Meditative freehand leaf embroidery

I was walking by my neighbors huge Sea Grape tree, and suddenly I just knew I HAD to try embroidering one!  The leaf is approx. 5 inches wide!  This is what I've done so far.  I was surprised it is not crumbling.  It is a very thick leaf to start with, and I may have caught this just before it gets too brittle.  I've never embroidered a leaf before.  I started this as a way to entertain myself while the grand kids do artwork.  I like that it is freehand...no pattern. I just started a row of olive green french knots on the left side, and want to add more of the green, and now I think adding in some yellow might be nice.  We shall see where it ends up.  When done, i will place it up on my plate rack until time to change to Christmas decor.  I am always drawn to embroidering on things that are disposable.  I enjoy the making, and am always ready to replace with some new, interesting thing I  CAN MAKE!!!  The stem of the pumpkin is also the stem of the leaf !  Kinda cool!

XOXO- Julie

Strawberry kitty!

OK! Just as I suspected, Emily wanted more kitties of all different colors! This one is Strawberry Kitty!!!

I made her from the same gal who published the basic kitty pattern here:  http://amiamour.com/2014/08/kitty-mod-smores-and-strawberry-kitty/
 The tail is the leafy end! So cute!!!!!

Strawberry, and Rainbow have become best buds!

I'm getting a bit hooked on crochet!!!!

I was always stumped by it, and the only thing I can think is that I came upon patterns that were very well written out, and I also utilize YOUTUBE to find out how to do stitches I don't know or can't remember! That has been invaluable to help me learn.  I wonder what will be next!

XOXO-Julie

Well, I have gotten so restless with being sick (just a bad cold, and now feeling much better), that I decided to give crochet a very determined try!

The first thing I have nearly completed successfully is a small pumpkin with lid. It is about 5 inches in diameter. It can hold small candies or other small items.  I still have to make the brown stem, and attach both stem and leaf to top.  I found the pattern here:  http://www.allthingsminiature.com/1/post/2013/09/free-crochet-pumpkin-treat-bowl-pattern.html 

The next thing I made was a tiny (about 4 inch long) pink kitty, for Emily. She loved it and named her Rainbow. I crocheted a collar and flower for her neck too. Here she is climbing all over my inhaler!  I decided to embroider on her eyes rather than glue on felt. I've decided that depending on how you look at her, she can be a cat/pig/ or elephant (from the rear tail angle). Just too cute, and really fast and easy! Recipe for this one was here:  http://amiamour.com/2014/08/kitty-mod-free-cat-amigurumi-pattern/

And last I found a pattern for a Pokeball. From Pokemon. This was for Donovan, and he loves his surprise today too! I have to say, I kinda want one of these cool balls myself!

Pattern found here:  http://m.instructables.com/id/Pokeball-Set/

 

I am still in shock that me, myself, and I made these! I should get sick more often! Just kidding....no thanks! It also helped that it has pretty much rained continuously the last 5 days! What else can you do???????

Xoxo- Julie

Check out this paper flower I made from newspaper and doily.  I water-colored the newspaper layers on bottom purple, and the top layers of the doilies orange (with a touch of red), and I found a large green flower button in my stash to glue in the center.  I am gluing a magnet to the back to use for a refrigerator magnet, to send to a friend. It is about 4 inches in diameter. This isn't the best picture as it was sitting on top of the package of doilies.  I was trying to go with a fall theme with the colors.  It's kinda cute.  Not perfect, but maybe a touch charming?  I don't know.  This is what I get myself into when I'm sick and feeling like garbage!  :)

XOXO- Julie

A trip to Philadelphia!

Daughter and I just visited for two days (one night) for the purpose of seeing an orchestra production of Pokemon Evolution!  She is a fanatic over Pokemon, and I like music, so off we went.  We flew to airport, non-stop (2.5 hours), then took the train to town, and then the bus to get around (or walked). We arrived at the bus stop for the trip out to The Mann, which is an outdoor amphitheater.  It was HUGE!  The show was amazing...and even more amazing was being on a bus mostly filled with 13-27 year olds dressed like their favorite Pokemon!  They all seemed like really great kids, and were very respectful and calm.  Not a rowdy bunch, thank God!  I did have to stop and wonder how I got there though!!!  LOLOL.  There were a few other parents on the bus with their kids too, so I didn't feel COMPLETELY out of place!

The Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra did the show, and were absolutely fantastic!  Here is the big screen with orchestra below. 

Conducted by the talented Susie Seiter, who was so inspiring as a young female conductor. http://www.susieseiter.com/

The next day we walked about 7 blocks to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, which was amazing to see!  

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed!  The chair in center back, was the actual chair George Washington sat in!  Here is a close up!

The clock Tower outside which used to house the Liberty Bell.  It did have a bell inside and rang while we were there waiting for our tour to start!

Statue of George outside!

 The Liberty Bell.  I've read the history on that here:  http://www.ushistory.org/libertybell

The first thought we had when we arrived and walked out of the train depot onto Market Street, downtown Philly was that it looked like New York!  It was amazing to see!  The Hard Rock was built into the side of the train depot and Convention Center.  Our Hotel was just beyond the Hard Rock. It was easy walking there, or a bus is always available.

 Just a beautiful view of the columns on the one building, the gorgeous trees there and tall old buildings!

 Our train station get off point from the airport.  It was where the Hard Rock was and our hotel.

 The train tracks, and station.  You have to know there is nothing like all of this in south Florida, so we were really truly in awe!

Inside the train riding back to the airport to come back home!  Sad to be leaving as the weather there was cool, dry, breezy, and as close to heavenly as it comes!

We have to give kudos to the transportation system there by SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) .  We had bought daily passes that allowed us to ride any train or bus while there.  Everything was clean, well run, and the drivers were friendly and helpful.  It was a big adventure, closely timed, and we pulled it off with ease, due to these great people!

The final wonderful thing was this lovely sushi I had at the airport before we left!  

I will miss you, Pennsylvania!!!

A transformed pillow!

For those of you not on Facebook, where I already shared this project, I would like you to meet a new kitty!

I machine washed one of my DIL'S couch pillows, and somehow the corner of it jumped up, and got caught in between the basket of the washer, and down into the side edge. Well, when it went into spin cycle, it was making the most awful sound.
I ran out there, I stopped the machine, and as soon as it came to a stop, the pillow just dropped. The corner had been chewed right off!

I sat it out to dry naturally since now the stuffing was falling out. After a day or so, I decided rather that trying to square back up the darn thing, I would try and make a something different out of it.

I cut across the top, curving around both edges, then I found a picture of a cat face online, and tried pencilling it on freehand. Well, the pencil did not write well at all on this microfiber, so between that and me trying to draw anything symmetrical, he came out sork of wonky!

I decided that he looked kinda cute, and it gave him personality.  I hand embroidered in black everything but the whiskers. Then I used the sewing machine with regular black thread to make the whiskers finer. I made one of his whiskers come up and over the other 3, on his left side, trying to add more personality.

The ears are made from an old tee- shirt, and I added stabilizer to both sides of each ear, for stiffness, and very lightly padded each ear too.
I don't know why (and this is such an interesting, and strange thing about inspiration), but the tee-shirt is what made me come up with the idea to use it for ears!

My DIL loves black and red. Any she and the grandkids love cats and hamsters. I knew it had to be a cat. I shudder to think of how the pillow would have turned out if I had tried to make a mouse-like creature. LOL.

Anyway.....here he is (and I think HE is an old alley cat)!  My DIL thinks his name should be Fernando. What do you think? The cat looks devilish to me. Will Fernando be devilish enough????? Lol.

XOXO....Julie

Gingerbread cookies

I was talking to my friend, Karen, and we got to remembering large soft, chewy gingerbread cookies. Not the crispy ones, not the dry ones, not the thin ones...but the thick, soft, warm, chewy ones.  It got us looking for recipes for such a thing.  We found many, but I decided to go with this one:

 http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/big-soft-ginger-cookies.com

 and they could not be better I tell ya!  I put them in a tin, and already they are disappearing faster than....well you know....and right into my stomach!  I can't help myself.  It is a feeling of fall in the air...it calls for pumpkin spice lattes, and gingerbread!  RIGHT?????

I used my empty gingerbread tin that I bought at IKEA a few weeks ago.  Ahhhhhhh.....