Small's SAL update for March

Hello Everyone

It's time for the March update of the Small's SAL.

I've been doing quite a bit of stitching that I keep forgetting to take pictures of and since I am amazingly slow in the finishing department you get to see the before and hopefully here soon the after in another post.

First off I stitched my Love Love design, you can find the chart here: Love, Love Design.

 "Love Love"

Designed By: Sandra Longan

I stitched this on an unknown piece of mauve evenweave, it's real thick with an almost felted back. I picked it up in a second hand store several years back and have never figured out what it is called. I used all DMC threads and some charms and buttons that I've gotten over the years. The fabric will be the backing and as of now it will be made into a wall hanger.

I've also gotten the bug to do Hardanger again and since it's been a while I started out small.

The fringed piece will be a pin pillow when finished, the multi colored piece will most likely turn into a scissor fob and the piece on the Ribband will be a jar or can wrap with fabric flowers in red, white and blue.

The two Hardanger pieces were stitched with no pattern just looking in my Hardanger book for a refresher update on the stitches used, on 28 count evenweave using DMC Color Variations and Mill Hill beads for the aqua piece and for the other Caron Wildflowers in Carnival. The Ribband piece was also stitched with no pattern and stitched on 14 count 1 inch Ribband using Caron Wildflowers in Night Sky and Chili, DMC B5200 and DMC Variegated Yellow. I didn't put stars on the flags since I couldn't get the colonial knots to look right.

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

Thank you for stopping by and do come again.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

TUSAL March Update

☘ Hope everyone has a wonderful Saint Patrick's Day ☘

Now it's time once again for my TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch A Long) update.

If you want to join in just click the TUSAL link on the right side.

"Ort's in the jar"

"Set free for all to see"

And finally my three month's collection.

It's starting to warm up around here and almost all of the snow has melted from the yard, driveway and road, which is AMAZING!!. 

The bad side to all of this is when we pull into the driveway we can literally feel the car, truck or jeep sinking in to the overly wet dirt and gravel mix. Guess it's time for us to take the truck down and get a load or two of gravel to add to the driveway, it's been about ten years since we last did this. It's no fun at all to walk across the yard and hear the smoochy sucking sound of your feet in the wet grass. 

Check on our vacation home (aka: the 5th wheel trailer) and found that all was in order, no leaks at all even after the roof being covered in almost a foot of snow for a month or better. The hub's bought Eterna Bond tape to seal the seam and around the vents and air conditioner it's supposed to be the best for keeping the roof water tight. Got to keep up the maintenance on it if want to have years of great camping.

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

Take Care & Happy Stitching Everyone

Hugs, Sandy  

Stitchin' & Stashin'

Hey Everyone; Hope you all are doin' well.

I have another finish to show off....

 "February"

Finished 2-28-2018

Designed by me using DMC threads and Mill Hill beads on 28 count white Monaco from Charles Craft and a rose embellishment. The stitches used are cross stitch, back stitch, satin stitch and a couple of Rhodes Hearts. The trim is hand made from DMC threads. I got a little large on the "F" but noticed it to late to do anything about it so it stays.

 The back is a cotton moire with an 1/8" satin ribbon run through the back for tying onto baskets or wreaths. 

I'll start stitchin' March soon after I make some more tweaks to the chart.

"January & February"

Now on to the "Stashin' " part.

I like to be frugal when it comes to my craft, sewing and needlework supplies, I like to use coupons, shop sales and shop thrift stores to cut down on the costs and have found tons of bargains doing so, but my recent order through Amazon.com was my best deal yet. 

You see, I take surveys using sites like I-Say, My Survey, Swagbucks and Pinecone and doing so lets me earn points that I turn in for Amazon gift cards. Between the hubs and I we have bought over $200 dollars worth of stuff with no out of pocket costs.

This is what I got yesterday ....

The Complete Serger Handbook $4.48

Bias Tape maker kit $12.29 came with 4 bias tape makers, sewing foot and awl.

Kreinik Custom Corder $15.30

Total = $32.07 

Cost to me $0.00 because of Amazon gift cards.

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

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

2018 Smalls SAL Update

 Hey there everyone! Hope you all have been well.

It was a busy day today with it being supply the cabin day. Off to town we went 40 miles away to check out the Billings RV & Boat Show, they advertised more vendors this year, but they lied big time. Same RV dealers and no extra vendors for parts and such for your RV's.

After we spent an hour or so lookin' around there it was off to Lowes, Michael's, Costco and Walmart, with a stop at Arby's for lunch. Then back home to put everything away. 

Unfortunately I didn't find anything at Michael's. I have become very disappointed with the lack of needlework supplies, both Michael's and Joann's only have one small isle, but several for yarn. I don't even want to go up to Hobby Lobby, they will most likely be the same way. Guess if I want anything other than DMC floss and Charles Craft 28 count Monaco I'll have to start going on-line shopping.

I only have a picture of one Small's finish for this month, even though I did have two finishes.

So here is my finished finish for 23 February 2018.

"What's Cookin'"

Finished: 20 February 2018

Designed by me, using the the large pine cone from a "Sweetheart Tree" chart that I have somewhere among my smalls charts. I haven't found the chart, but I did have a finished piece from a few years back where I had stitched the pine cone on a needle roll. 

I tried several times to make a large pine cone that I was happy with, but just could not make it work. I will continue to work on a pine cone of the same size just to see if I can get one of my own right.

Stitched on 28 count Monaco by Charles Craft using DMC threads. Hand made cording also from DMC thread. I attached a magnet to the back so it can hold my dinner list for the cabin.

Here it is on my fridge, the dark brown cording is almost lost in the blackness of the fridge.

Oh, I almost forgot. I tried the Pickled Carrots & Garlic and the Pickled Garlic that I canned and posted about a week or so back (I couldn't wait any longer) it is so yummy. Wish I would have known about how to do it a lot earlier.

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

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

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

Happy Valentines Day !!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY !!

I got an early Valentines Day gift on Saturday.

A new Brother 1634D Serger and ....

a bunch of threads to use with it. 

He joins my Singer Heritage and my Brother XL-5340.

I have wanted a Serger for years and now I finally have one. Love that now I can serge the edges of my cross stitch fabric and not have it ravel. I tried zigzagging the edges before, but unless I got a real tight zigzag the edges still frayed. 

This one can use 3 or 4 threads and came with a Blind Hem foot (don't see me using that one very often) and a Gathering foot which will be nice for making gathered trim. Lots of things for me to learn after I get comfortable with the basics of the machine.

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

Take Care & Happy Sewing/Stitching Everyone

Hugs, Sandy