Tree Ornaments are coming along!

Seasons Greetings!

I've stitched three ornaments for the tree this year, one is on the tree and two are waiting to be turned into ornaments (which, hopefully, will happen this weekend). I've added a few pictures below.

A Cookie For Santa

Hillside Samplings

1999 Just Cross Stitch Special Ornament Issue

I love chocolate chip cookies and just love this little design! And it doesn't even have calories! I stitched it on light mocha linen with a dk brown shade of Theadworx and used a piece of dk brown fabric for the back and satin cording from my stash for the edging and the bow. 

Night Before Christmas

Birds of a Feather

1998 Just Cross Stitch Special Ornament Issue

Birds of a Feather designs just crack me up. I stitched this one on a scrap of raw linen and used overdyed threads. I plan to use the fabric in the background for the backing. Edging is still a question mark.

  

Festive Redbird

Homespun Elegance

This one I stitched on a scrap of overdyed tan colored linen with overdyed threads. I switched the recommended shade of red to a brighter red to match the little cranberry beads that I substituted for the charted french knots. I'm not sure yet what fabric I'll use to back it but the fabric in the background of the pic is currently at the top of my list.

Once the ornaments are finished and hanging on the tree, I'll take a few pictures and post them here. I have a few more gift finishes to accomplish, shopping to finish, and wrapping to be done before the big day. I just can't believe that Christmas is only two weeks away! Egads, I'd better get busy!

Hope all your plans are falling into place and you are enjoying the season. Thanks for stopping by.

O Christmas Tree...How Lovely Are Your Branches

Our Christmas Tree is up. It's decorated. Let the festivities begin!

Actually, the tree has been up since the day after Thankgiving. The garland, beads and ornaments followed soon after, but I added the icicles this week. We think we liked the tree better without the icicles!

Around the lowest branches, I hang stockings for each of the cats that my husband and I have had since we've been married. Each of the nine stockings have a special name that we hold in our hearts. Here's a pic of the stockings for the four cats we have now.

"The kittie's stockings were hung on the lowest branches with care,

in hope that the kitties would leave them right there.

So far so good, the stockings are still on the tree.

Hope they're still there for St Nick to see."

Yea, I know, I'm clearly not a poet! But a girl can try to entertain herself, can't she? (I'm sorry that you had to be a witness.)

I've learned not to hang dangling types of ornaments (or icicles) at the bottom of the tree, because the cats think that anything hanging on the tree is fair game. The only way that I can keep the little stockings on the tree is by using twist ties to wire them on. I do have to adjust them every now and then but luckily the cats don't seem to bother the tree like they used to.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday festivities!

Couldn't Sleep...

So I got up to check on the cats...

Megan woke up to see what the heck I was doing up so late.

Found Zoe in the bathroom sink.

Zissou was snoozin' on the cat tree.

And Sophie was taking her daily abluctions.

All are safe and sound so back to bed I go, hopefully to sleep.

Blogging can be Fun (and dangerous)!

Catching up on blogs today and came across another fun giveaway. This one on Linen Stitcher's blog. She's giving away this lovely Carriage House Samplings pattern, American Landscape. The deadline is Saturday, November 28. Good luck to you, however I'd really like to win this one, too!

Danger, Danger...Sigh!

Let me tell you what I've been drawn into. It's all Vonna's fault. (If you haven't seen Vonna's blog,

The Twisted Stitcher, please check it out. It is wonderful!) Vonna found a picture of the Prairie Schooler alphabet patterns stitched on one piece of linen, (I believe it was stitched over one on a 28 or 32 ct linen) and she posted a link to the picture on her blog. For everyone to see. And it is mouth watering, finger tingling gorgeous!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8416520@N02/2219248167/sizes/l/

Don't you hate it when you get something in your head and it just won't shut up or go away! I went around in a trance for a couple of days after seeing that picture, so I thought, I'll just see if I have a piece of linen big enough for it. Only had one option sizewise and it was too dark, so then I looked at a few of my favorite ONS's, you know, just to see what was available. All the time telling myself, "I don't need another project, especially a HAP!" (That's a hu-mungo BAP.) Thursday afternoon after running several errands, I decided I needed to pick up those beads and overdyed floss that have been on my stitchy shopping list for a while. So I drove to the nearest needlework shop, which is about an hour away. Do you see where this is going? While there, I happened (yea, right) to browse their fabric selection. Guess what! They had some ivory Jazlyn (a 28 ct evenweave very similar to lugana) which I thought would be great to stitch over one on. And it was so cheap economical compared to linen...

  

I just had to put a few stitches into the Jazlyn that I brought, you know, to see how it would look.

It's a sickness, I tell ya! Sigh...

More Gifties in the Mail

The givaway gift from Jolene's Dip Diddly Designs blog came in the mail today! I felt like it was Christmas!. All I can say is Jolene is a very thoughtful and generous women. This is only one of a whole month of giveaways that she hosted on her blog. I am so honored to be the recipient of La D Da's "A Bird in the Hand is Worth 2 in the Bush" pattern AND the NPI silks to stitch the little darling up. She even included chocolates with beautiful vintage Santa's displayed on the wrappers. Here's a pic:

Of course, I had to try a couple of the chocolates right away. Yummy! I'm saving the wrappers for some future crafty project. They are just too pretty to throw away!

A big THANK YOU to Jolene for her thoughtful generosity ! Jolene, I wish I could thank you in person so I could give you a {{{big hug}}}!(Yes, I'm a hugger!).

Buttons and Weeping

What do they have in common?

They are both things that I worked on yesterday. I sorted my button collection into jars and I finished the "Weeping Tree Sampler" that has pined away for years waiting to be finished.

Even though I felt lousy yesterday, headache, runny nose, and lack of energy, I convinced myself that it was only a cold (I really think it was/is) and not the dreaded H1N1, I decided to be useful and do a bit of mending.

My husband needed a couple of buttons replaced on a jacket. No prob! I'll just go through my buttons to find replacements. Should be easy right? Not when your button stash fills a 16 1/2 x 13 x 6" storage box. Did I mention that I have LOTS of buttons! Some I bought for sewing, some for crafting, and many because I thought they would look so cute/lovely stitched on a cross stitch project or maybe I could design something and use them as an accent. My justification list just goes on and on. Then there are the auction buttons. Some of my buttons are carded and many are loose. So like I said, I have lots of buttons. After much sifting, blowing my nose, oogling the pretties, blowing my nose, nashing my teeth in frustration, and blowing my nose, I found the buttons and mended the jacket.

As I was stitching the buttons on the jacket, it came to me that I could use the peanut butter and mayonaise jars that I had been saving to organize my buttons by color family. (I knew those jars would come in handy eventually.)

So I was able to get most of my buttons into seven jars! (You can't see the large mayo jar in this pic.) I didn't have room for all the white/cream/pearl buttons in the big PB jar so I put all the carded ones in a baggie and added it to my stitchery bead, button, and charm drawers. Don't ask.

To end the evening, I finished up "Weeping Tree Sampler" from The City Stitcher, thanks to the encouragement of Deb and Jolene. If I'd had felt better, I would have been happy dancing all over the place.

  

I do love this sampler. I saw it finished and framed in a cross stitch shop near Rockome Gardens in Illinois (does anyone remember the cross stitch festivals held at Rockome Gardens?) back in the eighties and I knew I had to stitch it. Can't remember when I started it but I know when I finished it! I apologish for the rumply look but I didn't want to iron it until it is ready to be framed. It is quite a large sampler and measures 13 3/4" x 12". I used a 32 ct Light Mocha Zwiegart linen and DMC threads. Here a couple of closer looks. (Pictures are clickable for an even closer look.) The first picture is very close to the real colors of the sampler.

The pattern had a lamb to the right of the house but I changed it to a cat instead. And I decided to stitch the current year instead of the date charted. To be consistent, I used the colors recommended for the lamb to stitch the cat; I also gave him a nose and whiskers. Does the cat shape look familiar? If you know Chessie and Me Designs, it should. I borrowed the cat shape from one of their patterns. He kind of looks like my cat, Baby, who passed away in 1986. I'll always think of him when I see this sampler. Here's a close up of Baby.

Here's a comparision between the original design and my sampler. Notice the white-ish blobs to the left of the Z. (You'll have to click to see it as my photography is lousy.) Wow, I just noticed that the picture on the front of the pattern has a little wooden cat. It kind of looks like the cat on my sampler, don't 'sha think?

I did finish up the little November sampler. Need to lace it up and get it into the little 2x3" frame (hopefully before Thanksgiving).

 

Back to deciding on my next big project. Until then, I've started a Brightneedle freebie, "Christmas Eve". I'm using 32 ct Water Lily and although I love the color, I'm not enjoying stitching on the linen after working on Zwiegart linen. I have a feeling that this won't be ready by Christmas this year.

Before I go this evening, I must tell you about my biggest surprise this week. I won Jolene's final October giveaway, me and three other lucky stitchers. I about fell out of my chair when I realized the Robin she listed on her blog was ME! I don't know which of the four prizes I will receive, but I am keeping my finger crossed.

And also I'd like to share another giveaway that I signed up for on Dafftycat's blog. Perhaps I'm on a winning streak. Will this ornie be mine? Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by this neck of the woods today. I look forward to your comments and am truely thankful to have the opportunity to share the love of stitching with you.

"Cats" - Let the Happy Dancing Begin!

I finished the stitching on Cats! Yea! Just in time because I don't think I could have kept my nose to that grindstone much longer. There are tons a few other things that are calling to me.

CATS

from Autumn Holidays, Katrina Designs, 1982

Stitched on R&R 30 ct. Carrot linen with DMC floss

Haven't decided how to finish it yet. (Should I frame it or turn it into a pillow, or a heavy-weight, or a flat-fold?) Decisions, decisions! The good news is that I don't have to decide now cause this cutie is going to join my other "Ready For Final Finishing" stitcheries.

I have been yearning to get into another sampler lately. Kind of like being lost in a desert and hoping for an oasis, only my oasis is of the sampler kind. As I browse though blogs, I see so many beautiful samplers that I am so tempted to jump into that it isn't even funny. Of course, I have several samplers aready in the works that could stand some attention too.

While I'm deciding on which sampler to work on, I began a little sampler from 365 Tiny Cross Stitch Designs (American School of Needlework). It's tiny and will fit into a 2" x 3" frame when finished.

 

November Sampler

from 365 Tiny Cross Stitch Designs, American School of Needlework

Stitched on 32 ct Light Mocha linen with DMC floss

 

Sampler Options: Any advice you would like to offer regarding which project to move forward on, would be appreciated. (Click on pattern names to view the first two options and scroll down to see pictures of my past progress on the third and fourth options.)

Paradise Lost (new pattern, new start) from Plum Street Samplers (click on name to see it)

Plantation Sampler (old pattern, new start) from Canterbury Designs (click on name to see it)

Weeping Tree Sampler from The City Stitcher: (Already started, picture below.) Started this baby more years ago than I can remember. The copyright date is 1994 and I know I've pulled in out to work on several times over the years. Only things left to stitch are the lamb in the space to the right of the house, next to the letter Z (might change it to a cat instead, which would be more relevant for me), and stitch a date between the chimneys (not sure if I'll use the 1843 as charted).

   

Weeping Tree Sampler

The City Stitcher, 1994

Stitching on 32 ct linen (maybe Light Mocha) with DMC floss

Santas of Fable and  Fantasy from the old Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine. (Already started, pictures below.) This is a Sandra Orton design, and I just love, love, love her designs. I've included pictures from the magazine and my progress (from ?? years ago).

Santas of Fable and Fantasy

Designed by Sandra Orton for Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine, N/D 1991

Stitching on 32 ct raw linen with DMC floss

In the mean time, I'll finish up the little November sampler while I decide. Who knows, I may decide on something completedy different??? LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my ramblings today. Hope you all have a good weekend and find a bit of time to stitch.

Hi-Di-Ho, Halloween Lovers!

Happy belated Halloween! Hope everyone enjoyed the festivities and all the holiday related stitching. I wanted so much to share a some of my Halloween stitching before the holiday but couldn't seem to find the time to put my pictures and thoughts together at the same time. So I hope you don't mind a little leftover show and tell in no particular order.

This grouping was on our entertainment center in the living room. From left to right: "Happy Halloween" is from Little Stitches by Graph-It Arts; "Got Candy" and the basket wrap - not sure of the designers (if anybody knows, please let me know); the three little orange treat bags on top of the basket are from Halloween Silhouettes by Forever Friends; "October Sampler" is from 365 Tiny Cross Stitch Designs by American School of Needlework; and "Pumpkins" is from Autumn Holidays by Katrina Designs.

Halloween is my sister's favorite holiday so I always give her a gift of some sort. This year I gifted her with "No Scaredy Cats Allowed" from the Mostly Ghostly leafet by Waxing Moon Designs. The design originally had two black cats, but I replaced one with a Siamese cat. I wanted to stitch this for Jennifer in honor of her cats, Toby, her black cat, and Tucker, her Siamese cat. (Sadly, Toby passed away as I was finishing this up in September so I almost waited until next year to give it to her. I decided to take a chance and give it to her anyway. She did get a little teary, but said that she loved it.)

This is Jennifer holding the picture after we applied candy corn stick-on appliques to the frame. Just what it needed, don't 'cha think?

This is Lizzie Kate's "Boo Club", one of my 2009 finishes. I stitched it on 32 ct. Laurel linen that I purchased in Florida earlier this year. I saw it started on the Laurel linen and loved the look. However, if I had it to do over again, I would go with a lighter shade of green linen. It was a fun stitch (except for the border), I loved the floss colors and the cute little motifs and the sections stitched up so quickly.

I also have the Lizzie Kate's Christmas by the Letter charts and plan to stitch them on Picture This Plus 32 ct. Crystal Arial linen (a sparkly pale blue). Will I start it and get it done by Christmas? Yes, but which Christmas is really the question. LOL!

This Halloween Night from Mount Forest Frameworks. There are lots of buttons and beads on this one. I loved this frame and purchased the sampler chart because of the darn frame. I stitched it on a lavender evenweave which looks rather washed out in the picture. (That's what I get for taking pictures on a dreary day.) I finshed this a few years ago and can't remember the designer. (I have got to keep better notes!) I'll look through my stash and if I find the leaflet, I'll add the designer's name later. Click on the picture to see a bit more detail, each row has it's own border and buttons.

Next, is "Fat Cat" by Birds of a Feather. I think many of the Birds of a Feather designs are hilarious and in my opinion this is one of the funniest. As you probably can tell by the name of my blog, I love all things cat and just had to stitch this up. The look on the poor kitty's face is priceless and I certainly can relate. LOL!

Although I finished stitching this in 2007, I finally got around to making a frame for it this year. I made the frame from a flat surface molding and added wooden appliques to the corners to give it some interest (made it look kind of antique-y. (Is that a word?) I wanted a crackled finish and decided to go with a purple base and a black top coat. It turned out much more sinsiter than I planned. I kind of think it would be a better frame for a haunted house design. Anyhoo, I'm giving myself a few days to decide whether to leave the frame as is or spray it a solid black. What do you think?

This is another Birds of a Feather design, a freebie entitled "Halloween Costume". This little guy is being worked on 18 ct. Cork linen with pearl cotton. He is a work in progress and will be tucked away until our next car trip. You see, I made an important discovery this past summer. I discovered that 18 ct. linen and #5 pearl cotton are perfect travel companions. On one of our drives, I grabbed a Bent Creek kit to work on. It came with 18 ct linen and pearl cottons. I found stitching in the car to be very enjoyable for a change. No more struggling to thread a needle, count threads and get the floss in the right hole!

Last, but not least, the project that is currently sitting by my stitching chair, "Cats". This design is from an old leaflet, Autumn Holidays, published in 1982 by Katrina Designs.

 I've wanted to stitch this ever since I purchased the leaflet. So about a month ago, I came across it while looking through my stash and decided right then and there to pull the threads, find a suitable linen in my stash, mount it on scroll rods, and get to stitching. I'm using R&R 30 ct. Carrot and DMC floss. Just have half a cat left to stitch. Hope to finish tonight.

Whew...I can't believe how much comes spilling out when I start talking about stitching. I hope I didn't bore you to death and I hope you'll stop back again. I so enjoy sharing my needlework obsession...almost as much as I enjoy reading about yours.

Until next time, may your floss never knot and your fabric never wrinkle...

Gifties in the Mail

I received a package in the mail today from Eileen (no blog), my Blackbird Designs Halloween Exchange partner. She stitched Whooo's Knockin' at My Door for me. It is so cute! I just love it! Thanks, Eileen!

She also included a JBW Designs pattern, Over the River, which I envision as a little pinkeep with red-headed pins. I'll have to rummage through my leftover pieces of linen for a remnant to use for it. And if you look closely, you'll see the little finger pincushion (bottom center) that she also sent. I've always wanted one of those. Isn't it darling? I am so pleased with all the little gifties.

Fall Finishes

It was a lovely fall day today. The leaves are turning beautiful colors and the sun actually came out! After almost a week of cloudy, rainy, and damp cold days it was wonderful to have some sunshine.

I haven't blogged in a while but I have been stitching. I have a few finishes from Blackbird Designs to share.

Autumn Bouquet - Blackbird Designs

Stitched over one on 32 ct gold overdyed linen with overdyed threads

First up is Autumn Bouquet. It was one of the options selected by the Blackbird Designs Yahoo group for the Summer SAL this year. It wasn't one of those designs that grabbed me when I first saw it. In fact, I had decided not to join the SAL when I came across a piece of gold overdyed Zwiegart linen in my stash. My first thought was, "This would be perfect for Autumn Bouquet!" I pulled the threats and they looked great on the linen so I ordered the pattern. Once I had the pattern, I pulled out the calculator to figure the best way to stitch the design on my linen and discovered that the @##$% linen wasn't wide enough!! I was so ticked off and disappointed that it took a day and a half of stomping around and muttering to myself before it occurred to me to stitch it over one. Once I started it, I enjoyed every stitch.

Trick or Treat Stocking from Tis Halloween

Blackbird Designs

Stitched on 30 ct R&R Chocolate Truffle with called for threads

Next up is the Trick or Treat stocking that I stitched for the Blackbird Designs Yahoo group Halloween stocking exchange. The finishing was a bit tricky but I think it turned out so cute. I sent this stocking to Eileen, my stitching partner and I'll be receiving one from her this week.

Pinkeep design adapted from Blackbird Designs "Tis Halloween"

Stitched on 32 ct Silvery Moon linen and overdyed threads.

Last, is a pinkeep that I stitched using a few of my favorite motifs in Tis Halloween. It's a little over 2 1/2" square. The orange fabric in the background is what I used for the back. It's unique and a memento of the fun I had with the SAL and the exchange.

Well, I had better get to bed. It's past my bedtime. Thanks for visiting today!

Laundry

I did a load of laundry this morning, folded it and put it away where it belonged. I left the laundry basket in the hallway until I needed to take it back downstairs for the next load. After lunch and a PC break, I went to get the laundry basket and this is what I found:

Who's that sleeping in my laundry basket?

Why, it's Megan!

I couldn't get that darn cat to look up at me to save my life!

Cats love to crawl into things and sleep.
Megan prefers laundry baskets.

Zissou prefers collanders, no matter where he finds them. 

Can you Say Tomato?

Our garden is bursting with tomatoes! We also have cucumbers, acorn squash, peppers, onions, some herbs and glorious sunflowers, the mammoth variety with edible seeds.

Yesterday I picked Grape and Cherry tomatos. I just love to pop them as a snack, so much so that I think I am going to turn into a tomato! On Labor Day, I picked all the ripe slicers and Craig, my DH, and I made and canned salsa. Craig grew up canning. Every year his mother would can tomatos and who knows what else and now Craig think we need to do it too. Now, if you haven't canned before, I will tell you it is a LOT OF WORK. Of course, I read all about canning before we started so I was "prepared". Well, all that did was scare the bejesus out of me because of all the potential botulism issues! So yes, I did get a bit, oh how shall I put this, irritable at one point. DH had to reassure me that he knew what he was doing, that he had done this many times before, and nothing canned had ever made him sick, etc. Then he gave me a glass of something to drink (which tasted suspiciouly like wine, but I didn''t dare grumble any more) and what do you know after a few minutes I was in a much calmer space.

On the stitchy front, I am using Tomato Sampler Thread  to stitch Lizzie Kate's "Boo Club".  I finished the Monster section last night and have only two sections to go and then I'll be happy dancing!

In the background on purple fabric is a design from "Mostly Ghostly" by Waxing Moon Designs. I started this project a couple of years ago as a gift for someone, who shall remain nameless at this point. There is a reason that it has taken me so long to finish up this fairly simple design (besides the solid white ghost and the sign background - boring!), there are two cats in the design and the person that I am stitching it for has two cats and I wanted stitch the cats to look like her cats. Aaahhh..I know, cute. But that's how I roll.  The charted cats are both black, and one of hers is black so that was easy, however, her other cat is Siamese. And yes, it did take me two years to redesign the other cat as a Siamese. Actually, the redesigning took about 15 minutes using Pattern Maker Pro, it was the procrastination that took two years. I plan to finish it up as soon as Boo Club is history.

Noteworthy news:

• I joined a Blackbird Designs, "Tis Hallowe'en" stocking exchange.  As soon as my partner lets me know which stocking she prefers, I'll squeeze in time to stitch and finish one of those.
• I have a hugh crush on the new "Jenny Bean" sampler from Shakespeare Peddler. Scroll down to see this beauty. I gots' to have it!!!

Hope you're having a great week and enjoying fresh tomatoes and other goodies from the garden (either yours or someone else's). And so I leave you with quote from the little old lady next door, bless her heart, "Toodle loo!". (Yes, she really says this. It's so cute!)

Blog Help Needed

Can anyone tell me why there are large spaces between some of my pictures and paragraphs? I have tried to edit them out but some of them just won't budge. What am I doing wrong or not doing that I should be doing? Any help will be appreciated.

What I Did Over the Summer

My poor neglected blog! I could tell you that I was on location shooting my latest movie epic or that I was touring the Seven Wonders of the World or that I won the lottery and was busy spending my millions, but all that just wouldn't be true. Darn it!

However, I have been enjoying the summer even if it was just puttering around Michigan and home. In case you're interested in a taste of my summer, read on. (Warning: there are pictures.)

Of course, I've been stitching...



Finished and or framed a few pieces in celebration of the Fourth of July: "Land That I Love" - Lizzie Kate, "Made in the USA" (kit) - Bent Creek, "Star Spangled Sampler" - Heart in Hand, and "USA" (freebie) - Trail Creek Farm.

Joined Blackbird Designs Summer SAL and stitched and finished "Autumn Bouquet", thank you very much!

Finished "Needles & Pins" by Milady's Needle, a project that had been languishing in my 'need to finish' basket for a while. I plan to finish it into a needle book/pinkeep, something a little different than the directions that came with it.

Finished the "No Frogging Allowed" scissor fob from Stitchy Kitty. I love how it turned out. Can't help but smile when I look at it. The back is cute too, but the picture was blurry.

Put together "Flowers from the Heart" Needlebook from Cherished Stitches. Also modified design to make a matching scissor fob.

Last but not least, I am diligently working on Lizzie Kate's Boo! Club; 8 1/4 sections done, 3 3/4 left to to go. I'm stitching it on 32ct Laurel green linen. It's a fun stitch (except for the border), but I will be very happy to finish it. Hope to report a finish this month.

My sister, Jennifer (in photo below), and I saw Rick Springfield twice, in Dearborn MI and at the Blue Chip Casino in Indiana. He just turned 60 on Aug. 23 and he still puts on one heck of a show. I tell you, he is one fine specimen of man!

Actually, Jennifer and I have been going to Rick's concerts for 20+ years. Jennifer fell in "love" with Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital back in the 80's and I, being the wonderful older sister that I am (smile), took her to see her first concert. And yea, it was Rick. She has been a loyal fan ever since. The concerts are something that we do together, it's sister time and we always have a great time! BTW, the dilapulated looking lea around Jennifer's neck is one that Rick wore for part of the concert and then threw into the audience. Jenn and another lady caught it and decided to tear it in half so they would each have a part of it.

Dear hubby and I also spent time camping and enjoying the scenery wherever we went. Pictures: Our Trailer Sweet Trailer and me, enjoying the Ludington beach and watching the sunset.

Well that is enough catching up. I promise to be a little more attentive to my blog going forward. I love reading other blogs and have a very long list of ones that I check. Perhaps that's why I can't seem to find time to post on my blog. Hmmm...

So if you happened to have stopped by and have read this far, I sincerely thank you for sharing a few moments with me. I hope to see you again soon!