Friday Finish!

 I had one more pillow to finish and I got that done today. It seems I have so much to do during the week and only so much energy, so not as much time to craft, as I used to. It is fun to do small projects, while I work on finishing the large ones and prep up the new projects.

This is another design by Deborah Cade. I found a sealed bag with left over balsam, so this pillow will be for Christmas. Most of my old ones are losing their smell, so time to make some new ones.

We were able to spend some time at the beach, a bit of beach combing, swimming and bird watching. I spotted a Cormorant who decided to come up on the beach to dry off. It is rare for them to come on shore, usually they are on posts or rocks. This one was quite the character, a juvenile who is learning how to be on its own.

I also enjoyed watching this seagull who was just hanging out on the rocks by us. He was enjoying the cool breezes.

And a treat to see this Oystercatcher, at this beach. It is always nice to go to this beach, less people and always a nice breeze, coming down the bay. I hope everyone enjoys the last days of summer, I can't believe how fast it went by.

Friday Finish!

 I was able to finish a project this week. A new design by Kathy Schmitz. I kept mine simple and decided it looked better as a primitive piece. It was nice to take a break from quilting and have something finished. 

Last week we took a ride around the ocean areas, even though it was so foggy, you could hardly see a 100 feet in front of you. I enjoyed watching the silly gulls, on the rocks.

And more of the gulls. The park is open to the ocean, so even with the fog, it was nice to sit and enjoy being out of the house.

Those photos were lightened, so this one shows you how foggy it was.

Today we went to the beach on the island. I enjoyed seeing all the birds, but most were being elusive. These guys were happy to pose for me.

A lot more boat traffic is happening now, with the nicer weather.

And we caught the low tide with no other people on the beach, so I found a few nice treasures. The dark pieces are green. I hope everyone had a nice week. Our weather is finally warming up, so I hope it is, in your areas as well. 

Friday Finish!

 I can't believe it is July, already. A holiday weekend coming up and I have no plans and no plans to go out in the traffic and crowds that will be hitting the beaches. The kids have been sick all week, so we won't be able to get together. 

I keep busy at home, always something to do and working on projects in my spare time. I am almost finished with my seaport applique, and all I will have to do is the accent stitching and I will be done. I decided to make something quick, I can always use more lavender sachets and I love the simple and prim designs by Deborah Cade. 

We spent a few afternoons at the beach. It seems there are more people now and less glass, but still a nice place to walk since it has a Long Beach. We enjoy watching the boats and wind surfers and of course, finding treasures along the way. I saw a little head sticking out of the sand and pulled out a gingerbread man.

This week I have had a lot of activity with the Baltimore Orioles. The youngsters are coming out and this particular one was full of energy and was picking on its sibling.

It is hard to tell the sex at a young age, but the males will turn a beautiful orange color. This guy was enjoying a mouthful of grape jelly.

Last night, one forgot to follow the others home and decided to hide out on my porch. It hid beneath the feeding basket and fell asleep for the night.

Another regular visitor is a chipmunk that lives next door. He scurries under the fence and comes to fill his cheeks. The other day, Bean scared him when he went to chase the squirrel, this little guy was at the feeder and started running and Bean chased him. This week I have been training Bean to not chase the chipmunk or the bunnies in the yard and he will stop when I say no, so that is good. He won't hurt them, he just stays on their tail till they clear the yard.

Happy Canada day to my friends across the border! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

Friday Finishes ….. Almost

It as a slow week this week, but I did finish a new punch needle piece. My friend Kelley sent me a pattern, a few years ago and I decided it was time to finally do it. The design is by Brenda Gervais and she put hers on a hornbook. I am still deciding on how I want to finish mine, I need to go down to my supplies and see what fun things I have to mount it on or maybe make my own.

I still need to age it a bit, I don't want to darken it too much but I want it to look old. I used different heights on this one, so the letters stick out a little more and the light background is at the shortest height.

Today I sat around waiting to feel better so I could clean the house, that never  happened. I gave up and started a new punch needle. This is a freebie from Robin of Bird In The Hand Primitives. She has put up two freebies, so check them out, both are fun to do in any medium.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Primitive Pillows from Free Graphics!

A while ago, I had bought some Inkjet fabric sheets and decided it was time to try them.
I didn't know what I had bought, it says, sew in sheets, so I think I got the wrong type and wasn't sure if they would work.

The sheets are a bit stiff but that makes them nice for printing. They do print out nice and clear and the colors really come out nice. After you print them, you let them sit to dry the ink, then heat set them with an iron. I waited a day and then ran them under cold water, which sets the colors. The only thing was, the red shades did run, but as you can see by the photos, antiquing them, took the hue away.

This design I printed out, about a year ago and I think I got it from a free postcard site.

I found this alphabet print at The Graphics Fairy, loved these two the most and had to make them into pillows. Love the old time look to them.

The last two are also from The Graphics Fairy. I printed out too large, but they still make nice pillows to add to a spring or Easter setting. If you visit The Graphics Fairy, you can find a lot of wonderful designs to print for pillows or altered art pieces, lots of possibilities.

I really had fun making these and was so glad when they came out so nicely. Next time I will try the regular fabric sheets to see how those work.

Giveaway Winner and UFO's

I thought I would be nice and announce the winner first, lol.
The lucky winner is #25, Congratulations Gayle! It is the 25th, so thought that was funny how that was the lucky number. Gayle, email me with your choice of any epattern from my ecrater site. I truly appreciate all of my visitors and the comments and I hope I can get some new freebies done for the holiday.

But, I do have two freebies that I found on the web and have been working on and maybe  you would like to make some of your own pieces. The snowlady pattern if a freebie from Primitive Blessings. I plan on adding a wool nose and button eyes. The piece on the right is a pattern called Home for Christmas and it is a freebie from Hatched and Patched. The oval design will be going on a small quilt with tongues which you can see in the freebie pattern. If you scroll down on her blog, you will find the pattern, it was for the Henry Glass blog hop.

New Stitcheries and Surprises

I have decided to take some time to fool around and see what I can come up with. It has been a while since I have made any of my own creations and thought it was time. Of course I need to get back into that mode and one way is to sit and doodle. I was thinking of Izzy, who loves to stalk the mice in the garden. The mice love the mini pumpkins my son put in, so the original idea was to make a fun scene, but my ideas need more work.

So, I made a doodle of Izzy with a pumpkin with her silly crazed face and made it into a stitchery. A bit silly, but fun to experiment. I started out with oval eyes and it didn't look right, so I checked out her eyes and realized, she really does have round eyes.



Then I made up a little pillow to match the punched piece I made, since it goes out this week.
I think it needs a date in the corner.



Today I got a surprise in the mail. We did a swap on our ebay group, USAPRIM. We didn't know who got our name until we received our package. I got one from JO and she made me this beautiful pillow.



And that wasn't all, I got two sets of dyed wools, love them. They are so much nicer in person, the colors are gorgeous and will be perfect to use in a shaded piece. I plan on working in smaller cuts again, so they will go into a special project. Plus I got some wonderful patterns, fabrics and the cutest little clay ornaments, that I assume her granddaughter made for me.

Grateful Heart Cross Stitch

I finished my cross stitch and really had fun working on it.
The booklet it came from is a gift from Melissa, to get me started with patterns, since I had none.

I changed a few things and used some of my over dyed floss. I love how it came out on the saying, the shades are much more prim in person. Now I need to antique it, then I can figure out how I want to frame it. Today I started a smaller one that I am making, as I go along. It is from an antique sampler and I thought it would be fun to do the lower half and the cockeyed stitching she did, lol. It fits my style perfectly;)

Give Thanks Cross Stitch

One of the wonderful things about blogging is you meet wonderful people. I really love reading your messages and opinions on my pieces. I also meet wonderful people while blog hopping. Since I have been doing cross stitches again, I have been visiting cross stitch sites. One of the wonderful people I have met is, Melissa from Words and Blooms. She does beautiful work on her pieces and I love her cross stitch wall. After leaving a comment she asked if I would like some of her older patterns and of course I said yes. I received a wonderful package with a cross stitch booklet, and two patterns. I decided to start with a piece from "A Sampling of Traditions," by Leisure arts. The piece I am doing is called The Grateful Heart Sampler. I love pieces with sayings, especially inspirational ones. I plan on making a few, along withe some doll quilts to cover the walls in my entryway.

This is what I have finished so far. Today I was not up to par, so I got more work done on it. It is a horrid picture and it does show were I make mistakes;) I am using two strands to give it an antique look. I am also changing a few things to suit my likes and changing some colors. The letters on the original are mixed colors, but I was going with one color. But, I picked up a strand without thinking and by the time I was on the third letter, I realized it, lol. So, I went with it and added two more in that color. Next time I need to take a photo, outside, without flash. It also called for 14 count and I am using 18 count, since i want smaller pieces on the walls.



This is what it is supposed to look like;) I like prim colors, and the house looked more like a cottage, so I changed the roof.



I found this old piece, that I was working on in the 80's and never finished. It has an alphabet going around it. I have no idea where the book is and if I still have it. Time to clean out the basement. I love comments and if you have questions, I always leave an answer in the comment section.

As you can see, my eyes were better, 30 years ago;)