Elephant Hello

I want to thank all of my readers for the friendship you've given me. Your encouragement and enthusiasm is truly treasured. Here is a little quick-to-stitch freebie for you. This easy cross stitch would be great as a baby shower card or a little greeting for a friend. Aren't elephants supposed to be good luck? Feel free to change the colors to suit your taste!

Elephant Hello

 

Please email me at daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com  to receive a PDF copy of the pattern. Please, put "freebie request" in the subject line and tell me the title(s) of the pattern(s) you are requesting.

You must have the free Adobe Reader program installed on your computer to view/print the program.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

L*KE & RAK

First off, I received word my Lizzie Kate Exchange arrived with Melissa. I am so proud of this exchange. Do you know how you picture something to make, it all looks so perfect? I was so pleased that these pieces came out exactly like I pictured. I made a scissor fob and a floss tag. The scissors pictured didn't go with, as this was a no-extras exchange.

Design ~ June Flip-it
Designer ~ Lizzie* Kate
Fabric ~ 28 count Jobelan, tea-dyed
Fiber ~ DMC

Here is the front:



Here is the back:

I was feeling a tiny bit goofy when I free-hand-stitched the personalization. I really hope Melissa liked it!

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In today's mail I found this little treasure from Sophia at Scotland for the Senses. A tiny RAK thank-you gift! Lots of you know how much I like those Hielan' coos! This will be a fun project to make.

Thank you, Sophia!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

24

I wanted to post this yesterday but there wasn't time to spare. Actually, I've been wanting to post all week but things were just too busy...I haven't even had time to stitch this week ~ horrors!

Yesterday was our 24th wedding anniversary! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. We look so young (and slim) in this photo. Truly, we were young...17 and 19. No, the baby I am holding is NOT Jessie! How dare you think that? ROFLOL Jessie is a mere 21 years old! The precious six-month-old in my wedding photo is my beloved niece.

Rick & Sharon

July 25th 1985

That sweet baby niece was married yesterday, 24 years to the day of that photo above. I cried and cried, so happy for her.

Danelle & Ryan

July 25th, 2009

Congratulations, sweethearts!

XXXXXXX

Here was my progress on the Traveling pattern from last weekend. With only a couple hours work put in, I haven't gotten much accomplished. I'm hoping for lots more stitching time this week!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

July Heat

Our hot, hot, hot weather has finally ended, I think. We had so many days over 100 degrees but near the end of the week it dropped back into the high nineties and today was in the high eighties. I can live with 85!

Presenting: Crabby All Year's July Heat! Apt block this month, isn't it? Missy Ann, you were right, this was the fastest block! I zoomed right through. For this picture I placed the buttons where they will be stitched on. This months' buttons are kind of the whole point of the block and I thought it would look better with them. These aren't really egg buttons. It's sand dollars and round yellow-orange ones...but they do look like eggs ~ clever!

With the extreme heat, we've had to keep the house shut up. No curtains opened, lights off and fans going. Even still, the air conditioning never stopped running. Today, Taco enjoyed bird watching with the drapes open next to my stitchy chair. She is trying to see the hummingbird on the other side of the feeder!

I've started the Traveling pattern today and should be able to show you a WIP photo tomorrow.

Oh, yeah, before I forget...they have put our new roof on. Now we are waiting for the siding contractors to start (maybe this coming week.) I have taken "before" photos and can't wait to see the improvements!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Scottish Recipe Giveaway

There is often something cooking around our house. Jessie loves to cook and really enjoys trying out international recipes. We have had epic failures and some truly fantastic discoveries. Cock-a-leeky soup and scones have become favorites...and there is something she's been dying to make involving ox tails but the store never has them when she has time to cook!

Over at Scotland for the Senses is a great giveaway for a Scottish Recipe book! Go do a little blethering on the blog and maybe you will win it. Hurry, it's over with next Monday! Best of all are the really awesome photos of Scotland...

Here is my pitiful progress on Crabby All Year's July...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Success!

I'm quite pleased with myself! My Lizzie Kate exchange is stitched, finished and ready to be mailed. I worked hard this week, let me tell you! This exchange was such a joy to stitch. The finishing turned out perfectly ~ easing my tender feelings about the epic disaster of my last one on the gingham fabric. Now, I can start on Crabby July and the Traveling pattern. Hopefully, I'll be back soon with those updates!

ORTs

I haven't shown my ORT jar since Christmas. Everybody has been joining the Totally Useless SAL at Dragon My Needle and showing off their ORTs. I haven't joined the 'SAL' because I already save ORTs and one of the conditions for membership is that it's a new collection. Poo. For some weird reason, I really like ORTs...I think they are beautiful. I really, really enjoy seeing everyone's updates, even if I am not participating.

Pretty! Are you a skimpy stitcher, using every scrap and bit. Or are you a floozy and spread wasted inches far and wide? I'm a floozy. I hate fuzzy threads. As soon at a thread starts to wear and get ragged, it gets tossed into the jar.

