Friday Finish!

This week I wanted something new to do but something that didn't take too much work. I decided to remake a bunny from my Bunny Buddies pattern. This time I went with bright and fun, using old scraps and floss from the ones I got for the kids to make bracelets. It is also a bit larger than the others, so a fun piece to decorate with. I actually made it for my sister, who is going through medical problems and I wanted to make her something happy to cheer her up. She had asked for some when I first made them, so I hope she likes this new version.

I added the background and the pink bow with photoshop AI. I still have to get out to the craft store to get some pink ribbon before I send it. I have a link to my patterns on the left side column.

Last week I wanted to go back to find the elusive rare bird. We didn't see it, but on the way back out, we saw a bunch of cars and cameras pointing toward the field. It took me awhile to find it, but finally with the help of others, I was able to catch it in the back field. This is a Northern Lapwing, usually found in Europe and Asia. 

We also spent time at the beach, where Bean can enjoy some play time and I can enjoy the views and birding.

Lots of Common Eiders this year.

At home, more birds are leaving and our regulars will be returning. I seem to have a new visitor, a Red Squirrel. This one is a new one, it is living in the neighbors yard and I usually spot two of them, running around the wood piles.

I am still unable to walk much. Today it was shopping in my light hikers but it killed my foot, so no walking on the beach. We have beautiful weather this weekend, so I hate that we can't get out for hikes. With the cooler temps it is perfect to be in the woods and bug free. I hope everyone is doing well with the bad weather conditions that come through. 

Friday Finish!

 

This week I wanted to make something new for Valentines. I had seen some ideas on Pinterest and I had wood pieces I could use, so I made a few hanging pieces. I just drew up some hearts and did more of a hit or miss with my scrap floss. 

These two are more my style with a prim look. 

These two are brighter. I messed up with the lettering. The first time I hand drew on the letters, from the back and punched them, then realized they were backwards, lol. So I had to redo them and forgot that the position would change too, so they are a bit wonky. This is a great way to use up excess floss and they work up quickly. You can get the wood pieces from the craft store, or use reclaimed wood pieces.

Last week we did our usual drive around the ocean areas. The bays were frozen and the beaches are still a mess. With each storm, they get more washed out and cluttered, so lots of cleaning, still going on.

This week all the ice has melted, the snow is gone and it has been raining again. We were able to get out this afternoon and found that the cove beach was littered with glass and pottery. It was freezing so I got as much as I could find. Lots of large pieces this time and a few nice colors. 

Tomorrow is the one day with no rain and Sunday is rain and snow, so hopefully we can enjoy more time out before it comes. I hope you all have a nice weekend and can get out to enjoy some time outside.

Friday Finishes?

It looks like another week of not enough time. With Nick here during the day, I have little time for myself and by the time they leave, I am catching up around the house and only have a few hours to stitch, but that is ok, I love having Nick and hopefully we can get on a better schedule.

I finished one more angel, from my old set and started a new one, which will be a pillow for me. I like making larger pillows to set on my chest and Moki loves them too, it is one of  his favorite spots to sleep.

I received two packages this week, I guess it was my lucky week, last week. I won Kathy Schmitz's giveaway on the One Stitch at a Time Club. I enjoyed spending my money and got a lot of wonderful patterns and a pack of threads and material to use for the club. She also sent me some additional prizes, bookmarks, gift cards, a banner pattern and an acorn pin. I felt like it was Christmas, she is so generous with his giveaways and special surprises for me.

I also won a bag from the Green Bag Lady. Not only did I get the beautiful floral print bag, I also got a bonus Christmas bag. I want to make my own, so this way I can use her pattern and see the finished bag, to help me out. I think it is a wonderful idea to use as a gift bag, then I can put gifts or a pillow inside the bag, instead of wrapping paper. I also think it is a nice idea for the cancer heart pillows, then they can carry their pillows and items in the bag, lots of possibilities.

He loves to help, we got a couple of daisy plants to get a start on the garden area. He also loved spraying Bean and Grandma, lol.

And or course Nick, he loves to play outside and that is fun if it is nice out. It is also more relaxing for me if he is playing in one place, instead of running around the house. We took him shopping and he wanted the wheel barrow set, he loved pushing it around the yard. Earlier this morning he and Grandpa where pushing their wheelbarrows around the yard, wish I had seen that, but Grandma slept in so she could have more energy;)

Friday not-Finish!

I have been working all week on my new piece and as I worked it, colors were not working with each other. Some were too bold, some are too close in hue, so they got lost. So, I started changing colors and changing colors, over and over and now the backing is getting to the point where they threads are not holding properly, so I think I am going to have to start over.

I made it larger and used 6 strands, so I may reduce it and use a mix of 6 and 3 strand, as well as valdani where I can. I had an idea in my head and it just isn't working the way I wanted. The original sea was a mix of blues and greens, a nice look but the colors around it got lost, so it is a choice of changing the sea to a lighter color or making items like the fence a lighter color to go against the darker sea. The cliff is a mess now, I was trying to outline with a black and lost track of where the rocks had crevices, so it is a mess now.

This is how it looks now, I might save this and use some art pens to add some detail and fix things, then I can give it to someone who doesn't care if it is perfect, lol. I also plan on making it into a nautical pillow with a saying and a matching stitchery, wall hanging, so it will be another week to work it all up and get the pattern ready.

Another thing is the position, I think I like the back better, going the other way, just seems to work better but I may change a few things, so I better get to work. Bill has to work the weekend, so I can work on the pieces, though I rather be at the beach;)

The design is called Sailor's Sanctuary and will include a saying.

I decided to give up this afternoon, it was making me nuts, the new changes looked horrible with the light sea, it does have to all come out and I don't know if the backing can take it. So, what to do instead, organize my floss. It is a mess, I have to use floss with numbers for the color charts which usually means new floss and then I make more mess with lose floss, so time to organize it and keep it organized so I can use what I have.

I used card stock and cut strips with my paper cutter. I wrote the numbers on ones I had and the others can go into a hit or miss project. I cut a little slit on the side and top so I could keep the threads from coming lose. For now it is in a box, then I can put it in a more organized box by colors. Easy way to store the thread and a lot cheaper than buying floss cards.

And for fun, here is Izzy, Bald but Beautiful, haha. She is such a conceited cat. The good thing is, she has not puked since she got the cut, so it is well worth it. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will take it easy and work on the stitchery and give my brain a break as I work out the details to better my design, maybe it is time to use my watercolors to do designs first, so I can make better color choices.

Weekend Wanderings!

Since Bill has the week off, we have been getting out and doing some shopping and exploring new areas. We went to the antique consignment first, hoping for some after Christmas sales but the things I had my eyes on, were gone and the rest was over priced, so no buys there.

Then I wanted to try a back road and go around the area in a circle to see what was there. It was a long back road that came out to some beautiful lakes, great places to revisit in the kayaks this summer. I didn't realize the circle came back to another town, called Chepatchet. Chepatchet is home to several antique stores and a primitive country store, so of course we stopped in town and walked around.

Love the old buildings and the colors on the different shops. These two shops are well worth a visit.
The gold building is home to The Town Trader. It is a huge antique store, filled from top to bottom with antiques and newer items mixed in. There were a lot of things I loved, especially a huge trencher, but I refrained from buying anything, trying to be more practical this year.

The second building is Brown and Hopkins Country Store. It is a two story building filled with country and primitive wares, as well as an old fashioned candy counter. They still had all of their Christmas items on display and everything was half off, I know I will regret not buying some things;)

The bridge out of town was a nice place to walk and give Bean some time out. Old mills and homes line the streets going out of town, as well.

And, I am working on a project, though a bit slowly. This design is a free design from Broderie D'Antan. They have a lot of different types of designs that you can use and always adding new ones, each week.

The floss that I used is Finca, I like how it looks in the piece, though it doesn't show as well in a photo. This has more to come and will be a candle mat.

Dying Floss and New Project!

Yes, I said new project. I get the newsletter from Dover Publishing and every week they send free samples and this one was perfect for a candle mat. I wanted to make it as a gift for my daughter, but I didn't get it done in time, so we shall see what I do with it, after I finish it.

I wanted to try brighter colors for her and I do love the way my hand dyed pink, looks in this piece. You can see where the shades go from dark to light on the flowers. The green is a solid, so I need to over dye some green for future projects.

And, here is the floss that I used for the pink that is in the flowers. That is, the floss before I over dyed it. The beauty of using this floss is that it comes in a package and it is cheap. With a coupon, it saves a lot of money and perfect for over dying.

I usually soak it in tea or walnut, but I thought I would wet the floss and then use walnut spray. It was easier and faster, but it didn't saturate into the middle sections, as well. But, it still came out nice, now I have various shades in dark and bright, so it will be fun to see how this would look in a punch needle piece.

The photo is a bit darker than the actual floss, but you can see how it went from bright to prim with a bit of walnut ink. You can soak it overnight in walnut and then sun dry it, now that it is getting warmer.
If you do not have walnut you can use tea or coffee, but remember that the acids in tea can destroy cross stitch pieces, over time.

Crazy Hearts

Today I was doing a lot of cleaning and lugging boxes of junk to the cellar and wore myself out.
I couldn't get motivated to finish any of my projects and I don't want to start new ones until I do finish them, so I made up some hearts. I used a white cotton and laid pieces of scrap fabrics I keep in a basket. Then I sewed stitches on with floss. I have no idea what I was doing, just keeping my hands busy. Some of the fabrics lifted off the stitch area, but I left them like that and then sewed a wool backing and stuffed them. I wanted them to look old anyways, so with the stain and rips, I got the right effect;)

I might try it again by sewing pieces in a block, then cutting out the heart shape. That way the edges will stay put and I can do crazy quilting over the seams. Or I might try it on my machine or both. I like to experiment with simple things to get practice on my stitching and machine skills, so this is a good project for that.

Kitty Quilting

Since Dora is an attention grabber, I though it only fair that Izzy gets her turn at what she does best, harass me when I am sewing. I finally got the backing on and started putting the tacks in my scrap quilt. I was going to pin it, but when I realized how long it took me to do a few, I thought, why not just start tacking and roll as I go. I am using prequilted fabric and doing it on the floor, so it lays flat, no batting to shift around on me.

Of course, the minute I put it on the floor, Izzy has to get in on the action. First she took the the far corner, she does that at night too, sleeps at the far end of the bed. As you can see, I stock floss for my punching. I have the big plastic container with dividers for my floss and the top tier is for the nest of scrap floss. When I need a little bit of a color, I just pull up a strand and cut it off.



After that, she noticed the floss I was using and I began to get attacked when I least expected it. Izzy's favorite game is sneak attack.



I don't know about your animals, but I have really dumb ones, or maybe smart ones, lol. When my dog is out of water, he lays at his bowl until I notice him and the empty bowl. He will sit there for hours if I don't see him. Now that Izzy has figure out how to drink from the tap, she does the same thing. I find her sitting in the sink, waiting for me to turn it on.

New version of Pumpkin angel

I decided to try a new version of the pumpkin angel and added the sitting cat that robin did in another graphic and a long pumpkin. I used a hand dyed floss on the face, it was green and dull orange, so it worked up nicely. I forgot to reverse the design though, so the kitty and pumpkin should have been on the other side. I am directionally challenged;) This one will be on sale, as well, on wednesday. Now I need to get moving on my quilt challenge and some new designs for lynette and a million other projects I want to do. I will also have the pattern for the witch, for those that asked, later this week.

New Punchneedle Piece: "For the Birds"

Today it is raining on and off, so we stayed home, to get things done around the house. I worked on a fraktur for a friend's present and cleaned, while Bill finished the wainscoting in the bedroom.

I decided to remake my dog and cat punch needle and another board and loved how this one came out. I got a little silly, I tend to do that;) This piece has some new additions including a trio of unlikely friends. I used my own hand dyed floss for the dog and cat, so they have a nice mottled coloring to them, as well as the birds. Of course I can never get the colors right on pieces like this. Half the colors are either too light or too dark, the camera just gets confused with dyed colors. For the board, I used gold, over painted with black, then sanded down to show the golds beneath. The nails are antique square heads, perfect for this mounting.

If you like this piece and would like to have it for your own, it will be listed on ebay later tonight. I will also be making a pattern with this one, it will be one pattern with different versions. I really think this piece with or without the birds would make a beautiful primitive rug.
And don't forget to comment to get an extra entry into the contest. I just might have to draw two names for this one;)

New Punch Needle: Bird Dog

I finally got around to making my new piece into a pillow.
I started out with a plan to make a simple folk art dog and then I started thinking about my guy.
I have a border collie and he loves stick, big and little ones. When we go for walks, he will grab a fallen branch and try to drag it home. This is Casey playing pick up sticks, he will come in handy when we go camping;)



While I was doodling with my dog design, I got some silly ideas in my head and this newest piece is the result of my warped imagination. This guy grabbed a stick that had someone living in it. The little birds have decided to come along for the ride. It is a fun piece that will make you smile. This piece is for sale and will be part of a pattern package. If you are interested in this piece, send me a mail with a reasonable offer and it could be yours. The piece is slightly larger than 6" X 5" and has a brown plaid, wool backing.

More experiments and a new Kitty

I was at it again today. This time I took what was left of some old floss and the pearl cottons I had. I threw them all in a bath together and tried to make my own version of khaki drab.

This is what they looked at before hand.





For the dye, I used rit dyes and one part black, one part blue and about 4 parts yellow. This is what came out of the pot. It lightens as it dries and this is still wet. I also meant to mention, I did two skeins on plastic holders and they came out flat, so twisting is a good way to get varying colors. Another trick is to use a baster to baste the colors on. Once I have dyed them, I rinse a little and then pour vinegar onto the skeins. Then I add a little soap and rinse clean. I have noticed that without vinegar, the colors keep bleeding out, but once I use it, the color stays and rinses clean.

I got some interesting combinations and the pearl cottons will be great for big stitchery on quilts. I finished a piece tonight using some of the purple shades and as soon as I finish mounting it, I will show you how it came out along with some other new pieces I have made.



I got a package in the mail today, I have to treat myself sometimes;) I won a kitty doll set from Miss Pootie's Primitives. Penny makes the most wonderful creations with sayings and I just loved this one. My husband and I area always saying our daughter is like him or I. You could say we each blame each other for her horrible behavior, lol. It is just such a fun piece and she really pays attention to detail. I put her with the books for now, but I will make a special shelf, just for her.

Experiments in Staining

I have been working on a couple of my own new pieces, as well as Lynette's new designs.
This piece was one I found from an old sampler and wanted to try the dog and cat in my own version of a punch.
I just loved the funky shapes and the stick legs.

First is a picture of the piece, after I finished it, as is.



I then used the Walnut ink and it came out ok, but the flower was too bright. So, I decided to use the Java ink, which is black.
The thing about black is that it is made from various colors and I didn't think to shake the bottle first, ugh. This is what happened, the colors ran into the colors that made up the black, so it looks like the colors ran. Sometimes mistakes happen, but that is how we learn, or at least remember to shake before spraying;)



For those of who asked and did not see the original post, I use Walnut ink made by Tsukinek. You can look up the product online and see where they sell it retail. That is the best way to find out if you can buy it in your area. I usually use the walnut ink on my punch needle pieces and the Java ink on extreme prim pieces. I will be including instructions on my methods with the new patterns that come out.

Don't forget to check out the free pattern and contest, it is still going on!

New Punch Needle: Black Sheep White Sheep

I finished a new piece and will be listing it on ebay tonight.
I am having so much fun going through old sampler books and finding motifs that inspire me.
I am going to be punching a lot of new designs in the coming months and as soon as I put my computer equipment back in one place, I will work up the patterns for them. Hopefully I will stop procrastinating and punching, long enough, to get them done next week.

This one was inspired by the sheep, I loved their naive look. I just had to make a piece with them and traditional sampler motifs.
I love how this piece came out, but I will probably tweak the design some more, I think a nice border would be perfect with it.



I am not sure about other designers and crafters who create pieces for sale, but I never have any of my items for me. I always end up selling them or giving them as gifts. I do keep all the beautiful pieces made by my friends and I also have patterns from other designers that my friends give me. I always make those up for me. I have one that I made up and still need to mount, so I guess I should finish that one, so I can hang it.

Punch Needle Cross

Today Dora decided to hide out in the wool downstairs, so I took the opportunity to work on a new project.
It will be a present, so of course I cannot show it yet.

Tonight she is being nice and letting me finish the background. She wanted to hide in the cabinet under the tv and yes she opens it herself, way too smart. But, Izzy thought it looked fun and followed her in and the next thing you know, my supplies come tumbling out along with Dora. So much for Dora getting some peace.

This is a cross I made up for a friend who loves crosses. I wanted to make it into a stuffed piece, but couldn't figure out how to make gussets or sides to make it stand up. I was in a time crunch, so I mounted it onto a basket. I would like to do more designs like this. This one I just doodled up, so it will be fun to come up with some new ideas with the cross and improve on the layout. The basket I found in a thrift and painted a mustard color, then antique over that. I finish with a matte spray.

Punching with Dora

Today I decided to work on a new punch, another present for a friend.
It seems that whenever I put the frame on my lap, it is a sign for Dora.
Now this is a punch needle frame, small and Dora is not small, but it doesn't matter, if she can squeeze into it, she will.
I have had cats who love to do this with my rug frames, but I can hook with kitties, but I cannot punch with them.
She is also persistent about staying and I literally have to tip it over to get her out and even then, she resists.

So, I got some punching done tonight, but not as much as I would have liked;)

Dora with her looks, she is very vocal with her eyes. This is the, try and get me out look. She is on my lap, so it was hard to get a shot so close.



This is after I dumped her and the frame on the couch, sideways, she is still insistent on staying put.
I finally decided to put the tunnel in the room and she and Izzy had fun with that for awhile, before she got bored and came back to harass me again.

New punchneedle: Halloween Pumpkin

I am always trying new things or new ways to do my designs and after seeing Betty's (Primitive Betty's) little pumpkins, I just had to try one. I loved punching it, I used dmc floss in orange shades and 6 strands. It is a little over 3" high and 3" wide. That was the easy part, then I had to figure out how to put it together. I made a few failed attempts and finally came up with a way to sew up to the edge, by using a thinner piece of wool and hand sewing that on first. By doing that, I was able to machine stitch the back and make it a little fatter for stuffing. The bottom is flat so it stands up on it's own. Of course now I will want to try a few more with different shapes and faces.

I wanted to add leaves to the top, so will think on that.

I also worked on a locker hooked piece. Yes, another thing to add to my list of things I do;) But, it is a mess and not something I would do alot of, maybe when I am bored and have excess fabric, but I find it harder to do then rug hooking and I cannot get the motifs or designs I would like without driving myself nuts.

My Quilt Challenge

I belong to a great primitive quilting group and this summer we had a quilt challenge.
We had to send a partner, 3 fat quarters and any embellishments we wanted.
This is what I was sent to work with.



I have been working on and off all summer and had no idea what I was doing, just added as I went and this is what I came up with. I will add some tabs to the top to hang it with, maybe on the kitchen window or it might be a present for someone who loves chickens and roosters;) It is hard to see on the quilt, but there is a lot of stitching with the thread she gave me, all hand done.