February GG ~ I CAN SEW!

Hello, stitching buddies~  I hope you're all doing well and enjoyed your Valentine's Day.  I decided I've been healthy for far too long and spent the day groggy and coughing, yay!  Luckily it doesn't seem to be one of those that will linger forever (knock on wood).  We're set to get a few inches of snow today which is fine with me; I'll just snuggle up with some blankets and cats.

I'm starting to long for spring though...  we bought some special seeds I'm anxious to try.  What are they, you might ask?  Well... Carolina Reapers, Trinidad Scorpions, and Naga Morichs.  :D  We greatly enjoyed our Bhut Jolokia last year (more readily known as Ghost Pepper here in the States) putting them in all our various chili/bean dishes and my husband enjoyed sharing them at work.  But enough rambles, onto GG~

click for more info!

before

after

I can count this for GG because it's being worked on the huck towel gifted to me by TiffStitches. Thank you! :D  It sort of has started to look a little more like nothing, or maybe possibly just random greenery.  I wanted to see if I had the widths right; it feels very weird for me to start at the bottom of a stitch but all of these towels have been like that.  It makes me nervous until I know for sure the width is centered, or at least centered enough that the "weight" of the design looks centered.  It's a bit difficult to tell in the picture, but there are actually two different greens in there now.

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yes, let's take pictures of PJs!

The sewing machine can actually sew! What a strange adventure this was.  Here is an unglamorous shot of a pajama set I made.  I figured my husband could have the first clothes made on the machine since he spoils me. :D  They look really huge but are somewhere between a medium and a large.  I suppose it wouldn't hurt to find a dressform at some point.

zig-zags!

I am glad I started with the pants. If I had started with the shirt, I'm guessing nothing would've been finished as I would've nuked the whole project. The shirt is a stretchy material, not quite jersey but almost like a poly-spandex blend. I'll have to get back into the store and see if I can get a picture of the bolt end to know for sure. These older machines do not have built-in zig-zag capabilities and zig-zag stitches are quite necessary if you don't want your stitches to break when the fabric stretches! So I got to play with one of my fancy little attachments. Let me tell you, after breaking three needles in a row, I was about to start stabbing things in the craft room and possibly the rest of the house.  One panic run to the store later, and armed with fresh ball-point needles, it finished up easy as you please.  I still need to master the tension needed with guiding this type of fabric on the machine.

look at that plaid

Not very perfect, mind you.  I am not so good at sewing in a straight line just yet.  The plaid on the pants sure helped with that though!  I think if I make this pattern again, I will change a few things.  Those buttonholes seem like they should be vertical slits in the waistband.  Maybe a different fabric for the shirt; something more T-shirt-y.  I really liked the raglan sleeves.  Waistbands in general will require patience and practice.  That was an adventure -- I redid it three times because I thought the elastic was twisting inside the band.  I am pleased that most of my seams lined up very well with the plaid.  Plus I got to use a button from my (new-to-me) stash!

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Seasonal Hearts

Next up, 2019's second Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway!  I chose this one because of the hearts although it joyfully contains all the seasons~  This is a set of cute small patterns on a single leaflet by The Needle and I featuring four different seasonal hearts with a primitive feel!  I rather like the Americana one for summer.  And I like how they're all finished!  Once again, no fancy extras will be included in this giveaway to cut down on shipping costs but it will go worldwide!

Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway Guidelines

1. Be a minion follower (upper right corner of my blog)!  Feedly, bloglovin', etc. do not count as there is no way to show it!  I am sorry; blame blogger for this one.
2. Comment and tell me you would like to be included in the drawing!
3. Open worldwide! 
4. No winning twice in a row (example: the winner of March's drawing would not be eligible for April's).
5. Closing date: February 28th, 2019 23:59 CST.

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blog: version desktop/FF

Lastly, I am requesting a little help! When I was on a different computer, I noticed something different about my blog. I normally use a Windows-based desktop with Firefox as my main Internet browser. This is how my blog looks on it.

blog: version laptop/Chrome

When I was on the laptop, I was using Chrome for the browser and this is how my blog looks. My banner is completely missing, as well as the little side images denoting the blogger widgets.  Don't mind the difference in flowers; my laptop's screen is smaller than the desktop's.

highlighting the weirdness

How does it look on your device? Do you see the banners?  What do you use (computer/tablet/etc)?  I'm hoping to figure out if it's my personal settings (I have very strict script blocking/anti-ads/high privacy settings on all my computers) or if it's a problem with the special code itself.  Thank you for your help; this really bugs me!

