Monday, December 19, 2011

GIVEAWAY

I decided to let go of a few pieces of 100% linen
that I own. These are lovely pieces. You can
cross stitch on them or craft with them. The choice
is yours. I will iron them before I mail them
to you. They are all in Khaki color except for the pink.
There are a total of 6 pieces.
The very large piece that you see is 19X27 inches.
There are 2 pink pieces. One is 8.5 X 9 inches and the
other one is 9 X 9.5 inches.
Two pieces are 8.5 X 11.5 inches.
And the last piece is almost 10 X 12.5 inches.
Be sure to zoom in to see the linen.






Anyone can participate in this giveaway.
There are only 2 rules.
1. You must be a follower
2. You must leave a comment so I know you
are interested.

Good Luck,
Conny

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Winter White

I am getting there! I was
late putting up my tree. This year
I have dressed it in white with small
touches of red. I did not put an Angel
on the tree. I decided to leave it bare.
I think there are enough ornaments to
keep it busy that you hardly notice
it isn't there.
 This pic was taken at night. I had a hard time
snapping them. Nearly all of them were blurry.
 This pic shows some of my ornaments. There are
white bells with red ribbons, white flowers, white bulbs and white
christmas tree and white snowmen ornies.
I love white or clear lights.And that it the only
ones that I ever use. The packages are wrapped
with christmas paper with red words that say
'Merry Christmas!'
 Only 4 pics took. 2 in the daytime and 2 at night.
I did not decorate the outside of my house this year.
Generally every year I decorate with many wreaths.
I even decorate my little stair bannister. But
this year I got lazy.
Merry Christmas!
Many hugs and kisses to you all.
Hopblogger

Sunday, December 4, 2011

An Angel

Since my eyes are still not up to par - I
am falling a little behind on stitching.
However my miniatures are still going
strong - at least for the moment.
The Angel was started
over a year ago and finished in January.
She was not hard - I just had to much to
do so she kept getting put on the side burner.
She is a pattern from Serendipity Designs,
(Mar-Bek) titled The Tapestry Angel. Stitched
on 14ct white aida.
I have a few more of
these Angel patterns but I havent started
stitching on any of them yet.
As of yet I have no idea what I will make
with her.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hopblogger

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunbonnet Thimble Holder

Have you ever visited the website
Well they have really cute needlebook
photo's with patterns free for your use.
Some of them are so darling. For a while
now I had been looking at the 1936 pattern
of the Sunbonnet Needlecase. For most of us
we remember the Sunbonnet quilts. I made
some of those in my time and gave them away.
Take a look at this Sunbonnet Needlebook.
Hey - I do admit being a CHEATER. If there is
anyway that I can make it in 5 minutes then I
am happy. This Sunbonnet belonged to a doll
that had a very pretty matching dress and
accessories. This Sunbonnet is not very big.
In fact it only measures about 3.5 X 3.5 inches.
On the inside I glued a piece of felt to the bonnet
to hold needles. However I mainly wanted the little
bonnet to hold thimbles.As you can see I have about
4 of them in this bonnet. It can hold more than that.
 If you want one of the Sunbonnet Needlebooks - you
could always find a larger doll that had a bigger
bonnet and convert it. It would be fast and east. You
could also add the little pouch to hold scissors, threads, etc.
But mine was too small to hold those items.
I think that I will put the rest of my thimbles inside
the little Sunbonnet.
I hope that you will think about the Sunbonnets
to hold some of your sewing supplies.
Have a great day and Thanks for visiting me!
Hopblogger

Saturday, November 19, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Sweater Weather
Autumn is a very pretty time of the
year. Its not to cold nor is it too hot.
Everyone breaks out with their bulky
sweaters and some are so cold that
their coats are already in use.
I am still wearing my sweaters and
most of the time I am much too hot
to even wear one of those. Yes -
I go outside in a short sleeve
blouse!.
This cross stitch pattern is
called Autumn. All of the information
is here - so enjoy.


by Hopblogger




Friday, November 11, 2011

Double Decker Floss Bobbin

I have taken many spins around the internet
looking for this floss bobbin. And I cannot find
it anywhere so I am still hoping that it is safe
to put on this blog. If not then Please
tell me and I will gladly remove it.

These floss holders are a little glittery or super
shiny. You can cut it out of cardboard, wood or
whatever you want to use.
However take a good
look at the meat trays. You know when you
buy your meat at the grocery store and
they put your hamburger on one of those
white or black meat trays - then they wrap
it up in plastic wrap with the price on top
and hand it to you. Those are the meat trays
that I am talking about. These floss bobbins
remind me of those meat trays!
Or you can use thin
foam from the craft store but the foam is not
glittery like this floss bobbin. 
 
These floss bobbins are thin and
I cannot remember
if those meat trays are thin or thick. But I
guess it would not matter.  The thick might be much
more sturdier.
Anyway, I cannot stress enough about using
those meat trays cause they are FREE with
your meat!

You should be able to cut out
at least 2 of these floss bobbins from each
meat tray, if you use them.
If you use wood or a heavy cardboard
then line them up side by side, and cut out with
scissors or a saw. Stain or paint the wood,
or cover them with fabric using glue.
However I do not think that glue and fabric
will work if you use the meat trays. Make
them as pretty as you like or keep them
plain - the choice is yours.

Use a hole
puncher to make the hole at the top.
Cut slits on the sides so that your
threads or your ribbons etc can slide
into those slits to lock in place.

Please do not be intimidated. These
floss holders are super simple!!

Click click to print it out.
On these next 3 photo's are the measurements of
the double decker floss holder.


Wrap your ribbons around it or your small rick-rack.
I am sure that you can find lots of uses for this
bobbin besides floss. Would love to see a photo
if you use this.
Thanks for visiting me. Come back soon.
Hopblogger


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Double-Decker Floss Bobbins

I LOOK AT ALL OF YOUR BLOGS. HOWEVER
MY BLOGGER WILL NOT LET ME COMMENTS
ON YOUR BLOGS. NOW I GET A DIFFERENT KIND
OF MESSAGE THAT SAYS "I DO NOT HAVE ACCESS
TO VIEW YOUR BLOGS". WHATEVER DOES THAT
MEAN? IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO FIX THIS
PROBLEM I SURE WOULD APPRECIATE THE ADIVCE!
THANK YOU.
I hope that all of you had a very
nice Halloween. Now that its over we await
Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have always combined
both of these holidays together ever since my hubby
and I have been married. I enjoy that season very
much because at those times I am not in the bed
dealing with environmental allergies.
There are all kinds of bobbins to hold floss. Everyone
is familiar with the small cardboard or small plastic
bobbins that is generally used in all of those plastic
boxes. But have you ever seen these?
 I found them this past Spring at the Thrift Store.
Someone definitely decided that they did not want
to cross stitch anymore. Anyway I have searched
in vain on the internet looking for these double-decker
floss bobbins. I cannot find them. I do not know if
someone made them or if they were bought this
way. I have never seen anything like them in all of
my years of cross stitching.
 So nicely wrapped. They have never been used.
 Look at the pile. All of these double-decker floss
bobbins were on huge rings. These bobbins are made out of
plastic but the plastic is not a thick plastic. Also the
plastic seems to have an almost glitter glow.
I will make a pattern for this double-decker
floss bobbin and post it next week for you. I will also
give you the dimensions of the pattern so you can be
sure to print it out in the right size.
 Take a good look and let me know what you think.
 These are not the same bobbins as I have above. These
bobbins are the large bobbins that sell online. These
do come in double-decker. However I have seen these
online and they do not look like the ones I have above.
 Thread Savers is also a source of floss bobbins.
These are very nice and made of wood. The directions
tell you how to use these. Arent these nice.
Of course if you still like to put your floss on those
small cardboard or plastic bobbins then thats okay.
You can keep these bobbins and glue scrapbook
paper on them. You can use pink paper for pink floss,
blue paper for blue floss and etc...
But if you are looking for an inexpensive change you can always
convert those bobbins to the Singer Sewing Machine metal
or plastic bobbins. These bobbins are not very
expensive and look so cute. You can nearly always
find those sewing machine bobbins at thrift stores.
Have a nice day and thank you for visiting
me
Hopblogger

Sunday, October 30, 2011

This is the last of my Halloween
patterns. There are 15 of them that I give to
you to do with as you please.. Stitch them
for yourself, for your friends, for charities. Just
please give me the credit for making the designs. I have
not had the chance to stitch any of these. I have
gone over them alot hoping that there are not
any mistakes with them. But human error is almost
always likely. I am keeping my fingers crossed! All of
these patterns are not too big and should be quick
to stitch.
This first pattern is titled
IT DON'T WORK!
As you can see nothing is coming out of the witch's wand.
She is telling this to the witch moon. The words can
be stitched  in single or triple strands of black. Stitch it
according if you want the words to pop out at you
or not. That choice I leave up to you. The colors are
up to you to change if you like.
 With this pattern, the pumpkins are not happy.
A bad witch turned 3 witches in pumpkins.
She glued them to each other and now the bottom
witch is trying to change the spell. They are doomed!
 This one is titled, "A Spell Gone Wrong".
 I really like this one. This witch go all caught
up in her spell. She was trying to relay a good
message but before she could do so - the spider
tried to envelope her! This pattern is titled,
"Tangled Web".
 These pumpkins stayed in the pumpkin patch
to long. They are angry about it. I like their
eyebrows. This one is titled "Angry Pumpkins".
 I had fun with the trees. I hope you notice the little
owls. sitting in the right tree. The left tree has a
spider web in it. The witch moon resides over all of
the trick-or-treaters. Those trees do scare some of them
away. The spooky house is begging all of the little
kiddies to come inside.
Anyway this pattern is titled, "Hallo-Street".
 This was my attempt at making a kitchen witch. She has
springy legs and spider web hair. Her broom is bent
and crooked. Her hat is too small for her head. Stitch
her face in green and see what she looks like. She does
not have a name. She's just a plain kitchen witch.
 This is a pumkin on a stick giving the spiders a
swing around the pole. He is titled,
"Maypole Pumpkin".
Do you wanna swing?
 I forgot to look at my blog to see if I had given
you this one or not. But in case I didn't give it to
you then - I give it to you now. This one is titled,
"Moon Web".
 This is an old witch. She has lost part of her hat
and it is no longer black. And her broom shrunk!
She is just titled, "Old Witch".
 Two pumpkins are sitting beside each other.
The bigger one knocked the younger one out with
his fist! And now he wants to know if they are still
friends. Maybe the spider on his head made him do
it. This pattern is titled,
"Are we stil friends".
 This witch is just pooped! Halloween has just tuckered
her out. She decided to take a rest on the moon.
And the witch moon does not like it. But she is not
getting up just yet. This pattern is titled,
"Witch Nap".
 This was one of the first patterns that I made. I even
started stitching this one. I got almost half way throught when
I had to stop. I hope you like
"Witch-Kins".
 These next 2 patterns I made to be a BISCORNU.
Either one can be the front. The spider is the same
stitch that I used for the flowers in the bees patterns.
The centers are now spiders. Each pattern has a spider in the
middle. This is to allow the ease of a button or
whatever you want to use for the center as this stitch
basically creates a hole in the center.
For the center you could use 2 little beads as
spider eyes. Thats just to give you an idea.
 Even though both spiders work out to be in the middle
of the biscornu - they are basically in different spots
of the pattern. Because one side is a full sie spider
web and the other is a corner spider web.
You could do this Biscornu differently than most.
It would be nice to see black linen or aida cloth with
a white spider web with a brown spider on one side.
On the other side white aida cloth or linen with the
ususal black spider web with black spiders.
I think this would be different and look nice.
 Well - I tried to do ugly. Notice the stars on her
dress and at the end of her hat. She has red
frizzy hair and red lipstick. She is titled,
"Fashion Diva".
This is the end of my Halloween pattern making for this year.
 I intend on trying to make patterns for each holiday
as long as my imagination still works. I hope you
like them and will use them. Until next year!
Happy Halloween
by Hopblogger


Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Halloween Set

Back in June and July I was really busy.
I have so much to show you! Halloween
is fast approaching. On my next posting I will
have many halloween patterns to share with you. 
Please dont look at the mess in the background as it
cannot be helped. I have a little room But everything
back there is being worked on.
This is my little halloween set. It doesnt set in a basket.
All of it sets in a little halloween cardboard box. It has
a scene painted on it all around the 4 sides. No I didnt
make it. Its just something to place halloween candy or
something like that in it. Here I am using it to place my
halloween stuff in it.
 2 witches and a black cat. So cute they are together.
When the sales start coming on and the sales should
be here. You can buy these little stuffed witches and other
little animals for a little of nothing. I love to use these
little stuffings as pincushions. Not that it gets me out of
work but they are just so cute. How could you resist them?
Its better to find a use for them than for them to just sit
around.  I bought both of these witches last year when
the sales came about. The little adorable cat came from the thrift
store. He was only 25cents.  I see that I have forgotten
to snap a pic of the Chatalaine. Between the witch and the
cat is the chatalaine. The black ribbon has spiderwebs
going all thru the ribbon. I purchased this at
Joanne's Fabrics. An little orance pincushion
has a witch's head attached to it. Its just a brooach
from the dollar store that I got a long time ago.
Next year I intend on
adding to my little set something cross stitchy.
 I do like the wooden thread spools. They are just right
for holding a little pair of scissors upright. The top and the
bottom of the spool is just felt cut with pinking sheers
and lightly glued onto the wood. A ribbon of black bats
circle around the wooden spool. They have yellow-green
eyes. I like placing my sicssors in these spools because it makes
them easier to grab on to. I hope you like the fob.
This little fob when I found it at the thrift store was
missing all of its little charms except for the little
plastic orange trick or treat basket. There is a ghost
on the side - it is so cute. Since the little bracelet was
broken all I did was attach a little key ring with some
black ribbon to the bracelet and the ring. I tied it in
a knot and let the black ribbon hang as you see here.
The charms came from Joanne's Fabrics. There is a
black spider, a mummy, a little sign that says happy
haunting, the basket and a spiderweb with a spider.
This little bracelet only had the little black things on
there to hold the charms. It must have been broken
but when I saw it - it was for me. It was only 50cents.
How can you go wrong with that!
 My daughter helped me look for something to make
a needleminder out of. We couldnt find anything suitable.
So I couldnt make one of those but I will be keeping my
eyes open for something that will work.
This other item is a needlecase. Super-Simple! I did not
want anything that was not going to hold many needles.
In fact I am kind of getting tired of the cute little
needlebooks that will not hold the threads while you
are working on a project. This needlecase
can be made in a matter of a few minutes.
To make one of these - take 2 pieces of different
colored felt. There isnt any sewing involved. There isnt any
glue either. Cut the outer piece of felt any color and size you want.
Cut the inner piece of felt smaller than the outer piece.
This little pumpkin head is
a little brooach with a pin on the back. This basically
holds my 2 pieces together. This is going to hold
a lot of threaded needles! On the back all I did was
cut 2 small slits to run some ribbon thru. To close the
needlecase all you do is fold it into thirds and tie up
with the ribbon. Sorry I forgot to snap a pic of the
folded needlecase. However it is in the basket in the
very back in the first picutre.
 Here's the back of the needlecase. Be sure when
you cut the slits that you do not cut the inner felt
piece.
 Ever since I have posted about the potholders - I have
gotten alot of hits on it. This scissor case is a potholder.
In fact Its a biggg potholder. But I liked the design that
was on it. I knew that I wanted to show this pumpkin
so I sewed it together in a little different way that I seew
the others. I hope you like the tiny witches hat!
 Here is the back of the scissorcase. I sewed it together
down the middle. But before I did that I sewed the bottom
closed. Super-Simple.
 Another little pic of the witches hat. It is small
for my large gingher scissors. The point is made from
a 2 inch piece of felt. It is lightly stuffed. The black
brim is felt and is just a little bigger than the cone.
 This is another potholder soon to be made into
another scissor case. I like the ghost and the purple
color. It is so vibrant.
 Now - this is a new item that I am not sure that you
will like. My intentions were to have this as a floss holder.
It will hold many of them. In fact it could hold 36. You
wouldnt believe what I made it from. You know those
dishwasher baskets that come with every dishwasher.
Yep - thats what it is. The baskets come in a few other
colors than white. I picked up 3 of these this past summer.
All I did was cut the basket apart and take small ribbon.
This ribbon is the same ribbon that is on the needlecase.
I just wrapped it around the outer rim. A little glue to
start and a little glue to end.
 Next year I hope to wrap the floss on it for a project.
I have another one of these that I cut a few strips of pink
flannel not even an inch wide and just wrapped it around
the outer sides just like above. It turned out really pretty.
I hope you like.
Hally Halloween!
by Hopblogger