Fabric Bowl and Pincushion

Here we have another project with felt.  The petals are two different sizes; the small one is felt covered in fabric that is 1/2 inch larger all around, and basted in place on the back side, in the same way as the Cherry Needlebook.  The large petal is stitched to the back of the small fabric covered felt petal. 

The five petals are then stitched together by overlapping them a little.  A small pentagon felt piece is stitched to the center for the bottom of the bowl.  The pincushion is just a large circle of fabric that is gathered and stuffed.  The beads are added last.

Sometimes when I am adding beads to a project I put the beads in this bowl to scoop the beads up on my beading needle.  If I make another one I will cover the felt pentagon with fabric and then add another felt piece to the back before sewing it in place, and then make the pincushion out of felt.  I think I would like that better.  And maybe add seed beads to the pincushion just for fun.  I like beads, can you tell?

Aloha Pouch

 This is another pouch I made and I have not figured out what to put in it yet, but I will.  The pouch is shaped like an hourglass and the skirt is made of leaf shapes that are stitched on at the waistline.   They all are made in the same manor as the dragonfly pouch.

It has a beaded handle to hang it with.  There are also beads sewn to the neckline right above the little circles of fabric that are folded in half, then folded into thirds.  The raw edge of the folded circles are gathered into little rosebuds and stitched on.

The picture below shows the backside. 

The following picture shows a close-up of the neckline with the beading and rosebuds.

We had our multifamily garage sale. It went well. We sold a lot of stuff, and then we took most of the remaining things and donated them to Goodwill. Friday we had horrible heat, and Saturday we got stormed on. Good thing Erin's garage had room for everything.  I'm really tired; I think the heat just zaps me.  I'm a wimp.  Our power went out during the storm on Saturday and was off for better than 4 hours.  I was afraid we would have to drag out the generator.  I love air-conditioning.

There's a really nice lonestar quilt on amylouwho that I just love--go check it out.

Big Bags

I love these bags; they are big enough to hold lots of things.  I've made three of them, and gave my daughter one of them.  I got the pattern out of one of my favorite craft books called Sew Pretty Homestyle.

I made a little small bag to attach to the handle of the blue one.  I keep my rolled up measuring tape in there.

I really like little decorative embellishments on my bags.  It's beaded strawberries for the tiny bag, and a rose for the blue bag. 

The pink one has a different flower look to it.

Today we are starting another garage sale to help a loved one in need with the proceeds.

As soon as I'm done here I'm going into my hot attic to look for items to sell.  We set up at 1 pm today.

Tomorrow the enjoyment part begins---being with our relatives for 2 days while things sell.  You see it's another multifamily garage sale.  This time it's at our youngest daughter, Erin's house just down the street.  She has an excellent location and an empty garage.  I pray we do well; we always have lots of good stuff.

Katydid Pouch

 
I made a little pouch to keep buttons in from garments that have extra buttons on them.  I keep it in my dressing room.  It's made like the Cherry Needlebook and the Dragonfly Pouch.

Some Katydids are just a little bit freaky to me.

The one above is probably most likely the one mine is modeled after.
The one below, however, is just creepy--almost as creepy as the crickets Erin has under her house.

How do you like this pink one?

When Erin first move into her house she had one of these brown cricket like bugs with gianormous legs --in her house and it had gotten into her boot.  She felt something against her leg so she checked it out, and Waa-laa!  It was one of those bugs, and of couse she come unglued squeeling and shooing this bug which hangs on tight until they jump so quick and far you have no idea where they are.  Well it jumped----and it took us a minute to find it---on my leg----it was my turn to come unglued, and I did.

My katydids don't have legs and they aren't creepy--they're cute.

Below you can see the pouch.  It's felt on the inside.

He has a big friendly mouth to store things.

The back side shows the shape of the body/pocket.  I used two different Batik fabrics for the wings and body.

Big blue glass beads are the eyes.

Sweet.

We had a wonderful Father's Day Supper at our house with lots of food and relatives yesterday.

Smoked Brisket with BBQ Sauce

Chips

Baked Beans

Deviled Eggs

Vegetables

Salad

Fruit and Dip

Chocolate Pies

Yum-O!

Painted Classroom

A few years ago I painted the interior of two modular buildings.   My daughter Erin helped me that summer.  I used silver metallic paint and white and greys.

 
The picture below is suppose to look like blocks falling out of the sky.  An interior decorator sketched up roughly what she wanted on the walls, and then I drew it up, and Erin and I painted it.

The following picture shows a checker board look with the perspective of looking at it from a distance.

