TUSAL June

There's a new moon in the sky tonight so it must be TUSAL time again!  This looks like a respectable pile o'ORTs to me. 

This month's contributors were:

• The EMS SAL (which is now halfway through)
• Christmas Sewing Set Biscornu (DONE!)
• What a Cut up! freebie (DONE!)
• Fob from Stitching Chair Necessaire (DONE!)
• My portion of the Round Robin (DONE!)
• I Sigh Not for Beauty (progress)
• Russellville Retreat exchange (I'll be able to show you next month)
• Pre-stitching for the Russellville Retreat (coming soon)
• My summer exchange (I'll show you when it's received)
• Some gift stitching (soon, very soon)

Wow, looking at the list of contributors I hadn't realized I'd been stitching that much!  Gosh, that makes me feel pretty good!  The cool part is I've got six finishes in there and two that will be done in a matter of days!  I guess it is good to reflect back.

I hope to be able to show you my two latest finishes before the week is over.  I know I can show you at least one of them in the next few days.  I can hardly wait!

Hope everyone is having a good week!  Thanks for stopping by today.


More soon,

The Inspired Stitcher

A Blast from the Past!

I got inspired reading Nan's post which led me to Karen's post.  I see now why they call it the web!  LOL!  Anyway, both were showing some some of their golden oldies or throwbacks.  I thought that was a fun idea so I dug out a couple of mine to show you.  I'll warn you though, you are going to see a bunch of Aida here!  ;o)

I started stitching back in the early 80's.  My Granny A. would buy me little kits to work on when I would stay with her in the summer.  Then she started buying them for holidays and birthdays once I got hooked.  As you can tell by the price tag in the picture these kits were purchased a long time ago.  I found a receipt in there that was dated 1986!  Yep, I kid you not!

This is the finished "Swedish Ivy" kit from the picture above.

I spent many an hour sitting on the porch swing propped up on a pile of pillows happily stitching away!  That's my dream now to be able to do just that again!  Too bad Granny is no longer around to share my stitching with.  I know she'd enjoy seeing how the seed she planted so very long ago has really taken off.  Sigh!

This is one from a magazine.  I can't remember which one now.

If you post a picture of a golden oldie on your blog, let me know in the comments!  I'd love to stop by and have a look!  Thank you so much for stopping by and drifting down memory lane with me today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

BAP Update June Edition

Ever have a project that you enjoy stitching so much you don't want to see it end?  Yeah, this is one of those for me.  I realized while stitching this month's assignment that I'm half way through already!  What?  No!  So I decided that this month I wasn't going to speed through the stitching but rather take my time and enjoy each and every "x."

There's just something about this one that really speaks to my soul.  I'm not sure what it is really.  Maybe it's the designs or maybe it's the colors.  I can't put my finger on it really.  I just know I have loved this sampler from the first moment I saw it way back in December and I love it even more now that I'm working on it.

Just look at the beginning of this sweet pup!  This is the reason I chose to stitch this in the first place.  It reminded me of my sweet departed Haley.  Now it reminds me of my Shelby girl!  Such an expressive face.

I love this little viola and rose bud bouquet.  Violas are just such happy flowers!  Can you believe there are seven different colors in those flowers?!  Yep, it's true!  That's what makes them so realistic and have such depth to them.  These are perfect!

Thank you to all who took the time to visit with me and share my progress.  Also welcome to my new followers and thanks to all who leave me comments or send me an email.  You make this blogging thing a whole lot of fun!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Secret Stitcher

Yesterday the mailman brought me a big package from my Secret Stitcher.  I couldn't imagine what she could have possibly sent!  Well, check this out...

Oh Secret Stitcher, you got me!  You really got me this month!!!  I giggled and giggled when I opened this package last night.  Here's what was inside. 

Now dear friends, I know you are thinking okay what's so funny about that?  I have to tell you a little back story.

Last month at Tiara we got on the subject of shoes somehow.  I don't remember how.  Anyway, I told the story of how my honey hates gold shoes.  He calls them Grandma Max shoes.  This is because his grandma loved her gold shoes.

Well, I bought a pair of metallic gold sandals one summer and he just about had a fit!  Now mind you, my honey is not one who normally says anything at all about what I wear.  However, he just kept on and on teasing me about these shoes.  He was really a happy the day these sandals finally died.

