New Fall Design: Scarecrow 2nd Try

I've scrapped that first Scarecrow candle mat that I showed the other day and started fresh and new. Different background and different scarecrow clothes and different pumpkin wool too. I like this one much better.

Yikes, this picture is bad ... The actual colors aren't as bright as this shows. It's a really beautiful sunny day and the picture was taken right beside a sunny window, so naturally, it's bright. Anyway, I'm really happy with how this design is turning out. The scarecrow is so much fun to make.

There's just been too much going on around the Wagner home lately that I've not had too much time to work on this.

The good thing is that I"ve a roaster full of Stuffed Cabbage in the oven right now and it's smelling pretty darn good!

So my sister (Casserole Carol) will really enjoy this little story I have to tell because it's about her.

Last night, Hubby and I went to a little get-together bonfire thing that a friend of ours was having. Perfect night for a bonfire, btw. Have I mentioned that I love fall? Oh yeah, I have!

So we get there and of course there are people there that I don't know. We are introduced and it so happens that there is a woman there named Shirley who happens to know my sister and her husband.

Anyone that knows my sister and then meets me will always say EXACTLY the same thing when they meet me. EVERY TIME. EVERY TIME. It's not that it annoys me ... I'm well past that stage/age. It's actually quite amusing now because I brace myself, just waiting for the words to come out of their mouth ....

"You look just like her".

Carol probably wouldn't mind if we just started telling people that we were identical twins. But since Carol is one year older than me, I will never, ever go along with that. She the old one, I'm not.

So naturally, Shirley bursts out excitedly, "you look just like your sister!" and naturally, I laugh, like I always do and say "yes, everyone tells us that"

but then Shirley said,

"OHHH, you sound just like her too!"

Ok, I've had enough.

I SOUND LIKE HER?????

Sheesh.

Shirley turned out to be really nice and friendly so I won't hold that against her.

Looking like my sister can be a problem at times. So many times, I can be out shopping and someone will approach me with a friendly "Hi! how ARE you?" They act as if I should know them and even though I've never seen them before in my life, I now know that I better act like I know them because obviously they think that I am Carol. I don't want my sister to lose friends so I give them a pleasant "I'm good, how are you?" and then walk away quickly. I've found this is better than looking at them strangely and saying "Umm, do I know you?"

Carol should be very grateful that I do this for her. I'm just cetain that after they see me, believing that I'm her, they think, "wow, Carol is really looking a lot younger, wonder what her secret is?"

:)

Carol was nagging me yesterday about blogging more so ... here ya go, Carol!

Happy Day everyone!

New Fall Design! Scarecrow No-Nos

Yes, I've been neglecting the blog. It's really neglect when both daughters start nagging me to write because they miss me. I think they just look forward to reading what I say about them, just so they can make fun of me later for writing silly things about them in my blog. It's a never-ending circle. I love my girls. Thank you Jen and Rach for reminding me, constantly that you love and miss ..... my blog. :)

So this is the latest and newest design......

The scarecrow and pumpkin will be repeated around on the scallopped edge.

When I draw things up like this, I have the basic color scheme of it in my head. Sometimes, if I'm not sure of the colors though, I'll color it in with some colored pencils. This time, I was sure of the colors that I wanted so no need.

Except, I was wrong. Very wrong. I wanted the scarecrow shirt and hat to be a really nice mottled green....


Well, it's mottled and it's green, but I hate the color. And ew, in this picture, that green looks like a jade green.

I dyed this wool just for this scarecrow too. So I'm going to have to rethink and redye some colors. I might even change the background color. I do like the pumpkin though ...

Things like this happen sometimes .... colors that are so well blended in my head just don't make it in reality.

I knew when I took the green wool out of the dryer that it wasn't going to work, but yet I still went ahead and tried it, hoping that it would suddenly transform into what I wanted it to be.

It's just not going to happen!

I've ideas spinning in my head for color changes right now. And wow, looking at the picture while typing this is giving me really clear color adjustments. Major color adjustments!

Tomorrow, I should be able to show the new and improved results.

This is just a really rough sketch of something I have in mind for a penny rug tablerunner. I drew this sometime last month and have it hanging on the bulletin board beside the computer. I look at it every day and plans are in the works to complete the design details but I just haven't had the chance. Too many other projects take up way too much of my time. I need another ME!

Fall is always such a terrific time for me when it comes to designs. My creativity is inspired by the changing weather. I love the fall season. Even cutting the grass is nice in the fall. I like the smells and the crunch of leaves as the lawn tractor cuts and I like that little bit of chill in the air too. I'd like to say that fall is my favorite time of the year but then I think I remember several months back posting how spring is my favorite time of the year, so I'll shuddup now. But designs are overflowing in my head because of this weather. I wish we could bottle it! ... the fall weather, not the overflow of designs in my head. :)

I need to take the time to give a HUGE thank you to all you terrific bloggers and followers of my blog. Everyone is so encouraging and helpful that I wish I would've started blogging a lot sooner. Because of my blog, there's a noticiable difference with how much friendlier my Ebay customers are and it certainly has helped with sales too. To show my appreciation, I'll be doing another giveaway soon. Just keep watch!

Happy Day everyone! Oh and you fellow Pittsburgh area bloggers ... Shop N Save grocery stores have Walnuts on sale for only $1.99 for a 1 lb bag. The sale is only today and tomorrow and no rainchecks so get your shoes and jacket on and run to the store to stock up. Mmmm ... nutroll!

Proudly Label Your Work

This is my latest and newest design. The Sunflower Candle Mat. I'm just finishing it up and only have to blanket stitch the backing on. I hope to EBAY it tonight. My "Guarding the Pumpkin Patch" Penny Rug sale ends tonight so I always try to have at least one thing Ebay listed at all times.

I often get email questions. I like getting questions because most times, they are questions about things that I do without thinking about, just because I've been doing this for so long. Those questions often give me something to blog about. The latest question was about labels on my work.

My very first quilt teacher used to nag and nag all of her students about labeling their work. I think just about every class I went to ... and I did a lot of classes ... she would say something about how important it was to put your name on your work. It did sink in.

Basically, anything you make, unless you know you're going to throw it out, should have your name and date that it was created, somewhere on the item. You've spent a lot of time creating your work, it's art and to acknowledge that what you do is art, you label it with your name, as the artist and the date that it was created.

No excuses. Label your work.

It can be something as simple as embroidering your initials and year, or it can be elaborate with fancy drawn designs. However you wish to show yourself as the artist is completely up to you.

This picture is blurry, but it shows how I do my own labels. It's just tea-stained muslin which is signed and dated. Before I make the label, I iron interfacing onto the muslin. The interfacing gives it a little more stability so that it won't bunch up when sewing the label on and also it helps to keep the fabric pen ink from bleeding through. I've tried using an extra fine Sharpie marker for signing, but it bleeds through a LOT, so I've found a permanant fabric pen that works nicely and I use it only for my signed and dated labels.

This one shows the coneflower that I always draw on the label too. Depending on the season, I switch that drawing up ... maybe a pumpkin in the fall or a Christmas tree for the holidays. Most times though, I draw a coneflower. (I love coneflowers). I color in whatever picture I draw with colored pencils.

Just another reason why it's so nice to sign and date your work .... I can look at things that have been around for a while, look at the date and remind myself of how OLD I AM and how long I've been sewing!
I guess I've been doing the coneflowers on labels since at least Jan, of 2005 because this little penny rug that I have hanging in my dining room tells me so!

This label is on my favorite rooster penny rug wallhanging that I have in my dining room. Wow, I made that way back in 2001!

So, you can see, labels can give useful information that can be used later ... lots of years later ... to help yourself and others, remember YOU!

Label your work. No excuses.

Happy Day everyone!

Project Finished! More pumpkins on the way!

I put the finishing touches on this "Guarding The Pumpkin Patch" penny rug and was able to EBAY list it Monday night. I'd hoped to have it finished on Sunday, so really with a project so big, one day late isn't terribly bad. I had so much fun making it but I don't think I'll do another one again ... or at least not this year.
Making repeats of the same thing gets boring for me, especially when it takes a week or more to make. I'd much rather spend my time creating something new.
You all should remember from my last design with a crow in it, that I don't like crows. Sure, they're cute in prim designs, but I don't want to make them cute. I want to make them annoying, mean, and obnoxious. So, of course, the crow on this one is pulling the straw out of the scarecrows sleeve. Just what a real crow would do! :)

This is how "Guarding the Pumpkin Patch" got it's start. The finished rug looks a little different, with adjustments to size and details. I drew this a few years ago, put it aside and forgot about it until a few weeks ago. I'm glad I discovered it again.
Anyway, go take a look at the Ebay listing HERE. And while you're in a buying mood, just buy that candy corn candle mat and mug rugs that I have listed please. It's super cheap for only $12.99 ... nothing is wrong with it. It's just a leftover from last year. It's really cute, and I just don't understand why it hasn't been snapped up.


Currently, I'm finishing up an order and then plan to start on a pumpkin candle mat with some fall leaves. I like the how the leaves turned out on the scarecrow penny rug so I'm using that same wool for this next project.

I'm really excited to get back to sewing today, because .....
Jen, my sweet intelligent daughter, suggested that I get some books on cd from the library to listen to while sewing. I was complaining to her that I really miss reading ... can't read and sew at the same time. Jen is an avid reader. She is never without something to read and she is always suggesting a book for me, but I just haven't the time and when I do take the time, sometimes it can be a week or more before I finish.
Usually when I sew during the day, I have the local talk radio station turned on (KDKA) I do enjoy listening to it, but lately it's all just the same political complaints and I'm weary of hearing basically the same thing day after day so listening to a book cd is just a perfect idea. Last night, I went to the library and wow, so many to pick from!
I'm anxious to get started.

Happy day everyone!

Gotta Love 'Em .. Scarecrows!

I was hoping to get this penny rug completed today so that I could list it tonight on Ebay, but it's taken a lot longer to finish than I expected. I worked quite a few hours on it yesterday .. in fact it was actually almost the entire day yesterday, I just don't want to admit how much time I really put into this instead of being outside and doing other things I should have been doing on a beautiful fall day.
But it is almost done. I just need to put the backing on it which really shouldn't take too long. This penny rug turn out more complicated just because I kept adding the little details. The picture doesn't show the entire penny rug ... I'll show that tomorrow when it's completed, but it has this same design on the other end so that added to the time because I had to do it all twice!
I added this little spiderweb and spider right after I finished sewing on the pumpkins.

It was a big mistake to add that spider because throughout the rest of my sewing time, I kept forgetting it was there. I would catch it out of the corner of my eye and it would SCARE me each time! If I ever do anything like this again, I'm going to add the spider in LAST.

Ok, I'm going to attempt to add this video in. I hope it works.

It's a video of the grandson grooming their cat.

It's really funny because they recently purchased (Ebay)a "Furminator" and it really works well. He loves the Furminator. He is a constant commercial for the Furminator. So the first time I saw him use the Furminator on the cat, it was so cute that I wanted to get a video of it to send to Rachel. K, the ham that he is, loved the idea of my phone taking videos, so he offered to do the commercial again and again for me just so that he could see himself on my phone.

So now, everytime I go over there to babysit, he wants me to take pictures of him Furninating the cat.

This video is probably something like take # 60. We've done it so many times, exactly the same way that I've lost count! Maybe the Furminator company will see this blog and hire my little grandson for their commercial.

That's all for now. Rachel drove home today for a visit, which was a wonderful surprise, so we're going to spend the day appreciating her.

Happy Day everyone!

**EDIT* I can't hear the sound on the video and that's the cutest part. Oh well. He's saying
"It's a Furminator, it takes off kitties hair!".