Lesson Learned: Go With Your instincts!

I know y’all thought I was slacking on getting the Strawberry candle mat started.  But honest, I’m not!  I know, I KNOW, I said that I would start the tutorial at the beginning of the week, but I ran into a problem…..

I dyed up the wools that I would need to make the strawberry candle mat last weekend.  The greens turned out beautiful and at the time, when I had the fat quarter of dyed strawberry wool hanging out on the clothesline to dry, I was really happy with that color too.

However, once it was dry, my instincts kept telling me that the strawberry color was too pink.  I really wanted more red with just tinges of pink in the mottling. 

I should have listened to my instincts right then because I would have, in the long run, saved a lot of time.

I decided that pink mottled strawberries would look nice too and forgetting that I tend to be a perfectionist with getting just the perfect color, or maybe I was deliberately ignoring the fact that I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to matching a color that is in my head, I went ahead and started making strawberries out of that pretty pink mottled wool.

If you could only hear the screaming that went on in my head as I was stitching the first strawberry on.  One voice (the powerful, go with your instinct one) was saying, “Holy Cow, this strawberry is WAAAAAAAy too pink, STOP. NOW.  GO. DYE. RED.”

And the other voice in my head (the nicer one that tends to be more patient) is saying, “hmmm… it is a little pink but let’s just see how it looks with the whole grouping of strawberries.  Perhaps once I stitch in the little green seeds, the strawberries will look perfect.”

And so, the nicer patient voice won the battle and I continued wasting my time by stitching, stuffing, stemming and seeding those little pink strawberries. 

And then I realized ….

My instinct voice in my head was right all along.  Holy cow, these strawberries aren’t a juicy luscious red.  They’re an unripe sour pink!

So, it’s back to the dye pot for me to get a good luscious strawberry red color. 

Now I have a really nice fat quarter of mottled pink colored wool that I will find a use for.  I actually have a Fuchsia flower design that I drew up months ago that this color will be purrrrrrrfect for, so now I’m anxious to finish up the strawberry mat so that I can make the Fuchsia  one!

And so, my strawberry mat will be redone and because of the wonderfullness of forgiving wools, I’m able to easily remove those stitched in strawberries without disturbing the green leaves or the black background wools underneath.  Cottons, as nice as they are to work with, aren’t as forgiving, so pulled-out stitching would have been very noticeable.

 

In other news in the current life of ME, the Census job might be winding down.  We’re pretty much done with our area and all that’s left are the difficult cases that have to be revisited. 

Everyone that we visit has to answer just a few simple basic questions, but we’ve all encountered at least a few that either slam the door in our faces, call us names and then slam the door in our faces, or simply stare at us silently, making us break out in hives because we’re so scared that he might cut us up and put us in his woodchipper.

Sorry, was that a little too graphic?  :)

Those are the ones that we have to revisit. 

I’ve really toughen up since I first started.  I now laugh in the face of abusive people.  The other day someone told me to “GET OUT, YOU’RE BOTHERING ME.  YOU’RE A CRIMINAL!!”

And you know what?  I laughed at him, ignored him and continued to interview his sweet, kind, and embarrassed elderly mother who offered me a cold beverage before I left.

When I first started this job, anytime someone yelled at me, I’d stop working, go home and sulk.  Now?  I take it as a challenge.  I can sweet talk just about anyone into giving me the information that I have to get.  All I have to do is get them to laugh and I’ve got them wound around my little finger.

So I’m going to go back to the silent, scary one with the woodchipper in his yard … along with someone else, of course, and I’m going to get what I’m paid to get from this guy.

OK, hopefully, I can get some strawberry red wool dyed and hanging out on my clothesline today. 

I’ll post the tutorial soon, I promise!

Happy Day everyone!

I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT!!!

I can’t believe after searching and searching for my darn Strawberry candle mat pattern, I finally found it after I gave up searching for it.

After searching high and low for that little plastic zip-lock baggie that contained the freezer paper tiny pieces that make up that strawberry design, I gave up and sat down with my paper and pencil to draw up a completely new one.  I was planning just to draw it from the pictures of the finished candle mat that I had stored on my old computer. 

My old computer was stored upstairs in the “wool room”, so I took my drawing pad and pencil up to the room and while waiting the 5 minutes or so for the computer to grind and chug during the start-up process, I looked down on the floor and saw the small plastic bin that contained that darn strawberry pattern that  I had been searching for!

Oh the excitement!

This discovery has saved me an incredible amount of time. 

So, today, after my morning meetings, the dye pots will come out and I will dye some delicious strawberry colors and perhaps some nice green mottled colors for the leaves too! (sorry Brenda, the pumpkins will come out in a few more months, I promise.)

OOOOOHHHHH the excitement!!

Starting next week, please come back to see how I make the strawberry candle mat from start to finish.  When I’m all done making it, the pattern will be printed out for all who wish to purchase it. 

And that reminds me … I have this finished “Clay Pot Pansies” candle mat for sale on Ebay HERE.

I do believe that the auction ends tonight.  The last time I checked, there were no bids yet either, so you might get a super good price on it too if no one else bids.

The Census job is still going very well.  The team that I meet with everyday are great.  I try to go out to do field work at least a few hours every evening.  We're not permitted to go over 40 hours a week so I have to be very careful since I usually log in at least 3 hours every morning for my meetings and we meet all 7 days.

I really love meeting and talking to residents.  Just about everyone is cooperative and super friendly.  I’ve learned to not be judgmental about how people live because some of the kindest most helpful people have been the ones in the most rundown of homes. 

Every once in a while someone gives me trouble but I’ve learned how to handle them too and most times, just turning on the charm gets the person to unknowingly give me at least some of the information that I need.  Some of it is just like detective work and I love the challenge of getting info on difficult cases.

Oh, how I wish I could tell a story of a recent incident, but I’m not permitted to speak of my experiences.  In fact, I just got a notice in the mail today from the government which reminded me that I took an oath of silence and they better not catch me blogging about my experiences because they’ll put me in jail for 5 years or fine me $250,000. 

Hubby told me he rather me be in jail than have to pay that much, so I just better shut up right now!

I’m just thinking though, I could blog all the funny stories and then if they fine me the $250,000, all you readers would come to my rescue and pay my fine, wouldn’t you?  It’d be worth it for some funny stories, wouldn’t it??

Ok, ok, never mind.  I’ll honor my oath of silence.  I love my job.  I just wish that I could tell you all exactly what happens during my day that makes me love my job so much. I just have to chuckle about it to myself, and that’s not as much fun but it will have to do.

But, hmm… the older retired men?  Those guys make the BEST stories.

Happy Day Everyone and big HUGE thank yous to all of you wonderful customers who have purchased my patterns!  I so much appreciate all of you!

Where Oh Where are the Strawberries!?!?

I would really appreciate it if someone would offer to come to my house and search for my one and only pattern for this strawberry pinkeep …

 

This strawberry design is something that I drew it up and created just one pattern to use for myself  a number of years ago.  I used this strawberry grouping in a couple different pinkeep shapes and last year for the first time, I used the strawberries to create this Candle mat …. 

I’ve had quite a number of requests for this pattern, and over the year, since I made this candle mat, I’ve put everyone off, telling everyone that I would get the pattern ready to sell in the strawberry season of spring. 

Ok, so where is my original drawing of this?  Where is my one and only pattern that I have used over the years to make that pinkeep?

I dunno.  I can’t find it anywhere. 

I’m thinking that if a bunch of you offer to come to my house to look, you’ll all look in completely different places and it’s surely to be found.

There are only 4 different places where I store my patterns and I’ve searched each of those places at least 4 times each.  It’s just not there.

It’s probably right smack in front of my face and I just need to take a break from searching so that it can surprise me with a sudden appearance.

With all the time that I’ve spent searching, I should have just sat down and drawn up another one.  I’d be almost finished with it by now. 

It takes a lot of time to draw out designs, not just to get the drawing balanced, shaped and spaced right but to also get that drawing design to fit just right on the background shape.  I will also have to redraw the candle mat background scallop shape, which is such a time consuming project too.

Oh well… the strawberry candle mat pattern will definitely be the next next pattern release.  I’m just going to need a little extra time to get it done now.

In the meantime, the Census job is going really well.  I’ve settled into a daily routine now and I’ve adjusted to my new work schedule rather well.

Every morning between 8:30 am and 10:30 am, in my dining room, I meet with 5 of my crew team members.  No days off!   I have to meet with them every single morning so that they can drop off their time sheets and completed cases.  I check over all their cases for problems and then after my team meetings, I go up the road a few miles and meet with my supervisor to turn in all of the collected cases for the day.  That meeting is usually between 11:00am and 12:30pm.

