Totally Useless SALTag Archives

January TUSAL Update

I’m a day late in getting my January update for the Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long posted. I meant to get it up yesterday, but time just got away from me. So, without further adieu …

The orts in the bottom of the jar are from my new start on Royal Holiday by Mirabilia. Next up is a bunch of red from work on Celtic Christmas from Lavender & Lace. Sadly, a good portion of that big chuck of red orts is the result of having to frog nearly 600 stitches from that piece a couple of weeks ago. The darker orts on the top of the pile are from some recent stitching I’ve done on my Hannah Beeby 1816 reproduction sampler from Timeless Designs.

My little jar has now been emptied into my larger clear paint bucket. I didn’t bother taking a photo of it this month since it would just be the same orts. I’ll include a photo of it in next month’s TUSAL update after I’ve added my February orts to it.

Until next time …

24 January 2012

Challenges, Stitching

2 comments

Celtic Christmas, Hannah Beeby, Lavender & Lace, Mirabilia, Royal Holiday, Timeless Designs, Totally Useless SAL

Lady Alexandra Update & TUSAL 2012

I’ve really been enjoying working on Lady Alexandra from Mirabilia lately. She’s the only piece I worked on this week. I got kind of side-tracked away from stitching when I learned on Thursday that my uncle suddenly wasn’t doing well due to complications of his Parkinson’s disease. He ended up passing away on Friday and I just been out of sorts emotionally since then. So, I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked this week, but progress is progress, right? As always, click to biggify.

Fabric: 32-count Ice Blue linen (Wichelt)
Fibers: Recommended DMC & Mill Hill Beads
Progress as of 20 November 2011

I also wanted to make a quick mention about the 2012 edition of the TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long). I haven’t participated in a couple of years, but decided to do it again in 2012. If you are interested in participating or learning more about it, you can visit Sharon’s blog (a.k.a. Daffycat) to check out the details.

Until next time …

21 November 2011

Cross Stitch

3 comments

Family, Lady Alexandra, Mirabilia, Totally Useless SAL, TUSAL, Uncle Alex, WIPs

New Stash – Part 1

Ok, so when I started collecting the photos of the new stash I’ve gotten in the past month, I realized there was so much I needed to break it up into two posts. When I fall off the no stash buying wagon, I clearly do it in a big way.

I’ll start this first new stash post with photos of some stuff that I’ve gotten, but didn’t actually buy. I got a couple of Mirabilia charts from friends at my LNS. Next, I was thrilled to receive a couple of items by The Stitcherhood that were on my wish list as a gift from the designer! Thank you again so very much, Maria! (Be sure to check out her blog for some cute freebies, too!)

Design: Circle of Friends
Designer: Mirabilia

Design: Queen of Freedom
Designer: Mirabilia

Design: Stitchers’ Samplers
Designer: The Stitcherhood

Design: Haunted Holler
Designer: The Stitcherhood

The friend that gave me the Queen of Freedom chart also gave me a stitcher’s third [24" x 27"] cut of Wichelt Silvery Moon fabric. As soon as I saw it, I thought of the beautiful Victoria Sampler Christmas designs stitched on a similarly colored fabric. I ended up deciding on & purchasing the Christmas Village design since it doesn’t require any Hardanger.

Design: Christmas Village
Designer: Victoria Sampler

The last thing I’ll share today is a kit I picked up from Drema at Needlecraft Corner. (I also purchased the kit for the Moon Witch finish shown in my previous post from her as well.) It’s the October teacup from Just Another Button Company. If you look closely, you’ll notice it’s a little skull. How cute is that?! If you want to see what it will look like when finished, click here.

Design: October 2009 Cup of Tea
Designer: Just Another Button Company

Update: I realized that I missed posting my TUSAL update for this month. Imagine that! I think I’ve only posted it on the correct day a couple of times this year. Oops! Anyway, here is my latest TUSAL update:

Ok, that’s it for now. I’ll try and get part two of the new stash up in the next couple of days. Until then …

22 November 2009

Stitching

4 comments

Christmas, Halloween, Mirabilia, Stash, The Stitcherhood, Totally Useless SAL, Victoria Sampler

Halloween Squares & A Finish

Jeanie in Singapore received the Halloween squares I stitched for her as part of the Fair & Square exchange, so I can share a picture of them now. The design is by Prairie Schooler from their Boo to You chart.

I received my squares from Jeanie last week. She choose a couple of small motifs from San-Man Originals. She did a great job. I think the squares are adorable. Thanks, Jeanie!

I also have another little finish to share. It’s actually a partial finish of an ultimate larger piece. It’s from the Sea to Shining Sea silk thread pack series from Little House Needleworks. The whole piece is made up of five regional squares and a border pack. Since they are each packaged separately, I’m counting each thread pack as a finish. So, here’s the West Coast:

I have one last picture to share before I finish this up. I’m a week late posting it, but here is my monthly photo of my orts jar for the Totally Useless SAL:

I also want to add a note for those of you who are following my weight loss journey. I registered a new domain name for that blog. The new URL is http://www.melgetsfit.com. ~~If you have the old URL bookmarked, it will still continue to work.~~ Edit: Turns out I was wrong, the old URL apparently doesn’t work any longer. It will get you to the site, but the blog entries are no longer displayed. I just ask that if you link that blog elsewhere that you please use the new URL. Thanks!

Ok, that’s it for now. Until next time …

23 October 2009

Stitching, Weight Loss/Fitness

4 comments

Blogging, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Fair & Square, Halloween, Little House Needleworks, Totally Useless SAL, Weight Loss/Fitness

August TUSAL Update

Wow, I can’t believe the new moon has come & gone and I forgot to post my TUSAL (Totally Useless SAL) update for the month! Thankfully, I saw Valerie’s update on her blog which served as a reminder to me.

Click to enlarge

You’ll likely notice a lot of metallic ribbon and braid near the top this month. That was from the Multiplicity class that I took. It was a fun piece to work on, but I was glad when it was finished so I could have a break from all those metallics and get back to some floss.

We’re also down to last call for my blogiversary/1000th post giveaway. As of the time I’m writing this, there is about 25 minutes remaining to enter. I’m going to try my absolute best to get the winner announced tomorrow as promised. However, my DSL modem/router died very late Sunday night and I was wouldn’t internet access at home until last night when I replaced it. Losing two days of internet access at home resulted in me getting way behind in adding the names of the entrants to my list. As you can tell by the number of comments I’ve received, it’s a bit of a daunting task. Anyway, if I don’t get completely caught up tonight, then I’ll finish up tomorrow night and announce the winner on Friday.

Until next time …. when I announce the big winner ….

26 August 2009

Stitching

4 comments

Class, Giveaway, Multiplicity, Totally Useless SAL

Exchange & TUSAL Updates

Wow, I can’t believe that I completely spaced on posting a photo of the replacement exchange squares I received from Corinna. She kindly stepped up and volunteered to stitch them for me as replacement for the earlier failed exchange. The design is “Tiny Sampler” from La-D-Da and I love it! She did such a fantastic job. Thanks, Corinna!!

It’s difficult to believe that another month has passed by already, but it has. The new moon was yesterday, so that means it’s time for another Totally Useless SAL photo update. Here ya’ go (the photo was taken a night, so please pardon how dark it is):

I don’t really feel like I made much progress in my ort collection since last month’s update. I was on vacation for about the first 10 days of this TUSAL month, so that definitely contributed to the lack of stitching this month. Hopefully I’ll have a lot more going into the jar this month.

I also wanted to post about another great stitchy giveaway. Jan is giving away a lovely chart, and everything needed to stitch it, in honor of the birth of her new granddaughter Alexandra. She has all the details for the giveaway on her blog. What a lovely way to honor her new grandbaby. Here’s a pic of everything she is providing: