Copyright

(c) 2009 - 2024 (MEM)

Please keep in mind that, unless otherwise noted, everything on my blog is copyright material of some sort. Either by me (as picture taker, writer, creator) or more importantly by the designer of the needlework pieces I present. If you promise to be copyright mindful, my promise to you is to do my best to provide you enough information in my post for you to obtain your own legal copy. Please be respectful of these copyrights and not take business away from our wonderful designers. Thank you.
............. . ."She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight" Proverbs 31:13 NAS


Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas 2010 Follow-Up

I can now post some of the ornaments I made for gifts since they have been received. I did forget to take a picture of the one I sent to my friend Sandra. OOPS. It was a mill hill beaded ornament kit of a Christmas tree. I did remember to take a picture of the one I sent to my sister-in-law, but I just mailed it yesterday, so no blog on it yet. But, I do have some Christmas photos for you and here we go!! Hang on to your hats.

Here are the ornaments I made for my nieces, Laura and Emily. They are Mill Hill perforated paper and bead kits. I used black brads to attach them to wool felt and added the ribbon hangers.
 Holidays would not be the holidays without devilled eggs.
 My college roommate, Sandra, sent a nice box that included this mug. Isn't it great?
She also sent a blanket for Miss Maddie and one for the people of the house (of which I do not have a picture). The jingle bell collar she is wearing was a gift from Sandra too in 2003 for our other dog. But it fits Maddie too.
 My mother in law sent some nice things which included a memo mouse pad. See the memo sheets on the right and the matching mouse pad on the left. All set up next to my computer.
That about covers it for now! As soon  as the coast is clear I will post a picture of what I sent my SIL. So stay tuned and Happy New Year!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long lives on at It's Daffy Cat

Daffy Cat is reviving the Totally Useless Stitch-A-long  for 2011 all information about it can be found on her blog. Basically on each new moon of the month you post a picture on your blog of your ort jar. Basically you will be posting your monthly orts - even if you have not added any since the last new moon. Daffy is also including some give aways and explains it much better than I, so go check it out.

First new moon of 2011 is Jan 4 so get ready!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Embroiderers Guild of America, Inc.

Just a short post to tell you about an interesting article I found about EGA, thought some of you might be interested too.

Have a GREAT day!!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Chocolate to die for.

One of my coworkers brought a box of Donckels Belgium Truffles for the office. They are sooooo good, I dare anyone (who likes chocolate) to eat just one – especially if you let it melt in your mouth. Not too sweet, just the pure yummy, rich taste of chocolate. It is like chocolate heaven!  I thought you all should know.

Picture of (empty) box:
They did not last long!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Sampler Guild of the Rockies Christmas Tea 2010 continued

This past Sunday was the Sampler Guild of the Rockies 2nd annual Christmas tea. It was a blast! Each table was set for tea for eight. Complete with tea sets, place settings and center pieces. I sat at the blue and white table. A member brought her Willow Wood design place setting (I think that is what she called it) and I wish I had thought to take a picture the table was beautiful - as were all the others. The setting included the creamer, sugar, tea pot and tea plates. My table had blue felt table runners crossing in the middle of the round table; a center piece of pine codes, a silver piler candle and a blue jay. Each plate had a blue napkin with hand made napkin ring consisting of a strip of white paper tied with white and blue ribbons and a big silver bell. Snow cutouts and star glitter were scattered on the table. Writing this now I REALLY wish I had thought to take a picture.

Well when I got home I did take pictures of the goodies I got while at the party and so here goes the show!

Events included a stitched ornament exchange and this is what I made.

It is a freebie chart from Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread post on Oct. 8. 2010 about developing a spot sampler I used floss and kreinik from my stash.

Next is the ornament I received from Patti (aka Rocky Mountain Stitcher). It is a Black Bird Design from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. Look closely and you will see SGR and Patti's initials and 2010 in white work at the lower left and right sides. What a nice touch! I tried not to reduce the picture in hopes it will get bigger when you click on it.  The snowman bag also had some yummy cranberry pistachio almond bark (now gone) and a nice card.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Sampler Guild of the Rockies Christmas Tea 2010

Today I will tell you about the door prizes and great make-it take its I got at the Guild's tea this past Sunday. I was one of the lucky ones that got a door prize and here it is. A Periwinkle Promises Snow Days Celebration Kit.

