Friday Finish!

 

This week I wanted to make something new for Valentines. I had seen some ideas on Pinterest and I had wood pieces I could use, so I made a few hanging pieces. I just drew up some hearts and did more of a hit or miss with my scrap floss. 

These two are more my style with a prim look. 

These two are brighter. I messed up with the lettering. The first time I hand drew on the letters, from the back and punched them, then realized they were backwards, lol. So I had to redo them and forgot that the position would change too, so they are a bit wonky. This is a great way to use up excess floss and they work up quickly. You can get the wood pieces from the craft store, or use reclaimed wood pieces.

Last week we did our usual drive around the ocean areas. The bays were frozen and the beaches are still a mess. With each storm, they get more washed out and cluttered, so lots of cleaning, still going on.

This week all the ice has melted, the snow is gone and it has been raining again. We were able to get out this afternoon and found that the cove beach was littered with glass and pottery. It was freezing so I got as much as I could find. Lots of large pieces this time and a few nice colors. 

Tomorrow is the one day with no rain and Sunday is rain and snow, so hopefully we can enjoy more time out before it comes. I hope you all have a nice weekend and can get out to enjoy some time outside.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I started one project, then another and then I got the new stitchery of the month. The second project I made and finished before the others since it is for the boys. It was a design in a Whimsicals book and I did a few in fun colors as bookmarks for the boys. 

I started the new stitchery next, but still working on that, they will be hot pads for me, and perfect for Valentines and Easter, so I will get those done next, then the project I was working on, will get done. With the cold and now an ice storm, I will have a lot more time indoors.

I used some glitter threads and ribbon with glitter on the tags.

I hope everyone faired well in the last storm and the ones coming through this weekend. We had a lot of rain and now it is icing, so the roads will be a mess.

Last weekend we got a few feet of snow, now it has all melted and made ponds in my yard. I have gotten quite a few visitors with the snow and cold, they need more energy to keep them warm. The wind was so bad, I had to put a heavy bowl on the porch, so the wind wouldn't blow it away.

The birds seem to be more active when it is cold or raining. A few more from last Saturday.

Since we have been stuck in the house so much, Bill took a day off, when the weather was a bit better. We took a drive to the beach at the southern coast and enjoyed walking in the fresh air, until the fog rolled in, then it was more like rain.

Before it got wet, I was able to catch a few shots of the Sanderlings. They are busy little birds, so hard to get a shot, it took me 70 shots to catch a few good ones.

Eating and cleaning.

And we found a few treasures. The beach was full low tide and no people, but so much beach and rocks, along with no sun, so harder to find pieces. I did luck out and found a marble and a few old pieces. 

Time to set up a little table so I can play with my pieces and start making some art items. So many ideas and projects, I need more time in the day. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy some crafting time this winter.

Monday Musings!

I didn't get anything made this weekend, but I finally got all of my Christmas decorations down. The only problem is, my house looks empty since I don't have too many Valentine items. I did spend the weekend out and about, shopping and antiquing.

One of my favorite items is an antique yarn winder. One handle turns so you can wind your yarn, though I am not sure how they actually do it, and I got it, just because I liked it;) I put it on the shelf for now and draped a vintage crazy quilt piece, that a friend gave me. The two little figures are carvings, I did, years ago.

Another thing I was hunting for, was a primitive tree to use all year round. Last week I saw them on sale and when we went back, they were all gone, that is what I get for waiting. I found a similar one, though not as prim. I had some hearts that were given to me and I guess I will make some more valentine items to add to the tree and then next month it can become an easter tree.

I will redo the area with a table topper and valentine pieces, guess I need to get busy.

We also went to an antique store and I found a used basket that I can put in my sewing room and they also had lavender that you bought by the scoop, so I was happy to find that. I put a lavender sachet in my wool box and it keeps the wool smelling fresh. On the way back we stopped at a local pottery store, they had beautiful pottery but nothing I could use with my decor. The store is in an old mill building next to a river and the falls were beautiful to watch as they tumbled over the rocks.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you want something fun to make for Valentines, visit Bird in the Hand Primitives. Robin has a wonderful free pattern today. And when you visit, you will noticed the doll in her banner is the same as the one next to my tree. I was the lucky winner of her valentine doll and I just love her.

Love is in the Air Giveaway!

I received my last two prizes today and so thrilled with how wonderful they are. I haven't had any time to decorate and it is so nice to have the new items to bring some love to my house. These gifts were all part of a giveaway hosted by Primitive Handmades Mercantile.

Robin of Bird in the Hand Primitives sent me the most wonderful prim doll. Of course prim does not show well in photos, but hopefully you can see how wonderful she is. The fabrics are all aged, and she is placed on a rusty spindle. I placed her on my apothecary next to my chair, so I can admire her. Robin really puts a lot of detail into her primes. It is those details, a worn spot, vintage fabrics and the hand stitching on the face that make a true prim so wonderful. She even has a hand hooked heart necklace. I just love her, I think she will stay out all year;) Be sure to visit Robin's blog, she has wonderful free doodles and a new one today.