Hot, hot, hot

Our hot weather continues. It was 109 here yesterday. Already, it is 103 at 2 in the afternoon. Miserably hot. I am tired of summer. I am sorry I ever complained about the cold last winter. I can't wait for autumn. I can complain about the wind then, wait and see!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Awesome Irish Giveaway

Micki of Irish Muses is celebrating her one-year blogoversary! There is a really fun giveaway involved...so go visit, you'll enjoy her blog!

Happy blogoversary, Micki!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Like quills upon the fearful porpentine

Hamlet Act 1. sc 5.

Sorry, but Shakespeare sneaks in sometimes. I can't help it!

I've been stitching but it's exchange stitching so I can't show photos. I scrapped the gingham piece as the effort to achieve a decent finish was simply infuriating me. Yes, I'm easily angered by inanimate objects...I admit it. Perhaps I'll pull it back out when I've forgotten how much it pissed me off. For now, I've started another design and it is stitching up quickly. It isn't on gingham fabric either. I didn't need to say that, did I?

This change of plans puts me behind schedule. I needed to be starting the traveling pattern so it can actually travel. And Crabby July can't be neglected. Halp! Three deadlines! What'll I do?

Whazzit? Although it looks like a group of black-paint-dipped toothpicks these are actually porcupine quills. Rick and I were on a motorcycle ride and where we stopped to rest was a dead porcupine, hit by a passing car. We couldn't resist taking a sample...as we seldom see these creatures. The quills look solid but they are actually soft and hollow like a bird feather or a drinking straw. Kinda neat, we thought.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

June Bugs, among other things

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. Don't you hate blog posts that begin with that? I disappear for two weeks and have the snip to say, "Oh, sorry!" Things have been just crazy around here! When the hail hit (in my last post) we were in the big middle of refinancing the mortgage, planning some home improvements...mainly, vinyl siding...and ended up needing a new roof and gutter as well. Our house has been a revolving door of insurance adjusters and contractors and trips to the bank. Getting estimates and planning costs and we've had one big headache after another! Needless to say, my stitching mojo has been high and my time and energy level, nil. Really not fair! I think, I think everything is settling out but maybe I've got my hopes stretched a bit!

June Bugs! Some people call them May Beetles. They aren't only around in May or June, but all summer long. They are horrid flyer's with zero direction control which sometimes lands them in your hair, or more often, flat on their back, "zzzzzt zzzzzt'ing" around with their wings trying to get upright again. The silly bugs have very clingy feet and they are difficult to remove from clothes or skin. These guys were the bane of Jessie's childhood; visits to Shakespeare in the Park or drive-in movies were plagued. She hated being dive-bombed by these crazy, out-of-control bugs that are insanely attracted to outdoor lights.

As a toddler, my mother once caught me eating something...which I greedily swallowed before she could steal it. In my fist was half a June Bug. Hey, protein, right?

So without further ado, here is the monthly Crabby offering, June Bugs. Whew, just in time! There is a button spider that gets stitched into the "B" but I won't add that until everything is finished.

Cute, isn't it? This was fun and quick. I didn't even mind the random stitches this time. Now, with June finished, Crabby All Year is half way done! Yippee, I Love it!

I kept putting off finishing this block, messing around with an exchange I'm stitching for. I stitched my design onto that fancy gingham fabric. It turned out alright but that fabric's weave is so loose it is uncomfortable to stitch on. Now, I can't get it to finish neatly! It buckles or twists and refuses to look neat. Not happy. I don't think this fabric is going to end up a favorite of mine. It will get one more try and if it won't tame, I'll stitch something else!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

This really is a stitching blog

See, I have been stitching and I have the pictures to prove it! Here is a little scissor fob I was compelled (by that inner, screaming voice) to create for Becky. This was sent as a tiny RAK and I think Becky liked it.

There is just a teeny bumblebee on the back.

Oh, hell...I mean...hail.

Yesterday, at 9am the sky grew as dark as night and a storm swept in. We stood in the foyer at work and watched as it rained buckets, then hailed for a very long time. I don't remember a hail storm lasting so long! Below are a couple of hailstones Rick took photos of, beside his cell phone. These were half-an-hour-melted too, as it wasn't safe to be out while they were still coming down!

My truck got several great dents; lots on the roof and this big one on the front quarter-panel. Damn it! Jessie's car wasn't spared dents either. Rick checked the roof of the house this morning and will phone the insurance company on Monday to report the damage.

Mom & Dad House Finch have only one chick. None of the other four eggs hatched. Looks like they haven't gotten their timing of um, things down just right! But the only chick is thriving and I can always tell when Mom & Dad are bringing food as chick makes a lot of noise, right outside my stitchy window!

More stitchy updates soon, I promise. The mojo is still strong...it's amazing what a week off work will do for a person!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox