Happy Halloween and a finish!

Design:  Oct 31st

Designer: Glory Bee from JCS Sept/Oct 2009

Fabric: 28 ct. Lambswool

Floss: DMC as charted

Started: 10/21/11

Finished:  10/23/11

Completed:  10/25/11

Since I know Lisa S. has received this I wanted to post it here so you can see it.  Today is Lisa's birthday!  She has a special Halloween birthday.  How cool is that?!

I put a butterfly pin on the back since I know Lisa loves butterflies.  I also enclosed a couple bright red maple leaves I picked up in the yard since she commented earlier that she doesn't get to "see fall" like we do up north.  I figured I'd share a little bit of my fall with her on her special day.  Pop on over and leave her some birthday wishes.

I "met" Lisa last year during BeckySC's Pumpkin Challenge.  She had stitched the incredibly cute BOAF freebie called Halloween Costume and I fell in love with it.  She shared her copy of the freebie chart with me and we've emailed back and forth ever since.  Along the way we've discovered several "Lisa things" and shared numerous giggles as a result.  She's a kindred spirit for sure.

Happy birthday girlfriend! I hope you are rightly spoiled today!!! 

***

Now for something completely different....

Our office has a tradition of dressing up for Halloween.  We go all out.  We even parade to the other floors "Trick or Treating" but mainly just to show off our costumes.  This year two of the main people who really get into it weren't at work today so I carried on the tradition with the two other folks that did dress up. 

The real Hamburgler

Me as Hamburgler

Yep, I see a resemblance here!  Needless to say, we had a ball and made lots of people smile today.

***

I hope you have a Happy Halloween wherever you are and remember, there's a little kid in all of us!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher aka The Hamburgler (just for today)!

The Thread Basket SAL - Week 1

Design:  A La Belle Etoile

Designer: C Mon Monde

Fabric: 32ct Cobblestone

Floss:  DMC as charted

Week 1 Started: 10/26/11

Week 1 Finished: 10/28/11

I've started another SAL (stitch-a-long) with my peep Marsha (jump over and check her's out). This one is organized by The Thread Basket.  They are a French online stitch shop.  Marsha got an email from them telling about the SAL and spread the word to the peeps.  I think she and I are the only peeps participating in this one.  (If I'm wrong peeps, give us a shout out so we know who else jumped in.)

Anyway, this SAL is structured a bit different than the "I Sigh Not for Beauty" SAL I'm doing.  For this one you have to email a picture of your finished stitching to the organizer before you get your next "assignment."  Talk about motivation!

Let's just say that's probably the fastest house ever built!  I hope I can keep up this pace for the next three weeks.  I need to get crackin' on some ornaments dontcha know!  We'll see how it goes.  Stay tuned!

Off to pull ornament charts!

The Inspired Stitcher

Cath Kidston - Dog Days FINISHED!

The last time I went to get my hair cut I stopped in Half Price Books to browse around and kill time until my appointment.  I ran across the September 2011 issue of Cross Stitcher Magazine.  I'd not seen it before and then realized the reason why is because it's British!  I fell in love with several designs in it so I bought it.

I took the magazine to work the next day because one of my coworkers has a wire-haired terrier and I had to show him this design.  It looks just like his dog!

Design:  Dog Days

Designer:  Cath Kidston (from Cross Stitcher Magazine)

Fabric:  32 ct. barn grey

Floss:  DMC as charted
Started:  10/13/11
Finished:  10/25/11
To be framed by it's new owner

It's charted for needlepoint but I obviously didn't stitch it that way.  I also changed the first row to be black to frame the dogs better and didn't do as many rows of red either since it will be framed.

My friend fell in love with this design immediately and literally begged me to stitch it for him as a Christmas gift for his wife.  He said this would be the one gift that would really surprise her.  Now I have to tell you, how could I resist?!  Besides I've met their dog, Whitman and he's a cutie pie.  I also know his wife and yes, he's right, she will be surprised!  She is really smitten with their dog.

My friend also wouldn't let me just stitch it for the fun of it and give it to them.  Oh no, he insisted on paying me for stitching it.  Seriously!  I still can't believe someone really wanted to give me money to stitch.  Really?!

I've never done commission work.  I'd rather just stitch for the joy of stitching and giving it to someone.  However, he wasn't having any of that so there you go.  My first commissioned piece.  Just typing that is funny to me but that's what he called it.  I think it sounds all hoity-toity and I am about as far from that as you can get.  Seriously!

Anyway, he's as pleased as punch that he now has a one of a kind gift for his wife and I'm happy he's so happy with it.  I was going to stitch it for myself anyway so this was a bonus.  Funny how things go sometimes.

***

While flipping through the magazine I saw an ad for the above book.  I've been a Cath Kidston fan for ages.   I had no idea she had published craft/stitching/sewing books!

Well, I couldn't resist and immediately went to Amazon to see about getting myself a copy.  Oddly enough, I couldn't find it on the US Amazon site and had to go on  Amazon.co.UK to find it.  It came with a kit for the project shown on the cover tucked inside.  Fun!  I was also pleasantly surprised by how quickly it came across the pond too.

It always amazes me how one discovery leads to another and then another.  If I hadn't stopped in the bookstore that night I wouldn't have found the magazine, then I wouldn't have shown it to my friend, and then I wouldn't know about this book.  How cool is all that?!

***

I hope you enjoyed my crazy tale today.  Thanks so much for reading this far and for your visit today.  Your comments and visits really do mean a lot to me.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Tiara Stitch-in

Hi all!  I hope everyone had a good stitchy weekend.  I know I did!  Saturday was an all-day stitch-in with the Tiara club.  We were a smaller than usual group but we still had a blast as usual.

