Friday Finish and Winner!

I have been working on a  couple of projects this week, but only one that is finished. My sister saw a snowman piece online and decided she wants me to make her snowmen pieces and she will be visiting this month, so I am making a few of them before she gets here. One is a punch needle and I am doing it in 3 strands, so slow going;)

Since I need something that I can finish in a  few days and I also needed an indoor wreath, I decided to make one. I used various fabrics with dark oranges, browns and golds with a touch of yellow and really like how the colors look together. The colors go perfectly with the prim look. I did get some fake picks to add to it and then stuck the apple in the middle. The apple was a set that a friend sent me.

And now for the winner of the giveaway. The blob in the water is a cormorant. It was sitting on the water and the minute I hit the shutter, it dove under. The winner of the free pattern is Kathy Mackie! Kathy, email me with your choice of an epattern or ebooklet from my ecrater site.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have more rain coming in but we will try and get out on sunday for a drive up the Connecticut river to revisit the castle and drive up the river to enjoy the foliage.

Repurposed Table Mat!

My friend Kelley sends me boxes with scraps and stash and I decided to make a table topper with one of the scrap pieces she has used on another project. The nice thing was, the blocks were already put together, I just added a border. Then I hand stitched the squares with a simple outline stitch in the blocks, then went across with an X in each one. for the outer edge, I used a reverse blanket stitch to edge the line and give it a little added touch. I had some old material that was given to me, that had apple prints, in a large and small version and thought that would make a nice theme for an appliqué. I used some scrap wool I have in a drawer and added the apples in each corner.

For the border, I always make it a big larger so I can fold that to the back instead of using binding. This time I used a mahogany stain, gives it a slight reddish brown tint, so an aged look without being too dark. Now I think I need to make one with Easter colors and a matching appliqué. It is fun to make small mats with your scraps and something you can use on a side table to change with the seasons.

I just added a few things for display, but this will go into the fall box once I make a new one for spring. I was thinking it would be cute to add an A+ in each apple and use as a teachers gift, you are welcome to use the idea.