Autumn hooked purse

I stayed up until 1:30 last night getting this purse finished. I was so excited to see it put together!

I did the outside and the lining with denim. It's so nice to have a "craft store" in the basement. I knew I had some denim yardage down there somewhere!

And in the bottom I stitched some plastic canvas to the "outside" piece of denim, before I put the lining in. It really helps to give it some shape.

I did all this with the usual cussing and sweating. I love to sew. ~~NOT~~ Maybe if I used a pattern it would help. My sewing machine kept getting an error on it saying the thread was all tangled up inside the machine. Well I couldn't find any tangled thread!!! After I turned it on and off a few times it worked. Oh, and by the way the pattern is a Potted Pear pattern if I'm not mistaken.

Also I listed my mixed media witch on ebay today. Please go there to check her out!!

The calendar says it's fall. But it doesn't feel like it here in Missouri. It's 83 degrees today. I'm sooo ready for a cool down. I like to start baking when it cools down too. Anyone have any good fall recipes?

Have a great weekend.

I'd rather live here in our cozy little home-

stenciled with fingerprints and brimming with love

than alone in a fancy mansion. Author unknown

Peace...

Sheri

Halloween hooking

I've been hooking up a storm. I love Halloween but I just gave away most of our decorations to my great nieces and nephew. We don't have any trick-or-treaters anymore. Even said, I made more stuff this year!!

This witch is 11" tall including the bedspring.

Then I made this pumpkin guy. He's about 10" tall.

I also tried something different. I used a transfer for the middle of this, then hooked around it. I used the t-shirt transfer paper you can buy at the big hobby stores. Then fused it to the linen with "wonder under". I think I'll make some loops on top for hanging. It's pretty small, 9" by 11". I think I'll explore this altered hooking more.

I'm going to work on one more fall project before moving on to Christmas stuff. It's a purse that says Autumn. The pattern is from the Primitive Gathering. I wasn't going to do any more orange stuff, but I dyed wool yesterday and orange was one of the colors I wanted to try from my new dye book. It turned out beautifully. I show you pictures tomorrow.

And in closing, here are some pics of our house decorated for the fall season.

The window box on the front porch. Usually I hate fake flowers, but I did it anyway for outdoors.

These are hand dyed fabric including a chenille bedspread. I used real pumpkin stems on two of them.

I painted this last year on a little piece of plywood.

It's officially fall tomorrow!

Peace...

Sheri

Paint your own pottery

Hi everyone! Last week I went with my niece and her daughter to a "you paint it, they fire it" pottery place called Firehouse Pottery here in Springfield, MO. What a fun place!!! You pick out your bisque piece to paint and they supply the glazes, brushes, etc. Hand them your masterpiece and in a week return to pick it up!! They have stamps and stencils and the place was crawling with kids. We were the first ones there and we stayed for two hours. Here's my niece Angie and her daughter Zoie.

And here's Zoie and Aunt Sheri...

She got to do two pieces because it took me so long to paint my plate! I took the Sept/Oct. '07 edition of Rug Hooking Magazine with me for a pattern. This is an original rug hooked and designed by Jenny Rupp. I love it!!! Maybe someday I'll buy the pattern and hook it. It's pretty big. Anyway... I painted it on a plate. The background color wasn't as dark as I thought it would be but I still like it.

I am trying to make some Halloween hooked dolls~ornies. My creativity has dried up. I have the heads hooked and the bodies made, but there they lay. Still not put together.

I have oficially sold TWO , count 'em two things on ebay that I have hooked. Whoopie!!! I wanted to apply and sell some things on the ebay group PRHG....However I got this message...."This group is not accepting new members at this time. Please try again later"!! I have received their daily emails and newsletters for almost a year and have purchased many things from there. I was quite surprised that they closed the group!?!?! Looks like they would want as many members as possible to spread the news of their store ~~ emails, blogs, links, etc. I guess not.... I'll find another group to join and sell my primitive rugs and things, but I was disappointed and kind of put out!!

Peace, remember those who died on 9/11 and their families.

Sheri

Weekend trip to Eureka Springs, AR

We had a wonderful time in Eureka Springs. It's an artsy community. Used to be old hippies and artists. Well, I guess it still is! When we got into town we noticed alot of classic cars in town. It was the weekend of the Antique Car Clubs show and parade. I used to go there every year with my mom and dad! My dad restored antique cars and I loved to go to the shows with them. He ended up "specializing" in 1958 Chevys. One of them he restored is in a museum in Arizona.

