Geraniums and More Violets

More violets for me! This violet candle mat is a customer order. I told her last week that I should have it done by Friday, so I'm going to have to really work on this today to get it done for tomorrow and mailed out. I actually started making it, getting about half the little flowers on and then looking at it I thought "Hey, this doesn't look right". So I went back to the picture I had of the previous ones that I made and saw that I was using the wrong sized background wool for it. It was too big!
So, I had to start all over again cutting out more of those dang little violets and this time using the right sized template background.
I still have to attach more little violets to that inside ring and then attach the little leaves to each of the bunches. Then I'll sew on the backing, and I'm done. I'm going to keep it on the dining room table today so that I can work on it during free minutes and then finish it up tonight while watching Survivor and The Office. My customer is giving it to her mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I feel honored to be able to make it for her. Next project up to do is a geranium. I just drew it up last night and still have some leaf size adjustments to do before it turns into a pattern, but this is basically what it will look like. I made a template of the little flower so all I have to do is trace the flower onto freezer paper, dozens of times and iron that onto the wool.
I had a customer ask me back in February to make a gerainium, but with it still being winter, I asked her to wait until closer to geranium season so that I could see a real one. Seeing real ones right in front of me helps to get the size and shapes right and it gives me a better idea of the right colors to use too.
So Geraniums are out in the stores now, it's time to make them!
I'll make a pink one first just because I have the wool dyed and handy right now and then I'll attempt a red one if the pink turns out nice.

Oh, happy day! Rachel is coming home today! I'm hoping that my other sweetheart daughter will stop over to visit tonight too so that we can all be together. I love my girls!

Identify This Pattern Please

I've mentioned in other posts that I've been asked to make a long rooster tablerunner. The customer has a wonderful rooster collection and wishes a primitive runner with roosters to use for her long oak farmtable. She has a picture perfect prim home, and is very particular about her decorating so I want to draw up the design first so that she can approve it and help select the wool colors to use.
I need to come up with the design though.
I'm working into more of a rooster-drawing mood now and after typing in "rooster art" in google images, I'm getting more excited about roosters. If you want to see some gorgeous roosters, do that google search.
This rooster has been hanging in my dining room ever since I started working with wool. This is the first wool applique that I made just for me and I've always loved the rooster on it. Looking at it now, if I were to make it again, I'd make some minor changes (those black&white checks and tone down some colors) but the rooster with the various tweeds would probably stay about the same. I like the body design, so I think I might use the body with different head positions in my design. I need to find that pattern that I used for this though.

And that's where the problem is .....
I can't find my pattern for it. I remember that it's a quilt pattern so the picture on the front of the pattern, from what I remember, shows quilted cotton squares with completely different colors. I remember long ago buying the pattern at my favorite local quilt shop. That shop is out of business now, so I can't get help there.

So if anyone recognizes this rooster, with the sunflowers and cockscomb, please let me know what it is so that I can purchase another pattern.

Happy day everyone! Time for me to go out and cut grass in between the raindrops.

The Complaint Department is now OPENED

I've recovered quite nicely from the Sunday move-out from the dorm day. Rachel's boyfriend was a sweetheart and stayed to help us, which was an enormous help.
I think Rachel had this worked out quite nicely though. She had us go down, load up the truck with her stuff and sent us on our way home; without her. Now, for her this is wonderful, because she doesn't have to UNLOAD the truck. Finding places to store her things until August is the most difficult part of the entire move. I could/should just unload the things into the living room and wait for her to put it all away when she comes home on Thursday, but that would mean I'd have to live with that mess until then. So yes, mom carries all the things upstairs and stores everything nicely on the sunporch which is right off of her bedroom.

It's all ok though, because Rach is coming home on Thursday!!

She texted me once we got home and said that she can't wait to get home so that she can finally do nothing but relax on the couch.
For me, that was wonderful to hear because I know how much she loves her college life and I know she's going to miss the boyfriend so I didn't think she was going to be really happy to be home.
Rachel is coming home on Thursday!

Ok, so now to the entire theme of this posting ,which is :
THE COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT

I decided that every once in a while, I'm going to make a post that is devoted to my complaints. You know, those everyday little things that you try not to let bother you but the more you think about it, the more peeved you get? I think actually writing out the complaint, getting sympathy and understanding from my fellow bloggers should help the peevement immensely. (Yes, peevement is not a word but until I think of a better descriptive word, it will stay.)

