Late Summer/Early Fall Craftiness

Ok, first things first. Here are the pictures of the TUSAL bottle for the last three months. August is on the left and October is on the right. I thought I'd taken a picture of September but I can't find it if I did. It looked a lot like August except there was a huge blob of blue floss added. More on that later.





The first crafty thing to share is one of the more recent, but it is also seasonal so I'd best get it in now.

A while back, I made a biscornu out of some great purple fabric that came in a kit. The fabric really was awesome and I couldn't bring myself to throw away the leftover scraps after assembling the biscornu. The scraps turned up just in time for a make-a-scissor-fob desire to hit me. (I can always use another scissor fob because I own too many scissors.)

Purple is my favorite Halloween color -- especially when paired with emerald green. Thinking cap engaged for a Halloween scissor fob, I quickly found a small bat motif, tweaked it just a bit and had a bat. Instead of stitching eyes, I applied two red glitter chips from some glitter glue in the stash.



I wanted to put some words on the back of the scissor fob, but couldn't come up with anything pithy off the top of my head, so I turned to the Internet and started looking for batty things there. A wonderful poem by Frank Jacobs called The Bat turned up:

The Bat
By Frank Jacobs

Bats are creepy; bats are scary;
Bats do not seem sanitary;
Bats in dismal caves keep cozy;
Bats remind us of Lugosi;
Bats have webby wings that fold up;
Bats from ceilings hang down rolled up;
Bats when flying undismayed are;
Bats are careful; bats use radar;
Bats at nighttime at their best are;
Bats by Batman unimpressed are!

I fell in love with the line "Bats remind us of Lugosi" and knew that was what the scissor fob needed. The lettering style came from taking batty = deranged.



The scissor fob was assembled using the tag string from a Vera Bradley bag (love that emerald green!) and a bead from my stash. I had some black matte scissors that were just begging for this scissor fob. But, they would need a scissor sheath, too.

Again turning to my stash for inspiration, I found some supple, old boot leather and some pleather that came from gawd-knows-where, and some scrap black velvet. Yes, there was a bat in my future. This seemed to be the perfect sheath for these scissors with that fob at this time of year.



This really wasn't hard to make. If anyone has a desire for a tutorial, or just some instructions for making one, let me know and I'll be happy to fill you in.

The big blue floss blob that was added to the September TUSAL bottle was the orts from the (finally) completed Smokey Mountain Cats that I've been working on for a long time. I believe I started it around 2000, but one of my friends thinks it was around 2002 or 2003. Either way, it's been in the WIP pile for a long time and it was time for the final push to get it done.



This project is 184 x 140 stitches - a small one for many of you - but for your humble author, the ADD Kid, this was a mammoth undertaking and I'm pretty damn proud of myself for getting it done. And the funny part of it all? It's going to be given away. It's always been destine for AH and I hope it is appreciated.

Fall is my favorite season. I love the mild temperatures, sleeping under quilts with the window open, the changing leaves and the winds. Going to the Farmers Market is also a treat. All the produce looks great and there are colorful pumpkins, gourds and mums all around.







This is my friend SU. She is very talented with tiny knitting needles and crochet hooks.



She had come across the first tiny needles she'd ever bought and was bringing them to our stitching group so we could admire the beautiful rose wood handles on them. When she arrived at the stitching group, she discovered one of the needles had been lost - probably when she dropped them into her project basket. I offered to make a lining for her basket so it wouldn't happen again.




The happy ending to the story is that SU found the missing needle not far from her stitching nest. It really had dropped through the open weave of the basket. But that will never happen again.

Lately, I've been playing with felting sweater in the washing machine. After a couple of near disasters and some reading on the Internet, I learned to put the sweaters in pillowcases prior to felting them in the machine.

I'm still in the thinking stage on what to do with most of the felted sweaters. I've made cat toys with the cuffs



and some house slippers for Mama



but I've got a lot more already felted and ready to go - as soon as the inspiration hits me.

Some catching up

Here are some smalls I've completed within the last month or so.

First, this initial M was stitched on perforated paper for M (a stitching buddy and scrapbooker) for her birthday. The pattern was taken from a kit, whose name I forgot to note, and the initial was stitched using Kreinik #16 Cable and Silk Mori from my stash so I was able to give her the whole kit for use as she pleases. She also received the whole pack of perforated paper as I stitched the M in the lower left hand corner on one sheet and did not cut it out. This seemed to be the best way to let her scrapbook with it.

Oh,and this needlebook was also gifted to M. The chart came from one of the many cross stitch books in my library and was stitched over one on a scrap of linen using flosses from my stash. Don't you love Stitch Witchery? I find it is invaluable when finishing things like this where you don't want the back of the stitching exposed.

Next, this is my first attempt at making a floss tag. This project was inspired by all the cute ones out there on the web - a great source for inspiration. The patterns were taken from Debbie Draper Designs "A Cat's Life" - with the exception of the mouse I added and a bit of modification to the yarn ball from the original chart. This was stitched on linen with an over-dyed from my stash.

This needlebook was made on a whim because I came across some colorful stash floss that made me happy. It just moved me to do something with it so I went along for the ride. A bit of Hardanger and some buttonhole stitching later (and some finishing) and this was the results. The material that was used for the lining is about 40 years old. It was a remnant from a piece of material Mama used in making a dress for me back when I was in grade school! It's amazing she has hung on to that material for so long and it looks like it just came off the bolt.

This scissor fob was stitched over one using DMC on linen from a design charted by Jean Smith. Look familiar? Yes, it's the flower basket from the Whitman's Sampler box. This will go with another project that I've got waiting in queue for finishing, one that involves a Whitman box.

Finally, here is a lining I made for a little basket that I have. The bottom staves were just a little wide-spaced and needed some help keeping things from leaking out. The fabrics were cotton scraps from Mama's fabric stash.