We Start Another Totally Useless Year

Here's to kicking off the first Totally Useless Stitch A Long with a "Bang!" Or a some really full ORT containers, at least! It's the first New Moon of 2018! Have you signed up for the TUSAL this year? Look for the link above or at the bottom of this post so I can put your blog on the guest list. We also have a Facebook group if you don't have a blog and you can show off your ORTs there.

I have had really good stitching mojo but only so-so sewing mojo. My stitching ORTs are all from Les Moutons which  is coming along at a good clip:

My wooden leaf bowl is chock full of clippings from On Ringo Lake:

Not such an attractive photo but everything else in my studio is covered with units of the quilt waiting for me to sit down and sew it together! Sew much to do!

=^..^=

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

Puzzling

What other hobbies do you have? I enjoy many, hopping from one to the other as the mood strikes. One of my other pastimes is jigsaw puzzles. I'm rather picky though...they must be photographs, not paintings and 1000 pieces or more. I will put the puzzle together, then box it back up and away it goes. I don't glue them together and I don't save them...unless they have to do with needlework!

This one I have had forever. I've gotten it out and worked it at least twice. These Roseart were the best puzzles!

This one I bought as a belated Christmas present to myself. Nice quality but, Oh, so expensive compared to the cheap ones years ago! I put it together a couple weeks ago, admired and boxed it back up for a rainy day.

I found this one on eBay and paid ten times the original price, lol. I haven't even opened it yet. It looks like a hard one! The Kodacolor were awesome puzzles too. I remember going to the drug store and getting a couple of these or the Roseart brand, usually landscapes or famous places. Kinda like traveling right at the kitchen table. 

I'd love to hear about your hobbies!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Friday Night Stitch-In

Yesterday, I joined a Facebook group called Friday Off the Grid by Caroline of Off The Grid Needlearts. You may also recognize her from her YouTube channel of the same name Off the Grid Needlearts. So many links all the same name...hope I got them correct!

Anyway...Friday Off the Grid is an internet stitch-in held every Friday from 6pm to midnight. We post a picture of our project(s) at the start and again at the end. It was a lot of fun!

I was late to the party, spending time with Dash as he would be gone all day today, so I didn't get to start until 9pm. No one kicked me out so the rules must be pretty loose, right? I was able to stitch from 9pm to 1am. Ooo, I stayed a little late! Yes, I'm that guest you have to ask to leave cause I'm having so much fun I don't realise the party's over!

At 9.

At 1.

I got half a sheep, a zero, some grass and some fencing put up and I watched three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale and a couple of Floss Tubes. I had gotten the first half sheep, a tree and a one put in the night before whilst watching entire seasons of the Midnight Quilt Show. For those that don't know, I am The Queen of Slow Stitching so this is incredible progress. Shocking, really.

You ought to check out the links above and join us on Friday nights! We'd love to stitch with you!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Mystery Monday, Part 6, 7, 8 & 9

When I left off blogging about the Mystery Quilt I was sewing clue five which was lots of chocolate flying geese. I finally completed those and cut peach/melon triangles for clue six. 

Clue six was adding those triangles to the chocolate/aqua triangles I had already sewn.

These units didn't take much time once I sat my butt down and did them. It was the getting off the couch from tiredness that took the longest. I'm still recovering from the holidays, I think.

Then, Bonnie took a wild hare and started throwing clues at us - bam! Bam! Bam! Four days - four clues in a row! Without the weekly deadline for each clue, I've fallen way behind. I'm much better with deadlines.

Bam! Part seven was sewing peach/melon geese to chocolate geese.

Again, these were a fast clue. Again...I took forever!

My bobbin was running low so I decided to just chain until it went out. It went out right as I finished the pile of goosey pairs! Ha! I did a quick clean up of my machine and wound more bobbins.

Bam! Part eight was to put some units into blocks. Like this:

I have ONE completed. Oh, I see I lost a goose nose. I don't die over it but I will make a point to be a little more careful with the rest. Pun intended.

Before I make the rest of the blocks I gotta remove all these dog ears I was too lazy to remove earlier. Why, why was I so lazy??? I'm kidding, of course. But it is boring. Time consuming. Damn dog ears. 

Bam! Part nine is laying out the blocks I haven't finished with sashing I haven't sewn together and setting triangles I haven't cut yet. Stay tuned It's getting there. One day. First, I'm trimming these stupid dog ears...

I'm linking up with Mystery Monday Link-Up, Part 6, 7, 8, 9!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Totally Useless Stitch A Long

Get to stitching and save those ORTs!

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 even save ORTs 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. Comment on this post and send me an email with a link to your blog (to be included in the guest list below.) NEW! - You can also ask to join the TUSAL Facebook group.

2. Get a glass jar or other container and save your thread clippings. Some stitchers include fabric trimmings, thread bands, empty spools 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!

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

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

5. 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!

6. 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. Make sure you comment on the right post, a few comments seem to sneak onto other posts!

When to post?

We follow the Lunar Cycle so every year these dates change! Some years they are very evenly spaced, one New Moon each month and some years have 2 New Moons one month and skip a calendar month altogether!

