Wool Penny Ornament!

I decided to make some more snowman ornaments, but I used wool this time.
I cut them out free hand, so they are a bit wonky, but that is the fun of prim.
After I sewed the penny together, I cut a slit in the back and put some crushed pine in them, so now they smell like a fresh pine tree. I thought it would be nice to put in a christmas card, hopefully they will fit;)

I ordered the pine from Paine Products. They were easy to order from and fast delivery. The ornament pattern can be found Here! I used a paintbrush and watered down walnut spray to soak into the stitchery and darken the batting. To cover the slit in the back, I added a double penny with a stitched snowflake in the middle.

Moki has been enjoying the nice weather, nothing like the sun to keep him content.

What was I thinking!

Today we got our new bedroom set, it sure looked smaller in the store, lol.
I have a nice mattress, so we didn't buy one for the new bed. But my mattress is the new extra high ones and even without the bottom half, it is way too high for the new bed. Guess I need to go shopping again, hopefully we can find a sale somewhere, hate to spend too much, but I do need to find something that can support my back and still be soft on my sore bones.

Now I will have to think of a new quilt for the bed. Once we get a normal mattress, it will be easier to make one for this bed, I won't need the longer sides this time. I think the fabric that Barbara Brackman sent me, would make a beautiful quilt for this bed, so now I need to decide on a pattern. For now I am recleaning clothes and putting things away. With the under bed storage I can put extra blankets and sheets and free up some closet room in the bathroom. I guess I need to make curtains too, something simple for a topper.

Hard to get a photo with the right angles, so everything looks cramped in the room. There is a secretary desk in the corner with the flowers and to the right I have my large ladder, that Bill made me. It is also Casey's bed spot, since he sleeps next to me. Maybe I need the ladder to get into bed, lol.

Vote for Dora and Hooked Antique Cat!

This year I won a contest to receive a wonderful online magazine called the Quilt Pattern Magazine.
They are sponsoring a contest and I entered Dora a few months ago and sadly she is no longer with us.
If you would like to vote for Dora, I have a chance to win quilting prizes. You can go here to Vote and see the photos of the kitties.

Here is the photo I entered. Dora always liked to help me sew.

Recently Betsy of Heavens to Betsy bought my Antique Cat epattern and made a hooked pillow with it. I love the wools she used, it really does look like an antique rug. Betsy has the most wonderful wools and you can see how beautifully they hook up with this piece. 

Mini Christmas Hexagons!

After I finished the punch needle, I decided I wanted to make a mini hexagon quilt and use homespuns. I tried to stick with more green and some red, but I don't have much in scraps for those colors and I didn't want to get into my fat quarters for this. I used the accuquilt small hexagon and 1/4" seam. I do not use paper, I mark the seam lines and sew them together. For this one, I used the machine to sew the pieces into rows, then I hand sewed the rows together. I usually sew all my hexagons by hand, but for the straight seam, it seemed to make more sense to save some time and my fingers. I bordered it with greens to keep a Christmas look and used floss to do the tacks. I haven't stained it yet, still trying to decide if I should leave it as is, or maybe add a little snowflake applique or something like that in a corner?

I decided to let one of my old kitties, show it off.

Christmas snowmen and Winner!

I was in the mood to make a punch needle, and this is a design that was made by Brenda Gervais for our punch needle group booklet. This was in 2007 and I finally got around to making it, lol. It was fun to do and now I am trying to decide what to do with it. I wanted to make it into a quilt, but not sure how that would look as a centerpiece and if I put it on a penny rug, it would be hard for the person, who is getting it, to display anything on it. So, maybe I will just make a pillow or a little hanging bag from it and make a penny rug with appliques.

I tried a close up, really makes the loops look lumpy, lol.

And now for the winner. I was dressed as a pumpkin head scarecrow, so most of you got it right. The winner of a free epattern is..... rebecca! Congratulations to Rebecca, send me an email with your choice of pattern.

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.