Halloween 2016 - BOO!

Here is my display for Halloween 2016. 

Look closely it is a devil candy corn. 

The box is a Mill Hill Kit and I do not recall the others, but probably blogged about them in the past with more detail. Maybe a search for Halloween will pull them up.

I think the center one is a Sweetheart Tree design. I know the stand ups are Bent Creek designs.

I do not recall all of these, but the candy corn is now in the ANG Chapter Project Notebook

for ANG Chapter use.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to stitch for and my stuff has grown beyond the table. This is Witchy Hats by Caela Tyler a Foothills EGA project from last year.

That is about all for now!

Where to begin??

It has been a busy summer, with ups and downs. My father in law passed away at 93, but we moved here in time to share three nice months with him. We miss him, but know he is in a better place. 

I did get some needlework etc., done, during this time. First is Witchy Poo designed by amy bruecken Designs and adapted for canvas by the late Caela Tyler. The canvas is a lavender that I just can't get to photograph well. This was a fun project.

I played with paper crafts and made this birthday cake card for one of my sister-in-laws, It is a pop up card that designed myself.

I am trying to reduce my stash and working on projects I have had around for a while. This is an EGA Petite Project from 2007 called Square Stitch Beaded Halloween Bracelet designed by Bonnie Marshall. The finished size is 6 1/8 inch with out the clasp, so I had to add a few extra rows at each end to make it 7 1/2" without clasp.

  Our Twisted Cereus went nuts with blooms one night! It turned out 12 total overall, each about 6 inches in diameter!

Finally, I found this little gem (?) at Tuesday Morning this afternoon. It is supposed to make twisted cord. I have not tried it yet, but the instructions seem easy and provide the number of strands and lengths need to make up to an approximate 18" cord (as long as you "turn the gear properly").

When I play with it I will report back, or if you have used it you can comment about it.

That about covers it for now, other than to say I have joined the ANG and EGA guilds in my new area and look forward to sharing some fun projects with you!

Birds!

One of my other non crafty interests are birds. I have been a "birder" since about 1986. It depended on where we lived if I had bird feeders or not,  how serious I was bout looking for birds and if I participated  Cornell Lab of Ornithology Feeder Watch.  Which was a lot of fun. Not sure I will put up a feeder here other than for humming birds.

Well two have showed up on our patio or courtyard with out much effort on my part. We leave our porch lights on and have acquired a few dead insects and probably a few still living around the plants. We have since put in yellow bug lights and the insects seem to have reduced quite a bit!

But this little fellow stopped by yesterday and today. He (or she) has been doing a fantastic job a cleaning up all the insects, even checking in the cracks. I had to take its photo through our greenish tinted thermal windows, but you can tell it is a Cactus Wren. On one hand it is one to add to my Life List, if you only count ones on your list that you have seen. I had heard this wren in So. California, but not seen it until now. Funny but it seems to be elusive in the hills of So. Calif, but I have seen them here and at other places in our community. Maybe that is why it is the Arizona State bird?

Also seen, but not photographed and another Life List addition was a Gila Woodpecker. Other birds I have seen are a road runner fighting it's reflection in a neighbors sliding glass door - not sure who won that battle.

Maybe I should explain to any non birders out there what  Life List is just in case you are interested. Basically it is a list of the birds you have seen (and some add heard) during your life time.

Some long tailed crackles seem to be in the area along with a phoebe like bird I have not been able to identify. We eat fairly often at the Indigo Grill here and I have seen house sparrows there (as well as the Cactus Wren and Grackles. Also a humming bird that whizzed by too fast for ID.

Well that is the Sunday birding round up. Hope you are having a fun day!

Houston We Have a Problem

Things are settling down here a bit and I decided to work in my new "stitching nest". An area with my floor stand, scissors, ort container, end table, etc. It also has a very nice OTT Floor lamp to provide extra light over my left shoulder. I have had this set up in all our houses since 1999. It allows me to stitch and "watch" TV with my hubby. I mostly listen and look up once in a while, he watches. This gives me a good 2 or 3 hours an evening to stitch and many times I end up getting a lot done and a reputation as a speedy stitcher. Which may or may not be true, but stitching almost every night for threes hours sure helps get a lot done. Just remember to get up and walk around every hour!!

Well, my nice bright stitching light shows up as a big white glare/blob on the new (and wider) TV! So I can't use it or I have to move to the side and then the TV viewing is not so great and I do not have a table for my stitching supplies!

So, what to do??

I am thinking of getting a clip on light to put on the chart holder on my floor stand to provide direct lighting to the stitching area, hoping it does not show up on the TV.

 Any one have any other ideas??? I would love to hear them.

Itching to stitch here in AZ!!

Enjoy this funny from FaceBook.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

I was afraid I had lost a box of stitching UFOs (unfinished objects) in the move. I just could NOT find it! I looked high and low! So I was upset for a while and then proceeded to create a spreadsheet on replacement so I could file a claim. I had kept a list of what was in the box, so this was fairly easy to do. But is sure was an eye opener!! I was a little shocked at the total, but this could not place a true value of the work I had already put into the items in the box or the fact that some could just never be replaced - like the needlepoint my mom gave me in 1977 and happens to be my oldest UFO, I am down to the back ground and that is not so much fun to stitch, so I pick it up once and while and put in a few stitches. Also, I am not sure where I would put it in my house, so no rush to finish.

For the move I had kept a list of what was in each UFO box and I hate to admit I had 5 boxes total - but there was other stuff in some since the UFOs were of odd sizes. I kept hoping the box would show up and when we got down to just the stuff in what we call the 10 x 10 room (a 10'x10' climate controlled storeroom in the garage) that only had garage and basement stuff in it I was a little dismayed.

Well, I was in the 10 x 10 looking for something else and moved a plastic tub and just happened to look at the markings which were "UFOs #1  Studio and my last name". YIPEE!! The "box" was found. I cannot tell you how many times I moved that tub looking for the cardboard UFO box! As far as I remembered  all the tubs were from the basement which is how I stored stuff in there in case of water. Of course by now I remembered I wanted to put all my UFOs in a tub to keep them safe, but not all would fit and I was too cheap to buy more just for the move. I ended up putting them all in various size zip lock bags, they all had foam core protectors already, and then put in the tub or box.

My oldest UFO - FOUND!!


Hope your days is going well!!

Landscaping About Done

Well the landscapers have been busy and are about done. Here are a few photos, I took them before the final ground cover of small rocks was put down, but you have a general idea what the front of Sun City Stitcher's house looks like. Monday or Tuesday the last touches should go in and then we can relax and enjoy our yard!

This is an Ocotillo

This is our little Saguaro and a few friends.

Have a great weekend all!!

Iris Folding

Another club here in our community is called Paper Crafts and More. Today we made this really cute A2 size card using the iris folding technique. It was fun to make and took a little over an hour to get done, so I thought I'd share it with you. We will see if this (or a variation) is our Christmas card this year.

Happy Christmas in July!