Football, FFO's, and a winner

Hi all! Hope you're all doing fine! 

I'm back with a winner of the little contest last post, some FFO's, progress, and another road trip pictures. First I thought I would comment on a few comments left in the last post.

Barb, I should have said that Tombstone was a bit further down I 10 interstate, about 25 or 30 minutes and then taking an exit and a short drive through some small towns to reach Tombstone.

Vicki, I'm right there with you on all the extra charges to see things in Tombstone. Sign of the times, I guess.

Vickie, I thought the same thing about the horses pulling the stagecoaches. I hope they were changed out frequently.

As for the name that song/artist contest from last post, the winner is Anna from the stitchbitch blog!

Congrats, Anna. I had 123 stitch send you a gift certificate. Bought that on Friday, yesterday, maybe you got notified by now. So between Anna and carolsylvester (no blog), I drew Anna's name. How fitting that her stitchy bug has returned too! 

I've been stitching on Trick or Treat mostly and working on Merry Hart by PSS on Sundays. Here's where I'm at with Trick or Treat..

I always get that reddish splotch there in the middle using my iPad. The color is more blue gray. I will keep on stitching on this until it's done or until September at least. I'm doing a birthday SAL along with Linda/Stitchin with My Furbabies. 31 new starts on the 1st of September. Yeah, crazy! I already have them all kitted and ready to go but some need floss here and there. I'm excited about starting some new stuff. I will attempt to go the whole 31 days but we shall see!

Merry Hart is my Sunday stitch and here is where I got to..

Having fun with this. Sunday is my day to get ready for the new week so this catches a few stitches throughout the day. I'm good with the pace.

So I caught the FFO bug! Mostly it was to finish my exchange piece. I practiced first on a piece of Halloween fabric and then sewed up the main piece. Unfortunately, the practice piece turned out better! Wouldn't you know it? It's still nice though. I have to buy a round paper mâché box, paint it, and then mount it. I'll be finishing the practice piece too and then having a giveaway here for it. Very easy to make. I can see myself making several with different Halloween fabrics. After all this, I can't show it until after my partner receives it. That in itself was pressure because my partner is a designer! Yikes! Then I decided I wanted to do another finish and stitched her first name initial on matching linen, sewed it up and it went awry. Here's the remains..

It was to be a black velvet heart with the linen making a pouch in the front. I even sewed the black ric rac on perfectly! Dummy me didn't turn the linen the right way so when I turned the heart inside out, the back of the stitching was outside! Arrrgh. I threw it out. The velvet kept sliding on me as I was sewing. I think I need a walking foot for my machine. Just another episode for As The FFO Turns!

After that, I FFO'd a couple other finishes. Here's Christmas, recently finished..

I just love how it turned out! I realized that the decoration for the top doesn't necessarily have to be in the center. I saved the decoration from a Christmas gift I received last year. 

Remember this one? I finished this last year or before. By The Nebby Needle..

I ran out of stuffing to finish this so it'll have to wait. Here is a picture of the model..

I wanted to finish mine like the model but ran out of buttons. It's adorable. I always thought red floss looked perfect on darker fabric. Then I decided to make another cube from this finish..

This is Rojo y Verde by Raquel Blasco. I ran out of flat head pins to finish this! I'm either running out of floss or finishing supplies. I'm at a total blank of what to put on top for decoration. The red beads are an idea. I think once I get everything on it, it's naked on the back, I'll figure something out. It may take a trip with me to Hobby Lobby or Joanne's.

That was all my FFOing for a while.

Road trip, again. Closer this time though. This is where we went..

Training camp at the University of Phoenix stadium, home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals! I know, calm down, lol. 

It has a retractable roof that is opened when the weather is nice, mainly in the late fall into winter. It was not nice today, being 109 degrees. Whew! It was good to get inside from the parking lot.

There was a nice crowd and the temps were wonderful. We may never get to see a real game but it was great to sit there and take it all in. Entry was free and so was parking. 

That will be it! I feel like I'm forgetting something..I hate that. I'm sure it'll come to me when I'm sleeping! I'm going to get back to Trick or Treat and watching the 2nd season of Outlander. 

Take care everyone. Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it! 

A recent storm.. 

UFO's in a western town

Quick, what song does my title sound like?! It's something something in a western town. A group from the 80's (90's?), Brits, and a little hint-they were boys and a place where you would buy a pet! Give me the name of the song and group. If there's a bunch of you, I'll draw a name and I'll send you a little something! Leave a working email too if it's not on your profile.

