Friday Finishes!

This week I finally finished my Christmas painting, a free design found at Artist's Club. They offer downloadable patterns and lots of free ones. Of course I couldn't follow the directions for shading and changed up the colors a bit, so not perfect, but a fun piece.

I also made a pillow from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch Club. I was hoping for a holiday design, but this one is still beautiful and will make a nice gift. I added some lavender, with the stuffing.

I also made pillows out of the stitcheries I made last year and a few new snowflake pillows, all filled with a mix of stuffing and balsam. I got 3 bags of balsam, so I will be making a lot of smaller pillows with fun prints. I liked the red snowflakes, perfect to add the snowflake buttons to. The Annie and snowman are free patterns from Free Christmas Coloring pages.

 We still have color on some trees, but a lot of trees are dropping their leaves. Bean is quite  happy with the mess, his favorite activity in the fall. Have a wonderful weekend!

Sunday Finish!

I decided to make a quick little project for the weekend since we were home, getting ready for our trip. Am I ready, No! I still have to vacuum and do dishes, then not forget what we need in the morning, those things I need now, so I can't pack. And as usual, I am wondering how this is a vacation, lol.

I found this design online, it said it was free and it does look like a Cheryl Seslar design, she has a lot of freebies on other sites. Just a little pillow and it worked up quickly.

Today we went to my sons to pick up some wood and to visit the boys. Alex is really a sweet and happy child and loved sharing his toys with me. We took Nick out for a trip to the store so I could get some cheap water sneakers and let Nick pick out some presents to bring home, for him and Alex. He picked out two water pumps, something easy for Alex since you pull the top to get water and push to squirt, he loved it, though he needed help to get the water. They were having a blast getting wet in the heat.

At the store Nick saw this chair and wanted us to sit in it. We also had to get inside a beach tent and sit on little chairs to hide from Grandpa, the things grandma will do;) We will probably come back once in awhile to dump dirty clothes and get new ones and maybe cooking, we did make kabobs tonight so we have leftovers for tomorrow. I may not post till next weekend, but if we decide to come home for a night, I will post some photos and hopefully at the end of the week, I will have a new design to share.

Friday Finishes!

This week I wanted to try something new, or something old, since I have had the pattern for years. The pattern was a freebie from Create and Decorate and is a design by Denise White of The Cat's Pajamas.

It was the pattern and no directions but I never read them anyways, lol. I changed it a bit and made some mistakes but she is so goofy, she makes me smile. I forgot to cut the red ticking to make the stripes go across for one thing. Then I decided to make stockings and no shoes, but didn't like it, so I tried coloring it in with a sharpie, takes too much time and you need more than one coat, so I decided to paint them on. That was fine, but I didn't realize that I grabbed the black enamel paint, duh. I actually like how it looks, a bit thicker and a bit more shine so great for shoes, but not for washing off.

Too windy to get an outside photo, the material for her face and arms is an old muslin that I stained, beat up, washed in dirt, among other things, so it is really grungy, a bit of brown and some green. The flash washed it out. I made the hat and boat by using an online tutorial and online american backgrounds that I printed out on laid paper. Laid paper is a nicer paper with enough weight to keep it stiffer, but not too stiff.  The hair was a thick binding yarn that I attached with a thin piece of wool to tie it down, then I unravelled the yarn to get thinner locks.

She was fun and fast to make, I tried different things and see things that I can improve on, so maybe I will try some more and change them up.

Then I finished the next block in Buttermilk Basin's BOM, the  Second letter T with the snowballs. I got some carrot buttons, they are fun to use on pieces like this and on the snowman pillows, guess I need to get more.

Here is what I have so far, with the letter T at the end.

At the last minute, as usual, Bill has to go on a trip, the day after our planned vacation. It would be too much to spend the week away and then come home and have him leave the next day, there are some things I can't do and Billy is going away too, so easier to stay home and get things done before he leaves. There is nothing going on at work for now, so Bill is taking the next two weeks off, so hopefully we can do some exploring and have some fun during the weekdays with no crowds.

Giveaway Winner and Suggestions Please!

First I will get right to the winner of the birthday giveaway. Thank you all for your wonderful comments and Birthday wishes. My birthday was on November 21'st and I had the baby all day, so I celebrated on Thanksgiving instead. I made stuffing, then let my husband cook and my daughter vacuumed and I sat in my sewing room and caught up on some projects.

I wish everyone could be winners and I wanted to do a freebie, but it seems time slips by lately and I have one week to get all the gifts ready and cards out, ugh.

I used the random generator and the lucky winner is #11, Jennifer768. Congratulations Jennifer, please send me your address so I can get your package ready to ship out this week. I will add some patterns and goodies to surprise you;)

I do have a lot of stash and plan on doing some cleaning so look for more giveaways in the coming year and I will do them by types of crafts so there will be something for everyone.

I have been working on a project for a swap and finally got it all together. It takes me a long time to think about what I want to do and then pick out the perfect fabrics and then change my mind and add new things, lol. I saw a photo and she had a raggedy doll, so hoping she likes this. My question is, should I just leave it alone or add more to the tree and pocket. This is a mug rug, a bit larger than I planned, so I guess it is a mat now. It looks more prim in person, I had to do a quick flash photo and the    wings are a speckled white. That I think needs some walnut to prim it up and maybe her stockings. I thought of adding bells on the tree, but it is to be used for tea and not sure if bumpy things are a good idea, lol. The pocket is for the silverware.

What do you think, is it ok as is? I still have to sew the binding to the back though. Not sure if you can see, but I did the applique in a black prim stitch. I forgot to outline stitch the tree, knew something was off;) Any suggestions are appreciated, my brain is getting off antibiotics, so I tend to be a bit daft.

The angle is a design by Cheri Saffiote, from one of her old books and the rest I just made up as I went along.