Saturday, July 23, 2011

Primitive Home Samplers

Remember that antique Hoosier cabinet I mentioned last week? Well after looking all weekend at Hoosiers in horrible condition, not to mention 4 times more than the one I'd mentioned earlier and no pie cabinets anywher, Hubby said we could get the one I saw first. After seeing the prices on the others and doing some checking on the internet, not only did we get the Hoosier in excellent condition, we got a bargain! While I was doing a happy dance, I think my poor Hubby was dreading having to help me move more furniture...AGAIN. LOL it wasn't that bad though, because the cabinet came apart in two pieces and carrying the ClosetMaid cabinets and drawers back up the stairs when empty weren't heavy either so he couldn't complain too much. Photos posted here.

Prim is in this week at The Country Needle and one of the things I love to do before or after stitching out prim designs is staining the fabric with tea which is what I've done with the new Prim Home Samplers to give them an anitquated look. If you've never tried tea-staining before, be sure to check out the easy instructions I've posted in the project section here on the Hoop & Holler.

Prim Home Samplers

Price: $15.97

Sale: $8.78

Save: 45% off





This set of primitive home samplers includes 4 samplers for the 4x4 and 5x7 hoops as well as individual design elements for the 4x4 and 5x7 sizes so you can mix and match to create your own unique prim sampler.

These are quick to stitch and great for wall hangings, quilts, card stock and more. I think the one shown here would look cute in an office.

It's hard to believe but it's almost County Fair time here! Where has the time gone? It seems just like yesterday that Spring arrived. This weekend, I'm going to try a recipe for Lavender Jelly and if it turns out, that will be one of my fair entries. I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always...
Happy Stitching!
Nathenia

Friday, July 22, 2011

How to Tea Stain Fabric


If you want your mug mats to have an antique finish tea stain them. Boil 4 cups water. Add 4 black tea bags let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and pour the liquid into a large glass bowl, add damp pre-washed fabric. Stir occasionally and check every 10 minutes or so until your fabric is the desired color.   The stronger the brewed tea, the dark your fabric will be.  Keep in mind that your fabric will dry a shade lighter than what it looks like when wet.

Remove fabric and lightly wash by hand with dish soap and rinse well. Hang to dry. Ironing is optional, but depending on what I'm going to do with the fabric, I think the "wrinkled" and tea-stain look gives the fabric and design so much more character.

It is very important that you remove all tea from your fabric because the tannic acid will eat away your fabric.  If after drying you still want your fabric darker, repeat the above process.

Tea-Stained Scented Mug Mats

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Mud Hole Piglets & Sewing Room

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Not much going on here and I have no stories to tell or anything profound to say. I did have jury duty Thursday and after sitting there for 3 hours, I was finally dismissed from sitting on that particular jury because I mentioned that I thought my hubby had testified against the defendant in a previous case. LOL they certainly didn't want me on THAT panel!

The sewing room is finally cleaned up and you can view more photos here. LOL I had a friend ask me why we moved the sewing room. Well, in a lot of homes, the kitchen/dining room or wherever the television is located, is the gathering room. But in our home, everyone eventually ends up in the sewing room so it just made more sense to move it to a larger room so we all weren't feeling claustrophobic. 

We've got to do something about more lighting though. It's great during the day, but in the evenings, it gets pretty dark in here. I did see some light fixtures made from some old canning jars and think those would be really cool suspended from the ceiling, but not sure if they'd give off enough light. I also found a 1930's hoosier in excellent condition and am seriously thinking of getting it to replace the white ClosetMaid cabinets and drawers between the embroidery machines. It even has a pull-out countertop for extra workspace. Though I'd really like to find a pie safe with hand punched tin door panels and use it for storage space instead and which would also be perfect for a fabric stash! : ) 

You'll find this week's newest set below. It, along with the other Critters and Feathered Friends are 45% OFF this week.

Mud Hole Piglets

Price: $14.97

Sale: $8.23
Save: 45% off



You've heard the nursery rhyme this little piggy stayed home and this little piggy went to the market, etc.

