new handmade corduroy hat

I found this hat this morning in one of my project boxes all cut and ready to go for years but never sewn and completed.  So after a little fussing with it to sew on mother of pearl buttons after I had sewn it this is the new hat in our house.  I know we are no where near fall but I think it will be a lovely hat to wear in the fall time.  All the hat is, is a large circle with interface  and satin linner and a big rectangle folded over on itself for the hat band supper simple.

pearl cotton amigurimi

My middle daughter has gone on a crocheting  spree as of late and has been making lots of little amigurimi pets.  Some she has given away already so I missed taking photos of them.  Actually I have made tons of stuff lately that I have given away too.  But becasue I was making them for deadlines for friends I too have given things away without taking photos.  I need to get back into the habit of taking more photos. Summer and life have been busy and it just keeps slipping my mind to take photos sorry.

Irish crochet

This queen sized bedspread, with over 200 blocks, was recently repaired and now safely placed for viewing and pleasure. The owner ,Frances Blaize Haines was given the spread by her Grandmother "Muggie" circa 1940

Irish crochet , originally uploaded by texas44.

I love getting emails like this first thing in the morning.  A while back I drafted a crochet pattern ( from the photos below) to help a fellow crocheter make the repairs on a family heirloom. They used the tutorial I did on how to do repair work on crochet these are her results. I could not be happier for her. I was able to help someone from a long distance over the Internet life is amazing. Now she has a new skill that she can repair crochet and not be afraid of it. If you have used my tutorial I would love to see your finished repair projects too. 

Original damage was like this

But needed to look like this

Here is where I placed the pattern so if others want to make this too or have the same afghan they have to repair and here is the tutorial on how to make repairs if you don't know how.

White work

I had mentioned some time back that my oldest daughter was being taught white work by me for a project she was doing for school.  She did all the embroidery then I assembled the dress for her a mother and daughter effort.  I think she did a great job for her first time effort she even went as far to hand embroider each button hole.

The tatting is some antique that I had that we added to make the dress a little fancier.  She could have made the tatting herself ( as I taught her to tat in the last a few years) or I could have made some even fancier but since we already had white we just choose to use it instead.

Colonial Days and the 4th of July

To celebrate the birth of our country we have been participating in colonial days July 1,2, and 4 and have had so much fun in the sun so hot in those costumes.

husband and daughter lighting celebration cup cake

Took a lot of prep-work for a few weeks to get everything the way we wanted it. We have taught rug making woven and braided how to make dolls, Betsy Ross stars, English paper piecing, bobbin lace, yoyos and so on.

Middle daughter making yarn dolls to sell and Me I am making braided rugs you can see the braid in the bottom right of photo that I was working on when I took this photo.

Youngest daughter with her basket ready to teach Betsy Ross stars.

Oldest daughter teaching demonstrating  twining ( a type of rug weaving)

Lots of nice people stop by and visit with us.  The girls have had fun got over whelmed sometimes by the interest in the class they were teaching but fun all the same today is the last day stop by and say hi.  My children have also been helping a spinner there she was teaching them to card wool for her which is good as two days prior I was given 1/2 fleece which I still need to wash a little more and pick clean then they can card it for me to try spinning with ( drop spindle spinning that is)

Youngest learning to card from Juanita another artisan there demonstrating you can see her in the background spinning wool.

A few more photos from the event are here.