I’m free for the day after that except that I have my own casework to do too.  So usually late afternoon, I go out and visit homes in my area that have not turned in their census forms.

My team is terrific. All except one works other jobs along with doing the census and everyone of them have fascinating careers.  I have two private airplane pilots, an interior designer, and a horse trainer.

I have one really sweet, kind lady who is a senior citizen.  She’s soooo good with gettting the job done.  We plan to use her for all the difficult cases because really, who would slam their door on a sweet little old gray-haired lady? 

I wish I were able to tell stories about what I’ve seen and learned over the past few weeks while knocking on doors and interviewing people for the census, but I can’t.  Everything has to be completely confidential.  Oh sooooo many good stories too!

The area where I’m working is way out in the country with houses so spread apart, there are no neighbors.

So when I go knocking, there’s no one to save me if the situation becomes bad.  Really, no one even knows where I am while I’m working because we’re not permitted to tell what addresses have and have not sent in their census forms.

All I’m allowed to say is that in our workbook manual, in the chapter about safety, it says, and I quote, “wear comfortable shoes in case you have to run”

Out of all the homes that I’ve visited, even the worst , most dilapidated  ones, everyone has been friendly except for two homes. 

One guy was so scary that I had to tell my supervisor that I would never go back unless I was permitted to take someone with me.  The guy wasn’t even mean .. he was just scary and sinister … and the wood chipper sitting out in his yard made me think of the movie Fargo.  And if you haven’t seen the movie Fargo, just Google it and I’m sure you’ll find out what the woodchipper in that movie was used for.

There are times that the paranoia almost takes over because I am concerned that my life could very quickly become the next best selling horror movie.  But in every single instance, after forcing myself to be brave and knock, I’ve left smiling because it was unnecessary worry.  The really sinister one was actually a fairly nice home so maybe the surprise of that was what caused more fear.

In general though, the experience has been more than terrific.  It gets me out, talking to people.  I’m not a talker myself, preferring to listen instead.  And boy, do I listen to some really goooooooooooood stories from people! 

After my job is completed in a few months, I’ll share some great experiences but until then, I have to go and get ready for my morning meetings.

Happy Day everyone!  (cross your fingers and hope that my strawberry pattern will appear right before my eyes today, please?)

New Pattern Kits Are Mailed!

I don’t have much time, but I wanted to quickly let everyone know that the orders for the “Clay Pot Pansies” Pattern were mailed out yesterday and the wool kits, which include the pattern, will be mailed out by 8:30am this  morning. 

Thank you all for such a HUGE response. 

I managed to have just enough of the hand-dyed wool to fill all the orders.  I’ll have to get out the dye pots tomorrow to dye up more for the mail orders and any other orders that come in. 

So many thanks to Jen, who went way out of her way to help me get these kits ready. She measured and she cut again and again, saving me an incredible amount of what little extra time I have.  Honestly, without her help with the unexpected, large response for these kits, I just wouldn’t have been able to do it.

For those of you who haven’t ordered this yet, and wish to, please order it before the end of tomorrow night. The pattern and/or kit are at a special preorder price right now.  Starting Sunday, the prices will go up to the regular price of $9.50 for the pattern and $42 for the kit. 

The wool kit includes the pattern, and all of the wool that is needed (including the backing) to make the “Clay Pot Pansies” Candle Mat.  It doesn’t include the threads this time and I do suggest using #8 pearle cotton thread for this but the DMC embroidery FLOSS, which is much easier to find, will work just fine too.

Click on the Paypal button up there at the left of this post to purchase either just the pattern or the pattern w/wool kit.

If you wish to pay by check just email me at cathspennies@gmail.com and I’ll send you my mailing address.

Thanks all!

Strawberries are next!!!

Happy Day!

PreOrder Time! The “Clay Pot Panises” Pattern is Ready!

Finally! Orders are now being taken for my newest design called

“Clay Pot Pansies”

Most of you readers have followed me along while I made this but if you haven’t, just scroll down to find the posts that show how easy and quick this is to stitch.

This is what your finished mat will look like.

It measures 10” x 15” and is shown made with 100% wool. I don’t recommend using woolfelt for this one unless it’s just for the background black color.

The pattern will show a simple, inexpensive and safe way to dye those pansy petals to get the special shading in the center.

I will have a limited number of wool kits available to go along with this pattern too!

Jen, the lady that is doing the wool kits for me, finished up some of them last night and will package up more once we get a better idea of how many are needed. The kit has all the 100% wools needed to make this which includes my own hand-dyed mottled green, the yellow and the extra thick orange clay colored wool to use for the pots. It also includes the pattern and extra black wool to be used for the backing.

So, over there on the left sidebar, you’ll see the picture of the pansy candle mat with the Paypal payment options. The pattern will be offered at a special preorder price of $8.50 and the kit is $40.00, which includes shipping costs.

Sorry, but this price is only for the US. The pattern and kits will be available for Canadian and international customers, but email me for the extra shipping cost.

Don’t wish to use Paypal? That’s ok, just email me at cathspennies@gmail.com to let me know.

The patterns should be ready to mail out on Thursday and I’m hoping that the kits will be ready for mailing either on Friday or Saturday. I will announce the mailing when it happens, either way.

Happy Day everyone!

EDIT 1:30pm .....**Terrific response so far! Thank you for the orders! And Yes, the pattern is included in the price of the wool kit.

Brazil Doesn’t Want My New Graduate

Our Rachel graduated from California University of Pa yesterday …

(excuse the blacked-out area of this picture.  I just realized that bulletin board in the picture is full of names and addresses of customers AND some very private banking security passwords!)

Please allow me some time to brag right now.  Just skip over this part and go to right after where it says “Ok, I’m done bragging now”, if you want. :)

Rachel LeeAnn has graduated in only 3 years of college.  She somehow managed to get just about all of her credits earned to enable her to get her degree with the graduating seniors.  She just has to work a 6 week internship over the summer to be completely done.

She was able to maintain a 3.98 GPA too.  Not only that, but she did it while playing Volleyball … All three years, her team place first in their division and then went on to play in the nationals.               College Volleyball is a huge time commitment.  There are daily, grueling pratices and work-outs.  There are many many classes missed because of traveling to faraway tournaments.  Even in their off-seasons, they still have daily practices and work-outs and tournaments, just to keep in shape for the next season.

So, in other words, maintaining such a high gpa while playing college sports is extremely difficult.

Ok, I’m done bragging now …

So yesterday, hubby and I traveled down to California, Pa for her graduation ceremony.

It’s been a really hectic week for her. 

She had to study for finals, pack up her apartment to move it back home, finish up all the technical things involve with her campus job and closing up the apartment and ….

she had to pack for her trip to Brazil.  Her volleyball team had been fundraising for 3 years to earn enough money for the entire team to travel to Rio De Janeiro for a vacation.

So immediately after the graduation ceremony, she was to be whisked away to catch a plane for Brazil. Rachel was the only one graduating from her team this semester, so everyone else was going to wait for her to meet them on campus.

Everything went according to plan. We had timed it almost perfectly so that she could catch the Volleyball bus to the airport but we hadn’t counted on the huge traffic mess in the parking lot of the football stadium after the ceremony.

Hubby was the hero though because with a 4-wheel drive vehicle as your partner in crime, you can do anything to maneuver around stand-still traffic which might or might not include driving over a cement sidewalk, driving down a closed-to-traffic road and then driving over a very large and bumpy cement medium. 

That’s all I’m going to say about that, other than Rachel was soooo proud of her daddy yesterday.  It had to be done.  It was that or sit in traffic for an hour. We were able to get Rachel to her Volleyball bus just in time.

Soooo, after all that, to get Rachel to the airport in time, the Cal U volleyball group went to check in at the airport only to find that someone neglected to tell them that they needed to have Visas to travel to Brazil.

Imagine the disappointment. Brazil didn’t want them!

So Rachel is here at home with us, getting some much needed catch-up sleep.

They are hoping to quickly get their Visas and reschedule everything so that they can leave sometime this week.  But it’s certainly a mess.

Ok, so here’s some graduation pictures …

These pictures are taken outside of her apartment down in California, Pa. 

Her graduation robe was way too large for her.  She called it her Mumu.  

I’m not sure what all those different colored cords represent but I do know that the more you have, the smarter you are.  I think that perhaps the weight of them must exercise the brain.

Since no one would see it because she was leaving right after the ceremony, she didn’t buy a new dress for graduation, preferring instead to spend the money on a really nice pair of shoes.

Later, she had to peel them off her feet.  Expensive shoes don’t necessarily have to make your feet feel good.

