Autumn Update - TUSAL

It seems as if autumn has made its grand appearance.  It has been cool and rainy most of the week and today is supposed to be cloudy with high of 50s.  There may be record lows over the weekend, which is in the 40s I believe.   There was a note in the local paper that said the prediction is for cooler and more snow than normal for us this winter. That’s ok with me!

It has been a great stitching (related) week!  I joined a new group – TUSAL – Totally Useless Stitch ALong – over at Dragon My Needle.  I’ve watched it for a while now, and finally decided I had to join, too.  In August of  2008 I started an ORT jar, so on December 31, I made an ornament. 

On January 1, 2009, I started a new one, but using the actual ornament as the ORT jar, and the old jar for a base to hold it upright.  Now labels, longer threads that MAY be used, etc. goes into the base, and only ORT TUSAL goes into the top.  Here is how it looks now, my first TUSAL update.  This ornie will be January – December 2009.          

This week I finished the Peace Christmas tree – Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue by Sue Hillis.  The pearl buttons in my stash were just not small enough, so I used the pearl stars with white beads to finish it off.

I also finished Trix or Treat by Blackbird Designs on 28ct linen in Tobacco and just love this color.

I got a call from my LNS telling me my Putford scissors had come in, so I went to the sight to see what else was on Just Arrived and made a list!  Stash building is SO much fun... I got Plumstreet Samplers Garden of Erie and Jenny Bean Halloween Sampler - although it really doesnt look much like Halloween to me - and a couple of others that will be surprises ;-).

On some fine stitcher's enabling blog, I saw the Prairie Schooler Pumpkins chart, and after searching found that it is out of print (OOP.  Finally found it on ebay, such a happy camper.  Also found a laying tool made to look like a needle.

I hope you'll pardon the misplaced apostrophes, lines, pictures, and such.  Blogger (or this font) just isn't working well for me today! 

I hope it is a nice stitching day where you are – it is here, but there’s a birthday party to get ready for… but later.  Thanks for dropping by today, and do come again soon. 

Charlene in SC USA

CQ Cross Stitch Finished

The crazy quilt piece I've been working on is finished. I believe I'm going to make it into a little pillow for my aunt who has been struggling with ovarian cancer for several years. It has been a long time since I made anything for her, and this is bright and hopefully cheery!

Cross Stitch Crazy Quilt

Just a little update of the Crazy Quilt cross stitch piece WIP. It's coming along, slowly! Click on the stack to see progress made.

Coffin Buzz

I saw this free chart, Coffee Buzz, over at Plumstreet Samplers, and fell in love with it. You know I do love her angels! It's done on linen fabric I found at a thrift store, and ended up bigger than I thought, so I made a pillow from it. I took Paulette's advice and used DMC 3371 - almost black brown. I think it turned out pretty well, don't you? Won't it will be pretty under the other tombstone angels - when they're finished!

First Biscornu

I'm a member of the Friendly Stitchers yahoo group, and Abi gave us a friendly competition of the Serenity chart to "finish the chart 'your way'." I decided to make my first biscornu, and thus ... front



... and back


It is stitched on a leftover piece of nice soft, ivory using DMC 4200 Variations. As you can tell, it is far from perfect, but do like the way it turned out and plan to do it again - practice makes better next time.

From Friendly Stitchers there is also ASAW Stitch Along going on. It started before I joined, but I'm planning to catch up. It is an English Garden with a small motif for each week - you can see a sample here. I'm using Carolina Linen, 28 count evenweave in Sand. The outside grid will be DMC 4050 Variations. Maybe I'll get that started this weekend!

I'm still working on the Crazy Quilt piece, and it's so much fun!




And speaking of fun - do you ever start a piece that you loved, then decide it's not as much fun to stitch as you thought it would be? That's how I'm feeling with Quaker Blues. I've got a good bit done, but there is SO much more to do, and I'm simply not enjoying stitching it. My first thought was to just scrap it, but when I took this photo and remembered how much IS already done, I may finish and 'save' that part and scrap the rest... How do you cope with this situation? Would you ever stop something you've started, or do you just stitch on?

Thanks for dropping by today, and wishing for you a lovely and joy-filled weekend!

PS:
I finished reading Mariah Stewart's Dead Even. For me it was a little slow starting, but it went along better. I will try another to see if that's just this one, or her general style.

Stitchaway Finish and Rewards ;-)

I've finished my Camp Stitchaway project! It really is small... thus the challenge by Meg that we make a larger one!



This is a closer view of the pincushion:

and the needlecase:

Yesterday, it rained all day! Instead of being smart and staying inside to stitch (or clean house), I went bargain shopping. I had heard an advertisement that Beauty Brands had all their hairspray on sale for 6.97. It was worth the drive to save that much... and while I was 'up that way' I went to A.C. Moore with a 50% off coupon and bought some linen to practice my new found skills! And just up the road a piece was Hobby Lobby. There is a HL here in town, but they somehow have different stock (and discounted items). I found a few things,

then browsed over to the scrap booking area. That is one thing that I have NOT allowed myself to start, BUT... all the storage containers and such were 50% off. I saw this carrier, "the Paper Studio rolling tote," looked it over, walked away, looked at it again, walked away, then decided I had to have it!

This was the only one they had that I could find. They do have other color schemes, but I like this brown and aqua/teal just fine.

It has inside, adjustable walls ...
inside pockets ...

outside pocket on both sides and front, handles for picking up, a long rigid handle for pulling on wheels.

Poor Pixie

My sweet little Pixie was out behind me last night doing her business, and she gave a yelp. I turned to see what was wrong, and she hobbled up to me. When we got inside, she was holding her tiny, little foot up, so I looked and felt, but couldn't see anything wrong. Hobbling around with that foot off the floor, didn't jump up into the chair with me; when I got up, she went under the coffee table, just not herself. This morning when we went out for her morning business, she walked up to me to pick her up - she wouldn't even go. She's always held that leg up when she tinkles, and it must really hurt when she does that, so she wouldn't.

I've read online that toy poodles, especially, are real candidates for joint sub-luxation - but that it goes out and back in. When it wasn't better this morning, I felt her knee and couldn't tell so we have an appointment with the vet at 2:30 to see what is happening. If she confirms that's what it is, I just may take her to my chiropractor this afternoon to see what she has to say about it. I know she does treat pets, too.

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA

Snowfall - March 1, 2009

The predidtions were right on target ... it began snowing in the early evening on Sunday, March 1, 2009. By about 9:00 pm, the deck furniture was covered. I stayed up late, with the expectation that work would be cancelled.

This morning at sunrise, the beauty of the fresh, unblimished snow covering the yard. If you notice the road looks as if it's beginning to clear, but that is ice! The temperature is 28.

The expectation is that it will rise to about 35 today, but the low of 15 tonight will create more ice for tomorrow morning. Work is cancelled today, and possibly a delay tomorrow, but we won't know until about 6:00 am once again. Here, in South Carolina we are not as prepared as our northern neighbors to cope with icy roads. I could probably deal with the snow, but glad I don't have to. Ice; no way!!

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA

A couple of Finishes

I'm doing to stitch along with Quaker Blues, but that doesn't start until March 1, so thought I'd stitch up a quick little cutie from TSOG, 2007. It's Seek Peace by Helga Mandl. I had said that QB would be my first cross stitch in silk, but decided to do this little one with silk. Oh wow - what a treat. I've done lots of embroidery with silk, but really loved doing this. It's Vikki's hand-dyed fibers.

I'm planning to go to a stitching retreat in March, so today I stitched up a little name tag.

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA

Another Finish

I finished another little cross stitched piece today. It's from 2006, Chocolate Covered Cherries by Casey Buonaugurio, with DMC threads.

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA

Week Ending

Today I finished a little cross stitch piece from The Gift of Stitching electronic magazine, I Celebrate Even My Mistakes by Lynn Herzberg, July 2007. I added a few buttons and beads that weren't called for, but thought they helped fill it in a bit.

Did you see the lovely full moon earlier this week?

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA

Floss Toss Help

2/11/09
~~Update~~

My silk order came today - don't you just love that quick service? - and the colors are so great, that really didn't change my opinion of the two that were my favorites - and yours as well. Do you still agree with your first impression? These are scans, but if you click on the picture, you get a better idea of the fabric colors.

deep olive

bay leaf

I've joined a new cross stitch SAL, Quaker Blues, at MyNiftyNeedle (click on this link to see the original sample). I've decided to do my first project using silk threads, and they're ordered and on the way from Vikki at Hand-Dyed Fibers. What I did was pull DMC colors to choose my fabric, but I'm having a quandary. So if you will, leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite.

Light blue

Ivory

Chamois

Deep Olive

Bay Leaf

~Happy Stitching~
Charlene in SC.USA