Santa ornaments for sale

I have a set of 12 Santa ornies for sale. Each is hand sewn from wool felt, has a painted wood nose, blushed cheeks, painted eyes, fabric holly, french knot berries, a rusty jingle bell, and sprinkled with mica flakes. Each comes in a clear cello bag tied with curling ribbon.  Each is $4.50, plus $1 shipping (shipping is $1 whether you order 1 or 12).   I do have them listed on another Facebook group, so if you're interested, please email me and let me know how many you would like. My email is  appleberrycottage@hotmail.com   .  


I haven't posted in months. I had been job hunting for a while, and back in May, I accepted a new position. Between working with a long commute, kids graduating from jr high and high school, just not a lot of time for crafts.

Now that the weather is cold and snowy, I'm hoping to get back into some crafting. I just ordered a couple patterns for wool applique, so that should help me get creative.

Laura

Friday Finishes

 I have some Friday finishes! I finished this wallhanging. I tried something daring on the outside border ~ feathers. I drew the curvy line, then added the feathers. Considering it was first attempt at them, it wasn't too bad.

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It's hard to get a photo of the feathers, as I used black thread on the fabric. Maybe brown might have shown up more, but since I'm still learning, it's good to hide some imperfections.

I also have a finished white baby afghan (along with an antique white one).

Next project ????

Applique

 I machine appliqued the flowers and basket, and added the borders. I am currently tearing out some poorly done stitching around the outlines. I'll try again!

 Last weekend, our local quilt shop had an auction. I won this Nine-Patch Gatherings book, along with some scrap fabrics.

Some practice free motion quilting. I still have lots more room on this huge piece of fabric to play with.

I'm off to tear our some more stitching.

Laura

I'm still here

It's been a few months since I've posted. Life is getting in the way. Between work and all the snow. Lots and lots of snow. The Chicago area has hit the 3rd most snow on record for the winter (and there's still the possibility of more). I'm thankful I work close to home so that I don't have a long commute in the snow, but am still searching for a different job. The place I'm currently at isn't my "forever" job.

I managed to finish the quilt for James this week. I bought a Viking even feed foot. It works SO much better than my last one. I stitched in the ditch using a cream thread to match the quilt backing material. I'm not crazy about stitch in the ditch, but it was a learning process. The next project will have some free motion quilting. I took a class last month to learn how to free motion.

This month's class was a machine applique class. I took this stack of material:

And turned it into this:

It's all fused on the background. I now need to either zig zag or blanket stitch it down. I have got a new clear open toe foot for my machine, so I'm all set to experiment.

After this project, I need to go back to a rug I started, but gave up on. I need to re-work the colors. I love when I finish up all the project I have been working on. Then it will be finding new ones.

 I'll use crafts as my therapy. I just finished the FAFSA for college finances. Gulp. I had filled out an estimated one, and just did the official. Our estimated contribution went up by 2000 per student. We had received one estimated financial offer from a college. It was eye opening. I can't imagine going into debt that far for college loans. I would love to hear how others handle the expenses. (without winning the Lotto).

I'm off to start sewing on my applique project.

Laura

My new toy!

Yesterday I went to pick up my new toy! I saw an ad on craigslist for a sewing machine, and the person was nice enough to hold it for a week until the weather cleared up. It was a gorgeous day to take a drive  north of the border ~ to Wisconsin, that is. I am now the excited owner of a previously loved Husqvarna Viking Lily 550 sewing machine!

I had to sit and figure out how to use it last night. My old Bernette didn't have electronics, buttons, or anything fancy. It took some reading the manual, testing, and experimenting, but I figured out how to thread, wind the bobbin, and do some stitches. I still need to figure out the programming of multiple stitches. I am amazed at how smoothly it sews. I tried going from 2 to 8 layers of cotton fabrics ~ not a problem for this machine. My son even commented on how quietly it ran. Now to finish the log cabin quilt I started. I don't think I will be hand quilting it ~ I'll be using my new Viking!

On the way back home, had to stop at the Mars Cheese Castle. When I was younger, it was just a store front. It's now an actual castle. Inside is chesee ~ lots and lots of cheese. Bought some butterkase cheese and a loaf of cheese bread from their bakery. Yum!

I'm off to play with my new toy! If anyone has any links for ideas of combining decorative stitches for borders, please let me know. 

~*~ Laura ~*~

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I didn't get cards out in the mail this year, but I still managed to get a snapshot of the kids. My older 3 are 18yrs old, and my youngest is 13.

I remember the years where there were tons of gifts under the tree. Now the gifts are few, and the packages are smaller. Their "toys" increase in price, and the toys get smaller.

I am anxiously waiting to pick up my new toy tomorrow. I used a small bonus and gift money to buy myself something. Stay tuned!

Valdani vs DMC floss

I have this newly finished punch needle Santa listed on Ebay. The listing ends on Friday ~ just in time to get it in the mail for Christmas. 

The one on the left is the item on Ebay. The Santa on the right is the same pattern that I did last year (for myself). It's a pattern  ~Winter Night ~ that my daughter and I created. (she drew, I revised it, and then selected colors, floss, and punched it)  The one on the right I did the background sky with Valdani hand dyed thread. It had shades of soft black and grey. I punched doing an outline around the trees, moon, and Santa.  The piece on the left the sky was punched using DMC floss. I don't like using just plain colors (too flat looking). I blended 2 strands of black, with 1 strand of a brownish grey. It give a different look ~ more of a tweed. But, it's a fun way to get an overdyed look without using overdyed floss. I did the trees the same way (but using lots of different combinations of green/tan), as well as the snow. 

So, if you're doing punch needle, I hope this inspires you to try experimenting!

~*~ Laura ~*~