~ Violets ~

Hi there! There must be truly wonderful stories about how needlework came into our lives! If you have a minute, let me share my story with you!

There I was, Saturday morning, early twenties, pitifully pitiful, sobbing from an earth shattering breakup with a beau the night before. There was nothing to do, I was a lost little lamb. I thought maybe I could and should find something to concentrate on, other than my shattered heart. So, off to Joann Fabrics I went, puffy eyes and all, you can well imagine all the natural beauty I was exuding~LOL. I scuffed up and down each aisle~sniffing, puffing and dabbing, ending up at a section of needlework. I thought *maybe I could do this* as I selected a chart, aida, needles and floss. I stood there thinking~hmmm, if I could just get through the weekend, I might feel better by Monday. And with Monday comes work, and work would fill my day and the holes in my bruised heart. I stitched all weekend, barely setting down the needle a single moment. What with all the counting and crossing, I was able to forget the drama from the night before. This is my first finish, nothing special, but I was a wee bit proud to have completed it, and to have made it through the weekend. At twenty-something, a young woman's heart can still be very tender, then she does two things~grows up and grows a pair:) By Monday, I found myself smitten all over again with this thing about needles and flosses and crosses, oh my! My eternal gratitude to you old beau, for letting me go...

Tootles, Sue

~ Floss Cards ~

Hi there! Thanks to Echevette's tutorial and designs for floss cards here, making these was super easy. These cards are bigger than the DMC floss cards you may be used to, pretty up the sewing box, and make great 'lil gifts for stitchy friends. I cut my manilla folder to 8.5" x 11" because this size fits into the printer. To repeat from a previous post, when the glue stick dries, your card will stiffen up considerably, therefore you'll want a flexible base so you can easily trim the card with scissors and put a hole punch through it. You are very generous Echevette, Merci!

These are Echevette's designs as they come off the printer and have been cut, same design on back (because you will glue two blank sides together), trim and paper punch a hole. Or, you make make each side a different design. Her templates are beautiful aren't they? If you can, please remember to thank Echevette for her templates if you visit her site.
Or, use a blank template and cover with pretty paper of your own. My supplies were manilla folder, old greeting cards (great way to re-purpose them), scrapbooking paper, glue stick, scissors and hole punch. Notice the classic Prairie Schooler colors, very nice! And, don't they look oh so cute in a gift package!
I've thought of making a larger freehand template, to hold all those spools of ribbon. Truth be told, I am not that crafty, cross stitch and sewing is pretty much it, which is why I so very much enjoyed completing this quick project~hope you do to! Please do post me a comment if you decided to try this, I'd love to hear from you!

Tootles, Sue

~ Crockpot Lady ~ Waaay Excellent ~

Hi there! Following Stephanie's blog *A Year of Crockpotting* for the last year has been such great fun! If you lived in our home, you'd know my priorities are in this order: family, crockpot and stitching~LOL!

I liken my Rival 6 qt. oval Smart-Pot to my trusty old IBM Selectric typewriter~a true workhorse, LOVE LOVE LOVE the *automatic* warm mode which keeps everything perfectly moist and allows me to get to it~when I do actually get to it:)

Well well well, it seems that it's once again Stephanie's moment to shine as she guests on Good Morning America on Thursday, 02/19/09! She's worked very long and hard during 2008. This could not happen to a sweeter person~best of luck Steph~you've earned this! Plz do check out her site A Year of Crockpotting, there's even a link to subscribe to her auto-emails when she posts a new recipe:)

Tootles, Sue

~ More Love and Reds ~

Hi there! If I may, a couple more pieces for this Season of Love.

A tiny freebie from somewhere. I really try to make extra effort to catalog resources, this one slipped by me, and my pic not very good, apologies. DMC 3830 on Zweigart Cork Linen, platinum, 18 ct. Not sure how I missed this lovely DMC floss all these years, sort of Scandanavian red, color is quite nice don't you think?

Tiny heart from Savoir-Faire Vailly, just felt like playing with tone on tone effects of overdyed floss.

Sampler I finished in 2003, chart is 1990 Leisure Arts #954 "Old Samplers", stitch count 136 x 85, unk red cotton floss on aida, my initials at top of garland.

Small Sampler by Cross 'N Patch The Crowning Grace 1989, colors as charted, Fiddlers Cloth.

Thanks ever so much for looking!

Tootles, Sue

~Happy Valentines To You and Yours~

Hi there! Here's a couple pics to celebrate the Season of Love. These lovely 'lil hearts are designed by Savoir-Faire Vailly, with a small stitch count of 37 x 39, DMC 3830 on Fiddlers Cloth 18 ct. front and back, a fun/quick stitch. And yes, if you were wondering, I was just a wee bit weary of the same design after all 8 of them. These have customized stitching on the back and were given as wedding favors, the perfect gift~don't you think! HI PATTI~YOU STITCHY LITTLE SHE-DEVIL!

I made these oh so cute floss cards, very easy and a fun project for a quiet rainy day. Materials were what I had on hand: color printer, glue stick, scrap booking paper and very thin cardboard (manilla folder). As the glue dries it does stiffen quite a bit, be mindful to avoid rigid cardboard, keep it flexible.

The templates and easy tutorial are *complimentary* from Echevette's beautiful blog tutorial here. Merci Echevette, vous sont tellement très aimables!

The cookies, DH said they were great but just saw the pic and has declared, well~they don't look like cookies at all~LOL! But, you get the idea, it's all about the Love of a Valentine.

Tootles, Sue

~New Year ~ New Stitching Blog~

Happy New Year 2009 and greetings! Here you will find my practical solution to the conundrum of organizing my stitching. After sorting through pics, I shall post some pretties. Please join my journey through cross stitch, needlework, handwork, point de croix, sticken, it's all beautiful, whatever you like to call it. I look forward to dear friends visiting here and also making new ones (waving at you Erynne in Canada, Patti in Maine and Cyndi in California)! Leave a comment if you wish and sincere thanks to each of you for stopping by.

Tootles, Sue