Sunday, August 20, 2017

Let's Play....

Guess What I've Been Stitching? 

For Theme-tas-Stitch this month the theme has been Animalia August. A few of us decided on dragons to fit the theme and I have a couple few several dragons WIPs and possible new starts that would work this month.

I'd like to a do a giveaway of some Mirabilia and Nora Corbett charts, as well as one PS, and you can check them out in the Giveaway Charts page. I'll list my current WIPs/UFOs and possible new starts. Whomever guesses the most correct answers of what I've stitched this month can pick 2 charts and if it's tied, there should be plenty to go around. I can also dig through my stash or finished projects if there might be something else you'd rather have. Let's say the first 5 runner-ups can each pick one chart. 

All current WIPs/UFOs of dragons (I think):

I'm only using WIP photos if I can't find a photo of what the finished design should look like. Just in case I've forgotten the last photo I've shown on my blog :)

1. Princess and the Dragon

2. Mini Winter Magic

3. Mini Autumn's Promise

4. Do Not Meddle
 

5. Tribal Dragon

6. Dragon Under Glass

7. Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Xmas

Possible New Starts:

1. Dragon Dreams Summer's Magic

2. Dragon Dreams Messy but Mine!

 3. Mini Once Upon A Time

 4. Daisy Dragon


5. Mini Among the Cherry Blossoms

6. Mini Book Dragon

7. Mini Computer Catastrophes
8. Dragon Xmas Stocking (not the real title) 

9. Forest Walk QS
10. Tempest


Since I posted this much later in the month than I intended, let's say you have until midnight August 31st (my time, EDT). 

Good luck and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Late GG - August Edition

Ack! I missed the 15th of the month again! Fortunately our excellent host for Gifted Gorgeousness, Jo, keeps the link open until the end of the month. I have a little game in mind, so I can't show you everything I've been stitching, but I do have a few things that fit the theme. 

Fishing

I'm still plugging away at this one and hope to have it completed soon. :) I think this is 5 or 6 colours added, but not all completed yet. 

And that's all I've got to show for now. I'll leave the rest a mystery as I hope to have the next post up later tonight. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Tenuous Shoe Horn for Your Loved Ones!

Find out what this blog link-up is all about over at the fantabulous Jo of Serendipitous Stitching's blog. Her post is about her Nana is so wonderful to read. I was debating about who to write about for a while. If you follow my blog, you know I stitch a lot for my Grandma and she has been a huge influence on my life and how I live it. But since I talk about her a fair bit, I'm going to choose another loved one that I've lost. 

This happened right around the time I was tiptoeing back into blogging in 2014. I checked back if I'd written anything around April 20, 2104 and my previous post was in March 2014, and not again until September. 

On April 19, 2014, I came home from work to this:

DH terribly upset because our 13 1/2 year old basset hound Otto was breathing rapidly and had been since shortly after I left for work that morning. DH didn't want to tell me at work because I would have left obviously, and I don't have the type of job that really allows you to do that. 

As soon as I got home DH rushed Otto to the emergency vet. We were told he had pneumonia and given antibiotics for him. But Otto wouldn't eat them. Not with peanut butter even, a favourite food. Not with anything. He kept spitting them out. He made it through the night, but was even worse. DH was rushing him to the vet again when he had to stop for gas. Otto was lying in the back of his car and he sat down with him and Otto died in his arms. DH continued on to the vet to have Otto cremated and told me all that had happened when he got home. A few weeks later we got a call to pick up Otto's remains. 

That's the sad part, but the fun part of Otto was what a fantastic companion he was, and this is his story. In 2001, we had just bought DH's grandparents house and he was living there alone, over an hour away from everyone, with no car and I was still 14 hours away at school. He was miserable and lonely and decided a dog would be the perfect companion. He wanted a bloodhound at first, but my MIL said she wouldn't ever dog-sit a bloodhound "because they're too slobbery". So I suggested a basset hound, basically a smaller version of a bloodhound and fortunately, she didn't know they're as bad or worse with drool. :)
see those jowls? aka "drool flingers"

We weren't sure where to start, so I called up my 6th grade teacher who used to show basset hounds and she gave us the name of a breeder. They had their available pups online and we chose one and DH headed there to see them and decide for sure. It was a 6 hour drive and fortunately his mother volunteered to drive and his younger brother went with them as well. They picked up Otto, we had decided on Ottoman as a name given their short stature. When they arrived at my MIL's house, where DH would stay overnight before being dropped off the next day, Otto cried all night. :( Understandable, and I always think of this when people try and say animals don't have feelings... 

Fortunately he soon settled in at his new house and these are from his first night at our old house:


His ears were so long! They have to grow into them. He would step on them and almost fall over a lot when he was a puppy. I got to see Otto in March 2001 when I had spring break. We hit it off right away. :)

I was finally able to move into the house at the end of 2004, so for a long while I only got to see DH and Otto on the weekends, and not every weekend either. My first job out of school was 3 hours away. 

Otto loved going for walks, and he loved this couch! We had to throw it away because it got couldn't be cleaned after a while. We spent so many hours on this couch! 

We had lots of adventures with Otto, including a rally race DH and my MIL participated in. He was their mascot and had a lot of fun getting the clues. 
Visiting Shelburne Farms and the chickens. :) 


As is common with these breeds, Otto had disc dysplasia and while he was recovering he could only work partway around the block. Then we'd put him in the wagon and DH would pull and I'd try and make sure he didn't leap out. I wouldn't say he was a fan of the wagon, but it allowed him to get outside and sniff everything, so that was something. 
 Otto expressing his opinion!

Otto went with us everywhere we could take him. Our old house was in Canada and I worked in the US and once a week all of us would travel down. I'd work and DH and Otto would hike a trail, or go to the local dog parks, and generally have a good time. 
 

I never managed to capture a photo of this, but when we traveled in a vehicle, Otto would turn to face out the back window, and kind of sit on his bum with his smaller back legs up against the back of the seat, front legs on the top of the seat and he'd look out the window! It was the funniest thing. 

Xmas trip to my parents house in 2010

This is one of my favourite photos of Otto. When he got older, he slept a lot, but he always, always loved attention and pets. And how can you not cuddle this face? :)

 Otto was also fun to hang around with since he would certainly let us know in no uncertain terms if we weren't living up to his standards. One time his water bowl was empty and he picked it up in his mouth and knocked sleeping DH on the head with it. :D

He was also very tolerant of our desire to dress him up at Halloween. 
One of my favourite costumes and his last Halloween
 This one was pretty fun too!
He hated this one! You can maybe tell from the look on his face. I didn't leave it on long.

As of right now we don't have another dog. It's something we would both like, but DD is currently terrified of dogs due to our 2nd rescue dog that was so jealous she'd basically trample over DD. Hopefully we can again some day. 

Plus I'm still not really over losing Otto. I have 2 projects I started in him memory, one is complete and the other is not even close! The finish is Tribal Basset, slightly modified to fit his shape a little better:

I still need to add his dates to it and get it framed. I'm kind of stuck on deciding on a font and what I want to add. 

And the epic project is this one:

And I'm only here:

I'm stitching 2 over 1 tent stitch on 32 count Lugana. It will be a while. :) 

I hope you all post something about your loved ones and I'll look forward to reading it. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Saturday, August 5, 2017

Update and It Runs in the Family, Plus a Link to a Giveaway!

I was at my parents' house last week and since my Grandma has had to live in a nursing home, her house has been rented by my cousin. That meant my family had to move out a lot of her things since my cousin and his family have their own stuff. We're in a pretty small house, so we can't take much, but we also don't want some of the sentimental things to get thrown away. 

My older brother (lives in Fort MacMurray, Alberta) was also able to be home and he got a UHaul box. It's like a UHaul truck size, only no truck attached. You tow it to your house, fill it, and ship it to another location. This was much more economical than trying to drive all the way across country. 

There were many things saved for us to go through and one that I absolutely had to take home was this:

My dad has to determine what line Isabella Curry is from, but he knows it's in the family somewhere. :) There were also some plain black on ivory linen pieces that were interesting, but had no initials, etc. I don't know if they were stitched by anyone in my family or if they were purchased as decoration. They were sampler type pieces, and I forgot to get photos, but no signature like the above photo. This one is hanging on my wall now in my stitchy spot. :D

My great, great-aunt Jean and her sisters also stitched 5 chair covers in needlepoint and I will take one of those once I have space. My parents will hold onto it for now. 

There are 2 more with a wine or maroon background, one is a rocker and the other a chair similar to the top photo. I asked for the chair in the top photo. 

I'm also inheriting my Grandma's yarn collection. It's in several medium sized tubs and I went through it to see what was worth keeping and what wasn't. I found out that stashing and procrastinating on finishing must be hereditary!! She has so much yarn and there were about 5 pairs of wrist warmers unfinished, but fully knitted, and a pair of skunk mitts knitted and unfinished as well! And she keeps all the little bits of yarn too, so there was a ton of stuff that I threw away. So many small teeny skeins of white in different weights and softness.. 

At first when I saw all the bits of yarn I was thinking "I'll knit a blanket with all the bits", but realistically, my Grandma doesn't need a blanket, DD doesn't need a blanket (has 3, or 4?) and it would be much smarter to toss this little bits. So I did! 

More importantly, I'm inheriting her needle collection. She must have 50 at least! Possibly 50 pairs... She used to have them in a cylindrical ceramic container, but that must have broken as they're in a whisky bottle sleeve now. :D I will certainly not want for any size any more. I might even have to get back into knitting a little bit! 

Back to stitching, Princess and the Dragon has progressed a little for Animalia August:

From here:
To here:

and then I discovered I was out a little bit on the smaller motif on the right side, so I'm in the process of picking that out. I think I'll switch to a different project tomorrow. Still dragons, but something a little different. :)

And for the giveaway, if you haven't seen Miss Linda Lee's blog, Lov'N My Stitches, check it out! She's going to do a big giveaway when she hits 100 followers, and she always has something positive to post about. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Not Quite According to Plan...

When we last joined our hero, Tiffstitch, she was frantically stitching to finish a gift for her uncle's 80th birthday. All was in place for a last minute finish, a fairly simple final finishing technique studied and practiced and all that was needed was a few more vital hours of stitching. And did she make it??


NO!!! 

Because in my stitching bag instead of the thread I packed was DD's mini-basketball......

While it's possible that I made this error, I'm 99% sure I did not pack the basketball. So some little fingers removed the thread box and I had everything I needed except thread. 

Ah well, that meant less pressure to get it done and I spent some quality time with family, so in the end, it's all good. I told my uncle and he thought that was pretty funny. I showed him a photo of the WIP, but he couldn't guess and I said that was okay since it will still be a surprise that way. :)

This is 4 colours complete I think. I haven't looked at it in a few days now. :)

I think I'll do a thread in this and some in my dragons since today is the start of Animalia August! 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch


Catch-up Post and Mischievous March

Hello again, things conspired so I didn't get a chance to put a post up, but I have been stitching. I also remembered to pick up my Misc...