Fixin' and Paintin'...

Pansies have such
 cute little faces!

Two beautiful days in a row - the 70's in MN the end of April is just the best!  Good for our souls here where we usually have 6 months of winter!

We've been on a buyin' binge which is so much fun but reality hits and we have to fix and paint the treasures we find.  Sometimes it just takes me forever to get going - just get off my chair by the computer and go out the door and across the driveway to the carport area where I work on my stuff.

So I began today to look again at what needs what and what color it should be.  Once I slap some paint on something - I get the bug and actually its so much fun to change the look of something.  Of course then both Hubby and I feel like the object is ours and we can elaborate on embellishments to give it some of our personality.  Scary...

Here's a before and after of a little metal table we got last night:




Cute!

CUTER!!!

I couldn't get a good picture - the sun and gloss of the paint kept shining through!

This is the cupboard/hutch I got this weekend:

As you can see, the top is on its side but won't it be cool
 when I paint it - maybe red instead of vivid coral!!!

I will use my new sprayer on this project - its not huge but big enough!  We're pretty sure its a marriage of two different pieces but its way interesting.  The top does fit in a groove that runs along the back of the bottom piece.

Tomorrow we are on another buying trip - be still my heart!  My friend always has fantastic stuff!!!

I'm bound and determined to get my quilt camp stuff put away tonight but boy, could I take a nap.  Lots of fresh air today.  I need to plant my pansies tomorrow too.  Thought I would plant them in one of my vintage wheelbarrows...its in the shade part of the day so they should thrive even in summer.  They will live with the dianthus that made it through the winter in the wheelbarrow in the shadow of my crab apple tree.

Dianthus are so pretty and smell so good!
They are like mini flat carnations!

Take care,

Bonnie

Stitchin' Chicks Quilt Camp April 2012

The end of another successful quilt camp.  5 days and 4 nights of creativity and laughter and good eats!  Even though I had thought I would be learning more about my embroidery machine (machine needed to be repaired), I finished many projects and received orders to make more things.

It is amazing to spend almost a week with friends from all over the area.  The sharing of ideas and techniques is so much fun...some of the same stories are told at every camp and we laugh just as hard each time.  Now this time we've had vigorous discussions and they haven't been about politics because we can't go there and keep peace.  So day 2 was differences of opinions on TV shows, day 3 might have been book favorites or not, and then day 4 - can't remember - symptoms of this age I've reached.  But we know that nothing that is said will change our minds anyway!!!

So in an hour its back to normal life...tomorrow I get my sewing machine out of hock or the hospital.  Going 60 miles to pick it up means I get to shop at T.J. Maxx and eat at Panera.  Yay!  That would be my reward for making that trek.

Now its time to get very serious about getting those Farmgirls Country Sale projects created, fixed, painted, and priced!

Hope you are beginning a wonderful week!

Take care,

Bonnie

Making Flower Embellishments...

This fabric is a poly knit and from my Mom's stash.
I never thought I'd find a use for it but I love polka dots
 and my Mom so I hung on to it.
I love to know that my Mom bought it and touched
it as I form it into flowers for my projects.
I will make a flower for my girls and for my sister as a remembrance,
Lesson:  Don't be too quick to get rid of stuff!

I have a difficult time not making crafts in a production line.  I have learned not to make 12 of everything I make but I just decided that mass producing embellishments is okay.  Well – according to my rules its okay.

On Wednesday, I leave for Stitchin’’ Chicks Quilt Camp again – YAY!  Last Tuesday I took my sewing machine in for its annual check up.  It’s been a year in my custody so it needed a good cleaning and tune up.  Or so I thought…come to find out it was more serious than that.  The patient is still at the hospital awaiting a transplant/part.  So when I couldn’t make her free motion quilt, it wasn’t operator error.  It would be comforting to find that out except I need to have her home to take her with me on Wednesday!!! 

I digress…anyway while I wait for the call to retrieve her; I have taken over the kitchen island again where I am getting ready for camp.  It’s time to cut that perfectly lovely fabric into little pieces so I can sew them back together again.  When I’m not being destructive, I am making embellishments for things I will be making next week.

Flowers are flowing from my hands…

The round rosettes are coiled strips and then glued to a circle of canvas.
I will use these on the top of one of my ruffled totes.



This is the process I use when making the open roses...
cut a 3" or 4" strip, fold in half, run a gathering thread along open edge,
and then gather, twist and secure with stitches or glue on a canvas or felt circle. 
I add a pin back so they can be removed and worn separately.  Wa la!!!

I bought a painter’s drop cloth to cut into totes and other things like journal covers and may use it to reupholster a chair or two.  So much to do and only 6 weeks left until our June Farmgirls Country Sales!!!

So back to the production line…

Take care,

Bonnie

Life Takes You To Unexpected Places…

Love brings you home! 

I have wanted to put words to walls for quite some time.  To say the least I have an eclectic home…which means I have lots of stuff in every room.  I needed a place that didn't look too busy already.

One day when I was ordering something at Amazon for a friend, who doesn't compute, I found this saying made by Wall Decor Plus More.  Ok - I had to have it!

It was pretty easy to put up and
I didn't really need the masking tape!

Our little entry vestibule with an old painted mirror seemed like the place for this wonderful saying.  It seems like the perfect place…so you see it leaving home and coming back!  I angled it because I like things angled.

I love, love, love it!!!

I embroidered quite a few towels recently and now I’m going to my sewing room to embroider the edges…I had hoped to sew rick rack to the edges but my edging didn’t match the Turkey red thread I used so I’m doing a decorative stitch with matching thread to finish off the towels.

We‘re praying for the Texans who are under tornado watches today...my friend, Steph, posted some pictures and the skies looked very angry.  We sure hope there are no lives lost.

Take care,

Bonnie