More Dyed Wool #2!

So this is my next lot of dyed fabrics that I put together. I love picking colours and trying to get a theme going - that is always a lot of fun for me. Hopefully customers will like the selections I have made. These are fantastic stash builders!. I made sure to set some aside for my stash. Oh if only I had kept a piece of each fabric I dyed - oh wait I would have to have another room set aside for wool/crafts - two is the limit - next I will be sleeping in a tent outside. Thank God for the shed we bought for storage!

Pumpkin Fields

That Special Blue

Primitive Plum

Tomorrow is a busy day. There are a couple of cross stitch designs to finalize and then I want to finish a rug and start a new punch needle and oh yes start designing some wool applique kits - did I say I only have the weekend? Maybe I will have some time to do a bit of reading. It really should be 3 days of work and 4 days of playing with crafts, hobbies and stuff we all love to do, don't you think? Now that makes more sense :) Ok from this list I see I will have to organize my time but will probably end up just doing what I feel like doing as usual :) Off to finish a cross stitch model. g'nite..Joni

Now this is a beach!

I love travelling vicariously through someone else's photos.
So I could not fit myself in my brother's suitcase but my sister-in-law's brother (Manny) was kind enough to post these pics of Crete, Greece. The beach is in Elafonissi. I am sure he will not mind that I have used them here. The water looks unbelievable and it is probably too hot for me but what can I say - I think I could bear the heat if I was presented with such gorgeous surroundings. Manny I will be there next year LOL... My nephew enjoying a swim. Can you  believe the blue of this water.

Now this is what you call switchbacks - I had to look twice to see that indeed they were roads. Not something I would drive in the dark.

What a view - I did not realize it was so mountainous.

And this little pup is having his afternoon siesta which is basically what the whole country does - it being so hot.

Hmmmm one can only dream...........

More dyed wool!

It was a wild evening yesterday - weatherwise! Sheets of rain - local flooding, downed trees, lightning and thunder with the promise of relief from the extremely high humidity we have been experiencing. Well that relief lasted a few hours and now climbing back up.
Since I have AC (absolutely necessary for doing dye runs) I decided to dye another batch of wools... love all these colours! They are going to be bundled with some Rebecca Erb wools and sold on my website.

The hibiscus is in full bloom and looking gorgeous. I am usually partial to red flowers but these yellow ones are so pretty. I thought I would expand my palette :)

 Ok I have to admit I am not much of a gardener. I prefer to be sitting down hooking a rug or doing some other needlework. I always said if I won a million dollars - a gardener would be on the top of the list. It just takes away from my sewing time. Maybe if I was not working out of the home I'd feel different, but I do love to have pretty flowers around me. Having said all that and admitting to not having much of  a green thumb I have to say my orchids are a feather in my cap. They seem to be the only things I can grown indoors. They seem to survive my winter care and as soon as the weather gets warmer out they go.  What I love about them is they bloom for months! My kind of flower :) Have a great summery day!

Beginning Embroidery with Bead Embellishment with Christen Brown

Beginning Embroidery with Bead Embellishment with Christen Brown

an online class I plan on taking with http://www.joggles.com/. I love beads, embroidery and little scraps of silk - perfect for honing my embroidery embellishment skills. I am always on the lookout for something new to learn :)

Hand Dyed Threads

Oh joy! in the mail today I received a surprise - hand dyed 3 strand cotton threads from Weeks Dye Works. I can't wait to try this on my newest punch needle design. I think this will be a kit with the newest threads in some real prim colours! Nothing like new colours to inspire you.

As you know we have been hit with a heat wave - the worse we have seen in years. So hot that it is even difficult to breathe and the air quality is not the best. On those days I go from my AC car to my AC office back to my AC car and into my AC house where I hibernate until it is over. I figure if the pup does not go out and he oves the outdoors then it makes sense for me to stay in too. Gives me time to do my most favourite thing - crafting.