I thought I would get on here and show what I've been stitching on lately and road trip pictures.

This is the scene outside my front door. The monsoons have arrived and it has rained for 11 days straight here. Well, it stops and then after daytime heating, it's storming. Needless to say, the fire restrictions have been lifted. Yesterday's storm was pretty frightening though. It lightning and thundered and rained for 90 minutes and as I type I can hear a thunder boom. Places flooded, I had two rivers going by my house on either side. I'm thankful whoever built this house kind of built it up so we're on a slight hill. The lightning was hitting within 2 miles, sometimes within 1 mile. I sat here with my head inside my shoulders. I hope we don't get a repeat.

I've been flitting from stitching this and that. First, here is my 4th of July SAL FB project, Dear House by La D Da..

Before, all I had was the middle section of the brown flower and a portion of the chimney. On 35 or 36ct vintage examplar linen by Lakeside. That fabric is becoming my favorite. The SAL was you stitched a patriotic piece or one with red, white, or blue. So the floss is Midnight by GAST, a beautiful dark blue. The verse says-'Dear house, you are really very small Just big enough for love That's all'. Cute saying. I didn't stop stitching after the 4th, just kept going. It's a slow piece but it'll be pretty after it's done.

The next thing I stitched is Merry Hart by PSS...

I'm stitching this with a few ladies on a PSS FB group for #plumstreetsunday. Any Plum Street you have, stitch it on Sunday. Above is two Sundays worth of stitching. It's not a lot! I'm doing this on 36ct Platinum Edinburgh, coffee dyed a bit.

And lookie here! Frosty Forest by CCN! I decided it's too nice to be in the UFO bin.

The 4th block on the right is going in. I have to remind myself that I like stitching houses. Sorry for the wrinkles. I'm back to a block a month so I'll be picking Forest back up to finish that one for the month.

Here's another one from the UFO bin..Trick or Treat from the 2012 Halloween issue from JCS..

That is where I stopped couple years ago. I brushed it off and will be stitching on this when I'm done here typing. I'm using all called for fabric and floss. I'm a little worried about running out of the overdyes since these are older flosses. The dye lots are so different. I feel like some Halloween stitching. Hard to believe July is almost over. 

Okey doke, road trip! We went to Tombstone couple Saturday's ago, the 7th. It's a 4 hour drive straight down I-17 into Phoenix, then over to I-10 down to Tucson. We left early to avoid the hottest part of the day but it still reached 99 in Tombstone. Motel room wasn't ready when we got there so we went to the Boothill Graveyard..

The main characters of the OK Corral shootout against the Earps and Doc Holiday. The wooden markers have to be changed out every so often but they are buried there. There was money on a lot of the sites; probably to play a round of poker in the sky!

One of the more photographed graves. He was an agent for Wells Fargo and died in a shootout.

Playing cards was a dangerous occupation if you cheated!

This is an Ocotillo cactus..

They grow tall and the canes after they're dead are used for fences. We saw several of these 'fences'! 

I couldn't take a lot of pictures. My darn iPad kept overheating and then a full storage message kept popping up. So a few more pictures with my cell. 

Here is one of the characters who greeted us after wandering the cemetery. He was announcing a shootout show in one of the buildings. A lot of these people dress in the style back then and the women were just beautiful in those old west style clothing. My daughter and I wanted to dress up and get photographed but we were working with a budget!

We didn't ride in any of these coaches. It was hot so we wandered around in all the stores and mercantiles lining this road for shade and cold drinks.

There was one place I really wanted to check out and that was the Birdcage Threatre. My daughter didn't send me the good picture she took. They also charged for a tour through the building. We didn't take it, just stood in the front part. Still there after all these years, the inside looks how it did in the late 1800s. There's a poster that is still on the wall and it has the knife slits and bullet holes in it from angry miners and cowboys. The Birdcage was a poker place, theater, and bordello. Here's that poster of Fatima..

I know you can't see it but there's a knife cut down between her knees at the front and a bullet hole where her belly button is. The guy inside showed us all the bullet holes still stuck in the wood. 

And from our motel window, the rain starting up a little ways from us...

I have always wanted to see Tombstone and now it's off my bucket list. For some reason, I don't mind the 5, yes 5 hour drive to Las Vegas and Tombstone was only 4 hours away but it was a hard trip. I think it was because it was so hot. Halfway there, we stopped for drinks and snacks and it was 103 at 11 or noontime. I'll go back in the winter next time!

