So Mad...

Remember the hooked rug I have been working on?  Well,  I am so mad.  I didn't look well enough and there is a hole in the burlap right in the center.  I do NOT want to have to throw this away because of a stupid hole.

I have made some progress on it albeit slow progress. LOL.  I have been searching the web trying to figure out how to fix it.  I believe I can patch it with another piece of burlap.  The problem is I don't have any more.  Maybe I can cut a piece off the edge to piece it.  All I know is I have to do something.  UGHHH!!!!

This is what I've done so far.

See the hole is smack dab right in the middle.  I do have a little extra on the edge I might be able to use.  If any of you have any suggestions please let me know.  I really would like to hook this completely.

Well, I hope you have a great day while I go stare and sulk until I figure out something.

I've Got Worms!!!!

Ewwww I've got worms!!!! LOL Did I get your attention?  No, not a tape worm.  My weight would tell you that I weigh what I eat.  I don't have a worm living in my intestines taking the nutrients away.  I've seen that on different TV shows.  That is gross! OK let's stop talking about that.  Who brought that up anyway? No, I'm not going fishing.  Are you kidding? I can't stand seeing worms on the sidewalk in the Spring after it rains let alone touch one to bait a hook.  ICK!  I will walk 2 feet out of my way just to not step on one. Alright enough with the gross worm visions.  I'll probably have night mares about them now. 

I have these kind of worms... LOL

I have been busy cutting my wool into "worms" 1/4" wide so that I can hook.  Yes, I'm telling you I want to be a hooker. LOLOLOL Really??? Not that kind of hooker!  I know bad joke. Though you do see red on top.  I tell you it is an all day job cutting with a ruler and rotary cutter.  I am not investing in a wool cutter because, well, I am cheap.  Anyway, I spent most of the day (after I went to the Goodwill shhhhhh) cutting up some wool skirts and blazers I found.  Then I pulled out all of my other wool and have begun to "full" or "felt" the wool so I can use it. 

This was cleared off believe it or not!  This is the remaining wool I need to wash.  I have 2 loads in my washer and dryer now.  Then after it's all washed and dried there are a few pieces I'm going to check to be sure they are 100% wool.  The one of them said it but it doesn't feel like the correct thickness I need.  Anyway, this is what I've been doing.  Next, I need to figure out where the heck I'm going to store all of these worms.  Why must I have such an addiction to fabric?  ugghhh... I guess I could have worse addictions. LOL.

Oh gosh!  I forgot to show you my finished pieces I did yesterday with Steve's help.  I'm still working on patterns but I just LOVE how these turned out.  See? My LOVE of Redware/folk art coming out.  I hope to get the patterns ready to sell tomorrow. :-)

Well, people around this house seem to think they need to eat dinner.  So, I better get to it and feed the hungry mouths.  Talk to you soon <3 p="">

I'm a Hoarder

I hope everyone had a great Easter!  We did here at the homestead.  Dinner was here Saturday night with family and Sunday we had my son's girlfriend and her brother over since their Mom had to work.  We had a great time playing card games all day.

I am a hoarder and I'm proud of it today!  LOL.  If you have been with me for any length of time you know I used to scour thrift stores from here to there.  I'd buy all kinds of things because you never know when you might need it again.  I also bought things with a project in mind and then never quite got there.  I have to admit that since the first of the year I don't go to the thrift store as much.  Yes, I still go but maybe once every couple of weeks.  I am proud of that by the way. LOL.  If I do go it is only to look for stitching floss, aida cloth, linen, or patterns.  I no longer buy things to redo.  I am content with what I have now.  It has taken me a long time to come to terms with it, but I'm glad I am.

I digress.  OK back in my thriftaholic days... I happened to see some pieces of burlap at the thrift store.  I figured for sure I could figure out something to do with it.  What kind prim person doesn't have a little burlap right?  So into my cart it went all folded up nicely.  This was found at one of the nicer thrift stores I go to. LOL  I didn't bother to unfold it because burlap is burlap.  I'm sure it will be fine.I bring it home, lay it out all nice, and lo and behold what do I spy?  Yes, a wool rug hooking pattern.  Not just one but 2!!!! I was thrilled!!!  I will start it in a few weeks or so I thought.  Let me tell you it is 5 years later and here I am.

