob is unobtrusive.

6. Thread Heaven. I don't use this all the time but when I use overdyed thread or blending filament it is invaluable at keeping knots away.

7. My Dololly for frogging and ending too-short threads. I rarely need this but when I do I don't know how I ever got along without it.

8. My Ott-Lite, also not pictured. My eyes aren't as young anymore. I just have a little desk top model. I use it when I stitch, especially in the evening. I also use it when I take photos so I don't have to use the flash which washes out pictures of stitching.

What are your essentials? I'd love to see them. It is great to learn new tricks and tips from my stitching sisters.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Nosey

What did I order? You girls are nosey. But that's alright, I like nosey! My 123 Stitch! order arrived today. Here is what I got:

Bent Creek's Snapper's Year. I've been following this, being stitched this year by Barbi and have really enjoyed her posts, watching it grow. The theme is similar to Crabby All Year and I'll probably make this 2010's monthly stitch. Thanks Barbi!

Then I got Bent Creek's The Branch Snappers. I watched Jill stitch this up and fell in looove.

I couldn't resist this Erica Michaels design, Hanukkah Bits when I saw it on Jennifer's blog. This is darling! It's supposed to be stitched on 40 count gauze, included with the pattern. OMG it is like, SO TINY! Um, I don't know if I can see that small.

My last little buy was a spool of Kreinik so I can see Chiloe finish her Pansy fairy.

There were two of the charts that were back-ordered but they should be sent along very soon. Where else can you order late on a Friday, get shipped on Monday and have it arrive on Wednesday? I love it.

I just noticed something. Everything here, I ordered because I saw one of you stitching it. You enablers, you!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Grand Birthday Weekend

To celebrate my 41st birthday I had FOUR days off from work! After work on Thursday, we took a short motorcycle ride to Cushing to eat Mexican food. It had to be a short trip because a cold front was moving in and we said goodbye to the 70 degree weather. Friday, I cleaned house and went out to eat at Chili's, rented some movies and lazed about all evening. On Saturday, Jessie and I went stash shopping in Tulsa. (Rick stayed home to play with his motorcycle.) We went to The Silver Needle, Joann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby and Barnes & Noble. Below is a bit of the stash I bought, some I have already ferreted away. Jessie and I ate at Olive Garden and we sat at the bar for an early dinner. Jessie got carded but she loved the peach fresco drink I ordered for her. I was driving so just had beer.

Sunday was spent playing with stash and stitching. I bought more David Francey albums off iTunes and was lamenting spending all my iTunes money...I opened my birthday card from Rick to find a new iTunes card inside! Woo hoo! Jessie got me some pretty variegated threads and a mouse pad for my stitching desk. I had errands today, (my actual birthday) my truck needed a thermostat, so we dropped it off and went out for breakfast. We stopped by the bookstore and I bought some Xanth novels I am missing and rented the John Adams miniseries. It's been a great birthday weekend!

I had to buy these book rings, on clearance sale at Hobby Lobby. Actually, they are paperclips...and there are 100 of them. The package says so. Get it together, indeed.

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

SAL anyone?

Jessie and I took a trip to Oklahoma City to go shopping with my mother and sister. We had a great girl's day out! Fabric stores and craft shops and even a stop in at Cross Stitch Haven. We had lunch out at Chelino's a favorite Mexican food stop. I had tamales and enchiladas and slurped down two beers, Tecate heaven. It was truly glorious.

While in the Haven, I had a (fabulous) breakdown! I've had my beady eyes on Raise The Roof's Crabby All Year charts for ages and when I saw them this time...they were bought and paid for before I could even say "But, I don't have time for another project!" Alas, they are mine. All mine-and I love them! So cute and silly!

I am thinking about gathering all the supplies up and stitching one block a month over the next year. Is there anyone interested in doing a stitch-a-long with me on this design?

Arriving home late in the evening, I found an envelope from France. I had RAK'd my friend, Marie-Hélène, a copy of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue and look what she sent me in return! I cannot read but a few words...the designs are awesome. There is even a little mousie dressed up as a butterfly!

