Because everyone should have a cat like mine

Hello all!  I didn't want to go the entire rest of the week without posting something, so here it is.  It's not stitching related - I'm still working on those 3 baby gifts I showed you all earlier in the week - but still something I need to share.  It's a picture of my crazy cat.  She can usually be found hopping from window to window, or tearing through my house for no apparent reason.  She's also spectacular at stalking and pouncing. 

In this picture, though, she's on my lap keeping me nice and warm.  She's a total lap cat.  She could be DEAD asleep, sense that I sat down on the couch, and hop down from her own spot on another chair, jump up on my lap all sleepy-eyed, and fall right back to sleep.  It's the cutest thing ever.

How cute is she!!!  She's my lil' panther ;-)  Her name was Snowball when I adopted her 5 years ago (she was only 8 weeks old!!) due to that bright white tuft right on her chest.  I decided that was too much, so I shortened it to Snowy.  She's slick black, as you can see, and probably the longest, tallest cat I've ever seen.  She is defintely a love bug, and loves loves loves to snuggle on the couch with you and all the blankets.

If she wasn't so skittish, I would loan her out for therapy sessions.  Nothing takes away your sorrow and pain quite like the purr of a cat on your lap. 

That's all I have for now!  Remember - do something creative every day!

Sneak Peeks

Ok so...the other day, I told you all how I was feverishly working on some baby gifts.  Well, I figured I would give a little sneak peek of them tonight, since I've about had it with stitching for the moment.

This first peek is a Mill Hill kit that was done in collaboration with the designers for Sticks furniture and artwork.  There are several Sticks designs (I've done one and put it on a box - Grow - which I'll snap a shot of and post later), and they're all pretty cool. Most of Mill Hill's kits are done on perforated paper, but I decided not to use it for this gift.  The kit came with dark blue paper, so I chose 28 count Mystic from Picture This Plus in its place, which was a pretty close match to the paper supplied with the kit. I haven't decided if I'm going to frame this or make it into a pillow, so stay tuned...

This peek is of the announcement I'm doing for one of my good friends from high school.  This is done on 32 count white Belfast; I made no adjustments to this pattern.  This will be framed as soon as I get the date and name of their precious baby :-)

And lastly, this is an Irish baby blessing that I designed for a friend at work.  I have to re-work some of the outer design, so I only took a picture of the beginning of the verse.  It's tough to tell, but the verse is worked in Crescent Colors Black Raspberry Jam.  I chose 40 count Lakeside Linens Maple Sugar linen fabric, which works so well with the overdyed threads that I chose for the verse and outer design.

Stay tuned for pics of the finished pieces, and remember to do something creative every day!

Finishes

Just a quick post to show one of my favorite designers' fun tools that's out there.  Blue Ribbon Designs Stitch Starter and Sleeve was one of the "smalls" that I finished this winter.  The Stitch Starter is a nifty little ruler that is a perfect 3 inch square.  It helps with measuring from your finished design for framing or other finishing work, and it helps you figure out just how far 1 or 2 inches from the edge of your fabric you need to be, depending on how much fabric extra you like to leave yourself for finishing.  I picked it up in the fall and absolutely love it. 

This is the front of the sleeve.  The finishing instructions included with the designs are very good - my only recommendation is to miter the corners before adding quilting batting.

This is the back of the sleeve.  I chose DMC 3834, which is a wine-y kinda color, to stitch this entire design.  The fabric is 32 count cream.  Make sure you use 32 count fabric as Belinda suggests in the instructions.  If you use anything smaller or bigger, the stitch count will make the total finished product either smaller or bigger than you need it in order for the stitch starter ruler to fit inside.  You can sorta see the ruler peeking out of the top of the sleeve in these pictures.

I love Blue Ribbon Designs.  They're simple, yet elegant, and so fun to stitch.  Head on over to Belinda's blog - she's having a giveaway in celebration of her 100th design! The giveaway closes this Friday, February 25th, so make sure you get your name in!  Blue Ribbon Designs Blog

The North Wind Doth Blow...

...and we shall have snow...

Well, the first part is definitely true.  The wind has been absolutely howling out there tonight!!  We had another gorgeous, unseasonably warm day, and, as expected, it didn't last.  I certainly hope the second part of that old saying doesn't come true...but rumor has it we're in for some snow on Tuesday.  Of course, our wonderful weather people here in Philly are not committing to any type of accumulation amount (which usually means we're going to be snowed in for a few days...), so the best I can do is hope we get next to nothing.  I've had it with the white stuff. 

Because of all this crazy wind, I've been staying warm inside, finishing up my Cricket Collection "Winter".  I've been feverishly working on a few baby gifts, but really had to finish this project for myself before the next and final installment of the Cricket seasons comes through my door - "Spring".  "Autumn" and "Summer" are patiently waiting for me to frame them both, so here's hoping I can do all the finishing work for them before their seasons start!

Ok, so...here's "Winter" from above...(nevermind my ugly ironing board)

Cool, huh?!  The fabric I chose is 32 count Crystal Zephyr from Picture This Plus.  It's kinda tough to tell from the picture, but it's an awesome opalescent.  Gives you the feeling of a cold, frosty night after a snowfall.  The pattern calls for a Krienik blending filament for all the snowflakes and that plump snowman right in the center.  I used the filament for one snowflake, and promptly took it right out.  It virtually disappears on this crystal fabric.  So, I ran and got my skein of DMC B5200, and the bright white pops off the fabric.  Much better.

I just love the smoke coming out of the "W" :-)

And I love that fat snowman!

And the winter birds at the feeder and the seed ball are just too darn cute!

Think Spring

Ok...this is my first attempt at this blogging thing...so here we go!


It was a spectacular day here in the Philadelphia area!  We got a little taste of spring, as we sometimes do, here in February.  After all that wretched (and I do mean wretched) snow we had this winter (as I cross my fingers and hope that it's almost gone for good!), it was so wonderful to have that glimmer of hope that spring may actually be right around the corner! 


Therefore, I thought it only appropriate that in my first ever blog post, I include a picture of my finished and framed Lizzie Kate's "Think Spring" to remind us all that warmer, brighter days are just around the corner! :-)

I completed "Think Spring" on 28 ct overdyed green linen (for the life of me, though, I can't remember the color name for the fabric.  If I do remember, I'll post it at a later date...)