My peep, Marsha brought her "I Sigh Not For Beauty" SAL project and inspired me to work on mine too.  I hadn't given "Beauty" much attention since the retreat in September so I pulled her out of the bag and made some progress.  She now has a man, another tree and a flower/weed.

Don't pay any attention to the wrinkles.  I literally popped off the top Q-snap and took the picture before cramming her back in her pillowcase for the ride home in my stitch bag.  I did work on her some more yesterday and I've now got part of the house, front door and a window stitched.

This is going to be one of those that I'll be sad to finish.  I'm going to miss spending time with her.  It's been a fun stitch.  I love it just as much now as I did the day I started it.  Ever have a piece like that?

***

Since we were a smaller group there wasn't as much show and tell as usual.  I did manage to snap pics of what was there.  I swear I am continually inspired by the talent of my friends.  These ladies do awesome work.  Check it out!

Incredibly cute Halloween ornament!

This one was still smokin' from the last stitch being put in it.  Just in time for Halloween too!

Check out the inside of this cool stitching basket!

Even the outside and the bottom was stitched.  Love that!

***

Picture source.

The other highlight (not stitching related) of my day was a trip to Dorothy Lane Market with my buddy Toni to pick up some lunch.  OMG, this is the coolest grocery store ever!  As Toni says it's the "Lexus of grocery stores!"  She is not even kidding!

They had samples all over the store and let me just tell you we grazed our way through there too.  It was awesome!  As you may know, I'm a foodie and this place was like heaven on earth for me.  I'm seriously considering taking hubby back there the next weekend he has off.  If for no other reason than to eat in the restaurant.  Yes, this grocery has a restaurant on the second floor!

Chocolate mousse in a white chocolate cup!

This was just one of the "bad for me" things I couldn't live without.  The two cream horns I bought didn't even get a chance for a photo.  Hubby and I had them for breakfast yesterday!  Yes, even I'm surprised this is still in my fridge.  It won't be after dinner tonight I can assure you!  I'll live on lettuce the rest of the week...it will be worth it.  LOL!

***

Hope your weekend was good and you got some X's crossed!  Thanks for stopping by today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Making floss tags

Mouse asked a good question about how I make my floss tags so I thought I'd share here for anyone else who might be curious.

My very first floss tag

The first tag I made (seen here) I used iron on interfacing behind the stitched part and another piece of interfacing the same size on the backing fabric.  Then I stitched it on three sides with the sewing machine, after turning it right side out I slip stitched the opening closed, and gave it a good press.  It turned out pretty good. 

My first bee (second ever floss tag)

I did the same thing for this one.  Both of these turned out nicely but I wanted my next one to feel stiffer, more tag-like and less floppy.

Floss tag made by Staci

The method I used for the second bee tag was actually from Staci's tutorial over at Snippets and Stash.   I was lucky enough to be partnered with Staci in an exchange. She made me the floss tag above.

My second bee

So this time around I used her method and I liked the stiffness of the finished tag.  The difference was I used interfacing, fusible web and a piece of batting this time around.  These additions really did make a difference and acheived the stiffness I wanted.  This time I hand stitched the two sides together using a ladder stitch instead of using the sewing machine.

Also, I will say that I'm in love with my Crop-A-Dile for making the holes and setting the grommets.   You don't have to have one of these tools to make a floss tag but I already had one and it worked like a charm! 

I would say the method you use is a personal preference thing.  You may pass out at the thought of using glue or fusible anything near your stitching.  That's cool, do what you feel comfortable doing.  This is what I'm comfortable doing and it acheived the feel I was personally looking for.

Here are a couple more tutorials I found on a quick Google search.  Anita's over at Anita Little Stitches  and Vonna's over at The Twisted Stitcher.  I'd say try a couple methods and see what works for you.

I hope this helped answer any questions and hopefully inspired you to give it a go yourself.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

QCSG Tin Topper Finish!

Design:  QCSG Tin Topper

Designer: Paula

Fabric:  32 ct. Antique White scrap

Floss:  DMC and Kreinik as charted

Started:  10/4/11

Finished:  10/6/11

Completed:  10/16/11

This chart was designed by my buddy, Paula.  She made 50 of these for the Queen City Sampler Guild's Christmas party before I became a member.  Can you believe that?!  Yep, she's awesome.  Seriously!

I've wanted one ever since I saw my friend Janis'.  A couple folks had theirs with them at the Tiara retreat.  So I asked around at the retreat to find out who might have the pattern.  Turns out it was my buddy Paula!  She was nice enough to share it with me so I could make one of my own.

I think this one turned out pretty good since this was my first attempt at this kind of finish.  The acorn tin topper I shared on Monday was actually the second one I've ever finished.  If you want to give it a try yourself, here's a good tutorial by the Twisted Stitcher.

Thank you, Paula for sharing the pattern.  I can't wait to show you in person tonight at the stitch-in!   Also, thank you to all who've left me comments lately.  You really do know how to make a person's day!

The Inspired Stitcher

Bee Floss Tag #2 Finish!

Design:  #45 Garden Verses

Designer:  Prairie Schooler

Fabric:  32 ct. Cream

Floss:  DMC as charted (except wings are DMC 415)

Started:  8/27/11

Finished:  8/27/11

Completed: 10/16/11

As you might remember from this post last week, I gave my first bee floss tag to my "Bee Buddy," Marsha.  I just couldn't resist stitching this one again.

The fabric in the picture is what I used for backing.  Since I used a scrap of 32 ct. this time around it's a little smaller than the one Marsha has.  I think this one turned out just as cute.

Thank you to all who commented on yesterday's post.  You all really made my day!  I am so humbled.  It was like getting hugs in my inbox.  Thank you so much!

The Inspired Stitcher