Turkey Time!

I started and can't stop! I began punching last night, and absolutely LOVE the way this one is turning out. It has all the fall colors ~ orange, rust, gold, tan and cranberry. The pattern has options for using overdyed floss from Weeks Dye Works, or plain floss from DMC. Since this piece will be for Ebay, I'm using DMC. (if I used WKW, the starting price would be WAY too high). I'm using their conversion chart, so combining 2-3 colors to achieve an overdyed appearance and subtle shading.

Almost done with the turkey, just the tail is remaining. Then onto the background. I'm thinking of finishing this one on a hornbook ~ maybe painted barn red or gold? I think a brown painted one wouldn't set off the colors in it, as the background is a combination of very dark brown and grey. I'll be busy tonight punching away. Once I start, I have to finish it quickly. :-)

I'll have to get some estimates for fixing our soffits/facia. I walked around the outside of the house yesterday, and found the wind had torn off some aluminum trim. I think the wood underneath is a little soft, so there might be some repairs in order. I was going to wait until spring to see how much it would cost, but now that some pieces are ready to fall off, I better see what's involved now. At least the wind seems to have died down a bit this afternoon.

~*~ Laura ~*~

The windy city

Although the windy city got it's name from the long winded politicians, it sure was windy weather-wise yesterday! Strong gusts of wind were knocking down trees and power lines. Our neighbor's basketball hoop was blown down with the wind. I'll have to go outside and rake and pick up some small branches, but we had no major damage.

This past weekend, my youngest, James, went to a Cub Scout campout on a submarine. It's on the Manitowac River in Wisconsin. Yes, they brought their sleeping bags, and slept overnight on the sub.
Here's a view from the periscope they were playing with. He had a great time, but came home really tired. Andrew had a Boy Scout campout this past weekend. They made teepees, and were all set to sleep in them~ until a lightening storm hit. Since it was close to home, they sent everyone home, as there weren't any safe shelters. But, we had to go back and take down camp on Sunday morning. Matt went to NIU on Saturday to march in their half time show. It was high school day, and several schools were invited to join the NIU marching band. Rachel ran errands with me while the boys were away on Saturday.


It was the last regular season home game on Friday. Our first playoff game is this weekend, but it's an away game. So, there still might be another game to march in if they win this weekend.

I still need to start the turkey punch needle. It's sitting in my dining room, all set in it's hoop. I just need to motivation to get going. Since my Bible study was canceled this morning (no power at church), I have a little extra time. Do I punch, or go outside and pick up??

~*~ Laura ~*~

New Ebay listings

I finally got a few photos and listed 2 sets of ornies on Ebay tonight. I didn't want to dig in our storage room for the mini tree, so I grabbed the first Christmas greenery that I saw, which was a big wreath. I headed to our deck to utilize what daylight I could for photos. Now to figure out why the photos on Ebay aren't showing the borders that I put on photobucket. ???


I spent this morning steam cleaning the carpet in the family room. It's an ugly brown, but as long as it's clean I can live with it. What's amazing is that I'm able to SEE the carpet. I spent all Saturday afternoon picking up Legos on half of the family room. Those little pieces tend to take over whatever area that James is in. Then the Legos get mixed with the army guys and have quite a battle, though the battles never seem to get cleaned up!


The other half of the family room, just to show the other half of the room. Maybe one year we'll get new carpet, but we'll have to play the Lotto. I also look at the tv, one of the old "regular" tv's. All the new ones are nice, LED, and flat screen. But, we have a corner entertainment center (I know it's not in a corner, but it was in our old house) that will only hold a very small flat screen. So, that would mean a new table. It's always one project leads to another. :-)

Our house was "boo"ed this week. Once it's dark, you ring a neighbor's doorbell, leave the bag of candy, and don't get caught. Some years, the note is to post a copy of a ghost on your door, so that you don't get "boo"ed twice. Now to get some candy so the kids can do a few houses before Halloween. I'm kinda glad this one we didn't have to post a copy on our door, as we might get more treats on our doorstep (hopefully chocolate!).

~*~ Laura ~*~

Tuesday's Turkey

I've chosen the next punch needle project to start. It's a primitive turkey! The pattern calls for some Weeks Dye Works and other threads, but I"m using the DMC and combining colors. I"ll make one, and then I can make notes for possible changes on other ones that I do. Even though the pattern is stamped onto the cloth, I made a trip to Office Max to photocopy the cloth so that I can have a printed pattern.


Here's a sneak peak at what it's suppose to look like!


This past Sunday was the Cub Scout rocket launch. Andrew was supervising one of the launch pads. James is all set to push the button for launch.

James with a another Scout, who happens to be one of my favorite kids from lunch last year. Since the school was closed, I was sent to another school. I sure miss some of the kids from last year!
No, it's not my neighbor's Cadillac with the roof sawed off! It was the annual fire station open house for fire prevention week. They used the jaws of life to cut off doors, then remove the roof. The flight for life helicopter couldn't come, as it had an emergency to go on. But, the demonstration on the car was quite interesting.

I'm hoping to have 2 sets of ornies on Ebay this week. I finished stitching them, just need to take some good photos (which involves getting the mini Christmas tree out of storage for some added color in the photo) and get the listings set. One set is 4 Santa ornies, and the other is a set of 4 snowman ornies.

It's another busy week with 2 different part time jobs. One at school, and the other doing some phone work at home. But the extra $ comes in handy when Christmas is approaching ~ only 2 months away!

~*~ Laura ~*~

My Sunday afternoon

It was another warm day on on Sunday ~ perfect for a walk. We have lots of small conservation areas within a short drive. I haven't explored all of them yet, so I set off for one that I had never been to. The path was just mowed grass, plus a wood walkway over the marsh area.


Went past a marshy pond, and then into the prairie with a few pretty trees.


Different birdhouses to attract birds. I'm not sure who lives in this one, but it makes for a nice photo.
I finished up a set of 16 ornies yesterday and today. The spray glue is now drying, and they are ready to be packaged. :-) Then to decide the next project....

~*~ Laura ~*~

A Long Weekend

It's been a long weekend. James had no school on Friday, which meant that I also got the day off (I'm a lunch mom at school). He and I went to the store and wrote out his Christmas list. We then went out to lunch ~ just the two of us. I worked a little on cutting more ornies ~ I just need to do the sewing part now.


Today, I quickly took Matt to a local conservation area to snap a few photos. It's SO nice outside ~ almost hot at 86 degrees. The trees are really bright and colorful. Lots and lots of yellow leaves. We even saw a couple hot air ballonos as we were leaving. I wouldn't want a ride in one, but I imagine the view from above is breathtaking at this time of year!

Lots of beetles flying around. These guys were on some type of large seed pod in the field. Kinda a cool photo.

I'm not motivated to work with wool since it's so hot outside. But, I need to finish an order, and then make extra to list on Ebay.

Have a great weekend!
~*~ Laura ~*~

MoRe ORNieS

I was able to complete another two ornies tonight. Between church, and then a Boy Scout event this afternoon, it doesn't leave much time for completing tons of needlework. The scout event was a court of honor/picnic. It sure was cold outside today! Only in the 50's for a high. There's even a frost warning tonight.

I made a gingerbread ornie from the same pattern as the Santa and snowman (pattern from Little Stitches). I wanted to test out some photo tips from a library book. So, this first photo I took I used the automatic setting on my camera. It washes out the pale yellow bowl the gingerbread man is in.


I then changed the setting to portrait, and the light setting to florescent/no flash. It did photograph darker, but it still looks like the flash didn't go off.


I now changed the setting to aperture priority (Av) on my camera. I changed the f stop to 8.0. It really seemed to capture the correct color/brightness. I'm going to have to use this when photographing crafts for Ebay. I have never experimented with the Av or Tv settings on the camera. I'll have to do some more experimenting, as the photo turned out better than on the automatic settings. Now that I"m strictly selling crafts online (and not craft fairs), photos are what help sell the item. Now if I can show the texture of these in a photo..... (gotta love wool!)

~*~Laura~*~