Another Finished Rug!

I have finished my newest project and think it turned out pretty well.  I love the cheerful, fun feel that this rug has, and now must decide to hang it or make it into a pillow.  I may retire the little black cat, as this is my third rug with him as the main character!

This rug measures 16 1/2" X 9 1/4" and is hooked with #8 cut hand dyed and as found wools (some from a local thrift shop!)  It is my own design.

My Wool Club meets this Friday evening, so now I need to come up with something to work on at the gathering!  A woman's work (fun) is never done, right?  Looking forward to the next project...have a great week, everyone!

Linda

A Budding Old Collection

I love collecting, a weakness to which I'm sure most of you will confess, as well!  Who doesn't love to pursue of the next wonderful example of your beloved collection.  I love the plain and simple beauty of white crockery bowls.  My collection is not large, just six pieces, so far.  Just this week, I have added two more bowls (the second and third from the left in this picture.)  I placed them in the center of my dining table for this picture, but they have been moved from place to place many times.

I remember the collection of white crockery that inspired me to begin mine.  For many years there was a spring antique/craft show held in a small town about 25 miles from my home.  The shop was called "The Summer Kitchen," and was a favorite destination of mine.  It was out in the country and consisted of a very old two story home (still lived in by the shop owner) and two small out buildings with a large herb garden in the center.  It was very primitive and "homey."  The owner always seemed to display the most unusual items and crafted many wonderful primitive creations with which to decorate your home.

The herb garden always displayed many antique gardening tools, watering cans,  twig fences, and white painted bee skeps.  The color scheme in her home was white...mostly the "dirty" primitive white which I still love.  There would be white-washed baskets and twig creations,  chippy-painted white rustic tables and old chairs, and lots of old shutters.  There was always an abundance of live greenery and grapevine garlands.  The two other buildings were filled with antiques and vignettes displaying primitives and crafts of all kinds.

In the old two story house, was the largest collection of white crockery bowls I've ever seen.  They were displayed inside primitive cupboards, on shelves, and just anywhere one could place a bowl.  Many were filled with little pillows sewn from old quilts, fragrant whole cloves, whole nutmegs, sweet annie,  and countless other primitive scented items.  It was truly a feast for the eyes!

The owner also had a huge collection of bird feeders and rustic bird houses.  Outside in the garden and under the trees were several sitting areas where customers could watch the many varieties of birds who regularly visited the feeders.  It was very relaxing.

Sadly, several years ago the owners discontinued the shows and The Summer Kitchen is no longer open for business. I really miss going, but have slowly been adding to my still small collection of white crockery. I love the look and am experimenting with ways to display them in my own home.

What are your favorite collections? How do you display them? Do you have favorite places which inspire you to decorate in a special way?

HAPPY COLLECTING!!
Linda

Parting with Some Treasures.

I've been trying to reduce visual clutter and the size of some of my collections (yikes!) and will be offering some things as online "garage sale" items.  Many of the things will be antiques.  If you are interested in any item posted,  please contact me through my email button and I will contact you with my PayPal ID.  Please leave a comment below if you email me...I must confess that I sometimes forget to check my blog email as often as I should (my bad.)

This 5" X 9" picture is by Alison Shriver.  She is an artist who makes silhouette collages, paper cuttings, and does wonderful grain painting!  This was purchased in Vermont about 17 years ago.  The frame is grain-painted, and the print is of a Windsor settee and arm chair.  It is signed by the artist.

 
It is in great condition, with a slight puncture in the floral paper covering the back of the artwork.  I'm asking $30 plus $4.50 shipping.

I'm working on a really cute (in my humble opinion) small rug or pillow (haven't decided yet) that is more than half finished...hopefully will have a picture this weekend.

Have a great Thursday!
Linda

Finished Projects

The Owl Family mat is finally finished.  It is pretty simple, and I've played around with adding something on the edges to border it, but haven't decided just what I'll do yet.  The backing was a small cut linen piece that I wanted to use, and it was a bit challenging to hook with not much extra fabric to grip onto the frame!  I don't recommend it, ugh!  I thought of adding antique buttons as a border, but that didn't do much for it, so I'll have to think about it some more.  It measures 9 1/2" X 12 1/2".

A few years ago, I hooked a pillow using coiled hearts in the design.  I decided to make a coiled heart pin in honor of Valentine's Day.  The pin measures 2 1/4" X 3", and is made of four different primitive red  8-cut wool strips, coiled together.  I used a needle and matching thread to shape the coils into a heart.  I discovered that I couldn't coil very tightly because it was much too difficult to achieve the heart shape!  I have coated the back with some fabric glue to further hold the shape and have sewn on the metal pin. 

Hope you and your Sweetheart enjoy a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Linda



 

What is This!?

I ran across a similar item on an art website and thought it looked pretty cool.  The one on the website was done in brighter colors and was finished with framed edges, so it was pretty much a large rectangle with straight framed edges.  It was being sold for $499.00!!!  That may not be much for a piece of art, but I don't happen to have $500 to spend right now so....

I decided to make my own!  How hard can making a wall "sculpture" be??  I took some narrow strips of rough-sawn wood and painted them with a paint wash.  I used colors from the rooms in my home that I had left over and thinned the paint with water.  After I had painted almost 50 of them and let them dry, I started playing around with the color combinations until I had the look I wanted.

Then, I put horizontal wood strips across the back of the wood slats and screwed each slat to the horizontal strips to hold the whole thing together.  Whew!  That took a little work.  I didn't want the finished sculpture to look so framed and rectangular, so I settled on this jagged edge look.  The sculpture measures 56" X 27", so it is rather large!

The great thing is that after living with it on the wall for about two weeks, I LOVE IT!  It looks primitive, rustic and unusual.  Two of my sisters came over last Friday for a visit and they both really liked it.  WhooooHooo!  And it didn't cost anywhere near $499.00!!

Have a great week!
Linda

Saturday Project

The new Spring issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects has several fun little items to make.  One project is a stay-stuck pin cube, designed by Renee Plains.  The pattern is printed on page 81 ready to print out on card stock from your printer!  You just print, cut out, fold and glue or tape, and poke a few holes in three sides and voila!  DONE!!

The instructions also tell you that you can "age" or "prim" the cube by staining with coffee or ink or even brown eye shadow powder (I may try that one.)  Anyway, true to claims, the pins do not fall out even after tossing it around a little.  The cube measures 1 3/4" X 1 3/4" and is a neat little fun thing to make on a dreary, cold, rainy Saturday afternoon.

Happy crafting!!

Linda