A bit of show and tell

Things are finally going to get back to normal around here -
I got the pins removed from my finger!

 Amazing how not being able to use the full capacity of ones hand
really makes so many things difficult, if not impossible.

But on to better things.

A couple weeks ago I decided to make a traditional early style penny rug for us...
after all these years we do not have one.

I love all the colors in this one and they will be stitched on a wool army blanket.

I laid the pennies in the order I wanted, then had to mark on the backs of each one the number in the spot they would go back on after I stitched the two pennies together.

I am really anxious to start stitching because the colors take on a deeper tone with the stitching - and those few bright gray ones will tone down considerably when stitched.

Last Friday we took a very long day trip to Arcola, IL to some Primitive Antique shows.

Everything in all 4 shows was so beautiful but sooo expensive.

The show we went mainly for was Homesteaders On The Prairie...a wonderful and affordable show plus we always see familiar faces there.

Among the ones we saw was Carolyn Thornton from Black Cat Primitives

 - she is always so upbeat and smiling!

Saw this sweet pillow she made and I thought it would look good on the guest bed -

tie it in with the old quilt at the bottom of the bed

Also found a long paddle I think a long tall snowman punch needle would look nice on. 

It isn't old but I loved the shape.

This homespun wool I thought would make a very neat looking sheep on a hooked piece

At one of the shows we saw 3 very nice Penny Rugs.

Would of loved the one on the wall but the price was too out of line.

I love the outline stitching on this one.

Cool Red/White/blue one

A couple weeks ago we went up to Fox & Fork where I consign at

and they had a whole tub of graters and such - love the little hand scrub board.

Going to mount punch needle on these at some point.

I imagine with the new year that started many of you made a resolution to eat healthy.

We did but haven't been too good at following it like we should but now and then

we do and last night I made a delicious stir fry and it's probably

one of the easiest and healthiest dishes you could eat.

Do you find you make enough to feed a whole table of people?

Seems no matter what I make after all these years of just the two of us

I can't seem to cut back on the ingredients and make a ton of it.

Tonight we go over to UW Whitewater for granddaughter Emily's band concert.

We haven't seen her in several weeks and we'll also celebrate her 19th birthday.

We are so proud of Em - she received another scholarship last week and also got a job for the summer at the Kenosha, WI museum for Public History which is her major.

I'll close now - as again I never know when to stop writing 😊

Blessings to you all and thanks for stopping by

Karen

IN NEED OF DECORATIVE TISSUE PAPER?

I have these items offered on my selling blog as well - 
just email me with your selections a full 
mailing address to calculate shipping

TISSUE PAPER
(I will be purchasing more tissue paper at wholesale next month so if I'm sold out of a design, I'll try and replenish it)

$3.25 per pack plus shipping

10 sheets per pack (20 x 26)

SOLD ~ Primitive Blessings ~ SOLD

4 Available

Red Check

3 Available

Sheep
5 Available

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SOLD ~ The Folk Art Sheep ~ SOLD
Framed Punch Needle
is still available

Mounted on dark red wool to match the color of the flowers 

Size of the wood frame is 14-1/2" x 7-1/2" 

Orig. $65 

Now $55 plus shipping 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ALL E-PATTERNS

ON SALE - ON SALE

NOW $4.00 each

Reg. $6.00

E-mail me with your choice(s)
and I will send you a PayPal invoice

kmprimitives@gmail.com

Include name of pattern(s)

You can find them here:

http://kmprimitives.blogspot.com/p/patterns-and-e-patterns.html

Simply Fall!

Oh yes – Fall is finally here and I am in my glory.
The days are what I call PERFECT for here in the Midwest – typical temps are in the mid 70’s. I doesn’t get much better than that for me.

This past weekend was a busy one.
We left Friday for Michigan to a Primitive/Antique show - Harvest At The Mill .  It was hosted by Dawn and Dick Rossell from Holly Hills Primitives blog:  http://hollyhillsprimitives.blogspot.com/

We got to meet some friends as well as help another friend get her booth organized.  Had so much fun but totally worn out and hurt from too much bending and standing/walking – but the end results were worth it.

We got to see Marie Morgan from:   http://primitivesbyoldeladymorgan.blogspot.com/ 
She always has such cute Pumpkins and Jacks as well as her Primitive dolls.
We found a sweet little pumpkin to go with all the other ones we have purchased from her.

Isn’t that the most innocent face for a pumpkin?

Sweet friend Earlene Landis - http://earlene-primitivepassiondecorating.blogspot.com/

Huge bunches of Bittersweet from Earlene’s booth.

 

And our friends Teri and Joe Merle from Carriage:  http://www.chltin.com/

A few of the purchases

 

 

 

 

And Two Teresa Kogut punch needles

 

And a gorgeous stack of wool from Never Enough Wool.

Sunday and Monday we did a bit of Fall decorating – not much though.
I mostly use Bittersweet , Pumpkins and gourds.
The dining room looks like a pumpkin patch!

I’ll put a couple pictures on but the rest will be in another post later this week.

 

Happy Fall and thanks for stopping by

Karen

Anyone care to dye?

Oh I didn’t mean literally !!

I tried my hand at making a ‘natural’ dye.
It worked!!!

I got the idea off of Pinterest – you know that site that gets us on there and then KEEPS us there…
Seems I get on there and I can’t do much else until I have my fix.  I get going on it and all of a sudden I think of a new ‘board’ to make and then I’m off and running looking for great things to put on it.  There are few things on the internet that keep me entertained as much as Pinterest.
Okay – so I got off in another direction – back to what this post is about.
Making natural dye.
Now I’m not sure what I will use it on but I saw Cee Rufus use it on your videos and it made me want to use it on something.
Here’s how I made the dye.

After asking if I could do this, I scrounged through the onion bins at the grocery store for lots of skins – now mind you keep the yellow separate from the Red because they each make a different color.
I used Yellow onion skins
The skins filled the pot I was using – when I added hot water they squished down a lot as you can see from the 2nd picture.
Bring to a boil then turn to simmer for one hour.  I stirred them around now and then with a wooden spoon.
Now you need to drain / strain  them. I used my pasta insert.
I poured the liquid and skins into pasta insert that was in another pan – this made it easier to discard the used skins.
After it drained well I poured the liquid into pint jars and let cool before capping.
Store in refrigerator.

  

This dye has a very reddish color – this picture is what I found and put on my Pnterest page
And the link:   http://www.folkfibers.com/blogs/news/6652230-natural-dyes-yellow-onion-skins

When I decide what it is I’m going to use it on I’ll post it – but for now at least I have it to use.  I do know that it will dye some of my wool for my rug hooking and Penny Rugs.
 

I hope I kept your interest today – seems friends don’t come around anymore – maybe it’s lack of interest, maybe other things in life – but whatever the reason I hope you at least come by and read even if you don’t leave a comment.
I feel our blogging helps others with ideas and leads them to interests they may have not thought of on their own.
I know it has worked that way for me.

See you soon!

Karen

Are you where I’m at?

By that I mean a slump – don’t really know which way to turn in my creative thoughts.
I was working on punch needle and love doing that so much that I needed to STOP!  It is very addictive and hazardous to your housework!
I was fortunate enough though to sell the 4 punch needle projects that I did and I so thank the ladies who purchased them. Three I sold on the internet and one sold at the shop I took it to….the very next day.

The last one I did I put on a distressed painted board – I really like this pattern and may make another one.
I thank you Ellie for purchasing it.

So that’s the end of my creativity!

I did get a wholesale order for some of my Traditional Penny Rugs so that will be keeping me busy for quite awhile now.
I got the Osnaburg dyed and hung out to dry – I love when I don’t have to hang it in the basement or put it in the dryer – such a better Primitive look.

I got the pennies cut for two of the diamond shape rugs – I counted up how many pennies I need to cut for all these rugs and it totaled 774 and I cut them by hand – I don’t want to use one of those machines that gets them perfectly round, as it is I think I do a pretty good job of getting them round just by hand.
Now mind you these are just ‘laid’ on the fabric – nothing is stitched so the pennies will not look like they are in place – I do that when I start pinning them together.
 

All pennies have been cut for all of the ones she ordered so I certainly have been keeping busy.
But I like this kind of ‘busy’.

Last Wednesday we had our church Spring Luncheon.
The ladies guild do such a great job of every event they put on – this one was no different…very well done.
There were tables reserved for the elderly and handicapped that attend all our functions and there was a guild lady assigned to  each of those tables.

I got these pictures before everything was set out but thought I had better before it got crowded with people.
I believe the pastor said they fed 183 people.

 

The week before last we had dinner with Darren and MaryAnn for Aidan’s school.
A portion of the bill went to the school for proceeds from that evening.
So we met them there and had a very enjoyable time.
Aidan saw lots of his school buddies – and gal buddies so he had a constant smile on his face.

 

Have you ever received something from someone you never met or knew?
Well a friend of mine knew of a lady who wanted to get rid of some wool so she told her about me – the lady messaged me and said I could have the wool for just the cost of shipping.  I was a bit skeptical but said yes.
Well the wool arrived….it was mostly ‘Black’ and some dark Reds – my colors.
The best part was I was NEEDING Black for my penny runners and didn’t want to order any.  I was saved by this angel !!!

Just look at all that Black!
The Black pieces are huge – not sure how much is there but at least 3 yards in each bundle.  And the strips (which are large stacks) are all ready sized to run through the wool cutter for rug hooking.
Thank you Joanne from Florida.
 

Before I leave I want to share a fun picture of our granddaughter Emily and her prom date Drew. I smile when I look at this. She can’t remember what happened to make this picture.

That’s about it for this week – my posts are becoming fewer and far between.
Not a lot of exciting things going on I guess.
But I won’t give up blogging – and I hope you all won’t either.
I love this way of sharing way more than FB!

Blessings to all
Karen