Let's Welcome a New Stitchy Blogger, Gals!

I continue to be thoroughly amazed at the kind and generous hearts in the stitching world. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the care and support extended to our bloggy friends from all around the world.

Remember the surprise birthday package from my friend Maria? Well, she has started her own blog: Dottie's Daughter.  Maria and I have become fast friends via my blog and I'm so excited to be able to introduce her to all my Stitching Sisters.

SO - pop on over and give her a warm welcome.

Milly - The Good Witch

OK - here I go - off on another creative adventure. I love, LOVE miniatures - as those of you who follow my blog well know. Well, when my BFF and I went to the miniatures show in May, it sparked some ideas in me I haven't been able to let go. Long story short, I found an AMAZING lady, Dana. She designs 1:12 scale dolls. She is incredible at 'wigging' (i.e., hair styles on these tiny things) - and I got hooked. If you want a treat, you MUST visit her website, Miniature Art. Dana gave me permission to blog about my adventures with Milly - so here we go!

OK - SO - I joined her "Wigging Club" and managed to get one of ten kits she put together for the July lesson - "Milly - The Good Witch".  I've never, EVER done anything like this before, so I have to say I was shaking and my hands were sweaty the entire time I was attempting to put her together. And I had a BLAST!!!!

Here is what Milly 'should' look like when she's all done -

Here is Milly in her underwear - (YIKES!). The shoes were made using FIMO clay and baked onto her feet. I used the heads of pins for the buttons on her shoes.

Here's Milly dressed - but no hair:

The hat - man, that was really something to make. I ended up with three:

All made from FIMO clay. The one on the far left was my first attempt. Actually, I had rolled out the brim and had it PERFECTLY styled on Milly's (bald) head. While in the process of peeling it off her head, Bella (85 pound GIANT Schnauzer) "lit up" as we say when someone pulled in the driveway. The hat went flying across the kitchen and - SPLAT. Tried again and came up with the first one. Didn't like it. The hat in the middle was OK - but it didn't come CLOSE to sitting on her head. The third one was "the charm".

Milly with her hair glued on and waiting for the glue to dry...

Wove the basket, stained it and added some 'good witch' goodies. Can you see the spider crawling out?

And now - here's Milly - 5.75 inches tall!!

I can hardly wait for the next doll adventure! This is DEFINITELY addicting!!!

It's That Time!!! - Christmas in July Swap

Greetings, things on Blogspot seem to be a bit muddled, but I can't wait any longer to post this post. It's time for the grand opening of the Christmas in July Exchange gifts! I know some may not have received their exchange gifts yet, but I can assure you they have been sent. I haven't received mine yet, but I know my exchange partner sent it on time. It seems "Snail Mail" is slower than usual. I tried to set up a Linky Party, but the issues with Blogspot seem to put me in a bit of a pickle. For those who participated, send me a photo of your gifts and I'll post them on my blog. Thank you to all who took part!

Let's take a peek:

 Butterfly Wings

Feltabulous

Here's what the lovely Maria received from Pilar:

Surprise Birthday Package

I received the most wonderful surprise from a bloggy friend, Maria, last week. It was a parcel to celebrate my birthday. Maria doesn't have a blog, but we have discovered we have so many things in common - besides the love of stitching - we've become fast friends. I must say, I was so touched.

Isn't the mouse pin cushion adorable?! I saw those on one of the blogs I follow and had thought I must make one for myself - Maria - you saved me a lot of time and angst ;0). The cupcake tin, clips and tiny zippered bag are so sweet - HA! - get it?

Because we live on a farm, Maria saw the cutest farm animal erasers (once again - ADORABLE!), the apple ornament is perfect (we have an orchard). I LOVE ribbon - look at the spool she sent!!

Three colorful postcards and some "Forget-me-not" seeds that will be planted next year.

This lovely card - complete with a Tinker Bell charm (I LOVE Tinker Bell, don't you?).

And last, but not least, this darling tea pot mini-chalk board. I've never seen anything like it.

Maria, you touched my heart. I can't thank you enough for brightening my day.

On This Day in History and Birthday Giveaway Winners

You know how much I love the Tudors. Well, I thought it would be fun to see if there was anything of significance that happened on July 19th during that era.  Indeed, two things:

July 19, 1545 - Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, sank right in front of his eyes in the Battle of the Solent between the English and French fleets. It's not known for sure why the Mary Rose sank, but the majority of the crew were lost, including Sir George Carew, the Captain.

July 19, 1553 - fifteen year old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as England's Queen after nine days.

Now - on to the winners of my Birthday Giveaway. I ran the random number generator -
The  first winner is Carolyn from Sew Darn Quilt. She will receive the Lion purse:

Ran the random number generator again and the second winner is Vickie from A Stitcher's Story!! She will receive the sweet goodies -

Congratulations, Ladies! And THANK YOU for helping me celebrate my birthday!!

Christmas Ornie SAL 2015, Envelope Exchange, Don't Forget - Birthday Giveaway Sunday

Good morning!
Lots of things to share this morning before I run off to the store. Check out my dear friend, Kaye's new blog, Christmas Ornie SAL 2015. I've already picked out what I'm stitching for the first round! I have the button on my side bar or click on the link (above) to join the fun.

Thank you, Kaye, for such a rollicking fun idea!!

I'm a bit tardy posting the lovely envelope I received from Justine. The exchange was hosted by the lovely Ingrid from Mii Stitch.

Isn't this adorable? (I blocked out our addresses….)

And, inside, were these lovely extra goodies! (Justine must be telepathic - I'm enthralled with Downton Abby - and look what she included - fabric inspired by Downton Abby). THANK YOU, JUSTINE! I LOVE IT ALL!

Here's what I sent to Albena in France -

 (I purposely hid the addresses in the photo…)

There were extra goodies, but didn't snap pictures before I sent it off. I often do that - I get so excited to post exchange pieces, I just forget to capture everything before trotting to the post office. SIGH.

Don't forget - Sunday is the drawing for the needlepoint lion bag and the Shortbread and Brownie needlepoint goodies.  

**NOTE: I've had several ladies interested in the drawing, but they are "no-reply" bloggers and I can't reach out to them. I feel badly, but - PLEASE - if you haven't heard from me (I try to reply to all who leave a comment), please check to see if you are a 'no-reply' - and try to contact me again.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was a fun one.

Thanks to Super Mom - No Cape! we have another Vintage Monday and Stitchery Link Party.  This was my attempt at punch needle. It was an OK experience, but I doubt I'll do it again. I didn't make the designs myself, the pattern was stamped onto a piece of cloth. I provided the DMC floss.

Art Nouveau Punch Needle Pillows 12 x 7.5 inches - Punch Needle Designs 8.5 x 3.5 inches

Now - a little surprise. We have about 25 acres in hay, some woods and trails on our 52 acre farm. We try very hard to keep it "wildlife refuge", so we see a LOT of deer, coyotes, wild turkeys, fox, the occasional skunk (yuk), rabbits - we even had some mountain goats in our front yard once. Most likely escapees from someone's farm, but there they were - horns and all.

It's not unusual to see momma does and their fawns. Twins are not that unusual, but look what our trail camera caught a picture of in our back hayfield!!

 Momma and Triplets!!

Momma, Triplets and another Doe Grazing

Designing and Stitching "Siggy"

A very dear friend lost her constant companion over a month ago. A Miniature Pinscher, Siggy's loss was abrupt and unexpected. Needless to say, my friend was devestated.

Wanting to help her, I offered to design a cross stitch pillow for her. She sent me pictures of Siggy and gave her permission to share the process I used to create the pattern.

My first try at it was less than impressive. I stitched for two days straight and wasn't pleased with the colors. Back to the drawing board.

Have you ever heard of PicMonkey? It's a free online photo editor. I used it to crop, sharpen and resize one of the photos that touched my heart. It was important for me to capture the love I saw in Siggy's eyes.  Here's the picture after using PicMonkey:

Then I discovered a great online cross stitch pattern maker called My Photo Stitch. I had to play with it a little bit to come up with that "look".  This is the neatest software - it prints out the chart, color codes and breaks it up into nine sections for you.  You can choose up to 50 colors of thread you want for your design.

I've been stitching and stitching for a little over a week. Here is Siggy so far:

"Siggy" 6.5 x 6.5 inches (so far)

I'm hoping to complete Siggy this weekend so I can send it to my sweet friend next week. I'll keep you posted.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party

Here it is - MONDAY - and time for the Link Party hosted by Super Mom - No Cape!

Here is a needlepoint pillow designed by Kaffe Fassett. I purchased this in kit form in the late 1980s and took it with me while I travelled on business around the country. I really looked forward to going back to my hotel room, getting something to eat and then getting out my needlepoint.

I have several of his books and one of his DVDs. I love his designs - they are so inspiring.

Kaffe Fassett Needlepoint Pillow - 12 x 17 inches

Don't forget to leave a comment in my previous post to enter my birthday month giveaway.

Until next time -

Happy Fourth of July and Birthday Month Giveaways

Happy Fourth of July! I love this holiday - this is a great country and I'm grateful to live here on our small farm with my DH. So many have given their lives for us to live free.

OK - July is also my birthday month.  In fifteen days, I'll be - well, one year away from LX (in Roman numerals). SHEESH. I don't feel that old - except when I put my glasses on and see dust and dirt in the house I didn't notice with them off - HA!

To celebrate, I'm doing some giveaways. Open to everyone, I just ask you please be a follower of my blog.  Leave a comment on this post. That's it.

First giveaway: the needlepoint bag I made - 

Second giveaway - Shortbread and brownie needlepoint "pastries" -

I'll draw names on July 19th - my birthday.

Now, off to make hamburgers to grill on the grill.

Singpore Visit and OPAMs for June

My DD, DSIL and darling GS stopped by Angela's shop in Singapore. If you haven't read about Angela and her shop, "Wish I Were Stitching", click here.

Needless to say, she was surprised to meet Sarah, Efrem and Ronin. Here are pictures of their visit:

DD and GS Shopping for Yarn

SIL and My "Captain Adorable" 

Angela and DD

I know Sarah was very impressed with Angela's shop, though she doesn't knit or stitch….yet ;0)

OPAMs for June

• Three Christmas ornaments (Christmas in July Swap)
• Stitched Envelope (exchange)
• Catherine Parr Pillow
• DGS's Christmas Stocking
• 1:12 Scale Foot Stool
• 1:12 Scale Needlepoint Stand
• Cross Stitch Heart - framed
• Cross Stitch Rose Hips and Tea - framed
• 1:12 Scale BerlinWork Foot Stool

July, here I come!!!