Happy Halloween Giveaway!

I have been cleaning all day and now I am tired, so forgive the photos, they are photos of old photos, lol. I didn't feel like importing into the scanner and for me it is easier to load them into my computer  from the camera.

This is a photo from when I worked in a craft store. In those days I did more tole painting and some cross stitch. I taught a few classes, mostly to kids, they are fun to teach and have no inhibitions. Of course we dressed up for halloween and one of these ladies is me. Guess which one is me, you don't have to be right, I will put all the entries into a drawing. I will pick and announce a winner on wednesday night, November 2. The winner can have their choice of any epattern from my ecrater site.

And here are my kids, doing their best to look sad for me, lol. This was a great costume, easy to wear, easy to walk around in and pajamas after the holiday. Now they are all grown up, and it is photos like this that make me miss those days;)

Christmas snowmen!

I wanted to try some new things and I love the designs in my painting book by Renee' Mullins. The patterns are painted on wood, but I wanted to do one in stitchery and wool. I took the snowflake design and using freezer paper, cut out the snowflake from a 5 1/2" block of wool. Then I did the stitchery on muslin with batting. After I did the stitchery, I attached it to the wool snowflake with a blanket stitch and then added a wool back and did a blanket stitch and now it is a mug rug. It is fun to make designs you like into new things and to experiment. I like the idea of doing this with just a snowflake shape and then appliqueing it onto a quilt or a runner.

Another project I tried is one that I found online at Create and Decorate. This was a fun and easy project, but I think I would rather use wool, to make a stiffer backing. Since I had to turn them and cut a slit in the back, I went with a simple penny and stitched snowflake to cover the sewed hole. I think using wool and making the back into a penny with a simple stitched design is a nice way to have a  double sided ornament. And they are small enough to make as a gift to add in a christmas card.

Christmas Punch Needle!

This week I received my issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects. One of the patterns was a rug design by Tonya of Mad Hen Primitives. I thought it would be fun to do as a punch needle and this is how mine came out. I kept some colors similar to hers and some of my own, since the original was done in rug wool.

I used some hand dyed floss for the green leaves and for the outer edge, I used scraps from my floss box to get a hit or miss look. I started out with 3 strands of floss for the design, then used 6 strands for the rest.

Christmas Pillows!

I have been working on gifts for Christmas and this time I made a couple of pillows.
The peace pillow is a design by Lisa Bongean. The kit was gifted to me by my friend Sharon, it was fun to work with a kit and not have to think about what to use.

The second pillow is a pattern by Nancy Conn and was a featured pattern in the new Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine. Tonight I am working on another pattern from the book, in a punch needle piece.

Then I refinished one last halloween pillow. I had it made and sewed it backwards and resewed it backwards the second time, this time I got it right, lol. The pattern is by Tiffany of Primitive Blessings.

Christmas or Halloween Block?

Sometimes I get carried away with staining and when I use the Java, I have to be more careful. The first time, it came out too dark, all over. So, I rinsed it out and redried it and this is what happened, a bit spooky for a nativity piece, lol. Guess I need to rinse it out more and add walnut this time, the black tends to pull in as it dries and leaves splotches, which is nice on some pieces, but not what I planned for this one;) As you can see, with java, which is a black stain, it leaves green marks too, which gives it a more aged look. Would like to leave the dark on the rest, but try and get rid of the skeleton marks, which happened totally by accident.

Bible Block

I wanted to make something creative and different, so I tried a block from one of Harriet Powers bible quilts. I kept some of the colors similar and added my own ideas to make it brighter, since this is the nativity scene and I will use it as a christmas piece. I want to add a saying to go with it, so I have to decide how I want to do it, then I plan on antiquing it heavily so it will look old and not so bright. Not the best photo, the flash makes it look like it is all standing out and really emphasizes my bad stitching, lol.

Bad kitty and pumpkin tree!

Today while I was sewing, I heard a strange noise and went to look. This is what I found, someone was a very bad kitty. There was a mocking bird sitting on the porch rail and I think he was on the porch and Moki made a lunge for him, ugh. The funny thing is, Moki was just sitting there staring at the hole, he had no intentions of going outside.

I found this black tree at Jo anns, for a couple of dollars so couldn't resist. Today I decided I needed to make something to put on it, so this is what I came up with. I made funny faces to look like vintage pumpkins and used a green yarn for the stem hanger. Then I got tired of making those, so thought a few leaves would be easier to fill up more area. I took a photo here, since it has more light. I put it on my furkin with an old lace doily. The eyes are mini buttons that you can get in the craft stores.