Oh yeah, the reason we went was for the ghost hunt! Interesting. Held inside the home of a Chinese woman. These old west towns had Chinese labor who worked on the railroad or in the mines. This woman had her own business. So my daughter got a dowsing rod and I chose a EMM, electromagnetic meter. Spirits are said to give off that energy if they're close by. We didn't get anything but when I held the dowsing rod and walked around, the right rod kept moving left. The left rod was steady but the right side kept moving so that was kind of cool! 

Leaving Tombstone though was interesting. We ran into a border patrol checkpoint! A bit scary. He asked us if we were US citizens and we said yes, and he waved us on. Tombstone is not very far from the Mexico border.

Alrighty, that is it. The lightning and thunder is firing up again. I'm just going to stitch on whatever yells the loudest but I do want to spend some time on Trick or Treat. Don't forget to play the little contest. If you're around my age, 54, you'll recognize it I think! 

Take care!

Cock a doodle doo!

Hi all! Hope the weekend was a good one. Saturday was good, went to the big rodeo parade my daughter and I. Sunday I wanted to die. I don't know what I ate that made me so sick. I was in my pajamas all day, moved from my bed to the couch. Around 5 last night, I could finally sit up without having to run to the bathroom. I had toast this morning after going 24 hours without food. Wow. That's the sickest I've ever been, food poisoning or stomach bug. I ate from chik fil A in the afternoon Saturday and may not ever again! Last time I ate from a fast food place and got sick, I didn't eat there again for 5 or 6 years. It was chicken then too. I don't know if chik fil A was the culprit though.

That is why I'm posting today. I have 3 finishes! First is the Tribal Rooster by White Willow Stitching..

The fabric is 32ct Wren by PTP. I hope it's not blurry on your side. I just love it! I used up the entire two skeins I bought for this. Primitive Rainbow by Barbaral Creations on etsy, a Hungarian or Romanian dyer. I started running out of the blue and green and yellow parts of the floss because I had been cutting my floss to get certain colors here and there. I had to floss dive to find colors to match those colors. There's one shape that shows up darker from the substitute floss but I bet you can't tell which one it is. I had this project kitted up for more than 2 years so it's nice to have it stitched up. I'm not sure how I'll finish it but I'm leaning heavily toward a pillow.

I decided that I'll stitch another Tribal Rooster but using this silk floss this time..

It's a pretty color and I'll need one more skein. I'll also use a higher count fabric, like 36.

Next finish is Christmas Bird..

So cute and a quick stitch. On 32ct vintage country mocha with some GAST and DMC floss. Two symbols on the graph are almost identical so I messed up the 1 stitch inside the red square flowers. On the bottom they are a different color than the two on the top and on the right. Oh well. Not sure how I'll finish it.

Last but not least is Black Pumpkin by SubRosa..

I'm not sure of the fabric. It might be Abecedarian, maybe by R & R. Black DMC used. I'll make this up as a pincushion that is on the cover of the chart which can be seen on the last post. Then mount it on something painted black. A quick stitch. This will be an exchange gift for the Halloween Harvest exchange. Terri will get us our partners tomorrow. I'm already ahead! I may stitch up a few other things to go with Black Pumpkin. Pineberry Lane has a freebie with 3 little designs on it, a strawberry, and 2 pincushions. The strawberry and one of the little pincushions with a strawberry bush on it I'll stitch in black. 

What will I stitch on now? I don't know but I might get back to Cobblestone Crossing. On the 4th, I joined a one day SAL on FB to stitch on something patriotic or with blue, red or white on it. I'm doing Dear House by La D Da, a UFO..

I think the floss is Blackboard, it has a very dark blue tone to it. Poor thing hasn't seen the light of day in a couple years.

Sometime ago, I finished a Stacy Nash drum design of a tombstone angel. Couple weeks ago, after reading and rereading the instructions of how to construct a drum finish, it was go time. Aargh, it's a total fail..

I wished that I had practiced on just plain fabric than use this finish as my guinea pig. I still have the chart and fabric for this but I'm just bummed. The strawberry is black velvet and I'm not happy with it either. I machine sewed the top and bottom fabrics together and I think maybe I should hand sew next time. Turning it right side out, it crinkled up the fabric and so I tried to iron it out..People, don't try this at home. So you see what happened when I tried to iron it, creases everywhere. I stuffed it with sawdust which I thought was nice, pretty messy though. Vonna/Twisted Stitcher had just put out a tutorial on a drum finishing which uses mat board for top and bottom but I wanted to stick pins into mine and I like them better, just like the prim designers make theirs. Wah, wah. Back to the drawing board!

