Thanksgiving 1621

This was in a Create and Decorate Magazine, designed by Terry Loewen, and has been in my to-do pile for a while. Tomorrow I'll give it a wash with some coffee or walnut stain, and some wool and button details to fill out the frame I picked out.
~michelle

More punchin'

Finished another lil one Saturday evening. This is a pattern by Shirley Hudson .  I have no plans for him so maybe just a frame.
I haven't decided if I will coffee stain it or not. What do you think?
The weather got me in the mood for autumn. :-)
~michelle

Punchin'

I finished this little punched tulip tonight. I made it to fit on the top of a metal box. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to finish the edges. Maybe some trim or rik-rak. I used three colors of floss for the background as I wanted a varigated look without the cost of hand-dyed floss, though I do love it so! I hope to get another punched piece started tomorrow....maybe some pumpkins. :-)  The cooler weather we've had the past few days is making me think autumn, my favorite time of the year.
Have a good weekend.
~michelle

Christmas Gifts

Yes you read that correctly. : )  I didn't celebrate Christmas with my hooking buddy, Kimberlee, until well after Christmas. I was busy, she was busy, I was sick, and our work schedules are completely opposite.

She punched this beautiful crow for me. : )

And I made her a cross-stitch design from Gettysburg Homestead.  Thank you Mary for the freebie pattern. 

~Michelle

New Threads, Local Shop

Hi all. Yep, I rolled off the face of the earth again. I never really leave blogland, just my blog. : )


I hope everyone is safe, dry, and warm. We got a bit of the storm Monday evening and Tuesday all of the local schools were closed, mainly due to the wind. I think it got to be about 50 mph, but that is nothing compared to what the coast got. My heart aches for everyone who lost their homes and unfortunately those who have lost a family member.

I haven't been doing much crafting lately. I finished a punch needle ornament for a swap that Amy of Bumble Bee Lane coordinated.

I had talked about using over-dyed floss in a previous post here and I found a local shop, Blueberry Hill Stitchery in Akron, Ohio, that sells Weeks Dye Works, Crescent Colours, and The Gentle Art. Alas, no Valdani there so I ordered a few balls from Snowflake Memories (check them out - free shipping on 3-strand floss!) in two different sizes to see which I liked the best since I've never worked with it - heck, I've never even seen it! I do believe over-dyed floss by any company is simply beautiful and worth every penny.... I just wish I had more pennies. : ) 

So about Blueberry Hill Stitchery shop....you would drive right by if you didn't know it was there. I sure did. It's not in a traditional shop location and I was quite surprised when I walked inside. Full of all of my favorite stitchers, many of whose blogs I follow! It was so neat to see so many familiar names. My goal was to check out the threads. Drawers and drawers. I had no plan and since it was nearing fall I figured I would get some autumn colors to maybe do some kind of a pumpkin. So I chose a few from each of the three companies and wiped the drool from my face. They are gorgeous! For about 20 minutes all you could hear in the shop was the sound of little drawers opening and closing, opening and closing, lol. I could not decide! : )  I behaved myself and walked out with only seven hanks (3 of one to do a pumpkin and 2 of another for the background, with absolutely no pattern in mind).

Aren't they just beautiful!

From L-R: Weeks Dye Works 2238 - Sweet Potato. Crescent Colours Polliwog and German Chocolate. The Gentle Art 7088 - Baked Clay.

 

 

And here are the balls from Valdani from Snowflake Memories.

Pearl Cotton Size 12  O 196, 3-strand O 532, 3-strand O 217

I also ordered 2 threaders for my Cameo punch from Snowflake Memories because making my own threaders didn't really work out too well, lol, but it got me through my crisis desire to punch. Do you get that way? I just *had* to punch and nothing could get in my way, lol. A little OCD maybe? Eh, guess there are worse things I could be doing, right?

If you use Valdani in your punching, what is your favorite thread weight? The pearl cotton is definitely a better "buy" I think as it comes in 100m where as the 3-strand is in 27m. I will have to punch something up and see which I like the best as I'm sure they will look a bit different when punched. I also love that I can buy 3-strand from Valdani as I absolutely go crazy trying to separate 6-strand floss. For a while I was punching with 6 strands, but got a little "cheap" I guess. I did find that I had to be careful not to leave any spaces when punching with only 3 strands. Maybe I better go back to 6. Hmm...so many decisions, so little crafting time.

This girl needs to get ready for work. I've rambled on about floss long enough.

Stay safe and warm my friends.

~michelle

New Tool!

Two new tools actually! My birthday was June 1st and my in-laws spoiled me with a new hooking frame. I have a lap frame, that is still up for sale as it didn't sell on ebay by the way, but wanted something a little bigger and I fell in love with my friend Kimberlee's frame. Here is the frame I now hook on. Isn't it beautiful?!?!  It is handmade out of beautiful wood. It adjusts in a few different ways and it's even tall enough for me which has been a concern with my lap frame. I'm about 5'9" and find myself hunching over my lap frame.





With some birthday money from my Aunt I purchased a small gripper frame for doing miniature punch needle. I've been using a hoop, but even the non-slip hoops have to be adjusted constantly it seems. Maybe I'm just not strong enough to get it tight. I bought it from The Bee Skep and they are handmade there by Bob. He did a fantastic job. : )  I can't wait to get punching again!




~Michelle