May ORT Report

Woo...it's the New Moon and I didn't miss posting this update for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! And I actually have a few ORTs in the jar this month ~ how long has it been, anyway? Also shown here is a little peek at my new WIP. I can't tell you how tickled I am at creating ORTs!

In the last month, little Miss Molly got old enough to be spayed. While at the vet she was also micro-chipped and had her rear dewclaws removed. She wasn't a happy camper but she got cute purple leopard print socks to wear...until she ate one the next morning. We never did find it! Maybe they were biodegradable?  I will spare you gruesome images of the incisions on her ankles but will say they were much more than we expected. I think they were worse than her tummy by far. However, this is better than catching a floppy claw on a couch cushion and ripping it off. 

Molly decided she HAD to lick her incisions, no matter what. The vet gave her this pretty blue bib to wear. If she worked at it she could still reach her feet but it mostly kept her from serious licking. This fabric E collar was very nice compared to the rigid plastic one we threatened her with. And if I flipped this one up Molly looked like a Big Blue Border Collie Daisy. She enjoyed all the giggles...and the dog-party brown rice, ground beef and yoghurt she got to eat after anesthesia. That was the best part.

Molly turned 6 months old today!

Happy half-birthday Mollywog!

TUSALers leave a comment on this post so we know to visit your blog! Also in case I decide to hold a giveaway, this will give you an extra entry. Are you wondering what the heck a TUSAL is? Click here for info!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

March-April ORT Report

I know. I know. I know. I know!

I completely blew off the TUSAL in March.

I have not stitched since those 12 stitches in January. 

Some TUSAL leader I am. Blah! 

Training a puppy, working full time and keeping up with daily life is getting the best of me. I promise to try better. Or at least keep my blog updated for you! 

Since I have no lovely stitching to show off, I shall give you a peek at wee Molly:

Here was Molly on Christmas Day. Was she really that chubby and stubby? So snuggle-able but for all the Raptor teeth! 

She is now becoming a most lovely girl. Still full of vinegar. She jumps up to look at what I'm doing at the kitchen counter and when I tell her to *get off!* she barks at me! She lost the last of those Raptor teeth over last weekend. I'm thankful for a mouth full of dull big dog teeth because:

I must be careful when I'm cleaning as she gets very excited at rapid hand motions and is liable to bite before you realize just how excited she is! This was the case with this purple box. She got excited as I was wiping it off and jumped on top. To EAT me, I am sure. 

 Then, she thought she was so clever being high up. Look how fast her tail is wagging! Silly Mollywog! Do you see how her ears stick out to the side? I guess she likes them that way. She can put them up if she really wants to. They stand with floppy tips. CUTE! But she likes airplane ears the best.

For such an ornery puppy Molly really a good girl. We have been leaving her loose in the house lately while we work or run errands and she has been an angel so far. I think every toy in every toy box gets played with! On Monday while I was at work she accidentally closed the bedroom door, shutting herself in the dark for who knows how long? I've put one of her toy boxes in front of the door so she can't lock herself in again. 

Ready for bed! 

For those faithful TUSALers who actually have ORTs to report (unlike me) leave a comment with a link to your post so we can go see!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

February's Missing In Action ORT Report

I totally missed February, didn't I? Not only by not posting on time for the New Moon on the 10th but by having no ORTs to show:

Yup. That is one empty ORT jar. No stitches in weeks. Stress level = HIGH. Must settle and stitch soon or things will begin to implode!

Why did I miss the New Moon and posting your TUSAL photo? It really isn't Molly's fault. She's doing really well the past few weeks. Mostly. More about that later in this post. Her ears go up and they go down. Half up ~ isn't that silly? House training is okay...she isn't as "easy-peasy" as Sheba was as a puppy. More headstrong, more aggressive and much more independent!

We buy Molly lots of fun, expensive dog toys...but I think her favorite toy is this empty plastic coffee can. She will scoot it all over the house, growling and terrorizing it to no end. I try not to laugh when she gets it stuck on her head (on purpose) and runs into furniture (not on purpose.)