That's it! I have to get ready for work.

Thanks for stopping in. I want to wish a big Welcome to the new followers on both Bloglovin' and Blogger/Google. I don't even know who runs these blogs anymore! Anyway, welcome and I hope you stick around for awhile. Happy Independence Day to us Americans and happy stitching to those elsewhere!

Rain, glorious rain!

We in Arizona get so happy when it rains! The former Tropical Storm Bud broke up near Cabo and sent moisture our way and it's been raining on and off since this morning. It's nice and cool outside, being 93-95 degrees this past week. Perfect weather to stitch and watch Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law).

Hope you are all doing well and getting some stitching in. I have a new start (what?!), and progress to show, and finishes.

First is this Maynia start that I had misplaced..

Cobblestone Crossing. The designer is on etsy and she has other really nice patterns. I think this is 32ct PTP Heritage or is it Legacy? Can't remember but I love it. Using DMC floss. So it might be too early to ask but what are your opinions on leaving the border off? I would still add the date but I'm not sure about that border. I think if I get more stitched I'll be able to make a decision. We'll see. Here's a better picture..

Let's look at my finishes. Here's the latest Souvenir de Paris finish, words left off because of laziness!

Cloudy day, dark pictures. I used evenweave, a beige color, with a Ship's Manor silk. This will be a flat ornament.

Next finish is Stink Stank Stunk, a freebie by Daffycat/Sharon. Six of them for flat ornaments. 

I love that fabric! It's 30ct Grasshopper. It might be a Weeks. That color is perfect. At first I wanted round ornaments but decided rectangular may look better. All I need is a Grinch Christmas fabric and trim and I'm all set. 

I think I have finished 4 or 5 Maynia starts, woohoo.

Progress! Take a look at the Tribal Rooster before..

And after..

For the most part, I have all the tail feathers done. I jumped on over to the head, got bored with the tail feathers. The rest of it is easier with smaller areas to stitch than the big parts in the tail feathers. It's a lot of fun stitching this. 

Here's Christmas Bird from before..

And after..

I'm at the halfway point. The breast of the bird is GAST Tomato, kind of orange/red. At first I wasn't too sure of a tomato color on a Christmas piece but I'm liking it now. The fabric is 32ct vintage mocha I think. The back side is clear with no mottling like this side above. It's a favorite fabric of mine.

I also have a new start..

This may or may not be for the Halloween/Fall exchange coming up in August! I'm pretty sure that's when Terri announces it for Halloween. I'm just getting a jump start! On 35 or 36ct mystery fabric, I started this last night. I will finish it just like that on top of a round paper mâché box that I'll paint black. I have several SubRosa patterns that should be stitched but haven't gotten around to. Shame on me!

So not a very long post this time around. I'll get back to Black Pumpkin after I'm done here.

I have several plans for stitching coming up. In July, there is a Christmas in July event coming up. I don't know if it's to just stitch ornaments or a Christmas design in general, or what group it's being run from. It might be an Instagram thing of which I've failed miserably! In September, there is a SAL for the BBD Tis the Season, you know the one with the gorgeous cardinal in red on the left? I have the pattern and the fabric called for. I know I'm doing that. Also Linda/Stitching with My Furbabies is having a birthday in September and has some plans for starts and/or finishes. I might do the 30 or 31 new starts for September! Haha, I know. The road to ...... is paved with good intentions! It sounds like fun though. I should be in the middle of stitching for Terri's exchange about then too. 

I guess that's it. My daughter and I are going on a road trip in July down to Tombstone, a 4 hour drive Southeast of here. You all have heard of Tombstone I'm sure. The OK Corral shoot out, Boothill Cemetery. We're going on a ghost hunt in an old building that was called China Mary's, a former bordello, house of ill repute, home of soiled doves! The worst time to go on a trip through the desert but we'll leave early to avoid most of the heat and the same coming back. I'm very excited and I hope we catch something floating around in this building!  

Take care!

Maynia fizzle, retail therapy, couple finishes, etc.

Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing well on this the start of the Memorial Day weekend, and if you're not in the U.S., that you are having a great day! 

I wanted to post before the end of May so here we go!

First, I received my exchange pynkeep today and it's wonderful!

This is Betsy's House by Plum Street Samplers. Filled with lizard sand, it'll go with all my other exchange pieces. I don't think Karen knows I have a blog but thanks Karen! 

