Notforgotten Farm Class

Lori from Notforgotten Farm has asked me to teach a class at her lovely shop on May 14, 2016!   

What will happen there?  Good food, great company, finishing a drum roll and scissor fob.

U.S.S. Mermaid is going to be sailing your way!

Here is a peek~a~roo of the colors and fabric.

Is peek~a~roo a real word? I don't know.  

The class is limited to ten people, first come first served!  

To sign up for this class email Lori at Not4got@aol.com. 

Coming soon to a farm near you. Well, not near you, unless you live next door to her. 

Merry Christmas!!

I have been a busy bee around here!  Stitching, sewing, cooking and preparing my home for the holidays.  Bubbles and No Kitty are doing their best to help with the wrapping of the packages and asking in the kitchen if I have any tidbits that they might help dispose of.

My family loves to troll my decorations. This is supposed to be Peace on Earth.








I love my tree, which has some unusual guests for a Christmas tree along with traditional ornaments.
























Rudolph on the Rooftop is a new design for this holiday season!  I love Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!  Tiny x's and smyrna crosses in the windows made my heart happy.























Holly Jolly is a fun bowl filler and plays into the Rudolph themed designs.














And of course~ Merry Christmas can be made into a banner or pillow.




All of these can be purchased in my etsy store. www.etsy.com/shop/deathbythread

To all of you a very Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!!!

My Hair

You know when things just kinda happen?  Like, you wake up from a nap and decided to cut your hair?  Since most of you, like me, may not be able to see without glasses, you may decide the most logical course of action is to cut your hair WITHOUT THEM ON. This happens right?  I'm sure it does. Stuff like this happens to me all the time. Anyway, I cut my hair. Short. While practically blind.  Why, may you ask?  Well, it goes like this.  Bill and I were at a bar talking to some people and decided to start a punk band. AS ONE DOES.  If this seems weird to any of you then you haven't spent more than one second around my husband. This is completely normal.  My two best friends call him Daddy and we are going to go move to a commune some day. Only part of that is true.

SOOOO, back to the hair story.  I decide that since we have quasi formed a punk band (still need a drummer) I would cut my hair spiky and dye it pink. I had a spray bottle of pink dye (temporary of course).  Believe it or not it looked like crap, pink crap.  And it didn't cover the gray as I was hoping it would so I washed it out.  By this time the entire tub was pink and hair was everywhere.

 Where are the pictures you ask? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I only have two hands and was cutting by feel.  Selfie stick or no, pictures of the event were not taken.  Now, I did take an after picture. It's longer on one side, there is a reason for that.  I know I have sworn a few to secrecy on this matter but I have to explain this or no one will get it.  I had two brain surgeries for cancer. I have a big old whopping scar on the left side of my head. If my hair is too short it shows.  Then everyone would know what is wrong with me ;-)

I'll let you know when our first show is.

Doing my best Billy Idol sneer.

Bubbles the Wonder Dog

We rescued a Boston Terrier named Bubbles from a puppy mill.  She is a nice tiny addition to our little family.  No Kitty was all a tither, she loves dogs!

When we picked her up she was stinky and filthy. She won our hearts with those eyes!

We drove six hours one way to the middle of nowhere Maryland to a dilapidated creepy farmhouse.  Saw the dog, threw money at them and got the heck out of Deliverance with pooch in tow.

She was tinier than we thought! She slept on my lap on the way home in a dog bed.  She barely took up one corner.

We had a crate ready for her with a pink bunny to keep her company. She wasn't potty trained either.  Bubbles is a smart cookie and it only took a few days and some puppy pads to get her in the routine of going outside.

No Kitty was thrilled and settled right in to take a nap with her new BFF. It wasn't to last. Bubbles doesn't like cats and only tolerated her for a short while.  As long as the cat leaves her alone peace remains.

Alone at last!

Bubbles is ten years old we found out.  Most of her teeth had to be removed due to zero vet care her entire life.  She had been spayed when we picked her up but it was too late, she has tumors all over her tiny belly. We are keeping close watch on our little fur ball.  She like to cuddle on my lap under a blanket most of the time.

I mean, really, look at those eyes!!!!

No Kitty can tell when Bubbles is feeling poorly and tries to comfort her.  You can see how much the dog is enjoying that!

Ears.

No Kitty is still queen. She keeps a watchful eye on her friend.  When Bubbles is not in her crate No Kitty sleeps in it. Poor cat, it is the only way she can take a "nap" with the dog.

Bubbles. My favorite picture.  You can follow us on instagram under beckandfur.  

Where have I been?

In a galaxy, far far away, I made a promise to the internet to update more often.  As one does when they need motivation to blog more.  You can see that didn't get me very far.  I have been very busy. As if that is some sort of excuse! HA!  Alas, it is the only one I have.  So, with no further ado, here are the reasons I have been so quiet.

I have been making a bunch of pincushions. You can find them in my Etsy store.

I was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past who informed me I better get busy with my holiday designs. I promptly obeyed.

I love this saying. The holidays for me are Merry and Bright!

No Kitty has been doing her best to get me up early in the morning.

I got married on Halloween.

I adore him.

We went to the Poe Museum on our honeymoon. As one does.

Poe is still hanging out with the ravens. Some guys never learn.

I now rule the world with my magic ring.

I managed to not go to the Blue Ridge Parkway and see the fall foliage for the twentieth year in a row. Outside my living room window had to suffice.

Bubbles needed a sock monkey sweater and hot pink booties. She got them.

A New Halloween Stitchery!

I had this design in mind for a while and finally got it done.  I love small finishings!

  A small piece of inside fabric, a scrap of wool a few thread rings and you have something to enjoy and use for years.  Also makes a great gift for you Halloween loving friends.

You can purchase it in my etsy store. www.etsy.com/shop/deathbythread.

Soon the skull head counting pins will be available also!

Harvest Market Hop Buyers

It's Market Time!!  If you have landed on this page and need to see all my patterns and details about them click on the Harvest Market Hop Page located on the upper right hand side of my blog!!  Enjoy shopping and I look forward to hearing from you!!!

The Red Summer House

The Red Summer House is available in my Etsy store! 

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeathByThread

 I love red houses and I couldn't resist adding one to this design.  Chimneys and the subsequent fireplaces that are attached to them are prominent in this piece.  Summer is wonderful with all its luscious greens and precious bees floating about.  I photographed this piece flat so your imagination could soar on how you wanted to finish it.  A drum perchance? A flat fold finish? A beautifully stuffed pillow?  Frame it?  Share with me how you finished yours!  

Enjoy!

Bermuda by the Bay

I have been a busy bee in my sewing room!  My summer stitchery for you to enjoy is called Bermuda by the Bay.  I spent a wonderful part of my childhood living in Bermuda.  We lived on Hungary Bay and this little design is pretty much what my childhood home looked like! 

Bermuda is still a British colony so the Union Jack is represented. For those of you prefering a different flag I added a Colonial Flag and a Canadian Flag.  

Lobsters are plentiful there and I couldn't resist adding a sweet lobster buoy scissor fob pattern!

Click on the link to my Etsy Store where you can purchase all of my patterns!

Happy Fourth of July Freebie!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  I have spent this day with my lovely fiancè being very grateful for all the freedoms we have in America!  May you be blessed today and everyday!

Halloween Cross Stitch!

Hey guys! I have been super busy getting my first cross stitch pattern up and loaded on my Etsy store. This has been a few years in the making and I finally got it done!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Here is a link to my Etsy shop:https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeathByThread?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Ghostlys Guard

New Dining Room!!

I finally got my dining room done. Of course there are various levels of done. 

  Level One: Do I actually have a dining room?

Level Two: Is there a table under all that stuff?

Level Three:  I see floor!!

Level Four:  I think if we just do a quick wipe of that stuff it will be safe to eat off of.

Level Five:  I believe it's good enough to put on the internet.

People of the Internet: I proclaim my dining room 

INTERNET  READY.

Ah, yes. The dreaded BEFORE picture.  Actually, it was really cute to start with.  My dearest and bests of bests friends gave me her old table and chairs when I moved into my new digs with no actual dining room furniture.  I found the hoosier cabinet for a steal.  I had wanted one for 30 years and I finally got it!  So, why get rid of everything but the white bookcase?  I don't know.  I just didn't feel like it was me anymore.  Part of the shedding the old (keeping some) and creating a new place for me to thrive in.

Bubbles is suspicious that something big is going down.  

No Kitty loves the hoosier. It is her spot. Her spot to sit and demand attention. Her spot to swipe things onto the floor and chase them around the tiny apartment.  She was not happy when things started to disappear.

OH! I SEE FLOOR!

You will never ever in the history of ever guess where all these boxes came from. 

IKEA!!! SHOCKER!!  Excuse me, are you still breathing? Because, if you read my post about my sewing room you certainly know, I of all people would never buy anything from them!!!

"Not this again!" meows No Kitty.  Yes, kitty I bought new screwdrivers for you. Oh, for me, since No Kitty didn't manage to grow opposable thumbs since the last shipment from IKEA.

Table was surprisingly easy to put together.

The chair, not so much.  It took three hours to produce this level of completeness. 

Success!! A place to eat on!

What No Kitty decided to do with all of this. 

Days later, I got the cabinet finished.  I love it!!!  Notice the white bookcase.  An IKEA purchase from many years ago.  Still in primping mode.  I tried to finish it but I noticed a jar of Nutella that needed immediate attention. 

The cabinet is from the  IKEA HEMNES Series. I really like this series of furniture. It is sleek but still has that shabby chic thing going on.

Looks to pretty to mess up with food. I think I'll eat out again tonight.

My friend Stacy Nash made me this pear pincushion and adorned it with a skeleton! She is such a sweetheart!!!

I purged a lot of antique china during this deal. I kept some of my favorites though.  Sweet beehive honey pot and china serving dish.

China butter pats.  A pink milk glass wedding box.  LOVE.

OH! Hello there! Who are you?  Why ma'm I'm a civil war soldier here to guard your new room. Thank you Michi Ball!!!!  She made me this wonderful stump doll. He will always be treasured.

Another sweet friend made me this cross stitched ornament from Homespun Elegance.

Something happened on the way to Tipperary. I discovered Ebay had hundreds of my favorite cookbook for sale.  So my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook collection went from this.

To this. 

 Dudes, it's a miracle I didn't buy every single one listed on Ebay during this time.

Bubbles went in for surgery and almost died.  I am lucky to have her back.  She is watching me warily right now. I have decided I need a break on the home redecorating routine. 

 My bedroom will have to wait till next year.