Christmas Blessings 2022

Hello everyone, Christmas was spent with friends this year. I have managed to do quite a bit of stitching.

 

This was my fireplace mantel. The pine garland stays up year round with the lights and I'll add other ornaments for different holidays and seasons.

I added the ribbon and a snowflake ornament to my pine wreath this time around. Went with a winter theme so it can stay up until spring.

Christmas 2022

 

Christmas Wishes 2021 

 

Made ornaments for the last three years. 

I know that there are lots of years that I have missed, but oh well, these will have to do.

Made this mini banner on Christmas Eve.

 

And five lace snowflake to hang on the pine garland. I've had the kits for these for over 10 years and just never got around to making them until now.

I've stitched a few more pieces but either haven't taken pictures yet or just plain forgot to take pictures of.

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas filled with love and blessings. Wishing you all a blessed New Year.

Take care and stay safe.

Hugs, Sandy

No More Laptop

 Well it is official now.

 We finally got my laptop into a shop to have it looked at, it seems the hard drive was starting to die. Hubs had them pull the hard drive and trash the rest. Having a new hard drive put in + getting everything copied over would have cost as much as the laptop cost new. So there will eventually be a new laptop in my future.

We have been able to down load all the info from it on to our desk top computer. Now I'll begin the task of going through it and getting rid of old info and other stuff I'm no longer interested in.

Will have to reload my Pattern Maker program to see if I can access my old cross stitch patterns. Still have no interest in doing any type of needlework or needlework designing, oh well maybe someday it will come back. The closest I've gotten is sewing and darning socks. ; }

Think I will start going through my needlework supplies and seeing what I want to get rid of, so many threads and fabrics, plus misc stitching stuff. It's amazing just how much stuff I've accumulated over the decades.

Well that's just a bit of what's been going on in my neck of the woods, we're doing good and hope you all are staying safe and healthy.

Take Care All

Hugs, Sandy

Slowly Adding Things

Hello Everyone, Hope you are all doing well.

I've been slowly going through my craft room to find things I know I will never use, stitch, sew, etc. and adding them to my "For Sale" tabs.

I've added to the RV & Tent Organizers, Smalls, and Photo Albums tabs.

If your interested or curious have a peek. There are also some of my Organizers and Photo Albums on my hubs blog CampingBastards.com

Next will be some needlework charts that I have, some I've stitched and will never stitch again, others I looked at and thought why the heck did I get that.

Check back weekly to see what other items I add.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

 

Finishes for the 5th Wheel

Hello Everyone, Hope all is well with you.

Finished these off at the end of March. They will hang in our 5th wheel vacation home. They are my original designs using John Muir quotes and are stitched on 28 count with a combo of DMC and Caron Collection Wildflowers.

Finished as flat hangers.

Added a door charm, little metal stars, and a Moose button I cut the shank off of and glued down.

Stuffed hangers.

Added a key charm, but I might replace it with a compass charm at a later date. Didn't think the other two needed anything. Simple jute hangers on all.

Take Care

Hugs & Stitches, Sandy

I Totally Spaced!

Hello Everyone; I hope all is well with you. 

The snow has started to melt finally, but has turned parts of my yard into a soggy muddy mess.

I totally forgot about posting this to my blog at the end of last month. I posted to the Facebook group, "Stitching From Stash" but forgot to post here.

A couple of smalls stitched on plastic canvas.

 These will be turned into a pair of earrings if I can just find the bag of earring hooks I have somewhere in the disaster area that I call my craft room. 

This will be a magnet for the month of "February", I still have several more to make to go with it.

All are stitched using DMC threads, solids for the feathers and variegated plus white for the heart on 14 count plastic canvas.

I've gotten them all cut out and need to back them with felt, at least for the magnet, but I may stitch two more of the feathers and whip stitch them together so they are the same front and back.

I haven't done any stitching so far this month, been working on my hanging camping organizers. Who knew how long it takes to go through fabrics, iron them, measure them, clip samples, cut a few, fold others, and then try to find coordinating fabrics. 

Well, that's all for this post, I'll have another post about some things I've gotten for the vacation home soon. 

So, until next post.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Happy Valentines Day

Hello Dear Friends & Followers

 I just wanted to wish you all Happy Valentines Day.

