Primitive Heaven!

Yesterday we headed to Connecticut for a change of pace and since we were headed in that direction, I couldn't go without visiting my favorite prim shop, Milltown Primitives. The store features five rooms, each one decorated in 18th century reproductions and antiques. It is like visiting a museum, each room is set up like a room in a home and there are so many wonderful pieces that I walked around and around, seeing something new each time.

Robin is a wonderful host and her husband is part of the team who makes wonderful reproduction furnishings. Robin is also an accomplished cross stitch designer who was featured in Early American Life and is thinking about starting up her line of patterns again. She was kind enough to give me one of her iron on designs to try, so I will be working on that and feature it in a future blog posting. Her designs are done with iron on patterns, so perfect for those of us who have poor eyesight and love to work on linens or osnaburg.

Here is one of the larger rooms and this is just a section.

I am bad at shopping, I tend to refrain from buying too much for myself, but I thought I deserved a treat this week and when I saw this banner, I just had to get it. It is made by a local artist and of course, it is perfect for a textile artist;) I need to redo my peg rack, and today I threw up the wreath and added some dried florals to it, so later I might make an old dress or sack, things to hang on the rack.

And here are the rest of my goodies, one item is not mine, but I have been looking for one and I wanted to grab it while I could;) The yarn is hand spun, prefect for my needle felting projects.

If you are ever in the area, Milltown Primitives is a must, on your places to visit.

I send blessings and well wishes to all of you this Easter.

Punch Needle Eye Glass Case!

I finished my eyeglass case today. I use another Laurel Burch design and reduced it to fit the size I needed. I had fun using some of my hand dyed threads. I use DMC and over dye it and see what colors I get, and these were too bright for my prims, but perfect for this. I used three strands of floss to outline the design and 6 strands to fill. The problem is, the needle for 3 strand is slightly longer, and some of the lines are so close together, that the colors got lost.

I sewed a piece of fabric to the punched piece, front sides facing. Then I turned it right side out and tucked in the open edge, that I left on the bottom and hand stitched that. Then I cut a piece of wool, in the same size and attached it with a blanket stitch. It is a fun way to make something practical with punch and custom design to fit your likes.

Now I have something to put my reading glasses in.

We had to go to Sears for a tractor belt, so I thought it was a good time to stop at Savers and see if they had any goodies. I found this prim candle shelf that I can use for display or a candle. I put it on a wall to take a photo and stuck one of my kitty collectibles on it. This is a vintage music box I found on ebay, years ago. One of those things, no one was bidding on, so I got it for a steal;)

Would you love to own a piece of folk art? Visit Babycakes and enter her new giveaway featuring artist Kim Owens.

Something new, something old

I am still working on secret projects, so I cannot show you, what I have been working on;)
I did make a couple of new hearts. One I made by using a muslim heart for the back and placed pieces of scraps on top and then used my sewing machine to do the stitching, over the raw edges. The second one, I sewed scraps together, then cut out the heart and did the stitches on the seams with floss. I think the machine one came out nice, on the right/front. The second one, has less pieces, so I don't like it as much, but easier and faster to do it that way. I think they look good in my new candle holder. That was a find at an antique booth.



And for something old. This is a rug I made, in my first year of hooking. We had a contest, to make a game rug and this is what I came up with. It has been hanging on the wall and starting to warp, so time to take it down and give it a good steam press, then find a better way to hang it. I would like to make a wood, box frame to put it in. I think it would look nice and lend to the gaming look.

Thrifty Monday

I don't know if I would call this thrifting, but I found some items today in our local consignment store. I actually find nicer things and some antiques, and a lot cheaper than the thrifts lately.

I wanted a big basket for my dining bureau, but I guess I got one, too big. It just didn't look right sitting up there, so I put it on the floor and an old piece of cloth and guess who decided it was a fun place to play hide and jump out at the dog.



It is a wonderful old basket, with the wood staves on the outer sides and bottom. There is a little damage, but the basket is still in good shape and perfect for prim decorating. I played around with what I had and some more pines from outside. Would love ideas on what to do with it. I was thinking old quilts and dolls would be nice too. If you have a picture of a big basket and how you use it, would love a link, to see it. The cardinal was a swap gift this year and the sled, something I painted years ago.



Izzy loves to follow me around and play games, as you can see, when I put the other items back on the bureau.
I spent half my time, vacuuming the cat hairs, off of the fake poinsettia.



I also found another tin candle holder in the sale aisle, this time in black, for only 2 dollars. I hung it above the old basket, I found, earlier this year.



Another fun find today, was this pair of folk art rooster, candle holders. They are hand hammered, they look great on top of my kitchen cabinet, but had to take a picture in a lower spot, to show you.

Lots of Christmas Goodies!

Today I got two surprise boxes from my group swaps.
One was from our ebay group, USAPRIM which consists of a group of talented ladies who create primitive goods for sale on ebay.
I got lots of wonderful items, to use around my home and couldn't wait to hang them up. I am amazed at all of the beautiful work she did.



My other box was from a fellow quilter on my primitive quilt group. She made me a wonderful kitty hanging, she knows I love cats;) She also made me a cross stitched piece and little did she know, that I really wanted one, but have no time to make one, so it was the perfect present. The purse she knitted and felted, what beautiful work.



I also had a good day shopping yesterday, got lots of goodies for presents and found myself another candle holder. I can't have to many of those, lol. I stayed home today to finish up what I started, it was hard to do the punch, but it was a small amount, so I did it. Now I have to get back to the cellar to spray the last side of my nativities. I am happier with these sets, even though they are not perfect. And for those who asked, I am not selling these, they are for presents. I may do some next year and will be working more with wood and some carving, so will see what I come up with.

Another happy thing for today is, I won a contest:) I won 4 half yards of Patrick Loose's new fabric. I can't wait to come up with a design to use it in. Check out his site, he has lots of fun and whimsical patterns.

New Primitive Shelf

I saw a shelf I liked, so I asked my husband to make me one and being the sweetheart that he is, he made me one.
Today I finally aged it and got it up on the wall. The problem is, he put hang hooks on the back, so it is tilted, will have to fix that problem and he will put the antique nails in tomorrow. Those will go on the bottom piece, so I can hang things on that too.

I grunged up my old candle holders too, but not sure if I like the shape of them, maybe some cast iron long candle holders instead? It is a pain with that wall, as you can see they made a hole in it to get light into the kitchen, I hate the hole, so we will either fill it in or redo the whole kitchen when I win the lottery, haha. I think a nice sign would be a good backdrop in that area, guess I need to make one of those too. I even cleaned off the dining table for the picture;)



Here is a closer look, he used some of our wainscoting to make the backing. Once it sits straight, I can put some of my red glass bottles on it.



And for the cute of the day, here is Dora. I was vacuuming and she likes to watch. She has such pretty eyes, but she must see the blink on my flash and gets those eyes closed before I hit the button, lol.



I took this shot looking up, so it cast a shadow on the ceiling with the flash.

Thrifting Goodies

After being stuck in the house so long with the flu, it was so nice to get out again. Yesterday I went wild and hit four stores in our area, of course, today I am resting;) I thought you might like to see some of the goodies I got.

I found the wire basket at the home store, love using them around the house and filling them with prims. Then I hit a consignment store and found a fun sewing firkin with my favorite subject, a kitty. And they also had a cast iron cat door stop to add to my collection.



This was my lucky store of the day, I also found the prim candle keep with 4 grubby candles.



At the salvation army I found a candle board, needs sanding and stain, but a nice find.



And I had to get this, because it was cute and only 50 cents.



In another consignment, I found a nice wall basket, this is a larger one and it has a painted frame on the front, I took that off.
It will be perfect with a nice punched piece on it. So, I had a good day thrifting and now I need to paint my hallway and start redecorating that area with some of my new goodies.

Weekend Wanderings

Unlike the poor folks out west, we had wonderful weather this weekend.
I took full advantage of it by spending the day shopping and going for a walk at one of our favorite places.
It is a bird sanctuary that cuts through fields, wooded paths and ends up at a point where we can view the pond and the ocean which is beyond the strip of sand dunes.



On the trail back, we go through more woods and by a small pond which was showing the first signs of spring.
We got to see the turtles sunning on the tufts of grass and minnows.



I didn't have any luck at the antique stores, but I did find some nice reproduction candle holders with plate backs. I found two and will figure out where to hang them. I am also working on punch projects, some I can show, so as soon as I finish them, I will post photos. And don't forget to look below and grab your free pattern and a chance to enter the contest.