Organizing & Stitching

I found this great way to organize some of my fabrics at Sew Many Ways.  Karen's blog is full of wonderful ways to organize your sewing and crafting supplies.  So far I've organzied 2 bankers boxes with my smaller fabric cuts.  This is perfect for me - I store these in a closet with the lid off.  When I need a piece for the backing of a stitchery, I  just open the door and quickly scan the boxes for the perfect piece of fabric.  

My old way of finding fabric would have been digging through plastic storage containers looking for just the right piece.

I ordered some more hand-dyed flosses from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. 

Nancy shipped my order very quickly - I sure appreciate that so I can start stitching right away.  The pumpkin colors are going to be perfect for my fall stitching.

Before I can use my new floss, I need to finish my latest start - Anne Browne from Country Rustic Primitives.

Love her designs!

My sister/husband/3 kids and my Mom came for a weekend visit from Wisconsin.  Mom is still sorting and finding new homes for some of her treasures.  She knew I'd like this little doll quilt - it's 5 x 5 squares in perfect for me colors - browns, reds and 2 blues. Love it!  

We had lots of fun with the 3 little cousins, my nephew is 7 and nieces are 5 & 2.  Our youngest was in a baseball tournament over the weekend and he had quite the cheering section!  It's a good thing there are playgrounds close to the baseball fields - and concession stands with icees.  

Have a great week.

~Ann  

Cross stitching

 I finished another UFO this week, I'm on a roll ~ Stacy Nash Hollyhock Journal.

The antique blue fabric comes from the thrift store doll coat I found several months ago.  Stacy's pattern is for a larger journal, but I only had enough fabric for this smaller one. I backed the blue with some tan fabric from my stash, giving it some much needed stability. 

The inside bottom corner is pieced and I love the make-do look of it.  

I recently won a giveaway from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  My winnings were my choice of 5 of her overdyed flosses. Now I need to dig through my patterns and find something to stitch with these.  They are beautifully done.  Nancy sells these floss collections for $2.00 each, which I think is a very good buy. 

 My latest finish is the newest pattern from Pineberry Lane, "Lydia Broome".  Isn't great to be able to purchase the pattern online and download it instantly at Patternmart.com so you can stitch right now? This piece only requires 2 colors and stitches up quickly.

I'm now looking through my stash for a frame that fits this piece.  Hope to find one so this doesn't sit in my UFO pile. 

Have a great weekend.

~Ann

From Start to Finish

After my marathon week of finishing up those UFO's I decided to reward myself.  I started AND finished this Spells pocket, pattern by Stacey Nash.  The backing and strap are a black fabric with an old gold design in it.  Note to Marly - I used a lightweight iron on interfacing on the back of the stitching and it was perfect - Thanks again for your help.

 Like so many of you, our weather here in NW Ohio was unbearable last week.  

 Even with our central air on, the cats didn't do much last week.  I'm not even sure this photo is appropriate!  It may be hard to tell with that jumble of fur, but he's on his back, back legs flopped open sleeping on the living room floor.  

Linda Claus, this picture is for you - do you see the nice pillows you made me on the floor in the background, by the side of the rocker?  Shadow pushed them off so he could sleep in the rocker - bad cat!  

Hope you are all having a good week.

~Ann

One Dozen UFO's Done!

By Friday of last week, I finished a total of 12 items from my stitching basket.  Not every UFO is done, but I made quite the dent in my stack of projects.  

#12 - I needed to bind and steam this little mat, pattern from Robin at A Bird in the Hand found HERE 

While I would have liked to keep completing those UFO's duty called and I needed to get these custom baskets done for a gal who ordered a total of 10 baskets from me.  These are the biggest and last 2.  

I had to reward myself after getting all these projects done by starting more!  I actually finished it too - I'll show you later in the week.

Have a Happy & Safe 4th.

~Ann