Antique Kitty, Lazy Kitty!

Our ebay group USAPRIM has challenges and each month Kelley gives us a design that we can make, and this month she found an antique kitty that we could punch or hook. I decided to punch mine and make it into a piece I could hang on my peg rack.

It also looks nice hanging on my black cupboard.

 And today we put the air conditioner in, it was really humid today. Moki likes the air, my other cats hated it, but he has been laying there, all day. When I turned it off, he left, so we know were he will be spending his hot summer days. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

Last but not Least!

I received my final prize for the PAFA giveaway and as with all of my prizes, it is wonderful and more than I expected. I thought it was a door hanger, this is huge so I had to give it a special place with my fall display. This wonderful burlap display was made by Tammy of A Primitive Place. I like the fact that it is large enough to go on my large bureau, but can be hung on a door too. You can visit Tammy at her website too, she has a lot of wonderful prims and antiques for sale, if you are looking for something new for you or as a gift for a friend.

Now all I need is for the leaves to turn on my neighbors tree and I have a perfect view for fall;)

New Punch Needle: Antique Black Cat!

I thought it was time to make something new and a new pattern. This piece is based on an antique rug and then I added my own touches and motifs. I have kept with the simplicity of the original and even used scrap floss in most of it, in keeping with the original style antique rugs. I did use black valdani for the kitty, I just love how it looks in a punched piece. The pattern is a single pattern, you will get a JPG file that has a photo of the punched piece and the design, ready to print, as is. If you want to hook this piece, you will need to enlarge it yourself. There are no instructions or color charts, but I am always happy to answer any of your questions to help you in creating your own piece.

The piece is for sale, 80.00, shipping and insurance is included.
It measures 6" x 4". The edge is done with lopi wool yarn and the back is finished off with a piece of wool and a hand signed tag on the back. It also comes with a certificate.

Mini Pieces!

Since we were so busy having fun outside, I didn't get a lot of sewing done.
So, I made some mini pieces to work on, while we watched tv.

This mini quilt is 6 1/2" x 5". I made it from one of my cat designs, with a saying on this one.
I love to make the mini ones, they work up quick and fun to do. I have a mini hanger to put it on, now i need to find some mini clothespins. I also need to pull out the corner binding and redo that, it is a bit off and an easy fix.



This pillow is made with a Free Primitive Blessings design. I colored it in with art markers and then stitched around the designs.
Something fun and quick for the holidays. I also have a new flag piece with an eagle that I am working on, so hopefully I will finish that this week.

Moki Mischief!

Nothing finished today. I had a new stitchery and made the border too far out, so empty space.
I have this thing about empty space, I have to fill it, lol. I decided to crop two sides down to make it smaller, but it still had empty space. So, I said heck with it and added some more stitchery in the edges and I really like how it looks. Hopefully it will be all done by tomorrow.

In the meantime it is moki time. Moki is just goofy, with his long skinny legs, his movements are comical.
Another of his favorite things is an open window. I really don't think he gets it or maybe because he spent a lot of time staring in our basement windows before he moved in. Here is is, Hi Mom, look at me, look.



Not sure what he thought he was going to do in this one, maybe close the window so Dora couldn't get him. She has been in her mood today, moki can't blink without her attacking him. And as I sit here I can hear the familiar sounds of doors being opened.

For Sale: Primitive Easter Set

I have decided that ebay is not the way to go. Not only do they take a chunk out of sales, they now want to tack a fee onto shipping, as well. I charge exact shipping, so why should I pay a fee for that? I do not understand their reasoning.

So, I am offering my Easter pieces as a set. This will include the hooked rug, the punch needle and the cross stitch piece.
The rug is 15" x 9 1/2", the punch needle is 7 1/2 x 4 1/2 and the cross stitch pillow is 4 1//2 x 3 1/2. This is nice if you would like matching pieces for a display or you can keep one and give the others as gifts. I think it would also look wonderful in an antique doll setting. If you are interested, you can email me with questions. I have it listed on my ecrater site.



The price is 140.00 for the set, which includes shipping and insurance, priority mail.
The rug is done with hand dyed wools and whipped with lopi yarn. I sewed the excess backing onto the back of the rug and added a cotton ticking backing as a cover. I have also added the new single pattern to the side panel. This is for both versions of the pattern, no instructions or color charts.

Also, for the rest of the week, until Sunday April 3, buy one pattern and get one of equal or less value, for free. Just order one pattern and put your free choice in the comment box.



And today it is Izzy's turn. Izzy loves bags and decided to make a little hut out of my bag and use the bolt of fusible as her bed.
When she decided to use it as a scratching post, I decided it was time to put it away;)

Ornies and Moki

This weekend I relaxed a bit and worked on some small projects along with a swap gift.
I wanted to try two of my designs in mini versions to see how they would look.
Not too bad, but not the way I would like them to look. Will have to try some more ideas, it is fun to experiment and I can always use more unbreakables for my mini trees and a lot, I give away. I still need to do up the design for the horse and lady, so hopefully I will get it done this week. I may redo it a bit from the original punch, to make it more hooking friendly too.
I did realize, when I saw the photos, that I forgot to take the blue pen off, ugh. I hope it still comes off since I heat set them.



Moki is still in the house and still trying to get out, but he calms down and goes back to sleep.
The girls are still harassing him, but not as much, so he has been exploring a bit more.
He really seems healthy, his fur is clean and shiny and I made a separate litter for him and he has no visible worms.
I am wondering if his owners waited too long to have him fixed and he got out. Otherwise, he seems to be too healthy and friendly to be a wild kitty.

Halloween Wall Hanging!

I finished my new hanging tonight.
With this one, I wanted something simple and fast to make up.
I used wool for the applique and DMC pearl cotton for the stitchery.
I buy the small balls and use a coupon, so it is cheaper than using floss by the skein.

The autumn fabric was from my friend Kelley. I love that material as a border, fits in perfect with the theme. I do have more of it and in two shades, tempted to try a thanksgiving table cloth with it.

The pattern is by Tiffany of Primitive Blessings. I wanted the pattern larger than the paper, so I made it the size I wanted, then cropped the picture in half and printed, went back and cropped the other half and printed that out, so I had the exact size that I need for transferring. It is a nice way to get larger versions without paying a print shop. If you do not have a program that you can enlarge with, you can use the basic one in the same way. Set to print full size on the paper, then crop half of the picture and print that out, then go back and crop the other half and print.

The backing on this piece was some old material that I had grunged up, so it had an antique look to begin with. I sprayed a bit of walnut on it to darken it more, in some spots. I am happy with how this one came out, antiqued, without being too dark.

Surprises in the Mail!

I have truly made some wonderful friends on the internet. Not only do we email each other, but sometimes they surprise us with the most wonderful packages. One of those friends is Midge, who lives in England, in an old cottage. She has a wonderful blog with photos of the most beautiful place in the world, I want to live there, lol. She also makes the most beautiful teddy bears and restores them for others. She knows I love kitties, and she made me a little kitty and I just love him!




And he even has a hump like the antique teddy bears. So much detail and jointed too, I feel very special to receive this beautiful kitty:)



And not only did she send that, but I received a beautiful pair of mohair mittens, a british tote and a happy magnet. This was for a pay it forward she was doing, and I was the lucky recipient.



I also received a package from my friend Kelly. Kelly and I met on an online rug hooking group and we have been friends since. She is the one who got me back into quilting and she is always sending me wonderful packages filled with quilting goodies and fabric. This fabric is from a quilt her mom is making. Her mom is also a wonderful quilter and quilts by hand. She sent me three of the blocks and the rest of the precuts, so I can make more log cabins. I think they would make a beautiful table cloth or runner. It was nice to receive such wonderful things this week. Being sick is no fun, but packages sure can brighten up my day:)

Ghost Rider Hand Hooked Rug

I have not finished anything in the past few days, I have been fighting a bug or something, what else is new, lol.
I have been keeping busy, most need finishing and a couple are secret projects that I am working on for the magazine.
I decided to try selling my Ghost Rider again. This is a beautiful rug and I would love to see it go to a good home. My home is not good for rugs, my animals are terrors and I am always reworking them and this piece deserves better;)

This is my own original design, made from dyed and specialty wools, that I made just for this piece. The purple was the hardest color to get, it is much nicer in person. I had to dye it three times to get the right shade. I have it on ebay tonight if you are interested in owning one of my rugs. The rug measures 32" x24".

Stray Cats

Kitty was lonely, so he went out and found some buddies to keep him company.
One kitty looks a bit like him, with pieced scraps for his body.
The other kitty is done with a real cotton ticking.
Both pieces were stained with java ink. It is the black version of the walnut spray.
I thought I would try the darker stain on these guys.
Looks like there is room for one more, so I have an idea brewing for something a little different.

Scrappy Kitty

I recently saw a photo, that had a box filled with kitties and I love it.
So, I thought I would make one of my own. I have a box and nothing in it, so perfect to fill with kitties.
First I drew out a kitty shape. Then I took scraps out of my basket and sewed them together to make two pieces a bit larger than the cat pattern. I did make sure that the face area would have a neutral shade, so the features would show up.
I used freezer paper and traced the cat design and cut it out, then placed that right sides in with the other piece. I sewed it by machine and cut off the excess, making a snip at the curves for turning.

I used regular stuffing and sewed him at the bottom. I went without a tail, since these will be box sitters. He is 10" tall.



This is the box he will go in. I love how it came out and will make a skinny and fat one, to have a variety of kitty characters.

Contest Winners!

I guess I won't make everyone wait any longer;)
And I won't stretch out the text and make you scroll down;)
So, without further ado, I have decided that everyone is a winner today!
Losing is no fun and it is always fun to get something free and I still need work on making these patterns.
I was thinking of an alphabet line, will see how that goes. I tend to work by moods, so it depends on what motivates me next.

I am putting two versions of the cat here, so you can just grab a copy for yourself. I did save it in pcstitch file, but have no idea if it works, so anyone who would like to try it and see what you get, email me for a copy. I make them with the dell, but use my mac for other things. My mac will not open the file. So, for another question, would you prefer patterns in pc stitch or pdf files? I would appreciate any feedback on my cat pattern. If you encounter any problems with the chart, can you follow it ok? I use less colors and make them simple, so you can use any colors you want.

This pattern is for cross stitch only, please do not use it in any other medium.
I saved the colors in text format, so you can match those if you wish. The legend numbers do not match with this version.

Grid Size: 100W x 100H
Design Area: 6.64" x 6.79" (93 x 95 stitches)

Legend: Stitches
DMC 310 black
DMC White white
DMC 3808 turquoise - ul vy dk
DMC 3011 khaki green - dk
DMC 782 topaz - dk
DMC 918 red copper - dk
DMC 517 wedgewood - dk
DMC 838 beige brown - vy dk
DMC White white
DMC 501 blue green - dk
DMC 500 blue green - vy dk
DMC 610 drab brown - dk
DMC 3857 rosewood - dk
DMC 3799 pewter gray - vy dk
DMC 3033 mocha brown - vy lt
DMC 3045 yellow beige - dk

300th Posting! Contest

Yes, I made it to 300, lol.
I finished off my new piece today, so you could see it and how I converted one of my patterns into a cross stitch.
I would love to know your opinion on it, do you like it, would you make something like this?
And for all the comments I get about this piece, good or bad, your name will be entered into a drawing for the pattern, to this piece. I am new at using PC stitch, so it is a basic pattern, with color blocks and color code. I made this one into a pillow, but I think it would wonderful framed or on a hornbook. Since I am trying my hand at designing cross stitch patterns, any feedback is welcome. What would you like to see in patterns? Would you buy an epattern and do you like color blocks or color codes on your patterns. Do you care if the finished piece is different from the pattern, sometimes I do my own thing as I stitch, then decide, I like the original better.

I will draw a winning name on Sunday. Remember, you must leave a comment to be entered into the contest.
My next one is an adam and eve piece. I make up the basic design, then stitch it myself, and make changes as I go. I also, cannot see the holes as I stitch, so I am a bad stitcher, lol. But, it lends to the aged look;)

Hand hooked stair tread

We have the stairs in, though we still need to finish painting the risers and the the edges.
I need treads and the poor dog cannot get up and down until we do.
So, I thought, I can hook some. I made one as a test. It took me four days to finish it all.
This is not a good idea, lol. I love the look, but with the time it takes and my joints swelling from non stop hooking, I decided to go and buy some instead.

You can see what I came up with though. It might be nice in the future, maybe I will hook one, once in awhile and set them aside for when we need to replace the braided ones I got. This is the entrance to our house and also the stairs to the cellar, so hooked mats might not be the best idea for this area.

I went with a simple design and a bit of a hit or miss look on the inside. I used a thrift wool for the lighter fills, it was a plaid with blues and other colors in it, nice effect for a light background.



I tried one outdoors without the flash, but got a blue cast to it. I tweaked it a bit in photoshop, but gives a more straight on shot. Now I will have to decide what to do with this one. That is a cat in the middle, in case you couldn't tell. I took it from a cookie cutter shape, I had seen on the web.

What I am working on

I wanted to finish a rabbit, I started last year, but decided I have to think about the layout and what to add before I can.
So, I decided to start a new one. This is smaller and will go nicely on my wall rack.
I used the bunny design from Twigs N Sprigs and made it into a wall hanging.

I used my husband's old jeans, but wish I had gone with dark on the pants and light on the cuffs.
I changed the sign to a basket again, but this time I added flowers. Now I have to decide if I want to leave it plain or add a saying.
I was thinking it would be a fun piece to practice free motion and do little flowers for the quilting.



And for your amusement, here is Dora, doing what she loves best, flying;)
This is what it will be like, now that the weather is warming up. Nothing like a bug covered window to keep her amused. Tonight it was a lone moth.

New Punch Needle

I decided to put up another piece on ebay tonight, I am a glutton for punishment;)
This is another wonderful design from Kelley's booklet; Sweet Friends and Flowers. I used valdani for the kitty, I love their black along with some variegated linen and some of my over dyed floss.
Her designs are so fun to do using various colors and types of floss, it really gives it a nice prim look. This piece is for sale on ebay if you are interested.

Cute Kitty and Weird Kitty

I am busy working on a secret project, so no new things to show you today;)
So, I thought I would show you something I made in the early 80's. This was during the country period, when things were cute and blue. This is a kitty I made, complete with flannel outfit and felt hat.



On another blog, someone asked, what do you collect and if you haven't figured it out, I collect cats, lol.
This piece is one my BIL gave me, he said it was too big for his cabinet, so I was happy to have it. It is by Sergio Bustamante and unfortunately, fallen a few times, so has some damage. the other kitties are ones my husband got me for my collection. I really need a better display area for my special cats. Every Birthday I got something with a cat and for Christmas, I got more, so I had to tell him, no more;) Now if I get one, it is either an antique kitty or something unusual I find in the thrifts. Like I have room for more, lol.

Gifts and Goodies

I am still being surprised by friends and today I received two more boxes and love being spoiled;)
I am behind on my daughter's piece, since she had to stay here a few days, while her car was being fixed and not sure if I can finish it by tomorrow night, will see.

One of the gifts this week was a late birthday present from my friend mimi. She hooked this piece for me and then mounted it on the base. It looks great on my bureau.



My friend lauri, Mizmaine sent me a wonderful box of goodies and here is one special present she sent me, an old sewing box, filled with goodies. Of course I took most of them out;)



One of the items in the box was a prim gingerbread, it was perfect for my candle box.



Then my friend Kelley, sent me another box, as if one wasn't enough. This one had some wonderful handmade goodies and this rug, she made for me. I love the colors, it fits perfect in my home.



And this tree is a find, that I got at a consignment store. I had to have this wonderful feather tree and next year I will make some real decorations to put on it;) I feel so blessed with my family and friends and my wishes that all who visit will be blessed this Christmas with family and Love.

Goodies and Goofs

I am truly blessed with friends I have met on the internet and their generosity and talents.
Today I received two packages, I feel spoiled.

The first was from Bren, Hey Diddle Woolies. She belongs to our ebay group, USAPRIM and was a prize giver in one of our contests. She didn't just send a prize, she went through the trouble in making me a wonderful quilted piece, that I can enjoy in my home. I can't believe how thoughtful it was and was never expecting something some wonderful. And to top it off, she sent me beautiful wools from her stock. New wools are a treat for me and I will definitely use the wools in my next big rug. I want to make a large rug for my living room, so I have been keeping all the nice wools that people send me, along with some I bought, so this year I will design and work on it.



The second package was from my friend Kelley. She truly spoils me. Not only does she make me wonderful gifts, but she always sends me beautiful fabrics and books from her stash. I am really going to have a ball this year, making quilts with all of the fabrics she has sent me. I love the punch needle sheep, they look good on a shelf, standing against a prim box that I have. The punched pillow is now in my box shelf with some strawberries and a pear, that I made. I can't wait to start some patterns in the books and enjoy reading the copies of Mercantile Gatherings. This magazine is coauthored by TIffany, the same woman who makes the wonderful patterns, that I use in some of my punches.



Now the goof? Who else, buy Izzy. Izzy who does not seem to have a very good memory and didn't learn her lesson yesterday. My brother was visiting and had the door open while he said goodbye. Izzy with her one track mind flew out the door and into a deep snow drift. The poor girl was mortified when she landed and sunk into the snow. She was crying and struggling to get up and out of the snow. Will she ever learn?