Snow Deer

This was a quick stitch. The design is by Just Nan and she calls it Snow Deer. I love the little WhimZi frame. There was enough silk left over to stitch it again so I passed it on to a fellow stitcher.

Merry Christmas

More Snow - - well on the ornament anyway

Lots of white on this ornament. We have had a lot of rain today but no snow. That's okay because if this had been snow - - we might have had 2.5 t0 3 feet of snow and we don't need that. Flurries are due tomorrow. Meanwhile my little scottie dog is looking better every day.

Plaid Greetings - part 1

I am in an ornament kit exchange. Each year six of us pick out an ornament from JCS magazine. We stitch one and make 5 kits for our friends. This is my pick for this year. I believe the designer is Ladybug Designs.

Complete Comfort and Joy

I really like this. Much of it is stitched over one. Some is stitched over two. It made for an interesting stitch.

Wishing you Comfort and Joy

This is yet another ornament KIT exchange project. I have it started and it is going well. I still have to finish the alphabet and then there is a border. This is a Blue Ribbon Design from JCS magazine.

Poinsetta

This was a Just Cross Stitch magazine kit that a friend gave me. It is really pretty. I love the sparkle fabric. I really do need to spend a day finishing ornaments.

Christmas 2005

Linda's comment about an old envelope caused me to go looking in my old photo album. Here it is!! The Santa on the front was stitched over one. The back was just the wording and a few gifts. This was based on a design by Lizzie Kate, I do believe.

Happy Birthday Mom!

The first photo is the back of the envelope. The second photo shows the front before I put on the addresses. MIL loves cardinals and I used several different patterns to put this together.

A special envelope - -

I am working on a special envelope. This cardinal by Prairie Grove Peddler was placed on the back flap. I will have more photos. This was sent to a very special lady on her 80th birthday. Happy Birthday to Mom Soderholm. I heard today that it arrived yesterday - just in time.

Happy Halloween

Well, I got it done. I will pack it away until next year when I get inspired to make it into a displayable piece of art. Meanwhile - - done is done. I am hovering around 90 completed projects this year. That number is low but I still have a few more days.

Halloween won't go away!!

I put together a bunch of things to take on vacation to stitch. I didn't stitch most of it. This is one that I had started and will hopefully now finish. I am still waiting for beads on the BAP so I might just as well get this one done.

Let It Snow - LHN

I believe this is LHN and was in a Just Cross Stitch magazine - last year? I don't care for the white on the slightly blue fabric. It doesn't show up very well. I ran out of blue - so my birds are red. I ran out of Winter White so I used B5200 (for the snowman). It is cute and quite appropriate for today's weather problems. I saw rain yesterday and flakes today. The big news is the wind and the cold!! Brrrr.

Random Thoughts

This is the piece by Drawn Thread titled Random Thoughts. I have been working on this for many, many years. I ran out of fabric half way through. I then puzzled on how to marry the two pieces together. I did that only to discover that one border was definitely not right. So I took an afternoon and put the border to rights. The instructions are to fold the edges under and hemstitch between the border and the main body of the piece. I am not sure how that will work.

Ready for beads

I ran out of beads!!! There are two different colors and I ran out. I hope to get some new packages soon. I will have to find something to fill my time......

I am getting there - -

I need to do the outside lines and the Green Tea sparkle braid. I hope I have enough. Next on the agenda will be beads.

And the verse continues

Here we go - - verse done and it time to finish up the border.

A bit of shopping

Who me? I did some shopping. There is a Mill Hill Victorian Church - I am collecting the whole village and I want to do them as stand ups. There are two more Blue Ribbon designs. I am such a push over for her work. There is the last of the Over the Top tins by Just Nan. There is the new Drawn Thread ornament kit. There is Just Nan's snow deer frame and chart. There is also some new DMC memory floss. Interesting concept. It is a wire covered with floss. You bend it and it stays in that shape. You shape it, place on top of the fabric and stitch it in place. Very interesting.

Straight Stitch the Verse

I debated with myself about leaving out the verse. I think it would look unbalanced. So here we go with the verse. It is half done here. Of course, after that verse comes more border.......

The border on the main part is almost done - -

I have never been a fan of doing borders. This one is very tedious. I am now around the main picture. The next part will be to do the verse on the lower part and then oh - - more border!! I am still wondering if I have enough sparkle braid. It is getting less and less and I still have a lot to do.

Progress is being made

It is getting close??? I wish this were true. I did make it further around. I am becoming concerned that the green tea sparkle braid won't make it all the way around. I hope I have enough.

Happy Birthday - - late

I took this photo early this month. I love the stitching container. The photo doesn't do the eggplant color justice. I love it. I also got that wonderful hardanger chart and iTunes gift card. I can't believe how slow I am to post this.

Turkey day was wonderful as usual. I did get a bit of stitching done but of course there is always the hopping up and down to check turkey, etc, etc. I am very thankful for so many things. One would have to be my needlework. It keeps me sane. I am thankful for all my on line friends. I see comments often from friends of this blog and I do enjoy reading them. I really do believe I am very blessed.

The headless horseman will soon be done (I have to keep telling myself that). What to work on next? Whenever I work on one of these large projects, I miss 'getting things done'. I am not sure where I am going next. I do have a few gifts I need to work on. Stay tuned.

Borders! Borders! Borders!

Well, we are now 'into' pumpkins (three colors_, skulls and bats. Over and over and over again. There is also some green sparkle thread that I am worried there won't be enough of. One step at a time. For now it is just trying to get this done. Oh - - each motif gets backstitching!!!!!

Attention Secret Santas

This is my brother, Butch. He is playing Santa Claus here while me makes his fabulous threaders. These make great Christmas presents. Very unique and very useful for any stitcher.

I have some great ideas for Secret Santas this year. This first photo shows three long hook threaders and they all have magnets. (More about that below) There is also one long wire that reminds me of a star detailer tool with a wooden handle. Each of these is $25.00


These threaders are all using the same as the metal threader in the photo. The threaders are trimmed to size for the wooden part, pierced and then glued in place with gorilla glue. I have yet to hear that one has been pulled out. They are very strong. The top row has magnets and sell for $16.00 a piece. The three on the bottom row do not have magnets and sell for $12.00

These are all using the LoRan threader as displayed here. The small hook end is trimmed and then glued in place. The top row has magnets and see for $16.00 The bottom row do not have magnets and see for $12.00. The first threader in the first row - - looks like a wine glass...

Why magnets? They will help find misplaced needles. They stay put when placed in a travel tin with the rest of your tools. They also will not roll off or get lost when you use a magnetic board or any metal surface. Some people love them and others don't

You can email me at taffystreasures@yahoo.com. Shipping is $5.00 extra for USA.

The border work begins

Well, here I have to top and most of the left side done. This is just the main parts without the backstitching, specialty floss stitching and beads. There is a lot of border to this thing.

Meanwhile I think I have fixed the photo upload thing..... I certainly hope so.

Blogger is bad - -

I tried several times to up load a current photo. The system won't let me. I do hope this is temporary. Meanwhile, I will offer an update. I started working on the border. Why do designers think we enjoy back stitching in the borders???? There is a lot of work in these borders. I am doing all the parts except the beads.

Just a thought... do you short cut your threads when you know you only have a small number of stitches to do? I am doing these little pumpkins over and over again. I generally cut my floss to about 18 inches. The outside orange on the pumpkin uses only a half of the floss, so I cut it 9 inches and still use the loop start. The second orange color is inside the other orange and I find that using a third of the floss is just about right. The last orange (lightest) color only takes a fourth of the floss. Does anyone else do this? I don't like to drag the floss from one motif to another and this seems to help.

I am also finding that I will fill several needles at a time before doing these motifs. I like this because of the quick color changes and the limited number of stitches. Thank goodness - - the skulls are using one piece of 18" looped.

I am always looking for a silver lining.

We have a tree!!

This represents the bulk of the back stitching. The middle of this is now done. I will now have to move on to the border. There is a lot of border.

