Pennies from Heaven ~ Volume 6

This past weekend I visited my parents and we celebrated Dad's birthday.

Mom also showed me her latest finishes. It's been a bit over two months and she only had two finishes to share...

The coneflower above is designed by Jan Goos of Goos Nest.

Mom's second piece isn't quite finished, but she let me share some photos :)

And now you'll know why she has only worked on two projects:

WoW! The lighting was a bit too bright, but you get the idea :)

(I'll take more pics next time when it is truly completed.)

This kit sat in my craft corner for over six years and Mom did all this incredible work in just seven weeks!

She is amazing!

Done in all Blackberry Primitives wool - the colors are perfect for Maggie Bonanomi's "Settler's Pride".

It is hard to pick a favorite block - I love them all!

As always - Mom's work is perfection.

(After we took the photos, she found a few things that she wasn't thrilled with, so she ripped out and re-sewed them.)

I'm sure that her backing/binding will be perfect as well :)

Wouldn't you love to just move right in?!

After we were done admiring Mom's masterpiece, she demonstrated her new favorite wooly gadget:

The Sizzix Big Shot! 

Sandwich together the plates, die and a few layers of wool. 

Crank the handle a few times and:

Voila! Instant pennies!

No more tracing circles on freezer paper and hand cutting each of them individually.

Now Mom is really going to be whipping out the penny rugs!

Look how many she created with scraps of wool in just minutes!

Can you guess what I'll be putting on my Christmas list this year?!

Especially after seeing all the cute dies that are available...

I'm hoping that Santa will think that I've been good this year ;)

We stopped in a few shops in town and I found a small handful of new treasures:

They absolutely did not look like this when I bought them. How lucky am I that Dad cleaned all of my purchases before I went home! They were all so rusty, tarnished, and dented that they were too extreme to even be called primitive, but Dad fixed them up for me. The thimble from England is so big that I could put two fingers in it :) The teeny tiny salt shaker is perfect for needles I'm thinking... The brass medallion is an old pocket watch fob from an Elks club and the button hook handle is made of Tigers Eye.

Thanks so much Dad for cleaning them up for me on your birthday :) 

And congratulations Mom on your beautiful masterpieces! Can't wait to see Settler's Pride completed!

O come, let us worship and bow down,

    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

For he is our God,

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    and the sheep of his hand.

~Psalm 95:6-7

Blessings, Patti

Coneflowers

"One Lone Coneflower"

design by Jan Goos of Goos Nest

published in Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine Spring 2012



This is the project that I thought I would finish during our vacation in California.

I didn't finish then, but it is finished and being enjoyed now :)

Although this table mat may feature just one lone coneflower, my garden has a plethora of coneflowers. I think that I have become a collector of coneflowers:



"Green Envy"

 

"Tomato Soup"

"Fragrant Angel"

just to name a few...

And of course my garden wouldn't be complete without the traditional purple...
They are my current favorite flower.
Most mornings I wake up to find the goldfinches perched on the flowers eating their seeds :)
One morning there were five goldfinches at once!

There is still time to enter my August giveaway... Be sure to read the previous post.

 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are."

~Matthew 6:28-29

Blessings, Patti



What I have been working on...

Now that you know where I have been,

I thought I would share what I have been working on...

"Sweet Summer Time" design by Jan Goos of Goos Nest

I started this piece on Memorial Day at home, worked on it during our first storm when we were without power for 2 days and finished it in Hayward Wisconsin on the 4th of July. I attached an antique ticking tag to the back ~ writing out my memories on it. When I bring it out in years to come I love reading these tags and remembering what was going on while creating it.

I just adore this piece! So perfectly designed by Jan. You can see her shop here and her blog here. The pussy willows took more time than I thought they would but were well worth the effort! I changed the blue flowers just a bit - they remind me of the cornflowers that I love so that grow on the side of the road this time of year. I know that they are weeds, but they always make me smile.

"Old Glory" design by Maggie Bonanomi

I started this piece on the 8 hour drive home from Hayward and continued working on it during the second storm when we were without power for four days. It's now framed and hanging in my dining room.

And now I'm working on this piece... started on a wonderful trip to visit my parents in central Illinois with my sister. I think the only time my sister and I didn't talk non-stop was the few hours we spent sleeping :)

I've also started some velvet vegetable pincushions for my TDIPT offerings on August 1st, but I'm not quite ready to share those yet!

It is still hot here in Chicago. Strong storms have been coming through sporadically for the past day and a half bringing much needed rain for the garden. (But also making it hard to take good photos for the blog!) I keep cringing, thinking that the power will go back out. It did go out at some point last night, but came back on before any of us woke up.

Would love to hear what you are working on! please share...

Blessings, Patti