Found Treasure!!

Color me HAPPY!!  Why?  Because today while putting my toys away (i.e. stuffing!!), I found some long, lost treasure ;-)  -- a cigar box that contained several hooks-- one that I have been heartsick for misplacing and had searched EVERYWHERE for it before I went to ATHA.  It was my first "fun" hook that I bought.  It is a straight pencil type hook that is stained blue in a sort of "barber shop" design.  You can see it a little bit underneath the other hooks in the middle of the photo.  I looked for one like it at ATHA but I didn't see any at the vendor booths.  

They had hooks-- just not that hook ;-)

The box also contained some tools that I have since replaced-- bent needles for rug binding, clips for holding my binding in place, a couple pairs of bent scissors, and a set of the "expensive" punch needles-- just SO SO happy to have it ALL back!!!  Thank you St. Anthony!!

I apparently "stuffed" it in a LB Corn Basket that I have behind the sofa in our family room.  It has a lid on it and Casey keeps his magazines on top of it.  I had totally forgotten that I had ever put anything inside the basket!!  I usually don't put anything IN the baskets with lids because I know I will forget and never see the items again unless...  like today, I was looking for a place to stuff baggies of "wool worms" that I didn't want to lose track of when the basket all of a sudden seemed like the ideal place.  The irony.

Anywho, I put the magazines aside, lifted the lid, and OO LA LA!!!  

Along with THE cigar box, there were also two baggies of English paper piecing 60° diamonds with lots of diamonds finished and ready to sew together.  Oh YAY!!!  I love piecing these little things and I carry around a baggie of scraps and templates with me all the time so when I have down time at Dr. appts., airplanes, riding in the car, etc., I can pull these out and whip them up pretty quick.  I have a ton of scraps and this is a great use for them.  There are probably about 100 of them here ;-)

But the very best part of finding things in that basket is the fact that there were also 5 punch needle projects that I finished punching while visiting our oldest daughter Ashley, who lives in Basel, Switzerland, over a year ago!!!  I have desperately been looking for one of these punch needle designs for months!!!  I knew I'd finished it.  I just didn't know what I did with it ;-0   

It's a Halloween witch that I named "Broomhilda" and it's a pretty large piece for punch needle, maybe 5" X 7" or so.  

I didn't remember bringing her home and thought I had lost her forever.  In fact, I thought it was "permanently borrowed" from my suitcase (because my bag had been inspected)...   I am relieved to know I was WRONG this time ;-)

I usually work from a sketch except this time I drew the design directly onto the fabric and started punching it.  I never even took a picture of it.  That was dumb.  A lesson I have since learned ;-/

I wish I had found this punch needle piece this last summer when I was trying to remember what she looked like so I could "recreate" her for Halloween.  I missed her really bad...

This is just her face ;-)  She's smiling and I am too!!  I can't tell you how happy I am to have found her. 

The other large punch needle pattern that I found is from my "Little Book of Treasures" and this is a little booklet that I did of 8 sketches and then an extra one on the cover, making it 9 designs.

There aren't any borders or anything on the designs-- they really are just small sketches that you can use in the size they are or enlarge them for a rug mat or larger wall rug, then add your own borders and/or finishing details.  It's a cute little booklet and I plan to do more so this is just Volume 1.  

The other three punch needle pieces are from a future "Little Book of Buttons, Volume 2" booklet that I haven't completed yet ;-)  You can see "The Little Book of Buttons Volume 1" on the Handmaiden Designs web site on the Punch Needle page.

I will get the new photos up on the web site hopefully by the end of next week.  My web gurus are a couple of college friends and my work takes a back seat to their studies ;-)  

They do a GREAT job though, so I'm ok with it.  Matt and Steven are GREAT!!

Also, this will be my last blog post for a few days.  I am going on a "mini" quilt retreat this weekend with a couple of girlfriends.  We are going to a cabin in VA at a lake and I understand it's a little bit remote so it should be fun and hopefully we will all get a lot done!!  I need that kind of time-- no phone, no interruptions, just "girl-time" -- you get the idea ;-)

I'm taking one project for each-- quilting, hooking, and punching.

This is the hooking project.  It's the class project from my Jayne Hester ATHA classs.  This is what I have done so far.  Not a lot but I hope to finish it before I start another one.  I decided I will do one motif a day and then 1/2 hour of background hooking a day till it's done.  

BTW, I'm a  s l o w  hooker...

It's not my design but would still like to name it when I finish it.  Any suggestions?  I love it when I get a consensus for names ;-)

I will post a picture of both my quilt project and my punch needle project when I get back-- it will be something for you to look forward to ;-)))

Until next time-- Blessings,

Debra <3