New Punchneedle: Best Friends

I remade an old piece for the booklet and finished it today.
I had called it Best Friends and just realized it is the name of a piece I worked on for Lynette;)
I guess Lynette and I think along the same lines when it comes to whimsey.

I put this one up for sale on ebay and it will be a five day auction.
I wanted to be able to have it sold and shipped in case we take off next weekend.
I am hoping to get up North and visit with my friend Lauri, Miz T and hit some of the quilt and antique stores.
You can see all the beautiful things that Lauri has made and where she lives on her blog to the left.

I did the patterns for the new book, but I still need to clean them up and make the pdf, so if not tomorrow, it will be ready by monday. The Black cast iron horse next to the piece was a gift from my father in law. He loved going to the flea market and found that for me. Sadly he passed years ago, but he was always good to me.

More Wool Quilt Blocks

Today I was resting, seem to have got a bug or something.
Sewing is something I can do in my lap and easy on the brain;)

Yesterday I laid out the blocks I had done and figured out a basic layout and then drew up a diagram of what I had and what I needed to fill in space. Today I used a darker brown and a really plush dark red brown for backgrounds. They seem to be a good mix with the black and tans. I have three more blocks to go, two are small, so I will work on those this week to get them done.

I made the cats and the stars early this week. I needed something that was longer and had a patek book with the big kitty and matching smaller ones. So, I made this block, which I call, Midnight stroll. The stars are a good way to fill in smaller areas.



Today I made the heart and the bird on flower. These are from a Whimsicals book. I love the fun and whimsical look of her designs. The flower was a smaller, so I blew it up to make a good perch for my bird. I still need to add details to the pieces, but for now I am just sewing.

Fraktur Horse Punch Needle

Since I am getting requests for horses, I am going to be working on a booklet for my horse patterns, this week.
A lot of the designs are from frakturs and rugs I have done and I cannot find all of the pictures of the finished pieces.
I decided to do a piece with my spotted horse and love how the colors came out.
This is a modified version, I wanted something quick to try out some colors. I will give a color chart for this piece in the pattern booklet.

Scrap Blocks Finished

Today is Sunday and for me, that is a day of rest. It means I do what I want, when I want;)
Today I was in the mood to finish my scrappy quilt, so that is what I worked on. I got all the blocks together and was ready to move onto the borders, but I am tired, so enough for today.

Now I have to decide if I want to make strip colors going around the quilt or strip pieces going sideways.
What do you think? How would you border this piece? It will be finished off with floss ties, so I want to keep it simple and naive looking.

I really liked making these blocks, it is fun and easy. I was thinking they would look great with some scattered appliques on some blocks or some stitchery. It would also be a great way to practice top stitching with different designs in the blocks.



Of course Dora and Izzy had to help out. Dora is mad because Izzy got the window seat. But, they did take turns with the window and bugging me while I quilted. Dora got a bit too close and while I was cutting some fabric with the scissors, I didn't realize she had her tail underneath. So, she got a little haircut, lol. Thank God, that is all I cut. No more kitties in the sewing room.

New Scrappy Quilt

I have a heavy spread on my bed and need something light and quick to put on it for now.
I started a few blocks with triangles, but I wasn't thrilled with it and it takes me forever to do triangles with all the cutting, so today I decided to start over and make something more simple.
I used my 15" square ruler as the template and laid pieces of fabric on it to fit the size. Then I sewed them together and used the ruler to cut down to 14 1/2". I am using most of the homespuns that my friend Kelley sent me. It is easy, quick and mistake proof;) When I finish, I will use floss ties to keep it prim and simple.

I did not use set sizes for any of the blocks, just cut a piece or used one I had. It is sort of a hit or miss, quilt.
The lighting is bad, so it looks more orange than it is.



Of course, the minute I laid the blocks on the bed, the kitties had to try it out. This is one reason why I wanted it simple and plain, it is cat proof;) I am also thinking I will go with the blocks until I reach the edges of the bed, and then use scrap strips on the outer edges.

New Wool Quilt Blocks

I finished two more blocks, so I thought I would show you the progress even though I need to the stitchery still.
I love these two, a little more detail and larger. Now I have four blocks done.
I usually punch during the day until dinner and then work on my other projects after that, so hopefully it won't take too long to make this, I really want to put it together and use it. Oh, and do you notice that all of the windows lean to the left, lol. I wonder if that is a brain disorder;)



I decided to see what I have in large wool pieces and I found a thin suit weight a friend sent me. I think it will work nicely since it is thin, but still wool. this way I have an idea what size blocks I need to fill in the rest. I will add borders and/or simple wool blocks to fill in, or maybe just scrappy strips, we shall see;) Most of the patterns are from books by Jan patek and friends, the long flower one was in a book by Cheri Ralston.

New Braided Rug

I finally sat down and finished my rug today. It isn't that wide, but it sure is long, 144" long.
Lots of braiding and sewing in this one. I did traditional braid with 2" strips, sewing each piece by hand, as I went along.
I do not like long strips, they tend to tangle around each other, as I braid. So, I braid and sew the next piece on, when I reach the end. I had to lighten the image, so you could see it, so of course the colors are off. The outer edges run into the darker colors and the middle are brighter, but they don't pop and look so white. The hallway is a dark area, so I can get away with brighter colors;)



I used scrap wools, including flannels, thinner and thicker, and even some worsted weight. I have to admit, the worsted gives it a more solid feel, but the flannels make it too cushy. I prefer a thick heavy rug to walk on. But for now, this one will do. I may even take the ends and cut across and make it into a rectangle rug. Just doesn't look right in that shape, in that hallway?
We still have to finish off the flooring, but we are putting up wainscoting, so it will go in a bit at a time.