Lookie, lookie!

Look what I found while grocery shopping!

And I'm on the waiting list at 123 Stitch for the new JCS Halloween issue. Can't wait for that one! Am I excited? you bet! Look at all those exclamation points!

I am working on a Crazy right now, the Ark. No pics though. I'm halfway finished with it. I'll be back with a post of that finish when I'm done.

I hit Hobby Lobby this a.m. armed with a 40% off coupon and bought the supplies to mount Antique Keys to this box-

I decided to put the design on a box. I know which paint I'll use but just need to nail down which paper I want to line the inside with. I have a trim for the top also. SoCal Debbie had the idea of mounting it into a frame with hooks at the bottom to hang keys. I plan on stitching this again because I STILL have the Belle Soie and I may just use her idea. I also bought mounting board to do some ornament finishing. So be sure to check back; I feel the finishing virus coming back!

Speaking of Hobby Lobby, do you know they already have Fall and Christmas items out?! It's getting so crazy!

Well I'm gonna go lose myself in my new magazine with a large glass of ice water. I'm trying to lose some weight so I'm drinking a lot of water. I don't hardly drink water in the winter but I do in the summer, whether I'm trying to loose weight or not. And it's been pretty darn warm here too.

Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping in and for your comments on the last post. Appreciate it!

P.S.: Jeanne, I found the 2010 Carrot freebie from Cricket Collections. Couple of posts back, you asked if I could send you a copy. Let me know if you still want it and I'll email it.

T.G.I.F.!!

Evening all!

What an exhausting week this was. And we went past Spring and right into Summer! Today the temps here where I live reached 94 degrees! Phoenix reached 111. I'll be staying out of Phoenix until November unless I suddenly receive a lot of money and then I'll have to make a fast trip to Attic Needleworks!

I have some finishes from my Crazy list. Here they are


Candy Corn
With They Needle and Thread
Called for linen and fibers

Sorry for the dark pic. I'll be finishing this into a candy corn shape.



Antique Locks and Keys
Shakespeare's Peddler
Called for linen and fiber

 This is the second time I've stitched this one up. I'm out of the fabric now but I still have more silk to do another later on. As for the finish...don't know. I just know it won't be a pillow! Time to branch out, put on my big girl panties, and try some different finishes! I may try putting this on a box. So stay tuned for that!



Stars and Angels
JCS Ornament '11

This design is very nice in person. FYI: I ran out of the WDW Navy using an entire skein. I'd buy 2 skeins for this one. This will be a flat ornament in the same shape. HOORAY! I now have 4 Crazy finishes with 11 to go. Buuuutttt, I started a new stitch couple weeks ago and it's this one

Fancey Blackett-The Harvest Dance by Pineberry Lane. I'm stitching this on 28ct Antique White linen instead of the 28ct Ivory called for. I recently put in part of the border there on the right. Tonite when I get off of here, I'll stitch on her while watching my 2nd favorite paranormal investigator Zach Fagan with Ghost Adventures. I'm happy to throw in a somewhat big stitch into the mix..kind of challenge myself. It's already the half-way point of the year so I'll stitch more on my Crazy WIP's after I've had some progress on Fancey.

Recently, Theresa of Shakespeare's Peddler put out a call for help on her blog for donations to buy a kitty jungle gym for her local animal shelter. A lot of great needlework designers/companies donated a bunch of stitchy stuff and Theresa offered a $50 and $20 bag of asstd. items...I bought the $20 bag. Here's what arrived (above)-a biscornu pattern from Ink Circles, a freebie from Chessie & Me, a large count linen, the Belle Soie Peacock, that very cute pin with the pumpkin, and a Red Velvet Cake lip balm. Oh, oh, oh..I just love Red Velvet anything so I thought this was weird that I should receive a Red Velvet Cake lip balm. I felt like buying a lottery ticket! Anyway, I've been wanting to try to stitch and build a biscornu so here's my opportunity.

I also put in an order at 1-2-3 Stitch for two pieces of fabric for these two designs

In the Meadow by Country Cottage Needleworks. I haven't stitched anything by this designer so I'm lookin' forward to it. But I'm most excited about this next design that came with the silks

Vintage Stars by Jeannette Douglas. I've separated the silks but I'm confused about two colors that are almost alike. It would've been nice if the silks had been in little separate baggies and labeled. But oh well, I'll figure it out somehow. I'm waiting on two Cross Eyed Cricket leaflets, both Halloween-y and one had to be backordered. I've re-acquainted myself with Cross Eyed Cricket after looking for more carrot patterns, which I'll eventually purchase. I really like 1-2-3 Stitch because they ship so quickly. Come to find out they're up north in Utah, right above me! And their 13 x 17 fabric prices are agreeable to me.

