Come back, come back!

is what I say to my one absconded follower. I went from 68 to 67 followers and now back to 68. Thanks Shannon for being 68!

I'm amazed that nearly 1 month has gone by since my last post. Everytime I checked on my blog, I saw the date of the last one and kept thinking that I needed to post something! I've had some attention-stealing things happen in the last week of which I will mention one somewhere on this post. So keep reading!

Two posts ago I mentioned I was starting Wooly Wednesday. Well, Wooly Wednesday turned into Wooly Monday and Tuesday! I've finally finished up these hopping bunnies

It feels good to finally have a woolfelt finish! The black tongues were supposed to be blanket stitched in a perle cotton the same color as the moon and stars but I though it would look garish so I left that off. Besides, I was so tired of blanket stitching! I finished it up with that homespun cotton backing that matched the green of the grass and the smaller tongues. I began cutting out the black wool and felting it earlier this year sometime so I'm glad it's done!

Now I have the woolfelt mini tree skirt to finish and as soon as I find my large beads, it'll get underway. I'll probably keep it because we put up two mini Christmas trees on a table because of our cats who would knock down a larger tree. I can just see it waking up one morning to find the whole thing toppled over with broken ornaments. I like glass ornaments because plastic ones just doesn't seem right. I do have a mix of plastic and glass though! Some years are better than others financially!

I finished my exchange stitching about 2 or 3 weeks ago! I need some trim from Joanne's or Hobby Lobby so I'll finish-finish the stitching this weekend and of course, I can't show you any of it until she receives it! I was waiting for some extra things one of which begins my rant today! I put in an order for something from an ONS. I had emailed her and asked if this particular item was in stock as I needed just one. She emailed back and said we have more than one. So I ordered it, on September 20th. Everytime I got on her website for an order status, it said order is being prepared for shipping. So the days begin slipping away as they do this time of year. Couple days ago I emailed her to find out what happened to my order. Never heard back. So last night, I did the order status thing and find it has been shipped yesterday. This is why I quit ordering things from them but on the upside are their sales. I ordered this item because it had a better price than the other ONS's. Their item pages show everything and I assume that it's all available. Plus I'm on a time crunch here to get this exchange mailed real soon so she can receive her goodies before Halloween. I'm so looking forward to receiving my goodies from my partner, it'll be like Christmas! I noticed Elaine has started taking people for her new exchange for Christmas. Go check it out and sign up because they go fast! I'm not taking part in that one because I want to stitch more Halloween without interruptions.

I lost my mojo for about 3 days. Never picked anything up, just vegetated on the couch watching t.v. However I finally picked up this cute little stitch and am about finished


All Hallows Mini
Waxing Moon designs
30ct Gold linen (R&R or Weeks!)
using 310 DMC

What an awful pic! Anyway, it's charted for GAST Onyx but I'm using DMC. It's a very Halloweeny design and the scarier-looking the better! As you can see, I just have the wording to go yet which will be done today. I have a pic of the chart below that of my next start


Something Wicked
La-D-Da
35ct Havana-Weeks
called for silks

 
So far I'm just allover the place with this one. I start in the middle and then try to stitch over to reach a border and then to the top. I don't trust myself to start in one of the corners and end up with enough fabric elsewhere. I love this one and I think it'll go fast! Here's the two charts and what they should look like!

Previously I said I was thinking about selling at a craft fair. Well, here's the one happening that's killed that idea. My daughter rear-ended a car on the highway last Saturday. Her car, a Toyota 4runner, is out of commission with a possible cracked radiator, missing alternator belt, and a few other minor things like replacing headlights and cracked side lights. She's ok, was sore for 3 or 4 days from the seat belt (thank God for the seat belt!). The Ford Mustang convertible she hit has a lot of damage to the back end and the two people in it went to the hospital to be checked. I know they'll be hurting because I was rear-ended sometime back and had whiplash. So my main concern right now is to get the 4runner back on the road because using 1 car between us with different schedules has been a b---h! And I'm waiting for the hit to my insurance rate. Great! But I"m glad everyone is okay.

Well, Pioneer Woman is on so I gotta go! Welcome my new follower Shannon! And thank you to the regulars for all your comments last post! I'll promise to post more. Take Care!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy September to you all! Wow, what happened to August?! I feel like we went from July to now.

Thank You for your comments on my Crowns finish. It'll be framed some time soon! And WELCOME to the new followers! The more the merrier!

Have you all seen the new designs coming out? Lots of Halloween designs, Fall and Christmas. I recently bought this pattern

I've seen it here and there and just had to have it. I really like Pineberry Lane designs.