The heaviness of the air calls for a light refreshing dessert while I watch the Blindside. I whipped this one together - sometimes the most simple is the most gratifying - of fresh plump blueberries layed with devon custard and sprinkled with Giradelli unsweetened cocoa. Having said that I am not giving up my decadent 4 layer chocolate truffle cake that I splurge on occasionally. A girl's got to have her vices. :)

No reading in the breezeway tonight - it will have to be indoors tonight. Have a great evening...g'nite.Joni

Dyed Wool

It's 11:30 pm - a gorgeous evening with a wonderful breeze. The door is wide open to the outside screened in deck where I will be sitting after I write this. Got my Kindle ready, my cup of tea and a great book to immerse myself in. I am into thrillers these days - pure summer escapism!

This weekend I got the dye pots out and started dyeing fabric. I love the process of  wool fibers becoming saturated with colour. I have been doing it for years now so the steps are pretty automatic. It is the excitement of a new colour emerging that is the wow factor for me.  Tried some new colours and combined the hand dyes with the new Rebecca Erb fabric that arrived in Maine for some pretty unique bundles. This time I am keeping some of the wool for my own stash and in preparation for a new rug I am planning.

These bundles will be in the new on-line shop next week.
Here are a couple of the new offerings...

Caramel Apple

Green Tea & Raspberries

Have to mention that last week I finished a great great book called "The Passage".

I loved it and couldn't have enjoyed it more. It is an end of the world genre with some vampires thrown in but not your typical vampire fare. Much more complex and I read that it is the first of a trilogy so that was good news.

Update on my cat rug - I am just now doing the border so hopefully will have that finished in a couple of weeks. Publishing deadlines are a priority right now. :)

Off to read my book in the stillness of late evening. G'nite - Joni

Happy Confederation Day!

I am a day early but tomorrow is a busy day - July 1st. Driving my brother and his family to the airport as they are winging away to Crete, Greece for a month. Lucky devils!

It's been busy here in the Black household..besides planning some reno jobs for the house I have a show in November that I have to prepare for now in order to have everything ready for then. I am almost finished my cat rug and that has turned out quite nice - hmmmm I may have to keep that one. Also working on some cross stitch patterns that need to be ready and published under my other name "Island Cottage Needlearts" which are available wholesale from Kelmscott Designs.

Finally got the shed all built and what do you know it is already stacked with boxes of supplies. I need a warehouse - just kidding. I just need to seriously divest myself of STUFF I will never use.

Fully Wooly has some new pattern books available from Notforgotten Farm. You can see them on my Facebook page and I have ordered some new cross stitch patterns that will be available mid July on the new website.

You know how you have a great plan and have everything set out and then something just happens to whack it out of place. I was hoping to have the newly redesigned website up and running last weekend but unfortunately my mom took a serious tumble and the priority has been her care. I am happy to say that she is pretty resilient for an 81 year old woman and has strong European stock that has allowed her to bounce back quicker than I thought. So it will get launched, I promise, sometime within the next couple of weeks with some new wool bundles using my hand dyes and some wonderful Rebecca Erb AS IS wools.

So I am off to get the dye pots going and we'll be talking. thanks Joni 

Cat & Dog

Today I took up my hook again - it's been awhile. Sorted the wool again - cut some more strips and started pulling wool strips. It is so relaxing!

Here is a work in progress.. A design by Warren Kimble, which I love. There are lots of different shades in this one and there will be some eye-popping colour in the braided rug. I have decided that in order to move on to other rug hooking adventures I need to finish what I have in the basket. The intention is there and whether I follow through - we'll see. There are wools that are calling my name that may just have to be worked into another project that can't wait its turn.

So I have my prim cat I am working on and my pup by my feet making sure that he is included in all I do. LOL

 A new item up for sale on Pfatt Marketplace tomorrow - June 10th.

This is a design by Stacy Nash which I love. You can find some of her patterns on my website. This one is an exclusive design. Love those teeny tiny stitches!

Off to do some more hooking :) g'nite..Joni

AWOL in Maine

                                            sunrise at the ocean

Hi

I have been absent for awhile - how time flies. I was immersed in Farmville and have now found my way out of the initial onslaught of being on the farm and making sure I did not miss anything, LOL
Also been busy with my new website design which will be launched in June. There were so many details to learn, uploading and re-organizing the site that it has taken longer than I thought.

Right now I am in Maine for a week by the ocean - one of my favourite places. Provides all kinds of inspiration and lo and behold what was waiting for me but a box of sumptious woolens by Rebecca Erb. Enough to inspire me for sure!

I have been working on some cross stitch after finally getting a pair of magnifying eyeglasses. I ordered some X6 and was so disappointed - i needed to hold the piece 3 inches from my nose - yikes. settled on x2.25. Why i am taking up cross stitch again at this time in life is beyond me.

 I do design for a publisher who loved my punch needle and wanted me to convert to xstitch so that has kept me busy the past 6 months.

Stacy Nash pattern

The project I am working on right now is a Stacy Nash pattern only available through a club done by he Country Sampler. I love this piece - not sure if I will sell it or not.

So here is my view from my window in my Maine retreat. Getting lots of reading done and knitting a sock or two. What more can one say when we have a  view like this.

and a  storm coming in tonight - g'nite...Joni

Things I Thought I Would Never Do!

I am an avid reader and consume books voraciously. I love reading and often read 3-4 books at a time. I am very eclectic in my reading and sometimes you will find a mystery, thriller, sci-fi, health, craft book on my bedside table - coffee table - purse etc.

I just love reading and have been doing so since a kid. The best Christmas gift was always a few books and still is. Every year I make my wish list and Peter manages to buy everything on the list. I have learned to be selective on my wish list. Which leads to what I never thought I would do? Buy a Kindle. I pooh-poohed it as something that I would never hold in my hands but honestly the book situation was getting out of hand - too much money and not enough space to store them all. So I researched e-books and said ok we will try it. I LOVE IT! Yes it is not paper and when I do need my fix I do have my craft books and my cookbooks to wend my way through - but for general reading - this is a great tool. I read faster and get to read more books and best of all there is no trying to figure out what to do with the books. I was surprised at how few organizations want free books :(...

So that was my first never thought I would:


The second was playing computer games. I love my computer and do all kinds of things on it - the greatest invention of mankind but games - no way - I don't have time for it. Well a few months ago my nephew went to work in Mexico and the family decided to sign up on FACEBOOK to keep in touch. He came back and FACEBOOK was left to the side until one of my other nephews invited me to play FARMVILLE. I was hooked. Now I have enlisted 2 other members of the family and we compete against each other - all 6 of us - do live chat and have fun. It has been a great tool for communication and to keep in touch. So yes I have joined the gaming world and if you are on FACEand want to be a friend just send me a msg. Maybe you too would like to play Farmville.:)

Besides those two other past times I did manage to finish my mixed media tags - which were a lot of fun - They are for sale on Pfatt Marketplace.








G'nite -Joni

Sheep Needle Felting Kit - Kits from Halcyon Yarn

Sheep Needle Felting Kit - Kits from Halcyon Yarn

A Fine Day at the Games

So a wonderful couple of days for Canadians at the Olympics. Great gold game of women's hockey, an emotional skate of Joannie for the bronze, a silver for women's curling and just saw the men's 500 m short track - a gold and a bronnze and one heck of a wild finish! My gosh all these athletes put their heart and soul in all these events.. what a wonderful accomplishment for all participating athletes to even have made the Olympics..

I am so non-athletic though in my heydey I did ski - now I'm too afraid to meet those kamakasi kids on the slopes and end up with broken bones. Instead I spend my evenings doing my crafts. Well after my baby steps into trying this new method of mixed media tags I have come up with some successes. I'll post those later - have to embellish them a bit.

