Stitch Day Craftiness And Finish

The Sisters In Stitches held our Stitch Day for October on Saturday.  One of the things we do at each Stitch Day to add to the fun is a gift exchange.  This gift can be something stitch related, but it doesn't have to be.  This month I wanted to do something totally different and unique, so I came up with the idea of a box of frogs.  Not THOSE kinds of frogs.  You know, the ones that make our stitching a little less fun.  But I did tie in the frog idea and made a bunch of jumping frogs from dollar bills!

My son used to make these and occasionally would make one to use as part of our server's tip at a restaurant.  He wasn't available to teach me how to make dollar bill jumping frogs, so I went to the next best source -- Youtube. 

I made up a herd? swarm? gaggle? of these, found an unusual box, added some tissue paper and a funny note, and there was my one-of-a-kind gift.  And it was thoroughly enjoyed by the recipient!

My goal for this Stitch Day was to finish something.  I don't know how optimistic I was, but I did actually complete Bent Creek's "Quaker Star".  I like the use of different shades of red and blue in this chart and think it is a very nice finish.

Now my fellow Sisters In Stitches and I are getting ready for our Fall 2013 retreat which is just around the corner!  We share meal duty, and have all of our meals planned.  We're going to have a smaller (but just as fun) gift exchange.  And of course, we are all looking forward to a weekend of uninterrupted stitching.  I've got to decide what I'll take to work on!  I plan to take pictures to share right here.  So stay tuned. 

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I enjoy all of your comments and am happy to know that people are visiting here.

A Halloween Finish In Just One Day

On a shopping trip to Michael's craft store one day, I found this little frame in their bargain bin area.  It just said "Halloween" to me.  The other day I decided it was time to put something into that frame, so I started to scour my Just Cross Stitch Halloween issues.  The tiny opening in the frame really limited what I could put in there, but I finally found this cute little cat chart in the 2012 issue.

I had to leave out the fence that the cat was sitting on, and I also repositioned the bats, but I think it turned out very well!  And all in one day!  I'm one of the slowest stitchers I know, so this is pretty amazing.  And really, this spooky little frame couldn't hold anything other than a Halloween something.  Looking through the Halloween issues of Just Cross Stitch, I found so many fun things to stitch. Maybe it's time to start something new.........

I Thought They Already Had All Of The Colors!

What are the three main things that we stitchers like the most?  That would be charts, fabric and thread, of course.  There are lots of other necessities that are always on our radar -- scissors, needles, needle minders, lights, cases to hold all of our stuff, and more.

I always like seeing new charts that have come out, and spending time ooh-ing and ahh-ing over new fabrics, but I think my favorite thing is floss.  I like all kinds of floss, but DMC is my preferred go-to brand for its consistency, softness and sheen.  So when I heard that DMC was introducing new colors, well, it made me pretty happy.  But then I wondered where they were going to get new colors.  I mean, don't they already make every shade of every color in the rainbow?  Apparently not.  Last week I received in the mail my little box of DMC's 16 new floss colors.

It contains 8 soft, natural shades and 8 bright, vibrant hues.  Ahhhhh, what a wonderful stash addition for a floss fan.  I just want to stitch something with them.  And just look at that orange.  Wouldn't it be perfect for a little Halloween something?  So if you feel a need to add to your floss collection, this is just the thing.  Happy stitching!