Little Boo Pumpkin

Here's a fun little pumpkin tutorial for you! Make sure when Fall is over and you get ready to throw away all of your gourds and little pumpkins, that you save the stems. They add a realistic touch to handmade fabric pumpkins.

 

 

Fabric pumpkin, needle felted acorns, and fabric leaves.

 

 

 

Hand dyed velvet pumpkin.

 

Draw a 4" circle. Lay the pattern on a double layer of fabric and cut out. Right sides together, sew, leaving a 1 1/2" gap for turning and stuffing. Turn pumpkin right side out. Stuff very firmly. Stitch opening closed. Using crochet thread, start in the middle from the bottom, go up through pumpkin, cross over the side downwards and back through the bottom of the pumpkin pushing needle through pumpkin and upwards. Continue doing this first in a "t" or cross shape and then in an x shape. Tie off on the bottom. Now just glue the stem on. There you have it, your cute little pumpkin. Make a bunch of them and put them in a bowl. Super cute! You could use wool, cute fabric or even felt. Have fun! If you get confused just leave a comment and I will try to explain it better.

 

This year I planted cotton in my garden. I hoped that it would make actual cotton bolls and it did! See the tiny bowl on the middle shelf? It has three cotton bolls in it.

More of my NC garden grown cotton. I will have to take some pictures of the plants. The flowers are so pretty, they were white and some were pink.

Close up of cotton. I have some seeds that we have already harvested. I can't guarantee they will grow but if you would like a few just send me your address and I will get some to you. You will need to plant them after the last frost in the Spring.

Blessings,

Holly

Happy Fall, Y'all!

It is finally time to put out the fall decorations and it won't be long until Christmas ones are up! I love Fall. The apples, pumpkins, hay rides, corn mazes, leaves turning, and of course the cool, crisp Fall air. I took a few pictures around the house. Enjoy!

 

Landing on the stairs. This space is small but able to support an antique Singer sewing machine, antique chair with antique apple crate. The pumpkin with the sweet face was painted by my mother, probably 35 years ago. I have hung onto it for years now and it is one of my favorite pieces.

 

 

The Resolute Desk. Well...not actually the Resolute Desk. I love the movie National Treasure! So, after I refinished this desk Dear Hubby's grandmother left him, we dubbed it The Resolute Desk. If you haven't seen this movie, and you love history, action and adventure this movie is for you.

 

A little bit of fall on the mantel.

 

Patriotic Fall. Yes, that's Lincoln.

 

 

Another antique sewing machine (treadle). This one is from the Free company. See the candle holders. My sweet Father-in-law made them for me. Look at that sad little bent candle on the left. I love these candles and bought them from a wonderful, sweet little local store here in town. The name of it was Antique or Not. She has since closed her brick and mortar and move to Idaho! Pam is so sweet. If you get a chance click here to visit her. D#2 and I dearly miss her wonderful Prim store. I purchased a lot of pieces from her including this "Free" sewing machine.

Display on the buffet. Scarecrow my mom made, Snoopy and friends in the pumpkin patch (it is lighted) and ceramic spider that I painted. Push his pom pom and he makes spooky noise. D#2 use to push it and run like the wind. She still doesn't like the ooooooo noise it makes, so I push it while she is at school :)

 

 

 

Antique wooden hay fork that I found locally. I want to make a tiny quilt to go behind it to look like this:

 

(Temecula Quilt Company)

 

 

My antique pie safe. Fall leaf garland with basket of pine cones. See the cinnamon broom to the left of the pie safe? It still has the plastic on it. Why? Man!...is that broom strong!! The scent of cinnamon was so overwhelming that I had to put the plastic bag back on it. I now lift the bag about 1 inch a week. Smells much better. I purchased this pie safe from money that I saved after doing a lot of commission work: curtains, pillows, costumes, etc.

This beautiful secretary was also purchased with my commission money. I love saving up and purchasing a large antique piece. It might take me a few years or few months, depending on what is to be purchased. The garland is lighted. The antique mantle clock was a birthday gift from dear hubby and the kids. The tiny chair with the pumpkin was a flea market find at $6. I have been collecting the firkins for a while now and find then labeled the strangest way. Some have said: wooden bucket(no surprise there-that is what it is), utensil caddy, old paint bucket, pencil holder (smaller one), slop bucket, etc. No one around here seems to call them a firkin. But, when labeled "firkin" they tend to go for high $$. So I'll take my slop, pencil, paint bucket any day. The sweet little vintage desk was a Saturday find. Found it up in Hickory, NC at my favorite antique store there. It is so cute! I love it. The bear is one of my first that I ever made. His body is actually upside down. His bottom is on top and his top is on bottom :)

 

 

D#2's piano. Christmas music is already coming out of it! Decorated with leaf garland and wool pumpkin.

