Friday Finishes!

I actually got quite a few things done this week, some finished, some still in the works. One thing I did finish was a new batch of rocks. This will be the last for now, I really need to get back to my sewing and Christmas will be here before I know it.

I made these fun, I just love how goofy they are and I hope they put a smiles on the people who find them. On the rocks that I have enough room, I add, Smile at the next person you see. I also add the Facebook name, if they want to find out more about the group and if you are interested, you can find us at; DSmiles4miles.

I also made a few pillows to try them out. I used an old piece of quilt, that a friend gave me, so this was just for practice since the material is special to me. I think I will do some fun fall pillows, so I need to see what I have in my stash. These are easier and quicker for me to make and can be left inside, which is nice since the weather is getting cooler.

I aged these with walnut spray, I like the idea of doing hearts, but maybe I can do some pumpkin ones or candy corn, like the rocks but in fabric.

I also finished the stitching on my fall, wall hanging. The design is by Kathy Schmitz. I still have to make the quilt, hanging on the line and a border, but I may add my own touch, we shall see;)

Another thing I tried was some paint products. I thought they might make it easier for me to do small lines and spaces, but I was wrong. The pen comes out thicker than it shows on the package and the plastic liner, fits on the top of the paint, but comes out fast and wide. They may be nice for kids as an alternative to using a brush, but I think I will stick to my black artist pen.

And to show you how my day went..... This is what happened when I went to make a batch of cookies. I put them in and went downstairs to do something quick, then I noticed the stairs needed cleaning and did them and then I heard a loud beeping. I came up to see what it was and the cookie pan was on fire. I am not sure if I was gone longer than I thought or the pan caught on fire, it looked like the flames were coming from the pan only, which of course burnt the cookies to a crisp. So, I spent the day with fans on and it still smells like toxic plastic. I was able to make another batch tonight and no problems, so maybe it was the copper pans? They came from a discount store, so not really sure, but they went in the garbage.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. We have rain tomorrow and I have an order of weathered white wood coming, so we can put that up in the beach room. Then I can finally finish decorating and  using the room.

Christmas Pillows!

This week I worked on some pillows. I wanted to try some stenciled pillows and these are the result. I got stencils on a sale and used acrylic paints. I mixed the paint with fabric medium to make them waterproof and it also keeps them from being too stiff.

I made the pillows to fit the size of the stencils, so you can do them in any size that you want. After I stenciled them, I put them in the dryer for 25 minutes and heat set them. Then I sprayed the lighter pillows with walnut spray. For those I used a stark white fabric and you can see it ages it nicely. The snowflakes were done on coffee stained fabric from moda. With the snowflakes, I added a little sparkle paint, but it doesn't show in the photo.

Once they were dry, I cut them to size and added a piece of batting to each side and sewed them, right sides together. I use the batting so when I fill them, the balsam sits in between the batting. You can leave an opening at the bottom for turning, or you can make a slit on the backside. I used a slit and covered it, after they were stuffed.

I added the border stitching, after they were stuffed. I hide the stitches by pulling them into the edges.

I stenciled them with a stencil brush and used a smaller brush to get into the smaller areas.

The snowflakes were done with white, then a glitter paint over that, so it has a light sparkle to it. The white is not as bold in person, the camera tends to heighten paint colors.

For my backs, I sewed the slit up with a basic slip stitch and then added a penny to cover the area. My camera was acting up today and the flash wasn't working right, so the colors are way off. This is tea stained cotton ticking, a great way to finish christmas pillows. I used green on the others.