We've finally arrived at the end of this here post and to my ongoing Prickly Pear Jam/Jelly installment. For those of you who are new, for the past few years I've been faithfully watering my Prickly Pear cactus so in the Fall I'd have all these wonderful Prickly Pears to make jam/jelly with. Well, just when the fruit turns a nice dark red, something like skunks or javelina, below, eat my fruits! Well, it doesn't

help when I forget to cover my cactus with something to keep those critters from eating them. My cactus looked like this last week, covered with these really pretty yellow flowers. I should have a

bumper crop by the time Fall arrives. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna cover these up with chicken wire. I don't know, those javelina are pretty crafty. Amazing that they'll eat the fruit covered in sharp spines!

Alrighty, time to stitch on Fancey. Thank You for all your comments on the last post. Jeanne, I'm sorry I didn't get back with you about the freebie of the carrot I stitched. I'll search for it but I may have thrown it out..I'll check. And Dulcinella, I have kept the Halloween fabric. I may use the pumpkin faces fabric for the back of Candy Corn.

Here's to a wonderful stitchy weekend to everyone!

Finished finishes, finally!

I finally have some finishes to show off, 3 of the 4 freebies that I stitched in March

I trimmed this pincushion with chenille trim and filled it with lizard sand or crushed walnut. My first try with attaching chenille trim (shhh..I glued it on!). The next freebie I turned into a hanging pillow

I used mother-of-pearl buttons to attach the sheer ribbon at the corners and to decorate the middle with three buttons. I was in a quandary of how to finish this. I sewed it up last weekend but it sat for the week. And last but not least...the carrot!

I used the same chenille to trim this and put a small amount of the crushed walnut at the bottom to give it some weight and filled the rest of it with stuffing. Can you see the 3 pink buttoms that are on the lawn? And I had the green check fabric on hand. I'm so glad I finally finished these because they were yelling at me everytime I passed by!

And now onto my 1st Crazy January Challenge finish...drum rolllll, please!


Tweet Gift
2010 JCS Ornaments
called for fab and threads

 You can't see it but there's silver metallic in the middle of the snowflakes and the momma bird's hat and pompom. I may make this a pinkeep. I was almost done with another CJC ornament but I ran out of the thread so I put it down and picked up Tweet. This took some marathon stitching to get it done!

At the end of March I managed to finish up one last ornament but I never put a pic up so here it is

I didn't frame it but it sure looks nice with that frame doesn't it? I will frame my own stuff every now and then but only when the fabric is Aida because it's so easy to line it up. This design is called Rejoice and I got it from the 2009 issue of JCS Ornaments. Those are white beads for the snow. So now I'm two ornaments ahead for this Christmas. Once I can, I'll finish the other ornament when I order the needed WDW thread.

I sell stuff on eBay to raise a little money for things like gas and a few groceries to tide us over. My employer has us on a weird pay period, there's 15 or so days in between paychecks so any little bit helps. I hit the local Goodwill's looking for stuff to sell when I came upon a great find-these Halloween fabrics

Cute huh? I especially like the upper right-hand fab. It's covered with partying witches! They're a good size too. Now I've gotta decide whether I sell them on eBay or keep them for Halloween stitching!

I love working with woolfelt applique and these hopping bunnies are competing with stitching for my time

I have all the blanket stitching of the two bunnies and two 1/2 stars left. Then I've got two tongues to stitch together and then to the left and right edge. The backing goes on somehow. I've misplaced the pattern though! So for now it just sits!
Time for me to hit my stitching corner of the couch while I listen to Rescue Me. What a crazy show with the ghosts! My daughter is gone right now otherwise I wouldn't watch it! I'm stitching on another CJC project but have found that I'm needing a couple of WDW threads! Sheesh! Obviously I didn't kit up everything right what with all these missing threads.

Happy Mother's Day to you all! I have a Mother's Day each day when I don't have to tell my daughter to do her homework, when she calls to let me know she's running late, and a myriad of other 'surprises'. Enjoy the day! Thanks for stopping by and as always, I'm grateful for your comments!

And the winner is.....

Jennifer!

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 3

Jennifer, you are #3 and the winner of this exciting giveaway prize! Applause please! Send me your mailing address at azcampis@yahoo.com and I will have your package out right away. Please let me know if and when it arrives (I worry about packages being lost)! Thanks everyone for entering!

