WIP for Wednesday

In my continuing saga to play with all crafts of the Autumn persuasion,and to totally ignore the fact that it is still in the upper 80's here with 90% humidity, I started this sampler by Lizzie*Kate - appropriately titled "Autumn Alphabet".

I've been making good progress and I'm enjoying stitching this one just like I did the Winter version. The fabric is out of my stash and barely big enough for this sampler but I loved the mottled golden color. When Bev goes to frame this she will probably say bad words - I apologize now. Mea culpa!

I love that they included little charms like the squirrel and the moon and the teeny tiny buttons for the owls eyes - too cute! Now a heads up to anyone else who stitches this sampler - the symbol for the frame around the letter F is incorrect. According to the chart, it should be stitched in lavender - which is the color of the frame right above it for the letter B. If you look at the picture of the sampler....

you can see that the frame should be the dark brown. I'm glad I checked the picture. And my little pea brain has another issue with this chart, in that they use a very similar symbol for two different flosses -- the forward backslash "/" is 3041(lavender), and the other backslash "\" is 898 (brown). There are only 12 colors of floss in this piece and it seems you could have replaced one of those backslashes with a dot or a circle as neither of those two symbols appear. I keep threading up with the wrong colors with these two as I forget which is the forward facing one and which isn't as I flip back and forth between the graph on the inside and the floss key on the outside of the chart. I know, I know I'm being a cranky. Also if you stitch these samplers pay attention to the frames. Several of the appear to be symmetrical and they aren't- ask me how I know? I after messing up a couple of times I'm getting better at remembering this. And even with all that said, I do love this sampler!

Well I'm off to wait for the delivery guys to bring my son's new furniture this afternoon. And I may do a little touch up on the paint.... or I may just sit and stitch.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Working on Wednesday

Well it has been a very productive Wednesday and so was Tuesday for that matter. I got 9 more Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars sewn, for a grand total of 14. Woo hoo! I'm over half way done!

Darlene remarked that she got obsessed/possessed when she was doing these blocks and I totally understand what she means. It is hard to walk away from them. Karin left me a comment and I quote "Ahhaha! My evil plan is working! The Scrap Jar Stars fumes are filling blogland." I'm pretty sure I heard an evil cackle too. Anyway I'm loving these blocks. Did you notice the perfectly framed chicken in the block above? Total accident. I whacked some squares and turned the fabric over and there is was... you can't tell me God doesn't want me to have chickens. LOL!

And I got a bit of cross stitching done last night while I listened to the Reds ball game. I rediscovered this little gem when I was rooting around my stash.

It is a Ewe & Eye & Friends from waaaaaay back. I finished up the border and now all it it needs is a tree on top of that skinny trunk. The tree is suppose to be a piece of felt, and I'm sure when I bought it the felt was with the chart, but it has long since disappeared. Luckily I have a small humongous stash of felt so I think I can find something to finish this.

And the other day as I was wandering the blogosphere I stumbled upon this book on someone blog, but I don't remember whose. Usually I like to peruse a book before I buy but this one just spoke to me. It said, "Go directly to Amazon and buy me." So I did.

Here I'll make it easy for you, click here. And in my humble opinion this is a great book!

I loved the tree on the cover with the squirrel lurking in the branches. She has that one and others all graphed out.

And pages of wonderful borders like these plump tulips!

And this was totally unexpected but I took it as cosmic certainty that I should own this book......CHICKENS!!!

There is even a polka dot chicken!! See when books and fabric and yarn and beads and stamps and pretty papers talk to you, you should listen!!

Now I'm going to go sit in my happy stitching chair and watch some more baseball and all will be right in my little world.

Don't worry, I'm properly medicated - LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

WIP Wednesday

Finishing up Willie's Quaker Sampler left me motivated to work on another BIG project so I liberated my BBD AoH out of its plastic ziploc holding cell. Now the following pictures make this piece appear to have some serious spatial issues, but in real life it is quite even.

I've finished two more houses since I last picked this up and I've started on the borders of a third one.

Here is September, Moonlight Visitor. I changed the floss for the house to CC Queen Bee, I love that golden yellow.

And I added a little personal touch in the lower left corner - it is graphed for a dog but I substituted a chicken! Imagine that - LOL!

This is August, Clara Ellen. Again I changed a few colors. I made the flowers CC Old Marigold. This is one of those months that have a very soft look. January is another one with this muted appearance. I think it adds interest to the piece.

And last night I started July, Swan Lake. I like the borders and can't wait to stitch the two swans and the house. This is one of the simpler ones which is a good thing since June has lots of little embroidery details like lazy daisy stitches that aren't my favorite thing to do.

I haven't added any names and dates to this piece yet. Some months I have multiple birth dates I could stitch and other months I have nothing. so I'm trying to decide if I want to move info to other months. At the beginning of the year I said I'd like to finish this piece before 2012 ends. It could happen if I keep my focus. But we all know focus isn't my strong suite so it could go either way.


Happy stitching-
carol fun

Rattling around like a BB in a box car

My Dad used that phrase to describe my behavior on numerous occasions. I would go from thing to thing to thing to thing and eventually loop back to where I began. Hey - I was ADHD before they had a name for it. The nuns just wished I could sit still and be quiet - it was hard to do! So this week has found me rattling around with my cross stitch.

Last Friday evening I took my BBD AoH piece to my LNS to stitch. I figured that filling in the house on this part - pattern no. 9 Moonlight Visitor - would allow me to talk and stitch. I've changed the color of the house to a more golden yellow - this is Gentle Arts Queen Bee.

I didn't get it finished and I thought I'd pick it back up when I got home but instead my Rosewood Manor Quaker Diamonds sampler called my name so I stitched a bit on it. I'm loving those Valdani threads.

And then I was looking at some seasonal pieces I've done and decided that I needed another patriotic piece so I started this one

This is Liberty Star Sampler by Chessie and Me and I've already changed flosses on this one. I made the navy, navy-er and the red, redder and I realized today that I've done the alphabet in a totally different floss than what the chart called for. Oh well, it's gonna stay that way. I'm not picking out that over one stuff. I may frog that outer border, it looks too pale to me with the flosses I stitched. Oh I never make it easier - LOL

And then I decided I needed a little piece to sit with an arrangement of pretties I put on my bookcase. I have a lovely Mary Engelbreit tea cup and a glass jar with my cupcake liners in it but it needs a third item, so I looked through my stash and found this little gem from Lizzie Kate.

Now I told myself if I didn't have all the over-dyed flosses, that was God's way of telling me not to start another piece, but he must have wanted me to do this one since I had every single one in my stash. Yes I am crazy but the voices in my head are happy - LOL! So I'll continue to rattle around with my stitching, and eventually something will get finished.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Trying new things

It is a new year and I'm trying to do some new things - not like exercising more, or eating healthy or not spending money- I've already shown that I'm not good at those things. I'm looking at other pursuits that are new to me. One of the things I've tried is adding a blog list to my blog that updates -- do you see it there on the right? You can click on them and you'll be whisked away to their blog.

Figuring this out stumped me for quite a while. Honestly, Blogger hides things in the strangest places. I'll be adding more blogs as I go along. The more I play on the web the more I wish I knew. I've even entertained taking classes in Informatics which is a new area of study that deals with human-computer interaction and information science and technology. But then the technology part kinda made my head hurt, so I don't think I'm going to do it. It is a master program at a local college but I really only want to know for my own curiosity, I don't have any interest in getting a job with it.

So I turned to other creative endeavors and tried my hand at finishing some of my own cross stitch. Not the big framing - I'm leaving that to Bev at Joanns, but finishing a small cushion type pincushion. Ta-dah!!!