I designed a wheel of wisdom for a teaching tool.  Our son-in-law, Jeff, built it (he's so handy) using a bicycle wheel on the inside of it.  I painted it in all kinds of faux finishes.  It's quite the amazing contraption.  It spins real well.

We have new computers picked out, but we have to order them, so it may be a while before we get them.
Our daughter, Erin helped us shop for them on-line, but I'm so old-school that I want to go to the store and order them.  I will be blogging about things in the past, until the new computers are up and running.  I miss my printer-scanner-copier, and my picture program on our desktop--Whaaa!  I may have to learn a new picture program since we will be updating our computers---I'm not crazy about that idea, but what do you do?  I guess my mind needs stretched some more.

MIL Quilt

 This is a quilt my MIL made---one of many.  They are all hand pieced and hand quilted.  This one is on our bed, and funny thing is, this pattern is really enjoyed these days. 

I know the picture isn't too good, but it's the best I have right now, because our desktop computer is dead-for-the-last-time, and that's the one I download my pictures on to blog with. So I'm making do with pictures I have on a USB port storage device. ( I think I got the terms correct--I just stick this thing in the hole and that's where I get my pictures--I'm not the most computer savy person, can you tell?)

Here is another picture of it.

If you strain your eyes, you can see the pinwheel block.

The picture below is a winter picture of what my hubby and I are doing in the evenings, except imagine all kinds of greenery and flowers and a pond in view--ain't this fun!  I hope to get a new computer soon, or my blog will just dry up.  Computer shopping is not my favorite thing in the world, but we have our daughter, Erin who is always willing to help us with that.  When we bought our desktop several years ago without her she said, "You got what?"  Our choice wasn't the best.  We won't make that mistake twice.

I'm hoping to have another computer by the next post. 

Dry Embossed Cards

   I really enjoy dry embossing cards; it's just too much fun!

This is a card that I made for one of my Grandsons--Cole.

I surprise myself once in a while that I am at all able to come up with something that isn't girlish.

The cards below were for our "Iowanian (I love that word) Grandchildren" (They're from Iowa).  I know its really suppose to be Iowan, but that's not as fun.
Cole's birthday and Cyle's are both in April, and so Jennifer sometimes has their parties together.  These cards were actually made a few years ago, but I just happened to take a picture of them all.  Erin made the first one, then mine, and lastly Celeste's card. 

Cyle's cards were handmade also.  Sometimes I call him "Cyle E. Wyote"--you know--a take on "Wyle E. Coyote".

The card below was one I made for a lady that contributed to the class I taught on making Kaleidoscopes.

I also enjoy using my paper crinkler.  What fun. 
The paper with scalloped edges I made by dry embossing the leather or alligator texture, then I rubbed it with distressing ink and a sponge, and then last I painted it with acrylic varnish, which gave it a leather look.  I love that look.  If I had used a tan or brown cardstock, it really would have looked like leather. 
The leaves were cut out first, folded in half lengthwise, and then run through the crinkle roller at an angle.  I also used distressing ink on them to accent the crinkles and edges.

3-D Butterfly Cards

At times I'm really into paper crafts.  I made several cards with a butterfly theme.  I have a set of butterfly stamps, and I just went crazy.  I colored them and put glitter on them, then I cut them out.

You can see the glitter on this one below.

Below are my Grandkids that live in Iowa.  They recently went on vacation, and here's a picture that my daughter, Jennifer sent to me.  This was their first---in person--- look at the Ocean.  Boy, that water looks good, doesn't it?  Makes me want to go there.

Oooooooooooeeeeeeeee!

Tags

 Here are some tags I made a while back.  The black and white pics are of my siblings and I---(some of them anyway--it was before the last two siblings were born).

The "think spring"one in the middle is about my grandkids in 2006.  The picture is on a flap that opens to reveal more pics inside.  There have been two more grandkids born since this picture was taken, but I love that picture.

We had a family garage sale with 8 to 10 households contributing to raise some money for a loved one.

It was at my niece, Niki's house.  It was a good time to spend a few days together--almost like camping, my niece said.  Lots of fun and we raised a little money too.  We're all tired now though.

My niece is such a great organizer--can you tell?  Wow--that's all I can say.

The kids had a snow cone stand, and did quite well.

We had lot's of toys....

cookies, water, kitchen items, bedding, books, games, home decor, handcrafts, clothes, all kinds of baby stuff..you name it; I even brought some Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) perinnial variety, and sold them all.  I think I had about 50 plants or so.
And one of my very  favorite parts was...

holding Sophie!  I think she was keeping an eye on Mommy here.  She is pretty attached to her right now.  What a sweetie.  I just want to smooch on that sweet little face.