Friday Finish!

 

This week I was working on my second Halloween piece, but I still need to do the finishing touches and binding. I saw a cute needle felted candle and wanted to try it. Mine didn't come out, quite as well as theirs, but it is still a fun piece. 

Last weekend we went to the apple orchards with the kids, always a fun day out. I got a bag of apples and pears and picked up some nectarines at the shop, always a treat to get fresh fruit.

We also spent time at the beach, this day it was nice and calm and Bean got to enjoy swimming without the waves.

I also caught this juvenile Osprey, practicing his diving skills.

Today we went to the beach and the tide was coming in and the waves were crashing, but I was able to get a little swim in. I caught a few birds at the beach and my resident Hummingbird. She has decided she owns the feeder and chases off any others who come near her sugar water.

It looks like unsettled weather coming in, so hoping we get some nice days, since Bill took the week off. We will probably stay close to home and enjoy time at our favorite places without the crowds. 

Monday Finish!

It was a long weekend, a storm on Friday so Bill took the day off and then today we got another storm so he stayed home again. That is the benefit of being salaried, he doesn't lose money and it is not worth driving 45 minutes in this weather.

Of course that meant I didn't get much done and we did get out for a few days so that was good.
I decided to make something quick and simple and if you are looking for something to finish in a day, this is the perfect heart to make, just in time for Valentines Day.

The design can be found at All Free Crafts and it was actually a design to paint on a T-shirt, but I thought it made a nice Valentines bowl filler. I traced the design onto the backing and then went around the design to get the heart shape. When I sewed it to the backing, I used the end stitching as a guide to go around the heart. The leaves would have been nicer if i stitched them, but I was lazy and wanted to go quickly, so I used a lazy daisy stitch.

I added the stitched heart in the middle, it was an empty space and I could not find a way to fit a word, so I went with simple. I also used walnut ink and it was not working right and kept leaving large dark spots in a couple of spaces and the rest stayed light, so I had to rinse and redo a few times.

We went for a ride down the back roads and enjoyed the views of snow covered ponds and rivers. This was an old mill and they redid the area into a park so everyone can enjoy it.

Of course we headed to the stores at the south end of the state, you never know what you will find and this time I found some starfish lights. They are perfect to put in my beach room to add a little magic. I just put them around the planter for a photo, but I have another set and will be redoing the room a few times as I add new things and get a better plan on where I want things.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and not too much snow in your  area. We are getting hit with snow this week, so a good week to stay home and work on projects.

Twelve Days of Christmas: My Day!

I hope you have been following the Twelve Days of Christmas, each day there is a new tutorial or free pattern that you can make, just in time for Christmas. Thank you to Wendy for hosting the hop and all of the ladies who are participating. You can follow along each day by clicking on the banner.

I love to work with wool and I know most of you, love wool as well. I also love doing pieces with inspirational words and I think Joy is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy my project and make one for yourselves to remember to keep Joy in your hearts, each and every day, this season.

I have given instructions, if anything seems confusing or you have a question, you can email me, anytime. The bells are about 5" long, but you can make them any size by enlarging or reducing the design.

This is  closer photo of the bells, the garland goes across my windows, with more bells and ties.

Have fun with the pattern, instructions are a guideline of how I made mine, but you can change it to suit your likes.

Instructions:

Materials:

Wool

floss

red berries (Beads, buttons or french knot.)

Rusty bell

2” styrofoam ball.

Red and green homespun 1/4” strips

Jute

Clothespins

Bells:

Cut out 3 bells, 3 bell backs, letters, candle, 2 leaves. Sew on the appliques with a blanket stitch.

Attach berries

Sew back and front with a blanket stitch, starting at the bottom and when you come around to the end, attach the bell with the same thread.

Balls:

Cut strips from the green homespun and wrap them around the styrofoam ball, until it is covered. Take a red piece and wrap it around the ball, twist around at the bottom and come around the opposite side, tie into a tight bow, leaving a few inches of the tail, to hang from the clothespin. 

You can buy pre-stained clothespins or soak them in walnut ink to age them. You can also have fun and paint them in christmas colors.

