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.

Reindeers Finished!

I finally finished my reindeer piece. I added the word joy, but couldn't picture adding more words, so I went with snowflakes. Not really what I planned, but it will have to be good enough. I tend to make things and if I don't like them, that's life, I hate redoing things;) I think this would be fun to do in a smaller piece with wools or as a punch needle too. Maybe I will give this one to my daughter. I took a night photo, so kept it cropped so you could see the details better. The right side is the same and there is a darker red border on the sides. I didn't realize the other red was more pink but I actually like the shade with the yellowed homespun and blacks. If  you like the design, you can get it from Jan Patek Quilts.

Tomorrow I will try and do an outdoor shot and see if I can get true colors.

I wanted to try a video of the kitties and Izzy was in a playful mood. I thought I might be able to take video and use one of the frames as a photo, but they were all fuzzy, so need to figure that one out. Izzy is a jumper and will go to any length to catch things. It is hard to throw and shoot, so I will have to try cat nip next time;)

As you can see at the end, she stays away from Moki, who sits and gives her the look, he likes to intimidate her. Now that Dora is not harassing him, he has taken that position in the house.

Reindeer Progress!

I did some more work on my reindeers. I added the birds and used buttons for eyes.
I decided to make collars on the reindeer and used rusty bells for a fun touch. I added buttons on the tree and still not happy with my tree, so will have to think about that. The next step is to add the border, I am just going with the border on mine, not the stars on the top. Then the batting and some black outline stitch and maybe a christmas greeting around the tree area. The pattern is by Jan Patek.