Friday Finishes!

I always love a new month, it means a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch at a Time Club. This was a fun one to do for Valentines, I may even make a few more to give away, maybe try one in red work.

Kathy framed her piece, I made a pillow. It is much easier to find spaces for pillows. I also added a few of my own touches and the word love.

I also finished the last three stockings. I love how they look, just wish they looked as nice in a photo. I say finished, but I have to fix something, I wasn't paying attention on one piece, can you guess what it is?

Next is the row that goes in the middle, it will have stars going across. I hate points, so I may use a fusible to make it easier for turning the points, ahead of time. I will also use the patterned black for that and the outer borders.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, we have rain and snow and cold and not fun weather for being outside.

Weekend Wandering and a Finish!

I actually got some sewing time in, this weekend, and I spent a little time working on my painting. I realized I was trying too hard and the little painting is not a good size for the tutorial, so at this point, I am just going to paint it and finish it, then work on the large one with the video tutorial.

I did get to finish my piece for the One Stitch at a Time Club. I love doing the monthly piece, they are wonderful designs and work up quickly. I made mine with lavender so I can place it with my wools to keep the moths away.

I realized when I looked at the photo, that I missed a few pieces of two leaves, duh to me. I can go back in and fix that. I pull the thread through from the side seam and that way it goes in and stays put with the knot.

The green and yellow threads are Cosmo threads, that I ordered with my winnings. I got patterns, but I wanted to try the threads. I have to admit, they are wonderful to work with and I am getting tired of my DMC, twisting and catching and having to pull out and fix them. It seems the quality has gone down, do others notice that?

This weekend we got out for a bit and enjoyed a visit to the island and hit our usual parks for some short walks. We enjoyed views from the cliffs, the boats are starting to come out on the weekends.

We did a little cliff climbing to enjoy the solitude and views in a hidden area.

Of course we had to take Bean to the other side, for a play on the beach. It was high tide so we stayed in one area and let him play, while I looked for sea glass and heart rocks, much better to find it at low tide. The cormorants were hanging out at the rocks.

We had the kids over for Mother's day. Bill did the cooking and Billy surprised me with a new light pad. I have been wanting a new one and this one is large and skinny, perfect for my new patterns. I already have two done on backing that I can work on this week. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

I stole this photo off of amazon, it is a 20" long, great for those oversized patterns. It is a huron, adjustable light. I am not sure if it really has more light than my old one though, I still have areas that are harder to see but I may be doing something wrong, will have to test it more with different fabrics.

Free Valentines and Projects!

This week I wanted to make something to add to my tree, but I am limited on time and wanted something quick and easy. I searched the web and found a wonderful place with free printables that you can use on a tree or just to decorate. I was also looking at her vintage cards that you can stand on a shelf, might print those out, this weekend.

I printed my designs out on card stock so they would be stiff enough to hang and the aged card stock gives the prints, more of an aged look, instead of using white.

I also printed out some by accident with regular paper, since I forgot to put a piece of card stock in. I used the paper hearts for the back of my hearts and just used a stick glue to put them together. I used a piece of black floss and made a hanger by threading it through the middle. Simple project to do while you watch tv.

I changed my kitty doll with the one dressed in red, to match the setting, better.

My camera was acting up again so I took a photo without the flash. It yellowed the photo, but the valentines are that color in person. I reduced the sizes of the hearts and the envelope to fit my tree. I used the hearts with flowers and the one with writing on it. You can find the designs for these and a lot more at Wings of Whimsy.

Another thing I wanted to try was, dying velvet. I read about dying velvet online and it all depends on what type  you have. I have no idea what type I had, but I assumed it was not natural fibers and I was right, it took the Rit Dye. The bad thing was, I used brown and without thinking, put the red piece in with the others, so the dye bath turned reddish brown.

The original colors I used were, bright red, tan and white. The red got darker and has a nicer mottled look, the tan turned browner and the white is a pinkish brown. Next time I will have to try it without the red. I like how it comes out, after washing and drying, gives it a nice aged look.

And I am also working on a new project. I wanted something simple that I could use for Valentines and spring and decided to use a pattern by Quilts by Cheri, called Live Simply. This is one of  her older patterns and there is a fourth block, but I decided to do three and make a longer piece for my wall. Once I finish the stitchery, I can put them together.

My camera flash decided to go wonky and for some reason when I take a shot, facing down, my lens starts moving on its own, so I guess it needs to go to a shop and see what is wrong and maybe get a good cleaning.

I am also using washable, one sided, fusible to see how I like it. I will talk more about what I do and don't like, after I finish the piece and my brain is working again;) I hope everyone has a good weekend.