Some Stitching, Some Finishing

Gift Box

My recent stitching time has been devoted to finishing a gift for my friend.

There's no better way to show a friend how much I love them than gifting them with some of my hideous attempts at finishing. I only took three pictures because I gave it to her while the glue was still drying because 1) We have kittens and the box would not have survived the night and 2) I wanted it out of my house! Here is the box top complete with pins. It's straighter than it looks in the picture, I promise. Really! Seriously!

Friendship is a Sheltering Tree

Prairie Schooler

25 or 28ct Lugana(I thought it was 28 but I'm pretty sure it's 25ct.)

DMC
I think the pins are making it look not so straight. Attaching trim is not one of my strong points and I kept asking the spousal unit if it would be wrong to give Pam the box and trim and a bottle of glue and tell that I'm sure she could do a better job than me. He said that would be major, big time tacky, especially since she had to line the patchwork bag I gifted her with since I had a sewing meltdown. I perservered and got this finished despite not being quite satisfied with the finished result but it is what it is and she knows I made it with love and I should add that I was only ten days late. Go me!

Lady Bug Scissor Fob

Fairy Needleminder that I made

Close up of needleminder

Despite the stress of being the single worst finisher in the world, I enjoyed this project. The box is painted a dark blue, think one of the DMC 920 something series. I can't recall the exact number at the moment.

But it was a relief to take it over to her house wet glue and all. Am I the only one that feels like rainbows and unicorns when a handmade gift is done and out of the house, like "whew, now I can get on with my life"?

I got this idea when I saw a box Missy Ann made for a swap a while back, Lookie what I made!

My box is not near as nice as the one she made and I ended up kind of doing my own thing. I read different tutorials online and basically stretched the stitching over some batting and mat board and glued it down. I think next time I'll go with lacing but I am linearly challenged and thought the glue might be my best bet. I also left too much fabric on the back but I have been screwed one too many times cutting my fabric too close only to realize an extra 1/4 of an inch or even an 1/8th of an inch could have made all the difference. The fob is stitched on 32ct Belfast and I found the freebie chart online. And now I can't find the website. I hate when I do that. I want to say it was at about.com but I could be wrong.

I made the needleminder from a cabochon I found online.

Thanks again to Missy Ann for her help and inspiration.

Not Necessarily Blooming

Today I was pondering the messiness of my house, how to weed through the crap, when it dawned on me for a very long time I have not been blooming where I'm planted. I've kind of been spreading crap across my universe much like weeds in a flowerbed.

That thought, that I was the weed instead of the flower in my world, well, it woke me up. I have been thinking a lot recently about changes that need to be made to make the home life better, the bank account more balanced, my body for that matter more balanced and thanks to the on set of perimenupause, something has to be done to be sure that I do not allow the crazy to wrap it's arms around me too tightly. Lately I have felt that a dive into complete and total crazy was no farther away than to step through a doorway.

I guess knowing that the crazy is right there ringing the doorbell is a good thing but with this whole perimenupause thing it comes over me like a rogue wave. One moment I'm calm, doing something completely normal and the next thing I know, I'm in the fetal position in the middle of the living room floor sobbing like there's no tomorrow. I've been having a lot of days where I just want to stick my head in the oven and call it good.

So that's where I've been, how's things in all y'all's worlds?

A R.O.A.K.

The other day I came home from schlepping people here and there and what did I see but a package on my doorstep. I hadn't ordered anything that I could recall, and then I recognised the return address on the package and wondered what in the world this stitching friend had sent me. I opened the package to find what you see pictured below:

I so heart the pink skull and crossbones. The chart is By the Bay's Santa at the Seashore, there's a bright skull and crossbones notebook for making lists of all those projects I never seem to finish and some Sugar & Cream cotton for knitting some handy dandy warshrags. Thank you so much Jeanne! With all you have going on in your life, to think of me, well it just left me verklempt.

Speaking of projects, I did finally manage to finish something:

A Haunting Mermaid

Carriage House Samplings

36ct Flax(I think)

DMC

I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to stitching this piece. I love her and the colors are perfect to hang with my Mairmaid's Song and Sirens of the Sea(also CHS). I will admit to one very sad moment, I had twittered that the piece was finished, only to realize a few hours later that I had forgotten all the background stitching on the three bands. I was devastated. I was so ready to have this DONE. But I finally sucked it up, did a stitching marathon, got to love Peter Jackson for making the Lord of the Rings trilogy the single longest movie marathon in the history of the world.

Remember that pile of letters from a previous post? Well this is what I did with them:

I was inspired by this post:

things I've made: Redecorating my old room

I have always loved the saying, "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" and had planned to buy a sign to hang over the closet door but then I saw Floresita's Feliz and thought what a neat idea. So I spent a day or so tracing and cutting out letters, no fancy Cricut here, then I sewed the letters to the felt and then decided the words "kiss me" needed something so then I did some lips. The ribbon is red with white polka dots. Yeah, it's kind of artsy craftsy even kindergartenish but seeing it makes me smile.

And when I say kindergartenish I'm pretty sure any kindergartener on the planet could have done a better job than me. I hated school projects! Still do!

This reminded me very much of a school project or teacher bulletin board project while I was doing all that cutting.

Know all those jokes about "How to Bath a Cat"?

No kittens were harmed in the taking of these pictures!


How about the dishwasher? I had just emptied the dishwahser when I noticed Mittens and Katie jumping around inside.

Hard Core

There are times when chocolate cake for breakfast is the only reason to get out of bed:

The craziness of the past week just dissolves into a gooey chocolate faint, faded, just on the tip of your tongue memory. The best place to hide the crazy:

One version of the recipe for the Texas Sheet Cake can be found here:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks!: The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

This cake has been a family favorite for years and it's truly the best chocolate cake ever!

Monday, a week ago, I got some bad family news. The phone call that my dad was in ICU. Prognosis was not good. (He's home now, so things weren't as bad as everyone thought). In the mailbox I found a package:

Inside was this very wicked cool pincushion from Kwilty Kim--Threadheads Unite! Does she rock or what? It really brightened a very dark couple of days. Thanks Kim, I am so honored! By the way Happy Birthday!

The new pincushion will get its maiden voyage on the Dresden Plate quilt I plan to start piecing pretty soon from the assorted fabrics you see below.

Here's my progress as of today on Blackbird Designs Beneath the Sunlit Sky:

I'm waiting on GAST Antique Rose and Grape Leaf.


Here's a Sonne Spotte update:

I'm truly, madly, deeply in love with this bit of needlework. It's joy, plain and simple. Yes, I'm a dork but I don't care. I tried to take some close up shots of the splashes of color but the sun was too bright and no matter where I stood my shadow seemed to cover it up. I gave up. Trust me it's unbelieveably beautiful.



This big guy has set up housekeeping in the tree outside my kitchen window. The web runs from tree to ground. Lives in a mansion of a web let me tell ya. There would have been a photo of the web but one morning at 4am while attempting to quietly chase the dog I ran right through it. I guess I'm lucky the critter doesn't now live in my hair. ICK!