This bag held the three make it and take it kits we all received.

The first thing we made and left with a finished project ready to go! I put it on my Christmas tree when I got home. Inside the starry bag were a readymade tassel and two charms. We chose which one to attach to the tassle. So simple and so pretty too!
Our next project was just as cute, but took a little more work to come out just right.
Our kit included the painted box, fabric, charm and some labels to choose the wording and color to put on the side of the box (see next picture). The fabric had already been machine stitched into a circle. We turned it inside out, stuffed it and closed the seam. We then used perle cotton to divide it into fourths (and attempt to hide the fact that I did not quite get the seam closed right and my circle had a bite out of it! I also took some sewing thread and sewed the points down in a place they would not show.

The next step was to sew the button on through the box top (holes had been drilled in the top if we wanted to put the pin cushion on top - the other option was to put it inside the box). You see which option I chose. The final touch was to stitch on the pear charm.

The third make and take was not exactly a make and take. It is a project we will take home to make and the instructions will be posted on the member only section of the website if members are registered. A sneaky way to get everyone to register if you ask me! Great idea too, I think.

This kit had a small black button, linen and a measuring tape. I will know how to put it all together when the instructions are posted around Dec. 20. But somehow we will make a cover/closure for the measuring tape. Just something else to post about at a later date!!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Stitched Mini Gingerbread House

WARNING lots of pictures in this post (at least for me).

Well, I have been a busy little beaver and now I have quite a bit of stuff to show you. Rather than do it in one gigantic post, I will be spacing them out over the next few days - so....KEEP COMING BACK!

I am home waiting for the furnace guy to come fix the humidifier and the dog is sleeping nearby SNORING. Just thought you should know.

Now on with the stitching!

I am a Face Book Fan of Craft Gossip. A while back they posted a link to Crafty Pod where Sister Diane made a mini gingerbread house. So using her tutorial I made one too and here it is! Ta Da.

First is a picture of the back.
Next is a picture of the front. 
I made up my own roof design, I wanted the look of snow/frosting and I think it came out great (if I may say so myself).


Now I will present you with the building process. Here are all the sides stitched together (I put my initials and date on the bottom). Diane suggested making the peaked pieces first and then making the sides and bottom to size. If I do another one I plan on making the sides a little wider. She also made the windows three dimensional, but I did not want to do that (so I hope you check out her site for her cute house). I stitched each house part separately and added beads to the back window sills and a sequin door knob. I used some kreinik gold to add some glitter to the front. Diane used buttons and snow sequins.
After you stitch all the parts together as pictured above, you then stitch up the sides and stitch the two roof pieces together as shown below.

The last step is attaching the roof, Diane glued it and I stitched mine on - which was a tad tricky. Glue would have been a whole lot easier!

Well that is all for this post. For my next post I will talk about the great time I had this Sunday at the Sampler Guild of the Rockies Christmas tea! So stay tuned.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Christmas Bag

I am on my lunch break and thought I'd give you a quick Christmas related post.

Here is my Christmas bag of stitching. Inside are 10 little kits I hope to stitch up quickly for gifts to my family and friends this year. I try to make them something each year. Sometimes I wait too long and it does not get done, but I hope since these are on the small side and easily finished into an ornament that I can get it done. I will take pictures before they are sent off so you all can see them after Christmas.

The bag is 12 inches tall and 8 inches wide. I got it a number of years ago as the holder of a gift exchange gift. It had an open top and I wanted to be able to close it so my kits would not fall out! So I made a casing for a drawstring and added rivets for the strings to go through. OOPS, the rivets went through the casing too (I often learn by trial and error).

Off to plan B. I added rivets all around the top and wove a ribbon through the rivets to create a draw string. I had an old closure thingy off a backpack (I know they have an official name, but I don't know what it is) which the strings go through and you pinch it to open or close it. I then added a crocheted bead to keep the closure thingy from being pulled off. I bet it will make more sense when you see the picture!!


See the black closure thingy?

Happy Stitching Everyone!!!!!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Not much to report on.

Busy stitching stuff for Christmas gifts and can't post any pictures. So there may be a holiday lull in posting - not even any snow yet to post December snow pix! Just thought I'd let anyone who was interested know I have not fallen off the face of the earth!

Merry, Merry!!