I assume the numbers correspond with some sort of color, but it didn't come with the burlap.  So, this will be a make it up as I go.  Yeah, yeah, I know pink, white, and brown aren't prim, but I am using wool I have collected over the years "because you never know when you will use it." LOL  So I am cutting my strips and will have to scour the thrift store for more wool.  I know I won't have near enough to do the whole thing.  This will take me forever, but it is a nice change from the normal cross stitch and punch needle.

Speaking of cross stitch...  I finished up my last pattern I designed.  I am in love with anything folk art. So, this guy is my favorite.  He is drying from his coffee stain bath.  I think this would make a really awesome punch needle project too!

This little sampler I never stained and it looked out of place so it got a light dribble stain on it.  It looks so much better now.

I hope you are having a productive day like I am. :-)  I need to wash some wool I collected so that it is suitable for hooking.  I need to find the directions.  I know I saw them somewhere on my Pinterest board.

New Finishes and Patterns

I have been busy like a beaver recently.  I'm trying to finish up projects instead of only finishing them half way like I usually do.  I guess when it comes to finishing I get mental blocks.  The only thing I can think of is framing and there are so many other ways.  In fact I have a ton of them saved on my Pinterest boards.  I just never think to look. LOL. 

Here are 2 finishes that aren't actually framed.

 

This is called "Welcome Spring."  My awesome stitcher Reeta stitched up the sample for me.  I decided it would look cute on a coffee stained green bag.  I have it hanging on one of my peg racks.  I also have the pattern ready and up for sale if you are interested.

The second finish is a punch needle.  This is my own design.  I don't normally decorate red, white, and blue but thought it was fitting for this one.   It will be for sale once I get a few things finished up.

 

Steve is working on a new frame for me because I had to keep moving this one in my normal hoop frame and it wasn't working so well.  I can't wait because I will be able to punch needle as well as rug hook on it.

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!  I am off on a holiday. Can you believe it? lol.  I am battling a nasty UTI but that hasn't stopped me from stitching.  I am working on another Redware type cross stitch pattern.  I think it would look good as a punch needle pattern too!  Until next time my friends.  Remember the real reason of Easter :-)

Less is More....

Today I planned on doing laundry, finishing up some projects, and cleaning the house.  Well, um... I did some of it. lol.  I started my laundry and as that was running I sewed up a few things in order to be able to coffee stain them.   I painted the picture frame I needed.  I picked out the fabric I wanted to use with my newest punchneedle piece.  Priorities people!!!!  Projects before housework!!! At least that is my motto. LOL.  Then I poured my second cup of java sat down in my messy dining room and decided to heck with cleaning let's rearrange.  I have been informed by some of my like minded friends that this is OK because I dust things off as I move them.  That's cleaning right?  So, I went through my dining room and moved things around a bit.  I took some things out to try once again to simplify.  It is so hard because I have so many collections.  I actually thought about needing more crocks, but looked around and geez I have more than I thought. LOL. I can't help it.  I just LOVE them as well as my wood bowl collection.  ughhh.... it's a curse I tell you!!! I can't have just 2 or 3 of something. Oh no!!! It has to be a ton.  And that my dear friends is why I am running out of room to put stuff here at the homestead.

WARNING: Picture heavy!!!  This is as far as I got today in the dining room.  Still sort of Springy in here don't you think?

Hopefully tomorrow I can finish up all my unfinished projects and then stitch on my newest cross stitch pattern I started yesterday at work.

Finishes So Far...

Well, I didn't get much accomplished yesterday.  I was just too tired to do anything more than the necessities.   You know shower, massage, and eat!  LOL.  Oh! and think about how I wanted to finish the goodies I showed you yesterday. :-)

Are you ready to see what I've done so far?

I was going to frame it, but after looking at it I thought this was a better finish :-)  It truly is not this bright.  It has that dark subdued coffee stained look.  It is handsitched on to green wool then stuffed. 

Next, we have a gorgeous pinkeep made from a stitched piece I did about a year ago and couldn't decide how to finish it.  I have a blue one that I'm thinking of doing the same way.  The pinkeep part is rag stuffed to give it that lumpy appearance.

This isn't completely done because I need to paint the frame black.  But I decided to mount it on black wool.

I think I will work on my punchneedle for the rest of the evening.  I'd really love to get that finished up.  Hopefully I can get the bird pattern finished up and ready for purchase soon.  I will let you know!  Have a great day everyone.

New Goodies In the Works

Good Morning!!!!! I have so much to do in my next 3 days off.  I just got off my 24 hour shift this morning and am a little tired but I'm just so excited.  I can't wait to get started!!!  I have been working like mad on all types of projects recently.  I finished one completely and have a bunch more in progress. 

After letting my punchneedle piece lay around for a month or so I finally decided how to finish it.   Not too bad if I say so myself. lol.  toot toot... I'm blowing my own horn... lololol.  Keep in mind this is only my second piece I ever punched.  And the first time I ever finished one like this.  After I finish up a few more projects this will be up for sale.

This is where I am this morning....  I coffee stained everything Sunday night so it could dry all day yesterday while I was at work so it would be ready for today.  Lots of goodies!!!!

  OK the "Welcome Spring" bunny just arrived in the mail from my stitcher Reeta when I got home this morning.  I still need to stain that piece.  But it is one of my newest designs!!! Too cute don't you think?

I'm also working on this new punchneedle piece.  I started it yesterday while I was at work.  This is another design I came up with.  I'm getting better at this each piece I do.  (The true colors are burgundy, navy, and cream.)  The lighting is bad this morning.

So, as you can see I have a lot to do and keep busy for the next few days. :-)  You know I didn't really plan it this way, but last week was cross stitching and this week punchneedle.  I kind of like it.  It gives me something different to do each week.  That way I don't get bored of one thing.  Now if only I could keep up with my business paperwork too.  There's always tomorrow...  Thanks for visiting today.  Have a great day!!!!

Still Stitching...

Good morning!!!! It may be rainy and dreary outside but inside I'm thrilled.  As you all know I am trying to get my business off the ground.  Well, if I can keep going like I am I will certainly get a lot done.  I know it doesn't make my business do better automatically, but I need to keep creating so my customers have a lot to choose from.  That being said I got another cross stitch pattern done.  2 in one week!!! I can not believe it!!! These aren't little ones by any means.  In fact the one I just finished had a lot of fill work to it.  I am NOT a fan of fill work!  Anyway, I LOVE it so it made it worthwhile. LOL.

You all know I've been on a redware type look kick.  I've seen redware designs using black, brown, green, mustard, and red.  My entire house, with the exception of my bedroom, is done in those colors.  I'm not a green fan, but I have made exceptions for some beautiful pieces.  That being said here is a picture of both of my newest pieces I completed.  It is a better picture of the first one I showed you the other day. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to frame both of them or finish my bird differently or what. We'll see.   I just love the folk art look of the one I just finished.  He took me 2 days to finish.  The first day I did all the red and mustard.  Yesterday was all fill in of the green.  My eyes were almost crossed by the end of the night. LOL

Today I will finish up a customer order then maybe start a punch needle project.  I need to do something else for a bit.  Have a great day everyone!!!!

1 Down...

In my last post I showed you some cross stitch patterns I had designed and couldn't decide which one to do first.  Well, I completed one of them in 2 days.  I LOVE when it's slow at work!  I can sit down and stitch away.  This one turned out a little differently than how I designed it color wise. I originally wanted it blue and mustard, but once I started stitching I saw it as different colors instead.  I wanted more of a redware feel.  So, this is what I came with..

I know the picture isn't great, but I will take a better one once I coffee stain it.  I just LOVE how it turned out.  I will be making a pattern for this one very soon.  I need to go in and change all of the original colors to these. 

Now to decide which one to do next... lol