Still moving and more problems

 It's hard to believe the problems we've had with moving and trying to fix everything that needs fixed. Since we have been living elsewhere for the past 9 years (but kept the house) we weren't worried about fixing anything. We always thought we'd end up selling the house and staying here.

The carpet in the living room needed replaced badly. My husband and I could never agree on what to get so it just got worse. We made the mistake of not getting info from a few places and instead went to the local Home Depot to get carpet and flooring for the kitchen. Now if we were putting it down things would have gone a lot smoother. The carpet went down great. Two guys from central america (originally) did the work in a few hours and were so nice. They texted to make sure we knew they were coming. WE wish they were doing the kitchen, too. The kitchen flooring is where the HUGE problem is. I had already removed the old flooring years ago and bought stick down tiles but the DH wasn't happy with them so they've sat in boxes for years. Now he's wishing he had helped me put them down rather than deal with the hassle we're going thru now. 

Here's a list:

1. Both the carpet and kitchen flooring were bought on May 27. The flooring the DH chose (I gave up arguing over any flooring) had to be ordered.

2. 2 weeks later the carpet was put down.

3. June 21 the tile was delivered to us to store for a month until they gave us an appointment.

4. The week of July 15 the DH has been calling and calling to see if the workers are still coming. He's told yes but there was no text from the workers. Since we aren't living there full time we had to get up early and drive 20 minutes to the house by 8 am. They never contacted us or showed up. 

5. The DH called again and again and was told they hadn't finished the job before ours and would be out the next day. Same thing  no calls or texts.

6. Home Depot was NO  help at all. Everything is thru a company called ASC who don't hire local workers but send people all over. The first crew were from NYC.

7. So we were rescheduled for the 22. This time 2 guys show up only to say they don't have the tools needed to put down that floor and that they had never installed that kind of flooring. WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!! More phone calls this time with the head installer explaining that they didn't have what was needed plus we were sold the wrong edging.

8. This time when the DH went up to Home Depot to co plain to the manager he found that guy had quit and a woman was in charge. Thank goodness because where the other manager was hopeless this person helped us SO much with getting the right edging.

9. Ok, now you'd think everything will go smoothly. WRONG! We still don't have an appointment to get it installed.

If moving isn't stressful enough, to deal with this is just too much. We are so tired of packing and unpacking that we rented a storage unit. It will be less stressful without lots of boxes that need dealt with and be in the road. We've been staying at a place with 3 bedrooms we furnished and still keeping everything at the house so there's tons to downsize. The amount of stuff that's being donated to libraries and local humane society resale shop is a lot. We have stuff we plan on selling but feel over whelmed and decided to store it all until we've fully moved to the house. I'll be listing all the dolls and bears I've been storing since I stopped selling on ebay at really low prices (like $5 - $15). I also have lots of quilting magazines that need to go. I'm trying to decide what to do with all the old Martha Stewart Living I have, sell, donate, or put in the paper recycle  bin. Well back to work packing up more sewing and craft supplies.

New Rabbit Pattern at Etsy Store

This is Chester and in this photo he's sitting on a pincushion puff. In the next both are attached to a round gift box.

You get full pattern pieces and step-by-step directions with drawings and photos I've even added how I decorated the box.

Chester wears a top hat, vest, and spats. He's sewn from felt and is holding a cluster of felt carrots.

My version would be great as a bridegroom or New Year decoration or make in light colors for Easter. Use a larger box and fill with grass and candy or other gifts.

I'm not sure when I'll post any free designs. I'm busy knitting things for a friend and we'll be moving back to our house full time. I'll miss spending time in the woods but things have changed so we must move back to BF. That means a LOT of packing and getting rid of extra things. I'll have to sell all the dolls and things I've been storing and they will go at a low price. Now to decide on FB marketplace, ebay, or etsy. I'll also donate to the local library and the humane society store. After about 8 /2 years living in 2 places we have a lot of duplicate stuff.

I'll try to post updates when I can.

Free Felt Heart Pattern

 

I was going to put this up for sale but changed my mind so you get a free Feb pat. I'm feeling so stressed and have way too many projects going on at once so I'm not planning any free designs for now.

Here are more pictures and the PDF is at Goggle Drive. Click on the link to get it.

   Pink Felt Heart Free Pattern

My fridge is broke again. Turns out the part they replaced back in Oct. was bad and now they can't find a replacement part. Waiting to see if Lowes will honor the extended warranty with a replacement fridge or gift card.

Hoping for a better year but.........

What I did with a free Halloween Pattern

I came across the pattern at  The Gingham Fox youtube site. Here's the link to part one and you can see what the original pattern looks like, Halloween shelf part 1 .

I was so inspired after doing the shelf, and lucky I had used a large piece of fabric, drew the rest of the design you see. I stopped myself from going crazy with lots of seed beads but I still think it could use some scattered around the floor and the shelf could use more. 

BTW, I'm still working on the last 2 sections of the crazy quilt. The top left section was partly done when I first started this project and now I'm not really liking it anymore. I keep drawing it and adding to it but I think I'll end up removing it like I did for a few other sections.

Late setting this up but Sale at Etsy store

 

I've continued the sale on some of the "Fall" patterns and added the few Halloween patterns. They'll be 20 percent off until Nov. 1.

https://1creativestitches.etsy.com 

The next sections of the crazy quilt block

 I'm late this month due to having the flu the second week of the month. It was rough and I still feel weak from it. My allergies are super bad again, too. I did decide to do more of the embroidery so that instead of putting the 3 sections up for July, August and September, I'm putting them all up now. You can now see the entire piece too. 

Now there is one problem with this embroidery. I worked on it while I was dealing with the flu and have now lost the paper with most of the DMC embroidery floss numbers. It's another reason I'm late putting this up. I've been searching but I decided to give up.

Look at the section with the web. I removed the bright green plant and embroidered some grass and flowers. I used narrow silk ribbon for the long leaves.

The blue water section is made similar to section one. It has the same yo-yos, small white flowers, and fish. Go back to the Feb. post on it.

Along the "water" edge I drew lines to look like various grasses. I used feather and stem stitches. There are french knots in the curves in the feather stitches. The cat tail plant was made with padded straight stitch and outlined with stem stitch.

Next I added the ferns. I do have the color for them. It's DMC 890. I used 3 strands to stem stitch the curved stems and lazy daisy stitches for the leaves. I did two in DMC 842, but wasn't happy with them so only did the 2.

Around the ferns are lots of french knots. I used 3 strands of DMC white, 936, and 937 to make them. I then decided it needed a few small "rocks". I used 4 strands of DMC Flower thread 2642 to make 3 wrap loose french knots. This time I stopped myself from going crazy by covering all of the fabric. It was hard to stop but I'm glad I did. I have a box of DMC and Ginnie Thompson flower threads that I'm trying to use more often. I also have a box of DMC rayon thread. It was sent to me from DMC when I was one of the winners in a national contest they were involved in. I found it breaks easily so I guess that's why they stopped making it.

Between the extreme heat and my allergies I'm not getting as much done as I want but I do have some new patterns to get up at etsy. I'm also thinking about bagging up bits of tatting I have filling a large candy jar to sell. I'll post when anything gets listed. 

Thanks for reading and try to keep healthy!

Finally the new tatting pattern is up and a SALE is coming!

 Yes, It's finally up. The tatted jewelry pattern has been done for a few weeks but "Life has intervened" and so it was put off. I haven't had time to even be on the internet lately so if anyone has tried to contact me that's why there's been no answer. 

This pattern is designed like my other patterns, meaning it's meant to be printed book style with the paper folded in half. Each design is written so you can print just the ones you want to work on. I used DMC and Lizbeth threads for everything but the green bracelet and earrings set. That gorgeous bright green came from Yarnplayer at Etsy. I LOVE her threads! 

That's 2 new tatting patterns in less than a year. Amazing what I can finish when I really find the time to work on it. I'm working on 2 new sewing patterns and updating 2 old ones I no longer even list. 

May's free embroidery will be later in the month. I've had a hard time deciding on the flowers I want to embroider in this section. It's about half done.

AND lastly, there's going to be a big SALE in the entire month of May. All of the listings will be 20% off.

Thanks for reading :)

2nd crazy patch section-all flowers!

 

Here's section 2 of the crazy patch. This is another section that was done years ago so I used some thread and ribbon I don't use often anymore. I've left an empty space to add a dragonfly later. It will be made with beads.  In fact a lot of beads will be added after all the embroidery is done. I don't want to risk crushing any with my embroidery hoop as I move it around.

Use your favorite colors and threads and let's begin ...

1. Start with 2 -3 strands of DMC 989 to do feather stitching along the seam between section 2 and 3. Use a green that doesn't blend into the fabric.

2. Fill in along the green with french knots using 2 - 3 strands of DMC 211 and 552. Make 2 and 3 wrap knots so there is a variety of sizes.

3. Use the same green or another you like to do feather stitching from the bottom corner part way up. You can see I added "branches" so it fills out like a bush.

