Friday Finishes!

 I finally finished my pillow. It was a large design, so lots of stitching. It is 36" long and I love being able to have it done and displayed on the back of the couch. The design is by Bird Brain Designs.

I also finished a piece that has been sitting in a box, way too long. It is a gift I made for a friend and this is the year, she will finally get it. This is a design by Kathy Schmitz.

Last weekend we went to the seaport to see the Mayflower. It came from Massachusetts to have some repairs done at the seaport. She is docked for now, but they have a large dry dock to put her on.

We walked around the village and saw the decorations on the buildings.

And the old Mercantile.

We also got to see the Garda. Last time it was in a spot, we couldn't see it.

And the fascinating story behind her.

Another building we were able to access was the museum. This is one of the examples of the glass models. Some are so realistic, you cannot tell the difference. These were done in the 1800's.

I hope you all had a nice week and are enjoying the holiday season. We have gotten most things done, so I can enjoy it more without the stress. I still have to do up cards and a few gifts that are going out.

Friday Finish!

 

This has been quite a week. We had the solar put in, so they were here on 4 different days to install equipment and today the panels went up, so it is finally done. When I had a few quiet days, I worked on a project and watched tv, it was nice to make something new and not hear banging all day.

This design is by Julie Porter and offered on Facebook as part of a free chicken series.  You can find the group page at Primitive Quilts .....

It is a stitchery and I decided to do the large chicken in applique. I also made the mistake of trying to add red marker to enhance the red and forgot it was still wet, so I messed up the comb on the large chicken. Luckily I was able to take out the original stitching and enlarge the comb to cover my mistake.

Last weekend we had the boys for the day and since I didn't have the pool set up, we got a better slip and slide with sprinklers, for them. They had a ball and I enjoyed watching them play. I also had them tonight, while my son took Ivy and Bill out for dinner, for their birthday. This weekend I will have a party for the boys to give them their gifts, lots of birthdays in one weekend.

Lots of activity this week, more babies are coming out and one hummingbird is coming to the feeder. She is the only one for now, and I hope I get to see more later on.

And ones I rather not see, they tend to demolish the food, a Common Grackle.

And today the yard was full of birds, the majority of them were crows and a lot of Starlings. The young were hungry and wanted to be fed. It got to the point where I had to chase more away, they were eating all the suet and attacking the regulars who come to visit. 

I hope everyone had a good week and enjoy the long weekend. 

Monday Finishes!

This weekend didn't go as planned, both Bill and I woke up sick, so we spent the weekend at home. The good thing was, free HBO this weekend so we watched movies and I worked on some stitching.

I am having fun making stitcheries from the kindred Spirit's books, and made two more pieces, this time I made them into pillows. I think they would be great bowl fillers or a shelf sitter, great to tuck into those primitive gatherings and nice for gifts.

I added the X's and 1,2,3; I have an obsession with filling in empty space;)

Also, if you like free patterns. Theodora Cleave has the last of her free patterns. They are additions to the original ones that she offered. The designs can be done in a quilt or as small quilts since the designs stand on their own.

Friday Finish!

This week I decided to make another new pattern. I still need to finish both of them and make them into finished pieces, as well as make the patterns, so that will come next week.

This piece was done with a pattern I did in a cross stitch. I liked the elements and rearranged them to fit a punch needle piece. I really think this piece would look nicer with variegated threads, especially Valdani, but I use what I have.

I decided the pup should look like Bean, so I made mine black and white. Bean has more black, but I didn't want too much on the punched pup, so I just made similar markings on a couple of areas.

I still need to fix a few things and it will be antiqued a bit.

One of the reasons I have a hard time punching is that a certain fur ball wants attention most of the day and night. He is getting better and resting more, but I can't wait for the snow to melt so we can get out for more play and long walks.

And today he was being a bit bad, so he had a time out. He was not happy about that and decided to cover himself up with his blanket. I hope you all have a nice weekend.

New Pieces!

I finished a couple of things today.
First is the antique horse that I was working on.
I wanted to mimic the mix of colors that was in the original.
I am also making a cross stitch and a penny rug with the same design.



And during those times when I don't want to think, just keep my hands busy, I make stitcheries.
This is something I can do without looking for colors or materials. I pick some designs and draw them on tea stained muslim with a washable marker. They are fun to do and make great gifts. Also something that can be done with little cost and the designs were freebies from Primitive Blessings.

Sampler Border?

Today I hit our folk art quilt store.
I wanted something that had a sampler look to it and the sampler fabric, was too large a print for my piece.
I found one piece, that was perfect, but it was a fat quarter and only one.
So, this is what I ended up with, I think the scroll leaves works well with the piece and when I put it on, the leaves will be going upwards. I was thinking of using the coffee stain, blends better with the tea stain, but I do like a the leaf pattern. What do you think?



I found some tans at the sale table, so bought a few yards to add to my christmas hexagon, stash.
The floral fat quarter is the one I loved, but that was all she had.

And thank you all for the kind words. I know what I had in mind and of course, it didn't come out that way. I do still have things to add a theme, so hoping that brings it all together.



On the way back, we stopped at the cliffs to look at the ocean. We just went on the short path to look at the water, too cold and icy to walk far. I love the look of snow on the rocks.



And this was from a zoom shot. You cannot see seals since they stay farther off, so I zoom in and check them when I get home. No seals in this area, but I thought this made a nice abstract.

Finished Cross Stitch?

I finished my reproduction piece, though I did add and change things a bit;)
The original people were done in embroidery, so I had to make a similar version in cross stitch.
Since I worked from a picture, I was unsure of the size and my letters are not exactly the way I would do them, if I was to do it with a graph. The next one, I will graph out first. Sometimes when I stitch, I do change things if I don't like the way the shape is.

So what do you think? Should I leave it as is?
I will be staining it, before I frame it. I will use walnut ink to age it.

Gifts and Cross Stitch

Today I received a surprise package in the mail. My wonderful friend Betty sent me a late birthday box.
It is always fun to get unexpected gifts and even more fun when they contain wonderful gifts. I wanted to show you the beautiful punched cat she made me. I just love it! Betty has patterns for punched kitties and other animals, she does wonderful prim patterns. She also has a page with freebies for some fun patterns too.



I am working on a new project and it is consuming my time. I made a cross stitch from a pattern and of course, I had to jump in and make my own. I saw an antique sampler that looked like fun to try. I am just doing the bottom half of it and working from the picture, so it is taking longer than using a chart. I tried to keep it the same, even the letters which tended to stray on her linen.

I am working on the bottom picture now and then I will add a border around the entire design. Not bad for my first try at reproduction;) I did mess up on the window, so I stopped and will undo that tomorrow.

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.

New Bunny punch and Sampler

This piece was inspired by an old cross stitch sampler. It looked like a rabbit or an odd deer, but the shape made me think rabbit and I redid it into my own pattern. I used the original rabbit head and designed around that. I really love how it came out. It has a primitive old world look to it.



This weekend we had an ornie retreat, so I decided to make the design into a cross stitch as well. I still have to work at making my designs into cross stitches, but not bad for a newbie;) I am offering both of them on ebay this week, though if the bids do not start by the end of the week, I may have to take them down. I put way too much work into them, to let them go at a last minute low bid. I am sure you fellow crafters can understand that.