Blue Snowman

I realized I did not show you a Christmas gift I stitched for my friend (since graduate school) who is a birder. This is from the 2016 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments Issue - page 33. It is a cute snowman with birds!

It is called Blue Snowman and is designed by The Little Stitcher.  I stitched it almost as charted. It called for a brown nose which I changed to orange and the birds where charted blue like the bird house and line at the bottom. My friend's favorite color is red, so I made the birds cardinals rather than blue birds.

It is sitting on the fabric I used for the backing.

We are having a late Christmas with some family, so I will have more items to post later, but this is all for now.

Happy Stitching!!

Finish Finishing in the Works

When I moved to Arizona I missed the finishing class offered by the Sampler Guild of the Rockies and taught by Linda of Chessie & Me. I did all the stitching pre-work, but our house sold and we had to head south before the finishing class.

Luckily they sent me the instructions and supplies for finishing and here they are!! I have had this in a box since June (maybe July) and now getting around to working on it.

This is the stitching attached to wool that I will attach to the "book" which I am still in the process of painting, so more later on that.

Last September I had a blog post that included information about a clover twisted cord maker I found at my local Tuesday Morning and promised to report on it when I used it. Well I used it to make cord for this project. It made a decent cord and overall it was easy enough to use.... BUT see the wheel on the sides at the top (just below and to the sides of those white knobs, sorry my cord is over the wheels a little). I had to turn the wheel manually and fully 130 times to get this cord. Not really my idea of a good time!

I need to make more cord for the needle book and will probably use this cord maker again for consistency, but the length will be shorter, so I will not have to turn the wheel as many times - instructions tell you how many turns based on the thread length.

 The cord is for a little scissor fob.

To be continued later!

Politics, Facebook & Kokopelli

Welcome to the political free anti facebook page!

I believe everyone has a right to express their opinions, even on facebook. But lately my facebook page has been up to 90% political - and I am just not that interested. So I am taking a facebook break. I will miss my friends who only post fun stuff, but their posts are overwhelmed by a few of my friends that are now posting 95 - 100% political stuff - that is all I get politics!

I also realized it (facebook) is sucking up a LOT of my time which includes keeping up with this blog. I was a much more active blogger before facebook. I will still send my blog post to facebook so my friends there can get the scoop, but I will miss what they are up to. Makes me sad that a few people have led me to this, but I think I will be a happier less stressed person!! And stress kills.

Welcome to the safe zone!

On to some stitching!

One of my nephews likes Kokopelli, so for Christmas I made him this flat fold he can display as he sees fit. The fabric is what I used for the backs. I believe it is about 4" x 6"

A while back I decided I wanted each of my nieces and nephews to have something made by their Aunt Mary. After this one, I have one nephew to go, and his is in the works. I ran out of thread to get it out for Christmas, but he has a birthday in April!!

That is all for now!

Public Service Announcement

I am in the middle of a special project and ran out of Kreinik #4 braid in color #9300. So I shopped around and had a hard time finding it and tried my LNS from Colorado. They had it online so I ordered it. I got and email from the shop that they were out and Kreinik said it was not available, would #8 work?

Well, since I did not think a background half #4 and half #8 would work, I emailed the shop back and said I was halfway through a project and had it been discontinued? They got back to me right away.

YES Kreinik #4 braid in color #9300 (orchid) has been discontinued.

Luckily Kreink told the shop they had some left and would send them if she really needed some!! So I ordered two just in case. Thought I'd let my fellow stitchers know in case you are using or plan to use this thread.

Stitched Christmas Gift

Christmas is a little late this year, I guess I was too relaxed in retirement and let time go by.

I am still working on some gifts, but this pocket (purse) calendar holder I made for my mother in law. She does not have the internet, so I can safely post about it. Finishing instructions were good, so I did that myself too.

I included a photo of the chart so you can see the designer information. I did change the colors since I needed to use DMC, so the conversions are not spot on, and I miss-read the color for the birds, but I think it looks fine! It was fun to stitch since it had a mix of specialty stitches in it for the hearts.

Happy Stitching!!

Our 2016 Ornament

When I posted the blasts from Christmas past, I realized I did not have an ornament for our tree this year!!

 So I designed, stitched and finished this little guy, (it is 3" by 3.5") which fits perfectly into our new life here in the Valley of the Sun! It is a Sun City Stitcher exclusive.

Happy Stitching!!!

Some Blasts From Christmas Past

Since I am stitching for current Christmas gifts and can't post any photos, I thought I would post some of my favorites from the past.

A Shepherds Bush from the 2000 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue. It won an Honorable Mention in the 2001 North Carolina State Fair (I think it could have done better, but I was a novice at finishing and had a bid of trouble).

2009 ANG or EGA project, designed by one of our members.

A netted ornament from a class I took in 1999.

This angel I made in 1994 and it won a third place ribbon in the L.A. County Fair.

Miss Maddie in 2009 with her new toy.

This from Issue 39 of Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch magazine (1999). The legs and arms move up and down when a string is pulled. It won a third place ribbon in the 2001 North Carolina State Fair.

This is also from the 2000 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue. I made two that year, one for my brother's family and one for us. It was fun to stitch.

I made this in 2009 for my friend, Sandra. Sorry I do not know the design or designer.

These two Santa I made in 2005 or 2006. I have looked high and low for designer information and can't find it. I want to say it is through Rainbow Gallery, but I am not sure.

These are just a few of my favorites that I have made. 

At this point I realize I have not made our 2016 ornament!! Yikes, I best get stitching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I may post other of my ornaments later and maybe do a post on ornaments I have gotten from friends and exchanges. I have them on their own metal ornament tree.