The New Moon dates for 2019 are:

January 6
February 4
March 6
April 5
May 4
June 3
July 2
August 1
August 30
September 28
October 28
November 26
December 26

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 want 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 this  TUSAL post in the link option. Upload the photo and save.

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

Our Guest List:

1. It's Daffycat

2. Uglemors blog

3. Deborah's Bits and Pieces

4. Serendipitous Stitching

5. orts, splinters and mulch

6. needle and thread

7. Yellow Flower Meadow

8. Beth's Needlework Stash

9. The Flashing Scissors

10. crossing the stitches

11. Stitchin' & Life in a Small Town

12. My Stitching Nook
13. Magical's Quilts and More
14. A Cozy Little Place for Stitching
15. D1D2
16. A Crafter's Corner
17. Home of a Floss Junkie
18. Life From the Pond
19. Little Stitches Art
20. Handmade Fashion
21. Cats in the Quiltorium
22. Fetalina Stitching
23. Crafty Weasel
24. Never A Dull Moment
25. Food For Thought
26. Casas e Bordados
27. Into the Dark
28. Mama needs to do some stitching
29. Alaska Wolf Pack
30. Jeetje borduurt
31. The Whimsical Dowager
32. Caring Stitcher
33. My Tate Gallery
34. Little Stitches Art
35. Northwest Red Head
36. Mostly Cross Stitch and Some More
37. Reviews, Chews & How-Tos
38. Kitten Stitching
39. Connie's Creations
40. Are you next?

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Mystery Quilt Week 5

Once again I'm late for the link up! Christmas busyness took the wind right out of my sewing sails. Always too much to do and never enough time...and we don't even do big celebrations. Whew!

This week's clue was a repeat of clue two - flying geese but in chocolate and neutrals. Easy enough, especially this busy week. HA! And I'm not even done!

This is all that are complete. Maybe 40?

My duty today is to turn the rest of these neat piles into a honking lot of flying geese before the next clue comes out tomorrow morning! And I will lose a few hours as I have sent a shopping list to Dash to pick up the items I need to cook Chinese/Thai for our dinner. I am in desperate need of stir-fry and Jasmine rice.

Better get hopping!

Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Tuesday Link-Up, Part 5.

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

Mystery Quilt Week 4

I'm terribly late for the Mystery Monday Link Up, Part 4! So I'm having Mystery Monday on a Wednesday. Let's spice things up!

This weeks clue is a unit new to me, pieced triangles. I've never made them but following Bonnie's instructions, they are a breeze. Do you like my little Christmas tree?

I spent Friday and Saturday cutting the pieces. Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool is fabulous for making these - so easy.

These are nice to sit down and cut and watch Netflix. 

Once I had the pieces cut, I sewed a trial unit and it came out perfect. I did forget to swipe to the "square" option on my camera...

Then it was easy to set all the aqua/turquoise out so I could get them randomly paired with the chocolates. Sew 20 and iron, finish sewing the 20 and iron and repeat and repeat. Half are finished, I've been dawdling in making them. Hey, I can't finish them too quickly or I'll have nothing to do until Friday when the next clue is released!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Last 2017 ORT Report

It's the New Moon and the last one of the year! Our Totally Useless Stitch A Long has been eventful for me this past year, from months with ORTs-A-Plenty to months of just a few - dratted broken arm! It's hard to believe the year is coming to an end. I could swear we just started!

Here is the last look at my little jar before it gets dumped into my BIG jar. Yes, I save ALL stitching ORTs...forever! These ORTs are from the last two years. I forgot to dump it before I'd already added a lot of ORTs! Really not a lot here compared to other years when I had to pack them in! 

My fabric ORTs are overflowing with Mystery Quilt bits! I was worried I'd need a bigger container this month! My fabric ORTs will just be tossed, there comes too many crumbs to save them all...my studio is only 10x10 foot!

I enjoy hosting the Totally Useless Stitch A Long. Do you want to continue (or join in) next year? If enough want to join in, I will have a sign-up posted soon. If you think you want to participate, leave a comment on this post and shoot me an email with a link to your blog:

daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com  (change the capital letters to the appropriate symbols.)

I used to be able to follow your comments back to your blog but Google has changed how that works! 

=^..^=

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

Loose Ends

Well, for the second time on this years mystery quilt I finished a clue before the next one was released. I shouldn't do that. Now I am at loose ends. Nothing to do until tomorrow. 

Sigh.

Clue three was a challenge. I found I had cut 40 more rectangles than I needed because I wasn't checking my instructions. Boo. There is only a little peach/melon fabric left. I hope there isn't much more needed. These were fun to sew even if I can't follow instructions!

The box is filling up with clues! But there are loads of aqua/turquoise and chocolate fabrics left to use still. Most likely at least three clues left to go. 

I would probably not be so antsy if I had a project to sew on between clues. I do. I just can't work on more than one at the same time. The Dresden Plate quilt still lies in blocks waiting to be finished,  borders undecided. I have a Christmas tree skirt top I made two years ago, unfinished, backing undecided. I just bought an appliqué pattern and am collecting fabrics for it. Plus...there are the umpteen cross stitch designs I have going! Nope, these won't do! I hope tomorrow comes quickly. I might die of boredom...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox