Checking In

No stitching to show. I'm still working on exchanges and the mailing deadlines are getting close. Today I stitched on my N&T exchange. It is coming along nicely. It better be since I have to mail it next week. I think I can get the stitching done tonight, and the finishing done tomorrow and into the mail Monday or Tuesday. One never knows though, especially when I'm the one doing the stitching!

We had a slow week at the Humane Society. Our computer was in the repair shop a couple of days, one or two adoptions as I remember. Every adoption counts though, which means a life saved.

Hope everyone has a restful and productive stitching weekend.

A little birthday boy

Yesterday my parents and I traveled to Oklahoma City to attend the second birthday party of my great nephew. So, no stitching to speak of, but here's a photo of the cutie. He's all boy.

I am stitching on two exchange pieces though, so you can see why no photos to share. Have a great stitching week!

A first for me

No stitching to show tonight because I am working on exchange pieces. I do have a some news to share though.

Today at the shelter I gave my first shots to two kittens. It didn't bother me too much, except when one of them meowed a little loud. He was okay though. You have to start somewhere. I'm not ready to tackle doing the puppies yet, but I can do kittens.

Just back from Weight Watchers. Whee, I had a terrible week. So much so, that I gained five, count them, five pounds. So, you know, I was bad, bad, bad. I start again tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a good stitching day. I was up super early, around 3:30 a.m. Once I got some coffee made, I settled into stitching and made pretty good progress. I like to stitch first thing in the morning when my eyes aren't so tired. Later...

Kreinik Custom Corder

I posted a comment to Marie P's blog on how I use the KCC. She e-mailed and said I should post how I use it on my blog. So, here goes...
I have a stand my dad made for me. It was supposed to be the form for a Christmas tree, but I never got around to making it. I decided to use it for my needlework instead. It's about four feet tall. He made it out of a 1-1/2 by 3-1/2 piece of wood. With a brace at the bottom.
I then place my magnetic hook on my refrigerator to hold my strands of floss used to make the cord.
I make a knot in each end of the strands of floss. I loop one end onto the refrigerator hook and the other end onto the KCC hook.

Then I use the KCC to wind the floss for my first strand of cording and attach it to the first nail on the stand

I don't normally do more than a three colored cord, so I only need three nails.

I wind the floss toward me when making the individual colored strands. Then when I'm ready to put the cord together, I hook the three individual cords on to the KCC and wind the floss away from me. I take the three knotted strands off the hook and make one big knot. Then while holding on to the big knot, I take the three looped ends off the hook, and make another knot. Then I drop one end. The cord does not come unwound. Trust me, it works. That's how I do all my cording.

I hope this gives you this an idea of how I use the KCC. Sorry for the cluttered look. I did well to get all the photos posted!

Even more tipsy

The tipsy tree has captured my stitching heart. I've done four so far. Sorry about the quality of the photo, I was too lazy to iron them. The pieces will be turned into tree ornaments for friends. I need to decide on the backs and then stitch them up. I do all my stitching by hand, so it will probably be an easy design.

I have decided on the design I'm going to stitch for the USEBB Christmas Ornament exchange. I've done the design and one similar to it several times. Like the Tipsy Tree, this design has a place in my heart also. All I need to do is pull the threads and decide which fabric I'm going to use. Most likely the fabric will be Cashel since I really like to stitch on it. I'll see.

The open house at the Humane Society went well. The day was beautiful. We adopted two little pups. We had hoped to adopt more, but the lookers has something very specific in mind. We just didn't have the dogs this time. Maybe next. I do not understand people. Someone dropped off three little kittens without telling us. They just left them to fend for themselves. They are now in the shelter. We also have four, count them, four black cats. We don't adopt them out at this time of year.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy stitching to each of you.

A little tipsy and a puppy

It has been a good stitching week for me. Two, count them, two completed designs. That is very good for me, because as I've said many times, I am a very slow stitcher.

I absolutely fell in love with the Charland Designs Tipsy Tree when I perused the JCS Ornament issue. Since funky trees are a favorite of my, I knew I would be stitching it. The fabric is a piece of scrap left over from another project. I wanted to see how it stitched up. So, this little one is mine, all mine. I will be doing more for some friends trees.

The Britty Christmas puppy is one of the ornaments for a Humane Society volunteer who prefers dogs over cats. Most of the volunteers I work with are cat fanciers, so I've done four of the Britty Christmas kittys so far. Now, I must get to work and turn them into some ornaments for the office tree.

I was all set to begin Just Nan's Christmas biscornu as my next project. Went to get my pattern, and low and behold, none, nada, nuthin'. When I was at my LNS and purchased ... I ended up with the thread pack, and no pattern. My oh my, that is going to be one $precious$ biscornu by the time I get the pattern in my hot little hands! I must pay more attention to what I'm purchasing.

Thanks to all who left birthday wishes in my comments box. I had a good day, and week. Yesterday I received another wonderful gift from my dear friend Lynn and a card from a friend in Louisiana. For a milestone birthday it has been a good week.

I want to thank you wonderful stitchers who stop by to look at my blog. I feel like I know each and everyone of you. The stitching blog community is a great one to belong to!

A happy dance and some thoughts

Well, here it is the last 50 minutes of my life as a fifty something. Tomorrow is my 60th birthday. It is so hard to believe. I don't feel 60, and everyone says I don't look my age. What's a gal to do? I think I'll post my latest finish. It's a M Designs name tree for my sister's belated birthday. The beads look green in the photo, but they are the same color as the floss. In person it's a real stunner. I may have a problem giving it to her!

While I love the look of over one, and really like doing it, the stitching sure plays havoc with my eyes. I'm gonna have to do a quick project on some larger count fabric just to give my eyes a break.

We had the annual German Dinner at church tonight. There was lots of sauerkraut and some out-of-site beer cheese soup and apple strudel made by a local German lady. All of it was so good, however, I limited myself to small portions and tried really hard to stay on WW'ers Core program. I'll have to count a lot of points for that dinner!

Hope everyone had a fantastic stitching weekend.