Thank you Marie-Hélène! I love these!

Thank you for visiting my blog. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway on my November 1st post!

Why did I save an eyebrow?

The rest of the office/craft room got sorted today! We had a rainy day due to Ike sneaking by so it was perfect weather for finishing up this messy room. OMG, I am such a packrat! There was junk everywhere!

This is the desk. Hum, I need to tidy up those cords underneath. Why don't you notice those things in real life? Taco has another bed under this desk. When we were deciding which desk to buy a couple years ago, Jessie made the comment, "Any of these would be nice, until Mom clutters it all up!" She had a valid point. I do like to clutter. I try to keep it to a couple of smallish piles and everyone must admit, I have done an excellent job of keeping the desk-top clear.

The stitching area. I did buy a bulletin board for over my stitching desk. The chest of drawers holds the rest of my stitching supplies. I sorted all the drawers and straightened everything up. I even found my dark interfacing that had gone missing! This is the rest of the room. It's only 10x10, so we have had to maximise the space. The bins between the desk and bookcases are what I store my charts, leaflets, books and magazines in. There are also three of these bins under my desk. A lucky 13 in all and I'll need more soon. Packrat, ya' know. I need to go through the books on that bookcase, it's getting overloaded! I don't even want to think about what the basement looks like...

What the hell is that???

Oh, that's a Groucho Marx eyebrow. You know...from one of those party favor glasses with the moustache and eyebrows? It fell off. I found this while sorting ribbons and trim. It was in with the trim.

Why did I save an eyebrow?

Floss cabinet

Carol asked about the cabinet peeking out in my last post. That is my floss storage cabinet. It is actually a CD/DVD cabinet but it holds my floss bags perfectly! This was a birthday gift from Rick a couple of years ago. You can shop for your own here!

This is also little Miss Taco's favorite sleepy spot.

My floss is stored in zippered floss bags with a 3x5 index card inside to make the bag stand up. When I pull floss for a project, I hole-punch the card and add the bag onto floss rings. The white card makes it easy to spot which bag I'm needing. If I have tons of colors for one project, they go into an index card box. You can see them in yesterdays photos on the shelves...they look like green drawers.

Another day, another stash sort

It was so frustrating to know I have a certain teeny button but no idea where it is. It wasn't in this drawer, it wasn't in that box, it isn't here or there. Where is it? I've been looking for days. The first photo here is the reason why I can't find anything. So much clutter. How can one stitch with all this crap all over one's desk? Notice the clock in said photo. Noon! Time to start cleaning. Actually I'd already been cleaning for quite a while before I thought to take a picture...so this is really cleaner than it was!

Notice the clock now...4 pm! Whew! I got a lot accomplished today. I sorted all the drawers under my desk, all the boxes above on the storage shelves. I removed stuff that didn't belong here and I even found my missing button. There is now a box for trims, another for sewing, one for WIPs and one for buttons, beads, charms, pins & eyelets. I still need to sort the huge box of floss, bag them and put them away in the cabinet. I also haven't touched the chest of drawers that holds all of my fabrics and other stash. And we haven't even seen the other side of the room! I'm leaving that for another day.
I'm thinking a bulletin board over the desk to the left would be handy. This area is used a lot more now that I have the laptop. All the clutter wasn't quite as noticable (meaning, it didn't get in the way as much) until I added the laptop! I like the idea of having all my WIPs boxed...they won't get dusty when they aren't being worked on. They just don't need forgetting...

Stash in the mail

My new floss kid Lisa sent me this surprise package in the mail as a thank you for adopting her. Egads~I love stash!

Thank you, Lisa! I'll have fun with all this!

A New Start?

Yesterday was another Talons home game. Since Rick was off playing on his motorcycle with friends I took advantage of being husband-less and went stash shopping at The Silver Needle before the game! I had to spend the gift certificate Jessie bought me for Mother's Day, right?