We now have a cemetery!!

I know the back stitching is working and it is really helping this project. On the other hand, doing this much is a real drag. I did like that the cemetery is looking better. Only the tree to go!!

More back stitching

I have been busy doing the evil back stitching. I will agree that it makes a difference but it is also taking quite a bit of time.

Time for a break - -

I abandoned this project due to running out of floss. I decided to day that I really wanted to work on something different. I have already posted the main needle roll stitched part. These will be the scissors sheath, strawberry fob, pin cushion and needle book. I am so happy to have these done. Of course now I need to spend some time doing the 'finishing'.

How Many????

I continued on with his jacket, cape and will move on to the pants. It occurs to me that I am doing one stitch at a time. How about you? When you back stitch, what is the max you will carry a thread when it is going in one direction. I won't go more than three stitches. If there are four stitches, I will do two at a time. The directions said to only back stitch over two threads. I might start that way but I quickly move on to going two or three stitches at a time. How about you?

Scary Pumpkin

Well, here he is!! I did all the back stitching on the pumpkin. I am still not sure where I want to go next. Continue back stitching or more on to the borders????? The back stitching does help to outline the items and it does make it seem to pop out. This guy says "Hey - - look at me!!"

The moon is full - - Yippee

I received some beautiful flowers from my son and his girl friend. I just love the idea that they are purple!!!!!


The moon is done. I am not sure where to go next. Back stitching the whole main project will be quite a challenge. I could also move on to the border.

Now we work on the moon.

I asked my sister for an iPod bag and I asked that it be purple and 'hippie' style. This arrived today. I am thrilled with it. She also included a sample dose of Happy Hands lotion. This one is called Hippie Chick. How great is that?????


There is a lot of yellow. I am working the overdyed with my two row method to help make it look more mottled. I am done on the left side and will move on to the right side of the horseman.

We Have Pumpkin!!!

Our headless horseman is holding his pumpkin head. Is it scary? What scares me is all the yellow moon that will be coming soon.

We now have a skull - -

The grave yard is done and the skull is in place. I am also working my way up the tree. I also ran into a bit of trouble with the border. The horse's tail should not touch the border but it does. I am not going to figure out the trouble but to move on. The tree needs a lot of work.

Thank Goodness - - another color

Ok - now I have finished up the horse. Whew!!! I just read that it all gets BACKSTITCHED??? That will another huge job. Now I am doing the green grass and tombstones to represent the cemetary this guy must be riding through.

On a side bar - - I have, once again, messed up my back. Lessons are learned each time I go through this. I went to the chiropractor today after a weekend of screaming pain. Well, it only hurts when I step on my left foot. It also hurts if I turn to the left so I have to continually turn to the right. (DH likes this - - ) I am spending a lot of time exercising the bad muscle, going to the doctor, icing my back and saying lots of bad words. I hope things are better soon. I do get a lot of stitching done while I have to sit and ice. So there is a good part.

Black, black, black

When you have a lot of one color, the good news is you don't have to spend a lot of time changing colors or threading needles. The bad news is that you can get very sick of a single color. The horse now has his back feet and we have moved on to the tail. The horse part is coming to an end. I am very grateful about that.

Perhaps now - -the horse can dance....

I worked my way down the horse. I am growing very sick of black. Black, black and more black. Meanwhile the end of the cape is done with all the sparkly stuff. Gee- - what is next? I suppose I will have to spend a day working on a horse's a$$?????? Horrors of horrors.....

Mr. Horse is starting to look better

Well we have parts of the front hooves started. Meanwhile I did do the saddle. The edge of the saddle and the cape have sparkly braid.

More shopping and more stitching

I am quite pleased with all my new stash. I continue to work on my main project. The poor guy now has a leg!!! I may have to take a break and do something small or finish up a UFO project. I am excited about the play of the gray and black of the horse. I have continued to more on with the stitching and for now the jacket will remain brown. Pulling it out and replacing it is always an option (well, until framing is done - - that might slow me down - - LOL).