Wonderful prizes

I am usually not that lucky, but today I received another wonderful prize from a recent blogging contest.
Tak, Quilt in Me, recently held a contest and decided to have two winners.
Well, I was the lucky second winner and I feel like I won the grand prize. I was overwhelmed with her generosity.

First of all she sent me a beautiful quilted mat, that I had admired on her blog. I just love it and it fits my decor and colors perfectly. She even used pennies to represent game pieces. It is a mix of fabric and wools, so wonderfully prim. Did I mention, I love it! I guess I need to decide where to put it and start an antique game theme;)



And if that was not enough, she sent me luscious fabrics and wool and a beautiful doily. And to top it off, a Japanese rug hooking book.



The book is amazing, lot of creative designs and patterns to create hooked items and some with felted wool. I am going to have fun making the items and they will make great gifts too. Besides the cat in the photo, there is a another door stopper cat to make. I guess I better get busy finishing my projects so I can start the new ones;)

Flat Bread and Bubble Baths

Tonight I made one of my favorite meals and thought I would share it with you. I have food allergies, so if you are on a yeast free diet, this bread is perfect for you. It is so simple and perfect to wrap around your favorite fillings.

Add 2 cups of white flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 cup warm water and 1/8 cup oil. Flours can be different, so if it is too moist, add a bit more flour. You want the dough to be soft and more moist than dry, but not a wet moist. Make your balls, about 2" round. I roll my dough in whole wheat flour, it gives the bread a nutty taste, but you can use white flour. Roll the dough out and move around to make it as round as possible. Roll it till it is paper thin, or you can make it a little thicker, you can experiment to see what you like best. Heat a skillet, I use setting 5 on my gas stove, about 1 above a medium setting. Throw you rolled bread into the pan and when bubbles form on the top, turn it over. It cooks quick and you want it slightly browned, but soft.

I make these up and fill them with a mix of chicken, onions, various peppers, including hot and sometimes tomatoes. You can also use them for tuna or any sandwich filling that you like. I refrigerate the extras and the next day, I heat them up for a few secs in a pan and they are like you just made them.





We are getting lots of snow today, so I thought it would be a good night for a hot bubble bath. Well, in this house that means the gang has to join me, I have no privacy or peace, lol. Casey loves bubbles, and he loves to eat them, and Dora loves to get in on the fun too. They do the funniest things, but of course, trying to take pictures while in a tub of water, is not easy. These are the best ones I could get. Casey makes a lot of weird faces;)

Weekend thrifting

One of my favorite pastimes is to go thrift shopping, you never know what you will find.
We have a few thrift stores along with antique consignments, so there are plenty of places to look for treasures.
Sometimes I buy things just because it is neat, or interesting or something I can remake into a new item.

Today's find was a rustic candle box. I threw it on the wall with a candle, but I will be sanding it down and refinishing it in my favorite black over mustard. I need to find a candle that will look good in that box, another excuse to thrift;)



I have also been thinking in themes. It is fun to come up with new ideas and decorate areas with a theme, so these are my theme finds that I got Saturday. The church fits on a shelf I have, you know the big hole in the wall I showed before, haha. Well, I was thinking I could put the church on the shelf and make some sheep and items to go on either side. Then I can make some bird ornies and hang them in the hole. Well, it's an idea, we shall see what I come up with;)

Then I saw the noah's ark puzzle, had to have it, have no idea why, but I like it and that is what counts. I was thinking of doing a noah's ark theme, so that would be fun to design a rug and make more folk animals for an area in the house. I plan on doing a sewing/textile theme with my other found items and saw this pin cushion. Not sure if I will keep it, think it will be a fun gift to throw into a future box for a fellow sewer. Sometimes I buy things just because and put them in a box for future presents. This christmas I had a swap and the person loved to collect pin cushions, of course I couldn't find any then;)



Since I was out and about and the Folk art quilt store was in the area, I just had to stop by and see what new items they might have. Nothing new, but I picked up some nice greens and a beautiful red shade. I love to make hearts on some of my quilting items and it is hard to find nice prim reds. I am always in need of good greens for leaves and stems. It seems the stores never have the shades I am looking for, so I have to settle. I guess I will have to start ordering online.

Wonderful Prize and bad dye day

This week, Brenda of Pumpkin Patch Primitives held a contest for those of us in her yahoo group. We had to name the pattern she was working on and the winner got a copy of the pattern. Well, I went through every page on her shop and found it, lol. I couldn't believe I was the first to answer, considering my server was being slow that night.

Today I got my package and I can't believe how quick it came. I was expecting a pattern, but Brenda sent along a package of goodies and all items I love and needed. I have bowl fillers and with the new items, not enough filler, so now I have more pumpkins to add to my mix. I also need prim candles and cannot find good ones around here and she sent me three. Plus, a beautiful bundle of hand dyed wools. All that along with the pattern. I love the pattern and it will be so fun to make. I feel like I won the lottery;) Be sure to check out Brenda's shop. She has great prim patterns from all the best designers, wonderful fabrics and great deals.

Now for those who may have misunderstood my title and thought I had a prize, keep your eyes out on my blog. I am nearing the 100th post and will be doing a contest soon.




I thought I would accomplish something today and pulled out a bunch of wools to over dye. I need lots of black for my big runner and grabbed all different types of thrift wools. Well, so much for my big plans. I only got a small batch that turned black enough to use and the rest would not dye right and was too thin. This is wool, I always check my tags and do the burn test, but for some reason, some wools will not dye right. So, those will go in the craft pile. They are great for backings, penny rugs and I may even use some in a scrap rug. I have another pile in the dryer, and some darkened, but not the right shades of black. I really wanted my runner to be consistent, but being so large, I cannot afford that much new wool. I will use what I have and see what happens;)

Antique finds and Kitties

Today I did my Library run and hit a few local antique stores. We lost our prim store, but a new antique store took it's place and I found lots of wonderful things today. Of course I didn't take them all home, I just admired them and wondered where I might put them, lol. But, I did find one fun item that I had to have and will use it to make a theme area.

I found this basket of thread bobbins from a local mill. It came with a paper that explains about them and the mill they came from. I thought it was a great piece of Rhode Island history and a textile theme would be fun. I do have to do something about that ugly topper I put on my table. I guess I need to make an extreme prim penny for that table now. I have my drying rack with doilies and items above it and the quilt ladder next to them. I did see an antique rug beater and maybe I will pick one up next time, would go nicely on the wall.



I think Dora is teaching Izzy bad habits. Dora just loves that frame and now Izzy has adopted my newest project and the frame, so I have to fight to get any work done lately;)



Here is a close up of Dora, she is just too cute. But, don't let that sweet face fool you, lol.



Izzy really wants to fit in with the family. She was supposed to stay until my son found a new home for her. But, as you can see, she just loves it here and loves her sister Dora.

New punch Pieces

Today I worked on my rug and was hoping to finish the last dog, but that isn't going to happen, unless I stay up another hour working on it;) So, I decided to show you some pieces I made this month. I have not decided what to do with them, they may be presents, they may go on ebay. I have not had good luck with ebay and hate to put things up to see them go for pennies, I rather give them as gifts.

This piece is based on an antique rug. I love the simple designs and this is what I based my runner on. Love the simplicity of it.
I think it would look good on an antique box.



This piece was based on an old postcard. I thought it would make a nice needle keep or on a sewing box. I used 3 strands for some of the smaller areas and the rest was 6 strands.

Make ahead Christmas and Thrift Goodies

I belong to a group called An American Primitive Gathering. You can find our listings under USAPrim on ebay.
This weekend we had an online retreat and we worked on projects for next Christmas. It always seems like there is not enough time to make things for everyone, so this is a way to have things that we can give as gifts or sell on ebay.

I decided to make a piece from one of Primitive Betty'spatterns that she offers for free on her blog. It was a fun little piece and I kept it simple and prim. I think it is a great piece, because it can be used for Christmas or during the winter season.



Yesterday we got out for a bit and I hit our local savers. I love finding goodies that I can remake into things for the house. I found this cranberry scoop and plan on sanding it down and repainting it black. It will be great for putting yarns in or hanging from the pegs. I also found a vintage pattern book and a little basket that I can redo. It is fun decorating from thrifts;)