Wednesday, March 31, 2010

~*Greenhouse Update*~

Happy Wednesday to you my friends! It is just so hard to believe we had so much snow just over a week ago! Today it is suppose to get up to about 85 degrees here! Amazing ~ Just Amazing!

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Last weekend, Tony and I finished putting the greenhouse together. This is just so exciting & I feel so spoiled!



Putting this together was challenging... but, thanks to my mechanically~minded husband, it is up & sturdy!



Tony built some work benches out of 2 x 4s... and I slapped some white paint on them. We put gravel on the floor yesterday... so now it is now ready for plantin! I've been seed & pottin' soil shoppin'... and am about to head out to dig in the dirt!

I still have some ideas for putting some 'prim~touches' to decorate the house... but gotta get the seeds goin' first! More pics will be shared as things grow... hopefully my thumb turns green!


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Hookin' & Stitchin' are still in progress... update pics coming soon.

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty

Friday, March 26, 2010

~*Friday Finishes*~

Hello Dear Friends! I have a couple of fabulous finishes to share with you today!

Imagine my surprise when one of them came to me via snail mail... with lovely wrapping & beautiful card. I was ~ and still am ~ in complete awe over the generosity & fine craftsmanship. Patti made this one for ME! LUCKY ME! It is MINE! All MINE! :) (Can you hear my giggles of GLEE & JOY?) She stitched up the freebie ~*Blessings*~ & made it into a DARLING key fob... complete with an antique key. It is finely stitched with one strand of my favorite color ~ deep, olde red ~ and backed with a lovely reproduction print. Along with the pinkeep, she also gifted me a lil' pile of olde keys. I'm always asking her where she finds them 'cause the shops around here are either WAY~HIGH priced... or just don't have any. Patti has such a great eye for beauty. If you haven't visited her blog, please do. She takes the most striking photographs & makes the most beautiful creations. The card she sent with my gift is one she made with one of her photographs of her work... so very pretty!

Patti, I cannot thank you enough for this sweet gift! :)



Another beautiful finish to share... This one is from Connie (no blog or online album), a stitcher friend that I had the joy of meeting in person last year at the Eureka Springs Hook~in. Connie stitched up ~*Spring's Tweets*~... a pattern available for purchase. LOVELY! She stitched on 10 count Natural Heathefield with 3 strands of the recommended DMC. Liking her pillows larger enough to decorate a chair, she will either stitch over one on 10 count or over 2 on 18 or 20 count fabric. What a great idea! I LOVE IT!



She backed her pillow with an upholstery fabric that resembles painter's cloth. The colors of the upholstery fabric are a great match for the fibers used for her stitching. She also added a patch with her initials, the date, and a few vintage buttons. For filling, she added a mix of wood shavings, sawdust, cloves, and some crushed walnut shells for weight. I'll bet it smells as YUMMY as it is beautiful!



Thank you Connie for stitching & sharing!

As for me, I've continued to work on my rug & sampler... along with my many other WIPs... but Tony and I started another project too...

Well, truth be told, HE has done most of the work so far...



I have always wanted a greenhouse! We found one at a reasonable price... so this was the time to get it. It is a pre~fab house and will finish to 10 by 12 feet. We are going to add some personal touches to make it more charming & prim. To start with that, we decided to place it in the backyard with the door centered between two old hedge posts left from a days~gone~by fence. The large tree in the upper right corner of the photograph is one of my favorites, a flowering crab apple. The weedy looking stuff behind the house is what is left from my sweet annie last year. Guess I need to get that under control & cleaned up, huh? All the tires you ask? Well, those are surrounding the go kart track. The hubby has his favorites here too! :)

All the snow from last weekend is gone. Good Bye Winter... hello longer days of Spring!



Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

Sunday, March 21, 2010

~*Whirlwind of Creative Joys*~

Hello Dear Friends! Happy Spring! Isn't March suppose to be "in like a lion, out like a lamb"? We are covered with snow here. It started Friday night & we must have at least 8". However, the sun is out today and is working its magic to get it all melted & muddy. :) Maybe the end of the month will be "like a lamb"... but so far it is just COLD & icky!

The snow has kept me in & I've been enjoying a whirlwind of creativity though! I've been torn between stitching and hooking. Here are my many 'works in progress'...

A sampler ~ inspired by Nature...



This is a larger chart I'm still in the process of designing... with a chamomile border, olde~tyme alphabets, and a historical quote. I'm using wonderful GAST Sampler threads on linen I've dyed myself. I'm very excited about this one!

I finished stitching these last week... and am still working on attaching them to boxes. One is my latest ~*Crow Freebie*~ and the other is from a wonderful chart offered by Jennifer. (I had to make some alterations to the chart to fit my piece of fabric & the top of the box.) I'm still trying to decided what fabrics to cover the boxes with...



As if that was not enough projects (secretly I have MANY more WIPs scattered throughout the house... but we won't talk about them right now!), I started another rug yesterday too. My buddy, Lori, recently finished this BEAUTIFUL rug...



I TOTALLY LOVE LOVE LOVE it! She found it in this MARVELOUS book...



So, what was a girl to do? I bought the book awhile back... the home is incredible! The book shows the home through the seasons. I would LOVE to call it home! There are so many GREAT decorating ideas... and the greenhouse is WONDERFULLY STUNNING! The pages of my book are pretty much sealed together by drool now! LOL

Anyway, yesterday I drew up the doodle of the rug. (The rug is only shown in one of the rooms ~ an antique rug hanging over the fireplace. It is not a rug hooking pattern... that I know of.) This is how far I got before calling it a day...



I was very inspired by Lori's use of color and wanted to recreate it for myself. She has such an eye for color! I'm using similar shades for my rug... from scraps in my stash and hooking it in that old hickety~pickety way that I love so much. :)

Thank you for the inspiration Lori!

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty

Friday, March 19, 2010

~*Friday Finishes*~

Hello My Dear Friends! It is that time of the week again... time for ~*Friday Finishes*~! I'm just gonna jump right in & show ya all the GOODIES!

Laura in Germany (no blog or online album) stitched up the SWEETEST Easter egg! She used the ~*Spring*~ Freebie... and added some DARLING lil' extras... including MY name! :) Oh, Laura, I just LOVE it! Maybe I should start my egg hunt early? Thank you Laura! Don't you just love her creativity?



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Sara stitched this one to celebrate an important moment in her life. She and her boyfriend are looking for their first home... they live in Italy. She stitched the ~*Home*~ Freebie using DMC 930 and 3371 on linen she hand dyed herself. Just lovely!



Best wishes with your home search. I'm sure you will find one just perfect where your love will grow.


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Melissa seems to be ready for Spring! She has stitched up both the ~*Spring*~ Freebie and the ~*May Day*~ Freebie in soft, prim shades of blue... with accents of brown & green. The ~*Spring*~ Freebie is up for consideration on her selling blog along with some other darling, prim treasures.





Again, thank you to all of you for stitching and sharing. It truly is such a joy to see your creative works.

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As for me... well, I have been stitching. It seems I'm creating a stack of stitcheries that need finishing... into a frame, a pinkeep, or ornie... etc. We are expecting SNOW this weekend. Maybe I'll have time to get some of them completed & share with you.

Thanks to those of you that have voted in to poll. I'm wondering, what are the 'other' finishes? Please leave a comment to let me know.

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

~*Sharing Some Goodies*~

Hello Dear Friends! I've got a few goodies to share with you. Before I do though... let me just give you all a great shout out to say ~ you are all so welcome! Thank you for all the kindness & praise you have given to me... the freebies I offer you is minimal compared to the heart warming kindness from all of you. Please keep the finishes coming... because I do love to share them. :)

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I'm happy to report that my house rug is finished... and I'm just thrilled with it too! This is the largest rug I've hooked & I did struggle with it on my frame some... but was able to get it done. It is about 28 by 22 inches. That is probably an average size really, but I tend to work smaller.



If I remember correctly, this rug was started as a challenge proposed by Kelley for the Ebay group An American Primitive Gathering. Well, the deadline for the challenge was LONG ago... but at least I finally did get it finished. Now I need to get the studio done so I can display it there. The studio was my inspiration. It is painted barn red. The year '1857' was the year our small town of Americus, Kansas was founded.

Here is a close-up of the 'hickety~pickety' hooking. I can hook even... but chose to do it this way for this rug.



I finished the edges by whipping them with wool strips. As I was working, I whipped around a cotton, clothesline rope. This is kind of like my buddy, Sharon's, tutorial. However, I wasn't able to get to a store to pick up the cotton cording she used. When I spied the cotton clothesline at the dollar star, I just had to make~do with it. It is about the same diameter of rope & it is 100% cotton. Plus, I was able to get 50 feet for about $3!



One of these days I'll get a handle on wool dyeing & be able to dye up some of the gobs of wool yarn I have to the color I want/need. :) Until then, the wool strips work great!

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This past Saturday, Tony and I spent the day browsing through some local antique shops and had supper out. It was a wonderful date... and he spoiled me. (like he always does!) He bought me a few goodies... that I'm also going to put in the studio.

One was this white Ironstone bowl... maybe not pure Ironstone, but close enough. It fits perfectly in a reproduction wash stand that I have from my mother-in-law. I already have a large Ironstone pitcher to go with it. Remember, the studio won't have running water. I plan to actually USE this.



Here is the bottom of the bowl. I don't have an antique guide to look this up ... not that it matters, but maybe some of you know more about it. It is about 15 inches from rim to rim.



It has a lovely leaf design on the sides too...



The other purchase on Saturday was this...



I've always wanted one of these desks. This one was found at a store that was going out of business... making the price really good. It has been refinished quickly... but I'm a prim gal anyway & just LOVE it the way it is. The ink well hole doesn't show in the picture, but it is there. We don't have any room to set it in the house, so it is already sitting in the studio... where Ima Jean is inspecting it & loving it too.

As for the studio progress... we are still plugging away. Tony put all the sheet rock up in the main room & I've continued to scrap wallpaper from the other two rooms (walls and ceiling). We should be doing the patching & mudding shortly. YIPPEE!

Guess I should be getting back to work. Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty

Saturday, March 13, 2010

~*A Gift For You*~


© primitivebettys 2010
77 by 41 stitches

Hello Dear Friends! I've been thinking of giving another freebie for awhile now. So this morning it was time to buckle down & get it done. This design is similar to ~*Wicked*~ and ~*Time*~... hmmmm.... maybe there is some sort of theme going on here? Could I subconsciously be thinking of making up bunches of these as ornies for a prim tree... or several to tuck in an olde wood bowl? Sounds like a good idea! Time to pull the needle & thread through the linen!

Warm smiles to you all...

Betty

Friday, March 12, 2010

~*Friday Finishes*~

Hello Dear Friends! It is ~*Friday Finishes*~ time! Enjoy...


This DARLING ditty was stitched by Bridget... and put together so very sweetly! She stitched the ~*Spring Freebie*~ to decorate the box. The goodies inside the box (bunny, fabric eggs, and velvet carrots) came from Bay Ray's Child. Oh how YUMMY SWEET this is! Everything about this gathering is just primly perfect!


Faye also has some charming Spring finishes. She has stitched up the ~*Spring Freebie*~ and ~*May Day Freebie*~... and finished them into such DARLING finishes ~ a pillow tuck & a lil' drawstring bag. Don't you just LOVE the floss fibers she used? I know I do!


Pam too has stitched up & finished the ~*Spring Freebie*~... and it is yet another SWEETLY PRIM finish. I love how she added the wording & the year. Just the PERFECT touch ~ don't ya think? Pam has a selling blog too... but it looks like this lil' pillow tuck has found a home already. Great job, Pam!

Thank you to all of you for stitching & sharing! What a delight it is to see all these fabulous finishes!

Keep an eye out on my blog... soon I plan to offer up another freebie chart. I have it swirling around in my brain & hope to put it down on the graph shortly.

I've continue plugging away at my house rug. So far so good with the 'at least 10 minutes a day' of crafting time. For those of you that mentioned it wasn't too late to sign up for the 10 Minute Rug Hooking Challenge... found on April's Blog... well, I did sign up. Now I need to find the time to read up & see what I've signed up for. Tonight I will... I promise!

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

~*Making Some Progress*~

Hello Dear Friends! I thought you might like to see how my house rug is coming along. With all the excitement of the studio work... I'm feeling re~vamped with creative energy. Gone are the hum~drums and woes of helpless pity! I've decided, and am determined, to work with something crafty for at least 10 minutes a day... kind of like the 10 minute a day hooking challenge that many of you signed up for. Why didn't I sign up for the challenge? I could have been several months ahead of myself by now. I've found too, that working on 'something crafty' for at least 10 minutes a day often times leads to at least 20 or 30 minutes... or even more. Now that is a good thing!

Last night after I tucked the kiddo into bed, I was feeling tired & thought about sitting on the sofa to watch TV... but picked up my rug instead. I hooked a good hour. There isn't too much left to hook on this one. It will be finished before long.



Should I remind you again that I am a 'rule breaker'? I'm hooking this rug hickety~pickity (loops any which way and tall or short) because I simply WANT to. It doesn't show too clearly in this photo, but when I get it finished I'll snap a pic at an angle so you can see. Also, I'm just having a fun time hooking with whatever wools in whatever area of the rug to fill it in all scrappy and freely. I'm really enjoying this rug... this inspiration of the lil' olde farmhouse next door.

Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

~*Needle Punch Helpers*~

Hello Dear Friends! Recently I was given a bag of older, vintage needle punch supplies. The bag was full of brightly~colored, acrylic yarns... that I will probably never use myself, but would be nice to use for a Scout project sometime. Also in the bag was an older catalog from Pretty Punch Shoppettes, inc. and a step by step instruction booklet for the Dial-A-Loop punch needle. I found this instruction book very interesting.

When I first discovered needle punch, it was via the internet. I've never taken a class to learn how to do this... instead, I've read books & websites. Actually, I've never taken a class for rug hooking, cross stitch, doll making... or any of the crafts I CHERISH. I'm totally self~taught... and know because of that, that I am a rule breaker... which is A~OKAY with me. :)

One thing that I had trouble finding were photos or diagrams to show exactly HOW things should be done. Which way should the needle move? What was needle length apart actually suppose to look like? Should the back be as neat as the front, like in cross stitch?

Well, in this older instruction book, mixed among all these vintage supplies, where those diagrams I wished for several years ago. I've scanned them to share with you. Maybe some of you will find them helpful too. (Click on the photos to see them larger if needed.)


Seeing this, I found my direction of punching is "okay". I've tried to slide off the tip like in the preferred method, but sliding down from the point is more comfortable for me.



Uh 'em... well, this is probably where I'm a 'rule breaker'.



I found this one especially helpful... and plan to practice this more.



I'm pretty sure the Cameo instructions (my preferred needle) included a Trouble Shooting Guide as well, but helpful hints are always welcome.


Now I'm itchin' to punch... but still intchin' to stitch, hook, and dress some dollies too!

We have continued to work on the studio. The loose wallpaper is almost all removed. My darling Tony hung sheet rock in the main room last night. I'm hoping by the time the weekend is here, that the walls are ready for mudding & patching. I've truly appreciated all your kind works of encouragement & excitement. My dream is to have you all over for tea, cookies, and crafting!

Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

Saturday, March 6, 2010

~*Studio Progress?*~

Hello Dear Friends & Happy Weekend to ya! Many of you may find this shocking, but we back to working on my wanna~be~studio! YIPPEE!

We have lived in this home for 3 1/2 years. Part of why I wanted this home was because of the old, abandoned farmhouse located on the property... just across the driveway. I knew instantly that I wanted it as my playhouse... aka my studio.

The old farmhouse needs lots of attention & repair... but the roof doesn't leak and the walls are stable. It doesn't have any plumbing and the electricity needs replaced... but we said we could make~do on a small budget.

The house does have tons of natural light ~ lots of big windows and high ceilings. While the house is only three rooms, they are large and roomy. Personally, I think the house is darling & can feel inspiration running through my veins when I'm in it... even in the disastrous state it is in.

Over the past few years, we have done some work on it... but it has been in small spurts & still has many things needing care and re~done. We painted the outside a barn red, Tony built a darling porch on the front, and we have torn out the old bathroom. (There is no plumbing left in the house because of all the frozen pipes over the years. The busted pipes won't be replaced & really don't need to be because the house is only across the driveway... we can head home if nature calls.)

We stopped working on it when we discovered the root cellar was full of water. YIKES! Then, over the winter, our four outdoor kitties have been living in there... sleeping snugly under a heat lamp to stay warm.

Well, last week while in Lenexa, the topic of my studio came up. Ginger asked how it was coming along. I explained to her that we haven't done anything in it forever & that I was very discouraged. She told me about a studio she had several years ago in a building behind her home. Well, after talking with Ginger, PatiJane, Sandra, and my sweet SIL Robin... the excitement of the studio has returned! So today I went back to work!

The cats were moved to Tony's remote control car building, hair and liter were vacuumed and cleaned, and wallpaper removal was begun in the center room. Tomorrow we may head to the home store to pick up some sheet rock for the main room. As for the root cellar... well, we are still debating what direction to take with that. (either fill it in or get a sump pump... my desire is to fill it in, but we will have to see what we can afford to do)

It doesn't look like much now, but I'm seeing lightly, textured walls painted a soft, neutral shade... to hang cross stitched samplers. The floors will also be painted with a rich~looking porch paint... a place to set out those primitive, hand hooked rugs. In those big rooms will be auction~find furniture... that may also be refurbished with a lil' paint or stain. Of course, I'll have to have a few comfy chairs to sit & work in... for myself and visitors. The herb garden has been planted by the front porch... so cuttings will be displayed for aroma and beauty throughout... making it a cozy lil' playhouse/studio. Dreaming is a good thing!





Wishing you all warm smiles... and a big THANK YOU to Ginger, PatiJane, Sandra, and Robin for igniting the motivational fire to get back to work on my dream!

Betty

Friday, March 5, 2010

~*Friday Finishes*~

Hello Dear Friends! It is that time again... time for ~*Friday Finishes*~!

Just in time for Spring...Carole has stitched up ~*Spring Freebie*~ so sweetly. She added a cross for extra charm & has framed it so nicely.


Carole has also stitched up ~*Blessings*~... another goodie indeed!


These next finishes are from an online forum called Stitch and Stash. I'm not a member of the forum, but the girls kindly shared their group challenge with me... and I'm so glad they did! Their February Challenge was with my recent ~*Valentine*~ freebie. Each finish is super sweet! The special care & attention each stitcher worked with is truly evident and oh~so~delightful!


Julie



Christine



Angi



Karan



Barb


Thank you to all of you for stitching & sharing! You know I just LOVE to see 'em!

Once again, I don't have any of my own to share. However, I am happy to report that I have finished the hooking part of my challenge rug ~ that I shared with you on Super Bowl Sunday. It needs the edges whipped & then is complete. I hope to be able to share this with you soon. Although, I've got to follow the rules and keep it a secret until the challenge can be revealed.

You may be interested in a tutorial a buddy of mine has posted on her blog... Sharon has posted great instructions... with super photos!.. for whipping cording to finish your rugs. I haven't ever done this before, but am going to give it a whirl for my challenge rug. Here is the link directly to her tutorial... CLICK HERE.

I've been stitchin' too ~ managing to get a few stitches in during tae kwon do class for the kiddo. I'm always worried I'm going to loose a needle there. It would be terrible to have one of them step on it. OUCH! For that reason, I'm very careful with my supplies & take a good inventory of what I have with me.

Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

Monday, March 1, 2010

~*More Lenexa Rugs*~






























There may have been duplicates... but you can't ever get enough eye candy!

Warm smiles,

Betty