May your day be filled with a little love, a little laughter, many warm hugs, and a ton of Chocolate! 💝😍💝

I stitched up this free chart by Loretta Oliver of Stitching the Night Away, but haven't decided if or how I want to finish it. The buttons at the bottom are just a few "what I have on hand" thoughts for the open heart space if I do decide to keep it.

 "February 2011 Valentine"

Stitched on 28 count white evenweave lightly coffee dyed using DMC 115, My very favorite variegated red. 

Until next time .......

Take Care & Happy Stitching

Hugs, Sandy  

TUSAL for February

Welcome to all my Dear Friends & Followers; 

We may have missed the Polar Vortex here in our little piece of southern Montana, but we just got a major cold snap that has our highs in the single digits and our lows below zero. Hopefully it will warm back up later in the week like the weather person says it will. 

It's time for the February edition of the 2019 TUSAL.

What is the 2019 TUSAL? 

Click on the link below to find out.

 

https://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-totally-useless-stitch-long.html

Here are my ort's from January 7th to February 4th.

Not a lot of stitching got done, I was more focused on doing some more designing.

Well, that's all for this post, so until next time.....

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

January Stitching Finishes

Hello Dear Friends & Followers; 

I hope everyone is staying warm and safe in the harsh winter weather. We missed the Polar Vortex in southern Montana, but next week we're due to get some very cold weather so I'll make sure the wood box is stocked and make lost of warm drinks and comfort foods.

I did a bit of stitching and finishing this month and here are the results:

 Two more "Wintry Snowflakes" magnets.

Stitched on 14 count white plastic canvas using DMC white, DMC silver metallic, and my own hand dyed "Blue Spruce". They are backed with black felt and have a button magnet on the back.

Two "Harvest Pumpkins" magnets.

Stitched on 14 count white plastic canvas using DMC threads both solid and variegated. Backed with black felt and a button magnet on the back.

That's all on the stitchin' I've done this month, but have been designing many more charts to stitch during the year and maybe a few to share as well.

So until next post.....

Take Care, Stay Warm

& Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

A Valentine Small

Hey There Everyone, It's been cold here in Montana and we got a foot of that beautiful fluffy white crap early in the week that is turning into brown slush all over town. Luckily the highways that the hubs has to drive 5 days a week are clear.

Well, it's almost February so I thought I would post a Valentine gift for all my stitchin' friends and followers. It should be a fairly quick stitch using a favorite color, a variegated thread, or even with the threads I chose.

I added a small alphabet and numbers if you want to personalize it where the solid lines are.

I designed it with Dusty Rose colors using DMC 

150 - solid black circle, 

3350 - + (plus symbol),

 3731 - clear heart,

 3733 - x,

 151 - small black dot

(do not stitch the solid lines)

"Valentine's Heart"
41w x 40h

Hope you enjoy the chart.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

2018 Smalls SAL for December

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and are doing well. 

I thought we were going to get away without having a white Christmas this year, but at 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve it started to snow and left with a dusting for a powdered sugar landscape. It did the same thing on Christmas and left us with around 2 inches of snow. We've been here for 35 years and it would have been a first if it didn't snow.

Here is my final Smalls SAL update. 

Not sure if I will participate next year.

I stitched up two of my mini Quaker Snowflakes.

I will finish these with a ribbon for hanging and blue or white felt backing.

I plan to stitch a lot more of them and turn them into mini ornaments to add to a pine wreath to hag by the front door during the winter season and maybe a few magnets to add a little winter to the kitchen.

I finished off two other smalls that I stitched earlier.

"Merry Solstice" by The Primitive Hare

This is a free chart and can be found HERE 

 I stitched this one on 28 count Mocha/Beige evenweave using DMC Gold metallic 1 strand over 2 threads. I added a 1/4" gold ribbon hanger, two corded trims in rust, gold, and cream and a scattering of plastic crystal snowflakes. 

This one was stitched on the same 28 count only over one thread using my own hand-dyed thread. I finished it off with a 1/4" silver ribbon hanger, a silver ribbon bow, blue and silver corded trim, and a scattering of mini plastic crystal snowflakes.

And Finally 

They got arms !!!

I found a wrapped wire that resembles wood and shaped it into arms. It will do for now, I just need to bend/shape them a bit so they don't look like their being held up at gun point. I may make arms from the same batting later on but I'm not sure just yet. I'll live with them the way they are for a while and see how I feel later on.

Well, that's it for 2018, so until next time.....

