Making a nest part 2..............

Here is my nest after I added the fiber and tacked down the stray ends. My husband drilled some holes in the plastic eggs so that I could sew them on rather than gluing them. Much more secure.

I Googled to see what type of bird lays beige speckled eggs and I found that sparrows do and we get them in abundance in our backyard. They seem to nest mostly in the hedge we have along one side of our garden. It's quite a substantial hedge well over 8 feet high and very thick. We once had a cardinal nest in there that was washed out by a heavy rainfall. We rescued it and put it back as both mum and dad cardinal were freaking out very loudly. Luckily they weren't bothered by our intervention. After that peace reigned.

Here's a nice image of a field sparrow's nest.

Source Unknown

So a beginning. I'm not sure what I will do next with this block.

Take care:)

Making a nest.......

.........or attempting to anyway....LOL

So this is what I'm trying to do....

Find the directions to make this here .....link.

I was super lucky in that I had most of the suggested embroidery colours.....642, 840, 3781, 3782... with the exception of 611. I substituted  611 with 640...and then I added some green....370. I added the green because against the fabric I was using the above combination looked a bit too beige.

I followed the instructions but I wasn't all that happy with my results...sorry I forgot to take a picture. I didn't like the satin stitch in the middle. I thought my attempt looked messy.

So I decided to omit the satin stitch and started building the nest from the center outwards rather than just around the edge.

I merrily went allong and made my center bit and then built up the sides. It was too small.....RATS!!!!!!!

 Second attempt.......

Getting there but I'm still not all that in love with it. Too perfect. I thought about adding a bit of fluffy knitting wool fibre. It looks more like a nest in a way. 

Maybe if I tidy up some of those loose bits....hmmm.

I will  return. Take care:)

TAST 2018 and TUSAL 2018

 TAST = Take A Stitch Tuesday

I've been keeping up with the stitches. Not hard as my sampler isn't that big. Some of these stitches I will never do again...ever...LOL  I'm right handed but I was taught to sew left handed so sometimes it's hard trying to get my head and hands sorted out. A few beads need to be added too to tart it up a bit.

TUSAL (scheduled each full moon)

The Full Moon in July is the Buck Moon, named after the new antlers that emerge from the  foreheads of male deer around this time of the year. It is also called Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, and Wort Moon.

It should be called the Weed Moon this year as it so dry the only plant life that seems to be thriving are weeds. No one is cutting their lawn as the grass is dead for now. Once it rains it will revive. As a result everyone seems to have a lot of Queen Anne's Lace, Bellflowers and Wild Chicory in their gardens. Even along the roads where there are grassy areas. I don't mind as it means the wildflowers are starting to come back now the city stopped spraying weed killer along the road verges. Some call them weeds but I guess it's really a point of view. It's been years since I saw so much Wild Chicory...usually only way up north.

 Well since it is a full moon today and therefore TUSAL time here is my ORT jar...lots of colours.

Take care:)

How to make an embroidered nest.....

I found these directions on a blog called "The Floss Box". So sweet :)

Go here.

I tried to leave a thank you and let her know I was sharing her post but........."Comments on this blog are restricted to team members.You're currently logged in as Mary Ann Tate. You may not comment with this account." Erm....I have no other account and I'm not a team member so I can't.

Oh well :(

If you don't want to go to the bother of making the wee eggs you can get mini eggs at a local doll house store or even some craft stores such as Michael's. Here's a pic. They may look like little potatoes but the are supposed to be speckled bird's eggs...honest.

I have no idea why I have these in my stash of stuff but I do. Now I have a use for some...three or four anyway.

Take care:) 

It's a hot one today................

It is about 4:00 p.m here and it is very very hot.....about .....32C/89.6F. The humidex reading says it feels like 42C/107.6F. We are getting extreme heat warnings so thank goodness for air conditioning.

Just as an FYI for my non Canadian friends.........

The humidex (short for humidity index) is an index number used by Canadian meteorologists to describe how hot the weather feels to the average person, by combining the effect of heat and humidity. The term humidex is a Canadian innovation coined in 1965.

Some of us know how to relax on a hot day. Deva is lying at the end of my sewing table getting full advantage of her pile of cat blankets and the air conditioning.  She has been out cold for about four hours....sheesh:)

Anything that is soft and looks like a possible cozy surface is hers. She's like the Princess and the Pea. Her bed keeps on getting higher. Ah well she is getting on in years. She will be 14 years old this month. Hard to believe.

Take care:

WIP.......and Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.....

Source

I've been re-reading the whole "Realm of the Elderlings" series of books by Robin Hobb.
I just finished her "Rain Wild Chronicle" books....The Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons.

I've also just finished watching the seventh season of Game of Thrones on blue ray. OMG eeeeek!!! The ending!!!!

So of course now I really want to make a dragon

I'm using a pattern by Melinda Small Patterson.

I've noticed that some doll makers add arms in addition to the wings but I'm leaning towards making it as Melinda designed it. Her dragon is more like Smaug from the Hobbits or the dragons from Game of Thrones. At this point I haven't decided if I want to make it with the mouth opened or closed.

I found some batik fabric at my local quilt shop with a print that looks very dragonish. I think so anyway.

When finished this dragon will be about 28 inches long and a foot high. Sorry I still don't use metric in sewing. Old habits etc.

My online doll club asked that we post pictures on their site of our sewing rooms. I thought you'd like to see where I sew too. I have got rid of a ton of stuff over the last few years as we are planning to sell this house and move closer to my son....and most importantly....my granddaughter :)

I have a small front bedroom with a window that looks out on the street. It's nice to watch people passing when I sew.

My laptop, TV and some upright storage drawers on wheels.

My bookshelf full of books on doll making, embroidery, doll house, crazy quilting and so on. My cutting table with two mini storage boxes that hold my scissors and other necessary tools. My sewing machines and one more upright storage unit. 

Two big shelves built into an alcove to hold my fabric, stuffing and WIPs. Underneath those big bins hold larger bits of fabric and fake fur etc.

That bin on the bottom left usually has a cat sleeping on it.

I try to keep my room as tidy as possible because I'm not very creative if I have a mess around me.

Hoped you enjoyed my mini tour. Take care :)

TUSAL for June 2018

I'm a few days late for my June TUSAL post ....ooops.

What is TUSAL?.......you can find out more about it at Daffycat's blog here.

Here is my friend Ratso and my ORT  jar.

The new moon for June is called The Strawberry Moon so I thought with Ratso being pink he'd be a perfect presenter. I think he's doing a great job:)

Take care.

It's the May new moon and so it's TUSAL time

So what is TUSAL......you can find out more about it at Daffycat's blog here

Here is my ORTS jar. Not much embroidery or cross stitching stitching done as I was busy doing something else. My friend Eeyore looks a bit worried but then he always does:)

The stitcher’s definition of “ORT” is an acronym meaning “Old Raggedy Threads.”

TUSAL is scheduled based on the the new moon. In May the new moon is known as the Flower Moon. Other names include the Corn Planting Moon and the Milk Moon.

In our household the month of May is when we transplant seedlings into the garden. Normally we do this on or around the 21st of May. There have been years when frost has happened but usually by this time of year we hope for better weather. Actually they aren't exactly seedlings. They are usually well established plants as our growing season is relatively short. If the tomatoes aren't getting red by the end of August then they probably won't ever be red :(

I mentioned above that I was doing something else. I was finishing a doll that I started last May 2017. You read correctly...2017. Even worse. The last doll I made before that was in September 2015!!!

She is from an online class I took with Angela Jarecki called "Song of Hope". I had a lot of problems making her but now she is finally finished.

Happy Ides of May. Take care :)

It's the April new moon and so it's TUSAL time......

 What is TUSAL......

To find out more please visit Daffycat:)

The full moon of April is called the Pink Moon.

The name Pink Moon comes from  “moss pink,” or wild ground phlox—one of the first spring flowers. Other names for this full moon are Sprouting Grass Moon, Fish Moon, Hare Moon, Egg Moon, and Paschal Moon.

According the the Farmer's Almanac a full moon in April brings frost. However, if the full moon rises pale, expect rain. I bet you really wanted to know that...right?

It did rain but it was freezing rain that turned to snow. We have winter back again. Sigh.

View from the back porch. 

Take care:) 

TUSAL for March!.......

It's that time again. My TUSAL jar. I've decided to start a new one for 2018 as the old one was a bit full.

What is TUSAL?

You can read all about it at Daffycat's blog....here.

TUSAL is scheduled based on the new moons. I was curious so I went on line to inquire about new moons and discovered that....."The Full Moon in March is the Worm Moon. It is also called Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Chaste Moon, Sugar Moon, and Sap Moon. It's the last Full Moon before the vernal equinox." You can go here and read more about why it's named after worms:) Who knew?

So where do some of those TUSAL threads come from? Well.....

I have been very good at keeping up with my TAST stitches. The latest stitch we had to do was the couching stitch. I just realized that it looks sorta wormy right? LOL

I tried to use the stitch on my doodle embroidery project. I took some cord and some chenille fiber and used them for the center of a flower. A bit boring but it worked.

I like to use the couching stitch when I do crazy quilting as it's a simple way of attaching fibers, trims and laces. Here is a sample of a piece of chunky chenille fiber that I used when I took a CQ online class with Kathy Shaw.

In this case it was a bit fiddly following the curves of the letter but I can see all kinds of lovely uses for this type of stitching.

That's it from me for TUSAL until the next new moon.

Take care:) 

WIP.......

I had started doing some doodling using all the bits of thread left over from various projects. To what end I don't know but I thought it would be interesting to see what happened.

This was how it looked the last time I posted about it.....

It evolved into this.....

Isn't that strange? I took out one bit then added another bit and voila I have something totally and completely different. Actually it's a good way to try out ideas and stitches.

I have also being doing TAST again just for the heck of it. Using cross stitch fabric is a real challenge and limiting but it keeps it nice and neat.

We were having such nice weather. I had such high hopes for the month of March. Then it snowed again last night. Drat!! But, it is nice to be making dinner in daylight now rather than pitch dark.

Take care:)

:) :) :) :) :)

February 15th and a New Moon and.....

...time once again for A Totally Useless Stitch A Long  hosted by Sharon at It"s Daffycat. Use this link or click on this pic on my right hand sidebar to find out what's it's all about.

Here is my ORTS jar not quite as full as last time. I did a bit of housecleaning and threw away...yes...threw away some of the orts. It was a very traumatic thing to do but it was for the best.

What is an ORT you ask?

It's an Old Ragged Thread. They are all the end bits of embroidery thread that I keep just in case.

I've decided to use some of them on a piece of fabric to try out stitches. I was toying with idea of doing the One Year of Stitches thingy but decided to do my own thing. Actually it's quite nice just to randomly stitch something that's not structured. Just wandering about on a bit of cloth stitching until you run out of thread and then pick out another bit and keep going.

I've been trying my hand again at Crazy Quilting which of course means more orts. So it goes.

The ORT jar is very handy for propping stuff when you need to take a picture:)

The fabric is a very thin Japanese cotton in shades of tan, brown, grey with black here and there. It's lovely fine cotton fabric that I bought years ago at a quilt/craft show. Each piece is 10 inches by 23 inches so not a fat quarter. I have no idea what it would be called in quilting terminology.

I'm also redoing the first panel in the Pamela Kellogg's "Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along".  Here's the link if you're interested. I had done the first panel but decided I wanted to do all of them using the same fabric.

I discovered another sampler stitch along just by accident when Googling for something or other. It's hosted by Linen & Things. Here is the link for the 2017 sampler.....here and the beginning of the 2018 sampler here. 

It's been the coldest winter ever and maybe the snowiest in quite a few years. Perfect weather though for staying warm indoors and doing a bit of stitching. Well that's it from me. I hope you are all keeping well.

Take care:)