I'm Back

It has been awhile...these past months have been a trial of sorts for me. My husband past away unexpectedly in January and I have been in mourning. I lost my job last October of 4 years due to layoff. 

Now shutting myself away but diving myself into going thru my home and yard doing what he did and what I normally do around the home. However, I did more of what my dear Bill did. 

2 weeks after he past on I slipped on ice and injured my back and knee. So it only added injury to insult. So everything I had to do around the house took weeks instead of days.

I revamp my entire yard of flowerbeds. Something I did before taking on a full time job that kept me from them. Now they are all looking amazing.  Took  me pretty much 2 months to that. 

Had a leak in my roof and damaged a room in my home nearly 2 years ago. Then the last straw when the ice and snow came in buckets. After having my roof repaired then I repaired the room. Took several months and help from my nephew to get the ceiling done. 

Then I finally after what I called the 5 year project of having a banister installed on my front porch so my dog could be outside with me while I read in the evenings. Took me 10 weeks to get it done. Not completely but the closed in part is done. Curtains - drop down for when it rains I will work on over the winter. 

Then it moved into organizing my huge shed into a wood workshop for me. I thought I was a hoarder of craft supplies. Heck no - my husband loved his tractor lawn mower parts. Did a lot of scraping! Took me 2 1/2 months of sitting and sorting out screws, nuts and bolts. found things I thought was lost forever. Installed 2 small windows to the front of the shed for natural light like he wanted to do. I labeled all the drawers. I just wish he could be here to see it. 

All doing these jobs in pain. Slowly after months of medical attention is finally getting where I could do stuff not at the slower pace as before. 

Now that winter is upon me and listening to my audio books more frequently. You will be seeing book reviews here that I will be doing for audiobookreviews.com. I will be doing my crafts again. Start working on  my audio scrapbooks and physical scrapbooks. Sewing and quilting. Crocheting and selling things on line. My photographs posted on Viewbug! 

So hope to see you all commenting again!

Thimble Motherlode

		Thimble Shopping VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So back from my trip from Madison WI. Spent the week with my daughter and her husband for a wonderful week of touring the area that they will be calling their home for many years to come. At least I hope so.
So one day they took us all down to this small town called New Glarus, a town that was founded by the Swiss from the town of the same name Old Glarus, Switzerland. See many things in this small town of 2500.
So hit an antique store in this small town and found a lot of thimbles to add to my collection. Between the ones I bought there and other places on my travels – adding another 23 to my collection. (Note: the first one in the album came from my husband's friend just recently back from Ireland)
So thanks for looking at my newest additions. I have extra thimbles from New Glaser so anyone looking at swapping – let me know.
Hugs and stitches, Joan

Recycle Cutout Dog Biscuit Tutorial

Recycle Cutout Dog Biscuit Tutorial VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This is one of the Swaps I hosted on Swap-bot.com using a box from a food product that has pre-cut out fronts. Whether it has a cello front or just plain like I have here using the front and side of dog biscuit boxes for inserting scrapbook items. Click on each picture to see the steps to creating this pre-made recycled album using recycled items I received from another swap. Leaving half the pages blank towards the back for my partner to add her own special touches.
Comments are welcome.
Happy scraping! Joan

Owl Pincushion instructions

Owl Pin Cushion Instructions

Well, hosting an owl pin cushion swap on swap-bot, but the magazine site only offers the template for the body but no instructions as promised.

So here is a short verision of the instructions.

need:

6 x 8" for body

4 x 6 for belly

scrap of fiberfilled

1/4 cup of walnut shells or weight for bottom

(keep it standing)

small funnel to fill the cavity

scraps of off white yarn

2 - 3/4" white buttons

2 - 1/2" black buttons

doll makers needle (extra long to get through fiberfill of body.

1. Using template from this site. Cut 2 bodies pieces and 1 belly piece.

2. Lay rt side together and stitch up one curved side.

3. With right sidesup open the body and rt sides together of the body to belly, sew the curved edges pivot at the top and go down the other side. trim tip to 1/8". Turn right side out.

4. On the belly side from the top mark a line 1" from the top. 

5. Lightly stuff the point and baste the line for bending thru all layers. 

6. Fold the bottom edge 1/8" and baste a hem stitch, but leave loose. Using the funnel to put in the crush walnuts to within 1/4" of not filled. 

7. Pull threads tight and if needed add more crushed walnuts. stitch close.

8. Smooth out the body of the owl. shape as needed.

Finishing:

1. Fold the top 1" down with the point centered. Using embroidery floss take a few stitches through the tip and belly to form a beak. Remove the basting stitches. 

2. Stack a black button on the white and thread a need with black thread and take a few stitches to hold the buttons together.

3. Cut 3 1" in lenghts of yarn, gather together and put one end under the button holes. Take a couple of stitches to hold in place. hand stitch the eye onto the owl using the dollmakers needle. Run the thread out the bottom and back up through the buttons. Take several stitches in this manner and then finish off. 

4. unwind the yarn to fluff up the strands.

$100 gift card giveaway

Follow this link to a $100 gift card giveaway

http://www.finneganandthehughes.com/2013/01/13/modern-review-giveaway/

More Thimbles, Please!

 

		Thimbles from EBay VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

So bought some more thimbles these past 2 weeks and received the final 17 today! The one of the Cathedral is a duplicate. So if anyone is interest to swap send me a message!

 

There are more thimbles that I forgot to update in my photo albums. They will be shown on a future blog. With my count and newly framed Civil War Thimbles and Thimble Necklace. Hope to frame them this evening so I can hang them tomorrow.

 

Onto my next Blog

Hugs and Stitches Joan

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook, CT

Sharing this from my Facebook group page

The Sandy Hook school in Newtown, CT is asking for people to send handmade snowflakes so that they can decorate the new building as a "winter wonderland" for the students. They want them to be unique, symbolic of how all the children are unique: Here is the info if you want to send a blizzard of snowflakes:
Please send all snowflakes to:
Connecticut PTSA
 60 Connolly Parkway
 Building 12, Suite 103
 Hamden, CT 06514

For questions or to reach anyone at Sandy Hook PTA, email sandyhook@ctpta.org

Hugs and Stitches
Joan