June & July Projects

I spent the month of June stitching my brains out.  It's all I want to do.  I've gotten so many projects done.  

First let's start with the yummy stuff.  I did Canada Day and July 4th cupcakes.  I was too lazy to make them from scratch so I used a mix but made my own cream cheese frosting.

I did these strawberries dipped in chocolate for Marsha for her bday.  I used crushed peppermint candy, nuts, coconut, sprinkles and red sugar on some of them.

Also decided to try my first banana cream pie.  It was really tasty but next time I'm going to make a graham cracker crust instead of the Pillsbury pie crust.

On to the crafting portion of our program.

This beaded cross stitch took 2 days.  It's a Jim Shore design.

I also got the Hummels design completed for my friend Fernanda.

Got this paisley needlepoint done too.  Not sure what I'm doing with it but I'm thinking of going the pillow route.

This beaded cross stitch gave me a lot of trouble. It was just 'one of those projects' that went wrong right from the start.  I didn't realize till I was half done with the stitching part that I was supposed to be using three strands of floss instead of the normal 2.  I made tons of mistakes that required ripping out sections to start over.  The top row stitches didn't meet...one side was a row higher than the other so I had to try and figure out what I did wrong.  It is pretty though and I'm glad I stuck it out.

I picked up this small needlepoint in a thrift shop a couple years ago.  The center four leaf flower was stitched, as was the gold border around the blue.  It took about 3-4 days to finish it up.  Not sure what to do with it.  Kind of an odd shape for framing.  Maybe I'll make a coaster or something.  Or sew it to the back of a jean jacket.

I had hoped to feature my peacock needlepoint but they didn't include enough fiber in two colours I ran out of.  Then I requested they send more, and I got a completely different dye lot of fiber and it was too light.  They are trying to match it now and hopefully will have enough for me to finish.  I've also started a Halloween themed beaded cross stitch that will be very colourful!

Recent Projects

I've started a family photo album because it's nice to have a hard copy of the pictures to look at in an album vs. on a phone or computer.  The front and back of the album look the same, so I found a wooden letter E which I painted light blue.  Then I added blue glitter ribbon on the edges, rhinestones and our name in glitter letter stickers.

I once had a twig bench that I'd bought in California and had up till I left Washington.  It eventually deteriorated, due in part to the fact that I'd left it outside for years back in CA (but to be fair we never had extreme weather except for rain and hot summers).  It stayed inside once I moved to WA, but by the time I left in 2011, it was falling apart beyond repair so I threw it away.  I was so excited to find one at the flea market in Wareham recently!  

Wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, but a gnome garden came to mind so I got one at Michael's and dug through the rest of my supplies to see what I had.

I built the rock wall.  The whole scene is on a burlap bag, on which I adhered the strip of dark green moss.  The burlap is only tied to the seat of the bench so that it could be removed w/o damaging the bench.  The ivy and flowers are also tucked into the twigs and not glued.  I did glue the house, rocks, light green moss (from my yard), pinecones and mushrooms to the dark green moss.  I got to this point but it needs something.  This one's ended up on the back burner till I figure out what else to use.

Another time consuming project was to make a garden gazing ball out of marbles glued to a bowling ball.  My dear friend Kim had a spare bowling ball and sent it to me all the way from Michigan.  This project would never have been realized if not for her!  I got some silicone glue and went to work.

The silicone glue works really well.  It's dense enough to keep the marbles from moving around too badly and sliding out of place.  But it's slow going with only 5-6 able to be glued at one time before the ball has to be rotated to add the next ones.  They need time to set up, which is about 30-45 minutes.  That works out to be 5-6 marbles per hour which makes for a very long day as the circle grows wider.  

After the nonstop rain showed up, I had to bring the project inside to work on it, which actually worked out better. It was so much easier to do this on the countertop.  Here is the final result.  

I got a stand for it and I made sure that the marbles stopped where the ball would rest on the stand.  I am so happy with how this came out.  I really wanted one of these for so long.  It weighs a ton too.  The bowling ball was heavy enough but all that glass increased the weight.

Tractor Supply sells wagon wheels.  I really wanted one last spring but they sold out quickly. Fortunately I remembered to check and I got the last one they had.  I picked up some silk roses and wired them to the bottom.  I was attempting to replicate a Grateful Dead logo.

This is 'The Wheel' logo.  I didn't want to break the spokes or paint it blue though.  I like the natural wood colour.

I've just started a new paisley needlepoint project that is quite colourful.  I am intimidated by needlepoint to be honest, but I couldn't resist this kit.  I did, however, notice that the design was stamped on the canvas crooked, so I'm going to have to fudge it big time.  I'm sure it will look good when it's done but I'm already a bit nervous having to fix it somehow.

Still chipping away at the Hummel cross stitch for my dear friend Fernanda.

Other than that, not too many new craft projects on the horizon besides my needlework kits.  Pinterest has started to bore me and I am finding no new inspiration on my pinboards.  But I still have enough to keep me busy!