I was NOT PLEASED to come into the kitchen one day (after leaving her unattended for a few minutes) to find Molly stripping wallpaper off the wall. And us in the middle of refinancing the home loan for a much lower rate! Sigh. One more thing we had to fix! Dash worked miracles and you can hardly see the repair. 

In fact, THAT is really the reason for missing TUSAL this month. We have been cleaning, fixing, de-cluttering, painting and generally working our tails off on the house. Nearly every room has been freshly painted and things we have been ignoring/putting up with are being dealt with. It's been a lot of hard work and I've still got quite a to-do list but boy-oh-boy - it's like we have a brand new house! I think we have thrown out two truck-loads of junk. I'm really enjoying the progress we have made but not the falling-into-bed-exhausted-every-night part! Last weekend, Dash carted everything out of the basement, painted it and installed new flooring. I'm supposed to be sorting through all the stuff to decide what goes and what stays. But I took a break to catch up with my blog buddies ~ I miss you guys!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Welcome To The Party!

A warm welcome to new visitors...and one to my many regular readers as well! I started this blog November 1st, 2007 with this awkward post. I blog to share my love of cross stitch and my general joy of life. From that first post with no comments to five years later of having 1300 subscribers is unbelievable. I never once dreamed I'd have so many beloved friends from ever corner of the globe. Blogging is truly an incredibly important part of my life. We've shared our ups and downs, had arguments (not many,) given advice, cheered our victories and mourned each other's losses. I'm terribly grateful for every single visitor here. 

Vicki over at 2 Bags Full had the wonderful idea to throw this Grow Your Blog party. While I am not hurting for readers I remember the excitement of that first comment:

1 comment:

Rachael said...

Hello Daffycat and welcome to the world of Blogging ;0)

November 3, 2007 at 4:02:00 AM CDT 

I remember the thrill of that first "Google Follower" Mine was Patti.

I remember the fun of hosting my first giveaway and then coming up with a silly way of choosing the winner.

Yes, I remember just starting off, thinking no one would ever care a whit what I had to say. I learned early on that the more blogs I visited and left comments on the faster my own blog grew. To make friends you gotta BE a friend! Go make friends! Visit some blogs. Leave comments so people can find their way back to your blog. This Grow Your Blog party is an awesome way to start. 

Click Here

to see Vicki's Grow Your Blog guest list. 

Now for some more good stuff...

I promised a giveaway right? I'm offering this treasure box I made last year. If you would like to be included in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere...no hoops to jump ~ except for the comment!

I will put the names in my "hat" and draw a winner on February 1st as the Grow Your Blog party instructions indicated.

Hmmmmmm, the box looks empty...I just might have to fill it with something for the winner!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Let's Party!

Just about the time I'm wishing I had a new idea for a giveaway...I find out Vicki over at 2 Bags Full is hosting a Grow Your Blog party coming up on January 19th. If you would like the chance to attract more readers, visitors and followers to your blog why not join the party? Visit the Grow Your Blog post and leave a comment to enter and have your blog featured at the party. Hurry...Vicki must have time to add your blog so she needs your link before January 15, 2013. There are quite a few blogs already participating and many of us are going to host giveaways to enter! We all LOVE giveaways!

Then we can visit Vicki's blog again on January 19, 2013 to start making the rounds. We will find new blogs to visit, make new friends, enter some giveaways and maybe even attract some new readers to our own blog. This sounds like loads of fun and Vicki is really clever for thinking of it! 

Watch for my special post on January 19th to read a little about me and my blog and enter to win my giveaway prize for the party. Just for fun...if you sign up to join Vicki's party leave a comment here (tell me so!) and you will receive an extra entry in my giveaway! Vicki has 286 comments for people wanting to join. Can we add to that number? Come on ~ the more the merrier!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

January ORT Report

It's our first New Moon of 2013! I hope everyone got lots more stitching in than I did! I've been soooo busy I haven't had a minute to myself in weeks. What I wouldn't give for one day with nothing to do except what I wanted to do. Just ONE day. I will steal one somewhere...