 

Even the top of the refrigerator gets some garland.

 

 

Can't forget the balcony. This space has always puzzled me. I am not sure how to decorate the two blank walls to the left and right. To take this photo I am standing in front of the front door. I don't really want to hang another quilt up. I love the way Cracker Barrel decorates their walls and thought about doing little displays up there. Oh what to do.

Have a great weekend,

Holly

 

Keeping the Crafting Bug Alive!

Above: This sweet little primitive bear is on his way to a new home.

 

 

Above: Thank you card. I tried to make a ATC card but the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size was a little too small for me. I do want to make alot of ATCs (artist trading card) so that I can fill my 7 gypsies rolodex. I have had the rolodex for about 5 years now and have never really made anything for it.

Above: Heart Pincushion that I made as a thank you gift. Sorry, I should have taken a picture of it before I sealed the bag. The plaid looks a little loud but it is not that bright. The brown "nest" in the middle is actually a rosette with a pearl in the middle. I used hand dyed ribbon, hand stamped tag, picture of my great grandmother, piece of vintage style lace and corsage pin.

Above: Little better with a white background.

 

I know that it has been a while since I blogged here but I just haven't been making as much primitive stuff as I have whimsy/cutesy stuff. I have finally cleaned up my craft room and it is a very whimsy one now. My house is decorate for the most part primitive, but I also love red, aqua, sunny yellow and cutesy stuff. This is why my craft room took on a brighter look. Now I can enjoy the best of both worlds and it no longer has to be a competition of Whimsy vs. Primsy!! So, if you haven't seen the pics of my craft room go on over to www.littleredhenstitches1.blogspot.com and check it out :)

 

Have a wonderful night and keep that crafting bug alive!! Go ahead....make something!!!

You'll be glad you did!!

Holly

Piece by Piece

I love to hand embroider and quilt. So, when I saw this quilt being offered as a class at my local quilt shop I was so excited. Well.....that was 3+ years ago. Since then the quilt shop has closed and I lost interest. About 3 weeks ago I was cleaning out the craft studio and came across it again. Interest piqued. I need to finish this quilt. I had 11 blocks finished. The 12th block was cut out and the embroidery lines were all ready traced onto the fabric, but the center "flower" was incomplete. Oh no.....I need just one more purple triangle. Where in the world was that fabric? It has been 3+ years after all.

Above: This is what the quilt will look like when I finish. It is all hand pieced and quilted. I haven't decided whether to actually hand piece the squares and sashes or machine piece them on my featherweight. I haven't done a lot of sewing on my Featherweight so this would be the perfect project.

Above: Here's the completed square. The center flower is appliqued on. I forgot to mention that the "flowers" are all hand pieced. Really very easy and fast. Great to do in front of the TV. This was my first time to really "hand piece". I have hand pieced in the past but that was when I was around 12. I will have to show you that quilt some day.

Above: The last unfinished piece. See that greenish circle in the top right corner. Guess what? Yep...I forgot how to sew that little guy in. Shhh...don't tell, I appliqued it in. That was the easiest thing for me to do. The instructions were not really that clear on how to sew it in and I forgot all of the short cuts and handy tips :(

Above: here's what the "flower" looks like on the back. Do you see the black lines? Those were made by a stamp! This is a Cindy Blackberg quilt and she uses her special stamps in place of paper templates (with her patterns you do have the option to either purchase the stamps or you can use paper templates). I love the stamps, especially if this is your first time hand piecing. Hand piecing is a little different than machine piecing. Notice the inner black line above. This line is the stitching line. I love this quilt and can't wait to finish it. If you have never tried hand piecing, I would suggest you try it. It's a lot of fun and their are a alot of tutorials on line to get you started. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to leave a comment. Oh yea, I did find the purple fabric. It was in a box labeled "Civil War Repod. Fabrics". Gotta love labeled boxes, especially when what is labeled on the box is actually in it!

Have a wonderful day and happy piecing!

Holly

Stitchin' Time

I have been trying to catch up on some projects that have been on my mind for some time. I started this sweet little piece about 2 years ago. I found it real slow to work. I was stitching row by row. This makes progress hard to visualize. I had only completed the outline of the house and a couple of the windows. Well, this past week I ran across it again and thought that it's time to finish it. An idea hit me when I looked at it, why not stitch in grids. And you know what? I did all of this in three days! Most of the house, finished the bird (still needs eye) and the lady's hair at bottom. I now have the lady almost completed.

Above: Of course there are big boo boos. The main one being the spacing of the windows. Oh well. When finished it is going to be a sewing roll.

This is what it should look like. It is a pattern from Niky's Creations.

I will keep you updated on my progress. I am so excited how fast I am stitching now!

Blessings,

Holly