To make the garland, take a piece of homespun and a piece of jute and twist them together. Add  red ties if you like to fill in the spaces, and you can add larger rusty bells, as well. The length depends on how much you add to your garland and the size of your window, or area that you hang from.

Pattern Pieces:

Another fun thing to do for Christmas is baking treats that everyone will love. I have made these for years, they are great for parties and your guests who come to visit. They melt in your mouth and I haven't met anyone who didn't love them.

I hope you enjoyed visiting today and don't forget to follow along each day.

Friday finishes, or not so finished!

Another slow week, we had doc appointments and it seems the week flew by. The good news is, not only have my eyes not gotten worse, but I can now drive without glasses, so I guess the lyme treatments helped my eyesight too. I do need them for close up work and reading, for some reason that got a little worse, but I can live with that.

I wanted to find a little glass cup for the candles I got in New Hampshire. They smell nice and I want those to burn in my beach room to make it smell nicer and I think it will be calming when I am down there. The room is in the basement and no matter what, there is a basement smell so keeping the room closed and scented, seems to do the trick.

I could not find a candle holder, just wanted something simple and with a beach theme. Then I spied an ugly candle  holder on the sale shelf, it was wrapped in iridescent beads and that is definitely not my style, so I took them off. The were attached with a gummy glue on the bottom and top, so it was still tacky and I was able to wrap some jute around the glass and it stayed on. Then I used a drop glue that is reusable and removable and it held the rusty heart and the rock heart. This way it is not permanent and I can change it out if I ever want to.

For now I used the yellow plate with the rocks I found today. Maybe later I can find another blue/green shell holder to match the other one I found.

While I was digging around the drawers, looking for things, I found an old paper cutting that I made. I made this over 20 years ago and never used it, not sure what to do with it. It is starting to become unglued from the backing. Maybe I could add a saying around it and use it in the new room.

I have also been working on a small pillow as a gift. I found the pattern online from homebodies, but for some reason her site is not up anymore and I cannot find her online. The pattern was made for a charity event, years ago.

I love inspirational stitcheries that I can make as gifts. I guess I will have to try and design some of my own. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I also want to ask, has anyone repurposed a butcher block table? I have an old picnic table with benches and I want to paint it in a primitive white style for the beach room. I will be using the room as a creative room, so I will use the table to paint on and work on designs, but there are about 16 coats of varnish on it and I am in no mood to sand all that off. Any ideas on how to refinish or paint it without too much trouble and still look nice?

Friday Finishes!

This week I finished two things, a stitchery block and the newest ornament of the month.

The ornament is offered by Attic Heirlooms and you can get it for free each month. This month was a candle and I kept it simple, but I may add something to it, later on. Maybe when Christmas buttons come back, I can find something fun to add to them.

The stitchery is a free pattern set, offered by Theodora Cleave. I really love working on these, the designs are fun and they just make me happy when I work on them. There are seven garden blocks, so once I am done, then I will decide a layout for them.

This week I have been looking at vacation places. We had planned on a vacation to celebrate our 40th anniversary, now I just want to get away and relax so trying to find something on the water, allows dogs and doesn't cost a fortune. I also like a nice kitchen and bed, I am not into dirty places;) So, at this rate, I may not find anything or if I do, it will be booked for that week. I have found some but it seems they never answer my emails, not too sure how good home away is?

Monday FInish!

No wandering this weekend, we got lots of wind and rain, so it was mostly shopping and a car ride in the rain, to get out. I didn't get anything done this weekend, but today I finally made a pattern, I have been wanting to make.

The pattern is by Blue Moon Beginnings and if I recall correctly, I got it for free from an issue of Rusty Tin Roof's magazine. You can download the latest issue or any of their back issues. Each issue has free patterns in it and some will work and some won't, from the older issues. If you don't subscribe, it is free and you will get their seasonal issues.

The pattern is more prim and I cheated a bit on my faces but I will try the actual pattern and different versions for fun. I used a coffee stained muslin for the cat and a tea stain for the snowman, then I added more stain to the snowman. Valerie has a lot of fun, prim patterns and they do come as epatterns, so if you are interested in seeing what she has, you can visit her Etsy Shop and see what other patterns she has.

The photo came out lighter, so the cat is not as dark brown, as he actually is. It also makes the streaks of stain on the snowman, more pronounced.

It was so miserable at the lighthouse, even this seagull was not happy. He decided that a puddle was better than being in the windswept ocean.

Friday Finishes and Winner!

I have been busy making snowman pieces for my sister and still have a few things to finish but I did get a couple of things done this week.

The first thing I finally did was, finish my pumpkins. I sewed and stuffed them, then added a twig for a stem. I decided not to stain them for now, I like the brighter colors to go with my fake leaves;) They are darker in person, but with my shaky hands, I have to enhance the photos so that lightens them up.

Another finish is my snowman mittens. I like making mittens with punch needle and there are a lot of possibilities with designs. I used a design by Renee Mullins and added a star. I used a blue plaid for the background. I am wondering if I should fix them since the floss seems a bit too thin and the fur top is smaller than I wanted and I don't like how the stitching shows. I am thinking I could twist strands together to thicken it and add a jute or ribbon tie.

I kept this brighter since it is for my sister and I didn't think she would like my grungy look;)

I finished the punching on the snow fairy, but I need to finish the edges and make a hornbook to mount it on. This is a pattern by Brenda Gervais and I made one for myself and put it on a basket. For this one, I will use the hornbook cutout that came with the pattern. I used different colors to keep it more in keeping with shades my sister would like.

This one done in 3 strand floss, it took me a week to make it. The mittens I did in 6 strands and it took me 2 days, I think I like 6 strands better;)

And now for the winner of the epattern giveaway. The winner is Shelley of Red Quilts. Shelley, please email me with your choice of epattern or booklet, your choice. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

If you would like to have something fun to do and something free, visit Rusty Tin Roof and download the newest newsletter. You will find interesting articles and free patterns, including two wool sewing projects.

Friday Finish!

I really had to push this one to finish it tonight, lol. I wanted a runner for my bedroom table and since it would be covered with items, I didn't want to go fancy. I did want nice colors so I used a 5" charm pack of Metropolitan Fair by Barbara Brackman.

I thought this would be a good quilt to practice my machine skills with, but then I decided to hand stitch it with black thread, which was a lot more work than I realized. This is a long piece, 51" x 16". I stitched down and across the blocks, then an X in each one, as well as a border stitch.

This is a fun and easy project for charm packs and great for those long tables. I tend to move things around the house when I need more space, somewhere else and this is how the table go in this room. I am also going to hang my cross quilt over the table and then I can frame my cross stitches and put them around the quilt.

The mailbox is on the table for now, since the air conditioner is in front of the table, it usually goes on. Later I can redecorate this table to match the biblical theme. The table doesn't really match the room but it will do for now.

Here is a close up of the stitching. I rushed it a bit, so there are big and little stitches, but it adds to the charm;)

Spring Wreath!

I finished making the wreath with the fabrics I showed you, then I had to decide how to decorate it. I decided to go with a vintage Easter pillow, but it didn't work out like I wanted. I used the print and press and a design that I found at Graphics Fairy. She has a lot of wonderful vintage designs that you can use for printing and making into decorations for your home.

The first design was ruined, not sure what happened, but it did not peel off properly and half the design was ruined, so I made another. I made another that worked this time, I pressed harder on the floor and I think that helped. I thought the design was large enough but once I set it inside the wreath it didn't fit snuggly, which I wanted so it would stay put.

I put the pillow on the wreath and added some flowers to show how the wreath looks. I am thinking that I may make a large sitting bird for it, what do you think would look nice on it? I wanted to do something for Easter, than change that out for spring so I could use it longer. Another idea I had was to print out vintage ornaments and tie them around the wreath.

I have it here on a wall, once I finish it, I will hang it on the front door.

Our house is full of the flu, my daughter had it, gave it to me and now my husband has it, so hopefully this will be the last one for the season. One thing that is nice when you are sick is to have wonderful friends who think of you and send surprises in the mail. It really made my days to have some wonderful new things that I can work with to make new creations with. It warms my heart to know my friends are thinking of me.

I have been practicing with my needle felting but realized I don't have many colors for animals, or fun colors for other projects. My friend Laurie spins her own yarns and uses roving and sent me some unspun rovings from her stash and a lot of her hand dyed, so I will be able to make some new critters now. The funny thing is, something she uses in the roving is something that makes Moki crazy, I found him and the box on the floor and he was rolling around in it, lol. It is now safely locked away from him.

There is roving under the roving, a whole box full. This will keep me busy for a long time.

 Today I received another package from my friend Mary. She knows I love to work with wool and had a pattern and wool kit that she was not going to use, so she passed it along to me. Not only was I surprised by such a wonderful gift but it is the same pattern and kit that I saw the other day and wanted to make, so I was thrilled.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Antique Mail Desk!

I have always wanted a wooden desk with drawer to keep mail in and also to decorate with. Every time I decorate the bureau, the kitties knock it all over, so I wanted something large and heavy. It is decorative and practical and exactly what I wanted and my wonderful friend Carol and her husband, made me one.

I started painting it and then things got hectic and when my nerves go hay wire, it makes it hard to sand and do wood work, but i finally got the last coat of paint on, then sanding and antiquing. I finished it off with a matte spray and I think it came out nicely, considering I got sloppy and rushed it;)

The first coat was a light gold, then black over that, then I sanded it down in areas to show the lighter paint. I used a brown antique stain which gives it a nice aged look. I still have to decorate this area.

Another thing I did was to clean my shoe rack, it does get dusty and half the shoes were on the floor. I have had these slippers since the 80's and I thought it was time to let them go, lol. I have no idea if they are collectible and one came apart at the feet which I could fix. The bear is Captain Joshua Bear, and Bill got me them, one Christmas. They are cute, but totally impractical, not something you can walk in too well.

Friday Finish!

This week I have been doing a lot of stitching. I wanted to make a runner for my dining bureau, so I used similar materials on this pieces, as the one on my dining table. I did the half square triangles with the first method on Jennifer's Blog. It is an easy way to make more blocks quickly but I still had to cut and press and then sew them all back together. I even made them larger and cut them down, but still didn't match up my blocks, I am a lost cause, lol.

I hand stitched it with black pearl cotton #5. It took me most of the week to do that and tonight I decided not to stitch on the border and just finish it, as is. It is slightly larger than I wanted, but I know it will shrink, once I wash it. I am also working on finishing my mail box, which will go on top, so hopefully I can finish that, this weekend.

I added some things for the photo, love how the orange shades look with the dark woods and white walls. The runner is 56" x 20".

Of course my shaky hands and flash, ruin the colors, so here is a close up, showing the fabrics I  used. I  wanted to do a big stitch, but I keep making tiny stitches. I think I should do machine quilting on my next runners.

Now onto Christmas, I have a lot of things I want to make and hope I can do at least half of them, lol. I also bought 3 bags of Maine Balsam. I plan on making pillows and ornies for gifts and I think a giveaway for Christmas would be fun too;)

Flower Candle Mat!

I finished my candle mat, it took longer than I thought it would, but well worth the effort. I got the design from Dover Publishing. They send email once a week with free samples, so well worth signing up.

I used some of my variegated floss for the flowers and a solid green for the leaves. To make the circle, I use an old plastic lid and trace around it with a wash out blue marker. I added some yellow french knots to the centers to give it a little extra pop. I decided to antique it, I think it looks nice on my firkin, but it will probably be a gift.

And here is a shot to show you the design and details. I still have the design, so if you would like a copy, just send me an email.

This is a bit light and pink, but I lightened it, so  you could see the detail better.

Feline Friday!

I haven't finished any projects this week, too buys decorating and redecorating, the fun of cats.

Moki pretty much lives in his tree house, he sleeps there and keeps an eye on the outside world from his top perch. But, the minute I put up the trees he decides he wants to sleep on the bureau. I want to put the chenille candy canes on them, but i know he will be pulling them off and pulling the trees down. 

"I want my Candy Canes!"

I also did a new arrangement for my sewing room. I think it needs a vintage textile sign to go in back of it, another thing to make.