Piggy Bank Challenge

Val reminded me it was time to count our Piggy Bank Challenge savings. My jar wasn't nearly as full as it was last time. I was working then and was out spending money more often! At least I remembered to take a picture before I emptied it this time:

My jar sits on top of my embroidery floss cabinet where I can see it every day. Once I emptied it, I took the change to our credit union and they gave me dollars for it:

Grand total was :

$145.74

two Canadian dimes

one car wash token

The teller that cashed me out kindly donated a penny to round me up to 75 cents...which is now back in the jar for next year.

Wow, I have $145 to spend on my hobbies! I'm going to buy fabric! You can join in for next year! Val will be posting a sign up today on her blog: Val's Quilting Studio. 

How much could you save?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

ABC's

I made a bit of progress on the Stacy Nash Primitives Netty's Sampler at my Dad's house yesterday. He had a doctors' appointment for mom on Monday so I went on Tuesday instead. Dad and I had a laugh when I noticed Netty dropped the "J" on her sampler and then ends the whole alphabet with the "V." 

I got these templates the other day. It did not occur to me to take a picture of them before peeling off their backing paper. I've never done curved piecing but I'm eager to try. 

These templates make the blocks for Winding Ways quilts. I fell in love with the illusion circles created with this block. Oh, so much fun! 

I have a couple of quilting projects ahead of this, of course! I don't want too many things left half finished...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

This, That, and the Other

When I bought that basket to display smalls in, I happened to check Hobby Lobby's embroidery floss to see if they had the newly published DMC colors. They did! I've been checking every place I go that sells floss and it's finally happening here.

I got them bagged up as soon as I got home. If you are new here, I have a detailed post about how I store my floss here - Embroidery Floss. The Bagged floss gets stored in my Cabinet.

I finished this Milady's Needle Partridge in a Pear Tree design from the 2012 JCS Ornament issue. Waiting now to be finished.

I also finished USA Squared by Lizzy Kate. Just needs finishing. I've stitched this one once before but I RAK'ed it to Karen.

I was going to "new start" another Bent Creek design, Happy Flag Flag Day but when I got out the chart I thought it looked too familiar and a quick search of my blog revealed I had already stitched it. So I had to go dig the finish out of storage in the basement and add it to my patriotic basket. Are ya'll sick of seeing this basket yet?

So, for my new start, I needed a change of pace and chose this Stacy Nash Primitives Netty's Sampler Pinkeep Drum. A very small start so far!

Okay, so how many of you have gone to start a new project only to realize you've already stitched it, finished it and forgot about it?  I hope I'm not alone here...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Red and Blue

I was able to finish two more patriotic pillows for my basket. One in red:

Design ~ Celebrate Freedom

Designer ~ Bent Creek

Fabric ~ 32 count tea dyed Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

The second in blue.

Design ~ Wave

Designer ~ Bent Creek

Fabric ~ 32 count tea dyed Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

Funny, but I stitched both of these in 2013 and wrote about them both on this post. Now I'm finish-finishing them and posting both again on the same post. Weird, huh?

I found a bigger basket...with room to grow! 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Patriotic Passion

I've made a good start on my patriotic basket but I'm going to need to find a bigger basket...I still have pieces to finish and others I want to stitch! I have two more finishes to share today.

These were such fun to finish! Both pieces have been waiting for years in the finishing pile, it's about time for them to shine!

Design ~ 4th of July
Designer ~ Lizzie*Kate
Fabric ~ 28 count tea-dyed Lugana
Fiber ~ DMC

That one was started in 2013 and had been waiting for finishing since 2014!

Design ~ Tin Pin USA

Designer ~ Twisted Threads

Fabric ~ 28 count Monaco

Fiber ~ DMC

I can't find where I posted about this one if I ever did. I know I stitched this once before in 2008 for a Fair and Square exchange. I enjoyed adding beads along the edge.

I poked all my patriotic pieces into a basket. The tuck pillow in the front is bugging me, looking sloppy. I may need to rehab the finishing on it before it makes me crazy. Tucks are cute but inexact. I'm a sucker for perfection...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Shop Hop Complete!

Dash and I finished the Road to Oklahoma Shop Hop! Our third day out we managed to hit 8 of the 10 shops we needed to visit! Dash is an excellent shop hop planner!

I almost couldn't fit all the 3rd-day goodies in one picture! We traveled about 475 miles that day, made it to the first shop just after it opened and that eighth shop a half hour before they closed. Whew!

Our fourth day we only need to visit two shops and both of those fairly close to home. Still, we traveled 168 miles but we did take a detour to stop for fried chicken at a popular bar, Eichen's. Seriously good fried chicken and okra.

Here is my passport before we turned it in. The shop told us we were the first to turn in completed passports! All totaled, we traveled 1,595 miles over the four days. Great fun and I told Dash I hoped he wins one of the prizes instead of me, 'cause then they will take his photo and not mine!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Totally Useless Sneak Up

Whoa! I was distracted by Shop Hopping and didn't realize it was the New Moon! The Totally Useless Stitch A Long snuck up on me...It's a good thing I glanced at the calendar while answering emails! Is your ORT jar shined up for display? My year-to-date threads are just getting stuffed:

It's another new start too, kitted up in a hurry as I had finished Ho Ho Ho Santa (below) and had nothing ready for my Monday stay at Dad's house.

Not very much finishing ORTs and zero quilting ORTs.

Last week, I took this to Dad's and had to read instead because I forgot to grab my thread bundle! I was very glad of that library card and kindle that day! I bet I check my supplies better from now on...

=^..^=

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

Shop Hopping

Dash and I decided to do the Road to Oklahoma shop hop this year and we started on Friday. If you've never done a shop hop here is how it works...you get a "passport" that tells you which shops to visit and when you visit the shops, they give you a stamp, a free quilt block pattern (or you can purchase their block kit) and often there is a little token gift or free fat quarter. If you fill in all the shops or even just one region, you are entered for different prize drawings. This one is all in Oklahoma and runs the entire month of June. We have 23 shops to visit!

We were able to get 13 of the shops this weekend and traveled 950 miles! We each bought a fat quarter at most shops (one shop didn't sell them!) and yes, Dash is playing along! 

Our "loot" from the first day, purchases, and freebies. 

The second day was just as good and I even found some charm packs I've been wanting.

We planned the second day's route so we could breakfast at Hugo's in Claremore, Oklahoma...a favorite of ours even if it's an hour and a half drive. Their bacon is heavenly...I got 2 scrambled eggs, bacon, German potatoes, biscuit, and gravy. It was delicious and no way could I finish it all! 

We have 10 shops left and another 3 weeks to do them in. I think Dash is having fun, as he's planning our routes down to the last detail, lol! Give a man a challenge! 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Stars of Freedom

I finished this patriotic small into another firecracker. I'm thinking these tall ones will be cute tuck pillows for the back row of a basket. 

Design ~ Stars of Freedom

Designer ~ Erica Michaels

Fabric ~ Daffycat Dyed Scrap

Fiber ~ DMC

My double twisted "fuse" turned out much nicer this time. I (yet again) used those cute buttons I found at the quilt shop. This design is a freebie by Rainbow Gallery, click that for the link. I converted the colors to DMC and changed even more by using yellow instead of one of the reds. Best of all, the perfect finishing fabric was in my stash! This was a really enjoyable design to stitch once I had the thread colors picked out. I used 312, 728, 304, and 3865.

Adding on...apparently, RG doesn't have the 2002 freebies listed, it is shareable so email me and I can get it to you.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Oooph

Bah! 13 days since my last post...I am a terrible blogger! I made a resolution this year to blog more. I have already done much, much better than the past five or six years but I can't slack off like I just did!

This is the fault of my latest slack-off:

Really, not just reading Stephen King's latest, The Outsider (set in Oklahoma too) but mid-May, I got myself a library card and have gone to town! Along with the book pictured above, I've read six e-books, two books on CD and one audiobook. I haven't read so much since I can remember. Side note:  I do forgive Mr. King for having his characters refer to Oklahoma City as "Okie City", self-respecting Oklahomans call it "OKC" or simply "The City."

I have been stitching but need some to do some finishing.

Partridge and Pears

Woodland Joy

Did I stitch this on a small enough scrap?

Ho Ho Ho Santa

My current WIP, much farther along than this.

Too lazy to bother taking another photo.

I'll update you with the particulars when I FFO them! I will also have another patriotic finish to share with you soon. My evening is free and I plan to spend every minute in my studio tonight!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox