Friday Finish!

 The past two weeks, I have been busy working on my sister's quilt. I wanted to get it done quickly so she can use it while she rests after treatments. I used two different packs of precut squares, so I didn't have to cut fabric. Then I made a top with an angel, hearts and a saying. The angel came from a Whimsical book and I added a few extra hearts and sayings. I also messed up on trimming down the top, so I added some borders.

After I got it all pieced, I decided to hand quilt it, so that I did this week. It is a bit eclectic with a primitive boho look. This weekend I need to make a label for the back and I found a nice saying to add to it. "Anytime you need a hug, wrap this quilt around you and feel my love." 

I also got mail from a fellow reader, Kelly Cole, who used one of my older freebie patterns to make a hooked piece. She hooked it onto a jean jacket, what a fun and clever idea.

We have been staying home more with projects that needed to be done. Then my son got sick after he was here and gave it to Bill who gave it to me. Seems I catch everything that is going around, luckily I fight them off and hand quilting kept me busy this week.

A lot of the birds are visiting now that the babies have left the nest. Our resident Cardinal is quite the character.

And a lot more Orioles are visiting, so I have to keep the jelly feeder full. This is one of their young.

And a few more shots of our visitors. I even got a Hair Woodpecker, the first I have seen, but too shy for a shot. I hope you all enjoyed your week and out of the heat wave. I am really enjoying the cooler hair and cool nights. 

Friday This and That!

This week I have been working on my quilt panel, almost there, so hopefully I can have it made into a pillow, next week. The weather has been hot, way too hot or humid is more like it, so my energy level is down and even with the air conditioner on, it only cools down certain areas, so I am limited on what I can do.

One thing about a not so great week is receiving gifts from friends. My friend Kelley Belfast made me a whale rug for my beach room and surprised me with a wonderful heart rug. The whale is perfect to hang on the wall, but I think I would like to frame it somehow, either a barn wood to place it on, that way I can use rug pins and not hurt the rug. Or a frame that would look good against the barn wood wall, will see what area I want to place it on and then decide. The hearts will make a nice table topper, it is a beach room, but also filled with heart items, so they are both perfect.

The whale rug is 23" x 16".

I also was able to get out as the tide was going out. My Sister in laws beach is rocky and on an island, so lots of glass gets trapped in the rocks. I even had double the help, and with the showers that day, we had the area to ourselves.

Bill and Natalie found me lots of big chunks and I found some fun shaped rocks.

I am not sure what I will do with this rock, I may paint it. Can you see what it looks like? It has more definition than shows in the photo.

A fun fact about my SIL's house, it was in the movie, Moonrise Kingdom. In the movie, two kids run away and the local police are looking for them, so they stop at her house to ask if she has seen them. And standing there on the porch with my SIL is Bruce Willis. The movie is shot in Rhode Island, some on the island and some in the boy scout  camp where we hike.

And another fun thing I did this week, shave Izzy, haha. She lets me shave her top areas, she does like to be groomed, but she was not too happy when I started on the back end.

I had to coax her, tell her how beautiful she was looking and I was almost there. Today I got more underneath, and smoothed out the choppy areas, so just the longer hair on her belly is left. Now if I can find a way to get her to roll over so I can get that, she will be all set. She pukes up, all over my house and this is one way to stop that, so well worth the trouble.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Monday UFO Finishes!

First I want to thank everyone for your comments and support. I have been trying to keep up by mailing each one, so if I forgot someone or you are a no reply, I do read all the posts and appreciate each one.

Today I decided to do some old pieces, that were sitting in a box. I wanted another pillow for my chest and knew I had a star piece and found the perfect one to offset the square pillows. It was a block for a nautical quilt that I was making and now that I have seen the other blocks, I will not finish, I will start over.

I realize how bad the stitching was on the appliqué, bad choice of backgrounds and the lighthouse is crooked, lol. I rather chuck the ugly blocks and make a new one. This piece was good enough to make a quick pillow and nice to have one more thing out of the box.

The pillow is 20" long and I stained the light fabric, when I finish stuffing it.

While I was going through the box, I found two more pieces I never finished and I had the perfect use for them. Two more lavender sachets. The pattern is from Sandra Cadwell of Babycake Designs. I won the design, years ago. Then I made these two pieces, years ago and they have been sitting, ever since.

I colored them in and then stitched around them, I like the outline look with color. Not sure how I colored them, looks like marker and maybe some watercolor. These I did not wet since I am not sure what is on it, and for sachets, they will be fine. I was thinking, this design is so fun, maybe I should paint it on some rocks.

Speaking of unfinished pieces, this is another one, I did years ago and it has been sitting in a closet. I have given up using hooked rugs in the house, the cats destroy them. I am not sure if I should continue with my rug hooking, I need to cut back on things, or I will never get anything done and I still want to quilt and sew, as well as punch and needle felt and now painting and rock art. I really have a problem, lol. So, I may start selling off my rug equipment, I have regular hooking materials, punch rug and locker hooking supplies. As much as I love them, there is not enough time in the day, so I may sell all or keep some to make small rugs and mats.

This rug is 52" x 24".

Wool Dying!

This week I decided to start going through my thrift wools and do some dying. I have a lot of dyes still and I need to use them, so I started with some of the open ones and over dyed a few colors.

Here is the first batch. I was going to go with the pink and do a darker rose shade to mottle them, but I ended up with a muddy color and grabbed some tans to use it on. I like having a lot of variations in darker colors for backgrounds and animals, so they will work great for those. The pink is more of a peachy hue, but it will be nice for flowers or brighter folk art.

Today I tried some mixed textures along with a red plaid. All thrift wools, I have been collecting for years. It didn't come out exactly like I planned but still nice colors. The darkers are always good for buildings and backgrounds and the plaid is more a darker,  purple/red shade and I think it will make a nice halloween background.

Here is the before photo.

And how they look after, not too sure on the plaid, seems a bit scratchy so maybe not 100% wool, but still usable. I also like using wools like that for backgrounds on wool projects and also great for pillows.

I still have lots of go, so a bit at a time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Catch of the Day! New Pattern.

This week I worked on a new pattern, I had in the works. I had to wear a wrist and elbow brace so that helped, but I think my punching suffered a bit and I really need to rest my arm this weekend, so light stitching for me.

The finished piece is 6" x 5 1/4" and it was a fun piece to do. The pattern is done in punch needle, but my patterns can be done in rug hooking, stitchery or appliqué, as well. You can order the pattern with the link to the left or visit my ecrater store. As a bonus, anyone who orders a pattern this weekend, can pick a free pattern of their choice, of equal or lesser value. Just let me know on the order form in the comment section, which pattern you would like.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have cold weather coming in, so no walks, maybe a nice ride and we can enjoy the views from the car.

Needle Felted Art!

I have been working on my needle felted piece and I think I am done with the piece. I always see things I should have done differently and wish I had the right types of roving, so something to think about when I make a piece that I want roving that works best with wet felting. Some of the roving is thicker and great for molding animals and figures but not great for working into a wet felted piece.

Another thing I tried was a wool felt background. It is white and looks like batting but it is a thicker wool felt. It is great to work with, the felt goes in nicely and it is thick enough to hold the fibers without too much going through to the other side, but not a good choice for wet felting. You want longer, loose fibers so you can place them on your piece, then use the wet felting process to blend them and work the fibers together. I will have to try a small piece with my longer fibers and see how it comes out with wet felting. It is fun to experiment and try new things.

I used what colors I had, so not the best choices but I wanted it to be bright and fun. I used embroidery floss and pearl cottons to embellish, trying different stitches to see how it looked. Now I have to decide what to make with it. The piece is 9" square and I still need to trim it down, but if it is a little wonky I will leave it that way, I like the artsy look of uneven felt. Would love ideas, what would you do with it? I am thinking of a tote or use the piece as the front of a folder style case, for sewing or something that is 9" square.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Bill has to work tomorrow and it is too hot to be outside, so I am going to try to reorganize and catch up in my sewing room. I also need to decided about simplifying my crafting, since I have too many things, that I can't do it all. I am tempted to sell off my rug hooking equipment and supplies. I have an original Townsend lap frame and cutter with two blades, as well as backing and hooks. I loved hooking so I could create my own designs, but now I prefer to do designs in punch needle.

This piece is a beautiful art quilt design by Laurel Burch but mine look like dodo birds, lol. I will do the piece in quilting too.

New Punchneedle Design: Antique Ducks and Winner!

I finished my new piece this week and I am please with how it came out. It is so hard to get the true colors in a photo, but I love the contrast between the dark background and the brighter design.

I had an idea of doing it with a hit or miss star and more prim shades and making it into a rug, for my niece who got a large dollhouse last Christmas. I will have to see how she has decorated it so far and then I can make some rugs to fit her style.

The design is done in punch needle and comes in an epattern with a color photo, basic colors and instructions, as well as a line drawing of the design, so you can reduce or enlarge to fit your project.

The finished pillow is 6 1/2" X 5". It is an adaptation of an antique rug and could be done in wool appliqué, as well.

And now for the winner of the free pattern. The winner is Lecia of Farmhouse Prims! Lecia, email me with your choice of epattern or booklet and congratulations.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and are not in the path of the storm, that is coming our way.
And for this weekend, if you buy any one of my epatterns, you get one for free. The free pattern must be of equal or less value, as the one you bought, so great time to get some patterns for the coming seasons. To get your free pattern, put the name in the comment section of your order.

The piece is more prim and muted in person, the flash tends to pick up certain colors and make them pop. I also made my piece a bit off centered, but the pattern has been modified and straightened.

Friday Finish!

I hope everyone is doing well with this weather, I can't remember it being so cold. When it goes above 30 degrees I am happy to be that warm;)

This week I decided to take apart my rug and start over. This time I did traditional rug hooking and I was able to hook it all, in half the time it took me to do the part, I punched. I guess for me, hooking is faster and easier or I am doing something wrong.

The original design is a bit lighter and brighter, so I made mine a little more prim with some fun colors, as well. I haven't finished it yet, still deciding on how I want to finish it off. Mounting it on a board, adding a braided edge or maybe make it into a pillow.

I lightened it up so you could see the design better. When doing photos of my pieces, some colors come out too dark and others, too light. The piece measures 11 1/2" x 9".

Here is a closer look at the hooking and wool shades. Some wools are over dyed thrift and some as is and the background is a black check that has an aged green cast to it.

With the cold weather we have been staying inside and Bean has way too much energy to just sit and relax so we have play times and times in the cage so I can relax for a few minutes. Today we got a blast of snow in the morning and Bean loved playing with it, while I shoveled off the porch. Now if I could just teach him how to push a shovel;) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Nativity Cross Stitch Freebie!

I took one of the designs that I made, and converted it into a cross stitch. I changed a few things and added a bird to this one. It actually took me awhile since Bean has a tendency to want to get in my lap when I am on the computer and then he hits the keys and messes up the design, so I have to redo things.

I hope you like it and I enjoy working with my cross stitch program so I can get better at designing things for the cross stitch lovers. If you make a piece, from any of my designs, I would love to see it. I used colors so you could see the design better, so no set colors, just ones I grabbed from the color picker.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so we went for a walk at a local trail that leads to the bay. I left my good camera at home since the seals are too far away to get nice shots. What I didn't know was that I would find seals basking on a rock, close to the shoreline. I will not leave my camera at home, in the future. I had to use my pocket camera on zoom so not the best shot.

Bean Loved the walk, he met lots of people and dogs and jumped on lots of people and dogs, lol. He gets so excited on walks, and he loved running on the beach and digging holes in the sand.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed with friends and family at your tables. We will have our daughter but my DIL is still mad at me, so they are not coming. I want to thank everyone again for the well wishes and blessings, it warms my heart to know I have so many friends around the world.

Friday Freebies!

I usually have a giveaway for my birthday, but this year the time got away from me. I also like to give everyone a gift, so I worked on a design this week.  These are for you, to use anyway that you would like, as gifts or for sale and you can change things if  you like.

I made up three different designs, the first can be done as a punch needle or stitchery.

This one is a star. I was thinking it might be fun to appliqué it with wool, onto a large stuffed star and sit it on a shelf. Or you could do it in punch, appliqué or stitchery and attach that to a large stuffed star.

And the last one is in the shape of a tree. Another piece that can be done in appliqué, stitchery or punched, either on a stuffed tree shape or onto a tree shape if you are punching it. I left the star on top as an idea, for me, I would add a rusty star to the top of the tree. You can use a star button or make a star with wool.

These designs were just done up, so I haven't had time to try some myself, so hopefully I can make some this week. There is no set size, I made them so they fill the paper, when printed out.

Today I had a nice day, relaxing and some fun shopping. One of the things I found today was an old washboard. I loved that it said Yankee on it, and on the other side, it has clearer writing for the company name. The only bad thing is I notice how musty it is. Would love ideas on how to get rid of the musty smell so I can hang it in the house. I know a lot of you buy antique pieces and would love to be able to enjoy them without the mustiness making me sick.

