TUSAL: February 2011

Greetings. Here we are Groundhog's Day as well as another new moon, which means it's time for another picture for the TUSAL hosted by It'sDaffycat. There is a lot more to show this time than last.



During the last month, I made nine scissor fobs, took a needle work class in Florida and worked on several smalls for a project that's still in the works. In addition to orts from stitching, there's also the label and empty spool from a ball of #12 black perle cotton, an empty spool of Krienik #4 very fine braid, scraps of handmade cording and various and sundry scraps of linens and felts and velvets from finishing projects. Yes, it's been a busy month!



The needlework class I attended is an annual event taught by Susan Greening Davis. The attendees lovingly refer to it as Pirate Camp since it is held in the St. Augustine area - and they've had more than their fair share of pirates in the day. The beaches are beautiful in this area.



I like to make favors for my table-mates and hosts of the class and, this year, decided to make scissor fobs.



A little piece of needle work from JE's late mother inspired the black-on-black stitching on the front. The fabric is 22 count Hardanger stitched with #12 perle cotton.



In keeping with the pirate theme, I found a cute Jolly Roger rubber stamp and used it to make emblossed velvet for the back of the fob.



Joining the two pieces was a bit of a challenge. The velvet was crawly and evil and didn't want to stay put to be sewn together with the stitched piece. There was a lot of cussing involved. I made the tassels from #12 perle cotton, and the cording was made with #5 perle cotton and red #4 Krienik braid.

I'd been to St. Augustine several times but had never visited the lighthouse. Right before taking our afternoon break, one of the ladies at the class asked who was going to be climbing to the top of the lighthouse. At the time I thought to myself, "Not me!" But a while latter, driving down A1A, there was the lighthouse.



I turned off the main road to get some pictures of it and one thing lead to another. Oh, did I mention my mom was with me? Yuppers, she'd come to the stitching class and here we were at the lighthouse.



Now, understand, I'm afraid of heights and Mama had a total hip replacement a year ago last Christmas. Neither of us were great candidates for doing this, but I knew we could. All 219 stairs up to the top.



I kept my eyes on the wall when going up the stairs; the holes made into the stairs offered too much of a view to look down. Mama, on the other hand, was watching the stairs to make sure she didn't make a misstep. We'd rest on the landings, and Mama wanted to quit a few times, but I kept egging her on.



And we made it to the top! It was a glorious view and I wish I'd been able to step away from the safety of the brick wall to look around more, but I was terrified. Going down was a lot faster than going up for Mama. It took me a bit longer because I had a death-grip on wall mounted handrail (with both hands) and had to hand-over-hand my way down - looking at the wall not the steps. I was very happy to reach the bottom but could now brag I'd actually made it to the top. Three cheers for me and Mama!

Pookie had also made the trip, but we left him in Jacksonville with our friends B and TM and their bird, Gus.



Here's a book safe I made for B for her hospitality:



It's the best book safe I've made to date and she appeared to be please by it.



While there, I saw the scissor fob I'd made for her last year. It's a Lori Birmingham design. Don't you love them? They're all so delicate and beautifully feminine



I'll leave you with a shot of the good ship Bob sailing along the carpet.

TUSAL: January 2011

Happy 2011, everyone! Hope all got though it safe and sound and are back in the swing of things.


Along with the new year, we've got a New Moon and that means a TUSAL post. Being so early in the year, I haven't much in the way of orts to show off. The strange picture above is shooting down the apothecary jar that will be my TUSAL container for the year. Yes, that's three waste knots and three pieces of #12 perle cotton. Wooo! What a stitching session that was. :P

Here's a more recognizable shot of the jar.

And a close-up pointing out the tiny bits.

Here are the 2010 TUSAL that I continued to use, though I fell off on posting pictures toward the end of the summer. The 2009 bottle is also in the picture, but that only accounted for May through December, as I started late.

Many, many thanks to Daffycat for continuing the TUSAL project started by Yoyo (who I miss bunches). If you want to join in the 2011 TUSAL with Daffycat click here to sign up on her blog. It really is loads of fun!


I didn't do very much in the way of creations for Christmas this year, and some of what I did managed to get away from me without pictures. Oh, well. The covered matches (there were two additional boxes with different designs that got away sans picture) made a nice gift paired with nice candles.


Friend SU does tiny knitting and has had some problems keeping with her tiny needles, so I made a needle book for her so they wouldn't go astray so easily.

The interior was finished with leftovers from the fabric I used to cover her stitching basket. She really loved this and it made my heart happy to delight her so.


Happy stitching, everyone. I'll leave you with a picture of Bob sleeping. Notice all the paws curled up. Isn't he adorable? Ok, I'm biased.

It's Daffycat: A Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long

Oh, boy! DaffyCat will be hosting TUSAL for 2011. :)
It's Daffycat: A Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long

What I Want for Christmas

This song makes me happy. Hope it makes you happy, too! Enjoy!

Santa Paws

Yesterday was an interesting experience. Stitching buddy AC is active in a greyhound rescue group that has Meet & Greets periodically at area PetSmart locations. During the holidays, PetSmart has weekend "Photo with Santa Paws" events worked by different animal charities who receive part of the procedes from photo sales.

Thursday evening, AC was bemoaning the fact that try as she might, she wasn't getting any volunteers to play Santa on Saturday when the greyhound group was to benefit from the photo sales. Without thinking it through, I volunteered for the task - having had no, zero, zilch experience playing Santa Claus, of course.

From Thursday evening to Saturday morning I had plenty of time to think about what I had gotten myself into. Visions of dog bites, cat scratches and blood and urine soaked Santa suits haunted me. Plus, who had had on that Santa suit last? Ewwww....


AC at Santa Paws event

The photo shoot was to go from 11am to 4pm. I arrived at the PetSmart location at about 10:45. I was shown to the employee break room and the Santa suit. Thankfully, the Santa suit was fresh in a dry cleaner's bag. I took the costume - pants, jacket, belt, wig, beard, hat, spats, glasses and gloves - to the ladies' room to change, praying no little kids wandered in and caught a cross-dressing Santa getting dressed.

The costume was heavy, hot and ill fitting. The belt was way too big, even on the last notch; I could have used a pillow. The beard and wig were scratchy. This was going to be a long five hours.

When I walked out to the photo area, there was a line of folks ready and excited for their photos. Everyone was in a great and festive mood. This really did a lot to boost my spirts and lose my jitters. I tried a deep, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" but soon gave up because I sounded more like the Jolly Green Giant than Santa. Beside, the dogs didn't care and the owners didn't either since they just wanted cute photos of their pets and couldn't care less about whether Santa was a man or a woman.

The first dog up was Lucy, a short haired dog of undetermined breed that was absolutely determined that she was going to lick me to death. She pulled down the beard by stepping (nay, dancing) in it, tried to eat my nose, licked my glasses and face and had me laughing in that way that only happens when a joyous dog attempts to love you to death. She finally calmed down, while I readjusted the beard, and we got a cute picture after all.

That pretty much set the tone for the day. We had French bulldogs, English bulldogs, a trio of HUGE basset hounds, boxers, boxer/Pit bull mixes, Shih Tsus, Lhasa Apsos, Yorkies, a Dorkie (a designer-dog mix Yorkie + Dachshund), poodles, a Weimaraner named Grover that had just won the doggie lottery and been rescued (that day) by a large and loving family. There was only one dog, a Shelty named Unitus, that was a flop. He just wasn't in the mood to have his picture made. His owner said she had shopping to do and would try later; we never saw her again.

I got tickled at one of the owners. She was a real take-charge sort of gal and her dog was a Lhasa Apso (whose name I don't recall). She put the dog up on the platform next to me and began fussily arranging the dog's holiday collar, the position of her paws. As soon as she was satisfied with the dog, she began on me: fluffing the beard just so, arranging the pom-pom on the hat, tucking in whisps of hair, even arranging how my hands were positioned. I had to fight laughing at this. It really was a hoot and was all I needed to see to know this gal got what she wanted. All. The. Time.


Santa Paws!

At the end of the session, we'd raised over $125 dollars for the greyhound charity. This was impressive since the weather went to hell shortly after we got started and it was cold and windy with a hard rain for most of the day. I got to meet a lot of great dogs and some great owners, too. When I was returning the Santa suit to the employee break room, there were some cashiers who said all the photos that came through their lines were cute. That made me feel good and that the discomfort of the beard and wig (the worst part of the costume) was worth it.


Pookie braved the weather to come see me. Said he wouldn't miss it for the world. :)

T-Day +1

Hope everyone had a good holiday with family and/or friends. We had a nice quiet evening here at Casa d'Fidget and were thankful to be together with a warm meal, a roof over our heads and means to keep the wolves from the door. Life is pretty good.

Pookie and I just took a vacation in Florida. I haven't had a chance to go though all the photos yet so I'll save the narrative for later.

Enjoy your leftovers and good shopping bargains.

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.