For Christmas that year he and his sister even went so far as to find a pair of sneakers just like the ones I wore, spray painted them gold, and wrapped them up for my present.  Well, I just about died because I thought they were my sneakers!!!  Of course they were quite pleased with themselves that they got me.

Ever since the sandals died, I've been on the look out for another pair of gold sandals to tease him with and actually wear.  Guess what?!  Now you know why I loved this package so much!

The craziest part is these flip flops are exactly my right size too!  Now Secret Stitcher, you really are good!  I don't remember mentioning what size I wear.  Maybe I did.  Anyway, they are great and I intend to wear these as long as they last!  LOL!

She also remembered Shelby and sent her some treats.  Which she enjoyed and wouldn't leave me alone once she sniffed them out.  That pup just cracks me up!

Speaking of, I thought I'd show you a recent pic of my girl.  I just love that tail!

Well, folks thanks for hanging with me on this post.  I know it's not really stitchy but it was just too good not to share!  Hope everyone is having a good week.


More tomorrow,

The Inspired Stitcher

Christmas Sewing Set Biscornu DONE!

Just how does a week zip past in the blink of an eye like this past one did I'll never know.  It seems like it was just Monday and now we are looking at a weekend!  Crazy stuff, I tell ya!  I hope the whole summer doesn't move this fast!

~*~*~*~

I finally got around to doing the finishing on the biscornu!  I really like how it turned out and it looks great with the rest of the set!  Check it out!  Hot off the needle!

Design: A Christmas Sewing Set Biscornu

Designer:  Giulia Punti Antichi

Fabric:  35 ct. WDW Parchment

Floss:  WDW as charted

Started:  5/12/12

Finished:  5/30/12

Completed:  6/8/12

 The last picture is true to color.  I love the button my mom picked out the day we went to the button show.  It is just perfect with the design.

 Here's the whole set showing the fronts of everything.  The shoe is a needle book that also holds the hornbook style thread pallet/thimble holder.

This one shows the back of the shoe, fob and biscornu!

As I mentioned before, I originally stitched the set at the Tiara retreat back in 2009.  It was such a fun stitch then and the biscornu was as well.  I'm so glad my buddy LisaS gifted me with this chart!  Thanks, girlfriend!!

~*~*~*~

This weekend I'm planning to finish up my piece for the Seasonal Exchange and work on some other goodies I've got going right now.  I just love doing gift stitching!  I may even go stash diving.  I'm really in the mood to make smalls right now!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for taking the time to visit with me today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Exchange received & a fun weekend

Wow, what an action packed weekend I had!  It all started before I ever left work on Friday.  My honey called me to tell me there was a card in the mailbox saying I had a package to pick up at the post office.

Well, I knew exactly what that just had to be!  So on my way home and before I left for the stitch-in, I stopped by to get it!

My Blackbird Designs Exchange arrived from Mexico!!!  I'm so relieved it finally made it.  These were so worth the wait.  Just look at these darling stockings Laura stitched for me!

They are just so perfectly stitched! Laura even included some beautiful lace which she told me is 60 years old!  I love it!

Check out the violets on this one and that cute ric rack hanger!  Oh my goodness, such cuteness!

Thanks again to Laura for a wonderful exchange.  I'm so glad we both finally received our packages safe and sound!  Thanks also to Patti for hostessing a great exchange.

***

As I mentioned before, I was headed into the city to our monthly first Friday stitch-in at the LNS.  We were a super large crowd for some reason!  If the weather were warmer the peeps and I were going to move to the porch to stitch!  However, it was 55 degrees so we stayed put inside!

Mid-way through the evening the owner said I won the super grand prize!  I wasn't real sure what she was talking about.  Turns out one of my readers (you know who you are) traveled all the way from Champaign, Illinois, just to shop there because she saw this picture on my blog!  Can you even believe that?!

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around someone reading this here blog,  going to all the trouble to search out where the LNS is, and then driving hundreds of miles to go there just because of something I wrote!

Now tell me, is that crazy or what?!  This blog thing continues to amaze me.  Really!  I can't believe I inspired someone that much!!!  So Judy from Champaign, if you would please email me (my email is in my profile) I've got a funny story to tell you!

***

So what else did I get up to this weekend?  Well this pile tells quite a story!

One night last week my honey heard a thud right before we went to bed.  He looked outside and didnt' see anything so no worries.  Well, the next morning I looked out the patio door and the tree had randomly dropped a huge limb!  This is the very same tree we had Miss Shelby tethered to the night before while my honey mowed grass!

This tree has been dead since the hurricane rolled through several years ago and we just hadn't gotten around to cutting it down yet.  Needless to say the tree won't be dropping any more limbs!

We are donating this pile of wood to a family we know who only has a wood burner to heat their house.  This little under taking took the biggest part of Saturday's daylight hours.  We quit when it got too dark to see anymore.  Glad to not have that worry anymore!

***

Yesterday my honey asked me if I wanted to go for a ride?!  Well that's a no-brainer!  Yes!!!  Anytime I can get him to get out the Harley for a ride I'm on it!!!  I just love riding that bike with him.  It's something that makes him happy and something we can do together.  Win-win all around!  Needless to say we took a good long ride and I loved every minute of it.

This also means that between taking down the tree and riding, I didn't put a single stitch into anything since the stitch-in Friday night.  You know what, I don't even care!  Yep, that's probably blasphemy to say on a stitch blog but it was so much fun spending time with my honey!  Sometimes you just have to seize opportunities when you can...and when the weather is cooperating!

***

To keep the end of this post somewhat stitch related, I will tell you that I did get the stitching done on my biscornu at the stitch-in (sorry no pic yet) Friday night!  I can't wait to show it to you!

I was also invited to join another online exchange over at the Seasonal Exchange blog!  I'm super excited about this one as my blog buddy LisaS is hostessing this one.  I can't wait to see who my partner is!  This one is summer themed!  It is going to be so much fun choosing what to stitch!  Summer is my very favorite time of year, dontcha know!

***

Well, if you've stuck with me this far, congrats!  I know this post is much longer than my usual ones but there was a lot that happened between Friday night and today!  I can guarantee you all got more stitching done than I did!  So I'm passing the Wonder Woman cape to each of you!  LOL!

I hope you all had a great weekend too! Thanks for visiting with me today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Is it a dog show prop?

A couple weeks ago I read this post over at Lucy's Lampshade.  Lucy is a super talented artist and so is her hubby!  Lucy asked her readers to guess what the item in the picture below was used for.

She decided to turn the guesses into a giveaway.  She offered to send a surprise package to the silliest guess and the first correct guess.

Image from Lucy's Lampshade

Being in a silly mood and just having come from Shelby's "graduation" from puppy school, I guessed a prop used in dog agility. You know, something for a really fancy dog show dontcha know!

Well, guess what, I was picked as the best silly answer!  The real answer is a banjo stand.  Isn't that cool?!  Her hubby made this!  I'd say he's a very talented woodworker.  Isn't it beautiful?!

So you might be wondering, what did she send?

Well, I'm thrilled to share it with you...

Just check out all this goodness she tucked into the envelope!  I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a real nutcase.  I squealed and jumped up and down when I opened the package.  Everything inside is just so me!

Just look at this simply gorgeous stitching pouch in the most juiciest summer colors too and that sweet little tassel!!  It is perfectly stitched!  Oh my goodness!!!

Check out the sewing pattern she sent!   I'm not familiar with Heather Bailey patterns but I'm sure glad I know about them now. 

I just love that it has the pattern for the pear, apple, tomato and the strawberry pincushion inside!  I can't decide which of these cuties I want to make first!

The chart has a special story behind it.  A while back Lucy left a comment on one of my posts about my Whitman's sewing box and a conversation was started.  She told me her coworker designed that pattern!  Imagine how cool that would be?!

So when I won she mentioned she might have to go shopping over at Clara's house!  This is what she found for me!  I had mentioned this chart had been on my wish list forever. In her enclosed note, she told me it is out of print.  Imagine how lucky I feel now!

Thank you so much, Lucy!  You picked absolutely prefect things to send me.  I feel so spoiled!  I love each and everything you sent!   Please extend my thanks to Clara too.  Everything is so appreciated!!!


I'm off to our LNS's first Friday stitch-in tonight.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Thank you so much for stopping by to visit with me today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher