Friday Finish and Freezing Weather!

I hope everyone is staying warm with this chilly weather. We have high winds and freezing temperatures tonight and it won't be getting much warmer this week, winter is definitely here. The good thing is I spend more time inside and get more done. This week it was cleaning and working on a new project.

The new design this month was a set of tea cups, I was only able to finish one, a cup with snowflakes. The second has greenery inside. I kept it simple since it is a Hot Pad for hot dishes, a nice piece to decorate the table with and have a use. I use Insulbrite batting for the inside.  The piece is about 12", a bit uneven so I need to watch how I cut to get better squares.

Going for rides on cold days is nice, just to get out and have a change of scenery.  We had a nice snowfall so I enjoyed taking photos around Galilee and at the lighthouse.

On the way home, we stopped at the local dock to see if there were any birds in the harbor. No birds but I always love seeing the fishing boats.

When I enlarged the photo, I noticed something strange in the bucket, on the boat. I am still debating on what it was, I thought a stuffed toy, others have said an old towel. 

 On Sunday we tried a new place, a farm area with a bird sanctuary next door. Most of the birds were hiding and it was so windy and cold, we did a quick walk and got back in the car. This pony was so cute, a good place to take the boys when it warms up.

 We decided to take a ride along the ocean roads and stopped at a nearby beach. It was too cold to walk the beach but I got a few shots of the beach and the lighthouse across the way.

There were a few birds, running around the parking lot, so I got a few shots of them and the one I was able to get a shot of a Chipping Sparrow at the sanctuary.

The next stop was Fishermens Memorial. The waves were rough and the air was cold. I can only imagine what it was like on the ferry.

I decided to go to the top of the hill even though it was windy. I wanted to take a photo of something I had seen on a photo site, our states motto done in rocks. I have to admit, I almost fell over the cliff trying to get a decent shot, the wind was that strong. 

We had one nice day, so I enjoyed time on the porch with my feathered friends. The Cardinal has been getting more used to me and I caught him in the tree and then when I sat down, he came to the feeder.

This is a White Throated Sparrow. I was practicing my other camera and I think it got better shots than I usually can, it has more focus points. 

I hope this finds everyone well. Sadly the kids are still sick so I am staying away from them and today Ivy got her test back and it was positive. t now contact until I am sure they are safe to be around, but it is hard not to see the boys. I am using the time to get more done around the house and working on my projects. We are also getting ready to paint the main rooms, I am looking for a light grey with a hint of blue, but havn't seen anything that fits what I have in mind. I am thinking of using my paints to come up with a color they can match. Sending blessings to all of my readers.

Friday Finish and Weekly Meanderings!

 

I hope everyone fared well, through the storm. It was not bad at all here, we got a lot of rain but not much wind. We had plans to go camping today for a long weekend but I cancelled since I wasn't sure if it would be bad and there is rain, on and off, this weekend. This way I can relax at home a bit more and get out for a few hours of fun during the nice hours.

I was able to finish some new pieces this week. The new stitchery of the month is always fun to do and I will sell a few and gift others. On these I did black stitching on one and matching colors on the other. I would like to see if I can find a stiffer fabric so I can color and blend better. 

When Bill gets home from work, we go to the beach on the island. I always love the ride and it is never crowded, later in the day. We had a lot of fog this week, but I love the cool air. I used the iPhone for these photos. This is a view to the left of the beach.

And looking back to the right side.

A view from the small beach at the end. You can get to it by climbing through a little tunnel, but it is collapsing and I don't think I will fit, much longer.

Today we waited for the storm to calm down and headed back to the beach. We got a little wet when showers came by, but it kept me cool. We also went to a beach on the Northern side, it was nice to have the place to ourselves.

I have been collecting beach finds this week. Not as much since we tend to hit the higher tide, but we were able to find a bit more today, the glass on the left side. A couple of pieces of old pottery and a little bracelet. The tide was low but with the storm, the water levels and water was higher, so it was taking more debris than it was giving.

And I had some new visitors today. A couple of Turkey moms and their babies. I caught them walking across my long fence but by the time I grabbed the camera they were heading off and took off when they saw me. 

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope that you all find a little joy and adventure in your lives.

Friday Finishes!

I hope everyone faired well during the recent storms. We got hit with a lot of rain and wind, but so far our power has stayed on.

This week I made a couple of items. I got a book from a thrift store and wanted to make the flag pattern. The book is Handmade in the USA by Kindred Spirits. My original idea was to mount the piece on wood, but I didn't have any good wood so I decided to try it on a canvas frame. I used various vintage papers for the background, but thought it needed to be toned down, and basically, I ended up painting over it and then I did some stenciled stars.

First I antiqued the canvas, then I antiqued the flag and once it was dry, I attached it with a decoupage medium. It worked great, the flag lay flat and it is hardened into the background. The problem was, I had used a little of the black stain for antiquing and the medium made that run throughout the piece. The flag came out too dark and the background lighter, so not the look I was going for. I think another problem was, I rushed to get it all together and should have given the piece, a day to dry thoroughly.

I had to lighten it up, so you could see how the flag looks, so the stars are lighter than the actual piece, as well.

Another piece is a lavender sachet, using Kathy Schmitz's newest pattern, from the stitch club. I have a lot of items in boxes, so I can always use more sachets, though this one is so pretty, it is a shame to hide it.

Last weekend we got out for rides, but no eagles. Of course I found some new, old graveyards and a wonderful old church that will be perfect for an art piece or maybe a new punch needle pattern. I do not show photos of items I will be using in art, but I took a few of the unique graveyards.

And the only bird that I could capture this week was a turkey vulture. I thought it was the hawks at first, but this is what I got a shot of.  It was good practice with the new lens, I wasn't sure if I could get good shots of birds in the air and this guy was also far away, so I am pleased with the results. The good thing about getting a better quality lens is that you can get a better result when editing the photo.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find your own adventures.

Friday Finish and Freebie!

This week I was able to get a few projects done. I got some new colored pencils and wanted to try them out. I wanted to get the inktense, but they are expensive. I ended up getting Faber Castell's Goldfaber pencils. They are 1.49 a pencil, which is nice since you can choose the colors you want and not waste on colors like white or black. For black I prefer to use their ink markers.

The first piece I made was a design by Cheryl Seslar. I traced the design with a washable embroidery pen, then colored it in with the pencil. The material is a stiff white, that I got for punch needle, but it is too stiff and loosely woven. It was ok, but a bit scratchy for coloring on.

Once I finished that, I used fabric medium and a bristle brush to move the colors around. When wet, they do blend in, so nice for more detailed projects when you want to add shading and mix colors. This was a practice piece, so I kept it simple.

It was too white for my tastes, so I used antique medium afterwards and there was no bleeding of the colors.

The second piece is a free design by Lori Brechlin. I really loved this one, the fabric was darker and softer, so the pencils colored more smoothly. I will have to try different fabrics and techniques, in future projects.

Here are two pieces that I used to try their colorfastness on. The flower was done with a fabric medium, the heart was just colored, so medium used. Once dry, I washed them in dish soap and scrubbed a little, then let dry. As you can see, no color bled out, so either way will work.

This was done with the bad weavers cloth, so you don't get the nicer look that you do on cotton.

Since I love making things from freebies, I decided to make one of my own. I found this saying and it was perfect for Valentines day. I did use the cheap fabric on this too, a good way to use it up. For the stitching I used black #12 pearl cotton. It is a fun and simple project you can do over the weekend.

I hand wrote the saying, so you could do one of your own. It is not exactly like mine, I tend to change things as I go. With primitive stitchery, you want your letters to be a little wonky. I did forget when I was recopying the e's on the third line, so just remember to pull the end down more. You can stitch t he hearts, do appliqué or use buttons, as well. 

And as an added bonus, I found a template online and added the saying inside. You can change it around if you want or add something to the empty spaces, but I wanted to give you one with the shape, that you can use to print out and have fun one.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finish!

This week, a few new patterns were uploaded on Cheri's facebook page. Even though she is no longer with us, she has given permission for others to keep the group going. I saw this pattern and knew I had to do it for the boys.

I changed it a little to make two boys, one was a girl. Then I put their names above the boy, that depicts them. Alex who is the happy, smiley boy and Nick who is always giving me that smart alec smirk.

I used Bills jeans and the green shirting is from their dad's old shirt, when he was younger, so it is a memory pillow, as well. The finished size is 7" x 11".

We also did some beach combing this week. We didn't get the full tides, but still found lots of treasures. The ones on the right are from our local dog beach, lots of craft glass, but some nice sea glass too. The ones on the left are from the island, a lot of smaller pieces but a few large ones.

I was able to find some tiny bits of glass, to finish my Love piece. It isn't what I imagined, so I will try some on wood, next. I like the way I can age wood, hard to do on canvas and this was a small one,  only 4". I realized that the glass shifted a bit and went off the line, the result of moving it too soon. It was good practice and I wanted to see how tacky glue would work, which was great for this project. I also sprayed a high gloss over the piece.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is a holiday I avoid, so I am hoping the rain doesn't last and we can get out for some walks on the beach.

Oldies but Goodies!

Nothing new this weekend, Bill had to work and I just crashed, so I rested most of the time and redid my drawing to get the rocks right and straighten out the buildings.

I also wanted to color in the design to see how it looked but I couldn't find my colored pencils, they seem to have disappeared. So, I used my watercolor pencils which are limited but it gave me a general idea of how the lighter green and rocks looked against the sea, much better contrast.

I over painted on the right and top, was just fooling around with colors and contrast but I do like how the light green pops and then the rocks will be more defined. Now to start the new punch, though I may change something else before then, we never know;)

One of the reasons that my pencils are limited in colors is because I use them for frakturs. I like using the pencils to start and then I use the better water colors for definition and shading. I thought I would show you some of my old frakturs, something I used to love doing but not so sure I can keep a steady hand now.

I like to find old designs and redo them into something new, this was a fun one to do. I used to write sayings in fraktur style, now I forget what it meant;)

This one was done for a friend, for her anniversary. I always enjoyed making custom pieces for special dates.

This one was based on an old fraktur with a few of my own touches. I usually sold them on eBay or gave as gifts.

And I also enjoyed painting boxes as gifts. This one was made for a friend who had collies. I think it says friendship. With the script I used, not sure what letter that is, my brain is mush. I hope you enjoyed seeing my pieces, another creative side of me.

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.

Needle Felting and Bad Dye Job!

I have been taking it easy, not easy for me, I hate sitting still so much but I know I need to rest my back so it can heal. I am able to move more since I got it snapped, so now it is just a matter of building up my strength without hurting it again. I appreciate all the kind comments and concern from all of you.

I wanted to try a new felted piece so I took a design from my Laurel Burch book, Legends. I love this design and plan on making the quilted wall hanging, I think it will look nice over my painting area in the new room, a bit of ocean and a bit of art.

I used a white wool that I got from joannes, I think it was a thick wool felt, but feels more like a batting since it is spongy, but perfect for felting on. I had to trace the design with large black marker and even then I could only see some lines, but I got the general layout and added the rest myself.

This is the base, I have some tweaking to do and adding more fiber and colors for variation, then I plan on wet felting it, then adding decorative stitching for detail on the wings and other areas. I am hoping to make it into a bag or maybe a sewing case, will see how it comes out, how it shrinks up and what I am in the mood for, when it is finished. I definitely need more colors in my roving stash.

I wanted to use a dark red for the background, as in the original quilt but I did not have any dark red that worked, so, I went with black. There is a think layer on and I will add some blues and pops of colors as I go. Soooooo..... I decided to do some dying today. Dying should not be done in a rush, I used white wool and made up a dark red bath but it came out more like light purple gray, maybe a future animal. I also threw in some bright red and that came out nice, hard to see in a photo but it is dark with lighter hints, so a nice variation and will be nice for a santa suit. I need to get out my dye books and find some good dark reds and also just variations, will be good for Christmas pieces.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be working on my new piece, and hopefully getting out a bit to explore.

Friday Finish!

I finally finished my new punch needle piece, but I finished it with sore joints and fuzzy brain, so I messed up a bit on my piece. I had an idea for a border and added the braided look, after I punched the piece, so it is a bit off. The actual pattern will have it drawn on paper so it will be done right for the pattern;)

On top of that, I tried to unscrew a top that did not want to open and bruised my old injured fingers, so no drawing for me right now, the pattern will be done next week. I tried to write today and it was basically scribble, so not enough control to redraw patterns.

Of course the flash, brightened up the colors, even though I antiqued it with walnut stain. I was trying the fake lilacs to get the camera to see the colors better and it did help. The finished pillow is 7 1/2" x 6 1/2".

Hopefully I can get back to normal after this weekend, time to cut off the meds, they mess me up more than the lyme, it seems.

Today I posted a photo of Danielle and thought I would share it with you and the poem that I found. This is her great grandmother at Easter. Kids tend to shy away from the elderly and Billy would keep busy elsewhere, but Danielle always sat and gave her grandmother lots of love. She had a good heart and truly cared about other's feelings.

Turn Again To Life

If I should die and leave you here a while, 

be not like others sore undone, 

who keep long vigil by the silent dust. 

For my sake turn again to life and smile, 

nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do 

something to comfort other hearts than thine.

Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine 

and I perchance may therein comfort you.

Mary Lee Hall

With her birthday coming up, I wanted to give a gift in honor of her kind spirit. A friend of mine is doing a walk and a raffle to help raise money for MS, in support of her daughter in law. She is offering a beautiful log cabin quilt for the raffle and each 20.00 gets you one entry into the drawing. I think it is a wonderful thing that she is doing and if you are interested in contributing to her team and getting a chance to win the quilt you can visit Team Triple Threat. The walk is on the 16th, Dani's birthday, so it makes it even more special for me. The quilt is no listed on the website, but she is taking all the names from the donations and entering them into the raffle.

Friday ( un) Finishes!

This week I have been working on and off, on different projects. One is a new punch needle design that I am working on, today I finished the main design, now I just have to add a border. It is always nice to see a piece in a photo, then I can decided what I do and don't like about it and of course, it always looks better when I antique it;) I think the hands need more definition, but overall I am happy with the piece.

A bit late for Valentines, but I was inspired by an antique fraktur and wanted to make this piece.

Another thing I have coming up is, my son's birthday. We gifted him money to pay for some things for his house and a loan to do the rest, so no big present, but I wanted to give him a little something. I found a nice frame and made up photos of Nicholas to hang in his office, he can change the photos when the new baby comes, but I liked the idea of doing 3 of Nick, just being a boy and having fun. The photos are 5" x 7", so today I learned how to adjust my photo sizes in photoshop;)

I always found some beach frames for my new room. Someday I will use the room, but for now, I am happy just decorating it and making things for it. I found a nice barn wood frame and a large beach themed framed for multiple photos. I will put pictures of all of the family with beach themes. I put one of Nick's photos in the white frame, he just makes me smile, so it is a perfect photo to put in that room.

I had to buy some extra fabric to do the baby quilt, now if I can just get it made. One more week till the shower so if nothing goes wrong, I can have it done, I work well under pressure;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, filled with family and new memories.

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.

Postcard Winner and some Oldies!

I have enjoyed reading all of your comments and appreciate everyone wanting to help me out with testing a postcard. I love the idea of sending out postcards for fun and this will be a good test before I do more. I think I will have to have a giveaway once in a while with a postcard so those of you who didn't win can have another chance.

And now for the winner..... Jennifer768 is the winner! Jennifer, please email me with your address and I will get your card out to you.

Since we are talking frakturs and some of you have not seen my older work, I thought I would post a few frakturs that I did years ago and sold on ebay or giving as gifts.

These are two birds that I did from antique frakturs. Sometimes I like to add sayings to mine. The photos are old and got corrupted, thus the discoloration on the bottom.

This fraktur is one I did from various fraktur designs and added a saying. One of my favorites.

Another thing that I used to do is Scherenschnitte, the art of paper cutting. I can't remember if I sold this or gifted it. I haven't done these in ages, getting hard for me to cut with precision with my nerve pain.

This weekend I got lucky at the thrift store. I found a quilting book so I have patterns I can use on my quilts and a yard of General's Wives fabric, a nice addition to my civil war stash.