Here's my complaint:

Early in the morning on nice days, I would sit on the side porch swing with my cup of coffee and just enjoy nature. We had such a nice view from there with a gently sloping hill and our pine trees which lined the one border of our property.

But then, a few months ago a storm came through. One large tree fell and took most of the other pine trees with it, leaving us with this view:

It's awful. The trees hid that view, they muffled the sounds and they kept the neighbors trash from blowing up onto our property. Let's go take a closer look at this to see what's down there....

Are those garbage bags laying at the side of the house? Well looky there, yes they are!

Ugh ... when we bought our house 30 years ago, the neighbors were an elderly couple and their house was like a cute little cottage. When they both passed away, the house was inherited by .... well that's a long story, but basically, the people who live in the house now, don't seem to care about property values.
So that's my complaint.
We will be installing fencing along the border, but it's just not going to be the same.
What a shame.
Do you have a complaint? Now's the perfect time to get it out!
Complaint Department is now opened!

Move Out Day!

Today, which will probably be the hottest day of the year, my hubby and I are driving down to Cal U to load up Rach's dorm room things to bring home. We're hoping to bring home most of the larger things, like the fridge and tv and microwave, so that when she comes home on Thursday, after finals, she'll be able to load up the remaining in her car, saving us another trip down.
It's only a 1 1/2 hour drive down, so if we do have to go down again on Thursday, at least husband won't have to take the day off.
What's up with this weather, though?? Less than a week ago, it was snowing. Yesterday, the high temp here on Wagner's knob was 90. Today it's supposed to get just as hot. I know I shouldn't be complaining about gorgeous weather, but SHEESH, we have a lot of work to do today and the heat will be exhausting.
This year, Rach's dorm room is a looooong distance from the parking lot so it's a lot of walking to get there. At least there's an elevator. I'm hoping she'll have a few friends there that will be willing to help.
Rachel is coming home on Thursday!
She's had a tough year at school, not academically but with a pretty rugged schedule. She's on the volleyball team and even though the spring semester is off season, she still has practices everyday with trainings, workouts, lifting... and it requires getting up for 6am every morning to do it. She's one tough cookie and she still manages to get a 4.0 gpa too. I'm so impressed with her and pretty proud too. It'll be so good to have her home again.
I finished up the Strawberry Candle Mat last night. Hope to get it Ebay listed tonight. We'll see how exhausted I am by the time we get home. :)
I've an order that came in last night for a candle mat so that gives me yet another excuse to put off the rooster penny rug that I should be working on.
Before I close and get on with my heat-filled day ... let me just say....

GO PENS!!

Oh, that was such a terrific game yesterday!

Strawberry Addiction

So, here's the problem; I should be working on drawing up a nice rooster design for a long tablerunner penny rug. I've a customer who requested this. Instead, I find myself drawing more strawberries. One would think that by now I'd be tired of strawberries because I've already done one hugely detailed strawberry candle mat plus 4 strawberry pincushions. On top of that, eating real strawberries on ice cream and cake... it certainly should be something that of which I've had my fill..
But guess what folks? ......

Yes, indeed, it's more strawberries! I guess it's just that time of year and with the weather becoming so nice and springlike, I'm more in the mood to draw flowers and butterflies and yes, strawberries.
Roosters are more ... hmmm ... late summer and fall kinda things, I'm thinkin'.

I've listed a bunch of things on EBAY people! Go take a look. Decide which one or two or ten things you want to buy and then start bidding, please. Sales are slumpier than slump so any one of these items are sure to sell for low low prices.
I'm pretty sure that the word "slumpier" is my very own created word, but my kids tell me that I have a tendency to do that...create my own words.

Anyways, seriously, here's another shameless, HUGE PLUG for my EBAY things .
Bid now, bid early and don't get peeved if someone bids at the very last 2 seconds and steals it from under you. I've had numerous and humorous complaints from bidders because they'd lost to a winning sniper.

See, anyone that sells on Ebay, knows about the snipers. To "snipe" on Ebay means to bid on something at the very last seconds before the auction ends. There's a trick to it and some people actually use a special program that will do it automatically for them. The sniper usually always wins.

Let's just say that some of my favorite people are snipers and although I feel sympathy towards the unsuspecting loser of the sale, I have to laugh when they send me FURIOUS emails afterwards, complaining about the sniper. I'm laughing now, just thinking about it.
It's just part of the Ebay game, people. I love all my customers, no matter how they win the item. Snipers included!

Another shameless plug in case you happened to miss the shameless plug above or are too lazy to scroll up to click on the link .... VISIT ME GO HERE!

IT'S BETTER THAN STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE WITH PILES OF WHIPPED CREAM

Ok, that's a blatant lie, I'm sorry. :)

Happy day everyone!

Wool Blankets Galore!

Yesterday was such a dreary day with the rain and oh look, today is exactly the same!
After the morning grandson visit, I went out to do errands and decided to make a stop at my local Goodwill store just to look for wool. Now, mind you, not many, if any, people around here do anything with wool, so the thrift stores in my area are just full of wonderful selections of just about anything that I want, for cheap, cheap! I limit my wool buying now to mostly blankets, because I really have so much of everything else, I just don't have the room. Wool blankets are a rare find at the Thrift stores though, so when I do happen to see one, I snatch it up, no matter what the price. Yesterday, I stuck gold. Not just one, but THREE wondeful, lovely, soft ,beautiful creamy colored wool blankets were there on the rack, just waiting for me to take them home.
For a total of $15.98 I was able to get a North Star blanket which is a thinner weight and two army blankets. The one army blanket is actually labeled medical blanket and with the date, 1944. It's such beautiful thick wool no holes or stains and just the perfect weight just for penny rug backgrounds. I hate to cut it up just because of the special printing on it, but the wool is so lovely that I know I'll eventually cut into it.
Getting bargains like this just makes my day even when it's rainy and dreary.
Today, after taking the satin binding off the one blanket, I'll throw them into the washer, and wash them a couple times, just to get them super clean and fresh smelling.
Of course, Precious kitty, has to attack the bag that the blankets were in. She loves those plastic bags!

I have to include a K picture. He's helping me clear off the dining room table by putting the pincushions on the ..... floor! Yikes, they didn't stay on the floor for long, I promise.

Happy Day everyone!

A not so Prim Candle Mat

I finally finished up the Violet Candle Mat yesterday, while watching the hockey game on tv.
This, along with the matching pinkeep is up on Ebay now so keep your fingers and toes crossed that it does well. I'd ask for a prayer but really, there's so many more important things to pray for, I'll just stick to crossed fingers and toes for this!
So as I'm listing this it occured to me that this is not the least bit primitive, but yet, I'm listing it in the primitive category. I've really strayed from making primitives mats and I think it's time to make an adjustment in my listings. Just not sure where to place it to get the best viewers. I'm kinda getting the craving to go back to the more primitive mats, but, unfortunately they just don't sell as well.

I had a question about the little flowers that I make and how I make them. On way to make them is to cut little circles and notch them out to make flowers but most times I draw the flowers on freezer paper, iron them onto the wool and then using little scissors, just start cutting. It's hard on the fingers so I only cut until my fingers turn numb, then it's time to quit for a while. I do admit my thumb is calloused from the scissors. The little baggie has flowers that I'm saving for a lilac pinkeep.

Well, I have our grandson visiting me for a bit today, so I shall end this quickly because he's requesting his favorite, peaches and cream oatmeal!

Happy Day, even though it's raining here!

It's Pink Saturday!

Beverly, over at How Sweet the Sound is the hostess for the weekly
Pink Saturday. Go visit her site for the list of pink participants and then go on a journey of PINK!
I really don't do a lot of pink but now that I'm attempting to do Pink Saturdays, I do notice a touch of pink here and there in my home.
This is a wool applique mat that I made several years ago. I love it so much I just can't sell it. It's been hanging in my dining room since it's creation.

The next pink thing that I noticed was in my kitchen. It's a vintage potholder that came from my mother-in-law. I don't know how old it is, but it's so cute that I never actually use it. It's always hanging off a magnetic hook on my fridge.

The potholder sheep gave me the recent design idea....

Oh, I wsh I had taken a better picture of this. I took the sheep from the potholder, tweaked it a bit and came up with this candle mat. I liked the little flower necklaces on them. This mat isn't finished yet, by the way. I need to put a few more finishing touches on it and attach the backing on it yet. Then it goes on Ebay.

There's a close up of the sheep. I get my ideas for designs from all sorts of things, whether it be the flowers growing outside, or a picture from someone's living room, or a flower on someone's dress . For the violet mat that I'm making now, the idea came from the flowers on my wallpaper border in my bedroom.

Other times, I have customers that make requests for certain things. Recently someone asked for a rose and someone else asked for geraniums and someone else has asked for watering cans and someone else wishes for roosters. I just need more time in the day to finish it all!

Happy Pink Saturday to everyone! Thank you for taking the time to visit.

It's looking like a beautiful day!

It's finally sunny today and I think I heard that it will be in the 60s' today. Yay for nice weather. I won't get much sewing done today because I need to take advantage of the weather to get some yardwork done.

Here's what I have done on the Violet candle mat so far....
The white basted lines won't stay on there. I quickly basted the thread in there so that I can easily center each flower bunch in it's own space. It's much easier and quicker to use a chalk line to mark the sections, but I've found that on darker backgrounds, sometimes that chalk is difficult to remove. Now, I just take the extra time to baste the lines.

Ok, so here's a picture that shows three things that are invaluable to me for my sewing. The circle template, the clear rulers and the sewing board.

Now obviously the rulers would be important for any kind of sewing. The two shown are old and back from my quilting days. It goes to show that if you spend the money to get good quality items, they will last forever.

The plastic circle template ... oh, I've used this so much for penny rugs. Think of all the circles involved with penny rugs and you'll understand why this template is so important. In the colonial days, coins were used to make the circles for penny rugs, hence the name "penny rug". When I first started, I used coins, cups, thread spools, lids ... anything that was circle shaped, I used it for templates. That works, but for a few bucks at Walmart this template will save you time. Draw the circles on some freezer paper, iron the freezer paper onto your wool and cut out the circle shapes.

The sewing board....when I show pictures of my penny rugs in progress, chances are, this board will be shown underneath. Oddly, it's been so long, I don't remember when I started using this. I don't even remember where the boards came from, but I have two of them that I use. I don't know what kind of wood this is, but it's thin but not flexible, lightweight and smooth and I know that sheets of it can be purchased inexpensively at Lowes. Mine measures about 15" x 20" but it probably would be nicer to have it a little smaller.
I never sew my wool to the tablecloth anymore because of this board. All my work is done on it. When I sew while watching tv, the board is on my lap, giving me a hard surface to work on.
I don't know if the picture shows, but I write little notes on it too. Measurements that I might need, ideas for shapes ... all kinds of things get penciled in on the board and it wears off after time because the board is used so much. I have two of them so that if I'm working on one project, I'll have one free to use in case I have to start on another project.
Oh sheesh, look at me sitting here typing on the computer when I should be outside appreciating this wonderful weather and doing yardwork!
Happy day!

Pin Keeps!

I'm so happy with how these little pincushions turned out. I've learned now to try to make pin cushions out of my new design ideas first, before making it into a candle mat so that I can make adjustments to sizes, colors and little tweaks to the design itself. This way, I'm not messing up a large piece of wool with sewing changes.

Seeing these now, I know the tweaks that have to be made for the candle mat. I'll make the little flowers on the hillside a little bigger and the leaves on the violet one, a little smaller. Oh, and I need to put a little tie aroud the sheep's neck ... perhaps a tiny bell would look cute too.

Last night I worked on cutting out all the tiny pieces that will make up both of the candle mats. All that needs done now is the best part ... the sewing.
I wish I had a little fairy that could be trained to cut out all the shapes so that all I'd have to do was draw the design, pick the colors, and sew. And no, I tried a long time ago to make my kids the fairies, but I found out quickly that #1. they hated it and #2 they don't cut like I cut. :)

Back when I first started making penny rugs and selling them on Ebay, sales were so good that things were literally grabbed up as soon as I listed them. I just couldn't make them fast enough. I noticed that one seller was very quickly selling her young daughter's penny rugs which were VERY primitive, with the crooked stitching ... basically very bad stitching but that's the appeal of the really primitive designs. I told my Rachel, who was like 10 at the time, that she could be making things to sell on Ebay too.
Haha, she attempted. I still have her one and only little wool applique mat that she designed and stitched completely on her own. I'm not sure where it is right now, but I'm going to have to get a picture of it to show. Let's just say, it was really primitive! She didn't enjoy doing it however, so that was the end of her stitching attempts.
Neither of my daughters have inherited that "need" to sew that I have. I would think if they had "it", it would have shown up by now.

Happy day everyone! I've some stitching to do!

Future Projects: A Sneak Peak

Easter is over, now it's back to wool! I've been so busy this past week getting ready for Easter, that I haven't had much chance to do any sewing, but my head was quickly becoming full of great design ideas. Last night, I was physically exhausted from the day, but was excited to sit and draw out some of my ideas.
This morning, I dyed up some of the colors that I would need. I had to stop though because I'm out of vinegar (used in the wool dyeing process).
This is the very next project for a candle mat., bunches of violets. I'm going to make a little pincushion from this design first. I think I will alternate the colors of the violet flowers using purples and deep pink.

This is the next design that I'll work on this week. I did a nice Valentine candle mat using this similar sheep design and thought it would be nice to do different seasons and or holidays using this same design. So this is the Spring Sheep. I'll probably do a pin cushion with this pattern too.

I've been wanting to do butterflies using this design, but I just haven't been able to come up with a decent layout for it. I drew this up but I don't think I will use this design. I don't like the scale of the flowers compared to the butterfly, so it's back to the drawing board. I probably should just do all butterflies but that's going to take a LOT of time to do 6 or 8 butterflies with all that detail, but if I do manage to do all that work, it could be absolutely wonderful ... hmmm.... gotta think more on this design, for sure.

I dyed up this wool this morning. At first I was disappointed because it didn't turn out like I was hoping. However, looking at it on my table as it dried, it reminded me of the colors that are in my bunch of ivy that I have in a basket. Now, without even trying I've the wool to make a nice ivy covered candle mat! I need to work out that design now.

My Ebay listings HERE, for the Strawberry candle mat and pin cushion are ending tonight. So much time was put into creating and making that candle mat, I can't help but to say a little prayer that the bids go a lot higher in the final seconds.

Easter Happiness

Easter is so much better when there are little ones around, especially 2 year old little ones.
Yesterday, both he and Rachel colored the Easter Eggs. He's old enough that he wants to help with everything so we let him drop the dye tablets into the vinegar. It was quite hilarious though because when he was handed the first dye tablet, it instantly went into his mouth because he thought it was candy. Oh my oh my, it was funny, with Pap fishing the tablet out of his mouth. He was a little blue, but no harm done.

Today will be busy ... getting ready for the family to visit tomorrow ... trying to figure out where/how we will seat 22 people. It's all good, just being together with family will be worth it all.

Easter Happiness wishes to everyone!

Lesson #1: DO NOT TALK ON PHONE WHILE CUTTING FABRIC

Finished up the two window valances yesterday.
I did something really stupid, hence the Lesson #1 subject.
See, one should never, ever, EVER, try to measure fabric while talking on the phone and even worse, one should never, ever, EVER, CUT fabric while talking on the phone. Because even if you think you're doing it right, you are distracted and chances are pretty good that you're not doing it right.
Thankfully, the cutting errors (note the plural in that word) could be corrected without it being noticeable.
Here's the window above the kitchen sink. Take note that this picture was taken about 20 minutes before the next picture ... notice the STUPID snow in the next picture. Someone please tell me why we have so much snow in April. It's just not right, nor FAIR.
So here's what the finished valances look like. Not too bad, eh? Considering I didn't use a pattern for these, and it took me probably twice as long to make them because of it, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I need to add some covered buttons on each of the 5 plaid points and I do think that I'm going to have to get my sweet husband to move the rod up higher because it's cutting off too much of my sky view. The rod is at the very top of the wood molding now so moving it up higher would require him drilling holes into the wall. He protested a bit when I suggested moving it higher because he's very protective of his nice new drywall and doesn't want holes anywhere. It's kinda cute and I smile just knowing that no matter how much he protests, I know he'll find a way to hang anything, wherever I want it.

I've lots to do today, most of it involves being in the kitchen getting ready for Easter.

I married my wool today

Easter dinner will be at my house this year. My two brothers and my sister, with their families will be here. This week will be spent getting ready for that and putting some finishing touches in the kitchen. My husband and I completely gutted our kitchen this past fall and finally finished it up right before Christmas. I still haven't made curtains or added finishing touches to the kitchen, mostly because it's painting that needs to be done outside, in nice weather ...which we haven't had too much of lately. This is my sewing project for today.
I'm going to turn this fabric into 2 window valances. Still not sure exactly what the design will be, but it will get done today. yessiree, it will.

Ok, marrying wool doesn't require anything but some wool, some string, a pot and some water. Basically marrying wool is using one color of wool to bleed into a lighter color wool, creating a nice mottled mix of colors in the lighter wool. So here, I've a red piece of wool and scrunched up a piece of white wool.

 **NOTE:  This works well with most recycled wool...wool from skirts, jackets, etc.  It doesn't work most times with hand-dyed wool since the methods used to dye will set the dye into the wool so that it doesn't bleed.**

Fold the two pieces up together. I prefer to wet the wool beforehand, but dry wool works too.

Use some string to tightly tie the wool. I don't use rubber bands because I've learned from experience, that the rubber bands can break during the cooking process.

Using tongs, carefully place the wool bundle into boiling hot water. Let it simmer on low heat for ... I dunno, maybe 30 min or so. Carefully take it out of the water, rinse with cold water, cut the strings and open up your surprise package.

Voila! This is what it turns into...a nice mottled blending of colors. Reds always marry into shades of pinks. At least for me it does. I never get a true red. It's nice to use this method when you need several different shades of the same color. I'm planning to use this for tulips and roses.

Ok, kitchen curtain time. I'm dusting off my sewing machine RIGHT NOW!

Busy Sunday

Sundays should be relaxing, right? I had so much fun yesterday visiting all the Pink Saturday sites that I'm behind schedule so today it's catch-up day.
K and Jen are coming over for dinner so I'd like to get everything finished before then. More Ebay things will be listed tonight (hopefully). I'll be listing the Strawberry Candle Mat for sure and hopefully, I'll finish up another strawberry pin cushion to list too.
So here's a picture of the grass dish that K helped me make a week or so ago ...
This is just a little one and prim with small tulips and wool bunnies.
I've had a lot of questions about growing the grass and the post HERE
gives a quick how-to for it. Basically, you fill a container with some potting soil, moisten it well then place a thick layer of grass seed right on top. You don't need to cover the seeds. Moisten the seeds, cover it with some plastic wrap and set it aside. In a couple days, you'll see that it's sprouted. Uncover it ,keep it moist and in about a week, the grass will be thick enough to decorate it any way you wish. Watch that it doesn't dry out and every once in a while cut the grass with some scissors to keep it neat! That's it!

Oh and in my last post, I gave too much credit to my daughter, Jen, and said that she would smile that smile but was too sweet to tell me that my grass growing was silly. I take that back! When talking to her on the phone yesterday, I was gloating to her how so many people liked the grass in the basket and that I mentioned in the blog about her and her sister thinking it was all so silly and that someday she will do it herself. Her response, to ME, her MOTHER, was "Mom, even back when I was 12, I thought it was stupid." Haha, she made me laugh with that!

Also, I had a question about Penny Rugs and how I make them. They are called penny rugs because back in colonial times, women would collect all their scraps of wool and use pennies and other coins as a pattern template to cut their circles for the rugs. The circles are made of different sizes and are stacked and sewn together. The penny rug shown above underneath the Easter grass container is an example of a traditional type of penny rug with stacked "pennies".
My penny rugs and pin cushions are all hand-sewn/stitched I never use a machine for any of it.
So, my cupboard is finally cleaned out. The picture shows an empty shelf but that's for my bin of threads. I've found some things that I haven't seen in years ... a cute little wool needle case that I made back in 2004, my leather thimble thingy that I used for quilting...a tulip pattern that I thought was lost forever. So, I'm thrilled to finally have the cupboard emptied out and organized again. I've learned some things from this too ....

One thing is to always remember to label my patterns. I found this unmarked pattern and I've no idea what it is. Usually I at least write the name of it on the outside baggie, but this one has nothing. I know whatever it is has 3 differnt shaped spots, a tail tip and something that looks like it may be flowers. Now I know to be sure to properly label my designs so this won't happen again.

There's one more very important thing that I learned from all this. I've organized all my threads, separating the different sizes and types and I've always felt that one could never have too many threads. Well, take a look at this picture and you can see why I've come to the conclusion ....

I NEED TO STOP BUYING THREADS ! !

Have a terrific Sunday!

Pink Saturday!

Pink Saturday was started by Beverly. Anyone can join in ... It's simple. Let Beverly know that you are participating and then when Saturday comes, post something PINK!

Today, my Pink Saturday offering is my basket of pink wool tulips on a penny rug of pink circles.

Yes, that is real grass in there.

Every year, I grow grass in containers. I then decorate the containers in different ways. As Easter comes closer, I will be showing even more ways that I decorate grass containers.

My daughters have always teased me about this yearly grass growing project. Every year, I get, "oh sheesh, there goes mom, growing grass again." They really do think it's silly. But I like it and I betcha when they get to be my age, they will be doing it too. And when/if they read this, I imagine Rach rolling her eyes and chuckling and then making some wisecrack comment and Jen grinning that dimpled grin of hers in a way that shows me that she thinks I'm silly, but is just too sweet to actually say it.

The wool tulips are new this year. I've always used "dirtied" up prim tulips in the containers, and I still will but I thought some fresh spring-like colors would look nice in this old vintage basket.
For anyone that would like to make these, just cut out the tulip shapes, sew two together around the edges, leaving the top open. Stuff a little fiberfill inside the tulip to plump them up a bit and then insert a wooden skewer down through the center of the tulip. Tie a strip of green wool around the skewer for the leaves and there ya go. The tulips look really nice gathered together in a bunch too. I like these so much, I'm going to make more.

Happy Pink Saturday!

Thanks to Lisa for the Pink Saturday connection and also for letting me know that I had commenting disabled! All fixed now, thank you Lisa!

This is "No Procrastination Friday"

It was actually a "no procrastination Thursday" for me too. I finished up four pin cushion projects yesterday. I'll put these up on Ebay ... probably on Sunday. If anyone wishes to purchase any or ALL! of these, please let me know so that I won't have to list them.

I'm almost done with the cleaning and organizing of my cupboard. I need to get out today sometime to purchase some kind of containers that are big enough to hold my threads AND fit easily into the cupboard too.

My sis, Carol, called yesterday. She read my story about the cupboard, while she reloaded my blog several thousand times, thinking it would look better to have my "hit counter" a little higher. I think that's cheating! I find that really funny though.
Anyway, she nagged me about getting the cupboard finished, so not only have I humiliated myself by posting a picture of the mess, but my sis is going to bug me until it's done!

So on this no procrastination Friday, I will finish up the old cupboard and after that's done, I'll measure my kitchen windows so that I can get started making curtain valances. I have the main fabric already ... a nice deep red and mustard checked fabric with cherries. I need to buy a yard to two of matching plaid fabric to use for the accent and I need to buy some rods too. I'm thinking of making and painting the rods myself though, so I better put some more thought into this ...
Happy Friday, y'all!

Spring Cleaning

I just finished up the strawberry candle mat last night. I'm really pleased with how nice it looks now...after struggling with the whole design layout and countless hours of sewing. I stuffed a little fiberfill into each one of the strawberries to plump them up and that made a huge difference in the overall look. This will go for Ebay sale on Sunday, probably.
Now I can move on to finishing up pansy orders and ...I'm anxious to get started on a new tulip candle mat design of mine.

So this corner of my living room has been ignored. It needs updated...has needed it for quite some time. I know the reason that I've procrastinated. It's the problem with the cupboard. Now, mind you, I love this cupboard. It's been in my family forever. I remember when I was little my mother, who at the time, sold Avon, would keep all of her Avon products stored in this cupboard. The scent of Avon has lasted forever in it and even now, sometimes, when I open it, I get a quick whiff of that special smell and it makes me happy.

Anyway, back in those days, the cupboard was painted a dusty rose color. When the cupboard came into my home, I cleaned it up, painted it and have since used it to store all my sewing supplies ... like my threads and rulers and scissors and pattern templates ... you know, like everything you'd see in a notions section at Joann's. That was the initial purpose.

Since then, it's become a catch-all and a disorganized mess. Sometimes it's so bad that I have to open the door slowly so nothing falls out and then cram something else in and close the door quickly so that nothing falls out!

So, I've put off updating this corner because I just don't want to take the time to clean out that precious cupboard!

I decided that the best way to give myself a boost into finally doing it is to embarrass myself by showing a picture of how bad it really is inside.

So now, I present the internet world with ...

The inside of my sewing cupboard!

Ugh, how embarrassing. Please don't click on the picture to show it even bigger!

This is my next spring cleaning project. I hope to be able to show pictures of a clean, organized cupboard in the next few days!

Tonight, Jen and I are going into Pittsburgh to see David Sedaris. He's one of our favorite authors and we've both wanted to see his show for a long time. I'm treating her for dinner at a place of her choice as long as she's willing to do the driving in Pittsburgh. I'm a country girl and big city driving makes me nervous! Fun, fun fun!