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

The Matching Scissor Fob

This is what the matching scissor fob looks like from

the other half of the purse.

 This photo is a little fuzzy but you are able to see

what I am talking about. I wrestled with the idea of

cutting out a large area that encompassed the 'P'

with the 2 side scrolls. That would make a nice large

'pincushion'. Then you would have only the bottom and

the top scrolls to make a fob.  But this was not what

I initally wanted to do with it. My main priority was only

to make a scissor fob from this piece. So I decided not

to stray from this. Certainly you can make the pincushion if you

like this idea. The choice is yours.

 Around the 'P' - there are 2 strands of threads. Can

you see them? Starting on the bottom part of the right scroll - I cut

inbetween these threads and continued cutting on all

4 sides of the 'P' until I cut it out.

 Then I used one of bottom side pieces for the backing.

For those that do not sew - simply place the letter on

top and cut around the square. Be sure to center your

letter on that pretty stitching that is on the purse. No

Pins - just cut around it.

 The ribbon length is really 'your choice'.  Try not

to cut too long or too short. Sorry but I do not measure

some things and this is one of them. Simply cut a length

and fold it in half.

 At the bottom raw ends tie a knot as I have done here.

 In this step all I did was place that ribbon knot on the

inside of your front & back piece and pin it in place.

There isnt any need to turn under. You can machine

stitch all the way around if you like. But it only takes

about a minute to hand stitch all around the 4 sides.

And my stitches are not too small nor are they too big.

See my needle. When you finish each little section - then

remove your pins so you dont get stuck. Then when completely

finished knot it off. Be sure to stitch around the ribbon really

good to make sure that it is anchored firmly inside.

When finished sewing - dab on some 'fray check' to keep it

from raveling.

 Here is the front - you cant even see the stitches!

 Here is the back. Its so different than some fob backs.

 Just another photo for you.

 Its a cute set. And it didnt take long at all to make.

Just a couple of free minutes!

 This is the rest of the purse. I dont know what I am

going to do with these little pieces. But I can take the

4 scrolls and place them where the scrolls are on the

outside as you see here. Sew 2 of them together for a

front - sew the other 2 together for a back. This would

make a cute pincushion.

Two of the other 3 pieces could become a small

needlebook with some felt inside. There is also a piece

that could be used for the top of a bottlecap pincushion.

The only reason I did not sew any of these together was

because Pepper didnt need any of those items.

Thats another project for later!

by Hopblogger

Scissor Fobs

A fast scissor fob can be made from most

anything. Try these plastic tear-shaped

crystals. They come in a large plastic box

as you see here. It contains small ones and

large ones and they have holes at the top

so you can string clear thread thru them.

But here I have used them for scissor fobs.

Just thread a long length of narrow ribbon

through the hole, knot them as you wish.

Use the small crystals for your small scissors.

Use the large crystals for your large scissors.

One of these boxes makes a lot of scissor

fobs - maybe your friends need some too!



by Hopblogger

Remember the Country Sampler

that I showed you a couple of postings ago.

Well, I did get the nerve to do what I wanted

to do with it. See, when I saw that Sampler -

my eyes saw alot of things! Ah - it took all

my strength to cut it! But let me tell you that I

am glad that I did it. If you decide to do

something like this make sure that you know

what you want to do with it so you do not

waste any part of that sampler. After all you

worked hard on it. I knew what I wanted

to make out of all of it but in the end the last

piece did not work out like I thought it would.

So I took that little piece & basically

stuck it to the inside of the fabric basket with

pins. When I do figure out what I want

to do with that piece then its still

there in the basket for when I need it.

This is what I saw out of that sampler.

I saw a nice pincushion just from the

center piece. It is backed with

soft red flannel. I could have used

matching thread but I didnt want

to. I zig-zagged all around the piece.

Talk about easy to stuff!

The sampler has greens, pinks,

yellow golds, purple & white. So

any color to stitch would be fine, plus

it helped give me the country effect

that I was after.

Pastel baby buttons of all colors

works very well embellishing it.

I was able to get 2 twin scissor cases.

Each of these pieces were on the left &

right sides of the centerpiece.

Here is the other twin

scissor case. Its identical,

except the button colors

differ. I have plenty of these

little buttons.

This is a little piece

that I wanted to wrap

around a small wooden

spool. Yea, I had planned

this also. It is a

bottlecap pincushion.

The bottlecap pincushion

has baby buttons around

the edges & a couple of

buttons going down the

one side of it.

It has the baby buttons

going around the top also.

And my small embroidery

scissors needed a wooden spool

to hold it. Yep I had planned

also to cover one of these large wooden

spools. The little design was only

about a half inch short of the wooden

spool but I knew that. Because I

had measured it before I even cut it.

I had to decide how I was going to

take care of that problem before I

cut any of the sampler.

Here is the photo going the

entire way around the spool.

The 3 dolls in the wagon was

so cute.

Here is some more of that

cute little design.

See how I attached it. All I did

was sew the little cross stitch

design onto some red flannel.

Then to finish it - I glued it

together. No, the glue is only

on the red flannel - not the wooden

spool. Then I embellished it with

2 cute little blue heart buttons.

Just to give that country touch.

So, this is what it looked like.

And to further country-fi it, if

you look at the first photo you will

see that I popped on a piece of red

flannel with a small green crochet

to top it off. Hope you like the little

scissor fob. This fob has now been

changed because I was able to get

4 scissor fobs out of that sampler.

The little rabbit fob & the little

pie are on the large scissors that

are in the scissor cases. These are

lightly stuffed. Since this photo was

taken, this little scissor fob was taken

off & the little house fob was put on.

It also was lightly stuffed.

This little heart fob is the

only fob left that is not

on a pair of scissors. I might

find a use for it later. It is

not stuffed. I think I like

the stuffed better. So if you

do this - lightly stuff your fobs.

Well, I didnt stop there. I had

to take it further. I had another

small 4 inch doily so I decided

to make me one of those

pincushion-needleminders. The

top is the pincushion. It holds a

little pink heart to keep in with the

country theme.

And just under the coat button is the

magnet for the needleminder.
And no - I didnt make a biscornu

for this set!

I had some small threads so

I placed them in a bag & glued

on just a couple of buttons. I didnt

want to go overboard with them.

Maybe it could use a few more buttons

but I am happy with just a couple

on it.

Well, as you can see I didnt stop

there! I threaded 6 little thread spools

onto some small chocolate brown

rick-rack. And I tied the rick-rack

onto those bows. All 4 sides of this

fabric basket are done this way.

Below is another photo of the

inside of the basket.

The last photo shows you the only

little piece that I have left. The

cow is pin stuck onto the basket.

If you have cross stitch that

you are no longer using or you

have outgrown it. Think about

cutting it. It is better to use it

then not. Yea sure its gonna hurt

your feelings but you will be able

to look at it every day & enjoy

a piece of your heart - that is

after you get over the fear of

FIRST CUTTING IT! That is

the hardest part of it all!

I have just now realized that the

little basket does not have a needlebk

so I guess that little leftover piece will

come in handy for that. I will leave

it there & just stick the needles to it.

Maybe I will glue a magnet underneath

the cow to hold those needles!

Keep stitching!

by Hopblogger

This week

I just happen to like the colors of black & white with touches of pink.

I love Toile & this project just uses those tiny scraps of samples that

I obtained at the fabric store. I only had 4 small samples to work with.

Sometimes you have to take a break from cross stitching & do

something fun & different - also quick & easy.

The top was enhanced with a strip of thin black leather. A Yo-Yo

with little pink beads is stitched on with white thread.

Inside another tiny Yo-Yo holds a covered magnet. Its beads

match the ones on the outside front lid. White flannel is

merely draped on the inside. It is not tacked down.

The basket is tiny only measuring 6in X 6in so the pieces

inside had to be small. The box houses a small scissors fob, a tiny

pincushion & a small needlebook that supports only a couple of

needles. Just cut those samples in half with a pair of pinking

shears - except for the needlebook. The back of each piece

mirrors the front with the black toile. Sew 3 sides together a little away

from the edges, then stuff, then sew the last side. On the scissors

fob be sure to use ribbon or floss for the hanger part. I used the thin

black leather strip as what is on the front of the box. The

little flowers are of pink fleece with a couple of pink beads inside each.

Lately I have been using flannel & fleece.

by Hopblogger