Peter Polar Bear

What?! Ten posts in one month? That's crazy talk. It kinda makes me look way more productive than I've actually been, stitchy-wise. My current obsession is to catch up on the Brooke's Books Advent Animal freebie series. I was all proud of myself that I finally finished #2 in the series, and the very next day she posted #6--which, if you haven't seen it, will crack you up.

Here's Peter Polar Bear, with a slightly re-designed sweater.

I'm working on Mary Mouse (#3) today and hope to have her finished soon. It's August tomorrow, and that's when the Halloween stitching bug really gets me, so hopefully I'll be moving on to some of that soon. Meanwhile, it's funny little Christmas animal stitching for me.

Mr. Wonderful has been RASK'd!

RASK is a Random Act of Stitchy Kindness (yes, I just made that up). After seeing a message board post where I mentioned Mr. Wonderful's deployment (he's home now), Sharon in Nevada kindly offered to send him a wool helmet liner she had knitted. Naturally, we took her up on the offer, and the helmet liner arrived on Saturday. Since I don't post pictures of Mr. Wonderful, I have one of my foxes, Maid Marian, modeling his gift.

Isn't that too wonderful?! It's beautifully made and Mr. Wonderful is carried away with it.

Thank you, Sharon, from the bottom of our hearts.

Butterflies Fly

And here it is--my last Cole's Quilts finish for a while. I've finished the commitment I made back in February to stitch quilt squares for six children. 

Now that I have that done, I'll be getting back to my personal stitching. I think I'll first concentrate on catching up on the Brooke's Books Advent Animal freebie series. I've only got the first one done and now I'm four behind! It's amazing how quickly a month goes by, isn't it? I must be getting old.

Had to share!

I've been playing in my stash a lot this week. Remember that really cute Woodland Sampler I downloaded a few posts ago? The PDF is 34 pages long. Yes, I know. Well, I only printed out about half of them, since both color and b/w charts were provided and I prefer b/w. Anyway, so I have this 16 or 17 page design. For someone who usually stitches smalls, this is an issue.

But I found this!

Brand: Avery. Product number: 47671. Stitchy usefulness: Awesome.

Here's my new pattern book.

With a super spiffy spine.

I love this thing. Really great for designs with lots and lots and lots of pages.

I will be hoarding these.

A Rose for Zoe

Another Cole's Quilts finish. 

Fox Shopping

This weekend I'm doing a mad push to get my last two quilt squares done for my Cole's Quilts commitment. But I had to make a quick run to Hobby Lobby yesterday to pick up some white Aida. I don't stitch on Aida (except for the quilt squares), but for some reason I always think I have white Aida laying around... and of course, I never actually do. 

Anyway, I was happily checking out the fall merchandise they've got out, and I found a couple of goodies--a sparkly fox (I didn't have a sparkly fox), and a teeny tiny fox cross stitch kit. See?

And then this happened:

Photobombed.

Honestly, she is the nosiest creature on the planet.

Back to the quilt squares...

Fox Pendant

I've been wanting to make a little stitched pendant for a while, and yesterday during my crime spree I picked up a pocket watch-style pendant at my LNS. I already had a fox freebie in mind to stitch for it. These pendants are available in lots of styles at most craft stores, but I particularly liked this one because it looks like an old watch case, and also because it's a bit deeper than others I've seen. That prevents the stitching from being smooshed against the glass.

This little fox stitched up quickly. I used DMC and stitched him on 30 ct. 18th c. Stone linen (R&R Reproductions). 

Stitchy Supervisor says it passes inspection.

I think these stitched pendants would make really cute, interesting gifts. They work up quickly and are inexpensive and they're a nice change from the usual finishing techniques. If you're willing and able to stitch over one thread, you could create even more elaborate gifts.

Please step away from the stash.

Oh my. I've fallen off the wagon. Jumped off, actually. I usually don't buy much stash--a few things every few months. But yesterday? Yesterday I went wild. Wild for me, anyway. Must be stress.

So my LNS called yesterday and told me my JCS Halloween Special Collector's Issue had arrived and I went to pick it up. While I was there, a few other things jumped into my hands. Oh, and I also pre-ordered the JCS Christmas Ornament issue.

Then I stopped by Target and found this little jewelry holder to hang my stitched Halloween ornaments on this fall. I've been looking for one for a while and this one is just perfect. See the little squirrels?

Then when I got home I placed an order with Herrschners for the new issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine, and also purchased a downloadable chart while I was at it.

Then I wandered over to The Stitchery and bought this adorableness. 

Then while I was searching for something else, I stumbled across THIS, which is so cute I nearly passed out. Instead of passing out, I bought it.

{sigh}

Tiger Lily says, "Well, I hope you're proud of yourself."

Let's just call it Christmas in July. And July aint over yet!

Finishing Perforated Paper

It seems a lot of people have questions about how to finish perforated paper, so I decided to share the way I do it. I think the most common method is to attach the stitched piece to the backing material (paper, felt, etc.) and then cut it out, but I cut it out first as I find I'm able to get a neater cut that way.

For the backing, I like to use a heavy, textured card stock with a nice sheen on one side. It doesn't matter what paper you use, as long as it has enough body to make the finished piece nice and stiff. My mom uses old Christmas cards to back her small perforated paper Santas and it looks really nice.

Now here's where my method is a bit different from the usual way. I cut out my stitched piece first, then lay it on the backing paper and trace around it. If using a backing paper with a right side and a wrong side, make sure to trace the outline on the wrong side of the paper (i.e.. wrong side of stitching laying on wrong side of paper).

Cut out the backing about 1/8" inside the pencil line. 

When cut out this way, the backing will be just the right size to cover the stitching on the back but not show from the front.

Smear a very thin layer of glue on the backing (use your finger to make sure it's smooth--no blobs), place it on the back of the stitched piece, then lay it on a flat surface and place a heavy book on it. If you haven't used too much glue, there shouldn't be a risk of it squeezing out, but if you're concerned, just place the finished piece between waxed paper before weighting it down. Leave it until it's dry. 

You'll end up with a nice, neat back.

Happy finishing!

Plum Pudding Peg

I finally got a chance to sit down and do the finishing on Peg. Here she is!

I took a few pictures while I was finishing her and hope to have a post about that in a bit. Lots of people ask about finishing perforated paper, so I thought I'd share my method. Stay tuned!

First Day of Summer

Sunday Project

I should be finishing Peg, but I've spent the afternoon working on a decoration for our front door. I love wreaths, but in the spring and summer the birds take them over and ruin them, so I had to come up with something they couldn't nest in. 

I used an off-white burlap wired ribbon with gold flecks to make the bow and wrap the initial. It doesn't show up in the picture, but the gold flecks will give it a nice sparkle in the morning sun. All the materials are from Michael's.

Back to Peg...

Slow, Stitchy Saturday

I got to stitch all day on Saturday. I've been furiously stitching on Brooke Nolan's Peg the Plum Pudding Angel, but I was waiting on the mailman to bring some stash, which included the Kreinik I needed for her eyes. I have this weird quirk: when I'm stitching something with a face, the blank spaces where the eyes should be bug me, and I'm not happy until I get them stitched. So all week I've been waiting on this stash, and Peg has been eyeless, and I've not been happy. I was really hoping my order would come Saturday... and it did!

First, here's some delicious Caron Wildflowers. I believe I've already confessed that I love this stuff and I'm slowly building my stash. From top to bottom: Painted Desert, Orchid, Easter Egg. 

Of course, this had to come live at my house. Country Cottage Needleworks Snowy Foxes. Too cute.

And here's Peg in progress, with her pretty green eyes.

Finally, and as always, all this stitching was conducted under the watchful eye of the Stitchy Supervisor. 

Happy Stitching!

Katie Kitty

Anyone doing the Brooke Nolan Advent Animal freebie series? It began in March and runs until October 2015 and the first three animals are available at the link. Here's the first one, Katie Kitty. I am determined--determined I tell you!--not to fall hopelessly behind in stitching this series. I'm stitching them on 28 ct. Blue Whisper with DMC. I did make a few changes to the eyes, nose, and mouth, but the rest is stitched according to the design. I plan to finish these as flat ornaments and hang them on a garland. 

And while we're on the subject of kitties, it's been a while since we've had a Tiger Lily beauty shot. When I took this, she was listening to the birds outside.

Sleepy Little Monkey

Triumph! Well... sort of. I'm still on schedule with my Cole's Quilts finishes. Here's the May quilt square, completed... in May!

The fabric is actually a soft baby yellow, but the camera isn't seeing it. Two more squares to go!

Happy Stitching!

Color

Oh, hi. I was supposed to be posting wildly, wasn't I? Well, I have been--as we say at our house--OBE... overtaken by events. Mr. Wonderful has been incredibly busy in the last couple of weeks, and I was swept up in his busy-ness, so we're blaming him for the lack of stitching and posting, okay? Right.

One thing I have been doing is playing in the dirt. Every spring I look forward to getting outside and fixing up the flowerbeds. We live in quarters, so I'm limited to the beds (in other words, I can't do any landscaping or any other alterations), but I try to make the most of the flowerbeds. We had a long, hard winter and I wanted lots of color this spring. 

Scotch Broom

Dahlia

Lantana: This is my favorite variety and a little hard to find up here. It grows quickly, spreads and trails beautifully, is deer and drought resistant, tolerates full sun, and blooms constantly from May until the frost gets it in the fall. Pretty much perfect.

Coleus: The back yard is shady all day but I wanted some color back there, too. I'm a big fan of coleus in all its varieties, and I think it looks so great when lots of them are planted together. I'm trying to resist the urge to buy tons of them and do a huge container, but I couldn't resist this one. So pretty.

And now for the hosta. We call this "Scary Hosta" because it is gigantic and a little intimidating and looks like it's trying to engulf the yard, small animals, possibly the neighborhood. Mr. Wonderful also refers to it as "Franken Hosta." It's almost 5' across. I know I should have divided it this spring, but I was really busy getting ready for my trip to Texas and just didn't get it done. It looked normal when I left. When I got back, it was way too big to divide. Now we're afraid if we fall into it we might not get out.

Another variety of hosta... not quite so scary.

So that's what we've got at the end of May. I'm waiting on the day lilies to bloom, and I've got some Speedwell that's between blooms. I also rescued a sad little Mexican Heather plant that was needing a home (love, LOVE Mexican Heather). I'll post some updates throughout the summer when everything really gets going. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Under The Sea

Here's April's quilt square for Cole's Quilts. I just love that little jelly fish.

Three more to go!

SAL Update: Keel Hauled

Not much progress to show as I haven't touched this in about two months, but I figured if I'm trying to get back on track, I may as well post an update... with a whole two hours of stitching. I'm getting clooooose!

Here's a close-up of the old guy getting keel hauled. Wonder what he did to deserve that?

It's only the fourth of May and I've already posted as many times as I did in the entire month of April. I'm on fire. (I'm still winding floss, too.)

I'm back.

Had to go to Texas for a bit, but I'm back now. I can't remember the last time I stitched. My April Cole's Quilt Square isn't finished, and I haven't touched Skeleton Crew in about two months. And I haven't even started the Brooke Nolan Advent Animals. {sigh} 

When I got back from my trip I was too tired to stitch, but I needed something to do to keep my hands busy without taxing my brain. Solution: wind floss. I've had dozens and dozens and dozens of skeins of floss that needed to be wound onto bobbins for, oh, I don't know... years. So I plopped down in the floor and started winding. With help, of course.

I'm pretty sure winding floss is Tiger Lily's favorite stitchy activity. So much potential for mischief. Happily, she was well-behaved. Or, perhaps more accurately, closely watched. So I was cross-eyed tired, but still productive. Look how pretty!

Isn't that delectable? 

Anyway, I've been having this delusion that I will have a super productive month of May and catch up on all those projects I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Maybe I'll succeed. After all, I'm off to a pretty good start. I wound a bazillion skeins of floss that have been waiting to be wound for years, so... yay me!

Happy Stitching!