Oh, the many funny faces of Rachel.  She has a million of them …

Hubby is patiently waiting for us to finish taking the goofy pictures.  He just got done loading her mattress and boxspring into the back of the truck.  Coffee breaks are necessary.

This is her apartment.  Her and her roommated lived on the first floor.  It looks really bad from the outside but inside it’s really nice, clean and roomy.

This is before the ceremony at the Cal football stadium.  This is Rach and her boyfriend, Carlyle.

That road in the background might or might not be the closed and barricaded road area that was run over by a 4 wheel drive pick up truck yesterday, on it’s way to make it in time to catch a plane.

Another of Rach and Carlyle.  Carlyle has wet hair because he just got out of bed about 15 min earlier.  I appreciate his presence so that we could get a picture of them together. 

I’m so proud of myself with how well my pictures turned out this time.

I only made one mistake …

Because the stage was so far away, I wouldn’t be able to see Rachel shaking the president’s hand when her name was called so…

I used the zoom on the camera and aimed it right at the President of the university, thinking that as soon as Rachels name was called, I would snap the picture as soon as I saw someone shaking the presidents’s hand.

Hmmm … this really doesn’t look like Rachel.  :)

I got a really good picture of the guy that was called right BEFORE Rachel’s name was called.

Oh well. 

In other news, the “Clay Pot Pansies” pattern is almost finished.  There was an error on one of the printed pages so that will have to be redone but I’m hoping to announce the pre-order sale of the pattern and the kit tomorrow.  So stay tuned for kit price and pre-sale info! 

The hand-dyed wool is ready and waiting for my assistant, Jennifer, to put the kits together. 

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Clay Pot Pansy Tutorial Part 2

Let’s continue on and finish this Pansy Candle Mat.
I’ll answer some of the questions that have been asked after I show the finish.
So, for the first part of the tutorial, I showed how I attach the clay pot and the leaves. The pansy blossoms and stems are next.

Gosh, I hope you can see those little blossoms well enough in the picture.
I’ve said this before but I really like to try to create a 3d look of flowers and leaves so in this case again, I’ve attached the little yellow blossom petals only at the bottoms. I’ve used lots of little whip stitches so that they will hold tightly in place.
It’s important to mention at this point how important it is to use just the right kind of wool for these flowers and leaves. If I had use wool that was too thick, the flowers would lay flat and lifeless. If I use wool that is too thin, the flowers would look beautiful but stitching those little edges would cause lots of fraying which would then cause the little stitches to not hold the petals on tightly. I always make sure that my wool is a good, tight weave that felts tightly so that fraying isn’t an issue.
To test to see if your wool will work, just snip a small piece off, whip stitch it onto another piece of wool, leaving some of it unstiched. If it frays as you’re stitching, the wool won’t work for this project. Now pull on the unstitched area. If , when pulling the little snippit of wool, it pulls away from the stitching … then that wool will not work for this project.
Now I’ll cover up my stitches by stitching on … daggonnit … what the heck are those little green leafy things called that I’m attaching?
It’s early and I’m rushed for time because I have a meeting in an hour and I’m not even dressed and ready yet, so for now, until my brain unfreezes OR until some helpful soul gives me a glue, they will be called “little green leaf thingies that go under the blossoms”.
So using tiny little stitches, I tacked those thingies on, leaving the tips unstitched and loose, which again, creates a 3d look.

Using my handy dandy chalk pencil, I lightly drew in the lines for the stems. Even though they are just short straight stems, I find that actually drawing the line in before stitching helps to keep my stitching absolutely straight. (the chalk pencil that I use will be talked about right after this)
I stem stitched along the lines to create the pansy stems. I’ve found that using really tiny stitches when stem stitching makes a really detailed looking stem so I always take the time to do tiny. It’s just my own personal preference though. Longer stem stitches might be the look that you prefer.

I stem stitched the pansy stem too.
And now, this candle mat is just about finished. All that is needed is the backing.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I can’t take a picture right now of the finished mat.
I can happily show the picture of the first one that I made though …

This one will be sold on Ebay, hopefully next week. The Clay Pot Pansy that I just showed in the tutorial will be used for the pattern front picture and as a sample. There are slight differences between the two, but I’ll mention those differences once I’m ready to Ebay list it.
Ok, that’s it for the tutorial, You can see that it’s relatively easy to make as long as you have the pattern and the right wools.
I’m still aiming to have the pattern ready to sell on Friday, but realistically, it’s looking more like it will be Monday.
The US census job is taking up quite a bit of time, but it will settle down into a regular 7 1/2 hour wook day, hopefully by next week.
Part of my job as assistant is going out in the field with the new census enumerators and evaluating their interviews to make sure they are doing everything correctly. We were so fortunate to have excellent training so the evaluations are going very well, it’s just trying to fit everyone into timeslots so that my free time in between evaluations isn’t wasted. My day started at 8:30 am yesterday and I didn’t finish until 8pm last night. I hope today will be a little better.
Ok, now to quickly answer some questions ….
*The handy dandy chalk pencil that I use is really nice in that it has replaceable chalk sticks included. It comes with a pencil sharpener so that the chalk sticks may be shapened as needed. I bought this one at Joann fabrics a few years ago. Look in the quilting notions section of the store and you should be able to find a good assortment of chalk pencils. I try to stick with just white chalk though. I’ve found that colors, especially yellow, is sometimes difficult to remove from my wool. White chalk always brushes off easily.
* I’ve been asked about the backgrounds that I use for all of my candle mat patterns. In all cases, my patterns contain my own original background scalloped shapes. I don’t EVER use someone elses background shapes for anything … that is definite copyright infringement …. to actually take a pattern created by someone else and use it for my own pattern and then claim it to be my own “creation”
I draw out each background design completely on my own just as every element of my patterns are from my own drawings. (My hubby can attest to that because he’s had to help me with the math figuring with angles and arches and diameters … But yes, I created every element of all my patterns, thus making them my creations. :)

Gosh, I’m totally out of time! Gotta run!
Happy Day everyone!

Let’s make a “Clay Pot Pansy” Candle Mat!

Holy Cow, I’ve been busy!
The training for the US Census is just about over.  I have a little more training to do this morning and then I’m on my own to get the job done.
Good news about this is that I’ve already been promoted even before I started working.  The bad news is that because I’ve been promoted to be an assistant, I’ll have meetings every single morning.  After this past week, I’ve discovered that I really need to organize my time much better if I hope to get through the next few months working this temporary, but full-time job.
So ladies,  I know there are some emails that I need to answer and I know that there are some comments that I need to respond to and I hope to get that done.  Please be patient with me … don’t give up on me.  I’m not snubbing you,  I’m just extremely busy.  I appreciate each and every one  of you.
Ok, let’s get on with making this beautiful Clay Pot Pansy candle mat, ok?

I’m preparing the pattern for this and hope to have it ready to sell by the end of this week or the beginning of next.
Most of my patterns use wools but can be easily adapted so that woolfelt may be used.  I don’t recommend woolfelt for this design however.  
As always, please don’t steal this design and create one without the pattern.  This is copyright infringement and I’m only doing this to show some of you out there how easy it is to make with the hopes that you’ll purchase the pattern.  There’s always going to be that bad apple that takes advantage of me, but the good ones far outweigh the few bad ones.  But again, please, don’t steal. 
We will start with stitching the clay pots onto the scalloped background.

The pattern will give you the size and shape to create the background.  Just simply line up the clay colored wool shapes onto the black backround and blanket stitch the top rim, going through all thicknesses. 
I’ll have kits for sale to make this too and it will include really nice thick wools to make the clay pots really stand out.
Next we will stitch on the leaves.

I like to arrange them first to make sure that they all fit how I want them to fit.  Once they are arranged on there, you can pin them in place or some like to use a little dab of glue stick to hold them in place. 
I prefer to add them as I need them so I take all but a few back off again….

I’ll backstich the veins into these three leaves and then add more once that’s finished. 
Don’t let all those leaves intimidate you.  They are easily stitched on by doing a simple backstitch right down the center.  I prefer not to stitch down the entire leaf.  This gives the leaves a more realistic 3 dimensional look.
Ok, leaves are attached and now I’m ready to attach that glorious pansy!

Ok, the pansy is attached.  EDITED 2/19/16:  I've changed up the design a bit.  The pansy colors may be made any color.  The new pattern picture will show this pansy having golden yellow and pretty purple petals.  I've found that over the years, the yellow/purple combination of colors is the most popular. 
And that’s all I have time to show right now … I have a meeting to get to.
Tomorrow will be the stems, the pansy blossoms and the finishing. 
Happy Day everyone!

For Part 2 of the Pansy Tutorial, CLICK HERE!