Rascal Rabbit...

Did I mention that I love rabbits? I have been working on this RASCAL in my spare time for weeks. There were many quiet hours of gentle hand stitching; sewing on layers and layers of tatters and frays. The rabbit is my style applied to a design by Jill Maas. I love her quirky whimsical patterns. The turnip was made using a pattern by Tammie Everhart of Make Me a Memory. Tammie does wonderful fruit and vegetable patterns that look so real. I love hand sewing so I hated to see this project end but I do like the way he turned out. Creating is healing and good for the soul...

A Sweet Week...

We had some nice warm days and some nice cool, rainy days this past week.  I am tickled that by just working in small increments of time I was able to get all of the flowerbeds in front of our house cleaned out and some of my Elephant Ears transplanted into another bed.  The goal for this coming week is to start working on all of the flowerbeds out by our driveway.  Some new rose bushes may be in the plan.

The cool windy rainy days allowed for curling up in my comfy chair and finishing a second twisted crochet afghan to go with a His & Hers set and also to start on a new knitted project.  It has been a while since I knitted but once I got started it was like I had never left.  I also found some time to do another free motion machine embroidery doodle.  It will probably be a pillow front for the daybed sofa that now resides in the living room.  I'll leave that story for another post.

Enjoy your coming week.  You can get a lot done in just baby steps!

Feeling Better...

I am feeling much better and have finally been able to do some fun things.  I repainted our dining table...before

and after.

I can't decide if I want to paint my maple chairs or not...painting all of those spindles will be time consuming.  Do you think I should or should not paint??

I also managed to finish a Tussie Mussie Doll which is currently listed on Ebay HERE

and I also finished up a Burlap Stocking that can be used for Valentine's Day.  It is listed in my ETSY Shop HERE

It feels good to be creating again and semi back to normal...well normal for me,  which is not considered your average normal  :)

Hibernating...

I have been hibernating as of late due to our hot Texas weather...and did I mention we need rain?  A lot of crochet has been the order of most days and I also made some pillows for the daybed in my studio/nest where I spend most of my time.  These pillows are very popular and some of them can be a bit pricey. So being the frugal (aka cheap) person that I am, I made my own.

The French script pillows are fabric from Fabric.com. Just sew the size you want and stuff with fiberfil.  I did do a French rolled edge on the square pillow.  The other two pillows are muslin fabric that I ran through my printer and stitched to painter's canvas.  Graphics for the rabbit and carrot are courtesy of my favorite site, The Graphics Fairy.

My constant studio companion, Miss Beebs, had to check out every thing and make sure all is comfy and ready for lots of football and beauty snoozies.  She approves. Bring on football and cooler, rainy weather.  We're ready!

I'm already thinking Christmas!!

Christmas will be here before we know it!  I just listed a sweet *Limited Edition One of a Few from my Tin Can Collection* set of the Twelve Days of Christmas Ornaments in my PlumThicket's Smidgen Shop on ETSY

A wee bit of creating...

Several years ago Poppa found an old bottle when he was clearing some trees. This bottle is well over twenty years old.  I'm assuming it is an old perfume bottle.  It had no top or stopper.  I have had it sitting in my kitchen window all of this time.....begging for a lid of some sort.

 

The inspiration finally *struck* and I made a sweet topper for this bottle.  The little girl is made of paper mache using one of my vast collection of vintage antique reproduction molds. She is painted with acrylics and chalks, stained and adorned with vintage Cluney Lace and tea stained cheesecloth.  I love how this old bottle now has a new life.  Creating is good for the soul.

 

 



Old Things...

I LOVE old things; chippy paint, time worn, rusted, frayed, vintage.  I also love old window frames and have wanted a cathedral window frame for a long, long time.  Being the frugal (aka cheap) person that I am, I would not spend the money for an old architectural find....so.....I made one myself using some of the techniques I used in my Sweet Inspirations Cage Doll class.  It is much easier to make old things look new.  Making new things look old is a wee bit more difficult.  I love the way it turned out.  I put a shelf on the bottom and have it hung in the space that was calling for this piece (more on that later).  Now it's time to create some sweet things for this shelf.  Can't find what you want?....Make your own!

1940 Ironing Board and Stained Glass

My Mother purchased this wooden ironing board in 1940 for $3.19.  She paid it out Twenty-five Cents a week until it was paid for.  I am going to put it to good use...

Before



 

After with a rustic coat of Country White Semi

Gloss Latex on the top only

 

After After to be used as an end table

beside my daybed

 

After After

The vintage galvanized food carrier sitting in the floor

contains my beading and ribbon embroidery supplies

 

Poppa made this beautiful Stained Glass Bird
in a class in the late 1970's.  I do wish I could
get him interested in doing stained glass work again :)
 

 

 

Experienced?...

I finished this delightful Anastasia afgan kit from Herrschner's.  I taught myself to crochet many years ago but only did basic stitches.  About half way through this project I read that this is for EXPERIENCED crocheter's.  Hmmm, now I guess I am experienced because this was easy to do and so much fun. 

Crochet/Knit/Needlework is my comfort and my escape in my spare time.  I always have a pair of knitted socks in the works, but I'm thinking it is time for another crochet project just in case I should run out of something to do :)

Having fun with paper...



I love the way these paper ornaments turned out.  I created a scallop in one of my graphics programs, printed it several times on a stained sheet music graphic ( compliments of The Graphics Fairy ), printed on the backside with plain stained sheet music graphic, hand cut everything with embroidery scissors and glued it to cardboard circles cut from a cereal box.  A couple of coats of Sparkle Mod Podge, a rhinestone button center and a hanger made of silky crochet thread completes the look.  The back of the ornament looks almost as good as the front.  Each ornament is approximately 4-1/2" in diameter and they look stunning on my shabby chic themed Christmas tree!