A Bird's Home

At the local Farmer's Market there is a new vendor this year and I simply love her items. I have never seen any birdhouses shaped or painted like these before. They are too cute to put outside to weather and fade in my opinion. I haven't purchased one yet because I haven't decided which one is my favorite. My daughter has her favorite in mind and she also says there is one of the dogs that has "sad" eyes that she likes.



All I know is the person that creates the shape of these has a creative vision and the painting is one of the best -- a true artist.




The name of this booth -- Lakeside Decoys by Jim & Chris Linn-Hatcher, http:/www.lakesidedecoys.com out of Helena, MT

Mug Rug Crafting

This year I have been working for a company that has 3 different group homes in my town of Great Falls, MT. At the girl's home is usually where you will find me on Saturdays from 8 a.m. till midnight.

As the holidays approached I wanted to have the girls try their hand at sewing and brought my machine and scraps of fabric with me one day.

I had read on another blog about a craft idea of the "Mug Rug". This seemed simple enough and I embroidered a few cute cup designs to use on each little "Mug Rug" coaster.



The staff of the girl's home really enjoyed these crafty presents and thanked me for coming up with something creative for the girls to try.



One 16 year old told me that she enjoyed sewing with the machine but felt it taxed her patience. She was still all smiles in handing out the little gift bags with the coasters and some tea bags and coffee treats for everyone at the party.

Merry Christmas and a "Mug Rug" or two may be coming to friends of mine real soon!

Have You Heard?

Have you ever heard of Tipnut.com?


From the Creator --

I think we all have them, those mile high piles of household tips and life hacks that we’ve collected over the years. They’re messy, disorganized and once they’ve been ‘filed’, those tips are nowhere to be found again.
Tipnut.com isn’t anything fancy. It’s simply my way of putting together all the cool tricks I’ve accumulated over the years into a simple, searchable, online filing box–this website. Some of them I’ve tried, some of them I don’t know if I’ll ever try. But I do know they’ll be here if I need them–and I’m happy to freely share everything with you too!

Here is Tipnut's site for Thanksgiving tidbits -- Check them out to spruce up or get creative for the holidays!!! I am going there right now to explore.

http://thanksgiving.tipnut.com/

Ornament Stitching

I have been stitching for a few weeks on a panel of little cute birdies to make into ornaments to sell at a local Christmas show this year. Here are some I have put together.

I am planning on doing more ornaments with different miniature pictures on them and have started stitching those in just the past couple of days. There are three girls at a group home I have been working at that have asked me to stitch them a little something so you will be seeing it here shortly. I just have to keep my fingers busy while doing some overnight shifts at the group homes. The little projects also make me feel like I am getting something completed faster.

Alice In Wonderland FRIDAY

Here is the Alice in Wonderland FRIDAY embroidery piece I finished recently. I am working on one for each day of the week to make a mini-quilt. In the center I want to put something that reads like this: "The Real Life of Alice" or "A Week in Wonderland".

Maybe you could help me come up with something for the center? If you think of something clever, let me know.

More Alice coming in the future.

Alice in Wonderland FRIDAY

I have been stitching Alice in Wonderland patterns, mainly used for tea towels, that have the days of the week on them.

My plan is for a throw quilt that will have something like "Every Day In Wonderland With Alice" written in the center with other patchwork blocks included.

Here is one of the days I have completed.

High Strung Beads

Savannah Rose and I explored another store on Central we have never been to -- High Strung Beads.

I enjoyed checking out all the different shapes and colors. Everything was pleasing to the eye and we ended up with a "kit" for a bracelet to make. The instruction pattern for it was a separate expense and I found this a bit different from all my other crafting purchases.



Couldn't resist snapping photos while on the inside to show you a glimpse. I always look at specialty shops and they way they are set up wondering how they can make a go of it. This place had the customers -- mostly female -- and the owner was ringing us all up in a steady pace.



Now to get to the tedious work of threading the beads to make a bracelet creation!

Reversible Tote Project

This past week I found a blog from a lady in Romania about a shopping bag. She made the pattern and illustrated the instructions for making it. The link can be found here from Geta.

I like to call my shopping bags TOTES. This one is sweet because you can reverse it to your liking very easily.

This was my first attempt at making her project. I decided to add one of my many embroidered pieces onto one side of the tote.



Once completed exactly to her instructions, I have decided that I will work the closure of the handles a little differently on my next creation of her tote pattern. Also, an adjustment on longer length handles for the pattern might be worked on as I prefer longer.

My finished project was snapped up by Savannah Rose to be used for her dolls and their many accessories. She is always carrying a handful of items with her on our outings.

Wheel of Fortune Quilt Blocks

In browsing through my many stashes of quilt block books and patterns, I chose this project to undertake.

I feel a little a proud of myself, because I did not notice the 3 spools level of difficulty found on the pattern until after I had started making the first circle. Needless to say, there was some stitch pulling as this takes a little effort to know how to position the fabric pieces together to sew one at a time.



I know there are friends out there who will report to me that they don't like polka dots, but I kinda like these. Wynston (my 12 year old son) refers to the circles as "lollipops".

I haven't decided totally the outcome of the placement of these quilt blocks. They have to be applique'd onto a background fabric. I have been thinking of something other than a white background. Also, I have been playing with the idea of embroidered poodles, but who knows. I am feeling creative and a "vision" will come along soon of where to place these Wheels of Fortune.

Under Construction - Southwest Theme Quilt top

Over the weekend I have been playing with colors of fabric to go with a nice print fabric my friend Judith sent me for a quilt with a Southwest theme. It is going to be for Avery, my youngest son (soon turning 10).



The coordinating fabrics I have chosen for now are a pretty blue with a pattern and a brown with flecks of black in it.



I have started stitching some embroidery squares to include as well. Avery is pretty impressed with the eagles and likes the sun too.


Also, he smiled really big when I told him there is probably going to be a wolf worked into the quilt top.

It's Been Snowing -- Quilling Ornaments Again

We experienced a couple days of really cold and snowy weather this past week which caused the kids and I to do some creative art projects as well as me making some more quilling ornaments.

I decided to make up a supply of initial shapes and then decide on what shape or pattern to form from them afterward.

I ended up making 10 new creations and trying a few different accents. This has caused me to want to stock up on more shapes/colors to see what else I can image.

One bit of disappointment to me this week was my big beautiful victorian art framed piece arrived with the glass broken. Shopgoodwill.com has been notified and a claim form to UPS is in the works. Thank goodness the print itself was not badly scratched. Off to a frame shop I go to find out how much the glass replacement will set me back!

WATERMELON AND EGGS Art

These are truly incredible. You'll love the cool watermelons,
but you'll be blown away by the eggs!





These egg shells were cut with a high intensity precision Laser Beam. This gives a very good idea of what can be achieved with a Laser Beam. This gives you an idea what laser surgery performed on one's eye is all about. Is it any wonder how one's vision can be improved in just a few moments? Science is sometimes wonderful, and it's still on the frontier of gaining new knowledge. Incredible what can be done with an eggshell and a laser beam.

Stitching Busy Fingers -- Embroidery

I purchased a big lot of cloth hand towels and have been busily stitching away. Here are some photos of the first few I have completed.

I am thinking about putting a few more patterns on a towel and then using a fabric backing and some quilt batting to make a table centerpiece/runner.

I find some of these comical. They are of a vintage flare and one of my favorite online sites is flickr.com where a ton of patterns can be found for your stitching fun!