New Design Sneak Peak and Kitty Kat Attacks!

If you scroll down the page a bit, you'll see that I wrote a post which shows a drawing of my newest design.  Here is how the wallhanging looks when almost finished...

It's going to be called "Popcorn Treats".  I'll also include instructions/pictures for a tablerunner too.

 I'm still working on writing the instructions which has proven to be a ghastly bear to do.
For me, writing the instructions has always been the most dreaded and time consuming part of being a designer.  Most times it takes longer to create and write the instructions than it does to actually stitch the design. In this case, both have taken a lot of time.  The problem I'm having with the finished product has to do with our CATS

Both of our cats have an equal love for wool.  Wool roving ...the furry stuff is especially loved.  Since I use wool roving to stuff the cranberries that you see on the popcorn garland, they both do whatever they can to rip the berries off and play with them while attempting to eat them. 
I've known it to be a problem and try my best to hide the roving so that they can't get to it.  Sometimes I forget to put it away and they instantly zoom in for the roving treat.
 They can even smell the stuff through plastic ziploc baggies.  I had a baggie of it buried deep down at the bottom of a box of odds & ends and sewing things  One or both of them managed to get it out of the box, rip open the baggie and make a mess...everywhere.

This design is especially  loved by them because not only does it have delicious smelling cranberries stuffed with roving which roll very nicely along the floor, it also has wool popcorn, which is especially fun for pushing about the room along with the cranberries.
They managed to pull off all of the popcorn and berries from the finished mat TWICE now.  I keep forgetting to put it away after working on it and they find it each time.  Also, I have the loose wool popcorn in a bowl ...storing it there until I make enough to string it into a garland.  Every day, I find pieces of wool popcorn throughout the house ...from the one day that I accidentally left the bowl out.  They must have carried them and dropped them at different places throughout the house.
It's been quite an ordeal and because of the missing popcorn, I've had to make waaay more because of those darned cats!

I do have to say at this point that hubby & I love these cats and most times, they are entertaining to watch. I could never punish them for their misdeeds ...I blame myself for forgetting each time to put my work up away from them!  Every time our grandson comes over for a visit, he asks me what kind of "mischief" the kitties got into since his last visit.  I ALWAYS have stories to tell him about these kitties. 
Thank goodness, Christmas season is still a ways away.  I will get this all done and have the completely finished pattern ready to sell, hopefully by next week.
Stop back then to hopefully see better finished pictures...or if the kitties attack it again, you might just see some bad mischievous kitty pictures instead.

Happy Day everyone!

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"Boo!" New Pattern!

This new Halloween design is called "Boo!" 

The finished size is 12" across.

The plastic big black spiders are scaring the pumpkin creatures.  

So easy to stitch up!  

The plastic spiders can be found at any party store.

 I've stitched this one up with the eyes looking in all different directions too ...up, down, to the left and to the right.

The price over there on the left($8.00) is a special discount price just for my regular blog readers. (US & Canada)  This price will be available for a few days ... then I'll change it to the regular retail price of $9.00.

The wool kit is also available for this and can be found on my website by CLICKING HERE

If you wish to pay by check instead of Paypal/credit card just email me for my address. 

cathspennies@gmail.com

Thank you ladies and Happy Day!

Sketching For Christmas

It's such a beautiful day today.  I should be out doing some yardwork...pulling weeds and hosing down the porch, but first, I'll show the new design that I'm working on.

It's going to be called "Popcorn Treats"

This is just the rough sketch of the idea.  I always sketch out my idea first.  The most difficult part of it is turning the sketch into a pattern.  Drawing it out so it's exactly the right size and shape takes a tremendous amount of time and even after I think it's all done and perfect, sometimes, I have to redo it once I actually cut the wool shapes and start the stitching.  

 The mice gave me a hard time.  When I initially drew this, I had so much trouble getting that standing mouse to look right.  Frustrated, I searched through Google images to find a mouse that would look similar to what I wanted.  But no luck.  After a whole lot of repeated erasing, I took a break from the whole thing, almost ready to give up.  When I came back, the oddest thing happened.  I mean, it was so incredibly odd, that I know that once you read this, you'll find it hard to believe too.
I took one look at all of the eraser smudges on the paper and the mouse design seemed to be outlined right in the smudges.  I followed the smudge lines and the standing mouse was created.
Now, I'm not saying that this was some kind of devine inspiration like seeing Jesus in a piece of toast, but holy cow, it was pretty amazing.
Believe it or not ... I believe, for some odd reason, I had a helping hand with creating that cute little mouse.

I'm just about done stitching this up and should have it ready to show in a week or two.  I had to make some adjustments in design with the center candle circle.  I did want to stitch some pine branches that had a popcorn garland intertwined in it.  Once I started stitching it though, I realized that there is so much going on in the design ..with the snowman face, the hat, the mice and the popcorn, the pine branches was just too much for the eyes to look at.  I needed to create less "busy-ness".  Other than that, this design will end up being almost exactly how I originally sketched it.

In the meantime, I have a new Halloween pattern called "Boo!" ready to go.  I'll introduce "Boo!" in the next few days.

Happy Day everyone!   ....

Oh, and an email from Blogger told me that I need to add the thingy that lets people add my blog to their "Circles".  I don't really know what that's all about or how the Google circles work but there are 4 of you who seem to know and have already added this blog to their circles.  If you would like to add me, just scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and you'll see the little button that makes it easy to add.

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"Forget-Me-Nots" New Pattern is Ready to Go!

Finally this one is ready to go.  I had some big trouble getting the pretty butter yellow background to print properly for the pattern front.  After many many attempts, I got it right...or rather the printer got it right and the pattern is done!

Introducing "Forget-Me-Nots" Candle Mat Pattern

 The finished size is 14" across.  It's shown made with 100% wool but woolfelt can be substituted for any or all of the wool requirements.  The flowers are really easy to make and you'll find this a fairly quick design to stitch up.
The pattern comes with a layout guide and a pattern template  that makes it simple to place each flower stem exactly in the right place.
The pattern is a special price just for my blog readers.  It's just for a very limited time.  Price right now is $8.00 including shipping for US & Canada.  After a few days, the price will go up to the regular selling price of $9.00.
If you wish to pay by check instead of credit card/Paypal, just email me and I'll send you my mailing address.

 

I love this design made with Violet colors too.  I actually considered naming this pattern "Summertime Violets" because I couldn't decide which was prettier , the blue or the violet. The blue Forget-Me-Nots won out but only because I already have a violets pattern!

I imagine this would look really pretty with red or even bright orange and yellow flowers too ...or a mix of assorted colors would be beautiful too! 

Thank you for reading!

Happy Day!