Isn't he cute?? This is one of those little cards that Prairie Schooler use to give away to advertise their new releases. I purchased all 3 of the packs that are available now with a variety of different little pieces and this one spoke to me the loudest. These are the other packs - B and C. I stuffed him with bits of fiberfill in the corners and crushed walnut shells. (Does anyone ever get to the end of a bag of crushed walnut shells? I've had this bag for a year and every time I go to use some it doesn't seem any lighter.) I beaded the outside edge with Mill Hill seed beads. (Stasi - you'll love this) This pack of beads has been well aged. The sticker on the back says "Twisted Threads"(my favorite cross stitch shop ever) and the date 5/93. Which means the beads are 19 years old, proving you never know when something crafty is going to come in handy - LOL!

Ok - this might make you squeamish so, you can skip this next paragraph if you want.

And yesterday I got the opportunity to try my hand at rodent control. I went to fill my bird feeders and the containers of seed are on my screen porch. One container had a very tight fitting lid, the other one has a bit of a gap at the hinge. Well, I opened the one with the gap and auuuugggghhhhhhh!!! there was not one but two very well fed but very stiff dead mice in the container. So I stood there and contemplated my options - I could wait for someone of the male variety in my family to come home and rectify the situation, or I could take care of it myself --- and I did. The slotted scoop I use for Big Dude's litter box was perfect for removing the little rotters from the seed and I not so gingerly deposited them in the compost pile down over my backyard hill. Now I can add vermin removal to my every growing resume.

Okay - if you skipped to this paragraph just know that I am multi-talented woman - LOL! So other new ideas I want to play with involve cupcake papers and jewelry make with shrink plastic and UTEE(ultra thick embossing enamel.

While I was at Micheals I picked up this notebook - another mantra I can live by.




And in trying new things I've learned that from now on, I'll stick with the crafty pursuits and leave rodent control to the professionals.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A stitchy offering for Labor Day weekend

I hope that you are all winding down from a relaxing Labor Day weekend. I really haven't done much of anything and in fact it was late last evening before I realized it was already Sunday - yikes! Sorry for missing Sampler Sunday. I didn't have any pictures ready to go, so this morning I crammed this little piece in the frame I bought a while ago. Don't look too closely. When both of my hands are operational I will do the framing job properly.



This sweet fellow is a BBD chart from the 2004 booklet titled, Souvenirs of Summer. This chart is called Summer Song and finished about 4 inches square. In the BBD book they stitched it over one thread - I didn't take that route. Anymore over 2 threads on 32 count is small enough for me. This is a great BBD book -6 designs each with a bit of a patriotic flair. I definitely want to stitch more out of this one. Actually I just want to stitch anything- insert whiny voice here - the Q snap helps but I swear this cast has my wrist at the most uncomfortable an awkward angle. I go tomorrow for a check up - need to ask if there is a chance I'll ditch this sooner than 6 weeks - I hope I hope I hope!!

I'm going in a different direction with my quilting. I'm going to put the Halloween blocks aside and get out the Christmas quilt I didn't finish last year. It is all just squares and rectangles and the pinning should be easier.

It turned much cooler here in southern Ohio - I love it! Now to enlist some non-interested male progeny in helping me to put out some Fall decorations. Bribery and guilt (lots of guilt) are my two main tools. We'll see how the week unfolds.

Happy stitching and just for your information - being completely dried off after your shower does aid in the application of undergarments. Thought you want to know - ROTFLWPOMU - rolling on the floor laughing while putting on my underwear!

carol fun

Inspiration from my garden

The sun was shining on Monday and it was nice to walk in my garden. The tulips are blooming, the peonies are showing buds and everything is greening up. And my bleeding heart plant is already in full color. I love the delicate little heart shaped flowers.



This inspired me to start a new sampler, one that doesn't have a house. (OMG - I can see you are shocked -me too! LOL)



This is a Cedar Hill graph called Country Flower Sampler. I've seen examples of this designer over at Beth's blog Garden Grumbles and Cross Stitch Fumbles. She does wonderful cross stitch and I love her pictures of flowers and wildlife. I'd never seen such blue blue jays as the Stellar Jays in her neck of the woods. Simply gorgeous.

Anyway, back to the sampler (I am so easily distracted by pretty things -big sigh.) I ordered 5 of the Cedar Hill samplers from a retailer I won't name because their customer service drives me crazy. Little rant here - when you order an item if it is out of stock, don't you want to know that before you place the order? I have bought from this retailer twice and I won't be fooled a third time. In each instance at least one of the graphs I ordered wasn't in stock and they had to wait almost 2 weeks to get it in, which meant I waited more than 2 weeks. I know I'm not ordering critical supplies but the instantaneous nature of the Internet has greatly shortened my ability to wait patiently. During that time I receive no communication from them -- an email would have been nice- and when I emailed them I got a very curt response that the item wasn't currently available and I could have looked up that info myself on their order status page. Okay, I can look it up but I didn't know the order status page existed and other companies I've done business with have prompted me at check out that an item is back ordered or sent me an email. I just think that is good customer service.

On the other hand there is 123stitch.com - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this retailer. Their customer service is excellent. I should have just gone to them and requested that they find the graphs I was interested in but I didn't want to be a bother. I still may have had to wait two weeks but they would have told me that right up front. End of rant, lesson learned.

Hope you have some stitching time this week. And I hope for better weather for all of us. Last night we had terrible storms, high winds and flooding. We need more sunshine, at least I do.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

The weekend got away from me .... again!

I know that is it already Monday and I don't have a lot to show for my weekend, but it was nice. There was a little knitting and a little sewing and a little shopping.
I had grand hopes of finishing my Holden shawlette -- stop laughing - I know that was totally unrealistic. In fact, I didn't even get the stockinette part finished - bummer - but I love the yarn and it is looking good so I think it will be done by this coming weekend. I plan on parking my butt in a chair after our Thanksgiving feast at noon on Thursday and knitting and napping the rest of the day away.

On the cross stitch front, I didn't finish by Beatrix Potter but I do have this piece to share. It is part quilt, part cross stitch and lots of ceramic buttons.



I did this probably 15 years ago. I have no memory where I got the pattern or the idea. The letters are stitched in DMC floss on Jobelan and over each letter is a ceramic button that corresponds to the letter.

Some were easy A for angel, B for bear, C for clown --- G is a gingerbread man, and I is an ice cream




and some were harder to come up with, J is a jack-o-lantern, N is a nut, O is an ornament, and U in a unicorn.



and the hardest to figure out was the X. It was the last button I added, a little hoop with cross stitches.



I actually handquilted this piece and I was quite proud of the little Ohio Star cornerstones. And collecting all those buttons was fun - I love a collection!

Hope that you have plenty of help getting your Thanksgiving feast together this week. I'm planning on getting as much done ahead of time as I can so I can enjoy the day too.

Happy stitching -
carol fun

Things you get done when you have no internet....

Okay the last two nights have been so frustrating. Tuesday night we had no internet connection at all and last night it was so sloooooooooowwww that every site timed out before it loaded. I miss reading everyone's blog. However there was an upside. I did get a few things stitched



The pumpkin sampler is Lizzie & Kate'a Autumn ABC sampler. I like it but I wish that my Sweet Potato floss had more variation. The other piece is Bent Creek's Tiny Tim Turkey. I substituted floss everywhere because I wanted to stitch him NOW! The chart has you stitch all the background around the turkey but I'm too lazy and I like the mottled orange background. I need to search my craft stash for some little frames. I'm sure I have something somewhere.



And I got another section of the Anniversaries of the Heart finished. Here are all three I've done.



This is the bonus section. I really like it and I like that it didn't have any over one stitching.



I'm thinking about what I can insert in this section instead of a name and birthday. I'm thinking that there may be a heart or two added here.

Well I need to load this fast before I lose my internet. It seems to be ok during the day but as soon as everyone comes home and gets on I'm squeezed out. Cable company is suppose to come tomorrow and fix it -- can't wait.


Happy stitching -
carol fun