Shame Shame Shame

Hi there sweet friends, welcome to a couple new followers who I hope will enjoy stopping by every now and then.  I thank new followers because one great thing about blogging is of course discovering new blogs, which I adore:)

I tend to avoid most non-stitchy personal opinions on my blog.  This NFL issue however, will not escape my wrath!

They call this type of post grass roots ~ I'm ROOTING and ROARING!!!

So, going in different direction from my usual posts ~ I will now step on my soapbox.

HEAR ME ROAR... microphone please ~ 

SHAME SHAME SHAME on you NE Patriots, NFL, corporate sponsors and all other involved for aligning yourself in even the smallest way  ~ with a monster, no matter your greedy reasons! A child molester should not profit, no matter the circumstances, P.E.R.I.O.D.!

If you are like minded, please be heard and share the word everywhere you can!

Plz link to this post!  Plz post to your FB!  Plz blab everywhere! You get the idea!

SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU NE PATRIOTS, NFL and corporate sponsors!!!

THIS IS JUST WRONG WRONG WRONG!  BECOME INFORMED HERE. 

Bathing, Stitching, Punching and Cooking On A Birthday...

Hi there Sweet Friends!  How's everybody doing?  Staying warm?  Stitchin?  Thanks for stopping by, I've quite a few sweet things to share with you.  This is a longish post, so if you've no time now, you're welcome to stop back when you can.

STITCHY BATH...  There's this older EMS SAL flower chart that's been nagging me, but I hesitated on kitting it up because the colors were really quite bright, not really to my prim liking.  Rather than do a conversion, I used the DMC colors as charted and bathed them in a very strong tea bath and rinsed, several times actually.  Well... truth be known, OCD rinsing happened ~ it's ok, go ahead, laugh:)  There might be a naysayer or two who'll say I've broken some rule and advise against this, but it's just DMC floss, and I'm accustomed to breaking rules.  The end result was quite acceptable, drabber and muted, a simple and fun experiment.  Heck, I might even trickle some drops of ~ Distress It ~ on these to stain them even more.

 One cup hot water w/six or seven tea bags...

 

before ~ yes, these colors are true, yikes...

 after ~ there now, that's better...

STITCHY TIP...  This WIP has been in my basket prob 4 or 5 years, I've just now picked it up again and am making good progress.  But, I decided I needed a few extra inches on each edge to fit more comfortably in my hoop.  I like to hoop, it fits my comfort level.  If you don't use a hoop, this tip's probably not for you.  So... I machine stitched a 4 inch wide strip of muslin along each edge to add some hoop comfort!  Of course any scrap fabric on hand will do.  This is also a very thrifty way to stitch a wee motif on those smaller linen/aida scraps that you think are a bit too small to use for anything.

See the seam?

Just sew a scrap piece along one edge or all four!

OH NOOOO ~ NOT AGAIN...  Like many of you, try as I might, I just can't seem to avoid those really annoying and pesky birthdays, you know... the ones ~ shhhhhh ~ after 50.  Mine is due to arrive unwelcome and uninvited a.g.a.i.n. on the 26th, yep me and Paul Newman.  I really and truly DO NOT KNOW how and when and why all these birthdays happened!  Not that I mind them that much, just wish they'd not come so often, every other year would be divine.

As a little present to myself, I signed up for a punch needle class this coming weekend at Liberty Cottage in Canandaigua, one of my most favorite shops.  I guess there's only myself and one other student.  I'm really looking forward to learning punch needle as an alternative to stitching, as I'm told it's much quicker from start to finish!  Wish you could join me!

Liberty Cottage, Canandaigua, NY

Sweet Patti (no blog) sent along this birthday gift that she knows I'll put to good use.  Patti's birthday is the 27th, which makes us birthday buddies, so we exchange a 'lil something and enjoy wallowing together, what are friends for anyway!

Thanks Patti, you're very thoughtful:)

COOKING...  Here's a ~Sweet Potato Pie Casserole~ I've been wanting to try, this was pantry-friendly and easy peasy to prepare.  The result was a sweet-salty-creamy-crunchy bite of heavenly yum!  Recipe courtesy of sweet Marly over at Santas and Samplers ~RECIPE.  This recipe now holds its' place of honor in my special recipe box.

  Thanks ever so much Marly,

this dish is simply too good to serve only on holidays!

MY BLOG...  Spent some time Spring cleaning, tidying up and rearranging things here, threw some tabs up top to store stuff.  I'm not yet done, and still haven't figured out how to make my top tabs look nicer.  Does anyone know if this is an easy fix?

   

Before you go, please have yourself a peek at my ~ Sweet Giveaways ~ tab!

Thanks for sharing a few moments of your day, see you again:) 

Tootles, Sue

Shizam!

Hi Sweet Friends and New Followers!

If you haven't heard, there's a newly released Blogger feature allowing authors to reply ~ within ~ the comment section.

It'll save time not having to reply through email and all readers can view the author's reply ~ Sweet!

Check out how to verify/adjust your settings at Blogger Buzz at IT'S ABOUT TIME. 

Maybe one of you could leave a comment here, so I can give it a try?

Tootles, Sue

Stabilizer ~ Schmazilizer...

Hi Sweet Friends!