That's it. You are correct. ONE LITTLE ORT. And a loooong one at that. I did a total of 12 stitches in the last moon cycle. HOW FREAKIN' SAD IS THAT? 

This little girl is the culprit stealing all my time. We brought Molly home on Christmas Eve. It was supposed to snow like crazy on Christmas day. "Near Blizzard Conditions" the weather people warned! "Any unneeded travel is highly discouraged!" Like good citizens we cancelled our Christmas plans, went and got Molly early and stayed home. It never snowed. Not a single flake. Oh well! It was a nice Christmas even though we missed seeing our loved ones.

Don't let this cute, kissable snout fool you. She only looks like a Border Collie puppy. This is really an alligator in disguise. ALL TEETH! Snap! Bite! Ouch, Molly!

We are house training. This is one smart puppy. She started using her bells to ask to go out after just a day or so. Over and over and over. She loves to go out! Never mind that it is cold or that we JUST came in from outside. Right about the time I scold, "Molly, no...you just went out!" She pees on the floor. Puppies!

I do believe she will have brown eyes. She lost the cute pink dots on her nose leather. Her ears perk up pretty high but I can't tell if they will ever go completely up. I would think they would be up by now if they were going to. I like floppy ears. 

Puppies are fun. They zoom around with all the energy of a thousand dogs then crash and sleep like the dead. They also play in their water dish, drag the rugs around, bite your shoes-couch-carpet-table..."Molly, no, no, no, NO!" I'm worn out.

I think I will steal two days.

The next New Moon is February 10, 2013! Hopefully I will find a bit of time to put a few ORTs in my jar! I am not sure if there will be a TUSAL giveaway this next year but if there is...those TUSALers leaving a comment with a link to their ORT report on this post will receive an extra entry. Thank you so much for playing along!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

The Totally Useless Stitch A Long 2013

Here we go! Are you ready for some major ORT collecting for 2013? This is going to be a fantastic year for stitching. I just know it!

The 2013 TUSAL is launched! 

What is an ORT? ORT or ort ~ Capitalized, it stands for Old Ratty Threads. These are the cast-off thread ends a needleworker cuts away. These ends are often saved in clear jars as a decorative object. The word, "ort" does appear in the dictionary, meaning: a bit of something left over; usually concerning food. 

Why would you save these and why on earth post a picture on your blog? Not everyone saves them. Some stitchers just toss them in the trash or let them decorate the sofa and floor. Sometimes this inadvertent decorating draws ire from those living with us. Saving these clippings in one place creates a random tangle of lovely colored thread. Posting a photo of this pile is "progress" of a sort and thus, the Totally Useless Stitch A Long was born. 

If you would like to join the Stitch-A-Long:

1. Get a glass jar or other container and save your thread clippings. Some stitchers include fabric trimmings, thread bands or any other stitching cast-offs they gather. You may continue filling this jar throughout the year OR you may empty the jar and start over each month ~ no firm rules here!

2. On (or about) each New Moon take a picture of the ORTs in your jar and post it to your blog. This is a blog game so YES, you MUST have a blog to be included.

3. Yes, you can use your current ORT jar or jars. This is no contest...the stitcher with the most ORTs doesn't win!

4. You should post a picture each New Moon, even if there has been no "progress" to show. We are aiming for "once a month" here...no whippings for being late, early or absent!

5. When you have posted the picture of your ORTs visit my blog and comment on my ORT report for that month's TUSAL. If I have a Totally Useless Giveaway these comments give you an extra entry!

The New Moon dates for 2013 are:

January 11

February 10

March 11

April 10

May 10

June 8

July 8

August 6

September 5

October 5

November 3

December 3

If you would like to join in on the fun leave a comment on this post. In years past, I have made up a "guest list" by adding a blog link list for everyone that joined ~however~ this year I probably will not do that. It takes hours and hours and hours of visiting blogs, editing the post, checking links, editing the post, correcting mistakes, editing the post. I'd much rather be stitching or visiting your blog on a recreational basis. Therefore, consider your comment to be your entry. Make sure your profile is set to "open" so people can visit your blog or leave a link to your blog in your comment. I hope you aren't offended I am not doing a guest list. We are adopting a new puppy at the end of the week and I'm thinking to be rather busy for quite some time. If I manage my time better than expected perhaps I will reconsider.

A request: I notice there are a lot of bloggers completely in the dark about your Totally Useless posts. They see lots of people posting pictures of ORT jars but they have NO IDEA why. They might want to join in the fun too! Please put a LINK to this sign-up page when you make your TUSAL posts. A link in your sidebar is great but ONLY if your readers SEE it and realize what it is.  

If you would like to add the TUSAL link gadget to your sidebar (in Blogger): right click on it and save the photo to your computer, go to your blog's layout and choose "add a photo" and put the address to the 2013 TUSAL post in the link option. Upload the photo and save.

A shout-out on your blog to let other stitchers know about the 2013 Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long would be greatly appreciated! Plus, please change the links in your sidebar to this new post!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

December ORT Report

It's the last New Moon of 2012...do you know where your ORTs are? Mine are not plentiful but good enough for all that happened in the past month!  Can you tell these are Blackbird Designs ORTs?

I know I've been promising the new TUSAL sign-up for 2013. It's coming! I haven't forgotten! Those TUSALer's leaving a comment on this post receive an extra entry in the 2012 giveaway. That is coming up soon as well. 

Here is the project I've been sloooowly working on, the only ORTs in my jar. This is a nearly completed BBD Tweet Hearts Exemplar #2. It was a struggle to finish the first one (a heart shaped pillow) and I'm hoping this one goes easier.

Fun news: Molly has her first toy! A polka-dot squeaky pig. Whee! The plan (if nothing changes) is to bring Molly home the weekend after Christmas. The breeder tells me she has had her first shot, worming and weighs five pounds. They are also using the name "Molly" with her so she can begin to associate it with herself. We are really looking forward to the last few days of 2012!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

I Hate Coming Home

This house is too quiet. It's Empty with a capital E. Late last year, Taco, the cat went to live with Jessie when she moved to the city. I know Jessie and her husband, Matt enjoyed adding her to their family. Then in April after Sheba died, home seriously stopped being our happy place. Both Dash and I have experienced horrible feelings of dread associated with coming home to a lonely house. We cannot stand this emptiness any longer. Home should be a place full of hope and laughter and love, right? We have those things, yes...however there is a huge dog-shaped void sucking a lot of the happiness away before it can be fully enjoyed. Dogs just make some people's life complete, I suppose. 

To help complete ours, Dash and I are adding this tiny character to our cast:

Sweet little Molly.

Molly is a four-week-old Border Collie. Yes, another Border Collie ~ love them. We aren't sure of Molly's eye color or ear position yet, she is still too little to tell. Her momma has blue eyes and perked up ears and daddy has brown eyes with floppy ears...Molly could end up with either. She will be a rough coated collie, which I like very much. I imagine Molly will be a much smaller collie than we are used to as both parents were not nearly Sheba's size. Old Sheba was big for a collie!

No, we don't have her here yet. She has only started eating some solid food so it will be some time before we can bring her home. 

Dash and I had the pick of the litter. That is our Molly in the very center, with one brother on the right end ~he has the white collar~ all the other pups were girls. The puppies were such fun to play with! I could have stayed for hours. I hated to leave them, especially knowing they are a two hour drive away so we won't get to see her again before it's time to bring her home.

We cannot stand the waiting. This sucks! I feel like a kid who knows there are awesome presents under the tree but Christmas is still weeks away. Before the New Year comes, our house will be full of excitement and joy. For now, it's time to gather puppy training supplies and puppy safe toys and puppy-proof the house & yard. And get ourselves psyched up for training a new puppy. Very hard work!

But the effort will be totally worth it.  

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Star Reindeer

It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition to share a new reindeer design on my blog, hasn't it? Here is the 2012 offering, Star Reindeer. I hope you enjoy stitching her!

To receive a copy of the design email me at daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com. Tell me the name of the design you are requesting. This one is "Star Reindeer." I appreciate comments left here for encouragement too!

Please 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 free cross stitch designs. They are all still available for the asking.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox