Best New Thing:
- Jay Allen, country music star, has written a song for his mom who suffers from Alzheimer's. The song starts out with her leaving him a Happy Birthday voicemail and losing her words. It gets more tear-jerker-ish from there, so buckle up: (click on the picture for the YouTube video)
FFOs:
- October 31 from Kathy Barrick came up THREE TIMES on the wheel this week! 0_0 so it's a finish and an FFO:
I finished this on a thrift store cigarro box that has been languishing in my closet for a couple of months. I love it. It's done in almost all of the called for colors except the fill in in the basket is Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Americana Bronze instead of DMC 680. This is purely because I couldn't FIND DMC 680. And I'm passing the chart on to Tina.
Finishes: TWO this week!! AGAIN!
- First up is the second room of the Tiny Modernist Haunted Mansion SAL:
And here is mine: 
And here is the entire thing so far: LOVE:
- My second (and third?) finishes this month are the Prairie Schooler Tiny Bees (this is what I'm calling them):
Both of mine are stitched with random fancy flosses that I grabbed out of my stash, one is on 30 count onyx (it's slightly Wabi Sabi) and the other is on 30 count Old Mill Java, both over one: 
The flosses that I used are:
Ship's Manor Iceberg
Weeks Dye Works Curry
Gentle Art Oatmeal
Classic Colorworks Weeping Willow
WIPs (Works in Progress) SO MANY this week!! Thanks #ArbitraryAugust!
- August 21: This was the first day that the Wheel chose October 31 by Kathy Barrick:
That's right, it was the FIRST day this week. This project will come up a total of three times this week and that is why it's also in the FFO section up above!
- August 22: For the first time this month, Halloween Luck from Glendon Place showed up:
Here is where is was before I started stitching: 
And here is where it is now:
Not a TON of progress, but progress none the less. This is stitched in all of the called for DMC flosses (so far) on a piece of FANTASTIC 18 count Aida that I picked up on eBay. It's being kept in a bag that Andrea Stitches in CO made for me.
- August 23: I was STOKED to see Birds to the Boughs from LindyStitches come up for the second time this month:
Here is what it looked like last time I had it out: 
This one lives in a bag made for me by Audrey, StitchyWitch42.
And here is where it is now:
I'm stitching this on a 20 count piece of mystery Aida (again, loving the Aida this week!) that was a gift and I'm using all of the called for DMC because every last thing about this chart is absolute perfection and I'm not changing a single thing.
This one lives in a bag made for me by Audrey, StitchyWitch42.
- August 24: I was NOT stoked when the wheel landed on Leia & Han from Tilton Crafts:
I wasn't excited because I BARELY got started on this when I stitched it last (May the Fourth...): 
And I was stitching 1/1 in white and light colored DMC on an uneven 25 count linen and HATING it. But even though I barely got any progress this time, I don't hate it anymore:
I was definitely suffering from "Project too close to the face" syndrome previously. I like it again!
I also love the fact that this project has EXACTLY 40 colors and that makes it PERFECT for my BagzPlus floss buddy!
- August 25: Kathy Barrick's October 31 came up again, see above in the FFO section. I was close enough to being finished that I was going to cheat and keep it out one more day:
- August 26: BUT WAIT!!! You can't make this up! The Tiny Decisions app spun October 31 AGAIN!!! And I was able to finish it today.
You already saw it FFO'd onto its little cigarro box above. EXCELLENT!
- August 26 (again): Since October 31 was an early in the day finish, I spun again and got Tiny Modernist Christmas SAL 2017:
It was NOT very far along at all last time: 
And by "last time" I mean the FIRST time I worked on it. I started this on our trip to Disneyland for Rose's 5th birthday. So here it is now:
I'm stitching this in some of the called for DMC, but the red is subbed out with a fancy floss. The fabric is a 16 count Evening Magic Aida from Crafty Kitten. and it's fantastic.
The bag it's in is from Diddly Daddle Designs. Use code JUSTKEEPSTITCHIN for a 15% (I think!!) discount.
- August 27: The Wheel LOVES Alice Under the Dreaming Tree from HAED:
And I love that the wheel loves it because here is what it looked like last time:
And here it is now:
That's right. I got a PAGE FINISH, so that's another Year of WIPs piece complete! (HAED pages count as finishes for YOW). AND I went over my 2400 tent stitches for the By the Numbers Challenge in Full Coverage Fanatics group on Facebook. I'm now caught up through March. 0_0
I'll be stitching on this more because Kelli Anne and I are doing a HAED stitch with me series on Flosstube called Turtle Tag (because we go through a tag, but we're going to take a WHILE to get through it). Click on the picture below for the first in that series:
I'm stitching 2/1 tent stitch on 28 count Lugana in Lambswool from Wichelt.
- And for today, August 28, the wheel says..... Pretty Little Hawaii by Satsuma Street!
Here is my starting point for today. I'm getting it out very soon:
I'm stitching it in all of the called for DMCs 1/1 on 28 count Auld Lang Sine from Joydiri Designs.
Thrifting:
- Two scores from the thrift store this week. One was a punch needle and a TON of Weeks Dye Works flosses:
- The next was a Dimensions Gold Kit, Japanese Maiden, already started on some eavenweave fabric:
You KNOW this is on my wheel of WIPs now!
Purchases: Two this week
- Colour & Cotton Prim & Brights combo floss club. Angela. Is. A. Genius.
Plus I grabbed three more skeins of Fall Spice which is my absolute FAVOURITE floss ever. I'm planning to do Long Dog Samplers The Pilgrim in this colorway: 
I just need about 80 more yards of it. Plus I'm open to fabric colors.
- Another Dyeing 2 Stitch Exclusive kit from Plum Street Samplers:
Click on the picture above to go directly to the Dyeing 2 Stitch site to order.
Happy Mail/Gifts:
- I'm just not putting them in here this week; too much work. But check the flosstube to see them all!
- I finished the audiobook version of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: (click on the picture to go to the Goodreads page)
I shouldn't have read the book after seeing the movie. I gave it 3/5 stars. It was an enjoyable read, but nothing special. I don't think I did myself any favors by seeing the movie before listening to the book; I just wanted Ben Affleck to be the narrator for Nick.
Instagram Auction Items!!
- Auction will take place today through Tuesday, July 24 at 0600 PST on @michellebendy on Instagram. Here's an amazing diagram describing how to bid:
Under the picture of the item that you'd like to purchase, you put your bid in $1 increments AND you tag the person who bid above you. Only the person who bid DIRECTLY above you!
- Here are the winners of last week's auctions, with all of the donations going to Wade's Alzheimer's Walk so he could earn a t-shirt. And BOY did he earn a t-shirt.
- First up is a gorgeous bag from Lesley Hurley, PERFECT for the #TisTheSeasonSAL that's starting in September, won by Denise.
- Next is a BEAUTIFUL project bag from Faye, the Carolina Stitcher, absolutely begging to have autumn and Halloween pieces held inside, won by Diane!
- Third we have a great project bag and floss buddy bundle from Corina at BagzPlus; it's Alice in Wonderland and it's an exact replica of my set! (minus my HAED supplies of course!), won by Sharon Braxton!
- Finally, it's not a bag, but it's a FANTASTIC needleminder from Clay by Kim!! This auction gave me fits because I could NOT tell who won by Instagram comments alone! 0_0 So, thank goodness for Arlene Cohen becuase she reminded me that the Tiny Decisions app makes all of my decisions and I should let it decide this too! It was Kyle!
- And the new auctions: These will end on Tuesday, August 28 at 0600 PST. This week's theme is FFOs and bags and all of the donations are back to my walk again. =D
- First up, the complete set of all four seasonal designs from Barbie's Petal Pusher, including the called for DMC and fabric that Barbara dyed herself:
- Next is a huge and wonderful assortment of charts from Cathy Habermann of Hands on Design:
- A Lizzie*Kate limited edition FULL KIT from The Silver Needle
- Last but not least is the Full set of the Brenda Gervais Here Lie My Needles Mystery SAL of Birds of a Feather. This is just the chart, but I'm more than happy to throw in some fabric of the winner's choice. =)
- Acorns & Threads
- Reflections Framing & Stitching
- Gulf Coast Stitches
- Starlight Stitchery
- BagzPlus by Corina
Flosstubers Mentioned
And don't forget about the Alzheimer's Live Sale on my YouTube!! Mark your Calendars!!! And please, please, click on the picture to fill out a Google form to pre-register for the sale; this will help me a BUNCH!
