Forget-Me-Not Bookmark

A little something I stitched.

When solemn sighs the hollow wind,

And deepen'd thought enraps the mind;

If e'er thou doest in mournful tone,

E'er sigh because thou feel alone,

Or wrapt in melancholy prone,

                                             Forget me not.

~ from Forget Me Not by Ann Plato

For my daughter who suffered a tiny tot of a sorrow this year. 

She can use this bookmark and know that I care about her recovery.

Snowkid Hat

Who dat?

I made a light-hearted hat for my eldest granddaughter.

The pattern is from my favorite crochet designer, Repeat Crafter Me.

Happy little gal, isn't she?

Conjuring Momentum

I need a place to rest my head.

I got emotionally overwrought again this week. (Thus, missing days of posting on my blog). You know, medical stuff. Family stuff. Stuff stuff.

When I get like this, my Studio gets turned inside out with all kinds of partially finished projects strewn across my work table. Chaos in my Studio becomes chaos in my head. Or is it that other way around? Who can say?

But I woke up this morning hurting and sad and crying and overwhelmed. So I took my meds. I had a good breakfast. I started making order out of chaos. I returned to my "bed piles" technique. Each project was removed from my work table and put in a neat, compact pile on my bed. Then I can tackle the project piles one at a time.

But how do I decide where to start? Decision-making is a test when my mind's off kilter. This time I decided to make a game of it. I used the "fish bowl" approach of putting categories of projects on slips of paper, then pulling one paper to lead me to which project to start with.

My first pull said, "Easiest thing." So I cut up scrap paper, disposed of recycling, put yarn and crochet tools away, put the things that belong downstairs away.

My other categories include:

• Want to do the most
• Biggest dent
• For someone else
• Want to do the least
• Waiting the longest to get done

My second pull said, "For me."

I decided it was time to finish my Penguin Pillow. I'd put it off for over a month. It's time to treat myself to finish a project I get to keep.

Since I was dealing with a plaid fabric again, I decided to applique the stitching onto the front pillow fabric, rather than piecing the fabric to the edge of the stitching. This time I sewed some red piping to the edge of the stitching, then centered the stitching on the pillow front and sewed the penguins in place.

I hadn't worked with piping in years, so that was a fun technique to revisit.

'Tis done! 'Tis done! We have a new decoration for this coming Christmas.

Very satisfying.

I think I'll stop for a meal (it's 3pm), then pick my next project. There's a chance I could finish something else today.

Penguin Pillow - part 3

I picked this fabric from my stash for the penguin pillow.

Then I spent the afternoon lovin' on my daughter and granddaughter.

Those two give me so much positive time and attention. They are the joys of my life right now.

Penguin Pillow Progress

I finished all the stitching today! (along with finishing my book)

That felt good.

Tomorrow I hope to pick some fabric for the back of the pillow and to surround the penguins on the pillow front.

Christmas Prep

I was given a mental health assignment by my doctor this week: Do some cross-stitch while listening to an audiobook.

Well ... if I have to! I started stitching up some penguins for a Christmas pillow cover. It's going well and my nerves are definitely less jangled.

The pattern is from Stoney Creek's leaflet, Nature's Best for the Bath. I'll be stitching only three of the penguins. I changed the color of one scarf from yellow to green to make it more Christmassy.

The audiobook I'm listening to is the new memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, All the Way to the River. Worthy.

p.s. I named this post "Christmas Prep" with the express purpose of irritating people who get jacked up about talking about Christmas in the middle of September. 

:: evil grin ::

penguin pillow

Friends and Flowers - Fini

She's a cutie, alright!

She gave me some heartache and trouble wrestling her into her final form, but she's worth it.

This 12" x 12" pillow took me a full three months to complete. I'm out of practice. Sigh

Yet I'm pleased with the outcome.

Decisions, Decisions

I'm like the old woman who lives in a shoe.

I had so many children crafts, I didn't know what to do.

All the surfaces in my Studio were cluttered up with partially done projects. So I decided to create a little order today. Layer by layer, project by project, I cleared my work surfaces. I put each project in a pile on my bed. Now I can tackle them one at a time.

These are thrifting finds I bought last week. Some are gifts for my granddaughters. Some is geocache swag. I've washed the fabrics. Now everything needs to be put away. 

This box is a card-making kit. I want to make a bunch and send them out to "my ladies" to let them know they've been on my mind.

Here are a couple pen-pal letters started for my Idaho grandkids.

I've done some measuring, so will cut these boxes to size, line them, and work on my "fat quarter project" wherein I sort my fabric, fold each identically, and organize them in boxes that will fit their shelf. This way, finding an appropriate fabric will be much easier than the current toppling stacks. This project is one of my 25 Goals in 2025.

And, of course, I still need to finish my cross-stitch pillow. I haven't worked out all the math yet.

So ... tomorrow? I tackle the first project tomorrow? 

One small problem: where do I sleep tonight?

Pillow Progress

I washed and dried the stitchery. Then I picked the fabric for the pillow cover -- a petit yellow and white gingham.

I found a suitable zipper in my stash. It's got be be at lease 35 years old. I enjoy finding ways to use old supplies. Though the zipper is only 7" and will be used on a 12" pillow cover, I should be able to make it work. 

I made a 12" x 12" pillow insert from an old sheet and some polyester fiberfill.

Now comes the math part ... turning a rectangular stitchery into a square pillow.

Say, look! I have crystals hanging in my Studio window. Today they gave me a rainbow!

Happy Pride Month, y'all.

Friends and Flowers - 6

I spent an excellent morning listening to podcasts and finishing the backstitching on this Suzy's Zoo project. She's adorable.

Now to pick out some fabric to finish this stitchery as a pillow cover. I'll have to dive into my stash and see what I have on hand.

Friends and Flowers - 5

 Details, details.

I've completed most of the backstitching on the bottom half of this design. I love watching how the backstitching brings the entire piece alive.

Depending on how much time I can put into stitching today, the outlining has a chance of being completed by tonight.

Friends and Flowers - 4

Latest update on my Suzy's Zoo project. I had a good two days to stitch this week.

I'm not quite done with all the colors. It will all come to life when the backstitching goes in. 

Getting close!

Friends and Flowers - 3

For Mother's Day, my gift was hours and hours of stitching time, so I worked on Flowers and Friends some more.

This is a wonderfully calming activity for me that soothes my nervous system. 

Plus ... progress!

Friends and Flowers - 2

I made some time to work on this cross-stitch project that I started at the end of March. It's a kit called Friends and Flowers and part of Janlynn's Suzy's Zoo line.

Our little gal now has arms, a neck and a flower stem. I hope to make more time to stitch tomorrow while Dale and Jodie are out conquering the trivia world.

I sat and stitched while listening to a couple chapters of my current audiobook.

Throwback Thursday: Easter Banner

I put the finishing touches on this Happy Easter banner in 2019.

You can read the entire journey of this project here on my blog. I like this decoration. It's hanging in our living room again this year.

Green / Orange Crochet Purse

The second crochet purse that I finished on Saturday reminds me of Easter ... or maybe ice cream or sherbet. It's primarily a soft green with a melon-colored stripe and flower. I'll donate it to Bags of Love along with the purse I shared yesterday. I hope to make and donate a dozen by the end of the year.

I used color-on-color for this flower: an orange flower with orange button center. I added an orange stripe to the edge of the handle as well.

For the lining I used a scrap of solid orange fabric that is heavily textured. 

For my next crochet project, I plan to make a purse that looks like an owl. It's for one of my grandkids. I hope to get it finished for her birthday. Wish me luck. I don't enjoy working to deadlines anymore, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Whoooo do you guess that it's for?

Blue / Purple Crochet Purse

I finished two more purses for Bags of Love yesterday. These are made with a "sport" or "baby weight" yarn. To make the stitches look proportional to the weight of the yarn, I used a smaller crochet hook. So these two purses are smaller than previous versions of my crochet purses. The finished size is 5.75" wide x 4.5" high. This size might be better for a 3-5 year old than for a 6-8 year old.

I found a blue button in my stash that was just the right shade of blue, and just the right size for the center of the flower. I incorporated some of the purple into the handle as a finishing touch.

I made the yarn closure loop a bit too long to wrap around the flower correctly, so I made a design decision to knot it close to the edge of the purse. I really like that detail! Mistakes become design choices. 

The inside is lined with some Frozen fabric, bringing the blue and purple together on the inside and the outside. Sweet.

The second purse reminds me of Easter due to the pastel colors. I'll share that tomorrow.

To learn more about Bags of Love, follow the link above.

Friends and Flowers - 1

I started my next counted cross-stitch project last week. It's a kit from 1997 from the Suzy's Zoo collection. It seems like a pleasant Spring project. The finished size is 5" x 7". 

Instead of using the bright green picture frame that came in the kit, I plan to make the completed stitching into another pillow cover.

Bonus: there are even hearts on the watering can! 

Another Thrift Haul

It's been a couple months since I browsed a thrift store, so I gave myself a treat yesterday and headed out to one I haven't been to since last year. I did have a couple specific things in mind to purchase, and I got lucky with one of them.

I wanted to find a 12" x 12" binder so that as I learn my advanced sewing techniques, I can put samples all together for reference. I found this binder right away. It's actually one of those "magnetic page" photo albums that are quite bad for photographs because it discolors them. But it's just right for my purpose because I only need the binder, not the pages.

I found this pack of unopened sewing machine needles for woven fabrics. They're always good to have on hand.

Then I found an unopened bag of cotton balls. Good. I was going to need some more by the end of the month.

The red fabric is very unusual. It's pliable, but metallic, it's vinyl-ish on one side, and cloth-ish on the other. It's very, very shiny and catches the light beautifully. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but it feels like Christmas. It's very intriguing and gets my imagination going.

Then I found some fabric for counted cross-stitch. There are two pieces of folded aida yardage by Craftways. It retails for $25.00. I got this plus some floss for just over $7.00.

There is a tube of 15" x 18" aida that retails for $10.34 that I picked up for $3.

There's a roll of 15" x 18" raw linen and another of antique white linen that retails for $18.39 each. I bought them for about $2.50 each.

Here's the bag of 36 skeins of Craftways floss and a couple project floss organizers. They were in the package with the aida yardage. The floss retails for $.40 each. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the floss since I rarely use off-brands. I'm sort of a DMC/Anchor/Gentle Arts snob when it comes to embroidery fibers.

You'd think that the cross-stitch fabrics would be the find of the day, but I found something even more amazing. 

It's another Pashmina! If you recall, I found my first Pashmina in January for just under $10.

This scarf/wrap is 70% Pashmina (cashmere) and 30% silk! The tag said it was an astounding $5.99.

BUT because it was a yellow tag it was on sale. Between the sale price and my senior discount, I bought a Pashmina - worth between $150 and $200 - for $3.00!!!!!

Altogether I spent a bit over $25 for everything. What a haul!