Michelle Bendy: Flosstube #111 Show Notes: FFOs and an LNS Crawl!

Happy Saturday! Happy June!!

Call to action:

Let's all head over to Sarah Gulf Coast's GoFundMe and help her out after her car accident (she's FINE!! but her car was totaled and she needs a little help from the community to get back on her feet and get to school)

Sarah is an amazing young woman, she's headed off to college to become a Navy Nurse and I get chills thinking about how amazing she's going to be at that. Let's help her on her way.

Best New Thing:

Collective Cross Stitch 2019!

Collective Cross Stitch 2019 is basically a summer-long cross stitch shop crawl. Each shop features exclusive free designs from various designers. You go to the shop, collect the free designs, and enter on the Collective Cross Stitch website to win prizes.

EVEN BETTER!!!

This year, on Saturday, June 22, Starlight Stitchery in Corvallis, OR, is hosting a Collective Cross Stitch EVENT!

Amanda and Pamela are partnering with none other than TINY MODERNIST for their exclusive chart!! I'm already signed up to go to the event!! Click the pic above to go to their website or call the shop to sign up as well. Your registration fee gets you snacks and drinks and a FULL KIT for the Tiny Modernist design in addition to the code to enter in to the Collective Cross Stitch website to try to win prizes.

FFO

You guys remember Rose Weasley, aka I Give You My Heart by Barbara Ana Designs:

Isn't she AMAZING!?!? JoLyn, @wizzgirljo on Instagram, at Acorns & Threads finished her for me and I could NOT be happier!! Call the shop (503-292-4457) and see about having JoLyn finish something for you!

AND! I bought a GIANT key on eBay to hang her by!! How much do you love her?
My second FFO is Quaker Garden from Blackbird Designs. Terri at The OldNeedleShop on Etsy FFO'd her for me and I LOVE HER!!!

Check out a pic of Terri's own drum and mine together: TWINS!
AND! My third FFO!! It's my own Alice design: Alice's Mad Plant.

I can't show it yet, but if you get the Wonderland Box from Love You More Studios, you'll get the chart!! And, FYI, if you DON"T get the box... watch 1884Stitchery.com and Acorns & Threads to get the pattern anyway. 0_0

Finishes:

None that I can show. ;-)

WIPs (Works in Progress):

First up, of course, Contessa with Squid from Heaven and Earth Designs:

Or, as I affectionately call them, Josephine and Humphrey. Here is where I was last week:

And this week...

Since the last video, I haven't put in very much at all. In fact, there are about 7 extra stitches since this video, but that didn't warrant another picture!

Because Lolly issued a #crossstitchthrowdown, I'm still working on Halloween Luck from Glendon Place:

Here is where I was last time:

Here is where I am this week:

I was able to take it off the qSnap and get a full picture. This TOTALLY energized me to kick it into full gear.

I'm stitching this on a piece of 20 ct Aida from eBay. I just typed in "hand dyed Aida" and came up with THIS beauty!! Try it!

And, just for the throwdown record, here is where Lolly is with this:

Then I worked on with my Needle, Kind and True.

I only worked on this for one day, on December 21, 2018 when I started it for #Startpocalypse2018 and here is where I was with it at that point:

And here is where I am now:

That's after about 900-odd stitches this week.

I finished the Magical Stitches extra credit of "A project you haven't touched in 6 months" to the tune of 500 stitches and I also managed to finish 2/4 of the homework tasks to spell out the word SPEW. I used it for E - designed by Ellen Chester and for W - company is with my Needle.

And now, of course, I don't want to put it down!

Last but not least, I worked on Gobble Gob from Plum Street Samplers:

This is another project that I only spent a tiny bit of one day on during #Startpocalypse2018:

And here it is now:

I put in about 407 stitches for this for the last two homework assignments this week: S - designer is Paulette Stewart, and P - company is Plum Street Samplers.

Plans:

200 per day on Josephine (maybe!)!
Work on Halloween Luck till it's DONE! Count it for #24HoursOfCrossStitch June Challenge and hopefully for another #MagicalStitches Yearly Extra Credit
Finish Alice in May? We'll see!

Knitting:

The Simple yet effective cowl from Tin Can Knits on Ravelry (I'm michellebendy on Ravelry!!)

This is available as a FREE Ravelry Download HERE. Anne P of Wooly Wonka Fibers chose this for me and I'm using her Aeslin DK SW Merino in Skygazer.

Here is where I was last time:

And here is where I am now:

It was a gorgeous day for knitting at the park and at t-ball practice (Rose's t-ball practice!) Kids are FASCINATED by knitting in public!!

I'm carrying it around in a bag from Evertote. By Caroline from Off the Grid Needlearts/Fibre Friends. Her shop is on a break right now, but follow it anyway!!

Thrifting:

Rosie and Tutu and I went to a FANTASTIC Estate sale this week. Things were mostly overpriced, but I found a few gems:

There were so many great frames in the house. I scored two smallish ones. That little girl pic is going to Deanna for her collection and the medicine bottles are headed to McKenna for her medical bathroom. (she's going to need to put an addition on that thing)
We had a GOOD week at the thrift store!! In addition to the box thing that I finished Alice's Mad Plant onto, I found these:

The little hexagonal box is absolutely fantastic and someone already did all of the hard work of antiquing it for me! PERFECT! Then the knitting book has some exciting patterns for menswear!

Purchases:(I don't think I made any actual purchases this week!!)

I'd like to talk about:

Nobody this week. =/ AGAIN! I've been AWFUL at watching new peeps.

Books:

I finished Sabriel by Garth Nix:

This book was REALLY good. 4/5 stars. It was so different. It's about Sabriel who takes over her father's mantle as the Abhorsen, a special necromancer that helps the dead find their final rest rather than raising them. It was GREAT and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Sabriel works for the Magical Stitches Challenge: A book with a key on the cover AND for the challenge: a book with a fancy dress on the cover. I used it for the latter.

Instagram Auction Items!!

This month we are supporting the James J. O'Mara Pharmacy Museum in St. John's Newfoundland for our lovely friend Deanna of @tuxietwinsstitches

In addition to the below auctions, Deanna has designed a FANTASTIC Apothecary cross stitch!

Click on the picture to purchase directly from the Museum's Square site (and check out the gift shop while you're there!)

Auctions will take place soon through Saturday, June 8 at 6am 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!

There are more detailed pictures on my Instagram, but for now, here's a peek at this week's items:

First up, I have a new, unopened REPRINT Lady of the Flag this week:
Thanks to Ellen Chester of with my Needle, I was able to put together another great pack of charts:
We also have an Alice in Wonderland Floss Buddy from Corina at BagzPlus. This is a 90 pocket floss buddy!!