I'm Back After My Blogger Blip

I'm not even going to make excuses for why I haven't contributed to my blog in so long, but I do apologize for my lengthy absence.  Let's just dive into what I HAVE been doing. 

My stitch group, the Sisters In Stitches, enjoyed our fall retreat at the beautiful James H. (Sloppy) Floyd State Park in Summerville, GA.  Yeah, it sounds funny, but it's a very pretty setting and we chose a good time of the year to go.  We stayed in two cabins, convening in one to stitch and eat.  The meals and desserts were delicious as usual.  We all agreed that our retreat was a success and a good time was had by all.

The Sisters In Stitches.  We asked a stranger to take this picture.  We're a friendly group.

The table of busy stitchers.

Each stitcher received a scissor fob/keychain.

For a retreat remembrance, Sheila and I made Ice Resin charms with the group's name and then I put together some fall-themed scissor fobs/keyrings for each stitcher.  I'm glad that everyone liked this little surprise.

I have been stitching!  You can see my progress on Song Of The Seasons in the lower left hand corner of the top (messy table) photo.  I've also been working on a freebie snowflake using Garibaldi rayon overdyed floss.  The color I'm using is a purply-pink color.

I have to say that I love using this floss!  It's great for one-color designs like this snowflake.  This is going to make a cute Christmas ornament.

Also in the works is "Cardinal Winter" by Little House Needleworks.  Such a cute little chart.

I've also been doing some miscellaneous crafting, which I'll talk about in future posts.  And I'm about to embark on a painting project that I'm very excited about. I'll be sure to post about that.  Unless it turns out really bad.  No, no.  Either way, you'll see the results coming up soon.  Thanks for sticking with me during my blogging lull!

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!

A New Finish For An Old Ornament

Last year, while going through some stitching stuff, I found some ornaments that I stitched back in 1997.

Remember these?

I hadn't completed the stitching on the top one, and it's not really cross stitch but stitching done on canvas.  No, I still haven't finished stitching it yet.  I figure it's been sitting around for 16 years, what's a few months years months more?  Put that one in the WIP file, or would it be a UFO?  I made the one in the lower right hand corner into an ornament and posted about that.  Well, I finally got around to ornamentizing another one.  Hah!  I made up a word.

I like to find different ways of making ornaments, and this idea came out of nowhere.  I stretched the fabric over a piece of medium weight cardboard and used my favorite tape - Terrifically Tacky Tape - to hold the edges down.  Then I used some heavy cardstock for the background.  I then positioned the ribbon hanger and glued the stitched part to the cardstock with tacky glue.  That's it.  How easy can it be?

Nineteen ninety seven was indeed a good year for stitching.  Now to think up a cute ornamentization for the Santa one. 

I also spent a little time in the craftroom working on a project that I can't show you right now.  That's the thing about gifts -- I'd LOVE to post about what I'm doing but can't until the gift has been given.  Pretty cool accomplishment in the craftroom today, don't you think?

Giveaway Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of my Come-Back Giveaway!  I drew the name from my magical crystal dish and it's:

Emma/Itzy from My Creative Corner

Congratulations, Emma/Itzy!!  I will be e-mailing you soon for your address, so I can put your goodies in the mail!

I'm just kidding.  That dish isn't magical.  Well, it once was - when someone gave it to me stuffed with candy.  THAT was pretty magical.

I put my LHN mystery sampler aside for a while.  As much as I love it, I just needed to work on something else for a change.  I chose my "Quaker Star" by Bent Creek.  I really like the colors in this, and for once this evenweave fan is stitching on linen.

I really do need to start some more projects.  Ha ha. 

Happy Fall to everyone!  I've started to make a few little fall changes around the house.  It's fun to see the decorating ideas on other blogs to get a little inspiration.  Unfortunately, I can't have a lot of accessible foliage because of certain furry beings who live here.

I'd like to welcome my new followers and give a big thanks to everyone who follows.  Your comments are so appreciated.  Come back and visit!

A Come-Back Giveaway!

Here's what happened:  I got busy.  I didn't do much stitching or any other crafting, for that matter.  And I have been absent from the blogging world for three weeks!  So to make it up to the people who read my blog, I'm having a giveaway! 

Included in the prize package is Little House Needlework's "All Dolled Up" chart, "Joy". I stitched this one up last year and finished it as a door hanger.  The winner will also get some fabric, a 12-1/2"x20" piece of Norden Pearl Linen, 25 count, in Natural AND a Christmas bead and charm pack. 

What do you think?  Want to try to win this one?  All you have to do is become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already), and comment on this post.  Make sure that there is some way I can contact you.  That's important!  I will draw one winner on Monday, September 23rd.  I'll e-mail the winner and also announce who won right here on the blog.

It feels like fall here today.  Low 70's and pretty windy.  I'm finally getting to air the house out and the cats are loving it!  Windowsills!  Fresh air!  When you think of it, Christmas is not that far away, so I thought Christmas would be a good theme for a giveaway.

I'm still stitching LHN's "Song Of The Seasons".  I made some pretty good progress on it during Stitch Day last Saturday. 

Stitch Day was a good time to discuss our next Stitch Retreat which takes place next month!  See how quickly time is passing?  It seems like I just made the reservations for our retreat, but I actually did that in
April!  And now it's almost here. 

Thanks for sticking with me even though I was absent for a while.  Fall seems like a good time to get crafting and stitching again, so I'll see you soon!