Some Small Stitchin' and Strollin' (477-480)

This post may be a bit long as I have been a busy bee and finished quite a few smalls, some stitched and some FFO'd . FFO is a newly learned term for 'finally finished object', though I dislike the word "object" used to describe our lovely handwork and think I'll use the acronym FFP for 'finally finished project' or 'finally finished piece'. Oops, my sentences may be running a bit long too! :)

Before I start on my stitching, I wanted to let you know that Rich's hand is healing well and he doesn't appear to have lost any movement; it is still swollen but he can bend his finger--thank goodness!!!

When I last posted I was getting ready to head back up to Salty Yarns for a quiet weekend of stitching with friends. Upon arrival I found our "place" all decorated for Halloween by my roomie, Deb. She outdoes herself for this holiday as her birthday is close to Halloween. Here are photos of the decorations (the stitched pieces in the last two photos are mine).

Of course Sara also 'spookifies' the lobby and here are some photos of her work:

Sara and Sally make yummy soups for lunch and the rest of us bring side dishes. We also exchange goodie bags with each other (mine are laying in the orange bags on the table). The gifts ranged from a bag of two apples with peanut butter and caramel, to a Halloween towel, a handmade witches boot, Halloween stick pins and bags, jars and coffins of candy. I made the ladies a Halloween themed ort catcher! Someone had come to a stitch group with one and I took photos and reproduced it. The corduroy rectangle on the inside is supposed to "catch" your orts; it's nice because it lays flat and is easy to transport. I slipped a full size Hershey bar inside!

We usually celebrate Deb's birthday while there and I made her this as part of her presents, 'Til Death by Satsuma Street. It's a Day of the Dead bride stitched on white perforated paper. 

Are you still with me??? Now for some stitching........

Over the last few months, I've been working on a set of placemats. I stumbled across these at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section and immediately recognized that I could do cross stitch on them. I pulled out an old Prairie Schooler chart, Kitchen Table,  that worked perfectly. I positioned the designs in the lower left hand corner and voila.....a beautiful set of 10 placemats (I counted these as one stroll piece)!

For election Day I did this freebie from Ink Circles, I Voted.  This can be found on her FB page or blog and she said to share it freely. I did it on white perforated paper and glued a pinback on.

I also got the model for the January project for my Guild stitched and finished. It is Be Mine Sweet Valentine by Janie Hubble Designs. Sweet, don't ya think??? It's a humbug but not the Bah kind!

We have Betsy Morgan coming to teach at our Guild next Saturday so we had a small pre-stitch to do. This is one of 5 little pincushions that we'll be working on, each a different technique. Hopefully, I'll be sharing  a FFP after class!

  
Next are two pieces in process. First is Thyme to Gather by Hands on Design, which I still have to put together. I did it on some 30 count mystery fabric from the stash and added the JABCO leaf button to the upper wreath. The photo doesn't show the true fabric colors...much more orange on the top one and golden on the bottom.

Then,  I'm caught up on my Black Sampler Band SAL..week 16.

Last but not least, I've started my annual Christmas ornaments for the grands. I've chosen Plum Streets Noah's Christmas Ark  series to do. I'm working on the giraffe (pictured), then the crocodiles, doves and whale. Of course I'm going to do the beehive for me!!! :)  I'm stitching them on 28 count gingham fabric with DMC. Again, the colors are rather faded looking in the photo.

 Whew, I'm pooped!!! I need to post more often so I don't have these epic 'tomes' to write, but time keeps getting away from me. I hope you enjoyed this recap of the past couple weeks. Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi