Needle Punch Tutorial (Part 2)

Today we will be talking about transferring a pattern onto your weaver cloth.

There are multiple ways of transferring your pattern.  Since I am using my pattern

I will explain how I did mine.  It is NOT the only way.  No worries... we will revisit pattern transferring

when I use another designer's pattern.  I have a very kind friend who is sending

me her punch needle patterns she is not using in exchange for a few of my

cross stitch patterns.  Have I told you I LOVE to barter?!?!? 

If you are using my pattern please retrace the lines after printing. It will be easier to see to trace.

 For some reason my lines scanned in as red lines not pencil lines. Not sure why it just did. LOL.  

I also am including on the pattern the DMC colors I used to make the first one.  DMC floss is 

relatively cheap so make sure you buy 2 of each color 3857,844,680,3051 and 4 of 3032.  You won't need all of it, hopefully.  I burned through some of it at the beginning while I was trying

to get the hang of it so I bought extra.

Please right click on the picture and save the image to your computer.  Remember
where you saved it so you can find it and print it.  In case this doesn't work I have also posted it on my
Picturetrail also.  Click here to find it.

When you punch needle or needle punch, whichever you prefer, you are 

actually punching on the backside of the fabric.  The loops will be your front side.

If you use my design this is not a big deal as it will look the same from the

front to the back.  If you are using a different design this will make a difference.  

For instance, say you have a bird and when you look at it it faces to the right.  

Well, when you transfer the design you will work it with the bird facing left so

when you turn it over to the looped side the bird will then face right.

Again, I will do another tutorial using someone else's design.

I figured mine would be great to begin with since it doesn't matter.

Do you have your pattern printed out?  Have you traced over lines with pen or a thin black marker?

Great!  

Step one:  Find a window that the sun is coming through.  In my case it's

in my kitchen.

Step two:  Take some Scotch tape and tape you pattern to the window.  I just did the two upper corners.

Step three:  Place a piece of weaver's cloth that is a little larger than the printer paper over top and tape it too.

Step four:  Use either a pencil or marker to trace over the lines onto the cloth.

Viola` your pattern:  Do as I say not as I do... this was the original one I did on what I thought was my weaver's cloth. Ummmm it was actually muslin. Do NOT do this.  As you can see if you look close up, as I tried to punch I ripped the fabric.  I was furious until I realized my mistake. stupid stupid stupid... I wondered why it wasn't working. LOL

As you can see I redid it and it is now in my hoop.  This will fit perfectly in a 7" Dritz no slip hoop.  This is why you need extra fabric around the edges so the hoop has something to grip to keep it tight.

OK... I need to get more floss to start my new one.  I will get it Saturday, because I work tomorrow, and start on the meat and potatoes of needle punching this weekend.  Have a great evening!!!!

Under Construction

Please pardon our dust...

I am trying to change things up and make this blog a little better...

I know what you are thinking~

What?!?!?! Why?!?!?!

You just started back blogging and here you go wanting to change things up on us. LOL. 
No worries :-)

I just want to clean things up and make this page easier to read and to navigate.
I was starting to feel claustrophobic with all the stuff in the side bars.
Ok Ok... you got me I'm "Simplifying."

I want you to enjoy coming here and visiting with me.
I want to motivate you to try things you either haven't done or don't think you can
because all of you motivate me.  Therefore it needs to be easier to find my tutorials and posts.

So... for the next day or so you will see things moving around on here.
If you see something you don't like or for that matter like a little better please
let me know.

Again... I'm so sorry if things are moving around on you this evening.  I have
a few things to do tomorrow when I'm home on my own computer.  Right
now I'm at work and can't get to certain programs.

Have a great evening and see you tomorrow :-)



Two Finishes

Good afternoon!  I hope all of you who live up north are staying warm.  On my way home from work this morning it was -13 degrees.  For a few minutes I wondered if I was living in the North Pole.  The kids in our town have not been to school since last Thursday because of the cold weather.  My son is getting spoiled staying home.  I told him today he better go back soon because I have things to do and he needs to be in school. LOL.  I don't really I just like picking on him.

Since it's been so cold I designed and stitched a customer request sampler over the weekend.  I need some spending cash since I found out at work I will not be getting a raise, not because I'm not a good employee, but because I supposedly make too much money.  Yeah right!!!! I can barely scrape by as it is and in a few months my health insurance premiums will be going up and no extra money in the check to cover it.  My boss told me that I make more per hour in 5 years than other paramedics who have been there the same amount of time.  I have been in EMS for 18 years... I don't feel I should make the same amount as a medic who has only been doing it for 5 years!  just my opinion.  I'm being penalized for being a seasoned medic. OK enough complaining at least I have a job (for how much longer who knows).  I think this is a round about way to get me to quit so they can hire someone else in at a lower rate.  I think they were testing me on my last paycheck as they overpaid me.  Of course being the honest person I am I advised my boss right away.  In order to fix it the amount will be taken out of my next check. :-(  When I first started with this new company about 4 months ago the buyout occurred we had to take an online test so they could see how "honest" we were.  Well, if this doesn't tell them I don't know what will!!!  ACCKKK!!!! I need to stop complaining. LOL.

I digress.... lol  here is the special request stitchery I did.  The picture on the left is before coffee stain and the right is after.  I wanted you to see the colors a little better and that's why I included the before.  This sweet little stitchery will fit in a 5x7 frame and takes no time at all to stitch.  Perfect for a beginner because as you can tell it's not perfect and it's meant to be that way. lol

I also wanted to try another punch needle project before I did my tutorial for you.  That way I could tell you about some issues I was having and how I finally fixed them.  So, I drew up this pattern quick and just finished it today.  I know it isn't even but, hey, it's primitive and primitive isn't perfect THANK GOODNESS! lol  Not too shabby for try #2.  I still have white spaces, but I'm sure that will get better each time.

Now, here is a question... when I make my tutorial would you rather have it as a "live" you tube video or camera pictures with instructions?  Also, would any of you like to stitch this as your first one?  If so, I will post it as a FREE pattern.  It is a little big BUT I found that by the time I was 2/3 of the way done I was really starting to get the hang of it.  There are no corners per se which I found much easier to do.  Let me know so that I can scan it into the computer for you to use.  I would be willing to make another one of these so you can stitch along with me. :-)

Thank for all of the excitement of you who are ready to punch needle.  This is going to be fun!!!!  I can't wait to get started.

Basic Punch Needle Tools (Part 1)

First, let me start of by saying I am NOT a punch needle expert. In fact, I am learning along side each one of you who have never tried it or only done a few.  So, I will make mistakes in my directions or what I am using to make mine.  If you have any suggestions that would make this easier or work better please feel free to email me or write a comment.  I would even be glad to feature you as a guest author here on my blog :-)

That being said the tools I am using are what my friend Rhonda Thomas of My Glory Stars suggested.  If you have never seen her work it is awesome!  She rug hooks, punch needles, cross stitches, and makes quilts.  I'm lucky that she lives rather close to me and I bartered with her so that I could own a few of her rug hook items.  Anyway, here are the tools I will be using...

My new needle... Ultra-Punch Punch Needle Embroidery Needle Set has 3 different size needles, the punch needle which includes the medium tip in it (I didn't realize that and got very upset thinking I only got 2 needles in the package.  I was ready to call the company. lol), 2 springs (for the medium and large tips), 2 threaders (very important to have!)  I found this one at Wal-mart.com but if you are a thrifty shopper Joann Fabrics has them online.  If you get their coupons you could use one on this and get it for a song!  I did not use this needle the first time.  I already like this one much better though I haven't actually used it yet.

The hoop is a plastic no slip hoop.  Your fabric needs to stay tight while punching.  I do not think a regular wood hoop would work since it is so smooth.  I am not recommending and particular one over another but I know Dritz makes one which I found here. (scroll down a little and you will see it.)  Please do comparison shopping for the best price.  I just wanted you to see what I was talking about.

The fabric is called Weaver's cloth (correction thank you Misi for pointing out I said the wrong fabric.  It is weavers not monk.)  It closely resembles muslin but is a bit thicker.  I found this at a local fabric shop The Fabric Peddler, which by the way carries my cross stitch designs as well. I had to plug my cross stitch pattern design business LOL) I know you can buy it online, but I'm not sure if Walmart carries it.

Thread... I personally am going to use DMC embroidery floss.  First of all it is cheap! You can find it at Joanne's or Walmart (if your Walmart carries it.) You can also use Valdani thread.  It is beautiful but quite expensive.  Maybe if I improve I will buy some to try, but until then cheap floss it is! lol

This concludes part 1 of needle punching.  It may take me several days to put together the tutorial so bare with me.  I have quit a bit of things going on this week between working and class.  I thought I would post this first if you want to get your supplies to have on hand when we start the actual tutorial.

I finished a new cross stitch design and it is drying from it's coffee stain bath as we speak.  This was a design for one of my regular customers.  It is a quick and easy one :-)  I will share it when it is completely done.  Have a great rest of the weekend and I'll see you later this week.

Pattern Organizing

I hope those of you in the polar vortex are keeping warm and safe.  It is a balmy 12 degrees here at the homestead with just snow showers here and there.  I decided today I would get started on my pattern organization.  It is still very chilly in the craft room, but I put on my thick sweatshirt and dug right in.  I must say I am a pattern hoarder!!!!  Holy Smokes!!!  First off, I decided it would be ok for me to tear deface my cross stitch magazines.  Most of them were from the 80's and I bought them at the thrift store for pennies on the dollar.  I went through and tore out the pattern and picture of the ones I wanted then stapled them together.  I already had a 3-ring binder with patterns in it so I just added them in the empty plastic clear sleeves.  Then, I sorted through my pattern pamphlets and actual patterns.  This is where I am stuck.  I don't whether to file them alphabetical by designer or by type (i.e. band samplers, fall theme, Christmas theme, etc...) So, as of now this is where I am... TOTAL CHAOS!!!!!

Yep they are now all strewn across the craft table.  There they will remain until I decide how to file them.  If I can't decide, well, there will be no crafting until I do because the table is a mess.  Mind you most of these have been purchased at a discount or found free in some cases online.  If you are wondering if I'm actually going to get rid of any of my patterns... YES!!!!  I have a basket I have started for those I do not want...

Maybe I will have a pattern swap down the line... hmmm....

Well, I just wanted to stop in and say hey :-)  Obviously I have some work ahead of me today.  The nice thing is my washer and dryer are next to my table so I'm doing both at one time.  If you have any advice on how you organize your patterns I would love to know.

Craft Room Update

My newest organization tools finally arrived.  A few posts back I told you about Thirty One in home party company.  Well, they had a clearance sale around Christmas time.  I could not pass these up for the price.  I know I made the fabric storage totes, but these stand up by themselves a lot better.  Yes they are all the same color but I can see what colors I have in them.  Anyway, let's start with the before picture...

Before: all the scraps are in different containers that I had on hand...

After:  These great bins I got for like $6 a piece.  I know they aren't prim but for that price you better believe I'm going to nab them.  Besides I really like purple :-)  I probably should have gotten 2 more to make it be a little more cohesive BUT oh well.  I'd rather use the baskets than have them sit around.

Today I thinking about better organization of my magazine patterns.  I am a magazine pattern hoarder.  Even if I only see one pattern in a magazine I keep the entire magazine.  I'm trying to decide whether or not to keep them that way or just tear out the pattern and then organize them in clear plastic sleeves instead.  I also do the same thing with prim decor magazines.  Therefore I have a ton of those magazines as well.  Oh what to do what to do...

As you can see I added a little poll on the left hand side bar for you to tell me what you do with your patterns.  I thought this might be fun for a Monday morning.  You have 7 days to tell me what you do. :-)

I'm off to clean and hopefully design a stitchery for another customer today.  Have a great day!

New Finishes

Before I delve into my finishes it has been brought to my attention, by a very kind reader, that if you are a subscriber by email that my posts may not be delivered.  I have checked into it and hope I fixed this problem.  If by chance you are having an issue receiving them please email me and let me know.  Please check your "Spam" folder to see if it might be going in there or my reader advised it came several hours after I posted the actual entry.  Either way please let me know if you are having issues. I'd hate for you not to see what I'm up to. :-)

Alright!  If you happen to be like me, ADD if you will, and can only work on one project for a certain length of time before you get bored you have UFO's (unfinished objects) just laying around.  I have quite a few!  I still have 3 unfinished quilt tops and a couple snowmen just laying around.  I see great stuff on Pinterest and think "Oh my gosh how cute and easy... I just need to make it."  So, I try it and well I'm just not doing well and it doesn't look like the picture so I give up.  I'm sure none of you are perfectionists and think it has to be perfect the first try. UGGHHH!!!! I put way too much pressure on myself.  It's a curse I tell you. LOL.  Any way, this past week I actually finished up 2 UFO's.

My first UFO was this cross stitch pattern by The Cricket Collection "Shadows" designed by Vicki Hastings.  I had to butcher it a little to make it fit on the piece of linen I had on hand.  OK when I say finished I stitched it.  I haven't "finished" it because I am horrible about either framing, hanging, or making it in to something.  That part of my brain just doesn't work!  I have a ton of unfinished cross stitch samplers waiting to be hung.  :shaking my head:  If you'll remember this is the first time I used variegated thread.  I really like it.  I know the picture is horrible to see.  The floss is greenish gray fade to light tan.

I also attempted to finish my first ever punch needle project.  Note to self even though it says great for beginners it wasn't!  OK it might have been had I had a smaller needle for detail.  Let me tell you that stitching with 2 strands of floss with a big needle doesn't work. It took forever!  That is why it became a UFO.  I didn't get it right on the first try and it made me mad.  So, I put it down for a few weeks and just picked it back up.  After I finished it I spoke to a great gal I met on Facebook who does amazing wool hooked rugs and punch needle projects.  She gave me some great advice for my next project.  I can't believe I'm going to do it again. LOL.  Only this time I will stitch with 6 strands or 3 strands.  She said it is too difficult to use 2. Really?!?!?!?! As you can see I have bare spots and some of the loops look horrible but like I've always told you I will show you all projects good or bad.  I try to be a jack of all trades but master of none. LOL.  When I start my new project I will post some of the great advice for you if you want to try punchneedle too.

I just got off a long run of working and will be responding to your comments today from previous posts.  I didn't forget or am not ignoring you.  Thanks for all the well wishes after my fall.  I'm still very bruised, but not as stiff as I anticipated and my shoulder is working much better. :-)

Lots of Crafting

Since my last post about my orange pomanders I have been busy.  I made another pomander only this time I covered the orange in a special concoction of cloves, allspice, and nutmeg.  I did not add orris root, which seemed to be a common theme in more and more tutorials.  My friend Wendy and I were having a conversation on Facebook about it.  She brought this common ingredient to my attention.  After further investigation orris root is a fixative.  Basically, it helps keep the scent around longer than if you don't use it and supposedly it keeps the orange from getting moldy.  Orris root can be hard to find in these here parts so I just left it out.  If my pomanders loose their scent oh well they are still great to look at.  I also have not had an issue with mold so I guess I'm OK. My camera died just as I was going to take a picture so I'll post it another day.

You all know I don't do hearts.  Well, at least not very often anyway.  Sunday was a crafty kind of day so I made several things.  First off, I used up some of my old wax and re poured it in some old molds I had.  These are scents I can't burn because A. I can't do cinnamon or B. Steve doesn't like the smell of the candle..." it smells like someone threw up."  I, personally, loved it.  It was a sugared pecan. YUM!!!! I then smeared cinnamon on them without thinking it stuff my nose up completely.  Grrr.... it was worth it because they look awesome and smell great too!!!!

I had a customer request I make her some of my salt dough ornies for her year round tree. This is where I am today on those.  I just need to let them dry and add hangers.  I used different finishing techniques on them to see if they worked.  I used a doily and rolled my rolling over it on a couple of them. Then of course I painted and stained them.

Then she also wanted stuffed hearts for her tree.  I sewed these up yesterday despite the pain I have from falling at work on Monday.  I'm such a klutz! LOL.  Anyway I have pain from my right shoulder down to my knee.  It was a pretty hard fall and with my fibromyalgia the pain is amplified X10.  Luckily I didn't work yesterday or today to rest it before I go back to work tomorrow.  All I have left is to coffee stain and put hangers on them.  NOTE:  I traced around my heart shaped cookie cutter to make these.  I can not draw a heart so this is a quick and easy way to get a pattern for just abut anything!

I also got adventurous on Sunday and tried to come up with own awesome smelly bowl fillers.  Ummmm... well... I better stick to recipes I find on the internet. LOL.  I combined a whole bunch of stuff from my kitchen to make these molasses, cloves, allspice, instant coffee, cinnamon, flour, and salt.  I made my dough and it was very sticky... so I kept adding salt and flour until I got a dough I thought I could work with.  Ughh... still really sticky I'm assuming due to the molasses.  Anyway, I added some dried orange peel to a few and note to self and you DON"T DO IT!!!!! It smells awful in the oven. :-(  I also put whole cloves in the one.  But anyway this is how they turned out.  They really didn't keep their scent very much but the deep dark brown color is nice. LOL.  This picture doesn't show the beautiful color.

 Well, I better get cracking on coffee staining so I can finish up the hearts for my customer and get them sent out.  Have a great day!!!!

Orange Pomanders

I LOVE the look of the clove studded oranges I always see at Christmas.  They are just beautiful.  They can be displayed just about anywhere bowls, hanging, or nestled in greenery.  Not to mention the wonderful citrus and clove scent they give off.  Aren't they gorgeous?

You all know how I am.  I just have to try something if I see it and like it.  After talking with some prim friends on Facebook I decided to give it a whirl.  My son was selling oranges and grapefruit for school this year so I bought a half a box.  I have oranges coming out my ears!  So, I figured if it didn't work what was I out.  I couple oranges??? No big deal.  Some of the people I talked with told me they always had problem with the oranges molding and going bad before they had a chance to dry out.  I took that into account read a bunch of tutorials online and decided to give it a try.

I had to use a flash on it as it is much darker and brown.  I actually LOVE it!!!  I do have to say that as of today the entire thing is finally hard.  I started drying this thing before Christmas.  I did not hang it like most articles I have read.  I'm assuming if you did that it would stay orange and not turn brown.  I sped up the drying process by, get this, putting it on top of a lamp shade and turning it every so often to dry it out.  From what I read the cloves act like a conduit for the liquid to evaporate out of as it is drying.  I think I'm going to try another one just hanging to see how it dries.

Next I've always seen the "split" looking dried out oranges and decided to give that a try too.  I found this picture here.  I must give credit where credit is due.  LOVE!!!!!

Of course I had to try one too.  The one difference is I didn't use cloves with this.  I am also letting this one dry naturally although at first I put it on my lamp to dry but took it off.  The light left brown marks on it almost like it scorched the skin.  Oh well,  live and learn.  I also must not have scored it deep enough as you can see.  I'm thinking instead of using oranges clementines might work better seeing as how they are much smaller.  Less drying time.  It might also work to put them in the oven though I'm sure they will have to be in there quite a long time. 

I have a few oranges left so I may make a few more and try different methods.  I will probably leave these out year round because I like them so much.  Have you had luck making these?  I'd love to hear your tips and findings. :-)

Stitching Organization

Update on the frozen pipe saga.  Tuesday afternoon while I was cutting my sons hair he happened to hear the sound of water.  We wondered what it was so we looked around.  Here the pipe had unfroze and the toilet tank was being filled with water.  YAY!!!!!  Steve heard us and came up to check out the situation and told my son to turn the water on to the toilet and see what happens. WAIT!!! WHAT?!?!?!?! It then hit us why is water coming back into the tank if the water is shut off???? Steve shrugged it off and said hey it's working.  Skip to yesterday morning after my shower before work.  I noticed a small river/stream of water running from the back of the toilet across the floor to the other side of the bathroom and under the portable heater.  hmmmmm.... I wiped it up and finished getting ready left for work and texted Steve what I found.  No reply all day.  Ok no big deal.  I came home from work today and Steve texted me to tell me the upstairs toilet is out of commission and is turned off again.  While he was showering the water decided to overflow out of the toilet onto the floor.  UGGGHHH!!!! Needless to say he was a good boy and wiped up all the water and even put a load of towels in the washer before he left for work this morning.  In case you are wondering I'm still washing towels. LOL. 

Alright, as you might remember I take my stitching to work and try to work on projects in my down time.  Well, I normally take a bag just shoved full of stuff.  It's organzied chaos.  It really is. lol.  This is what I had stashed in my bag.  It's a wonder I can find anything....

That pattern "Tiny Stars" is my first punchneedle project that I am not going to finish.  >: (  grrrrrr This was not the project to start with.  But that is another story.

On to the good part.  Just before Christmas I was invited to my first ever Thirty One party.  Never heard of it?  Check them out!!!! Thirty One Gifts .  They have fantastic organizational stuff.  Sure it's not prim, but hey I can live with that.  As I was leafing through the brochure I came up on a jewelry organizer...

Hey! It has multiple little pouches in it.  Wouldn't that be a fantastic idea for a carry along stitching organizer?  Of course it would because I don't have near enough jewelry to fill this baby up!  Hence, the new stitching organizer...

I don't have it exactly how I want it yet.  I will just plop my thread shuttles in there for the current project I'm working on so I don't have to carry my big blue box o' thread around.  Handy dandy and nothing falls out.  OK, I'm sure someone else thought of this first, but hey I thought of it second. LOL.  Stay tuned because I bought some of their clearance organizer bins really cheap to help in my craft room.  They haven't come yet and I can't wait until they do.

My daughter just left with her care provider for a few hours so I need to get busy around here.  Stay tuned for the continuing saga of the bathroom.  Oh and by the way thank goodness this happened now because Steve and I were just getting ready to paint and spruce it up.  Shew!!!  This is one room I haven't touched in the 5 years I've lived here.  I hate decorating bathrooms!  This one will be very hard because since I rent I can't change the major stuff.  I have white tile with gold flecks 3/4 of the way up the wall and country oak vanity and above the mirror light to match.  Trust me I just can't get in the prim mode to decorate with that. Lol. 

Too Cold

I hope those of you who are being hit with these freezing cold temperatures are fairing well.  Here at the homestead our water pipe going up to second floor toilet froze last night.  Luckily we have two other toilets that are still working.  What do you want with temps -11 and with the wind chill -30? He tried a blow dryer and an electric heater to try to thaw it out but to no avail. The pipe is in an outside wall so we aren't able to get to it without tearing into the wall or the ceiling below it.  So, while taking my shower this morning Steve tore into the ceiling below before calling the landlord. Lucky for us our landlord is great and trusts whatever we do.  It still isn't thawed yet but Steve is going to turn off the water in the house and move the pipe out of the wall to keep it from happening again.  He is a plumber so I trust him. lol.  It is suppose to warm up in the next few days, but I can't wait that long.

Since it's been so cold around here I haven't worked in my craft room in the basement.  I decided to start a new stitchery.  I am working with variegated floss, which I've never used before.  There are many ways to use it "correctly" I'm sure, but me I'm just winging it and using my eye to determine how to start a new strand.  We'll have to wait and see how this turns out because I didn't start high enough on this piece to include the entire pattern.  So, some of it will be left off.

I did organize my stitching bag while I was at it, but will wait for another day to show you.  I will have to go out and brave the cold today to buy a new car battery or otherwise I can't go to work tomorrow. :-( Wait that wouldn't be a bad thing!  I didn't realize I had bought my last one in 2009.  This is not a very good start to 2014! Lol.

Getting Busy

Good Saturday morning to you!  Mine hasn't been too good yet.  If you live in Ohio you know it is quite frigid out.  Supposedly it was a balmy 12 degrees F but it felt much colder.  I worked my normal 24 hour shift yesterday and was done this morning at 7 am.  Well, I walk out to my car and NADA!!!! NOPE!!! wouldn't start.  Are you kidding me!?!?!?! This car is about to be the death of me I swear.  It is paid for so I guess it's time for me to nickel and dime it together.  I also need my heat fixed, my check engine light, and now maybe a new battery.  YAY!!!! Happy New Year to me!!!!  Anyway, I had to have my partner jump start my car and lucky for me it started.  I need to call the shop on Monday and see if there is a warranty on my battery since I only got it 2-3 years ago.  I really don't want to say what next... BUT what next... lol.

I know you all came back to see how my juice diet is going. Well, uh, we put it off a few more days until we actually get a juicer.  I just couldn't get past the feeling of eating hair.  I scraped my carrots but when I blended them they got stringy and with every mouthful it felt like I had hair in my mouth ICK!!!! The taste was ok but from what I read it needs to be "juice" not smoothie.  You are suppose to strain it before you drink it. So, I will have to get back to you on that.  Plus we had just made a really yummy ham with mashed potatoes the night before we were to start it and well, I just couldn't let that food go to waste and not eat left overs. lololol You guessed it I was procrastinating!!!!  I was one up on Steve though he didn't even try the "smoothie" so I get an A for effort. lol

Since I wasn't busy making the juice on Thursday I was bored.  I laid on the couch all morning with Steve and kept complaining I was bored.  So, as I looked around my living room anxiously thinking about what I could change I had an idea.  Steve moved some stuff around in the basement and moved an old bench that was my grandma's out to the garage.  Well, we couldn't have that so I suggested that would make a great addition to the living room.  After all, I did move the rocking chair out.  So, he brought it upstairs for me.  He's so good isn't he?  He put it in the spot and we both stared at it.  hmmmm.... it's too plain.  Steve suggested I make a cushion and pillows for it.  I think he knew if he suggested it I wouldn't be bored and bugging him all day.  lol.  Off to the CLEAN craft room I went.  He had suggested blue or red would be great colors.  I just happened to remember I had some left over red upholstery fabric I bought from a prim shop/ upholstery shop a year ago really cheap. (hint hint If you have any upholsterers in your area ask if they sell remnants you can normally get them cheap!)  Then I remembered I had just bought some old blue and white mattress ticking at an antique shop.  Well, the decision was made to use the red.  Then after I made that then Steve said I needed pillows and the sizes should be 7"X7" and 9"X9" and he came to the craft room and helped me select fabric!!!! I think I have a new decorator in the house!!! LOL.  So this is how it turned out...

Oh but wait we aren't done... the pillows are reversible!!!  This little project helped me clean up the craft room because I used fabric scraps to stuff everything.  I am so cheap FRUGAL that I don't throw away any fabric.  I keep a garbage bag full of clean scraps to stuff with.  Steve picked all the fabrics :-)

I finished up that project lickity split.  Woot!!!! Woot!!!!  We have momentum now.  What next...  I decided to finish up a mini quilt I started awhile back. I LOVE piecing I don't love quilting :-( I do NOT finish them because I stink at machine quilting.  OK I'm afraid to do it because I haven't done enough of them to get better.  So no laughing. Promise?!?!?!  :-)

Today I'm doing a little organizing of my stitching stuff.  Wait til you see my new idea!!!! Have a great day.

Happy New Year

I know I'm a day late wishing you Happy New Year!!! I spent most of yesterday taking down Christmas decorations and rearranging the living room.  I do LOVE Christmas and decorating for the season but when you have a small living room the tree seems to take up most of it.  Once it comes down I feel like I have a lot of room once again.  Steve was home so he helped me move furniture and decide where things should go.  I really am trying to simplify my decorating.  I have been saying this for a year now and have been working hard to do it.  I can't help it I LOVE stuff!!!!! lol  Anyway here's a sneak peek...

 While I was absent those few months Steve and I found a new discount furniture place to shop.  While we were there he saw this hay rake and encouraged me to get it because it was so cheap .  We didn't know how we would use it until yesterday.  I just adore the way it looks here!  This is a phone picture so the quality isn't that great.  The brown "coverlet" you see are just scraps from Family Heirloom Weavers.  They were super cheap.  The baskets were thrift store finds.

Another teaser....

 

Today also marks the day Steve and I are starting to be healthy.  We both agreed we would try the Joe Cross 3-Day Weekend Juice Cleanse.   If you haven't seen his documentary Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead it is very inspirational.  That is what got Steve and I on the band wagon.  After this mornings juice I'm not sure if I can do this, but I'm willing to try. I think I actually need a juicer and I need to add water or something to them as it is more like a smoothie than juice.  Stay tuned I'll let you know how it is going.