Jane...Stop this crazy thing !!!!......lol

Those of you, old enough to have grown up watching " The Jetson's " Cartoon , will know what I'm talking about.... at the end of every episode, George Jetson is walking his dog Astro, on a new fangled device, a treadmill...( don't forget this cartoon was futuristic at the time )...Astro tricks George by getting off, and dragging George on the treadmill ...George then begins to get dragged under and around the treadmill track...He screams for his wife Jane..." Jane , stop this crazy thing !".
That, is my brain sometimes....lol....
I can't seem to make up my mind what I want to do first... I've sat quietly , trying to slow the thoughts and ideas down...This does help, but as I'm working on one thing, I start getting ideas for other things I want to work on... It isn't always creative necessarily....alot of times it is fix up projects around the house, or organizational tasks I've been putting off. I have my 2 daughter's at home right now. so many times, I do have the blessing of being able to delegate some jobs....
I have lots of ideas for new hooking and punch needle designs also, but I am sooo badly wanting to work on other folk's designs....So many talented designers, so many beautiful patterns I've ooohed and ahhed over when others do them up...
To be totally honest, well it is probably the way things were supposed to work out, to get me motivated to create...but, I only started creating my own designs at first, because I couldn't afford to buy other's patterns or handmades.
Well...to add to my jumbled goings on in my brain....I did get out for a little bit on Saturday, and picked up a few things....
I saw a video that a friend of mine posted on FB, about a new line of watercolor markers, by Tim Holtz, and I was amazed !! Now, remember, I hated art ! I never took an art class, since the required once a week art session, mandatory in middle school.... I may have SOME natural ability in art, but I am totally clueless in the methods and practice of working in different art mediums...I have markers, but they are permanent....I've never used  watercolor markers....I've used watered down craft/acrylic paints.... oh and the cheapy kids stuff...
This video had me so curious and excited, I had to get me some , and some good watercolor paper, and even some walnut ink stain in a blotter bottle....I also got a small set of watercolor paints ( I do have some of the little kids solid watercolor sets, but they are hard for me to do anything with )

(Notice the handful of floss ? yeah...I was running low on certain colors...how is that possible, when I have a bin full of floss ???....lol )

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I printed off my new banner I drew up for my blog ( did you see it ??) and played around with the markers and drawing the colors out to the edges , etc... I messed up the colors, but it was just a small experiment ...I'll do some more playing around after I get some of my necessary tasks finished.

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I found a cute vintage slaw cutter or maybe just a slicer ?? not sure...with a red wooden handle, and some really small clear glass insulators...they are still kind of heavy, but I was thinking would make cute bases for some kind of make-do's...I cleaned them, but didn't soak in vinegar to get the rusty film out of them...what do you think, keep the rusty film to maintain the old look ?? ( sorry I didn't get a pic from the side so you really can't see the rusty film )

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Finally...I did work on my new punch needle project a little , between other distractions....lol

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Ok, it's back to the party in my head....lol...

Have a great evening !!

Robin

Folk Art Rabbit punch needle design...finished rug....new fabric design..

It's been same 'ol same'ol around here lately. Nothing new and exciting, but that isn't a bad thing...i've started a new design for a punch needle pattern...I will say, that I think maybe I printed mine off a hare too small ( yes, pun intended...lol ), but I decided to go ahead and give it a try...if I run into any real problems, i may need to print it out larger and re-trace and start all over again. I colored the doodle in on my paint program, as usual, but it isn't by any means the colors I will be sticking with. I just like to get an idea what the design will look like in color... Here is the VERY BEGINNING stages :

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I forgot to post a picture of my colonial floral motif rug all finished up. It went on my Primitive Handmades Mercantile update, and it is sold. I played around a little with different shading on the date and flower container... I was happy with the end result.

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I hadn't done any new fabric designs in awhile...So I was in a Springy mood the other day, and drew up a tulip for a new tulip-y fabric....lol ..

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Have a great night ( didn't realize it's after Midnight already ).

Robin

Punch Needle Pattern finished....rug progress....I won ....and bought goodies...

Hello all !I Hope everyone is having a creative or at least a productive day ! I've just finished my newest punch needle pattern..." Fraktur Floral " ...The pattern will be available for purchase on my sidebar .... Here is the finished piece...

I am happy with how it turned out..hope you like it too !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I managed to get some progress on my rug, and since the punch needle and pattern are finished, I'll be able to get back to it...I see a spot on the lower left side I hooked that I'm not even sure why I did it...lol...must've been "loopy" on my Ambien ...I have made a promise to my family to never use my sewing machine again late at night after taking my sleep med...I sewed my finger once.....lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Guess what ???? I WON a sweet giveaway..Mindy Raymond of RaymondHomestead had a giveaway and I won it !! Look at this sweet wool applique hanging heart and matching wool mat :

Thank you Mindy !! I love them !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been needing more wool...Bad !! so I decided i am going to dye some of the wool I have here that I'm not using because the color is just not anything I want... I didn't have many dyes, so I went to Laurie Lausen's Website Wooly Red Rug and bought a plethora of dyes...I had colors in mind, from one of my dye books and just bought what i needed to produce at least 5 new colors... I've been waiting to do this, after I've finished this rug I'm working on....Oh, and I purchased the new Spring Issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects from her also...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` A Few folks have been posting about some of their tools of the trade... Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm had posted some lovely antique hooks she has...I don't have anything too old and my 2 hooks were gifted to me by Kelley Belfast ( Kankerdoodle)"With Hook and Needle" , I never would of started hooking rugs if it weren't for her encouragement and my first supplies... Thank you Kelley !! But...here are my little scissors in a cleaned out candle jar and a cool wool lint felted ball pin cushion I got in a swap...oh, and some other tools for sewing, doll making...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ok..that's enough for today...We have a HIGH WIND WARNING right now, so hoping I can get off here before our power goes out...lol Hugs, Robin

More Rug Progress...another Valentine Fraktur angel finish...

I've been working on my rug, here and there every day, but gosh, I am still so slow !! When will I be able to pick up the speed ???...lol...I do forget , that this is one of the bigger rugs I've hooked, along with the antique challenge rug that took me a year to finish ( I lost interest on that one , though ). Here is a picture of the progress so far :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is another finish, a hooked rug, from my Valentine Fraktur Angel Design...this was hooked by Carole....Isn't it beautiful ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I cooked a few things over the weekend again, and amongst the goodies, was my all time favorite.. " Cheesy Potato Bacon Soup "....mmmm I could live on soup alone ....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And look at this sweet little note my 19 year old daughter left for me... My kids are all grown up, but it still tickles me to get handwritten or drawn notes from them....Oh gee...I wonder if I'm going to find a broken dish or knick knack somewhere...this could just be to soften me up a little......when did I get so supicious ??? Oh yeah...after I had 6 kids... lol

Good night... Robin

Hooking...Punching, back and forth...and color ...

Last couple of days, I've just been working on my stuff here and there, back and forth between punching up my new design ( doing up the pattern as I go along ) and pulled a few loops on my rug, but not much....lol Here is the beginning of my new Fraktur style punched piece;

Back

Front in 2 different lightings
A little more progress on my rug :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whilst working on those 2 things, I dug out my old clothes pins and started ,with the floss I'm using right now, to write the color# on the clothes pin and wind the floss on to them...I know, your supposed to use the newer ones with the spring to keep the floss from unwinding, but I like the old ones better .. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Also...I try to keep up with Filing my Doodles and I was getting rid of old magazines...I tear out the pages I like and then file them by Seasons into folders, I do this with my doodles and patterns also, and I print off a colored in doodle , one of the four seasons, and tape over it with clear packing tape ( cheap laminate...lol )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And COLOR !! Remember I said, I find inspiration in all kinds of places ?...well, I noticed this today, and LOVE the colors and the combinations of the colors... The "vibrancy" of the colors aren't my cup of tea, I'd tone down a bit but here they are :

These are the sides of a Kmart Brand Tissue box....We got new boxes of tissues today...I have a different Primitive painted kleenex box cover in all of the rooms, so I just grab boxes of tissues cause they get covered up anyways, no need to match them ( yes I am weird like that...OCD's ....before I got all the covers, I HAD to have each tissue box I bought match the rooms they went into ....so pathetic, huh ??? but funny....lol ) My husband or daughter must've put this one inside the cover in my craft room...When I pulled the empty one out to replace it, I was so excited how pretty the colors were.... but, funny, now I look , and I'm using similar ..not exact, but similar colors and combinations in my 2 projects...Hmmmmm...maybe I remember seeing the box when I put it away into the pantry and it " inspired me subconciously "....lol Well...that's it for tonight... Going to watch some recorded programs with Hubby ... Have a good night, Robin

Some rug progress ...nasty weather .....no toilet ????

Hello all..... I've managed to get a little hooking finished on my colonial motif rug...It's been hard for me to sit too long and keep moving over the frame here and there...I have a disc that likes to bulge every now and then...now is when it liked to bulge....lol....it comes and goes, so I'm just waiting it out....but here are 2 pics of my rug progress...One is brighter than the other...hard to get good lighting ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Talk about the weather...Severe weather is going on almost everywhere...I pray for those in the path of high winds and tornados...We had our share of weird weather here last 2 days...It was 64 degrees here this morning...we beat the record for this time of year by 3 degrees... Oh, and we had thunder and lightening last night...and while I sat in the car today , while daughter ran into the Sporting Goods Store ( I tell you about that in a minute....lol ) I looked out the window and saw this ominous cloud formation...within 2 minutes, the wind began blowing the car back and forth and then a torrential downpour....Now, we have Winter Weather Advisories from tomorrow morning all the way through to Friday night... Here is a pic of that scary cloud :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now for the reason for the trip to the Sporting Goods Store.... With the weather being so whacky...temps in the 50's and 60's the last few days, and 18 inches of snow on the ground melting, add to that about 1" of rain in a short time yesterday...our back yard looked more like a pond than a yard.... I knew something was up when the toilet didn't flush...Only time that happens and it get's clogged, is when one or more of the Grandsons are here...( they think they need 1/2 a roll of toilet paper to wipe their bums....lol) Hmmmm...only one reason besides a clog that it wouldn't go down...Last time, it was because the sump pump in the second septic tank died....Hubbs goes and checks...YUP....the new pump died...It just couldnt handle all the flooding going on in the back...We are planning some major digging and drain tile going in this Spring, not to mention, we don't know when the last time the septic was pumped out sooooooo... When you see hubby in the backyard in "muck" boots....somethin's not good ....

The trip to the store was for a Camping Potty....if this is going to happen anymore, and if electric goes out we are stuck with no water ( no well pump or septic pump) We want to be prepared...yes , it is a delicate subject, but hey....everybody does it.....lol We got the new pump, the new potty..chemicals for it...and When hubby got home, him and my oldest son Ryan ( he did it last time...poor guy always gets pooh duty...) replaced the pump and hurrah...Flushing toilet again !! Oh, the things that we take for granted....lol So, alls well that ends well.. Have a great evening !! Robin

Working on some things...new designs, old designs.....

Hi and hope you are having a Good Monday so far !! I was busy this weekend with a few projects... One is a hooked rug...I am using a pattern from last year that was part of a Spring Doodle Booklet. It wasn't really designed with rug hooking in mind, so I re-drew it, spacing the elements further apart, and enlarging some things a little..I enlarged the whole pattern to 500% , and it ends up being about 18" x 20" ..not tooo big for me...so I did start it ... Only got a tiny bit started...but now I am going to need to tone down some of my reds to really mute them and make them more of a cinnamon color,to more closely match the color in the pattern I colored in on the computer...the pic is dark, I was trying to get it to not look too bright, but not sure there was really enough lighting...hmmm...here it is :

~~~~~~~~ Then...I was getting my inspiration on Pinterest once again, and saw these old cookie cutters...Two of them were so simple, of a man and woman....A few folks had posted pics of fraktur drawings, and I am always drawn to those, but wow, the detail in them is overhwelming to me...so, I drew up a very simple " fraktur like " drawing , using the outlines of the 2 cookie cutters I liked.....I drew up my design, colored it in and hunted for floss to match...what I found was close, and some it was even dyed with a touch of tan rit dye...It's going to be a new pattern, and I've got it all drawn up on my weaver's cloth and on my hoop...

So...I guess, winter is a good time for me to actually accomplish things on the weekends...in between having family here... I also spent the weekend cooking again ! We had some of the kids here fixing cars, etc..and Grandkids here also so I had made a HUGE batch of homemade Mac n Cheese to go with their sandiches, and then A crockpot of Chili for dinner....I made coleslaw and chicken salad.....you get the picture.....when you have 6 adult children and 8 Grandsons ( 1 grandaughter on the way...yay !)...it's hard to not want to always have Something for them to eat, and plenty of it....My one Grandson , Riley is 12 years old....When I make something kind of common and doctor it up, he says to me " Grandma, you always add 1 secret ingredient, and I can really taste it !...It's LOVE !"....Makes me teary eyed every time he says that to me...Of course having raised 4 boys of my own, I also know what little brown nosers boys can be....especially when it comes to food !!!....lol Here's a pic of my 12 year old Grandson, Riley ....I love his moppy hair !! He is a Skater ...gnarly dude !!!....lol

~~~~~~~ Back to a little punching, hooking, and maybe some more drawing....yes I know, why do I have several things going at once ???? I clean my house the same way...several rooms torn apart at once...Must be the ADHD....lol Robin