I did finish a punch needle - a spring design called "Hare & Tulips". The original will be for sale on March 1st at The Primitive Gathering and the pattern is available too. Loved making this one and used my hand dyed wool threads. Just seems to give the piece more of a hooked rug appearance and a softer finish to it.

Well the 5000m relay is about to start and Canada is in for the race so I am off to watch that and keep my fingers crossed - talk about a melee of skaters on the ice - unbelievably fast and wild. The craziest sport I saw this year was a new one called cross ski and cross snowbarding - 4 skiers racing down a  hill at the same time - unreal!

Ok I am off.. g'nite.. Joni

PS.. We (Canada) won the gold in the men's 5000 relay - unbelievable skate!

Here is a great link to check out all the standings and doings of the OLYMPICS.

Yay Canada..

                                                               photo source destination 360

I have the Olympics on in the background. I am so not a sports fan but come every two years I am glued to the TV - especially the winter ones - my faves. Yay Canada! I think Vancouver is doing a fine job as a host city, seems like a lot going on and finally they have snow in them thare hills :) It is all very exciting. Clara Hughes just won a bronze for Canada, her last Olympics, beautiful!

I am trying something new. I love discovering new creative things to do. I have my paints, vintage photos and tags in front of me on the dining room table. It is a perfect day for it. My day off and big fat snowflakes gently falling. I could easily hibernate for the winter. Mind you it has been a really wonderful winter. Hardly any snow and mild temps - so nothing to complain about.

This is a technique of blending chalk inks on a base (my tag) applying some stamping and then doing a transparency overlay with contact paper (bunny pic). Much scratching and shaking of the head - gritting the teeth and one tag is produced. "Patience my dear" should be tatooed on my forehead.

After my first dozen transparencies, some few choice words- I have one fairly successful tag.
Now on to practice getting a few more under my belt and watching more Olympics....women's bobsled coming up and two Canadian teams in 1st and 4th.

G'nite Joni

Wool to Inspire You!

A wonderful sight greeted me the other day - not one but two packages of wool! No sooner had I walked in the door - dropped the coat - gave Roby his kisses and his din-din, did I pounce on the two lovely packages waiting for me.

It is always a treat to receive a package of Rebecca Erb wool. So rich, soft and so primitive - nice muted colours just up my alley. Now to put them to good use. I have not been rug hooking for a few months. The holidays got in the way and I usually devote the fall to making my hand made gifts for family. So now I have my inspiration and it calls for some deep thought on what to hook!

To start me off I bought a hooked pillow kit from Karen Kahle of Primitive Spirits who you can find on Etsy. I just love her style and have dyed many a yard of fabric using her dye recipes. I am going to try her marbelizing technique. I used to marbelize cotton fabric years ago, so doing it on wool is new for me and we'll see how it rates compared to cotton. I am sure I will not be disappointed!

My projects are there to start, along with finishing up some new punch needle hearts (to be a pattern also). I'll post those here later this week. Just want to stuff and finish one of them so I can show start to finish.

Off to do more punch needle..

g'nite...Joni

PS - I had to delete the original post and re-enter it again as someone posted an advertising comment. So in future all comments will have to be approved before they show up - sorry!

Hearts are Forever

This month at The Primitive Gathering I have listed some Valentine pieces. I don't usually get into doing Valentine pieces but I figured hearts are an all year kind of symbol. Who does not like hearts surrounding them. They always brings a smile to your face, well mine at least. 

These are some stuffed hearts that I placed on wooden spindles purchased from an old textile mill in the US. They have been distressed and aged.

My heart stocking is based on a pattern that I made as Noel stockings. Bt this time I did a soft colour wash of pink and added some hearts cut from my hand dyed wool. The hearts are stitched on using a button hole stitch. You can find more photos on my artist site at The Primitive Gathering.

In a few days, on the 10th I will have a new punch needle pattern launching and it is all about hearts. You will get 3 new designs that I have made into little hanginging hearts. Now remember Mother's Day is coming up and Hearts are Forever. The original pieces will be for sale at Pfatt Marketplace. Here is a peek at one of the designs!