Needle Felting and Bad Dye Job!

I have been taking it easy, not easy for me, I hate sitting still so much but I know I need to rest my back so it can heal. I am able to move more since I got it snapped, so now it is just a matter of building up my strength without hurting it again. I appreciate all the kind comments and concern from all of you.

I wanted to try a new felted piece so I took a design from my Laurel Burch book, Legends. I love this design and plan on making the quilted wall hanging, I think it will look nice over my painting area in the new room, a bit of ocean and a bit of art.

I used a white wool that I got from joannes, I think it was a thick wool felt, but feels more like a batting since it is spongy, but perfect for felting on. I had to trace the design with large black marker and even then I could only see some lines, but I got the general layout and added the rest myself.

This is the base, I have some tweaking to do and adding more fiber and colors for variation, then I plan on wet felting it, then adding decorative stitching for detail on the wings and other areas. I am hoping to make it into a bag or maybe a sewing case, will see how it comes out, how it shrinks up and what I am in the mood for, when it is finished. I definitely need more colors in my roving stash.

I wanted to use a dark red for the background, as in the original quilt but I did not have any dark red that worked, so, I went with black. There is a think layer on and I will add some blues and pops of colors as I go. Soooooo..... I decided to do some dying today. Dying should not be done in a rush, I used white wool and made up a dark red bath but it came out more like light purple gray, maybe a future animal. I also threw in some bright red and that came out nice, hard to see in a photo but it is dark with lighter hints, so a nice variation and will be nice for a santa suit. I need to get out my dye books and find some good dark reds and also just variations, will be good for Christmas pieces.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be working on my new piece, and hopefully getting out a bit to explore.

This and That Monday!

No sewing this weekend, mostly getting things done around the house and some shopping before Bill left for the week. I always like to make sure that I have everything that I need so I don't have to worry about going out, if I am down and since I am still resting my back, I have no desire to go out to shop.

My son came over for a Sunday cookout and I was able to download his photos from his phone. Most were ones I didn't want, but I got some nice shots of Nick and Alex, as well as some videos. I have been putting some videos that I take and a few from my son, on my YouTube Channel.

One of the things that happened while my son was there, was the baptism of Nick and Alex. We baptize children as a baby but she wanted to have it with her family, enough said;)

My son got a hotel to stay in while they were in the city, so they spent a week exploring the city. This is a great way to see the city and the mountains in the distance.

They also went to the zoo. Nick is with his cousins, Ivy's sister's kids. I met them while they were here, her sister and I got along wonderfully and her girls are adorable.

And here is a close up of Alex, he does look a bit like Billy in some ways. She is not coming home till the middle of September, so a long wait for grandma.

I haven't been able to work in the garden, just watering since this heat is not helping the new plants. Today it was full of birds, squirrels, a chipmunk and now a baby bunny. I notice a next in the back that had been ravaged, I think this one got away and now he is hiding in the thickets behind the trailer. He was not afraid of me, but then Bean wanted to see what I was doing and scared him away.

Today I got cleaning and laundry done, so hopefully I can get caught up on my BOM's and maybe a new project or two, this week. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Friday Stitcheries!

This week I worked on two stitcheries by Kathy Schmitz. One will be a gift and one is for me.

The stitch piece is from Kathy's One Stitch at a Time Club. You can still sign up and for 2.00 a month, you get a stitchery each month. A fun project to look forward to each month. It is a needle case. The birdhouse is a hanger which I will use as a welcome on the peg rack and leave open so I can fill it with scented berries. The stitchery can be found on Kathy's Blog as a freebie, make one for yourself and it would make a wonderful gift for friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Monday Finish!

I decided not to post on Friday since I didn't have anything to show. I seem to have over did it and all my joints from my hip to my neck are out of alignment and so painful, I have been laying on the couch since then. It is frustrating for me since I hate laying around and if I have to, I need something to keep my hands busy but I was flat out, most of the time.

Yesterday I was able to move more so I got my snowmen ready to finish and was able to finish the rest today. It is for my sister so I kept it fun and brighter. I like how it has a prim feeling but also fun and a pop of color with the off white stitching. The one problem I had was, getting the blue ink off, it went through 4 rinses and it is still there so I may have to add a bit of stain to see if that will tone it down. I used a fabric that may not have been all cotton, so that could be it.

The designs can be found at Christmas Coloring Pages. They have a lot of different designs and lots of similar ones that can be used to make a mini quilt or a larger one. It is a bit wonky from shrinking up, but I will be rewashing it and then I can block it better.

I also got a new photo of my sweet grandsons, I sure miss Nick and I can't wait to meet Alex, but they are not due home until September. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and hopefully I can get out more next weekend, I do miss paddling and was hoping to get out more this year.

Monday this and that!

Not a lot this weekend, it was overcast and with threat of storms, we didn't want to go out in the kayaks and get stuck in a storm. The good thing was that they air was cooler so we were able to get out for some fun time.

I also worked in my garden and now I need to figure out how to design it. This is the basic layout, I put the fence there for now, but that will go. I planted flowering bushes in the back and will line the outer edges with flowers and plants and put benches on each end. Bill is going to make me a ladder trellis and that will go behind the garden, then I can grown flowering vines to grow over it and hang bird feeders from there. We will also be able to add some bird houses to the sides. My sister is coming up next month and wants to help, so I will hold off on some things till she gets here. I got a simple bird bath for now, but would like to make or buy a waterfall feature, so I can wait until I find or make just what I want. I used the old bath for food, since it is cracked but perfect for the birds and of course and squirrels and chipmunks are enjoying it too.

I added some mulch but have more to put in, the bags are heavy so Bill can put the rest in tomorrow. I also got some red stones that I can lay around plants or pathways on the side, still thinking about it.

On Saturday we went to the lighthouse, it was a perfect day for a walk and not too many people. Bean loves going there and loves greeting everyone we pass. I think I could sit on the rocks all day, it is just so peaceful and relaxing.

Sunday we stayed home, but I needed to get out for a bit, so the dog beach was perfect. Close by and not crowded so Bill enjoyed a swim and I walked on the beach and found some nice hearts and stones to add to my collection.

My son is still in Malaysia and sent me a few photos. This is the baptism at her parents church. I was surprised at how casual everyone was dressed. I was raised in a family where we dressed to go to church and special dresses for special occasions, and I am still that way, I wear dresses all year long and in the winter I wear fleece tights under my dress. Yes, I am old fashioned in some ways;)

I guess they had a late party for Nick so my son would celebrate with them. I have no idea what Happy Full moon means? He just sent photos, no explanation. It cost more to text from there, so he sent me a few photos and hopefully I will see more when he gets home.

I hope you all had a nice weekend and hopefully I can get myself back into sewing and doing things this week. I am on full meds again, my lyme doc wants me to stay on them longer so putting up with yeast over load again.

Working on Friday!

It seems I am always working on things, I really need to finish some things, I am getting a large pile of stitcheries and things that need to be made into things, so I will start working on those too.

This week I have been busy outside, we found some barn red plastic adirondack chairs for the fire pit, and I have been working on a garden retreat. I started with some flowering bushes in the back and then realized my bird bath is cracked, so I have been looking for something new, either a bath or I may go with a water fall, still looking. It is not a big area, so I may stick with something simple. I also plan on having bench seats on each end and a trellis in the back to hang the bird feeders from, so things Bill needs to start building;)

My sister is coming to visit next month and she loves snowmen, so I thought I would start something simple that I can give her when she visits. I used designs from Christmas Coloring Pages and made four snowmen blocks. I plan on adding sashing and a border to make a mini quilt, or maybe a pillow, depends on the size when I finish.

Today I finally started my appliqué block from Cheri's, A Blackbird Gathering that can be found on her Facebook page, Quilts by Cheri. She also has other free designs from her older patterns and it is a fun group to participate in. I need to add the stitchery and maybe button flowers, for the smaller ones. Or maybe I will grab some when I hit the craft store this weekend, would be fun to have mini flower buttons for pieces like this. I am using lana wool thread on this BOM, I want to give it a more prim look.

It looks like rain most of the weekend, so hopefully I can catch up on my projects and get my sewing room organized so I can do some machine quilting, as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend, though it isn't over, a lot of you are probably at the fireworks as I am writing this.

This weekend we worked around the yard and relaxed a bit. I have been wanting a fire pit, so we finally have one in the yard. I am debating on another row of stone, just enough to balance it out and then I will get some green adirondack chairs to go around it. Now all we need is some guests and a nice fire, but not it is a bit hot and a high fire hazard, so will wait till next weekend.

I also wanted to check Dani's gravesite. With all the heat and no rain, I realized her flowers would be wilting. Luckily the two main plants were ok, just needed some watering and we bought some new yellow ones to brighten it up.

It made me think of when we went to pick out sites, we got one on each side for us and I wanted to be buried in the older section. Well, when we got here, he took us to the other side and said that it was the Catholic side and I said, what? That is the silliest think I have ever heard, in this day and age, people are still religiously prejudiced, and I guess they are. So, I told him I didn't like that side, too new and no shade, so he found a spot right at the beginning of the old section, so we are right in the middle of both religions, just the way I like it;) All behind her are old stones and it is just such a serene spot.

Today was family day, we went to my SIL's home which is on the island, so we got to enjoy spending time with Bill's side of the family and all of my BIL's family, who are open and fun to be around.

She also lives on a small road by the bay, so we can walk down to the beach. Bill and Bean are enjoying the beach. But Bean is giving me the look, "Put down the camera and come play in the water with me". I did go for a nice swim and we played in the water, and Bean was also good at the party, he behaved better and sat quieter, most of the time.

Some of the guests found out that they could find clams in the mud, so they got a bag full to take home. The kids were helping them out. It was a beautiful day to be out and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, as well.

And last but not least, my son is in Malaysia and sent me photos of Nick. It is so good to see him, but I do miss him so much.

Unfinish Friday!

This week seems to have flown by, lots of plans and not much got done. It took two days to clean up after our trip and then I crashed, too much fun in one week;) I worked on a few things, but didn't get a chance to finish, so I will show you what I have been working on.

I decided I wanted to practice some more felting and I had a tutorial for a cute pup. I wanted it to be more like Bean so I used his colors and their pattern. I have roving that is more compact and that is great for forming the body, then I planned on using the longer hairs for his fur, but I realized after I looked, no long black hair so now the dog is a puppy with bushy hair. I want to do more details and today I made a little tennis ball for him to play with. I will show you a photo when I am finished. I wanted a collar but his neck is too compact so that might not work. It was fun to try though and I learn what I change to make it better.

My photos do not come out that great, it looks nicer in person.

I also worked on some stitcheries. I made up a few to take with me, but never worked on them. I tend to go all day and at night, just sitting at the fire is enough activity for the night. I wanted to make Cheri's baskets in the rework and love how it looks, I used pearl cotton on that one and I will do a nice border for it. I also made another church piece, my Christmas box will be over flowing this year.

As you can see, I use batting under the stitchery, works nicely with pillows and it helps to keep the stitches clean when I carry through to the next space. The trick is tying off before you carry over so it doesn't tighten up when you wash it, and not to carry too far, just over a few spaces at the most.