But did you know that the piggy that stayed home decided it wanted to play? Since it had the pig pen all to itself, straight to the mud hole it went and what fun that little piggy had!!
Stitch these little mud hole piggies on baby's bath towels and bibs. Or even on your favorite BBQ apron. Set includes both 4x4 & 5x7 designs in fill and redwork. 20 designs total.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Ruby-Throated and Rufous Hummingbirds

Well the sewing room has been moved and it's starting to come together like I want it. A couple of snags with the cat5e cable I ran for the office line and dsl, but didn't take too long to fix. and I am so thankful that a chainsaw was not needed to move anything in or out of the room. Though my hubby and son did threaten to bring it out when they couldn't get the sofa into the downstairs den. LOL, when we go to move things around, I often wonder if the builders forgot that people were actually going to live here. They must have had some "skinny" furniture back in the 70's!

Though I've got the room arranged so that my work flow is not interupted- kinda like an assembly line, it's still a mess, so I'll post more photos after I've gotten it cleaned up more. 

Graceful, Elegant, Charming, Delightful are only a few words that describe a hummingbird. Every Spring & Summer I look forward to the arrival of the hummingbirds.

Graceful, Elegant, Charming, Delightful are only a few words that describe a hummingbird. They were late arriving this year and so far not as many as in years past, probably due to the colder weather we were having late in the Spring. But none the less, I keep my feeders full and they keep us entertained with their dive bombing antics! Here, we have Ruby- throated, black chinned and Rufous Hummingbirds. And for every 10 or so Ruby-throated and black chinned, we have 1 Rufous who keep watch over the feeders and chase off the others. Very territorial they are!

So why am I telling you about my hummingbirds? That's easy! Our newest set this week at The Country Needle includes a realistic Ruby-throated and a Rufous hummingbird in filled and redwork.

Ruby Throated & Rufous Hummingbirds

Price: $15.97

Sale: $8.78
Save: 45% off



The fun part about this set is that you can arrange the hummingbirds and trumpet flowers to create your own stitched masterpiece. They are so much fun! 28 designs total.

And while you're visiting, be sure to check out our other hummingbird sets. Mix and Match the sets for endless possibilities!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Sewing Room Move

Many of you may recall the story I told about remodeling our rec room a couple of years ago. You know the one where you know you're a Redneck if you remodel your house with a chainsaw? I'm not going to tell the story again but if you want to read it, you'll find message # 326 on my Yahoo group. Anyway...I think I've mentioned before that my ultimate goal was to move my sewing room/office into that room. Two years later, that is now becoming a reality! Yeah! So for the last several days I've been moving into another part of the house.

Now normally this would have been easy, but we have a tri-level house. When you walk in the front door, you're either going to go up or down or if you go right and down three steps, into the rec room. The foyer is quite narrow and the stairs a bit too steep for my liking.

Now that you have that pictured in your mind, imagine me (by myself) sliding my great big desk and all the other office furniture down a flight of stairs, maneuver the foyer and down another 3 steps. The reason I say slide is because I found that if you flip the furniture over to a sturdy smooth side, it just slides across the carpet like a hot knife through butter! I had no problem moving my desk but when I got it to the landing in the foyer, it got stuck! I had to then go out the side entrance, around the house, up the stairs of the deck to get back to the upper level. Then back down the stairs to get to the back end of the desk, pull it back up to get it unstuck and then turn it to get it through the foyer. I'm still not quite sure how I accomplished all that without scratching the wall or the door!

I still got in trouble from hubby from moving all that I did and believe me I'm certainly paying for it now! My knees hurt from going up and down the stairs so often, but all that's left to move is the embroidery machines and the cutting table- which I won't even attempt to move alone!  LOL and on a personal note, with all this moving and running up and down the stairs, I didn't need to use Margaret's blue dishwashing soap! 

If you'd like to see photos of what my sewing room looked like before the move, click here. I'll post new photos as soon as everything gets moved and set up in the new location.
Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day and as always...
Happy Stitching!
Nathenia