Here is what (who?) I sent to Karen for the exchange..

This is Whittaker by Stacy Nash but I renamed him Maurice! I stitched him in colors that are Karen's favorites. I had to look at tie tying videos to do his tie! I don't know anyone that wears ties! I also sewed on a black felt heart on his back where scissors can be tucked into. 

So Maynia kind of went well. I had to stop to stitch up Maurice and was getting a tad bit stressed. I really modified the pattern and also stitched him on 32ct when the called for fabric is 36ct. I thought he was going to be huge! I had to squish his bod! He turned out to be a good size. Whew!

I got back to Maynia stitching but didn't get to the last 2 or 3 would-be starts. I tried the Blackbird designs freebie on black linen but just couldn't do it. I couldn't see plus the floss I used was really fuzzy. That was the 18th. My Maynia fizzled out right then and there! Couldn't go any further, haha! At least I lasted that long! 

Here is what progress I did get though..

Here's a better look at Christmas Bird. Two days of stitching there. 

Next up...

The picture is horrible but the fabric is WDW Grasshopper, a perfectly Grinchy green. I can get this one done. That is 1 evening of stitching. I want 6 ornaments for my daughter. I found out the words are from the first and older Grinch, part of what the narrarator says to describe the Grinch. Freebie by Daffycat/Sharon. Next up..

The BBD freebie Souvenir de France. On evenweave using a Ships Manor silk. I have left off the words

that are at the bottom and just turned the corner. I can finish this today after I'm done here. 

I had another new start but I've misplaced it.

I also had 2 Maynia finishes! First is Fall Owl that is found in a JCS Halloween preview issue. Super small, didn't take long. In the magazine, the date is on either side of his head but I left it off on mine..

And my favorite, All Hallow's Eve by Dulaney Woods Treasures..

I had frog troubles with the bottom legs of the H. I don't know if it was a designing mistake or what but I like symmetry so I had to get the legs to line up. I love it and the silk ribbon with it will be ruched for trim.

Psyche! My retail therapy consists of just 1 chart and 2 overdye flosses shown with fabric and other floss I already had..

One night sitting here bored, sore (bad knees and an old injury at 16 coming back to haunt me), scrolling through 123stitch, bought A Merry Hart with two skeins that I needed. I don't know if you do what I do with small sections on a pattern like a small leaf, I won't buy a floss for it but use instead the DMC equivalent. The called for fabric is 36ct Ale but instead I'll use the 36ct platinum and coffee dye it. So I think I'll be starting this one soon.

I counted all my WIPs recently and I have 22. Woohoo! A year ago I had over 30, so I'm doing well. I'm beginning to hear whispers coming from my WIP pile though. I want to finish some of the Maynia starts from here on out. Wish me luck!

So that's it! Thanks for stopping in. I don't plan on giving up on my blog anytime soon. Just putting that out there. I'm having fun! 

Take care!

Buon Giorno! Maynia!

Had to look up how to say Hello in Italian! Yes, I received my winnings from Simona Bussiglieri of Mani di Donna! The amazing thing is it took only 1 week from Italy to my doorstep. So here are the charts I received...

These two I didn't pick but it could be that the two I did pick she may not have had. Anyway, they're both brand new designs, out from Market. Beautiful sampler there on the left and quite large and the patriotic sampler on the right. I really do like them! The next two are what I picked...

I have long admired the Red Bank School sampler on the left and the Christmas drumkeep at right. I am happy this has been concluded. I was going to just forget that I ever won this contest! It's all good.

So today marks my 4th Maynia day since I'm starting something new every 2 days. Tonight I'll come home and grab a new project. On the 1st which was last Tuesday, I started Tribal Rooster..

I really love how this is turning out with that floss. I bought it a couple years ago just for this rooster. That is about 10 hours of stitching. This floss I'm using has huge areas of color so I've been 'manipulating' how and where I'm stitching so I can get all the different colors onto a space. I can't wait to get back to this.

Second day, last Thursday, I stitched on my exchange piece. I can't show it just in case but I am 3/4 of the way done and it's going to turn out great! I'm hoping the final finishing goes easy on me though!

My 3rd start on Saturday was All Hallow's Eve..

I just have the H, the steam from the cauldron, and the broom to stitch. I stayed up way past my bedtime stitching on this. It's a fun stitch. The dark floss is Valdani and it felt good. People on FB have saId the Valdani breaks on them but no problem here.

So that's it! I am off to work in another hour and I have a few more things to get done before I go.

Take care and have a great day and week!