Sneezing & scratching

Hello everyone.  I haven't had much progress on Lucy.   The colors that I switched from alphabet to border did not work for me.  This is menobrain at work, once again.  If I didn't care for the color in the alphabet because it blended into the fabric color, why would I think it would show up in the border?  So I ripped it all out, stitch by stitch, and now have it completed with color 680.  I like it.  Haven't got to the flowers in the design yet but will follow the chart color for those.  Between scratching poison ivy (or some other ungodly punishment), my eyes dancing to a pounding head cold, and reaching for a Kleenex, I was leery of having a needle in hand lest it end up in my leg or my face.  I'm not complaining.  These maladies are nothing compared to what some women are enduring.

So here's my giveaway...

you get to choose one of my 6x8 journals, with primitive painted finish and lined paper inside.....






a dried clove studded pear, Kitchen Spice tart from Yankee Candle, mini candles from Bath & Body Works in their new fall scents (Creamy Pumpkin and Pumpkin Caramel Latte), and a blast from the past .. Line-a-Timers.

I used these for every project back in the day, and they are no longer being made.  If you've not heard of them, they are colored transparent markers that stick (from static) to your charts, books, patterns, and highlight an area, or allow you to focus on one line.   I thought of something else but my head is still a little fogged.  I can always add to it if I remember!  So if you would like this little package, leave a comment on this post only.  I will draw a name/number next Saturday.

My Stacy Nash bag has been here and there and not displayed to my liking.  So here she is now...

I wanted to hang her so decided instead of using a thin dowel rod, I cut a wire hanger to length, curled the ends up, spray painted it black, and attached one of my favorite hanging loops, leather laces.  I saw a braided hiking book lace at Wally World (Walmart) that was black and orange.  So cool for Halloween projects. 

  On my Lucy project, (here's a surprise...), I can't find my hoops.  So I'm using these large office clips and they are working great.  There's plenty of room in these clips to prevent any fold marks and they can be moved easily. 

 We finally got our stamped concrete finished.  I used the lightest wood stain - golden oak from Minwax - in a spray bottle with a fine mist to mimic the barn stone colors.  Concrete stain is costly and looks like paint.  The release they use for color when stamping is an absolute mess to clean up so we went light on that (gray) and then I used the wood stain for the brown tones.  Mr. concrete man said I couldn't do it - it can't be done - never heard of it!!  The guy was so impressed with my work that he asked if I would do this for his other customers.  Not going to happen.  I also redid the older stamped concrete brick walk with the stain and that took a very long time.  I used a sponge dipped in stain instead of spraying so as not to tint the recessed gray grout lines. 

That's it.  I'm going out with the hub on one of his wild mushroom hunts.  I'll be picking some fallen walnuts from the ground for garland, but not too many.  Wildlife need what nature is providing them more than I do.    Until next time - have a great weekend!  Thanks for reading!