Sweet Baby Penguin for the Keeping Christmas Project

I've had this adorable little guy in my stash for quite some time, and finally decided to bring him to life. He's a freebie available here. I stitched him on 28 ct. Glacier linen from Picture This Plus, and changed the color of the border to DMC 4040. I have a small aqua-colored tinsel Christmas tree that has retro aqua glass and grey penguin ornaments on it, and he'll be made into an ornament for that tree. Isn't he cute?

Stashy Goodness Update

The mailman has been bringing lots of goodies lately!

Charts and fabric (spot the fox?):

From sweet Robin in Virginia, a wonderful wad of Wildflowers! Thank you, Robin!

From sweet Bonnie, all the way from Canada, a precious little fox kit! He will be on my Fox Christmas Tree this year. Thank you, Bonnie!

And here's a peak of a quick project I'm whipping out. I love the color of this fabric. It's 28 ct. Glacier from Picture This Plus.

Bonus: Tiger Lily napping in a sunbeam.

Happy 100th Birthday, National Park Service!

Mr. Wonderful and I are huge fans of National Parks. If you gave me a choice of a week in London or Paris or in any one of our National Parks, the National Parks would win hands down, every time. 

The last one we visited was Acadia in Maine, three years ago. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

I was absolutely thrilled to see that Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery is doing a National Parks sampler to commemorate the centennial. They even have an adorable little matching needle minder (it's made of wood).

We're in the planning stages of a trip to Zion National Park in Utah this fall. Cannot wait.

Happy 100th to "America's Best Idea"!

Saturday Sampler: Pottery Edition

Where have I been? Pretty busy, and also on a road trip. I think I've mentioned before that Mr. Wonderful is a pottery nut. We celebrated his 40th birthday by heading to Seagrove, North Carolina, the largest and oldest community of potters in the country. It's pretty much Pottery Disneyland. We had a wonderful time wandering around through the beautiful North Carolina countryside, talking to the potters, and eating great southern cooking. We bought way too much stuff, but we had a lot of fun doing it. I only photographed my part of the haul, since showing everything he bought too would break my blog. 

Small milk mugs, about 4" high. Yes, I almost passed out when I finally found a fox!

Gorgeous small vases. On the left, crystalline (crystals are grown on the pottery when it's fired), and on the right, salt glazed.

Soup mugs. I wanted a pair for us, but decided to get them from different potters instead of a matched set. Can't wait to use these when the weather turns cold.

Small mixer. Too cute and functional to pass up.

Small baker. This came with a recipe from the potter's family for cold oven pound cake. 

Batter bowl. I love this thing.

Here you can see how it's designed to be held for easy pouring. 

Small cornbread/pie dish. This is from the oldest pottery in the area.

I love, love, LOVE all of my pieces, but especially my kitchenware. They're not only pretty, they feel so wonderful; they're heavy and smooth and fit the hands so well... because they're made by hand. And the really cool thing is that for most of these pieces, I have a personal memory of meeting and talking to the potter. When I pick up that baker to make a little pound cake, I'll remember the hilarious conversation we had with the delightful woman who made it. What a wonderful trip it was, and what great memories we have to go with our new treasures.

In case you're wondering, I'm hard at work on my Keeping Christmas Project. I didn't pick up a needle for about two weeks, what with being so busy, getting ready for our trip, traveling, etc. But I'm back at it. Here's a little peek at what I'm working on. I must confess, I am not a fan of over-one stitching, but I make exceptions for certain designers!

Mr. Wonderful is leaving tomorrow for two weeks, so Tiger Lily and I will be here all by ourselves. There's no telling what we'll get into, so stay tuned!

PS: Shout out to my parents, who celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary yesterday! 

Why she does this, I have no idea...

...but Tiger Lily loves Mr. Wonderful's uniform. She does this a lot.

The Keeping Christmas Project

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

~Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

I have been feeling increasingly weighed down lately by the things going on in my country and in the rest of the world. I find myself not wanting to look too far forward, in apprehension of what may be coming. A few days ago, while going through a stack of my Christmas designs, I had an idea for a project to lift my spirits and keep me looking and moving forward, focused on the JOY and BLESSINGS in life. 

If you've been visiting my blog for a while, you know I love Christmas and stitching Christmas ornaments. I've shown all my stitched ornaments, and the Christmas tree they decorate (if you need to catch up, click on any of the Christmas labels in the right sidebar). So I have quite a stack of ornament-sized designs... not to mention every issue of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. 

While looking at my collection--and chastising myself for not having more of them stitched--my mind wandered (as it often does) to wondering how many I could get done before Christmas. This led me to check a calendar to see how many weeks it is until Christmas (21, if you were wondering, too). Then I started daydreaming about how cool it would be to stitch an ornament every week until Christmas. And I connected that to how I've been feeling lately, and thought what a great way that would be to push back against the negative thoughts and emotions I've been having.

Naturally, I would have to blog my progress. Then I started worrying about not being able to get an ornament done every week. And about what to call it. A Christmas ornament "challenge"? I pondered all this for a day or two and realized that stressing over how many ornaments I could actually get done and calling it a "challenge" were both the wrong approach. The goal is to focus on JOY and BLESSINGS... not to freak out over finishes and certainly not to consider it a "challenge" (too much pressure!). 

And so, "The Keeping Christmas Project" was born: a leisurely, five-month stroll toward Christmas, stitching as many ornaments as I can along the way. Will I stitch 21 ornaments by Christmas? Nope. Do I care? Nope. My Keeping Christmas Project is already fulfilling its purpose. I'm looking forward to stitching some beautiful ornaments and sharing them here, hopefully bringing a little joy (and enabling) to others as well. I am already pushing back, and it feels good.

This isn't a challenge or a SAL, but if you'd like to join me--in a leisurely, no-stress-allowed way--please do! Leave a link to your blog in the comments so I can see your ornaments.

Here's a start, a freebie available here.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

A Fox Forest Finish!

Finished last night! Stitched with suggested Weeks (with the addition of GAST Oatmeal) on 28 ct. PTP Sand.

I also slightly changed the border, stitching it with Caron Wildflowers in Moss. Wildflowers does the prettiest job for this type of border, if you ask me.

On to Halloween!

Closing in on a Fox Forest finish

All the little foxes are present and accounted for. All that's left is a tree and the border.

A few details: satin stitched trees, smyrna cross eyes and nose, and Rhodes stitch flower centers.

Hoping to finish this up this weekend. My next project is a classic Halloween design and it's calling my name!

Fabric Hoard Update!

*sigh*

I confess. I did it. I bought more fabric. And I'm not even sorry. I'd do it again. And I will do it again during the Picture This Plus Christmas in July sale later this month. And I won't be sorry for that, either. My fabric hoard is gradually out-growing the storage spot I've assigned to it, so I'm going to have to do some re-arranging in my sewing room to accommodate it. 

My latest haul is a selection of Wichelt hand-dyed Jobelan. I have very little Jobelan in my stash, but I couldn't resist these scrumptious colors. Left to right: Sandcastle, Bittersweet, Watercress, Babbling Brook, Cornflower, Stormy Grey, Dense Fog

See, here's what happened. I found a really cool fox design on Etsy, and I bought it. It's full of unusual colors (for a fox design) and the fabric selection was going to be tricky. I pretty much never stitch on white or ivory, so that was out. A neutral, like a raw/natural linen, seemed a little "blah" for this design, but because it's "busy," I'd have to be careful choosing a hand-dyed fabric with too much mottling. I just happened to stumble across Bittersweet, the soft orange second from the left. Here's a partial floss toss:

I think it'll be pretty. But it's the next next project after I finish Fox Forest, so y'all will have to wait to see what it is.

I also tried a new-to-me fabric dyer, Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. I placed a small order (three colors) and am happy with the fabric. In fact, I think I'll be using one of her fabrics for my next project. Here's an interesting color that I bought just because. It's called Melody and has soft shades of lots of colors. Not sure what I'll do with it, but I'll find something! Be aware that it takes a while to receive an order (as she says on her website).

My LNS finally got the "new" DMC Coloris floss! It's not really "new." DMC rolled this new floss out last year in Europe and it has taken this long to show up in the US market. I've been waiting and waiting! Twenty-five colors that are a little different from other variegated threads as each color is a mix of four DMC solid colors. I picked a few of my favorites.

And finally, a progress update on Fox Forest.

I would love to be able to get to the border by this weekend, but that might be a little too ambitious for this week. It's coming along quickly, even though I've only worked on it on weekends. 

Happy Stitching!

Fox Finds... and shopping tips!

At this time of year, I pop in to Hobby Lobby about once a week. Even though it's not even July, they have already begun putting out fall and Christmas items. I know a lot of people complain about it being "too early", but I love it. Summer is #4 on my list of favorite seasons, so the appearance of fall (#1!) stuff is always welcome to me. It's nice to be able to buy supplies/decorations early and get to work on projects. If they didn't put out fall stuff until September, or Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving, there would be such a rush to get things done in time. This way, the work (and the expense!) can be spread out over several months, and by the time cozy fall and merry Christmas roll around, all of those projects are done. That's the way I like to do it, anyway. 

I'm often asked where I've found things that I show on my blog, and more often than not, the question is about something Christmas-related I've shown, usually in November or December posts. My answer is almost always the same: "Hobby Lobby (or some other craft store), last July." If you want a nice selection of goodies, especially Christmas ones, you have to shop in the summer, right as the retailers are unpacking their boxes. They won't restock seasonal items over and over. What they get is what they get, and when it's gone, it's gone. I can't tell you how many times I've spotted some neat Christmas item in July, snapped it up, and by the beginning of September it's no longer to be found. 

All of which brings me to why I just bought Christmas ornaments in June. TA-DA!

I was too excited to find these at Hobby Lobby! They're perfect for my fox Christmas tree. 

I also found this cool metal wall art there. I can see him with leaves entwined around his ears in the fall, holly at Christmas time. An interesting alternative to a wreath.

And this!

Pretty big day at Hobby Lobby. And since we're on the topic of foxes, here's my progress on Fox Forest (The Work Basket). I'm stitching it with the recommended Weeks, with the addition of GAST Oatmeal, and only a few other minor changes. It's on PTP Sand.

Bonus Tiger Lily:

School Supplies = Stitchy Supplies

I must confess. I'm 44 years old and I still love school supplies. Pretty soon, stores will dedicate aisles and aisles to school supplies, and there I will be, happily wandering up and down them, putting goodies into my basket. It's even more fun when you don't actually have to attend school. Once I got my degree, that was it for me... although I did take Chinese a few years ago, but that was for fun. Anyway, every year I look forward to school supply season, and I almost always find something that can be used for stitchy purposes.

I was in Wal-Mart the other day and discovered they have a new line of containers for craft storage. This one was only $3 and is the perfect size for some basic stitching tools or to hold the floss bobbins for a project. Like most of you, I have lots of stitchy toys but really there are only a few things I use every time I stitch. Although I have multiples of everything--needle packets, threaders, counting pins, scissors, etc--I like to keep one basic set together in one container and move it from project to project, instead of having a set of tools with each project. I usually switch out my tools for the seasons, so I'll have a Christmas set, a fall set, a spring or summer set. This little box is just right for my stuff, and I'll be getting a few more to hold floss bobbins for projects.

This is a zippered metal pencil case I've had for a long time that I use to hold my needle minder collection. It's very compact and is a great way to store a bunch of them in a small space. School supply sections have tons of small containers that are ideal for storing stitching supplies. You can find all sorts of little boxes and bags and cases and they're usually pretty cute.

Last year I picked up this little pencil bag for $1 and stocked it with a few basic tools for stitching; it also holds a 6" Q-snap. It stays loaded, so it's easy to grab and throw in a bag for stitching on the go. I took it with me on my trip to Texas and it was perfect. Fits easily into any bag--even a largish purse--and your project is protected in the zipper pocket.

For finishing round ornaments, if I don't have a round template the right size, I use a compass to draw one. I also use a compass to draw a diameter guide when I'm making bows, as I showed in this post. I got a pretty nice one for a good price on clearance, but you'll easily be able to find inexpensive ones among the school supplies. 

School supply season is nearly upon us... keep your eyes open to the possibilities for re-purposing things for stitchy uses and I bet you'll be able to find some things you didn't even know you needed!

Garden Sampler finish!

Finished Garden Sampler (link to design in previous post). Now I can start Fox Forest... Yippee!

Speaking of foxes, did you notice what I slipped in there?