4. I used Edmar 077 frost with is a variegated purple rayon thread for the cast-on loop flowers. After looking to make sure they still sell it I really think I used another frost thread for the bird. Rayon thread makes bullion stitches easier since the thread will slide better than cotton. The flowers are made like a regular bullion stitch except that instead of having it lay flat you want to put the needle back thru the fabric near were you started. I use a milliners needle so the wraps are the same size. If you can't find one look for a long needle that's the same dimension from the eye almost to the point. Wrap the thread as many times as you want to get a bullion loop the size you want. If you don't want to use a rayon thread any size Lizbeth and DMC size 8 pearl cotton are good substitutes. I've also used floss for these kind of flowers but I don't strip it after cutting. Add as masny loops as you like. If you are using a variegated thread work up and down the feather stitch to spread out the shades.

5. The leaves are YLI silk ribbon 032. I used 4mm to make Japanese leaf stitches. Substitute lazy daisy stitches using floss.

That's it for this section. Section 3 was partly done a few years ago so I have to finish it. There's a lot more embroidery in it plus I covered a small section of it with a piece of fabric with a tiny fairy on it.

Last week I realized the reason I quit working on this was because I had 2 sections with embroidery I  no longer liked. One is waiting for me to remove it all but section 5 is done. It had so much I gave up and just cut it off. I had to remove some of the brown ric-rac around the pond and some embroidery along a seam so I could get all of the fabric removed. I then got out my bin of Bali print fabrics and found a perfect green for there. Now I have to sew it on and design a new section 5. Section 4 is almost done. I just have to redo the area over the seam between 4 & 5.

February is National Embroidery Month!

 

 Since this month is national embroidery month I put all my embroidery patterns at Etsy on sale at 20% off. Above is a new one I just listed. It's called Pocket of Hope. The little pocket is made to hold a memento, small photo, or a folded piece of paper. Perfect for a gift with a wish or prayer written on it!

Directions to put it on a quilt are also included.

The sale runs thru March 1.

What I did with the 2023 embroideries

 

Here's both sides of the tote I put the embroideries on. I finish this back in Nov but never took a pic till now. I had planned on doing some embroidery where the blocks join but got to the point where it became just get it done. I carry a lot of totes when I go shopping. Have you seen the tv series Elsbeth?  I get like her but my totes look full where as the ones she carries look empty.

I'm going to do a second post with what I have planned for the free embroidery. It's very different this year.

This is my tradition at the holidays

 No I don't lose a Kevin or go caroling. For me it's either the flu, a bad cold, or both. This year it's both. Just when I started felling better after the flu, the head cold hit. On tv I saw a report about holiday allergies getting bad due to all the decorations. I figured that out long ago when I realized my allergies got really bad when getting all the decorations up from the basement. We have a damp one and run a dehumidifier but it can only help so much. After that I moved everything but the outdoor dec and the tree to a closet upstairs. The tree would get a shower every year before setting it up. Now I have a 2 foot tree that can be stored in the closet so no more explaining why there is a tree in the shower drip drying.

This was a pretty bad year with so much needing fixed but so was 2023. Guess that's what happens when stuff gets old. The main TV broke right after Thanksgiving and it was bought in 2018. That's not really old is it?

I keep wondering what brought on 2 years of bad luck? Did I break a mirror or do some other thing to attract it? In the past month we lost 4 of our ducks and the one rooster we ended up with. Ru was a small bantam and he became a pet. He was named for Ru Paul because when he was a peep the other ones pecked his head till he was bald. In this photo you can see he was still growing his head feathers.

I do have new free designs for 2025 but it will take me a few weeks to get the first up.

Let's all hope for a better year!

Yet another AI scam, on tatting this time

I just came across another mess of an AI design. This youtube video shows the cover of a book on tatting with bobbin lace on the cover. Is this crazy? This is worth watching if you worry about buying junk AI generated patterns.

 Karen Bovard-Sayre

I was on Etsy and came across an embroidery pattern I really liked and it was 60% off for black Friday so I thought for $2 why not get it. ( Yes I do buy patterns. It's a great way to learn and see how others do their pattern directions) I'm so glad I looked at all the photos they posted because I could see that the finished design was a little different from the pattern. Odd that they'd put the actual line drawn pattern in a photo to look at. That made me wonder about it so I enlarged the photo of the finished piece and guess what was obvious then. The embroidery floated on the fabric. The french knots were almost identical and the tiny stars had no stitch lines. WOW! If you knew how to embroider it was stitchable so I'm not going to out them.

I spend months designing and stitching my embroideries along with my tatting, crochet, and doll patterns. I don't even use AI for ideas because I have so many of my own. I work with pencils, rulers, curves, and paper for my designs. I use my old win xp computer with an old version of Paint Shop Pro to edit and clean up drawings. Then I do all the patterns in n old MS Publisher. Why this old computer and programs? I like them! I do have a newer laptop for online stuff so I use a lot of flash drive to move files from one computer to the other. I'm thinking I should update my info at Etsy with this.

I'll keep posting whenever I find any more info on AI patterns.

Free tatted earring pat

I put a PDF for this earring pattern at my Patreon site: Creative Stitches

It's free! There's this white version and a black version. This is one of the patterns I cut from the new book of tatted jewelry I'm working on. It's almost done but now the holidays may keep it till sometime in January before it's done.

 

Big Friday thru Monday SALE at ETSY!!!!!!

 

For the first time I'm having a 50% off sale on all my listings at my Etsy store starting on black Friday thru cyber Monday. After that a December sale of 25% off select pattern will start and end January 2.

Hope you'll go have a look!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New patterns up at Etsy and on sale

 I finally got 5 new embroidery patterns up at Etsy. I started these during covid lockdown in 2020. It's taken me these 4 years to finish them and write up the patterns. Each patterns has 2 triangles and 1 hexie. The triangles have a word in a heart. I did each set in a different color, flowers and other embroidery stitches needed to make each slightly different. I call the patterns Words of Hope.

They are 20% off until Dec. Hope you like them!

Here's what they look like when the are all sewn to a long piece of ribbon.

I have them hanging in my sewing/craft room.

Be Kind and Love in shades of pink and yellow.

Joy and Dream in blues and yellow.

Hope and Faith in purples. This was the first I designed.

Peace and Believe in yellow as the main color. This is my favorite because of the bee and sunflower.

Wish and Imagine in red.

It's scary how AI has invaded the embroidery industry, too.

 I was reading Mary Corbet's blog https://www.needlenthread.com/ because I also subscribe to her Patreon site. She has a post about AI generated patterns. There was a link to this post at the lolli and grace blog. I can't help but feel sorry for people who buy these kits/patterns only to find no real directions or even thread colors.

The photos on Mary's post are amazing until you realize that someone out there is hurting real designers and the consumers. From what I've read this is also going on in other thread and fabric crafts.

All I can say i,s really be careful when buying from now on. Check to see if a link to a designers blog or facebook page is available so you can check to see if  the pattern will have all the info and a person you can ask questions about it.

New embroidery pattern at Etsy

 

I started making this set and 4 others during covid lockdown. The words seemed to need to be embroidered to me. Here's the link to the pattern. wish-imagine pattern

Of course instead of a banner you can skip the triangles and frame the hearts or do them as quilt blocks for a wall hanging. There are 10 hearts all together.

I'll list the next one when I finish writing the directions. Now that this one is done the rest will go faster.

Sale at Etsy Store

 

It's Christmas in July! I'm not really a fan of seeing holiday decorations at this time of year but I also know some people need to get started on gifts and decorations so I've put a selection of winter/Christmas patterns on sale for 20% off until August 4.

I'll be listing some new items this week at Etsy and over at Patreon. I have a new embroidery pattern and some free tatting patterns to list.

Fixed the tatted heart PDF

 

After finding the original PDF I put up at my patreon site was a mess I re-did it with charts. I think charts are so much easier to follow than written instructions. So far this tatting pattern and one for a fabric basket are up for free. There's no charge to sign up at patreon so it's all free.

info on my Patreon site and more

 

I finally got around to posting something at my Patreon site. I've put this off for almost a year but I had everything ready to go today to get the last embroidery directions up and decided to stop putting dealing with Patreon. Here's the free pattern I listed.

I designed this tatted heart pattern in the 90's and used to have it up at my old tripod site. I closed that and all the free patterns went away. Now I plan on putting them up at Patreon for free. Later I may add a pay for membership but for now everything will be free. These hearts make cute pins and ornaments. perfect to make and give as gifts. Below is the link.

My Patreon link

This site, NeedlenThread ,is my go to when I need inspiration. It's also a good place to see lots of embroidery stitches. I like it so much I recently joined Mary's Patreon site. I want to work on my straight stitch blending and know that working some of her projects will help.

We're working on corn flowers, which I've always called bachelor buttons, and it's been a nice break for me but of course it makes me fall behind in my other projects.

This is a picture of some things I've done. The felt and embroidered panda is from a painting class given by willowing.org. Tam has the most inspiring classes but when I saw this one I knew I had to do my own version in felt and embroidery.

The turquoise this is supposed to be a macrame leaf. I made it after taking a free class called making zen. I used to macrame a lot so it was fun to have a go again.

The felt heart is one I designed. It's going to have a bee or butterfly button added to it. I'm liking working with felt and have more than a few projects I'm designing. I'll tell you about one project, it's gnome girls! They will be another in my line of pincushions.