The board is a lot darker in person, the flash lightened it up.

Friday Finish!

I am not sure if I should call this a finish or a mess, lol. I was thinking of making some yarn punched chair pads and thought it would be good to try a practice piece. I have an old cheese box and wanted something fun for fall and a pumpkin face seemed like a good idea.

With hooking  you can use a frame and move the piece around if it is large than the frame. With punch needle you need to use a frame that is the size of the piece or a hoop that won't damage the loops. I had a larger hoop and used that to trace the circle for the pumpkin. I drew a face on with a sharpie, something simple but fun.

The yarns I used were from a batch of old sears wool yarn for rug hooking. It was orange and I over dyed it with red so it is now reddish/orange and gives a nice variation. The black is lopi wool and the border was done by whipstitching around a half inch edge with an old wool, light brown.

As you can see from the photo, I made a mess, my stitches are uneven and in some areas I was too tight and it punched into the other loops. My fabric was not taught enough and would loosen, so some spots are higher than others. My hoop size was not big enough for the top of the cheese box, but it was a good learning experience. I learned that I would rather hook my chair pads;)

And another thing you will notice, it is not a circle, definitely a primitive scrappy piece.

Here is a close up of the wool yarns, so you can see the yarn textures. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am hoping to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather, that we will be having.

New Pattern and Giveaway Winner!

I hope everyone has had a productive week and a nice weekend ahead. We are getting rain, I am not happy with that;) I am tempted to head west into Connecticut, the weatherman said the rain will be mostly coastal, so maybe we can find a new place to explore, out of the rain.

I finished my new pattern and love how it came out. I wanted to keep it simple but with a few added touches. It all started with an antique duck rug, that I saw, then I started doodling and I still have a duck, but I went with a fall theme and didn't keep any of the original designs.

I used Dmc floss in this piece and I explain how to get the variations in the pattern instructions. I like to keep my pieces easy enough for anyone to do without having to buy specialized threads and create patterns that look nice in different mediums.

I went with a pillow and it is 6 1/2 x 4 1/2". I aged it with walnut stain and bordered it with two twisted pieces of wool yarn. I had bought a bunch of vintage sears rug yarn and over dyed it, so some still has it's orange hue and works well with fall pieces.

I love seeing all of the comments and your answers to my question. I didn't realize it, but it does look like he is holding a camera, lol. If you look closely, you will see that the shores are lined with blueberry bushes and Bill was stuffing his mouth with fresh blueberries.

The winner of the giveaway is Lauren of Rugs and Pugs!
Lauren send me an e-mail and let me know if you would like the new pattern of another of my epatterns, your choice.

You can purchase my new pattern with the link to the left or on my ecrater site. I have also reduced the price of all of my older patterns and booklets. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  

New Pattern Available!

No weekend photos this week, Bill had to work one day and the other was spent catching up around the yard. The weather was nice but too gusty for me to paddle in.

Today I finished working up the pattern. It is a pdf pattern so once you make a payment, you will receive it within 24 hours. Usually you get it right away, but I do have to sleep so no over night deliveries;)

I took a photo of the piece after I antiqued it, but it doesn't really show how nice it looks in person. It gave it just the right coloring to age it without ruining the design. The finished piece is 5" x 7" and I left it flat so I can stick it on anything I want. I use double sided rug tape and it is a nice idea if you want to put it on a basket and then change it with another design. The only thing you need to do is put on a backing or the tape will pull out the loops.

Here is a photo of the piece by itself, you can see how the colors are more aged and darker, compared to the first photo. I still had to lighten it up for detail, so that changes the actual colors, as well. For the pattern, I added two drawings, one larger and one that is the actual punch needle size, so you can just print it out.

I thought I would play with photoshop and color in the design to see how that would look. I am not a good computer artist, I think I would do better if I hand painted it. I filled in color and then put it through filters to give it a painted look. I lost a lot of the lines and sharpness, doing this, so not a good way to do up designs.

Friday Finish and Happy Fourth!

My day was spent cleaning and cooking, no fun today. The hurricane blew by without hitting us, but it gave us a day of windy rain, so good day to stay inside and get things done. Now I am all ready to get out this weekend and have some paddling fun;)

This week was a slow week, but I did get one small piece finished. The design is by Kelley; With Hook and Needle. She put some free designs to hook or punch and I just had to do the little drawing on the side, it was too fun, not to do. You can find the free patterns on this Post.

I made a little stitchery and then added a border. It makes a fun mini quilt to hang on a wall to cheer me up.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

New Punch Needle Pattern!

This week I was being lazy and then I got an idea, which led to another idea and a new punch needle design. I was browsing and looking at antique pails and got the idea, why not make a punch needle that looks like an antique pail.

The design was done with dmc floss, with a mix of 3 and 6 strands. One problem is the needles are not the same size in heights, so I had to fix a few things after I finished and it still is a bit messy. I wanted to work it in a #1 height and now I know, stay with the #2 height, I do better with that.

I finished it off by using a rusty wire for the handle and then aged it with walnut ink. I tried taking photos in different areas, but nothing worked to show off how it really looks. I was going for an old rusty pail.

If you would like to make your own, I have a link to the pattern and it is also on my ecrater site. For my epatterns, I give a color photo, a black and white drawing and basic colors, that I used. I think my hand needs a break, way too much punching so time for a break.

And this is my week for a break. It is our anniversary tomorrow and Bill took the week off, so you know where I will be. I want to go to Connecticut and paddle in some of the places we went to. I love paddling during the weekdays, no crowds. Unfortunately they need Bill tomorrow night for a 12 hour test session, so we will go for a local paddle tomorrow so he can get some rest before he goes in. The weather will be sunny and hot, so hopefully nothing goes wrong and we can enjoy a beautiful week on the water.

Friday UFO's and Winner!

This has been a long, tough week. I finally crashed and my rib went out, so no baby today and hopefully they will have day care set up for next week. I would love to have him but my body doesn't want to cooperate.

I have been working on a new stitchery from a design I found on Barbara Brackman's blog, Material Culture. Barbara did a post with Spencerian Penmanship and this one spoke to me, I just had to try it and she was kind enough to give me permission to use her photo.

I tried to keep the original as best as possible, but I changed a few things to make it easier and more stitchery friendly. I still have more to do, but I love how it is coming out. I still have to decide how I want to finish it, should I make it into a pillow, a mini quilt or frame it?

Another unfinished project I have is a rug I started years ago, I guess it is time to finish it. I was making this one for the bedroom, but I might use it in the dining room, it will all depend on where it fits and looks best. The design are elements that can be found in my Angel Blessings booklet. I see there are some spots where I did some bad hooking so I will have to fix those. I also have to find the wools that I had set aside for it. I kept the background lighter, it is a tan that I over dyed lightly to mimic the parchment in fracturs.

The photo makes it look shorter, it is 52" x 24". 

And now for the winner...... The winner is Kim, congratulations Kim! Please send me your choice of pattern from my ecrater site. I had fun reading all of your comments and captions. Tomorrow is our local quilt show, so I am hoping to get some nice shots of the quilts at the show and I can share them with you monday. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Freebie Friday!

I haven't finished anything this week, fighting off another flu and working a bit at a time, on different projects to keep my hands busy.

Today I decided to do a Spring freebie. I think we are all sick of the snow and rain, and are looking forward to spring.

I made up a cross stitch for you to use. It is a modified version of an antique design and perfect for spring. I added words that you can add, but you can put anything you would like. The program told me that I could not give out the pattern if I use their text, so I just used photo shop to add it afterwards. I just used basic colors and black to define the areas.

The design is done for 18 count, so you can make it larger or smaller with a different count of your choice, just have fun.

And for those of you who do not do cross stitch, I have a sketch that you can use for stitchery. You can also do it in punch needle or any medium that you like. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Thank God its Friday Giveaway!

I haven't said that in decades, lol. Never thought I would say it again, but this has been a tough week. I am just getting over the flu, still hurting in some places and my sweet grandson seems to need constant attention or he screams.

I do have my natural instinct and experience, so I try to keep him on schedule for feeding and sleeping, but his mom still feeds on demand and he will be 6 months this month, is this normal? I am giving him what he needs since this is his first week being away so long, but I also need to find ways to keep him occupied so I can sit and relax once in a while. I bought a play chair, that lasts about 5 minutes, the rocking seat, doesn't work at all and I am reduced to walking around in circles with the stroller, lol.

So, that is all I did this week, watch the baby, rest and clean the next day..... until the week was over. To top it off, my son wanted me to take him with us so he could study tomorrow. Had to put my foot down on that one, it is our weekend, we shop and go for walks and it is the last nice weekend for now.

But, we do have our fun times and I found one way to keep him calm while I sit and relax, but that won't work, it is way too cold out now.

Another trick I used, was one I did with his dad. Big carrots are a great way to help with teething and keep them occupied. My son would sit for hours and suck on one, Nick was enjoying it at first, then the screaming started. This was during his happy moment.

And for the giveaway ........ Write a caption for this photo. I will draw a name from the entries and the winner will receive a free epattern. The contest is open until Sunday, November 17th. I will announce the winner on Monday and hopefully by then I will have my items finished off.

Next Friday will be my Bday giveaway, a package filled with goodies for one lucky winner. One item will be the extra snowman stitchery that I finished for the last contest. There will also be a couple of balsam filled items, so I will show them next week.

I would also like to know what you, my followers like, what types of items you would like to see in the box? I have lots of stash for all types of crafting, so give me an idea of what you would love to win? You can also do a search on my blog by using keywords, I do use a lot on each post, so if were looking for snowmen, type that in and they will pop up. I maybe have given it away or it may be in my goodie box, or I may have kept it and ready to pass it along.

Ok, here is the photo, have fun, make me laugh, I really do need one;)

Giveaway Week!

I want to thank everyone for all of your kind words and support. I am not the type who likes to complain but it is nice to be able to vent sometimes;) I have been on a lot of trips since Bill and I have been married and lots of disasters, but this was the worst. 

Our first trip was in New Hampshire for a camping trip. We visited Castle in the Clouds and the next day we paddled the lakes in a canoe. Bill got burnt badly and woke up with a fever and the chills, so we headed home. Got home and found out we were robbed and then the store spilled something on our film and we lost most of our photos, but I have wonderful memories of the fun we had and the misadventures. I have had bad rentals that I got to and said, no way, made them give me back my deposit and checked into a hotel. Vacations always have their good and bad, but it is the memories that are important , the ones we use to relax our minds, a mountain top, the sounds of the loons at night. Then there are the memories that make us laugh, because murphy's law is always part of life;)

And here is where we start the giveaway. Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". I am sure all of you have taken a trip, at one time or another and had something go wrong or think after, now I know better, won't do that again. 

My example: Be careful when you rent cabins in the woods, trees and swampy areas are prone to moss and mold growth, which makes a house extremely musty. On ours, you could see the dark stains on the walls and floors, so don't be afraid to ask for a close up shot of the rooms;)

My motto is, be prepared for anything. Someone cut themselves on a fish hook, I  had neosporin bandaids. I even bough Bill's extra glasses and on the day we left, he broke his. He cannot see without them, and he is the driver on long trips.

Now, give me a, "what to watch out for on a trip". It can be the accommodations, area or the travel, anything you want that we might not think of and can add to our list for future vacations. Or if you are one of the lucky ones who have perfect vacations, you can tell us a tip that makes vacations better or easier.

I will draw a name from all of the comments and one winner will get a box of goodies. I will post some photos, of some things, later in the week. Some things will be a surprise. Something handmade, patterns, fabric, etc. You can also let me know what types of crafts and sewing you like to do, favorite colors, etc in your comment. Then when I draw a name, I can customize the box for the winner. 

I will leave the contest open until Sunday, August 4th at 10pm EST. I will also announce the winner that night. I truly appreciate all of my visitors and friends that I have made in the blogging world.

One good thing I did on this trip, was to take photos, one of a church and a few gravestones. I am hoping to have some new patterns next month and get back into creating again.

And I will leave you with one simple message for tonight. This boy already has a sense of humor;)

He is two months, today!

Noah's Ark Rug Progress!

I have been working a bit at a time, on my rug and finally finished the middle section. This was a kit from Mad Hen Primitives that was gifted to me by a friend. I love being able to hook without having to worry about picking colors or cutting the strips, just enjoying the process of hooking and watching the design evolve.

The bad thing is, I ran out of background colors and had nothing that matched her strips, so I just added what I had. The flash really popped out the colors, so hard to see how it looks in a photograph. Now all I have to do is the outer animals and a dark border background. I do have the strips, so I hope I don't run out, but it is easier to match up darker wools.

My friend Cyndi who gifted me this wonderful rug is down sizing her stash and has a lot of wonderful patterns for sale on EBAY right now, if you want to take a look.