Still alive and kicking

Contrary to popular belief, I have not been kidnapped by a band of skunks hell-bent on revenge and demanding the return of their kin. It's been a busy time at work and, after a day of sitting in front of a computer for work I had little desire to sit and type on one at home. I've been doing crafty things and have taken pictures along the way. Pictures and descriptions will be coming soon.

Oh, fer Pete's sake!

Caught another skunk last night. I asked Sunny if this one was an adult. He allowed as how it was another teen-aged skunk. This would make a litter of seven - eight skunks in all. I had no idea we were being over-run with skunks.

The big questions is how many more are out there?

Sunny didn't leave a trap today. Mostly so that he wouldn't have to come out on Sunday to collect whatever wildlife would surely stumble into the trap. He suggested moving the cat bowls to a higher location since skunks don't climb.

Now I'll have to come up with some contraption for moving the cat food higher. Thinking cap engaged.

Hope everyone's having an awesome, skunk-free weekend.

Busy Week

It's been a hectic week. Mostly because of work, but other things have been going on too.

Had a great time at the class with Susan Greening Davis. Our project involved a Longaberger basket to use for a project basket and the accessories for it. It should be darling when it's done.

Sunday, another little skunk showed up and rattles the kitty food bowls. I called Sunny on Monday. He came out to place another trap and we caught the little stinker overnight. Tuesday, he came to get the skunk and replace the trap. We didn't catch anything on Tuesday night, but we caught a tabby cat Wednesday night.

This was a cat I hadn't seen around before so it was probably a neighbor's that got out and just had a misadventure. I've never seen anything move as fast as that tabby flying out of the trap when I opened the door. That kitty will probably never come anywhere close to my porch again.

Thursday night we caught a 'possum. I'd seen a mama possum and a couple of little ones around before so this wasn't a total surprise. Sunny came out today to take the possum to it's new home out in the wild and left us another trap. I'm really not sure how many more critters there are to catch.

The game seems to have changed so I'll change the scoring system to just a tabulation. Skunks: 7 (mama + 6 skunklets or kits if you wanna be technical about it). Opossums: 1. Cats: 1. Sunny's made seven trips to the wildlife refuge (one trip was a twofer) to relocate these critters to a place where they will be much happier.

Skunk Drama and Other Stuff

For the past couple of nights, I'd been taking in the cat food bowls in hopes of getting Mama Skunk to go for the grape jelly in the trap.

Yesterday, the guy that mows the lawn managed to get grass clippings in the cat food bowls on the porch. Without thinking, I tossed the cat food out onto the lawn. Then, I refilled the bowls for the feral kitties.

After dark, I happened to look out and saw Mama Skunk eating the cat food off the lawn. I called Sunny and asked if I should move the trap from the porch (close to where the food bowls usually are but aren't since I took them in) down to the lawn where Mama Skunk was eating the discarded food. He said that sounded like a good idea. Mama Skunk ran away when I went outside to move the trap. I added a bit more food on the ground below the trap and waited.

It wasn't long until Mama Skunk came back and happily munched all around the trap -- but didn't go in. *sigh* I added a bit more food around the opening of the trap, covered it with black plastic, went to bed and hoped for the best.



I got up at 5:45am to check the trap and, if necessary, move it up to the porch to get it out of the direct sun. To my delight, the trap had been sprung! Yeah! Got a skunk! I called Sunny to come get Mama Skunk and carried the trap, still covered with plastic, up to the porch.



Sunny came on over. Imagine my surprise when he said, "You know there's two skunks in there?" Yes, we had Mama Skunk and skunklet #5. Holy moly! I had no idea there were so many! He said that five was an average sized litter and that this may be all of them. He didn't leave a trap this time, but said that if more show up, just give him a call.



On the assumption that this is all the skunks, the final score is Sunny 6, Skunks 1. Go Team Sunny & Trapper Jack!

There've been a lot of skunk drama lately, but I've been crafty, too.

A couple of weeks ago some of my stitching buddies got together for some noms, stitching and playing Stitchopoly (basicly Monopoly for stitcher).



While there, I gave AB a belated birthday present: a purse I'd made from thrifted Girls' size 10 Old Navy culottes and a L.L.Bean Ladies' size L sleeveless blouse and some purse handles bought from Jo Ann's. It was an interesting exercise trying to figure out a pattern and how to use the blouse the best ways to get the lining and pockets done. In the end, there were just a handful of small pieces left. AB really enjoyed the bag but wanted to add another pocket. So I gave her what scraps where left and she took care of adding that pocket on her own.







