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

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

Meet Belle

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope this post finds you well.

After I finished making "Jingles" for my winter decorating I decided that he needed a friend, a lady friend.

So let me introduce "Belle" 

"Belle"

She might get the rosy cheeks treatment as soon as I buy some blusher.

She is made from the same natural cotton batting and stuffed with fiber fill from an old pillow. She wears dark red felt earmuffs with a braided jute band adorned with smalls snowflakes, a dark red felt scarf with fringed ends and a snowflake, and a dark red felt apron with lace overlay that ties in the back. She has a handmade orange felt carrot nose and sewn on dark blue button eyes. She is 8" tall and 6" across the bottom.

 

I still haven't decided on the arms yet, I have some twigs that would work, but would have to be very careful when packing them away so they don't get broken. We're going to town next weekend and will hit up the craft stores to see if they have any alternatives for arms. If nothing else maybe I can use brown pipe cleaners or something similar. Maybe some heavy wire or pipe cleaner wrapped in a single strand of jute.

"Jingles & Belle"

I think they make a perfect couple.

I call these "make-do" crafts since I had everything for them right in my craft room except the arms. I'll have to try a pipe cleaner wrapped in jute to see what that would look like, I have that in my craft room too.

Since I worked in a House of Fabrics for 2 years and a Ben Franklin's for 4-5 years I acquired a lot of stash.  

Thank you so much for stopping by today and maybe leaving your thoughts behind, I really appreciate each and every comment.

Take Care Everyone &

Have a great day.

 Hugs, Sandy

Winter Crafting

Hello Dear Friends & Followers

I hope all is well with you.

Since I haven't been doing any stitching since late October, I decided to do a bit of crafting. I love decorating for Christmas/Winter, but most of my decor pieces are Santa's of varying sizes, two Angel's, one Nativity and assorted pine boughs and wreaths. Not a lot to leave out for the rest of the winter months, so I'm trying to remedy that.

Here is my first try at making a more rustic winter....

"Jingles"

He's made from natural cotton batting, stuffed with fill from a well laundered old pillow, he has a weighted bottom, a hat made from an old glove and adorned with jingle bells sewn on the finger tips and little snowflakes scattered on the front, a scarf made from purple felt and fringed on the ends with a bigger snowflake, sewn on button eyes and two more for buttons down the front and a felt carrot nose.

 

He stands 9" tall and is 7" wide at the base. His nose pokes out at 1 1/2".

I tucked the thumb inside the glove and stitched the opening closed then gathered the fingers together and secured with some thread.

I thought about a bit of blush for the cheeks and twig arms, but don't know yet since I can mock up he arms but pink cheeks are forever.

I think he's just to cute and want to make a few more.

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

February 2018 TUSAL Update

Baby it's COLD outside right now only about 18 degrees F and we got between 10-12 inches of that fluffy white crap dumped on us over night, but it sure does have a calm beauty about it. Still can't wait until it melts though.💙

Taken from my front porch at 8 something A.M. 

Now, on to the TUSAL Update. I didn't have quite as many orts this time around. 

I still did my fair share of stitchin' and froggin', there's always froggin' when I work on one of my own designs until I get the colors right.

Floss wrappers and ORT's. 

Lettin' the ORT's out of the jar. 

My little octagon jelly jar is 2 7/8" wide by 3 7/8 inches tall.

Two months worth of ORT's.

Paula Dean candle jar cleaned out and put to use. I think it's way to pretty not to save.
If you want to join in on the fun, click the 2018 TUSAL link in my sidebar.

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

Thanks for stoppin' by everyone.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Gotta Love Montana

Thought I'd share some morning beauty with everyone.

 

This was my view when I opened the curtains at 7:25 this morning. 

Such a beautiful Sunrise. 

Of course this is the part I don't love so much. 

This is what happens when it rains before the temps drop at night, melted the snow on the road then froze it right up. I'm pretty sure it's thick enough to skate on.

This is the road out in front of the cabin. Since the sun is so much weaker during this time of year and because of trees this section gets very little sun during the day, so will stay pretty much like this for months.

We'll be buying a couple bags of ice melter just for the area around the vehicles this weekend for sure.

Until next time .......

Take Care, Be Safe & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Celebrating the Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice also known as the first day of Winter, so in celebration I'm sharing a winter themed chart.

The colors I used are:

Heart - DMC 803 also first backstitched border

1 - DMC 334 second backstitched border

0 - DMC 3756 third backstitched border

Dot - DMC 3865 and backstitched snowflakes

The gray dots can be either French or Colonial Knots or Petite Seed Beads

Stitched size is 4" x 4"

Two strands of floss used.

Hope you all enjoy the chart, and as always if you happen to stitch one of my designs I would love to see a picture.

Take Care & Happy Winter Solstice

Hugs, Sandy

A Little Bit of Christmas at the Cabin

There is snow on the ground again and it looks like it may be sticking around till Christmas.

I finally got around to adding a bit of Christmas to the Cabin. 

 A simple artificial pine wreath with pine cones from my yard and a red wire edged ribbon. The ribbon can be cross stitched on as it has a weave that is close to 14 count. I got it at Walmart about 5 years back I think, when it was on clearance. Simple rustic country.

This is Bart he sits next to our front door, I thought he could use a little Christmas cheer, so I went through my craft stash and fired up the glue gun. Small straw wreath and some green tartan ribbon from a thrift store and some pine cones from a neighbor's yard held on by some jute twine that I always have in the craft room. He needs another coat of linseed oil this summer.

These are our Rustic Santa's on the bottom mantle of our fire place and one of our Angles. On the top mantle are two Santa's from my mother-in-law.

Mountain Man Santa had an empty hand and I had three different rifle style lighters that no longer worked, I sent pictures of him holding each one to the Hubs and he choose the Double Barrel Shotgun. Very suitable for the Mountain Man Santa that he is.

This is the very first Santa that we picked out in 1998, we drove to several stores in Billings just to find a Santa, not many stores had them or they were the cheap mass produced one's.

This is our second Angel. She has feathered wings.

Santa of the Forest,

we love this piece and keep him up all year long. He won First Place at the Montana State Fair in 2006.

Santa with a sack full of toys, stitched in 2004, so many 1/4 stitches I almost gave up on more than one occasion.

And last but not least is my Nativity Set, although I'm not a church going type I do carry on this one family tradition from my childhood. 

There is one of my stitched mini pillows from a couple years ago and a rustic fabric tree I'm working on, I still have two more to make in different sizes. More rustic country for the cabin.

That's all I have out for this year, didn't have room for the tree but hope to have things sorted and moved around by next December so I can put the tree up once again.

Merry Christmas Everyone

may the day be filled with Love, Joy & Blessing for you and your families.

Hugs, Sandy

Major Snow Storm

We had our first major snow storm this week and it dumped somewhere between  12 and 14 inches of the fluffy white crap.

8:30 am Monday 12/14/2015

4:30 pm Monday 12/14/2015

8:30 am Tuesday 12/15/2015

8:30 am Wednesday 12/16/2015

The storm has passed and beautiful clear blue skies appear.

Montana isn't called Big Sky Country for nothin'.

Oh, how I just love all this beautiful fluffy white snow.......NOT!!

This is the most we have had in one storm since we moved here in the 90's.

That's it for today, so until next post .....

Take Care & Happy Winter
Hugs, Sandy 

Two Gifts To You For My Birthday

Today is my birthday so in honor of another year older, here are two winter gifts to stitch.

"Frosty Friends"

"Frosty Friends Holiday Greetins"

Hope you enjoy them. 

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy