A Game for my birthday..and a prize...

My Birthday this year falls on Sunday...the weather is calling for rain and highs near 80 degrees... I guess it's better than 90's and muggy...
I decided I wanted to play a little game with you all...there are so many weird, funny, and cool interesting facts about my life, from birth till now....
If anyone can guess a little known fact about me, something I've done in the past or something interesting about when i was born, things I accomplished, some not so fun but nevertheless, unbeknownst to most people, you will get your name put in the drawing to win... I will be showing the prizes...yes folks, plural, that will be available to a few winners ..... all you will need to do is write your guesses here , make a comment on this post, if you think you know something, write it down...I will make a list of all the right guesses, but only so many names will be drawn..
As you can see, one of the prizes will be a libert doll I made a few years ago,  Using an awesome pattern from 'SWEET PEA PRIMITIVES" I only purchased a few other designers patterns as I don't read instructions well.....lol...well, this dolly was a n extra, I never sold her...It's been tucked away, and now she is ready to go home with someone....I have the other one I made hanging in my bedroom.
Good Luck and have fun everyone !!!!
I will draw the winner on Monday morning sometime !!!!
Hugs...
Robin

I missed my Monday post...Just doodling and finding inspiration....

Hello my friends ! ! Happy Tuesday morning.! Not alot going on here, but I am still thinking and finding inspiration for ideas I have rolling around my head, for Fall/Halloween designs.
There are tons of Journaling sites and blogs out there and I am on the hunt for pages to print for the purpose of prompts for my writing. I can seem to rattle off line after line most days, until I sit and try to journal...I also want to begin Art journaling, so for now, I am just doodling up little things, to go along with the subject matter to my written ideas for each days entry...
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I've sketched and doodled a jack o lantern to be used possiibly for a rug hooking or punch needle pattern....It's not finished, just played around with it, I need to change the size and add some penny circles or scalloped edging to it

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I also am starting to develop some more Fall/ Halloween designs for my fabrics on Spoonflower .
Here is a design I put together of my white pumpkins I used in a freebie doodle from last fall....I plan on doing up some halloween themed coordinating design to go together with this.

Creative focus moving on to another season....

It's no secret that I am not fond of Summer !! I'm not friends with sweltering temperatures and  stifling humidity....lol
allthough, I will add this....with the warmer temps I am in much less pain related to my osteo arthritis...I LOVE the cold, but it puts me in soooo much pain....Yesterday I spent alot of time outdoors, walking in hot parking lots, sun beating down on the black pavement, but I didn't really hurt...I was pretty overheated at times, but being pain free is a bonus !!
Ok, so the reason for that rant is this. I am happy Summer seems to be flying by this year. I am so excited to start on Fall/Autumn creations. I even started figuring in almost 3 weeks Fourth of July will be done and over with, and I can justify focusing on the Fall season with my designs....
I was doodling a design that is popular in quilts, and was going to do it in  some everyday deep prim colors and then my mind wandered to fall, so I began going in that direction...I love the color combinations I started to use, and it's a little different for me, so I feel even more creative just using shades and hues I don't normally lean towards....
It started out with a doodle, then some adding in color in paint on the computer, and it just kind of gave me a rough idea how I wanted to proceed...

Notice the jumbled mess that is my floss I'm using ???....lol...it started out as nice neat piles of floss and as I keep punching , I get more hurried to grab the next color.....it doesn't stay orderly for long....lol

Here is the progress I've made so far.....Why is it that the back of the design is so interesting ?? sometimes I like the look of the backside better than the punched side, but in this design I am really happy with the front and the look of it !!...

this is going to be a pattern, and as soon as I finish the piece I will be getting the pattern finished and available for those of you interested....
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Ashley ( my oldest daughter) is coming over today and we are going to hook and clean..I joked about making a pun...instead of cooking and cleaning, we are going to hook and clean...I did all the cooking for the rest of the week yesterday, after I got home from grocery shopping, so we will be able to have some fun..
she started on her bird I drew up for her....I'm so proud, as I think she is doing a really great job !!!
Have a good day everyone !!
Robin

I'm so excited...I am teaching my oldest daughter to rug hook...

I have been asking for awhile now, if my daughters wanted me to teach them how to do some of the crafty things I've been doing...The response is usally the same.." I can't do that "....well how will you know if you don't try ???
Yesterday, sitting here in my craft room, my oldest daughter said she thinks she needs a hobby or something to do that doesn't involve going out anywhere ( with a 1 year old it's a little difficult)...I once again asked if she wanted to learn how to do  some type of needle craft or whatever, and she said yes !!!
She took to it, like a duckling in water !! Wow, she was really enjoying herself...I tried to show her some of the things I've learned about spacing and the height of the loops , etc....
I wanted her to not be afraid to " reverse hook " when needed and try to just relax and enjoy getting comfortable with the process and mechanics of holding the hook and grabbing the wool ....
I zig zagged the edges of a scrap piece of linen and stuck it on my small hoop and just let her do a square and fill in with any wool strips she grabs...She learned the difference in wools and thinner and thicker pieces..
I was so happy with her success...i told her she needed to make her loops a little higher, but other than that just keep practicing..
By the time she had to leave, she begged for wool strips and another project for me to draw on another small piece of linen for her to try once she gets the hang of the circles...

so, I let her gather her worms and had a spare hook and small sharp scissors for her,

 I drew up a simple bird design from my older summer doodle booklet and she left a happy new little hooker....lol

She is chomping at the bit to pick her hook up once Keegan is down for a nap...Mommy wants to play too !!!....lol

Working on a new punch piece and pattern....I might make 2 posts today, and show you later...
have a blessed and constructive, creative Monday,
Robin

PHM Update...finally !!

" The hurrier I go, the behinder I get ".

I remember this on a sign I think in my Grandma's house ?? But anyways, this saying describes me lately ...
I have finally gotten my items up on Primitive Handmades Mercantile .
It seems as the update deadline loomed nearer, everything I tried to do, was in a hurry, as I'm still doing the running back and forth all hours of the day and night playing taxi to my youngest daughter for her job... I've never wanted one of my children to get their license so bad in all my life !! We just don't have alot of time to practice some things in the car ( parallel parking for one), so she doesn't feel confident enough to take the driving portion of the test...
Well, if you are anything like me, when I try to hurry, especially crafting , no matter the meduim I'm working with, I make many mistakes....I really do believe that the hurrier I went, the behinder I got....BUT...today was especially busy, in and out all day, yada yada yada....
I did  finally manage to get pictures taken and descriptions and voila, update complete. I didn't even do much, sadly I only completed 2 items, I cannot imagine trying to do 4 or 5 this month.....
I'm off of here, and going to go visit with hubby , and relax...ahhhhh..
I hope everyone has a great weekend.....
Robin

My new chair in it's place....lol ...and a few awesome finishes by some talented gals...

 I am really lovin my new chair !Seems like everyone here is also...even Grandson Keegan likes it, his Momma sat him in it and you would of thought he was the child king on his throne....lol..sorry, missed that photo opportunity....
I sat in it for a short while this afternoon and pulled a few loops, but then things got busy around here and now, I am looking at a very early ( for me that is ) bedtime, as my youngest daughter has to be to work at 5 am ....ewwww....I can't just come home and crawl back in bed, once I'm up...I'm up...probably until later in the day when I get so sleepy I can't keep my eyes open, then it's naptime....
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And now...as always, I am also really excited to see finishes by these talented ladies, using my designs...
First up is a rug, hooked by my friend
Sherry of " From Sherry's Heart" ....check out all of her other goodies too !!!

Next, is a sweet needle punch by Chris (mysticalprimitives) on Ebay )
Chris (

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Well my friends...Goodnight and sweet dreams...
Robin

I picked up my hook again, finishing a rug and a sweet deal !!!

First of all, I wanted to say, after quite a while of not touching my wool or my hook, I am back at it, trying to finish up my Antique Rug Challenge Rug from AAPG ....I did do some more, honest !!!....lol
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Remember in one of my previous posts, I said that ", Hunting for chairs in my passion and chairs are my holy grail "...?
Well, for months now, I've been hunting and searching Craigslist for a nice comfy upholstered chair to sit in, in my craft room while I hook or punch....Seems like every time I looked, either I had no money and there were chairs a plenty, or I did have money and no chairs were to be found.
I finally found one, it is like brand spanking new, not a hair, speck of dirt or any wear or tear on this...It is from Basset....It's not exactly what I would have chosen if I were buying brand new, as far as the fabric is concerned, but it is very nice and goes in my craft room just fine !! And the best part of all....It was only $25 !!
I now have to arrange a few things and set it up right by my window, so I can be nosy and see the world while I'm working, and get my lamp over there for lighting....and it will be a sweet little space for me !!
I'm thinking now of having hubby make me a cube from plywood and I've seen some awesome hooked ottoman patterns ....That would be PERFECT ..yes ????

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I received a few of the swatches from Spoonflower, of my fabric designs...the colors are wonderful and the fabric itself is great, but I needed to go back and minimize the actual size of the designs....

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I've come up with a few new designs that I am going to order swatches of and make for public sale....

Hope you all had a great Monday and now, almost time for bed and on to a new day tomorrow !!
Hugs,
Robin

Real quick post...Finally 'We the People" punch needle pattern finished...

I have had several requests for this pattern, and it's been very slow in coming...But here it is ...finally !!...lol...
I'll be back later with a more friendly post....lol







Americana We The People Punch Needle Pillow


Folk art and patriotic punch needle design, perfect for Fourth of July decor or everyday Americana ...

Price: US$5.00

Goody hunting over the weekend and some lovely finishes.....

Hi everyone, and hope you are having a productive Monday ....
I managed to get out over the weekend, as my awesome Hubby took me for a ride and we stopped at a few antique shops out in the country...
I wasn't looking for anything specific, and didn't want to be spending money necessarily, but I did see a few goodies that called to me and were nice and reasonably priced... I even dickered on the price of a chair and the lady was not in the mood to to go back and forth, so she conceded and I got a chair really super cheap...it isn't an antique or anything, it was just pretty...lol
Here are some of my goodies :
The picture in the heading is of a nice old grater, an old bird tin cookie cutter and then not sure what kind of pastry the long narrow cutter is for, but I like it....lol.
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Next is a nice little bundle of old shirting fabric pieces with a few calicos mixed in. There are even 2,  4 patch squares that looks like some homemaker started to make a quilt top out of some of her husbands old shirts. One of the larger pieces of tan shirting has some really bad iron burns in it...I think maybe she burned her hubbs good shirt and it was designated to the rag bag.....Do you wonder about stuff like that when you buy anything old and worn ???

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Then , while looking at a chair in the barn out back of one of the stores, I spotted this old piece of wool, not quite a whole blanket, but good sized piece of an old wool army blanket !!  It's 72" x 42" wide !! I almost got it for free, but she did end up charging me $2...That's alotta nice wool for $2 !! I found an old blazer a friend had picked up at a yard sale for me so that got cut up and washed along with the blanket piece, both washed up real nice, allthough I think the jacket might be a tad thick for hooking.... but it would make such an awesome background on a rug , wouldn't it ?? I'm thinking of over dyeing some of the blanket, just to experiment...not too much of it, but maybe just to try and get a nice mottled green for trees, leaves, grass, and flower stems and such......

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Lastly...anyone who knows me, knows I have a real problem...passing up a chair and not buying it...what is it with chairs ??!!!! I'll be riding down the road, and God forbid there is a yard sale with a chair or CHAIRS sitting out for all to see...my head will almost do a 360 degree turn to get a better view....AND, I won't even go into what I do when  I spot a chair in someones garbage, ok i will go into it....lol ...My hubby and kids ( all grown now)...dread a chair sighting in the trash...they all know without me saying a word, that they must immediately do a U turn or look for a safe spot ( the former is usually the case) to turn around so I can better inspect said chair....They die of embarassment when the words,  " GRAB IT " come out of my mouth...Momma means business, no whining, do not dare question why...just DO IT !!!....lol

So, hubby knew I was zeroing in on this chair like a heat seeking missile, as soon as I saw it and allready was mentally making room in the back of our Equinox for it ....lol

                                   You see...chairs are my  HOLY GRAIL !!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and now...Here are a few lovely pieces done by a sweet gal  named Dale Johnson (ncsuasumom) on Ebay   

they are just wonderful Dale !!! these designs can be found in my Americana Thyme Doodle Booklet .

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And once again, Rebecca(goodwool) on Ebay , has worked her special touch and done up this rooster doodle of mine in her famous neutral tones....Love it as usual Rebecca !!

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Have a great evening everyone !!
Robin