This cute notebook was a Make-it-and-take-it project from a Moonlight stitching get-together at the LNS last year (or was it two?). I'd never gotten around to finishing it but did so recently. A simple, yet charming, design stitched on banding and then closed with herringbone stitch on the inside - which doubles for a needlepark. Something like that would make a great little gift for a crafty buddy, or just for anyone actually. Who doesn't need a notebook from time to time? The kloster block are just perfect for a bit of fancy Hardanger work. Hmm, I may just do that. If so, I'll post pictures




I've really been busy finishing things I'd started and never completed. Lately, it's been a lot of projects from my favorite designer, Susan Greening Davis. I just adore this project. Isn't that a wonderful sentiment? I don't know about you, but I feel most complete when I'm creating and I love creating with a needle.



I finished the banding for the box that was created in the tutorial for the lined box with pincushion. The banding was from a Susan Greening Davis project that I tweaked a bit.



Saturday I'll be attending a class taught by Susan. I'm really looking forward to it as I learn wonderful techniques and stitches from her everytime I'm with her. If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, go for it. She's such a wonderful, dear person and a great teacher.

This was the project for last year's class. Most of the actual needlework was done last year, but there were still a few small things to be stitched and the final finishing. I finished it this week -- just in time for the next class.



The needle book is my own design. The needle on the cover is secured by Jewel-It glue so it's not going anywhere.



Here's something you don't see every day:



This is the odometer from my 1995 Subaru Legacy Wagon on my way home from the office this past Thursday. With the exception of the 63 miles that were on there when Pookie and I bought it in September of 1994, and a couple of thousand miles Pookie's probably put on it over the years, I've driven most of that mileage. I'm on my way back from the Moon and still getting around 30 MPG. Not bad for a car that's almost 16 years old, no?

Updated Score

The new score is Sunny 4, Skunks 1.

Last evening, upon hearing the outside food bowls rattling, I peeked out the window in the front door and saw Mama Skunk finishing off the last of the cat food. After getting a drink of water, she waddled past the trap -- not even giving it a glance -- and down the steps she went and off into the night. Score 1 for the Skunks.

I put out a bit more food and immediately Ginger came up on the porch to eat, so that was a good thing. A while later, though, I heard a cat commotion and found Tabby-with-the-white-feet (a cat that lives down the street but likes to eat our food) giving Ginger a hard time about the food, so I brought the bowl in.

This morning Patches and Ginger were both looking in the trap with guarded interest. Sho'nuff, there was yet another teenaged skunk in the trap. I had no idea there were this many! Sunny's escorting this little stinker to the wildlife refuge to join his/her brothers/sisters and start a family reunion in the woods.

Tonight, I'll try to bring the food in before Mama Skunk comes by and see if the grape jelly won't tempt her into the trap.

Stinker Update

Well, the Cute Litte Stinker Roundup has begun. So far the score is Sunny 3, Skunks 0.

I contacted Trapper Jack wildlife removal service on Friday. Sunny Rippetoe came out and set up two humane live traps. Friday night/Saturday morning we caught one teenage skunk. Sunny came out, retreived the first skunk and reset another trap. Saturday night/Sunday morning we caught two teenage skunks. Sunny came out again to get the skunks and reset the trap hoping to catch Mama Skunk. Didn't catch Mama last night, didn't catch any thing, but I expected Mama Skunk to be a bit more wiley. We'll see how long she can resist the grape jelly that's being used as bait.

Sunny is taking the skunks far, far away from their my home and relocating them in an approved wildlife area close to a river. They should be much happier there than in my neighborhood where they can be run over by a car.

Cute Little Stinker

There are several feral kitties that depend on me for food and water. Two main ones and some that come by occassionally. Therefore, there is usually kitten chow and water on my front porch. One of the drawbacks to this is that I end up feeding animals I did not intend to feed. Like possums. And skunks. Currently, a family of skunks.



A couple of weeks ago, there was a commontion (with lots of squeaking) on the front porch. I went to the door to see what was going on. There was mama skunk and two young skunks. The youngsters seemed to be bickering over the kitten chow.

If you turn on the porch light and open the door, the skunks (and possums) usually leave quickly with no problem. This night, however, mama and skunklet #1 left right away. Number 2 had a different idea and came over to me. Stopping about 18 inches away, just staring up at me. The cheeky little thing finallly left after a few Shoo!s and a couple of you-need-to-leave-nows.

I think tonight's visitor to the cat bowls was that little stinker. S/he showed very little fear when I came out on the porch and snapped a picture or two. It may become necessary to hire someone to relocate this brazen little fella since s/he is learning not to be afraid of humans.

And because s/he can wipe out two bowls of kitten chow in one sitting!