Stitching and Beading and Zombies

Yesterday I had the nicest evening.  I went to dinner with a friend that I hadn’t seen in about 10 years and it was just like we never lost that decade.  While I was in town, I had to stop by my LNS and saw this model in the window… always a pleasant surprise to see your designs stitched up & hanging in a shop :) 

As part of my continuing effort to rid the world of naked zippers, I did a little beading today.  These tassel pulls and sets can be found in my Etsy shop, in case you have project bags that could use a bit of bling.

My number finally came up on the library list for this book, “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies”… I haven’t started it yet, but the cover sure is interesting!

I picked up the JCS 2009 ornament issue and there I am, on page 20.  Actually, there my ornament is.  I’m very pleased with how the photo came out and I love the page I’m on!

The layout of the magazine has changed a bit this year, and I really like the way it looks.  All of the recipies are in the back, grouped together, and the ornament charts are separated by the model picture pages. The charts, info, and stories seem less crowded together too, but that could be just my imagination… anyway, in this case change is good.

Happy Weekend!

 

a donation made :)

Thank you to everyone who purchased something over the weekend! Together, we were able to raise $123.00 for the HSMO to support their work in rescuing hundreds of dogfighting dogs… the story is here, if you haven’t seen it yet. And here’s a screenshot of the donation page:

I’m going on a little cat sitting “vacation”; hoping to get some peaceful stitching and designing time in! I’ll be taking care of the Pretty Princess and the Handsome Beast and they are so spoiled, it’s like watching children. Well, almost. BTW, I’ll post the newest complimentary chart tomorrow, since it was preempted by the donation announcement today.

 

going to the dogs! (a fundraising effort)

Missouri has always been famous for our puppy mills and meth labs, and now we can add dog-fighting to that list. Recently, the Humane Society of MO helped to rescue hundreds of dogs from organized fighting operations in MO & IL, and is currently housing 407 of those dogs at a facility here in St. Louis. They are cleaning, feeding, mending, evaluating, and doing everything they can to find as many of them as possible good homes.

Obviously, dogs bred & trained for fighting aren’t all going to make the greatest of pets. And unfortunately many will probably need to be destroyed. But the great thing about our HS is that they try anyway. Over the last few months, the HSMO Animal Cruelty Task Force has rescued over 700 dogs/puppies from terrible conditions; hooray!

I have to admit that until the Winfield flood last year, I hadn’t given much thought to the Humane Society… I didn’t even think they really worried about rural areas, but they do. They even operate a ranch out here that provides a safe haven for abused horses & other farm animals. And when the town was underwater, I saw them here, out on boats, looking for animals that had been trapped by the flood. I visited their mobile rescue units and was very impressed with the operation; I held a fundraiser through my Etsy shop, and because of your generosity was able to send them a donation of almost $200! You can read more about that here in this post.

I’m so inspired by the work the HSMO has done with the recent rescues, that I think it’s time for another fundraising effort. I will be donating 50% of ALL purchases made through my Etsy shop over the next few days or so, and would love it you could help! If there’s anything you were thinking of buying, now might be the time… and I’d really appreciate it if you spread the word through your blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. I would *love* to be able to make a nice sized donation again this year!

Thank you for your support, and thank you to the Humane Society for saving so many helpless critters from nasty people who do mean things.

 

Misc. Monday

Here’s a picture of the cover of this year’s JCS Ornament Issue… once again they forgot to put my design on the cover. LOL! I’m happy to be included at all, really. I love the annual ornament mag and look forward to getting it each year. Despite my best intentions I’ve only stitched about 5 ornaments from the last 10 years, but it’s still a great addition to my collection.

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Bill made me an anniversary card and it was the sweetest thing. He wrote some mushy stuff about choosing me to ride down life’s highway with him… and here’s part of what he drew.

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Winfield had a little fair and fireworks show for the first time ever and it wasn’t too bad. Much better than I expected it to be anyway. I think that’s because it was in honor of our late Mayor, who was re-elected this year after he was already deceased. Actually, I believe he is still officially the Mayor until the next election in 2010. Anyway… Elizabeth wanted to play one of the carnival games so she could win me this alien, shown here helping me with my threadholders.

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I was in a beading mood yesterday and made some fobs, laying tools, zipper pulls, and froggers.

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I’ve been wanting to recover my couch pillows for the longest time and finally did it… I think they look SO much better. Delphine, the family ostrich is showing you the before & after pillows here. I liked the old pillows (on the left) because they looked kind of Klimt-y to me, but our curtains are that light turquoisey blue and they just didn’t match. I made the covers like shams, so they can easily be taken off to be washed if needed. They were super easy to make! Here’s my pattern, if you want to see how I did it:

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For the past two Sundays, I’ve gone without using the computer at all and I’ve been able to get a lot done. And rest a lot more. I highly recommend living a Computer-Free Sunday lifestyle!