The last gift I received was from Margie of Hungry Hook Primitives. It is a beautiful hand hooked heart, made with a variety of beautiful wools. Of course I can never get the true look on hooked pieces, I think the camera gets confused with all of the dyed wools, but I think I got it pretty close with a little photoshop magic. It is just so beautifully hooked and gorgeous wool shades.

I feel truly  blessed to have been the winner of so many wonderful gifts and with the bad month I have had it really brightens up my day to see them in my home. I have been working on some more angels, trying tan prints, this time. I am starting to feel better again, so hopefully I can get back to finishing my projects and maybe do up some new freebies.

I have also been practicing with my good camera, just automatic for now,  just to get the feel of the camera, it is heavier than my old one. I also got a zoom, but not sure if I got the right one, my photos seem to come out too fuzzy, but it takes really nice macro shots of items that are in a certain range. So, here are a few shots that I took, and had to enhance in photoshop. I really wanted to get a nice crisp shot of the bird, and wondering if all those focus points are messing me up, maybe I need to adjust them.

What kind of bird is this? A type of Bluejay? We have a bluejay that visits and he is a lot bigger than this little guy.

And here is an edited photo. I was taking a shot of the pond, from the falls and the cropped shots of the falls, had some interesting details. I used a filter on this one, it is the water falling off of the rocks, do you see something in this picture? Leave a comment about anything from this blog and you will be entered to win a free epattern from my ecrater site. The giveaway is open until Sunday at midnight and I will announce the winner on Monday night. 

Lucky Me!

Last week, I found out I was the winner of the giveaway hosted by Primitive Handmades Mercantile. They are a new group of primitive artists who sell on a monthly basis. I hope you visit their site and check out the talented artists, maybe find a gift for yourself or a a friend.

I received three prizes so far, two more are on their way. I haven't had much time to make myself too much for valentines, so it was wonderful to win this giveaway and have such treasures to display.

I received these three hearts from Susan of Olde Threads. They came in a  beautiful package, and have a wonderful prim smell to them. A picture just doesn't do these justice, they are filled with sawdust and the fabrics are wonderfully aged to perfection. I love the way she bundled them and added a key, makes a wonderful grouping.

The second prize I received was two hand hooked pillows, made by Kathy of Woolfind's Keepsakes. They are in a hit or miss style, but she blended the colors so beautifully, a perfect match to go with any grouping I have, so something I can use all year round, just love them.

And third, but not least is a set of three primitive hearts. These were made by Teresa of Teresa's Prim Treasures. They are a deep red and with the added rusty bell and pin, they are perfect for a prim valentine. I love the way she uses the wire to hang them, they are perfect for hanging on my racks. 

Valentine Heart Freebie!

I was in the mood to make another heart and did up a little doodle to stitch on it.
I used two strands of floss and a stem stitch. When I was done, I cut out around the stitches and sewed it, right sides together to a piece of wool. Slit an opening on the back of the wool and fill it, then I covered it with a wool heart and a blanket stitch. A nice simple project that you can whip up in a night.

Here is the drawing that I used, I hope you enjoy making some for yourself or for a friend.

Valentine Heart!

I decided I should make something for valentines, and this is what I decided to do. The embroidery pattern is a free pattern from Andrea Zuill of Badbirds. She has some wonderful designs if you go back in her archives. I have another to make and then one with just birds, great for winter/spring decorating. I shaped mine into a heart pillow, and used jute to hang it. Something fun to sew, while you watch tv;)

The stitchery pieces I do are always by hand, using dmc floss. My machine does embroidery, but I haven't figured it out yet and I would use that for home decor, prims and gifts, I like to do by hand. Also, if you have a question and you are a no reply, I cannot answer you.

Giveaway Winners and a freebie for all!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and suggestions. I do love to create and it will give me ideas to play with and maybe some new patterns in the coming year. One of my gifts this year was an ipad 2, and I got an app called Sketchbook pro. You can get it as a free app with basics, or this week it is only 1.99, well worth buying, it is a wonderful drawing and painting program. My son and DIL got me a nice stylus, so now I can practice drawing with it.

I used the random number generator and the winning number for the Valentine prize package was number 15, Robin of Bird In The Hand Primitives! Be sure to visit Robin's blog, she has wonderful free patterns.
And for the second winner, a choice of two epatterns or booklets, is number 13, Dorothy of Dorothy's Threads of Life! Robin, please send me your address so I can mail you goodies to you and Dorothy, you can go to my ecrater site and pick out any two epatterns, congratulations!

And for everyone else, a gift for you to enjoy. This is a pattern that I made and was planning on making an epattern from but never had a chance, so today I am sharing the cross stitch pattern with you. I hope you enjoy making it and I always enjoy seeing your finished pieces. For the horse on my piece, I used dmc linen, #4145. For the mouth, I used a line of floss.

Giveaway... Merry Christmas!

I want to extend a Happy Christmas and a Happy Chanukah to all of my online friends.
I hope you are all well and with family and friends and may the new year bring blessings to you all.
I feel blessed to be able to call all of you my friends.

I decided to do a Valentine theme for the giveaway, it is right around the corner.
The winner will receive my little valentine quilt, some of my hand dyed thrift wool, fat quarters and a little cross stitch kitty. A second winner will receive a choice of any two of my epatterns. The giveaway starts tonight and ends on sunday, at midnight, eastern time. I will announce the winners on Monday, the 26th.

So what do you need to do to enter? First, this is for followers only, new followers are always welcome.
Tell me what crafts you like to do and what types of patterns you would like to do, but can never find, and would like to see. What themes or subjects would you like to see.

I wanted to show you a really special set that my friend Kelley sent me for Christmas. She hooked this pillow set and I just love it, so different and unique. I put it up with my kitties for now, but after the holidays, I will do a nice display with it.

And today was one of those days that I should not have tried something new, my brain is mush. I wanted to make an ipad case that opens but my first attempt didn't work, so I went with a simple case for now, and still made a mess, lol. It just fits, guess I wasn't watching my seam lines;) The fun kitty fabric is a prize from Barbara of Cat Patches. She has been having fun friday giveaways and I was the lucky winner of a book and this fabric. And you can guess what is in it, my early Christmas present;)

New Pillows!

I love to experiment, some things work, some don't, but I learn about products and how I can change things to improve on them.
I wanted to use fabric markers and still get a prim folk art look. I started with marvy markers, then I added some watercolor pencil and art pens. I think I got carried away and turned my colors to mud. What I need to do is, have more markers in coordinating colors, so I can shade without overdoing it. I like the marvy markers, they go on nicely, they don't bleed and can be washed.

When I was done, I started by painting on distress ink, not a good idea. The watercolors started to bleed out. So, I tamped up some of the color and then tried a light spray and that worked without bleeding. I guess I should have heat set the colors first, then added the spray;) But it worked in the end, the cloth was pure white and the spray gave it a nice aged look and covered what little red that was showing.

The design is a freebie that I found at Mary Corbet's site. She has some nice embroideries and wonderful tutorials on stitches. To make the piece, I lay the white fabric onto the pattern with a light box. I taped the pattern and fabric, so it wouldn't move. Then I colored in the design with the markers. Once that was done, I took it off and added the shading. The original shading was nice, but then I added more and it a lot of it blended in. Once that was done, I outlined the design with two strands of floss and added little details. I forgot to do the big flower, duh to me;)

This would be fun to do with small hearts too and hang them on a prim, valentine tree.
I distressed this piece with Distress It, on the cloth, before I made the pillow, I think it stained nicely.



I also made some more little pillows from Tiffany's designs. I am in a rabbit and easter mood, so the bunny if going to go into a new project I will be trying out. The pillows are made with tea stained fabric from moda, a light and a dark shade. I used distress on them, after I made them into pillows, and they didn't stain, seems the stain goes into the stuffing. So, if you use distress it to antique a piece, it works best on flat fabrics.

Valentine Mini Quilt!

Today was a lazy day. We got a lot of snow overnight, so I woke up to a world, blanketed in even more snow.
Sometimes I just can't get motivated, so I thought about what I could do and everything seemed to much to bother with, lol.
I need something that motivates me to begin a new project, so thinking of ideas.

I need to make patterns and finish quilts, but sometimes it seems easier to start something new that I can finish quickly.
I don't decorate much for valentines, but I thought it would be fun to make a mini quilt for my rack.

I used my go cutter and scraps of fabrics and cut out a bunch of squares and triangles.
Then I sewed them together, badly, lol. The cutter cuts off the dog ears, so I have to get used to lining them up.
I usually sew and cut squares, to make my triangles.

As you can see, I sewed them any which way, then added some appliques. The kitty is from a whimsicals book and the bird is from a Cheri Saffiote book. I added my own touches and hearts and now I have a Valentines piece.

I have been asked to do another giveaway for CSN, so that will be coming next.
I have a choice of that or a review, but I like the idea of being able to have a giveaway with a nice price for my visitors.

More gifts revealed

This month we had a swap in our group, USAPRIM, which can be found on ebay and a friend of mine had a bday, and gifts were recevied, so I can show you some of the things I had been working on.

This was for the swap, I made her a needle book and did the initials by hand, next time I will use a pattern;)
The kitty is a pin cushion that was in a book a friend gave me for my bday.



Using the same cat, I made this piece for a friends bday. She loves kitties as much as I do. I made the envelope, by taking apart a real one and using that as a template. I made a few other things, but I guess I forgot to take pictures of them.

Valentine Angels

Last week I wanted to try some angels that I got from Tiffany's site and since they were smaller, I made up two of them.
The first one I added a face and some hearts around her. The dress is an over dyed dmc floss. The wings are an over dyed wool floss, that was gifted to me.



The second angel, I did in a plum/purple and the yellow wool wings. I also left it as is, this is the actual design. I used dmc variegated, linen floss for the background. I think it looks much more primitive, than the first. When I do the pictures on my screen, they have the actual colors, but when they hit the web page, they tend to wash out. My pieces are always darker in person. I also didn't add an edge, so do you think it looks good without one or do you prefer the wool yarn edge? These are not for sale, they will be gifted.

Happy Valentines

Dora prays that everyone has a Valentine filled with love and happiness.
Happy Valentines!