I had a blast without someone waiting for me to finish...one always feels rushed; do you? I took my time and searched out a few things I just had to have. The first thing that really caught my eye was this Sisters and Best Friends chart Summer Joy. Love the colors and the bumblebees! I've always admired those S&BF designs I've seen others working on but I have never stitched one. This chart was so enticing I actually bought fabric and the Gentle Arts threads needed! The fabric I chose is a 28 count Jobelan called African Daisy...just yummy. I've been looking for another (yes, another, omg) WIP; have I found it?

I did have a couple of other charts picked out but those went back on the shelf when I found When Barnabee Met Bella by Just Nan. It is super hard to resist Just Nan designs. I love biscornus and this one is really detailed; not sure when I'll start it.
When I was finished with my stash shopping I made a trip to Barnes and Noble to see if they had any good magazines...they had good ones but they were all ones I already had...I ended up buying The Norton Trilogy by Peter Gethers. These are the bestselling The Cat Who... books -three in one Volume. I'm looking forward to reading it. Rick met me at the game and we had a good time. The Talons won...we did lose a game last weekend; I almost cried! But it looks like the team has pulled it together again.
A picture to prove I actually stitch; not just buy stash! I've done a bit of work on Peacock Cypher. You can read more about this on the Peacock SAL blog; after I finish this post...

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A big thanks to everyone leaving comments; you really brighten my days!

RAK from Crazybeads

There was a mysterious envelope with my name on it from 123-Stitch. What could it be? I hadn't ordered anything. Had I? I wouldn't be surprised to find myself ordering something and not remembering! I opened it up to find this...

The Prairie Schooler In The Woods

Barb, my flosskid in Australia, had seen this chart in my wish list and granted my wish! She wrote: "Just because you're my flossmom." I was speechless! How awesome is that? Jessie has already claimed the squirrel if I stitch it.

Thank you very much Barb! You are the greatest!

Bloomin' Monday

Pretty flowers are in my garden for Spring. The hummingbirds have finally started showing up regularly. I still haven't spotted the oriole. It will soon be 100 degrees and I'll be wishing for Winter again but for now...it is nice.

Becky recently had a giveaway on her blog...stash to the first 30 posters and I was #30! Lovely stash arrived in the mail this afternoon.

Thank you, Becky!!!

Stitchy Sunday

First thing, let me introduce everyone to a new stitchy blogger! Meet Lisa! Please go visit her new blog and wish her well in her new adventure! BTW, She's got cute cows...

Today I plan to do little more than stitch. It was a very busy day on Saturday so I'm going to be selfish today. I finished most of my household chores yesterday morning so I wouldn't have all of it to do today! Just some laundry left to do...yay!

I made it to the Silver Needle for my needed stash. ~That answers Lisa's question!~ I picked up the threads I needed~not shown in the photo since they are for an exchange. I also got a few things that caught my eye...oh dear! The blue quarter of fabric is for the backing on the pinkeep in my last post...do you think it suits? I didn't think to bring my piece with yesterday... I couldn't resist the LHN charts after seeing them stitched up on others' blogs. The Trilogy charts are simply darling and I wants-ed thems. *grin*

I had to get the Knotted Tree's Star of David Topiary for my sister even though it's charted to stitch in silks~and I can't use silk. I am substituting the Silk 'n Color's thread Midnight Cobalt for Weeks Dye Works Father's Day. I hope that works! By the way, I am not Jewish but my sister is and I cannot resist charts that suit her!

After stash shopping Rick took me to the Olive Garden. Yum, we both ordered the Tour of Italy plate with lasagna, chicken Parmesan and fettucini alfredo. Best of all (well, not better than stash but...) OUR TALONS WON last nights game~woohoo! That puts our record at 6-0 as yet UNDEFEATED!!! ***happy dances around*** We finally received our Arena Cup Champions 2007 t-shirts last night. I'm washing them up right now.

Bye for now***I'm off to stitch. A big thanks to everyone leaving comments. You really, really make my day!