Thursday, July 19, 2012

Pumpkin Contest



It's HOT! and getting hotter so it's time to start thinking about fall. I am thinking about a contest of sorts with pumpkins. Fabric pumpkins.





Rules:



Make 1 or more fabric pumpkins using the directions below out of fabric, wool, felt or batting(painted).




Finish them any way you like, using cinnamon sticks, grapevine, moss, real leaves, whatever.




They can be aged or even spray painted! Lets see how creative you can be.



Take a picture and send them to me in an email at PGPeddler@aol.com with your name and mailing address included, just in case you win!




I'll post pictures in September for everyone to vote on so start soon.



Winning areas are Best Pumpkins and Clever Finishing.




The winner (s) will receive a bundle of my new fall fabric. I know everyone is busy so if I get no entries, I'll do a drawing for the fabric anyway!





I'll repeat the directions again for them below.



1. Cut a rectangle from batting, say 9" x 18" wide. Too big? try 6" x 14".




2. Fold in half and sew the two short ends together, one seam in the back.



3. Hand-gather one open end with string, floss, pearl cotton or linen thread, pull tight and knot several times.




4. Turn inside out and stuff with poly-fil until firm, but not too firm.



5. Hand-gather the top and knot several times.



6. Using a long doll needle ( say 8") and a long piece of the thread you used in #3, go in and out from the center top to the center bottom to pull the center in tight. Knot again.




7. Then proceed to go top to bottom around the outside of the pumpkin to create the veins, pulling tight each time.




8. Knot the thread each time on the center top which will be covered by the stem later.




9. Mix orange paint with water, coffee or tea and slop it on using your hands (pre-manicure not post). It washes off your hands eventually and I would remove your rings first!







*** Using coffee or tea makes the colors separate once dried and gives a wonderful aged look.







Make different sized pumpkins from cotton batting, muslin, or chenille and paint each one a different shade of orange. Mix colors- it's fun!My husband went int the woods and cut old knarly grapevine for me to use as stems. He cut them about 2"-3" and I hot glued them to the center top, covering the knots.It makes a wonderful fall decoration and costs so little for so many, a small package of batting, a bottle of paint, some stuffing.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Mid-Week Ramblings!

The heat wave finally broke after 11 days. Today will be in the 90's which is much better than over 100! No rain in sight though, Mid-Missouri just keeps missing it. We have corn (somehow) and tomatoes now so all is well with the world. My motto for today...

So I need more company to keep my house clean I guess!

My Yorkie Toto got fleas when we boarded her while on vacation. We had used Frontline only to discover that it wasn't working. Needless to say, we had to fumigate the house and the dog. Poor little girl, she turned into a flea magnate everywhere she went! So much excitement at our house!


My son returns from the Army Reserve training this week after 6 months away. His wife and two boys are overwhelmed with joy at the fact that he's coming home. We discouraged him after high school, opting for college instead. I guess he never got it out of his system and joined anyway. We look forward to the homecoming this week.


I have been listing lots of fabric on eBay and selling it all. Such a good feeling to finally be cleaning house. I've sold all of my civil war fabrics and hand-dyed cottons. Most is what's left of my retail shows since I don't plan to do any more of them. I'm getting too old to be carting fabric and patterns in and out for set-up. My shoulder's are abused from years of pulling carts!


I've been reading blogs a lot and I always find some interesting things to read. I have been posting them on my Pinterest boards. If you are on Pinterest, check out my boards called Great Ideas and For the Home. Both have some good stuff on there. My username is prairiegrovegrl and I'm listed under Cheryl Haynes. If you need an invite to join, email me at pgpeddler@aol.com and I'll add you. www.pinterest.com.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day!


It's HOT! Day 6 of 100 degree temps officially. My car says we've had a lot more of them than 6! It's pretty unusual for us to have a lot of days this hot, especially in a row. We finally got our first vine ripened tomato and we are fighting over it. There's plenty more to come but that first one is a gem. I've got watermelon chillin', steaks and chicken ready to be b-b-q'ed today. We've got a big ole' birthday cake for Austin who just turned 18 last week.

I'm going to sit back and read today. I finished the Hunger Games Trilogy and enjoyed it. My 13 year old granddaughter Madi just read Divergent and Insurgent and loved them so I thought I might tackle those soon. I also got Ice Within the Soul by my high school classmate Shawn McKelvie. I think it will be next.

I have been selling off fabric on eBay, just right and left. It's a good feeling to let go. I don't plan to do retail shows anymore with my bad shoulder so I decided it's time to remove all retail sale items from the premises.

Here's a link if you wanna see..... Craftrgrl eBay

I still have books and notions to list also. My fabrics are almost all gone.

I guess it's the lazy dog days of summer now. Other than Accounting class, I am slowing down too with the heat. Reading in the A/C seems to sound better all of the time.

I hope you all have a great holiday today with family and friends.