Gifted Gorgeousness: MH3U, Baby Blanket, Speaker Cozies!

Aloha! Here we are with another installment for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness.  I feel like I have a lot of giftedness to show today so I will just dive on in!

click me!

before

after

Brachydios Mio!  Another square for the husband cube!  I so very much enjoyed working on this guy.  The pattern was great (tooting my own horn there), the colors were great, and he's just all around great.  I'm already thinking I want to make a little case for either my DS or games or something, just to have an excuse to stitch him again!

RGB

Three down, three to go! I have yet to decide on the next square. I am going to guess either Nargacuga or Zinogre. Or maybe Lagiacrus.  Or the pickle.  I'll let the giftee decide and absolve myself of difficult things.

Edit: He decided Zinogre!  I've tweaked up the image into a chart but I am not happy with the colors (again).  We shall go floss diving!

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image courtesy of finishing madam!

Next up, here is the finished baby blanket for the lady who set up our knitting group at the library! Sorry these colors aren't quite optimal; they were taken under the library florescent lighting and at a rather weird angle. I like the way it was finished up but I do not envy the lady who finished it! All of our squares were different stitch counts and tensions haha. But she did a great job with what she had and the blanket is so soft and snuggly. :)  My squares are the top middle white (tiles) and the bottom right yellow (triangles).

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gears?

 
Next-next, also for Mr. Husband, I worked on a few more motifs for the speaker cozies... finally!  It really seems to fly when I work on the individual little bits before putting them together. Plus it creates a nice sense of accomplishment having little parts done.  This particular cozy will be for one of the towers and will be 4x5 motifs.  I will need 10 of each color of these little inner parts... and this little inner part is only 1/3 of a full motif... and I will need four 4x5 motifs......  I'll kindly let you do the math as I'd rather not think about how many more I will be making LOL.  (They really are enjoyable though; especially the delft blue.)

Whew!  Gifts are fun.  I have another gift to show but it has yet to reach its giftee so maybe the next GG~

I do have a question for you all before I scurry away.  Assuming a miracle happens and you manage to not lose your needle for many projects, what do you do with the needle when it gets tarnished and "squeaks" through fabric?   These are just basic non-gold needles.  I assume pitching them but it seems a waste?  And a bit dangerous to put needles, even blunt tapestries, in the garbage!

IHSW - July! And a Few Finds!

Hiya, hermiters! I hope you were all productive enough for your tastes!

click me for more info!

I had progress... and negative progress! I work on FFIII during IHSW and this time, the mistake finally showed itself! Doing the letters worked! This is more exciting than it really should be being that I spent a good portion of my stitchy time frogging haha.

before

after - FINAL(ly)

wrong!

A close up of the area before I picked it out. The letters are to have a 1-block "border" around them where the color touches. The top left corner of the N does not! But, the right side does. So at least I knew the mistake was everywhere to the left of the N which wound up not being too terrible to fix, especially since I start out the colored portions in half-stitches only (see, I learn from previous mistakes lol).  I took out the entire area above N just in case though; in the after picture, you can see the outline of the frogged area.  I put a small length in before I started stitching the I... not letting another mistake happen again (famous last words :b)!  I am very pleased that this mistake is gone, Gone, GONE!

☆*･゜ﾟ･* \(^▽^)/ *･゜ﾟ･*☆
Since I don't have a lot of IHSW to show off, how about some of my thrifty finds? If you don't know, I get most of my crafty supplies in thrift stores.  I am definitely my mother's daughter when it comes to spotting bargains!

most were 25¢ each

Crochet books, leaflets, and magazines! I adore the older Star/American Thread Co. magazines and squeal like an overly-excited dolphin whenever I find one.  I was particularly happy with the "Doily Bouquet"; there are some truly stunning pieces in there.  Unfortunately they are not always in the best shape!  Some are missing covers or are falling apart at the seams.

tatting supplies - $5

A tatting kit! My great-great-aunt was a prolific tatter and I love the delicate look it produces on the edge of things. I was tickled to find this in the thrift store. It came with two large balls of thread, two small balls, and two different shuttles, all with the original prices lol. Anyone know some good resources to learn this amazing art? Preferably books as our poor Internet does not much like YouTube.  Though if there is an absolutely amazing tutorial I will haul my laptop to the library and practice with headphones!

front, minor cosmetic damage - free!

This is probably my most exciting discovery. Since we live in a rural area, we do not have trash or recycling pickup. So, I take my recycling down to the center once a month and always toss a glance at their bulk trash pile. There's usually some interesting things, though almost always broken. This time, I noticed a nice little desk looking thing (only the back was visible). I like old furniture so I snooped. It's a sewing machine! I am unashamed to ask for trash (lol) so the guys helped me load it into the truck.

cast iron glory - free!!

After spending a few hours looking things up and taking a "what is it?" sewing machine quiz, it is a 1951 Singer 201-2 (potted motor).  I am unsure if it is the original cabinet but knowing the area, I would suspect it is. It was obviously well-loved at one time, and came with a great little diagram on how to thread the machine written on the back of an envelope. :)  It also came with an assortment of feet (including 4 hemming feet of different makes lol), spare bulbs, and a tiny mountain of metal bobbins.

I had low expectations of it working (it was put out for recycling after all). BUT IT WORKS. There is just something about older machines' sound that I just love. It does need a good cleaning and I'll have to get some fresh oil and grease for it. I think I will have it rewired as well. Most of the wiring was intact but from the machine to the pedal you can tell it's showing its age.  I really look forward to playing with it and sewing again.  More to learn! Maybe I'll finally be able to create some finish-finishes!  :D

beautiful!  FREE!!!

It is really amazing what people will throw out. Those of you who thrift shop or perhaps get lucky in recycling centers, what are your great crafty finds?

Have I talked you to death?  Maybe I should stop rambling.  I'll just leave you with a friendly reminder about my little giveaway!  Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely life this week~! :D

No Reply Fix & Santa Nancy Giveaway & Help Me!

 Hello, World!  This is gonna be a wordy post with only one picture since we are having a horrible time with our ISP lately.  I wish Google Fiber would just roll out to the middle of nowhere and fix all our problems.

First!  I've noticed the "no-reply" problem pop up a lot in the blogging world and thought maybe I could have a go at helping out a few of you.  Basically, whenever you reply on someone's blog, a copy gets emailed to them but if you're a "no-reply blogger" your reply address shows up as "noreply@blogger.com" or "noreply-comment@blogger.com" which are both nothing!  People cannot send a reply back to answer your questions or to thank you for your comments. 

I borrowed this handy picture to explain how to fix this problem!  Thanks to this blog for the graphic.  Even if you haven't yet been called a "no reply" blogger, I would recommend you check these settings~

click on the picture for a larger size!

If you are concerned about privacy (say your blogger email address contains your full name), you can always use an alternate email address.  Under "Identity" in step 4, just put an email you wouldn't mind people seeing; it doesn't have to be the same address as you use for logging into blogger.  :) 

I really hope this helps someone out!  Not getting replies is no fun!

The second rambly part of this message is for fantastic giveaways!  I know many of you already know about the tremendous 25 Days of Christmas giveaway held on Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe! She has truly awesome giveaways every year; I won a Christmas Ornament Collection one year. :D  There is still a little time to enter some so scoot on over there (and maybe say I've sent you :b).

This year I've entered (numbers do not necessarily correspond to days!):

1. Choice of fabric
2. 20 skeins of floss
3. Hand-dyed linen/aida
4. Surprise me!
5. $25 gift certificate
6. Hand-dyed linen/aida (again)
7. 80 skeins of floss
8. $25 gift certificate (again)
9.  Fabric or floss?!
10. 40 skeins of floss
11. $25 gift certificate or fabric
12. 30 skeins of floss
13. Floss or Fabric?!
14. Pick one!
15. $100 gift certificate

Yes, I pretty much entered fabric or floss things this time.  There isn't much of a selection around this neck of the woods so maybe I can branch out a little if I win something?!  Those choosing fabric or floss ones would be a stinker for me and every time I think I've decided, I wake up the next day with the unknown again!  :)

P.S. I don't think this counts for the 25 extra entries; that's okay.  I just needed a way of keeping track~

Lastly, the question!  I am considering using something of a higher count than my normal comfort zone of hardanger (22-count) for the baby sampler thing. If I use a higher count, I will probably be stitching two-over-one.  I would like the Xs to be smaller than 14-count (so fabric higher count than 28-count).  I have very poor eyesight even with correctional lenses!  In your opinion, what is easier to work with, linen or evenweave or some other magical fabric I don't know about?  Brand?  Where to find it?!  I doubt I will be able to get a magnifier though I most definitely need one.

Welp that was a lot of words.  Thanks for your assistance and hopefully I provided some of my own! :) Now I'm going to run around like a crazy person putting up Christmas decorations.  Not including the tree (we always get live), I would say I'm about 3/4 done.  Whew.