My First Giveaway

I've been wanting to have a giveaway for awhile now. It appears to be customary to have a giveaway when one reaches one hundred followers. I got a few things together for the giveaway last week but apparently I overestimated how quickly I would reach one hundred followers :) No matter, I have little patience and simply don't want to wait any longer. Perhaps the giveaway will help me reach one hundred followers. At any rate, having a giveaway has just always sounded like so much fun. So here are the rules:

1. You must be a follower and leave a comment in this post, that's one entry.

2. You get a second entry if you post about this giveaway in your blog. If you don't have a blog don't worry just tell a friend. You have to let me know either way so I know to give you two entries.

3. You get a third entry if you've purchased one of my patterns. It can either be directly through me or through Etsy and it doesn't matter if it's a printed pattern or an e-pattern. If you haven't had a chance to purchase one yet just let me know which one you like best.

4. Finally, you get yet another entry if you've stitched any of my patterns (including free patterns) and have sent me a picture of your finish. You can also simply send me a link to your blog if you've posted a picture there.

Enough chances to enter? I have to admit that last one I threw in for perfectly selfish reasons. I love seeing finishes!!! I'll post the winner on March 20th; hopefully that gives everyone enough time. I'll ship to anywhere in the continential US and for my international followers we can each pay half of the shipping to your home.

Now onto the prizes. These are a few antique linens I've had in my collection for awhile now. For years they came out in the spring and graced my hanging rack but haven't made it out of their box in quite some time. Two of them look to be table linens with the most beautiful hand embroidery on them. One has pink flowers with green leaves which seem to be done in feather stitch and french knots. The other has tiny pink flowers of french knots, green lazy daisy stitches for the leaves and an undulating border or pink and blue french knots. Both have delicate crocheted borders. The final is a hand crocheted piece. I know nothing about crochet; to my eyes they are simply tiny rings sewn together in a diamond shape. They all have the most wonderful age to them, the embroidery is perfect for Spring, and they smell of honey and orange (the scent of the sachet I had them stored with).

It's a shame to have them sitting in a box in my craft room. Hopefully they can grace someone else's home and I hope everyone has some fun with the giveaway.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Punch Needles?

I have decided to try punch needle . . . again. Instead of using the expensive hand dyed threads I went and bought myself some DMC threads. I thought I might feel more free to experiment if I didn't feel as though I was wasting money. I bought two of each skein just to make sure I wouldn't run out which has happened to me in the past. I have no idea how to gauge how much thread I'd need for a design; I just don't have enough experience yet. I think it's best to start with small, simple designs. I'm too easily intimidated by anything else. Since the designs are small in the past I've used only one thread. I've never been happy with the way that turned out so I've decided to step it up and use two. It's looking so much better to me so fingers crossed.

I did have a couple of questions for you ladies who do punch needle. Is there a way to gauge if one or two or three or six strands is best for a particular design or is it just a judgment call based on experience? I fear it may be the latter but I was hoping for some loose guidelines. Also the needle I have (don't ask me the brand, I have no idea, I bought it years ago, it's not labeled in any way and I'll be darned if I could find the packaging) only takes up to two threads. Any more than that and it doesn't slide through the needle. Also the needle is slender which makes it difficult to hold. What's your favorite brand of punch needle? Do they come in different sizes? How will I know how many strands of thread the needle will accept? Is there a good website to order from since my LNS does not sell punch needles? Okay that's more than a couple of questions but any help would be appreciated. Punch needle is so beautiful and I would love to learn. I'll be sure to post my progress. So far I'm still working on the leaves.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Butterfly Free Pattern

Here's the butterfly again. I was going to wait to put out the pattern until I had stitched both. Alas that will not be for awhile and I see no reason to make you wait.

Finished into a little pincushion? Combined with some pretty stitched flowers? I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet but I'm sure I'll think of something. Let me know what you do with this little flutterby and don't worry his sister will be along soon enough.

Click here for the free pattern.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Keeping Joy Sewing Book

Let a joy keep you . . .

Even the simplest of joys can carry you through the most difficult of times. Sometimes that tiny pleasure is all you have to see you through a hardship, so keep that joy and let it keep you.

That sentiment has helped me through more than few tough times in my own life. There are times things are so dark there seems to be no path to the light. This little sewing book is a reminder to myself to find and keep that joy.

It is a tiny little pattern that on and off took me the better part of a month to stitch; it spent most of that month untouched. For such a short month February has an awful lot packed into it in our house. I finally finished it yesterday morning; I was just waiting for some sunlight to take the pictures. I have to say I think it was worth the wait. I finished it into a little sewing book using some civil war reproduction fabric. I just adore that shade of pink; it has a wonderful age to it. I lightly tea stained it as well. The book when open measures 6 inches by 12 inches and has four pockets inside each of which is 3 inches square.

The pattern itself is stitched over two on 40 ct R & R Reproductions Park City Blend and measures approximately 3 inches square. It was stitched using Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts threads. The black thread in the design made me a little nervous so I chose not to tea stain the finished stitching, but of course you could. I chose the pink thread to coordinate with the fabric, but it is a lovely color. The skein I had of it was highly vareigated pink and cream. I wanted only the pink so I had to "fussy cut" the thread to get just the bits I wanted. There are times I've done that and ended up with only a couple of inches to stitch with; that can be quite a hassle. This skein worked much better though since half of every 18 inch length was pink.

The pattern includes finishing instructions to make the sewing book (it's really quite easy). A printed pattern is $7.50 which includes shipping and an e-pattern is $6.00. If you'd like to purchase the pattern simply e-mail me at appleseedprim@yahoo.com or use the link on my sidebar. The pattern will also be available in my Etsy Shoppe.

I do hope you like the pattern. Tomorrow I'll be posting another free pattern for the little butterfly I showed last week so be sure to check back.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Happy St. Valentine's Day!!!

Wishing you all a sweet valentine and someone to cuddle with.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Happy 1st Birthday, Mina!!!

Our youngest, Mina, celebrated her first birthday today. Isn't she adorable in her little tutu? It's been a while since I've had a little girl to dress up. She shares a birthday with Abraham Lincoln; just one of many indications she is destined for great things. She was born during the biggest blizzard our county had seen in twenty years. She is adored by her two big brothers who call her Queen Mina and occassionally bow to her (which always makes her giggle). She is spoiled by her big sister who often whisks her off to her room upstairs for "girl time" and refers to her baby sister as her best friend. There isn't a minute of the day she isn't being loved on by someone around here and she deserves every bit of it.

Happy Birthday, Miss Mina, we love you.

Decorative Sewing Pins

I had some unexpected quiet time this afternoon and felt like playing so I took out some of my little treasures. I've been wanting to make decorative sewing pins for awhile now. Basic sewing pins, silver jewelry findings, cream colored fabric flowers . . . if I had known it would be this easy I would have done it ages ago. Of course now I have to find the perfect pincushion for them to grace. I'm considering putting some sets up on etsy since I think I may have gone a little overboard and made too many. How do you ladies think they turned out?

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Butterfly

Present sorrows wings are taking . . .

Pleasant memories are waking . . .

The first of two butterflies . . . a recent interest of mine and a small nod to the aniticpated arrival of Spring.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

St. Valentine's Day Finish

Thanks to Terri at Dixie Sampler Designs there's a finish of my St. Valentine's Day Freebie to share. The one on the left is something she designed herself. Isn't the variegation in the thread beautiful? I believe she said she used CC Old Brick. The finish is lovely too; it makes the tiny design so much grander. What a sweet little Valentine's treat.

I still haven't gotten around to stitching mine. Inspired by the new butterfly theme of my blog I'm stitching a little butterfly design (or two). As soon as I'm done I'll post pictures.

I hope everyone is making plans for St. Valentine's Day. My husband considers it a "Hallmark Holiday" and therefore doesn't give it as much credence as I think he should. It may very well be a "made up", highly commercialized holiday, but to me that doesn't matter. You don't have to support the commercialism and for me the opportunity to celebrate anything (especially something as worthy as love) is to be embraced. Sometimes there aren't enough reasons in life to celebrate and if you have "make some up" from time to time, so be it. Finding something (no matter how small) to celebrate every day is certainly a worthwhile endeavor and an excuse to get a box of chocolates is always welcome.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

My Lost Weekend

I have spent way too much time this weekend mucking about with digital collages and working on my blog and little time doing anything else. But it was a lot of fun . . . . For those of you who have been checking the blog it probably hasn't looked the same way twice. I think I finally have it looking the way I want it to, although that is liable to change.

I think I'm finally sorted, feeling more like myself this past weekend. The house has kind of fallen to the wayside the past few days so I'm spending today putting it back to order. I'm anxious to get back to stitching, though I may have to revise my schedule a little. I still hope to get something out next week but I'd forgotten my husband's parents are coming to visit. I have no idea how I managed to misplace that little tidbit of information. My husband reminded me yesterday, hence my fervor of cleaning today.

I have decided, after the last few days, that sometimes doing nothing is exactly what I need to do. But thankfully that never lasts very long.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Not Myself

Do you ever have a day (or several days all in a row) where you don't quite feel like yourself? I've been out of sorts for two days now. I'm not sure how to describe it. I just feel . . . uncomfortable in my own skin. Just plain wonky. Of course my monthly visit (tmi?) is due any day now so I suppose its to be expected. I did nothing today but muck around with my blog. BTW, what do you think? The picture in the header is of a work in progress, a Quaker Motif I'll offer as a freebie as soon as I finish stitching it. Of course instead of actually working on it today I took pictures of it in it's sad unfinished state. Keeping Joy is also waiting to be finished. Usually when I'm so close to finishing a design I stitch like mad to get it done. Again, I just don't feel like "me" right now.

*Sigh*

On a good note, however, I've decided I have the best husband in the world. For two days now he's helped with the kids and done virtually all the cleaning in the house. Yesterday he even came home from the store with cheesecake for me. The day before that he came home with more tulips. I love my husband. Really what more could I ask for than a man who loves me even when I'm bonkers.

I haven't decided if tonight I'll stitch or simply curl up on the sofa with the rest of my cheesecake. I promise to have Keeping Joy finished sometime next week and the next free pattern should be up by then too. Hopefully I'll be feeling more like myself by then.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

The Country House

I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with The Country House. They have an online store as well as a physical location that I happen to be fortunate enough to live within fifteen minutes of. They boast being the largest country store in the east and there are two seperate buildings each the size of a small warehouse. One building is comprised of a bunch of smaller rooms each decorated in a different primitive or country style. There are bedrooms, keeping rooms, dining rooms, etc and everything on display is for sale. It's wonderful to walk through: you feel as though you're taking a tour of a colonial home.

Their stuff can be a little pricey, but beautiful. Even if I have no intention of buying anything the store is absolutely lovely and simply spending an hour of so there can be such a source of inspiration. I can literally do several "laps" through both buildings and still not have explored every nook and cranny. Of course whatever my intention I rarely make it out of the store without buying something.

Today, however, I had a specific purpose in mind. Most all of my needlework, finished or in progress, lays about the house. It's either hung here, or draped there . . . I enjoy looking at it and if it's unfinished keeping it in sight increases the likelihood I'll get around to finishing it. In an attempt to curb our heating bill we've had quite a few fires this winter. I adore them, personally, but I've noticed most of my needlework is starting to smell slightly of woodsmoke. It's the one downside of having a fire going virtually every day and I can't abide it. Of course the moment I realized it I had to do something about it. I took a quick trip to The Country House (meaning I stayed less than two hours) and picked up some prim fixins, spiced cake scented. I tossed it in a mesh bag and now have it "steeping" in a small box with some of my needlework. Winter isn't over yet and I don't want to forego those cozy fires in the evenings so I'm hoping this helps.

Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm open to any and all ideas and of course if it requires another trip to The Country House I wouldn't mind.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

https://www.thecountryhouse.com/Default.asp