Tuesday, May 19, 2015

New stitching stand....

Greetings friends,
I recently went to visit a stitching friend last week whose husband had been in the Hospital. He is a master at making beautiful things out of wood and a few months ago I asked him to make my a stand for stitching. I have a Z-Lap stand but it only clamps on one side and my frames always sag and ending my thread on the back is a pain. This stand is the BEST....

Those dowels keep the frame on the arms for stitching and when I am ready to run my thread through the back I just flip it over, SO EASY

Next photo is a finish. Oh yeah ever once in awhile I have one of those LOL This is for my cousins wedding. I just have to decide if I am going to frame it or make it into a pillow.

The orignal border called for a backstitch border but I wanted to have fun and do some eyelets because they are my fav. I am super happy with how it turned out and it stitched up fairly quick.

Tonight ends my three day weekedn Boo!! I have to head back to work tomorrow but before that I go volunteer with the cats. I have been trying to convince DH that we need a cat in our life. He is not, nor has ever been a cat person, he grew up with dogs and I the opposit, but I think I might have him on board. I found a rescue place that will allow me to take the cat home for the day, I know that my dog will need more than one day to adjust but I think it is a great idea. And while I would like to adopt an older cat I think a kitten would fit better. Though DH says he still wants a dog. I don't know if I can do that. after the loss of Sam it was just to hard. I still think of him often and cry a bit....

I am not rushing anything if we get a cat great if we don't well I am still getting a cat LOL J/K

I wish everyone a great rest of the week make those stitches count and those memories matter ((HUGS))
Natasha


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Chalk Paint Furniture....Success

I have to many furniture pieces that are brown, tan, light brown or chestnut brown. Even my couch is an Olive tone which I do not mind but for years I have been wanting to update my furniture pieces but lets face it I am not going to shell out money for furniture when I have great pieces right here at home.

In walks Chuck, oh I mean Chalk, Chalk paint that is. Friday night after a long night at work I needed to unwind so I came home, poured a glass of wine and started browsing pinterest. Could be good could be bad, it's like a time warp when I start searching on Pinterest, seriously! Anyway I came across Chalk painted furniture. Now this is not chalk board paint, it is Chalk Finish paint. Here is one of the pins I pinned and hopefully next weekend this is what my coffee table will look like. French country end table Cute don't ya think?

Anyway I spent way to many hours searching out paints. I came across one brand but I was not going to pay almost $37 for the paint and then $50 for a special wax brush. That is when I stumbled across Americana Decor Chalk Paints Alot less money and I could just head on over to my local hardware store and but it right away insted of having to wait to have the other brand shipped to me.

So today DH and I went to the hardware store the selection was very small at this location, like literaly 4 colors to pick from. I was originally going to use a color called Primitive but upon looking at it I knew I needed a nice pop of color for this piece I was going to paint.

Ta-Da

I love it. It is like having a brand new piece of furniture. This was a cabinet I rescued from the trash when I lived in California. I new one day I would paint and 7 years later I did it. This cabinet holds all my fabric for finishing and some other odds and ends. I am going to find some nice baskets to use to keep the fabrics nice and tidy.

I have already started on another piece, this bookcase.

A friend gave me two of these when she moved from California back to Florida. I use this one to hold stitching related do-dads so I thought why not go ahead and paint it tonight. This paint dries in no time about 10-15 minutes between coats. And once it is all dried you apply a clear wax to seal it all in. This is where I will wait, I used a rag on the cabinet and while it did a fine job using the rag was pretty messy and left it alittle streaky so I am going to get a Stencil/Wax brush and seal it up with the wax tomorrow night.

So have any of you ever painted using this type of paint. If so share your projects :) Well my first coat is dry so I better get back to it.

Take care and have a wonderful night!!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

God Bless This Marriage stitching update.

Hey ya'll

Just giving a quick update picture on the wedding piece I am stitching for my Cousin's July wedding. I am now working on the backstitching and the border, which is crosses all the way around. This design is FUN!! I think I should be finished by next weekend. I am not working on it tonight as we are headed to a Cinco De Mayo party later this evening, so depending on how late we are there and if I have a few Margaritas will determine if I stitch tonight ;)


Wishing you all a great day and always thank you for stopping by and leaving comments I really appreciate them :)

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Life is fleeting better enjoy it now!!!!

A friend of ours always tells us "life is short, eat off the good china" and I could not agree more. Today was a spectacular day. I took the night off from work. hubby and I went to a derby party, what a fun time we had. We did a blind draw for our horses I picked UpStart and funny enough my boss and I went in on a pick at work and sine I was not there to do the drawing, I normaly do the pick, he picked and what horse did we get?? Upstart LOL That is the fastest 2 min in any sport and think of the money made in that short time?? mind boggling!!! None of my horse picks came in but it was still a great time being with friends.


I have not been stitching AT ALL :( yes sad face.. I have been so busy with work and volunteering I am surprised I can even type these days. I am thankful to have the next two days off work.. What a blessing!!!! I am trying to complete two projects within the next three weeks... wish me luck :)

I will leave you with a picture of our ride home from the Derby party... this view never gets old!

Wishing you all a happy weekend! ((HUGS)))
Natasha