Dog Harness Finished.

I made a few modifications to this pattern, but all in all it works well for my little dachshund boy.  Dachshunds are notoriously hard to fit with harnesses, coats or sweaters.  I made this one with some brown fabric I had and it's kind of hard to see in these pictures, but the next one will be blue.  I bought the pattern from PupPanache.com on etsy.com.

My Hand Crank Singer

       I have been wanting a hand crank for a few months now.  I finally found one I could afford on ebay a couple of months ago.  I had to repair the wood base because the seller shipped the base with the machine in it and the back joints were showing signs of stress.  I put some liquid nails on it and nails it back.  Good as new.  Now that it's fixed, I'm ready to play with my Singer Model 15 hand crank.  I dated it to 1947 with the serial number.  It has a beautiful scroll plate on the side and the hand crank has Chinese characters with the words "Made In The Peoples Republic Of China" which is kind of fun.  I'll give it a little oil and wind a bobbin or two and start playing real soon.

 

Another Project To Add To My List

I bought a kit from connecting threads to make this mini table mat.  I'm thinking sewing it to a larger square of fabric to hang.  Fun.

A Handmade Birthday Present

Today is my DD's 38th birthday.  Wow, is she old.   hehehehe

Earlier in the summer I decided to try my hand at embroidery and I made up this embroidery to give to her.  It's her first initial secured with buttonhole stitch in black and red, some french knots, some lazy daisies, her date of birth, and a primitive little bee I drew free hand to represent the first initial of her last name (not to mention, she loves bugs).  I wrapped the embroidery hoop with gray ribbon (silver is her favorite metal) and I mounted the embroidery by hand sewing a backing onto the embroidery to secure it in the hoop.  This was a fun freehand project.  Sorry the pictures aren't clearer, I took these with my cell phone.  My camera was being re-charged.

The front.

The back.

I can't wait to do more embroidery.

Got My New Embroidery Fanny Frame

I bought this at Needle In A Haystack on line and it's called the Hardwicke Manor Fanny Frame.  You sit on the paddle so your hands are free to work.  I've been waiting for this for 3 weeks because they were out of stock and I had to wait for them to get more.   I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this gadget.

Past Projects - Quilt and Crocheted Afghan

I made this simple quilt for my brother in January this year.  I actually emailed him last year and asked him about colors and patterns so that he and his wife could have a say in the end result but they never made a decision.  So I made him this one.  This quilt is similar to the very first quilt that I made in 2012.  The quilt I made in 2012 was given away at a family reunion.  My brother really liked that quilt, so that's what I decided he would get.  He loves his quilt.  The back is solid dark blue with a few of the pinwheels in the center of the back to give it interest.  I did the binding in the same dark blue and the quilting is all stitch in the ditch.

You can see my quilt inspectors, Taffy on the table and Merlin on the floor doing their quality control inspection.

Since my brother does not let his wife use the quilt, I crocheted her an afghan and sent that up to her in August.  It's a one color afghan made up of 80 - 8" granny squares.  I made it with Red Heart Super Saver Solid Yarn (acrylic).  It's big and very warm.  She loves her afghan.  This is a picture of it spread out over my sofa.  

  I'm currently working on making a new harness for my dog, Wolfgang.  It's cut out but I have not done any stitching on it.  Once I finish the harness, I will be working on a pillow cover using some Laurel Burch fabrics I have been collecting for it..  I bought an 18" pillow form at Walmart last weekend for that project.  I have fabric for a quilt, I have fabric for a patriotic door decoration, I have supplies to make potholders to match my new kitchen curtains, and I also have some fabric to cover the new table top ironing board that I bought a couple of months ago.  That's a short list of things I want to do.  I also have one embroidery and two cross stitch projects ready to be started.