Late ORTs

I'm late with our Totally Useless Stitch A Long post! I was so tired yesterday I didn't even turn on the computer. I think I napped in my chair all day! But here I am now and my ORTs are all purple:

I have been a lazy stitcher the past few weeks and haven't finished that (swoon) big purple dress. I have also been a bad blogger with the lack of posts too. 

Last Thursday our meteorologists were tracking a cold front and noticed radar was picking up the migration of Monarch butterflies on their way to Mexico ahead of the front. How cool is that? Can you imagine so many butterflies they look like a line of storms on the radar? People were posting photos of their trees just full of butterflies. I didn't see any at my house. Boo.

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Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your October TUSAL post so we can come to 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

Still missing you, Cathey.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

xox

May I Borrow a Cup of Sugar?

I made really good progress on Merry Sunshine yesterday at my Dad's house. My mom was occupied with the nurse assistant for her shower and dad spent a lot of time clipping bushes so I got the left side of the (swoon) big purple dress outlined. 

I will work on getting the right side done and the lacey bottom hem filled in, then it will be easy-peasy fill-in stitches. You know how I love zen stitching!

Now, about that cup of sugar...

For the past month, I've been putting out about four cups of nectar every day for these little beepers. Can you see, there are six hummingbirds on this nearly empty feeder? This is right outside the window over my kitchen sink. I've never had so many hummingbirds! I've tried counting but can only get around ten or twelve before I lose track of who got counted...they just zip around too much! They are so much fun and I will miss them when they go south in a few weeks.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Totally Useless Box

Hello TUSALers! It's the New Moon! Let us see your ORTs! Mine are a little different this time:

Lindsay gave me this little box many years ago and it's always been used as my travel ORT container that also holds my pinkeep, scissors, and extra needles. Right after last month's New Moon, I started saving my ORTs in it since my year-to-date jar is so full. After the pic was taken I put them in that jar and I'll show it in December. I tote this box to Dad's house each week and occasionally he asks, "What is it you do with those again?" LOL

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Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your September TUSAL post so we can come to 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

Pigtails and Polka Dots

Here is a quick update on my Merry Sunshine. The crazy hair was a blast to stitch, HaHaHa! Then I started on (swoon) that purple dress. When I reached the polka dots, I realized it'd be easier to count between dots than to count purple stitches so I started on those. All 34, yes, thirty-four of them! I think I've ten left to go, whew! Then I can get back to (swoon) that purple dress.

I think I expected this to take me much longer than it has so far. Or maybe it's just so much fun to stitch I lost track of time? I do know I would have gotten more done if my library holds didn't all become available at the same time! And giant puzzles that needed finishing. Sewing machines to restore. Who has time to get bored?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Hobbies Collide

I found a great bargain on a vintage Singer last Friday and we drove about an hour to pick it up. It's a nice looking Singer 404, a brother to my Jake. Its paint looks good and isn't too dirty on the inside although it's terribly dirty on the outside!

Ooo, filthy! Dash said he didn't even want it in the house! This guy is begging for a good scrub & wash and nice long oil treatment! He will be so pretty once he is clean and waxed. He hasn't told me his name yet...

I was all excited and would have started working on him immediately but I had a giant puzzle taking up my kitchen table workspace. I had to have a puzzle mini-marathon and get it done.

Dash and I haven't been able to eat at the table for a couple weeks, lol! Who knew 1500 piece puzzles were so freaking big??? Now, I've finished it and I can get started on the new 404. The puzzle will be going to a friend's house to take up their tablespace.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Merry Sunshine

Ta-da! My new WIP is Merry Sunshine by La D Da! I've had this in my stash for ages...about time I get to work on it!

When I was a girl, I had a record player and a small stack of albums. One of my records was nursery rhymes set to music and sung. Merry Sunshine was one of the tracks. I loved that album and played it well into my teens...it was one of my "house cleaning" records, along with Disney's Mary Poppins, and played whenever I cleaned my room. I wish I could hear it again, alas, it isn't in my album stack any longer, although Mary Poppins is still there.

Here is my progress so far! 

Whoa, that first border was long! I bet I counted it a dozen times or more. I just don't trust myself. Not even when using pins. 

I've been fooled before.

This last photo shows the fabric color a little better. I am really liking the Gentle Arts threads I chose so far. I freaking can't wait to start stitching that giant dress. That giant PURPLE dress! I love it!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Frightfully Fun

Awww, it's over! This went by too fast! I had such a good time with this Trilogy "Take Along" kit. My only complaint is the chart was printed way, way too small! The graph itself was just over 2x5 inches. My eyes are too old for that! (The chart was printed very lightly too, so enlarging it on my scanner didn't work.) But much peering later...I have a finish:

Too cute! 

Looking sideways with the camera makes the colors show correctly.

This one goes into the "to be finished" pile and I'm free to start my next stitch. I finished tea dying the fabric for it last night and I'm very excited!

The camera wants to pass this off as mushroom, it is much more golden brown in real life. More to come...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

August ORTs

Hello TUSALers! Have you shined up those ORT jars for the New Moon? It's time for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! My year to date jar has a whole lotta orange Orts from this fat pumpkin:

The sewing ORTs in the wood leaf bowl are mostly white. These from sewing the Dresden blocks together. Oh, I still need to work on the borders for this quilt. Cross stitching, with fun pumpkins and kitties, has my interest right now.

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Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your August TUSAL post so we can come to 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

Rolly Linen

I stitch in hand so the top of my fabric gets rolled up, the bottom too if it's long enough. This is not usually a problem on cotton, the roll lines fall out easily! Linen is a different beast. It trains itself into the roll and is stubborn about unrolling for photographs!

See how I'm holding it open with my needleminder and scissors? And all the fold lines? Such tenacity! 

If I let it go it rolls right up tight. Handy for stitching but obnoxious for photos!

I've made great progress on this ginormous pumpkin...my sister talking me into watching Breaking Bad and this fill-in is perfect for TV watching.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox