Flossing....not the teeth..........

Feel like I'm running 70 miles per hour lately but got to find time to squeeze in a post.   First, I want to say a big welcome to some new followers I've gained recently - glad you stopped by!   I haven't had time to go out and look at Bloglovin' yet or figure out what I'm going to do when Google Reader goes away.  It seems constant change is getting to be the norm with technology these days.   I use Feedly to read blogs from my iPad mini and I really like that.  However I don't like commenting on blogs using my iPad........it seems about 50% of the time when I go to a blog and try to leave a comment I spend time typing it all in but then something goes wrong when I try to post it.  I prefer to do my commenting on my home computer as I don't have time to be redoing things and being frustrated!

I'm glad so many of you liked my little chart binders in my last post.  I'm still working to reorganize my DMC threads. Since I don't use a floss chest or box,  I decided to use some plastic drawer dividers I ordered from Amazon.com (they're made by Oxo) and stand up all my baggies in a drawer in my stitching room. I tried it first with some cardboard taped into the drawer to see if the concept would work and I liked it.  I've always used Floss-Away bags but they didn't look so good...since they have writing on them already and then to add the floss number on top - well it looked sort of messy as you can see.

I checked around and found clear baggies sold at JoAnn's  (made by Darice) and I'm converting over to those (with the help of several coupons....)  They are slightly taller than the Floss-Away bags.   I found an old post on Daffycat's blog and liked her idea.  She puts a 3X5" plain index card in each bag and it helps it stand up straight, and the floss color is easy to see too.  I wrote the floss number of both sides of the card, inserted it into the bag, then re-punched the hole in the bag (the bags are prepunched but the index cards weren't).  Then I transferred my floss over. Sounds simple doesn't it...well let me tell you it takes forever to redo hundreds of floss bags!  I have done up thru the 900's so far.  I've been working on them gradually in the evenings while watching TV.  I feel like I'm on an assembly line and of course the husband is wondering why in the world I'm transferring threads from one bag to another!  I put the numbers on both sides of the card so I can reverse the direction of some of the bags in the drawer, otherwise they get sort of skewed to one side because the floss makes one side of the bag thicker.   I didn't gain a huge amount of space but I really like it.  It's all neat now and the floss is so easy and quick to find, I just look down and grab what I need.  Not to mention I have all nice clean new bags....didn't realize how grungy some of my old bags were looking!  I'm picking up extra packets of the bags too whenever I have coupons - just in case they stop stocking these bags.

 

 

I still keep my silks and overdyed cottons on rings on my pegboard but there's just not enough room for all the DMC.

 



I do have a couple little finishes to share today.  If you're a quilter like me you know when you go to sew with friends or go on sewing retreats it's helpful to have a little ironing station set up right by your sewing machine.  Prevents having to get up and down and travel to the ironing board constantly.  A friend of mine made one of these to carry a small iron with her and we all just had to have one!  It folds up to look like a cute little purse, but inside it stores a craft-size iron.  Because one side of the bag is made of  silver heat-resistant material and the inside padding is also heat-resistant, you can use the open bag to iron on. I have no idea how people come up with these ideas!

"Caddy Pad Jr" pattern by Sisters Common Threads

the ironing side

the outside when unfolded

I also did a cube finish for a friend - this is Lizzie Kate's "Ho Ho Ho".  Isn't it cute??  Been a long time since I did a cube but I like how it came out.  The hardest part is finding good ribbon...you know they make a lot more thread colors than they do ribbon colors but this time I got lucky and found just what I needed on sale at Hobby Lobby.

I had relatives in town over Easter and houseguests this week so time has been really limited for stitching lately.  Thought I'd be further on my Jenny Bean sampler by now but any progress is good I guess.  The pattern doesn't have you fill in the window panes on the house but I think I'm going to try to fill them in and see how they look.   Next week I'm starting a little SAL with a stitching buddy...it's Heartstring Samplery's 'Baby It's Cold Outside".  I loved all the finishes of this I've been seeing on blogs for months now and can't wait to get stitching on it.   I happy to report I wasn't all that tempted by what I saw from the Nashville market...a couple things went on my wishlist but mostly I decided what I already have in my stash was just as good as a lot of it.

  

I'm gearing up to drop some money on Rolling Stones tickets...yes I'm one of those pesky aging baby boomers LOL. (at least the Stones are still older than me!)  I've been a fan since I was a teenager and seen them many times so I just have to go.  We're going to try to get tickets to the show in Las Vegas since they aren't coming to Phoenix on this little tour at least.  The last few times I've seen them I keep telling myself "this is probably the last time I'll be able to see them" but they haven't given up yet.   The first time I saw them (decades ago) it was a general admission concert at Soldier Field in Chicago.   My college roommate and I slept on the sidewalk outside the stadium the whole night so we could get in early and get a good spot.  Then we spent most of the day sitting in the hot summer sun waiting for the concert to start.  It was an ordeal but I sure do miss those days!    :-)   

Thank you Martha Stewart!

Thank you dear readers and friends for all your lovely comments about my scissor display.  I love organizing my stash almost as much as stitching it that's for sure.   I've been keeping all my patterns in 2 file drawers in my office/sewing/stitching room for probably 10 years.  The drawers kept getting more and more tightly packed with stash acquisitions to the point it was getting difficult to pull out patterns let alone squeeze any more in. I couldn't get to any in the back without pulling out a bunch of folders first to get my hands back in there.

Of course I COULD quit buying more patterns but let's face it - that's not going to happen!  I decided it was time to make some room.  I know a lot of stitchers keep their patterns in binders, but although I've got most of my patterns in those see-through page protectors I never had used binders.  I took a look at what I had and decided that I could make more room by (1) putting my 2 bulging file folders of Prairie Schooler charts in binders, and (2) finding a place for all those half-size patterns (the ones that are sized like the LHN ones).  I thought maybe I could find half-size page protectors to fit those patterns and get some of those smaller ring binders to hold them. 

So off I went to check out Staples office supply store.  They do make half-size page protectors I found out and so  got a few bulk packs of those (they were about $5.49 for 25 - Staples own brand).......then I started looking at the vinyl binders to fit that size. WHOA - these binders, even the cheapest ones, were like $7-8 apiece.  This was not going to work out if I had to pay that kind of price.  Just then I noticed a clearance rack.  They had a bunch of Martha Stewart branded office supplies marked way down.  I found out from the cashier later that since Martha has a new line out, they were closing out some of her older stuff.  Well there was a stack of binders - not vinyl but very nice - and also cute adhesive label holders. The binders were 50 cents each!  I grabbed every aqua and brown one they had plus the little label packs for a dollar, and I got 14 binders in all.  What a steal!!   I didn't even need that many binders but I couldn't pass up a deal like this.

I put all the patterns that would fit into these little binders, putting 2 patterns in each page protector.  Martha Stewart also makes various sizes of page protectors so I got a small pack that would fit some of the tiny patterns.   I'm real happy with it all and now I have more room in my file drawers.  As Martha would say, it's a good thing!

I do have some progress to show you on the Humble Servant Sampler.  It's coming along well and I'm enjoying this project a lot.

Shakespeare's Peddler - Jenny Bean Humble Servant Sampler

who doesn't love a purple cow??

My next project is figuring out a better way to store all this DMC floss - it's taking up too much room!

My Gingher scissor collection - voila!

Hi everyone....thought I'd share with you a little do-it-yourself project I did last month.  I've been collecting those Gingher designer embroidery scissors for years like so many of you but sadly they've just been stored in a box and not really on display.  I know a lot of people have used lovely glass flower frogs and while I love those, I had too many scissors and would've had to buy several and I really don't know where I'd put them all. 

Then one day while searching on Gingher scissors in Google I stumbled on a stitcher's blog and WOW she had a beautiful display!  Let's give credit where credit is due - this is from a stitching blog called Periwinkle Ink.  I never would've thought of this myself.   It was just what I needed so I headed right off to eBay to see if I could find one of these vases. (If you search on "Southern Home vase" you will find them easily.  I only paid $7.00-9.00 US for mine - the shipping was more than the vase).  Luckily they are plentiful and easy to find.  What I love is that it has 22 holes so can hold a lot of scissors!  The only thing is they only come in butter yellow (even though some of the photographs on eBay look white - they aren't).  It's a very pretty yellow mind you but just didn't go in my sewing room.  Well I bought one anyway and then I started wondering if it was possible to paint it.  Hmmmm...the wheels were turning..........

Thank goodness for all of those DIY blogs!  I found a blog that explained how to paint pottery and so my little project was born.   I marched off to Walmart to stock up on spray paint - white primer for a base coat then a white lacquer spray to go on top of that.  I also got a can of Krylon clear coat for a sealer.

After many coats and a few booboos later I finally got it painted white.   I'm not a master of spray painting - I tend to be too impatient and you have to give it several light coats and not let it drip etc.    My sewing room is aqua and pink so I then got on my computer and played around to create a label as I thought the vase needed a little something.  I created a label using a free graphic oval from the Graphics Fairy blog and Powerpoint, then added the pink color using Microsoft Paint.  A graphic artist I'm not but I got it looking pretty good I think.  Getting it to stay on the vase was a bit of a trial - I tried printing it on a clear label - wouldn't stick.....I tried printing it on a piece of waterslide decal paper purchased off eBay....what a nightmare that was!  Another failure.  Finally I just printed it on white label paper I use for shipping labels and right after I stuck it on the vase I gave it a coat of the spray clearcoat.  So far it's staying put thankfully.   Now I was almost done but I decided to buy a small piece of foam at Joann's and cut an oval to stick down in the vase.  This holds the scissors up a bit so more of the pretty handles show and they don't slide down in the holes as much.

So here it is finally - 22 of my Ginghers on display finally in my sewing room!  I'm really happy with it and have bought a couple more vases for "future growth" LOL.  I still have 5 pairs of scissors that don't have a home yet so I'll be starting on painting another vase this weekend.  Oh these addictions we have!

2013...please slow it down!

Oh my I can't believe it's the end of February!  Where have the last two months gone to??  I feel badly about not updating my blog but thankfully I've only lost a a few of my followers.  Thanks for hanging in there with me dear readers!  I also am woefully behind in my blog reading...I'd like to mark everything as 'read' and start over but I might miss something important  - like some stash that I just MUST have you know   So I will try to make the rounds of my blogs and catch up with everyone.

I'm dreadfully late in publicly thanking dear Joanie from over at Joanie's World...I won a big giveaway on her blog in November and I received a big box on Dec 24th! It was like a visit from Santa Claus!!  Joanie sent me 33 - yes 33!- patterns she had already stitched or didn't want anymore. I was totally awed!   A few of them I already had so I've set them aside to start a giveaway pile for sometime in March (stay tuned to this space)/

I've been fitting in stitching time whenever I can but life has been hectic.  I've been without a boss since the end of October and then my boss's boss also took another position so it's been crazy with lots of extra work and we're still waiting for new management to get announced.   I did do a New Year's day start although it's not gotten very far yet.  Here is Shakespeare's Peddler's "Jenny Bean's Humble Servant Sampler".  This is a piece that you don't really appreciate from the photo on the pattern but I was lucky enough to see a model a couple years ago at a shop. I love the colors and it's a fun stitch.  It calls for using 1 strand of overdyed cottons on 40-ct fabric.  I had trouble with not liking the coverage I was getting on motifs stitched in black so I substituted a silk for those - I'm picky about my coverage and hate when it looks skimpy!

I also started a new embroidery project this month.  I blogged about this a few years ago.   My mom taught me to embroider when I was about 8 years old...I made a set of dishtowels with motifs of ducks doing housework. Those types of motifs were popular in the 50's and 60's - puppies, lambs, ducks, dancing dishes and silverware, etc.   My mom bought the transfers through an ad in the newspaper. They were supposed to be for my 'hope chest' but I married late so I used them and abused them when I was single  and got rid of them after they wore out.  About 4 years ago I ran across some vintage embroidery transfers on eBay and decided to see if I could find the duckies from my childhood.  It took me more than 3 years watching eBay and not finding them - they weren't one of the big brands so hard to find.  One day I logged on and there they were!  People are reprinting the old patterns because they're out of copyright now.  So I bought them and I'm recreating my duck towels almost 50 years later!  It feels good.  I can still remember my mom telling me to take small and neat stitches :-)   I think I've improved Mom!

 

 

And speaking of old things.....at Christmastime I noticed how dated a couple of my old cross-stitch ornaments looked.  I made these in the late 80's before I was married.  They were mounted on these little sticky ornaments pads they used to sell and I had put country ruffles on them (everything was mauve & blue in the 80's you know!) The backs were all yellowed and yet I still liked the little Santas.   Figuring I had nothing to lose I threw them in a bowl of water and let them soak.  When they got all soft and mushy I tore them apart.  Since they were stitched with DMC there was no issue with anything bleeding. I ironed and trimmed them and remade them into new ornaments. I think they look a lot better now.

 

80's style ornaments....

After tearing them apart....

New & Improved!



And I've been doing some finishing in the last 6 weeks too...some for myself and some for a friend.  I hope you enjoy looking at them.  I'm working on finishing up a display for my Gingher scissor collection and hope to share it in a few days.   I really need to be a better blogger!

An alphabet freebie chart made into a flatfold

BBD's Joyeux Noel stocking and LHN's Deck The Halls

Some Lizzie Kate smalls........

Love Letters by With Thy Needle & Thread

and the stockings got finished just in time.........

I finished sewing up my doggies' two new stockings on Friday and got them hung by the chimney with care and 3 days to spare.  I made it!   This is something I've been wanting to do for years and this year I got them done.   So glad these are finally off my list!  I really dislike doing the finishing work on these with the cording, the ruffling, and all. Whew!

I've been battling a cold for about 10 days - went to the doctor last week hoping to avoid a bout of bronchitis and feel better for Christmas week. I'm using less tissues today and hoping I've finally turned the corner.  I've just had to keep on going regardless and not let it ruin my Christmas.

I finally spent some birthday gift certificates I had and ordered some wonderful stash from my favorite online shops.  Love getting stash in the mail!  I hope to start something new next week after Christmas...I'm still in a holiday stitching mood.

A special note to "Nancy in WI" - you don't have an email address in your Profile so I couldn't contact you.  The quilt in my photos from the last post is called 'Garden Gate' by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I would be happy to send you my pattern for it  and a better photo if you contact me via email - my email address is in my profile.

A big "thank you" to all of you for visiting my blog this year. I so appreciate your visits and when you take time to leave a comment it really makes my day!    I'll leave you with some of the sights of Christmas at my house.   I wish all of you a very happy holiday wherever you are!

Some decorating...some finishing....it's all good....

Hi all...hope this finds you in the holiday spirit! My decorating is done and I don't have much shopping to do this year so I'm in pretty good shape. I didn't go too crazy this year...put up my 2 trees in the family room and living room and about half of my other items and that was enough. I really have more Christmas things than I have room to display, especially cross-stitching! Someimes I forget how much I have until I start hauling it out LOL. Thought I'd share a few pics with you of some of my holiday decorating...most of these Santas were stitched back in the 80's but I still enjoy them. I swapped out some of my samplers for the season and hung some of my Christmas pieces in their place - less holes in the walls that way so the husband is happy.  This isn't even all of them...I'm running out of room but not going to let it slow me down....I love holiday stitching!  Hard to get good photos - it's cloudy here today but that's okay we need some rain.

 

A few holiday treasures........

 

Anyone remember this Santa from CS&CC magazine? My best friend and I stitched it together (yeah...1987!)  and I still remember what a pain the face was - all quarter-stitches!

 



My sampler wall turned holiday-ish......

An old Santa from a Leisure Arts magazine

All I recall about this one is the name -  "Pere Noel".  A pink Santa..perfect in my book!

I own all the annual Prairie Schooler Santa patterns but have only  stitched 2 of the early ones!  Back then they sold coordinating mats and frames for them but those days are long gone.......

I love my little Christmas mouse...even though I'm terrified of a real one LOL

I just picked this up from the framer last weekend....LHN's "Pointsettia House" which I renamed  to my own liking....

Up next is some finishing work I've been doing for a lovely stitchy friend I met though my blog.  Cindy (no blog) does amazing over-one stitching and it's been fun helping her turn these projects into little ornaments and other things.  I've enjoyed doing it, but I keep adding them to my list of things to stitch as I love them all!

This is "Hospitality" by Shakespeare's Peddler

A little quail freebie from Prairie Schooler - too cute!

Another PS freebie...a little snowman

Don't they look cute nestled together??

Here's a little Bent Creek chart called "Sparkle", made into a ornament

 

This is "Smitten" by All Through the House.  Cindy provided an antiqued wooden box lid that it was mounted on.

And finally this is "A Wassailing", another chart from Shakespeare's Peddler, made into an easel/flatfold.

 

Thank you Cindy for letting me work on your lovely pieces!

 

 

P.S.  I hadn't even heard about the tragedy today in Connecticut as I was writing this.  So very senseless and horrific.   So many troubled young people..I just don't understand.  My heart goes out to all affected by this and I hope we can find some way to get to these troubled people before they resort to actions like this.  :-(