MY NEW SELLING BLOG IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Please feel free to stop by and visit my new selling blog at Wildberry Primitives Mercantile. Click on the title above or on the link to the upper right column to go to my new site. I just listed my first handmade towel rack for sale. More handmade items will be added soon. Please check back often.

Signs of Spring

Today I put my new saw to work. I made this Flowers Gather Here sign and placed it in my Periwinkle garden in the front of my house.


Another project I completed today is the game board. I purchased the same stencil used by Char in her tutorial from Homestead Stencil Company. They have loads of stencils that are great for primitive projects.



Check back later for posts on my next weekend project.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone has an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. I'm sure we all need a long weekend to enjoy the warmer weather and kickoff the start of the summer season, whether you are spending time with family, traveling, or just catching up on projects at home.

I am catching up on projects at home myself. I just finished my fourth chair and finally have a matching kitchen table and chairs. You may remember my pictures of the table as I was preparing to stain it. The stain looked blotchy and did not absorb into the wood the way I expected so I decided to paint it black.

Here is the before photo -



This is how it looks today with matching chairs. I recovered the seats with a black and white mini plaid check fabric.



My husband set up a new workbench in the garage for me. I bought a new scroll saw and will be setting that up today. I have to stop at Home Depot today to pick up some wood and other supplies to start making some prim projects. I have so many ideas for shelves, gameboards, and signs that I have been planning to make and hopefully sell on Etsy. I'm considering starting a selling blog as well.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Slowly Progressing in the Kitchen

What a slow process this has been. It seems like I have been working on my kitchen table and chairs forever. I'm back to working 40 hours a week again so time is limited. I guess that's a good thing and I should be lucky to have a full-time job, however I miss having that one extra day off per week to hit the thrift stores and work on my crafts. I have the table and one chair completely finished. I love the way the chair turned out. It has such a clean sppearance with the black and white check upholstery fabric contrasting against the black wood. I have three other chairs painted. I just need to finish covering the old seats and then I will have four completed chairs to put under the table. I took this photo to show the original chairs - white oak with hunter green seats. They definitely needed to be updated. Hopefully by next weekend I will have the last two chairs painted and then I'll have time to concentrate on a new project.



Speaking of projects, I started embroidering Gail Pan's Christmas Wish BOM. The blocks work up quickly. Maybe I'll make more than one set of the blocks and turn them into Christmas gifts.



Another project that I want to start is a quilted wallhanging in a primitive/country design to hang in my great room. It can't be anything too large, but needs to fit the quilt rack shelf that I found at Goodwill - (another project I'll need to paint). I have cathedral ceiling that comes to a peak above my antique sideboard which should allow me plenty of room to hang it, but I'm hoping it doesn't look strange having a shelf too high on the wall. I ordered this primitive quilt pattern book from Amazon. It's called Garden Club Quilts. I saw many patterns that I would like to incorporate into my project. Hopefully Mr. Mailman will deliver it by this weekend.

Happy Mothers' Day

As Mothers' Day was approaching I was determined to make a personal gift for my Mom. She always tells me that she is proud of what my sister and I create with our crafting, so I was in a dilemma trying to decide what to make her for a Mothers' Day gift. She doesn't share the same enthusiasm that the rest of the "girls" in the family do with primitive crafts and decorating, but she always loves to receive anything that we hand make for her.

As I was browsing through FreePatterns.com website looking for a special cross stitch pattern, I came across one called "MOM" that looked appropriate for the occasion and thought it would make a cute pocket on a handmade apron. I found this cute butterfly print cotton at JoAnns that blended perfectly with the threads used in the stitchery. Here is the completed apron. It reminds me of the first apron I made in Home Ec sewing class back in 7th grade.





This post is dedicated to my Mom who has always been an inspiration for me. She has taught me so much throughout my life and am proud of her and her talents. She is retired now but still continues to sew every day. She just completed a handmade quilt for her bedroom which included shams and bedskirt. She also keeps busy by offering her sewing talents to others by working on clothing alterations. She has built up a long list of repeat customers and her business keeps growing by word of mouth from her satisfied customers. She always has time to crochet and is chairperson for her church group who make and donate their hand crocheted afghans to the local Hope Hospice.

Hope you have a happy "Mother's Day" and cook up some wonderful meals while wearing your new apron.

I love you Mom.