A Raven's Welcome

I am really having a lot of fun in my new sewing room.
Can you tell :?
This design is from Plum Street Samplers called My Pretties. I love ravens and crows. They're what I call primitive birds. I changed the colors up a bit by making the branch a dark brown rather than black as the pattern indicates. It's stitched on stained linen, as usual, my fabric of choice and has black wool on the bottom and some old vintage lace. Firmly stuffed with sawdust and some old cotton. You should be able to click on the picture to get a closer look.
I am almost finished a Halloween Sampler that I am making into a hanging pinkeep. So, check back and happy stitching and happy fall to all.

PA Dutch Inspired

Here is a little hanging cupboard pinkeep that I just got finished. I came up with the design using an old German sampler book and my cross stitch bible book. I love browns and blues so I went with what I love. And even though I live in Philadelphia, the neighboring county is Bucks and it has some beautiful and primitive places to visit. This is the first time I have ever used a gingham linen. I thought it fit well with the design. I coffee stained some osnaburg for the back and stuffed it with sawdust. I added a piece of really great teal and brown herringbone over dyed wool that I bought up in Hereford, Pa. at a wonderful shop called Homespun. I could really go broke when I'm in there, so it's good thing that it's not around the corner from me. It use to be an old country store and has the coolest old apothecaries all around the store. They carry everything a textile artist could need. Anyway, I am wandering. Thanks for taking a look and happy stitching to all.

New Sewing Room

Well, it was a lot of work but we finally got new carpet put down throughout the house. We had to move everything we own into about 3 rooms of our house. We could hardly move around. It sure looks wonderful and it feels so nice under my feet. I have to say, I do like the smell of new carpet. Haven't had that smell in the house for about 16 years.
Bill worked all summer trimming out the rooms upstairs and getting them painted. This is my new sewing room : ) I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. It's really big and I have tons of room for my antiques, fabrics and sewing items. I'm not done decorating it yet, we only just got the furniture moved into this room on Sunday. I still want to hang some prints up and a wall quilt over the drysink. I have a great view of my garden and lots of natural light. It feels so good to be organized again and I find myself wanting to hang out in here all the time now. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on what it could use or a different layout, please leave a comment. Have a great week and happy stitching.
~Nan

Garden Inspired Ditty Bag

As fall arrives the flowers in my garden have all past their best. But there is one flower that is a real joy to look out on right now and that is my sedum. I guess that is why the variety is called Autumn Joy.
These colors were the inspiration for the drawstring ditty bag I've recently completed. I love the pinky mauves of the florets and the blueish green of the leaves. I used 3 different shades of pink for the berries and stitched it on a misty blue linen that has been stained.

The top section is osnaburg and it's lined with an brown and cream ticking, which I've also stained. I did a little bit of decorative stitching and added a chain stitch to separate the osnaburg from the blue linen.


This was a fun bag to stitch up and hope you enjoyed taking a peek. As alway, happy stitching.
Nan

Halloween Spirit

I just stitched this up from a freebie from Primitive Bettys. She is so generous with her designs. It's on coffee stained 32 ct linen and I used colors from Gentle Art Sampler Threads. It was a quick stitch but I like the simplicity of it. I stitched tiny x's all the way around to finish it off. I just won some wonderful old skeleton keys on ebay and thought it would be fun to add one to this Halloween themed pinkeep. Got lots more to show you in the coming days.
Happy stitching.
Nan

Sewing Pouch

Just a quick post.......cause I'm in the middle of a lot of finishing work, as you know. I got this done today. The pattern is a Stacy Nash and I've stitched it on raw linen and lined it with osnaburg. I also made a matching osnaburg drawstring. I decided to bring the lining over to the front of the bag and used a decorative stitch to finish it off. I am trying new things with the new Brother sewing machine that my husband surprised me with last Christmas. I am new to sewing with a machine, so it takes awhile for me to get up the nerve to try new things on it. I'm a hand sewer at heart, but it does go A LOT quicker on the machine. I'm working on another sewing pouch and I'm liking it but I want to make it a bit more special. So.... I will post some pics of it once done.
Happy stitching.
Nan

Finally A Finish

Well, here is my first finish in a while and it's actually something other than cross stitch. That's a first. I really like how it turned out. I used a reproduction coverlet fabric for the pillow base and stitched on some old crochet that I had in my stash. It's filled with seed cotton, which is some pretty cool stuff, if you can find it. The strawberry is filled with crushed walnuts and the whole thing was aged with some homemade stain.
Thanks for taking a peek. As always, Happy Stitching!
Nan

Autumn Song Pinkeep

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful holiday weekend and taking in the last days of summer. Fall is approaching quickly. But I am looking forward to it since it is my favorite of seasons. Pumpkins and Halloween just can't be beat in my book.
Well, I stitched this up at the end of last year, but just got around to antiquing it with stain. It's a Blackbird Design and I used the WDW floss they suggested. I stained some reproduction fabric for the back and stuffed it with my usual mix of sawdust and wood savings (Courtesy of my wonderful hubby). I added a few blackhead pins to the front for a little added fun !
I think I'll display this on my grain bin till it finds a new owner.
Till next time. Happy stitching.
~Nan