Take Care & Happy New Year

Hugs, Sandy

 

Snowflakes for Winter

***Chart Correction***
I have replaced the chart with a corrected version. If you do not want to re-save or reprint the chart the error is on the first snowflake lines 23 and 24 on the right side should be two white stitches not three.
Sorry folks, but I'm only human 💕 

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope you all are doing well this Holiday season.

We're doing well. It's been very windy this past week with mild temps in the 40's & 50's. 

I decided to add a few snowflakes for the winter season.

Not out in the yard, thank goodness, or in my home, but as gift for all of my Cross Stitching friends. They could also be worked up with beads or in Needlepoint.

"Four Mini Quaker Snowflakes"

I designed them for 14 count paper or plastic in two colors:

open heart shape is White (background)

dot or square is color of your choice

Stitch with or without the white on fabric. 

These would make cute magnets, little ornaments, wreath accents, gift tags, etc. 

Hope you enjoy stitching them as much as I enjoyed designing them for you all.

Take Care & 

Have a Great Weekend

Hugs, Sandy

TUSAL for December

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope everyone is doing well.

Well here is my very tiny ORT offering for the end of the year.

 Not very much stitchin' going on since the end of October.

But I have been in a fabric sort of mood since mid November and have been getting the hanging organizers for tents and pop-up campers cut out, getting potholders and trivets cut out and of course making not one but two snow people. 

So here is my sewing scrap/ort container.

It's an old popcorn tin from Walmart. 

That's it for today. 

Thank you so very much for stopping by.

Take Care Everyone

& Have a Great Day

Hugs, Sandy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just want to wish all of my friends & followers a very

 May you be surrounded with love and blessings

and be Thankful for all you have.

Here's a Thanksgiving gift from my home to yours.

Use your favorite Autumn/Fall colors.

79 stitches wide x 43 stitches tall

Have a Blessed Day

Hugs, Sandy

October 2018 Smalls SAL

Hello Friends, Hope you are all doing well. 

It's time once again for the Smalls SAL, and here is what I've been stitching.

 I stitched this little magnet using DMC's Coloris threads on 28 evenweave and used one coordinating thread from each one to make the cording. No chart for this one just stitched hearts.

 

"Samhain" by The Primitive Hare  

I finished as an ornament and added a cording of jute twine couched in place with a with the same DMC Color Variations thread that I used for the pumpkin. I wanted it to have a more primitive look.

 

Here is a shot of the back. I found this cute pumpkin fat quarter at Walmart for .97 cents.

I've been doing a lot of 'free hand" needlework since I don't have a printer yet and came up with this fall inspired piece with a little help from Lizzie Kate leaflet #543 "Gather a Harvest".

 I fell in love with the pumpkin on the end with the curly stem and fat black birdie, so I added one on each end of a scrap of 18 count rustic Aida then added a tall pumpkin in the middle using the same leaves then a couple of gourds in between with curly stems and baby black birdies. I added a saying that popped into my head while stitching with the help of an alphabet leaflet, then hand stitched the piece onto a some of the pumpkin fabric I bought, frayed the edges and added a bow. I backed it with a piece of yellow fabric I had in my stash.

This piece was stitched with my own hand-dyed threads and one DMC Color Variations.

That's it for now, so until next time.......

Take Care Everyone &

Have A Great Weekend

Hugs, Sandy

A New Halloween Gift

Hello Friends; Hope all is well with you all.

So, my laptop has been in the shop since Monday and I've not heard back from them yet. When the hubs dropped it off they said it could be a problem with Windows 10, said they've seen a lot of this with the PC's that had the upgrade from Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 from the factory. But also said it could be the processor and if that was the case the labor alone would cost almost as much as mine new, mine was $300 at Walmart in 2015. Hopefully it's the easier fix.

Since we haven't chosen a printer yet I'm back to posting charts the way I started.

I'll most likely replace this chart with a better version once I get a new all-in-one printer.

 

No part of my designs may be reproduced except by needle and thread without the written consent of Sandra Longan of SLonganDesigns@gmail.com 

"We All Go A Little Batty"

50 x 50 stitches

Use black for the Bats and choose your favorite Halloween variegated/hand-dyed for the words or choose four similar colors for an ombray effect.

I think this would make a cute knob hanger, bowl filler or ornament for your Halloween display.

