First Snow

It waited until after Halloween to snow this year.

Still, it's come a tad bit too early for me. Sure is pretty, though!

Instead of BBQs and lemonade, it's time for some hot chocolate, snuggling under a blanket, and watching a movie.

Throwback Thursday - 2001 (Part 14)

Ah! The last of my 2001 projects is here. This is a project made up of four pieces that all fit together. This project was part of an Embroiderer's Guild workshop that taught us to do finishing work on needlework.


Needlework Primmer Pocket

All Pieces

This is known as a Needle Necessary. It's an inverted pocket that hangs on a twisted cord around your neck.

Main (Inverted) Pocket Front

Inside the main pocket is a smaller upright pocket that carries a pair of scissors and holds a pincushion and needlework.

Main (Inverted) Pocket Back

All the pieces are stitched on the outside and most are lined on the inside.

Lining

This is the inner pocket. It has a design stitched on the front,

Inner Pocket Front

and a pocket made of ultrasuede on the back that holds a pair of preemie scissors.

Inner Pocket Back

The needlebook's front is a series of specialty stitches with their names.

The needlebook's back has a typical sampler quotation.

The pincushion is square with stitching on the front

Pincushion Front

and back. The pins poke in from the sides.

Pincushion Back

The stitches we used are the four-sided stitch, the whip stitch, a buttonhole stitch, backstitch, an eyelet stitch, the Nun's stitch, cross stitch, queen stitch, Smyrna cross, and Algerian eye. This was the first time I'd tried several of the stitches, which was fun and engaging.

I don't find this primmer pocket at all useful. I think of it as a sampler of stitches and finishing techniques.

Wall Tile

This is another detail of a wall tile I saw at the vintage mall. This one is concave, with the sides much thicker than the center. It has this gorgeous allover squiggly design.

I Voted

I am officially one of the "gray-hairs" now.

I arrived at our precinct 15 minutes after it opened. I waited in line for 40 minutes. I voted.

That's a big turn-out for our precinct at a mid-term election. Most of the folks who arrive at the precinct early are our older citizens. The only ones without gray hair were a woman whose red head could not have come from the womb, and a mother who brought her 9 year old daughter with her to teach her how voting is done.

I received a paper in the mail last week that said I have a 100% voting record. Well, I know I missed a couple school board elections and special elections, but for state and national elections, yes. I always vote.

Standing in line with my other "gray-hairs," I feel such pride. In them for turning up year after year. In myself for taking part. True patriotism ... not the kind that merely wears flag pins on their lapels as "proof." Not the kind that makes crude jokes or statements about the "other" party while waiting in line. Nor the kind that fly tattered American flags from the back of their pick-up trucks (how is that respect for the flag?)

I'm a quiet kind of patriot. I love this democratic process, even when I get frustrated and shake my head at our local, state, or national politics. I pay attention. I consider thoughtfully. I engage in a way that makes sense to me.

So, no. I won't fly a flag today - though I respect the right of those who choose to do so in the name of free speech. I'm not that overt. I will wear my "I Voted" sticker - though I have no plans to leave the house later today, so who will see it? I will decorate our living room in red, white, and blue. And I will host an election party tonight to share the election results with family close to me. Dale and I expect to be up later than usual tonight.

Yes! Democracy.

Bouncy Bouncy

Dale and I completed a Bouncy Balls puzzle on Sunday while listening to more podcasts. If this is what our retirement will be like when we reach it in a few years, that's just fine with me.

The entire puzzle looks like this:

Puzzles and Podcasts

Nothin' like a wet, rainy day to drive Dale and me inside for an afternoon of Puzzles and Podcasts. On this chilly autumn day, we put together a puzzle full of summer flip flops. We managed to do it in one sitting ... and about 5 podcast episodes.

What are we listening to these days?

Bag Man - about Spiro Agnew's criminal behavior. This series is just beginning. Two episodes are available as of today.

Presidential - learning a little about each president with each episode ... including what the president would be like on a first date. (I'm not kidding). We're about half way through this series.

Happier - my daily go-to podcast that gives me tips and reminders and things to try to make my life a little happier. There are 193 episodes available as of this writing. I started at the beginning and listen to an episode nearly every day. Highly recommended.

Autumn Leaves

Come close

Click for larger image

Closer

Art Deco Pin

I had a choice between writing about the first Christmas decoration I made for 2018 ... or this pin I saw at the vintage shop.

I figure some of my readers aren't ready for Christmas yet. Plus, I wanted to see what I could do in my editing program to make this pretty lady stand out more than on the original photo.

Throwback Thursday - 2001 (Part 13)

Here are four more projects from 2001.


Christmas Foundation Pieced Banner

As you may had discerned by now, I'm quite a goal-oriented gal. One of my year 2001 goals was to learn to do some foundation piecing for quilting. I had a book devoted to it, and had seen the technique done over and over on TV. It looked easy enough for me to try without benefit of a class. (That was before YouTube, I guess).

The colors in this piece are sort of odd because I did a true scrap quilt — using the fabrics and embellishments I had on hand. That's what our foremothers did too, right? I pulled some stash fabrics, cut 'em up in little pieces, and made four Christmas Tree blocks.

Two of the blocks have a single triangle for the tree, the other two blocks have a tree made out of strips. My favorite is the one made of plaids and small flowers. I combined the blocks with green sashing, then turned them into a small banner.

My (then) 8 year old daughter helped me decorate the trees with beads, buttons, baubles, sequins, metallic fibers, etc. I then quilted the border with stars, holly leaves, Christmas trees and a swirling line of my own design. I've not done much hand quilting, and it shows.

This is a large image of the completed banner. Click on it to see the detail of my piecing, embellishment and quilting (or right click your mouse and open the image in a new tab). The banner measures approximately 9" x 12.5"

Click for detailed image

Fur and Feathers by Bent Creek

I stitched this as a surprise for my daughter Jeanne's 17th birthday.  I just love the expression on the face of this silly cat. It looks like it's saying, "Hey! I got a bird on my back!"

My daughter will be twice that age this month! She still hangs this nutty piece in her home.

 Scottie Dog Bookmark

I continued to stitch bookmarks for my "quiltie ladies" in December. I made this one for Terry who loves dogs! I like how the Scotties are dressed up for Christmas

Snowflake Gift Tag

This snowflake was a freebie ornament pattern by Treetrunk Designs. It's stitched with DMC gold metallic (about the weight of #5 perle cotton). That fiber was a bit too thick for the 18 count gray aida I used.

I gave this to my my EGA gift exchange partner Su, along with a gift. 

Next week I'll share my last 2001 project, and it's a doozy. It's a class piece that I made with my embroiderer's guild and has lots of stitched components. 

18 in 2018: October Update

October showed the least amount of progress on my goals of the entire year. I was having fun making Halloween crafts and I went on a trip to Oregon. I didn't think about my goals very much. But I did do a couple things.

Goal #3 - Blogging about my projects from 1994 - 2008

I made blogs posts for three of the four weeks (due to my trip). I'm still reviewing projects from 2001.


Goal #15 - Basic Pattern Drafting

I drafted the skirt pattern and sewed a mock-up from scrap fabric. The skirt fit! It's not something I'll ever wear, but it set me in a good direction. For this skirt, I need to make the patterns shorter, change the shape of the hem, figure out a couple waist finishing solutions, etc. I'm very encouraged.


Goal #16 - Color Theory

I watched several videos on color theory and learned about Adobe's wonderful color site. I also did an overview of my correspondence course. I've decided to give the course concerted effort while my husband is away on a business trip in November.


That's about it ... and will be for the rest of the year because Goals 3 and 16 will go on into next year.

In November I hope to create some Christmas cards and do some more stitching and sewing. Oh, and Christmas crafts. I love to make Christmas crafts! (Don't tell anyone, but I've already made my first one this year!)

One thing this 18 Goals in 2018 challenge has taught me is that I need my goals to be simpler and take less time so that I have plenty of creative energy to develop new ideas as the year unfolds.

Spooky Owl Wreath

This is the final Halloween craft I have planned for this year. The finished product is nothing like I envisioned when I started out. I think this may be even better.

I'd intended to make a wreath base from tree branches in our back yard. Lo and behold, my husband Dale has been johnny-on-the-spot and cleaned them all up as he prepped the yard for winter! So I moved to Plan B, which was finding a grapevine wreath in my stash. This was originally from Dollar Tree. The first thing I did was spray paint it black on both front and back, with two coats of paint.

The four fronds I used (also from Dollar Tree) are covered in glitter -- with a lot of fallout. So I took them outside and sprayed them with hairspray to contain some of the mess. It did a fairly good job, but there was still plenty of glitter to sweep up on the floor and table in my Studio by the end of the day. (It's worth it!)

Once all the components were dry, I began the decorating. I started by making a hanging loop on the back of the wreath from a black chenille stem (pipe cleaner). These were in my stash, left over from the Skeleton Wreath I made earlier.

It took three attempts to attach the fronds to the wreath form in a way that looked pleasing. I ended up cutting the frond "branches" apart, bending them into a slight arch, placing them on the wreath, and attaching them with chenille stems.

All the attempts at placing the fronds made some of the black paint scrape off the wreath. I used a black Sharpie to color in the most egregious spots.

When I hung it on the wall, I liked it, but it looked like it needed something else. I didn't want to add ribbon, because I wanted it to look more spooky than pretty -- even though it's covered in glitter. While I worked today, I was listening to the Audible book A History of Magic. I'd just finished listening to a chapter on Magical Creatures. Owls! I could add an owl!

I Googled images of owl silhouettes and found several good candidates. I settled on this one. I resized the image to approximately 6 inches tall. I printed it. Then pinned it to craft felt and cut it out using small, sharp embroidery scissors to get into the nooks, crannies, feathers, and talons.

Then I took another piece of chenille stem and whip stitched it to the back of the felt owl to give it a little stability and keep it upright. I tucked the owl into the fronds, which are holding him in place.

I put this wreath in our front entryway, flanked by a couple skeletons.

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To recreate this wreath if you have no supplies, it would cost approximately:
$ 1.00  grapevine wreath
$ 4.00  glitter fronds
$ 6.00  spray paint
$ 1.00  hair spray
$ 1.00  chenille stems
$ 1.00  black craft felt
$14.00 TOTAL

Since I had most of the supplies in my stash, it cost me $4.00 for the glitter fronds.

Foam Pumpkins - Part 3

This is the last of the carvable foam pumpkin makeovers that I have planned for this year. This time, the pumpkin is covered in lush velvet (velveteen, really).

I started, once again, from a foam pumpkin from Dollar Tree.

I used this velveteen fabric that I have in my stash. This fabric began its life as a king-size waterbed blanket. I bought it at a yard sale many years ago, gave half of it away, have used it in several projects, and still have a lot left. It worked well in this project because it doesn't ravel when cut and was easy to work with.

I used some scrap paper to approximate the size of fabric strips I'd need to cover the pumpkin from top to bottom, and be convex enough to cover the roundest part of the pumpkin.

Using that pattern, I traced it on the back side of the velveteen fabric with a sharpie, and cut the strips with pinking shears. I needed fourteen of these strips to cover my pumpkin with plenty of overlap.

Then, using two straight pins at each end, I attached the strips to the pumpkin. I started at the top, pulled gently, and then attached the strip to the bottom. Each strip overlapped the previously strip about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

I wanted to try something different for the top. Instead of using the styrofoam stem that came with the pumpkin, I made my own stem from aluminum foil and polymer clay. (I didn't take any photos while I was experimenting, sorry).

I began by taking aluminum foil and crushing it into a shape that looked something like a pumpkin stem and vine. Next, I conditioned some polymer clay I had in my stash left over from a project from my daughter's wedding. After softening it, I rolled it into a thin layer.

Next I cut it into narrow strips and laid it over the foil armature, smoothing the pieces into place and rubbing them until they adhered to each other. Making the shape and keeping it was a little tricky and called for some patience.

I cured the polymer clay by placing it in a 275 degree oven for 30 minutes. After it cooled, I painted the clay with one coat of white chalk paint (for good coverage). I then applied two coats of an Aztec Gold paint. I didn't really like the result because that gold is rather dull. So I added one coat of Pure Gold paint. That made my stem nice and shiny and gave me the look I was going for.

Finally, I used hot glue to attach the stem to the top of the pumpkin.

Overall, I'm pleased with this piece. I like the technique I used for the stem. I do think the size and the shape of the stem is slightly disproportionate to the pumpkin. It sticks up a bit taller and straighter than it did in my imagination. I think the finished piece makes a pleasant addition to my pumpkin patch.

Welcoming the Trick-or-Treaters

Jeanne came by on Saturday and we laughed all morning while decorating the front porch for Halloween.

This year, instead of a giant spider as our main feature, we decided to create a monster face using craft paper, wrapping paper, printer paper, crepe paper streamers, and giant google eyes. The small purple bats are a new addition to the porch, too.

We covered our "twirler" with a paper towel and cheese cloth, then added goodle eyes on springs to make the ghost a little scarier. He twists in the wind.

Our black cat flying on a broomstick made a reappearance, along with the big black bats. This year, a small purple bat held on to the broom tail as a stowaway.

The tablescape is full of pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, along with a skull brewing in the kettle. The

jack-o-lantern on the right will be lit on Halloween night.

On the right side of the door, the wreath made of black plastic straws returns with its spiders.

Our new skeleton bones wreath hangs on the door's left.

One of my favorite features this year is our new mangy cat guarding the door. He's cut from craft felt and looks ready to scratch any kid who gets too close.

I do believe we're ready!

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Mangy cat inspired by Greenstar Outdoor Vinyl