I'm plugging away at the Mystery Sampler by LK which, by the way, is no longer a mystery since ONS's are showing the third pattern! This morning I stitched in the vines at the bottom

I'm seeing other stitchers much further ahead to the second portion of this. I'll wait to the very end to do the satin stitch in the purple areas and attach all the embellishments. I didn't have the WDW for the pumpkin and the dk orange leaves on the tree so I used DMC. It's a fun stitch as all LK designs are. I've stitched up the 2 bonus designs, which don't take long at all and had taken me from stitching the sampler. They're paired with the fabric I think will look pretty good with them as pillows

Isn't that fabric great! The spooky design-I don't know whether to use one of the fab or both to make a pillow. The fabric at the right is sparkly and matches the linen used on Spooky which is 30ct Carrot from R&R. But I also love the diamond fabric! Decisions, decisions! Haunted is on linen that matches the light green ground on the fabric. The linen is a bit washed out in this pic. When I saw that fabric, I just had to have it! BTW, I bought the fabric at Joanne's and they have more Halloween fabrics and I'll be back over there Wednesday!

While I was waiting for more threads for the mystery sampler, I stitched on LHN's Pumpkin Hallow Farms

This lower pic is what I had before I misplaced the pattern! I looked everywhere since February for it and stumbled on it just a couple weeks ago. It's one of my Crazy projects. So far I've put in the windows and the door, more grass, and a few pumpkin stems/leaves. I'm sure it'll be put on the backburner because like a crazy person, I signed up to take part in an exchange! What? you say! I know! I've been watching those from the background and the thought of stitching with a deadline looming ahead just turned me off. It's the Fall into Halloween Exchange put on by Elaine at Laineys Stitching Hoose. Unfortunately, she has 40 signed up and has closed the entry. I'm pretty sure I got my questionnaire in on time. If not, that's because my good friend Procrastination had come to visit! I decided to take the plunge because my stitching is not so regimented these last 4 months. Last year, I started stitching Halloween in August to October, and then in November I took part in an ornament challenge and was stitching other Christmas-y stuff. So the time is right and I'm more confident in my finishing skills and won't worry about my partner not liking my stitching! I know, I know-do it for fun! It seems like a lot of fun and looking forward to finding out who my partner will be!

Hang in there-I got more!!

And big news-I won a giveaway! Ranae at Stitch by Stitch had a little contest and I was one of two winners! I'm so excited. It'll be a stitched Halloween item with some seasonal things to go with it. So I'm looking forward to the weeks leading up to Halloween.

Some of you may know that I dabble in woolfelt applique. Well, I have a whole lot of WIP's (wool in progress, hehe!) and newer stuff to work on. Below is my mini Christmas tree skirt

All woolfelt. Dumb me, I left it out and the cats got to it and roughed it up a little. So some of the big red beads are missing and others are loose. So I've got some damage control to take care of. Which is why I've implemented Wooly Wednesday! Yup, more 'stuff' to do! I also have this table/candle mat to start also

A candy corn design from Buttermilk Basin. Sorry for the lousy pic. I have some of the felt but will need small pieces of the others. This isn't all there is! There's more that I've put off including a Halloween cat table mat and a table runner with crows and pumpkins. On this last project, it takes turkey stitches along the sides and that just horrifies me. That may be why I keep putting it off. I just need to finish it though I think I'll blanket stitch it instead of turkey stitching. So along with my regular cross stitch I'll show pics of my woolfelt stuff.

My prickly pears are coming along just fine and I'll be making jelly next weekend-WooHoo!

I finally smartened up and covered them all. So this is the color they need to be, soft, and ready to fall off. I'm not sure how many pounds there are but I'm hoping for a dozen of the small jars of jelly. I need jars, a large pot for the hot water bath, and tongs to pick up the jars. I'm so looking forward to it. And when I have a giveaway, a jar of jelly will be included! A taste of Arizona.

I've been checking out some primitive arts blogs and came across two that are having fantastic giveaways. At Harvest Moon Primitive, they're giving away a pumpkin face table sitter and acorn scented bowl-fillers. I have their button/link on my sidebar, check 'em out! At Pendleton Primitives, she's giving away four pillows with Halloween designs on them. They're neat. She needs 100 followers and last I looked, she had 94. When 100 is reached she'll have the giveaway. So go on over and become a follower! Let's get the Halloween decorating going!

Whew! This might have been the longest post yet! But wait! I'm not done! One last picture if you don't mind!

I know! They're just morning glories but they don't grow all that easily here. When it rains a lot like it's been lately, then they'll come out. And they come out every year. We planted these more than 20 years ago because my mom was still around.

Thanks for hangin' with me this long! Have a super week with lots of stitching!