Have you maybe been scratching your noggin about the recent chatter of using a *stabilizer* on ornie finishes?  I was, so I've been experimenting with stabilizers and wanted to share:)

Before assembling an ornie, iron-on stabilizer (aka fusible) can be applied to the wrong side of the fabby.  Using this product stiffens the fabby producing a more flat than round ornie.  I prefer the flat look and have been experimenting with a stabilizer/brand name *Pellon*.  It comes in different weights from lightweight to heavyweight, found mine at JoAnn Fabrics ($2.50/yard minus coupon = cheap).  It's in a special *stabilizer* section and comes on a bolt like any other fabric.  Other brand names are available, but *Pellon* was easy to find so that's what I used.

I've used the lightweight and found very little *stiffening* on my fabby.  Yesterday I bought Pellon 808 (commonly used to assemble purses/tote bags) and will try that also.  Like many times before when experimenting, I've no idea what the success or failure results might be!

In the past, I've cut my stabilizer 1/4 inch shorter than my fabby (assuming a 1/4 inch seam) so the sewing machine needle doesn't have to go through the stabilizer.

Wanna see how stabilizer is used?  *Make It Love It* HERE  has a post about stabilizers, scroll down a bit.

Hmmm... does anyone know if a stabilizer produces good stiffening results on over-dyed wools?

I'm not suggesting Pellon is the best or only stabilizer out there, so if you've got anything to share on this topic about products, ease of use or in general ~ please let's hear from you!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by:)

Tootles, Sue   

Fare Thee Well 2011...

Hi there sweet friends and a mighty sweet welcome to a couple new followers too!  Hope everyone is easing out of their Christmas Feast *stretchy pants* and now resting comfortably, as I am ~ LOL!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yesterday I started pondering over linens, floss, trims and projects for 2012.  My brain became positively numb with stitchy overload, anyone else get like that?  The best thing for me was to stop over-thinking every miniscule aspect of my 2012 projects.  I paused and decided 'twas better to get organized to help me make informed decisions about supplies.

 

These stragglers needed to be corraled...

Lo and behold, I've stashed more linen than thought!  I know this isn't a lot of linen for some of you, but for me it's certainly a delightful and plentiful discovery!  Most pieces had been folded, but I was growing concerned about the color on the hand dyed pieces starting to fade on the fold lines.  Sadly it can happen but I think I'm good with that so far.  So I measured/labeled each and secured with twine.  At first glance you may think this a bit fussy-mussy, but we spend dear dollars on hand dyed linens.  My goal is to keep them well stored without suffering any damage.  Rolling them will prevent that. 

Getting there...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anyone maybe remember this pic from November? 

Wasn't sure where these colors were gonna take me...

In the end it all came together as a sweet RAOK for our very own Ma Teakettle and her clan!  It's been received, and I joked with Ma that if this wasn't a good fit for her tree, she could always use it as a door stop ~ LOL!

Tree Ornie

Motif ~ designer unknown

Zweigart 32 ct ~ Dirty

Floss ~ DMC 822 ~ 2 over 2

Stitch Count ~ 37 x 50

Bottom Band ~ kinda looked like folky snowflakes

Fill ~ Bamboo fiber

Started 11/21/11 ~ Finished 12/15/11

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As for 2012, may you enjoy many blissful stitches.  My sincere and sweet gratitude to all who read along here in 2011.  If you happened to comment along the way, your kinship is truly heartfelt and I thank you:)

Tootles, Sue

Do You Know What Your STATUS Is?

Hi there sweet friends, thank you kindly for your joyous Christmas wishes and good cheer, the warmth of fellow stitchers is some of the best found on the planet!

A friend suggested I make a postie about ~ No Reply ~ status, my friend is very wise and realizes we're all at different skill levels on these here dern computer contraptions:)

This postie is only for those interested, if you're not... please move along!  I mean really, why would one want ~ No Reply ~ status?  Isn't the best part of blogging the communicating and learning?  When one takes time to leave a comment asking this or that, and ~ No Reply ~ is discovered, how can we get back to the commenter?   

Remember last week when PeggyLee/Kentucky Sampler tipped me off that my very own setting defaulted to ~ No Reply ~ status?  It wasn't always like that, something went wonky with Blogger to change the default.  Like I giggled to my wise friend... I've n.e.v.e.r. been a ~ No Reply ~ kind of gal, even as a wee toddler.  Just ask my looooong suffering parents, my very tolerant brothers, or my thoroughly exhausted Mr. Sweet, they'll testify and in a NY minute:)

Here's how you can fix or verify your ~ No Reply ~ status: 

*** Go to your dashboard, dashboard, DASHBOARD, stay there, DO NOT select your blog!

*** Look to the far left where it says *EDIT PROFILE*, click once.

*** In the *PRIVACY* setting, place a check mark next to *Show my email address*.

*** Look again to verify you have a check mark there:)

*** Scroll to bottom of page and click *Save Profile*.

*** You're done and have set your default to ~ Reply ~. 

*** Now pat yourself on the back, or throw one back from the Hersheys Syrup bottle, we won't tell!

 

If you found this postie helpful, feel free to leave a comment... if you dare;)

Enjoy your night, sleep tight, don't crawl into bed with your needle stuck in your jammies!

Tootles, Sue