Here are some shots of the town. It is built into the side of cliffs and hills. Some shops are down stairs off the street. There are alot of Victorian houses in town too that have been turned into b & b's.

This shop had some great old folk art and upstairs there were quite a few old hooked rugs. Some of them were in pretty bad shape, but I'll bet someone could restore them.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Veranda Inn. I Would Not recommend it to anyone. It is a beautiful place.........

but... they hadn't dusted the room, (furniture, wood floors, etc) in a while. Here's my morning greeting from hubby.

Saturday morning I heard my husband talking to one of the guys that own the place and I asked him what they were talking about. He said he was tellling us where a good place for breakfast was!!! This is a bed and breakfast!! Friday evening I went downstairs looking for some ice. The guy said the ice machine is broken and I just haven't felt like going to get any!

Then take a look at this!!! See the ghost above the bed? I got a killer migraine after sleeping there for one night. We got our stuff and left at about 9:00 Saturday morning. We really have no idea what the white spot above my head is. Weird.....Ooohhh......

We had dinner at Shawbee's Big Dog Saloon. After we ate we had a few beers and played pool with the locals. I beat the first guy I played and then hubby beat the next!! They asked if we came to town to hustle them?!?. Neither of us have played pool in a year. It was karioke night too. One poor girl was sooo bad. Every time I was making a shot at the pool table she would hit a high note and I would have to wait to shoot!! She was having a great time though. That's what it's all about.

And finally here are some shots of the antique cars in line for the parade. It winds all through the town up and down the narrow winding streets. Kids line the streets waiting for candy to be thrown to them by the passengers. (That was my job when I was with my parents)

A 1958 Chevy. Aren't they cool?

And then finally.... here are my two favorite cars that were there.

OK...OK...I'll shut up!!! It's almost midnight. I have to get up early tomorrow. I start a class at St. Johns hospital on how to manage your life and health with fibromyalgia. It's a six week class intended to help us with coping skills. Wish me luck!

Peace, Sheri

New Halloween mat

I just finished this mat. I crocheted the edge with a funky yarn. I think I will list this on ebay also. It's 8" by 18". It's hard for me to sell anything because I want to keep everything I make. I love this!!!

My Henry the cat sold. My first sale ever!!! It made me feel good that someone would pay for something I made. Like I said, most of my stuff has gone to friends and family. My sister loved her Santa ironing board.

For her birthday I made a banana cake. The recipe is sooo weird, but sooo moist and good!!

A boxed cake mix, 1 can of diet Sprite or whatever flavor soda you choose. Blend cake mix and Sprite with mixer and bake as directed. That's all!! No eggs, oil, milk. Just Sprite. Then top it with Cool Whip and serve it cold. YUM!! I had a friend who used chocolate cake mix and Dr. Pepper. She said it was great. Oh yeah, use the soda room temp. I added it cold and the cake didn't rise in the middle. I filled it up with Cool Whip and leveled it off! No one noticed.

I'm ready to decorate for fall. I pulled out this pillow and wall hanging I made.

I bought some fall leaves and fake pumpkins and gourds to decorate my window box in front of the house. I haven't decided how to keep the stuff inside the box yet. If I use floral foam I am afraid it will blow out. I guess I could tape it in like you do a floral arrangment. Any suggestions?

We have had hurricane rain all the way up here in Missouri. It's been raining for three days. It's supposed to stop today. I hope. Tomorrow my hubby and I are going to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to celebrate our anniversary. We got married there 9-1-00. All I remember was the lady performing the ceremony got wide eyed and started staring at my legs. A huge bee was flying by my legs and about to go up the leg of my shorts!!! I don't remember a word I said, yeah, yeah, I do..... I do.. Yes we got married in shorts. We had "wedding clothes" but we had reserved a place to get married that was supposed to be at a scenic lookout. How beautiful we thought in the AR mountains. When we got there it was a little place in the road where you can pull over to the side to see the view. Just a little crook in the road!!! I said I'm not getting married here. We went to the hotel to register and told the front desk lady our story. She said, "I can marry you! We have a beautiful gazebo down by the pool. " We said meet you there in five minutes!!! It was about 105 degrees that day and we said what the hell, lets wear our shorts. (We did put on our "good clohes" and went out to dinner that night.) Before we checked out of the hotel I asked the lady if she could print out the vows that we had said because I honestly had no idea what was said!!! She printed it out and we said it to each other again when we got home. Awww... how sweet. We had a great time and are hoping to have a great time this weekend. The weather is supposed to be good this weekend.

The cure for boredom is curiosity; there is no cure for curiosity...

Peace,

Sheri