I've gotten over the blues and am feeling better about things. Thank You for your kind words, ladies! I picked up my stitching and stitched like there was no tomorrow. I stitched at night, during my three breaks at work, on my day off; I was smokin'! Mostly because I just need a finish of some kind! I'm seeing fellow CJC stitchers celebrating finishes and am feeling left out!! lol! I'm coming close to a finish but I think I'm going to run out of one of the threads as it's a two-color ornament.

I plan on finishing finishes this weekend so I"ll post soon with pics of those.

Thanks for coming by! Have a great weekend, spend some of it stitching!

50 Followers Giveaway!!

Giveaway, ladies and gentlemen (if there are any who check out this blog!)

I've now reached 54 followers but I had some things to wait for in the mail. So here we go

Here we have a Jeanette Douglas design Sweet Tulip w/silk fibers, 32ct Antique Ivory to go with said pattern, a real nice patriotic fat quarter, a spring-y owl and flowers fat quarter, Keep Calm tissues, a Kelmscott Ackworth Red coaster to place your icy cold glass of tea while you stitch, and a pink/bright green trim. A nice conservative offering, don't cha think?!

The rules are: Just comment on this here post! That's it! I will pick a name May 4. You'll have 'til 11:59 May 3rd Arizona time (we don't change our time here) to comment.

Things they are a changin' around here which has flattened my tires somewhat. I have stuff to finish but don't feel like it. I'm angry, frustrated, sad, bummed, just keeping my thoughts to myself because World War 3 may start if I speak. I know I should follow the words of the Keep Calm tissues above but it's hard. I don't even feel like posting anything but thought I'd better get on here and announce the giveaway.

A big huge WELCOME to the new followers! It seems like everytime I get on Blogger I have a new follower! It's so much fun. And Thank You to all your comments on the last post. Yeah, I looked up the website of the carrot designer and found others. No freebies, but leaflets. When I can (which may be a long time because of the new financial problems that WILL crop up), I will order those carrot patterns.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy Easter! A Carrot for You!

I just wanted to pop in here and wish a Happy Easter to those who celebrate and a nice Happy Sunday to those who don't! We're going to color eggs tomorrow and my daughter is going to church and then I'll give her her Easter basket then it's onto a cousins house for an egg hunt for the smaller kids and potluck! Although my daughter is 17, she still likes doing these things with me. It might just be her making me happy because it's important to me to have traditions. I took her to her first Easter egg hunt when she was 3 years old. I had to get out there to keep the older kids from running her down and help her get some goodies! It was fun. Hard to believe she's 17!

I finished up the 2010 Carrot from The Cricket Collection. It turned out really cute!

The leaves at the top and the little pink dots sure make a difference. Monday I'm hitting Hobby Lobby or Joanne's to find a nice fabric to go with this. On the freebie it says this is one of a series of annual Carrots. I've gone to their website looking for others but don't see any. It would have been pretty cool to find other Carrots because it was a fun stitch. I've just realized that I forgot to add some tiny pink buttons to the lawn below the house! Sheesh! Side note: My daughter and I were discussing the white hair that I'm growing. She said if I color my hair, it will take away 10 years from my appearance. What I would really like is to gain back the memory I HAD when I was 10 years younger!! LOL! Anyway, I'll have pics of the finished Carrot with the buttons to show you all on my next post.

For whatever reason, these pictures turned out really nice! I just don't know---but tune in for continuing episodes of All My Camera, or As The Camera Turns!!

I've picked up the stitching for Christmas Mitten from my Crazy January list. It's become boring though! I think it's because I'm antsy to start some new starts. So much for my willpower! I've ordered linen to stitch Fancey Blackett (Pineberry Lane) and Dead of Night (Funk and Weber Designs). Can't wait. Who cares if I end up with a bazillion WIP's at the end of the year!! It keeps me out of trouble!

I see I've hit 51 followers! YAY! Know what that means?! Yes, a Giveaway! But don't enter on this post. I'm waiting for an order to arrive. I will post an announcement then so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to the new followers; glad you're here!

PS: If you run your mouse cursor right below the date tab, the title of this post should show. It may not either; it does it from my end. I still haven't found a way to fix that.

Testing, testing....

Testing, testing.....


My posts seem to have lost their titles! This is a test-run to see if this post will have a title. And no it doesn't. So I'll have to type the title on this section of the new post page like I've done above.