 

As always, if you choose to stitch up one of my designs I would love to see a picture of it, so I can show it off and give others inspiration for colorways and finishing.

That's it for today, I hope you enjoy the design.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Quaker Snowflake Stitched By ......

Here is a picture of my "Quaker Snowflake" design stitched by Robin Brown.

 "Quaker Snowflake"

Stitched by Robin Brown

Robin you did an amazing job on this piece and I hope it graces your home for years to come.

Thank you so very much Robin for sharing your finish with me. 

I love seeing how my designs are stitched and finished by other stitcher's, so if you do stitch one of my designs send me a picture and it will end up on my blog and if you have a blog or photo page I can add a link so everyone can see all of your amazing works. This can help me and other stitcher's with ideas on color ways and finishing.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Time For The ORT Update

It's time for the TUSAL update for September, only three more updates to go.

So, without further jibber jabber.......

Campin' ORT's on the left Home ORT's on the right.

There are quite a few fabric threads in the mix, just can't keep that white evenweave from raveling without stitchin' the edges or using fray check.

Here's a shot of 9 months worth of ORT's. don't know what I'll do with them all after the year is over.

 

That's all for this post. Thank you all so much for stopping by, having a look around and leaving your thought's behind, I appreciate each and every one they keep me motivated.

 

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

August TUSAL

Hey Everyone, 

It's ho,tter than Hades here in Montana up to 100 today. 

Oh how I hate the summer heat. I'm more than ready for the Fall to show up.

But then comes Winter and you all know how much I just love (insert sarcasm) that white four letter word.

It's time for my August TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long) you can find a link on my sidebar.

 

Here they are, camping ORT's on the left, house ORT's on the right.

And out of their containers.

 

That's all for the ORT Report.

Until next time......

 

 Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Honey Bee's & Bumble Bee's

Hello Everyone;

 The hubs went to the doctor on Thursday and is still on restricted duty, no lifting anything over 25 lbs. Taking some more time off from today until Monday, hopefully it will help those bruised ribs more. Lifting his left arm past shoulder height or bending over to pick something up from the floor is still hard.

Well I finally got my act together, somewhat, and decided on a design to share. Meaning, I said screw it and picked what I had ready to be scanned. Indecision can be pain in the backside. 

So here ya go & hope you enjoy.......

Bee's Scissor Fob

Only four colors for this little fob, you can put the date and initials in any open honeycombs, or even fill in a few with DMC 783. I think it would make a cute knob hanger or join the front and back as a single design and make a pin pillow and all four joined together would make a sweet mini pillow.

As always, I would love to see a picture of your finished pieces from any of my designs. 

You can send me a pic at SDLongan at yahoo dot com

Have a great weekend everyone.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

TUSAL for July

Hello Everyone, I can't believe it's already July it always seems that the year passes quicker and quicker. 

It's been in the upper 90's so far this month but still going down into the upper 50's and mid 60's for over night so at least it cools down some. Yes, the air conditioner has been a good friend of mine.

Thank you all so much for your kind and healing comments, we both really appreciated them. 

I'm healing up fine just have bruises to fade away and the spot on my elbow is getting smaller. The hubs will be 4-6 weeks for the bruised ribs to heal and since he is back at work I'm leaning more towards the 6 weeks. He starts spending quality time with the heating pad as soon as he walks in the door. 

Now on to the TUSAL update for July.....

You can find a link on my sidebar, just scroll down.

My little jar got over half full this time around. I think I need to pop it in the dishwasher, it's starting to look a bit grubby.

Lots of greens and browns, but also some from the new DMC Coloris threads that I picked up at Michael's. I found a list on line that gives you the corresponding DMC solids for Coloris and Color Variations at www.needlenthread.com
 

I found the large jar with around 10 years of ort's in the back of a cabinet in my craft room, so I thought I would share a picture of it along side my total for 2018. That is a whole lot of threads. Eventually I know I will either throw them out or ..... maybe I will get one of those gallon sized Ball mason jars and keep them in there. I love the mason jar idea.

I'm still trying to decide on the scissor fob design to share. I love the patchwork heart with the saying Stitchin' is in my Heart, but the bee's are so cute and I also have one with stitched buttons all over and one with an antique sewing machine, so many choices. Maybe if I quit playing with the designs I'll come up with a decision. 

Well, that's it for today everyone, thank you so much for stoppin' by and maybe leaving a thought or two behind. Until next time.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy