Creative Leisure

Woman Reading

By Thomas Benjamin Kennington

English 1856-1916

I have taken a few hours each day to do something other than house keeping. During a visit to the TJ Max discount store, I enjoyed looking at all the plastic and glass pumpkins with beaded and sequined textures, in copper, green silver, iridescent purples and pinks.

It seems it was only a short time ago that critics were making sport of the handmade glittery pumpkin crafts on creative blogs, and now I see there are many cloth and paper pumkin decorations in the market. I saw several fabric plaid ones in autum color combinations. Inspired by the brightness of what I saw, I set about to make some soft pumpkins for the season for my home.

These make soft, decorative cushions for an autumn bed. After gathering the fabric with the stuffing, I tied circles around it in four to six sections to make it like the fairytale pumpkins. I did not see fairytale pumpkins or pink pumpkins at the local market this year, as in the past.

 

These cloth pumpkins that look like chenille fabric or ball-fringe, are made of the modern fabric called Minky, which comes in many wonderful colors.

The stems are made with a thick glitter ribbon, which is nestled inside the pumpkin before the thread is pulled up.

I used some shimmery fabric to cover over the fabric, for a couple of the pumpkins.

 

The pumpkin pattern is a large circle of fabric, made by tracing around a big mixing bowl or pizza pan or pizza cardboard. The fabric is then gathered around the outside edge using long stitches, by hand, and then pulled to gather slightly so that you can insert polyester stuffing. Then, pull the thread tightly and fasten. It is best to double your thread before sewing.

 

They look good displayed in a china cabinet or fireplace mantel, or a shelf, and, if you have no small children, they can be put on the floor in front of the fireplace or underneath an entry table. Check out some of the blogs and follow links to other creative pumpkins this year.

Here is a previous post I did on sewing pumpkins http://homeliving.blogspot.com/2010/10/simple-sewing-pretty-pumpkins.html

These two pink cloth pumpkins have stems made of rolled brown paper.

To tie the pumpkin into sections. Cut a long length string or crochet cotton and tie once, pulling it tightly across half the pumpkin. Then tie again the opposite way, repeating until there are 6 to 8 sections.

 

I wanted to show, above, the long stitches for gathering.

And here is a post with a pattern for a paper pumpkin which also shows how to make cloth pumpkins and card http://homeliving.blogspot.com/2010/10/autumn-paper-crafts.html

 

 

This candelabra came from Home Interiors about 30 years ago and over the years has been painted different colors.

 

Reading the Letter

I also want to share a few of my favorite pictures from the September 1993 Victoria magazine.

 

Also, I went to Dollar Tree and bought this woven tapestry placemat because I wanted to try it out at home and see if I liked it well enough to get more. It only cost a dollar, so if I decide that it isn't for me, I will use it as a runner for the top of an end table or something else. There were several other colors and prints to choose from at Dollar Tree.

The last of the summer flowers, still growing in these old boots.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Outdoor Projects

The squash are beautiful this year and look festive alongside this special "classics" issue that Victoria has published, containing photographs from the original Victoria magazines. The issue is on high quality paper and the pictures are very uplifting. This is just out in the Wal-Mart book and magazine section. There was also a "Rooms of Bliss" issue with a blue cover, and both look really nice set out on a coffee table in the home. There were no ads in either one, and all pictures and articles were about the home and scenery.

A scene framed by the tree, from my window.

A special tea that came out only in December last year, which had a wonderful fragrance when made up in a tea pot. I have not seen it since the one month it was for sale, and have enjoyed the last few bags of it.

Cones from trees are in abundance around here, so I painted them with the Krylon spray paint called "Ballet Slipper," which is a pink that is practically white. See Chic Style Fall Colors.

Small inedible squash, pumpkins and gourds get the paint treatment and a sprinkling of glitter too.Cindy, at My Romantic Home, has some beautiful glittered pumpkins used on candle sticks. Her home is fascinating and has been featured in magazines. Almost every decorator has a link to her. A Bit of Pink Heaven shows some lovely white pumpkins and some silver gilded ones as well. The above pumpkins were not actually pumpkins but were white ornamental squash, not edible. There are quite a number of porches decorated with white pumpkins this year.

 See a naturally grown pink pumkin here,

and have a look at this pretty one.

They all go into a display basket hanging on the outside of the house, along with some leaves.

More white trash turned into pink trash, with added water-slide decals.

A rusted chair gets an update.

Cracked, discarded, outgrown boots get the treatment, too.

Empty metal paint buckets will be a rarity some day, as paint is now sold in plastic pour containers, so this one gets to be used again, painted pink. I have seen these painted with scenes and florals and were years ago sold at antique fairs.

I have not got around to painting the old swing yet, so a quilt and cushions will do for now.

These chairs still need more paint, but it gives you an idea of what they will be like when finished.

This is perfect for an outdoor tea, with a wagon as a serving cart containing all the goodies.

Here is another view of the outdoor tea table, and here are some wonderful pictures of a tea table on this blog.

A hanging candle holder with a led light provides a bit of decoration for the tea table.

Click on for a larger view.

Here is another pretty blog also with an outdoor tea table covered in lace. See Pink Friday for more great ideas with things you might have in storage that could be brought out and used, and here is a pretty blog in Dixie, called Blushing Rose.

This little message in pink chalk might have special meaning to some people:

Other painted gourds and pumpkins:

Trash to Treasure

Thrift Store Amore

Glittered Pumpkins

Around My House

Woodland Splendor by T.C. Chiu

This painting touches my heart because it reminds of the lake where I grew up. When my mother was only about 23 years old, my father, who as 25 or 26, built her a little row boat to take on rides across the pond to pick the water lilies and bring them home to put in a bowl on the table. She often left the house while everyone was still asleep and did her morning "rounds" in her boat, observing what was going on in the surrounding forest, calling out to the loons and ducks, and enjoying her young life. She had a big family and she taught every one of us how to observe and appreciate our surroundings. To this day I cannot go to a fabric store without "seeing" the nature around me, which excites me very much, so today I am showcasing the beautiful pumpkin field which I see outside my window, and sharing a bright craft.

pumpkin field

I was not the only one taking a photo opportunity in this field: there was a constant stream of people stopping and posing their children, sitting on top the pumpkins, and getting their own pictures taken amongst these colorful squash. Others posed beside tractors and harvest machinery, and there was an occasional lady in a matching orange dress getting her picture taken.

fabric pumpkins

The pattern and instructions for these cloth pumkins are here. These were made for a friend, who asked for them. She uses chili-pepper red in her home decor. These were made from a McCalls craft  pattern that I got last year, but I found that my old way of making a huge circle and putting a running stitch around the edge, and gathering it, was much easier and makes a pumpkin so similar, that it is really not necessary to sew 8 persnickety pieces together.  You can get the same effect with the circle, which is much easier. The tendrils are green chenille wires, and the leaves are of the same fabric ( a woven metallic, which was quite inexpensive) with an iron on interfacing, stitched on the machine in a satin stitch edging. Patterns and instructions will follow, eventually.

I used real pumpkin leaves to make patterns for my cloth pumpkins.

These velvet pumpkins are from Victorian Trading Company. A lot of crafters are using the real stems from pumpkins, for the craft pumpkins, as they are like wood, but I was not able to make this work for mine, so I used brown felt.

This site has free pumpkin leaf patterns (shown in the picture, above)  and shows how to make the tendrils from florists paper-covered wire.

These are the fleece fabric pumpkins I made last year, now on my mantel. Somewhere on this blog are the step by step instructions to make them, by tracing a large circle from your largest round bowl or pizza pan.

An autumn oil painting sitting over my fireplace mantel, painted by a local artist many years ago. It looks so much like my lake in autumn!

This is some fabric I used for a dress, inspired by that pretty pumpkin field in the background. It is a rather wild print but in the country, anything goes.

Garment has a wide obi belt that goes with it (not shown)

This little fellow, Henry, comes from a neighboring farm to crow right under my bedroom window each morning. Then he goes and crows somewhere else, til he has done the rounds. I give him the left-over communion bread when I'm cleaning up the communion after church. There are usually a few little grains left, and he waits at the bottom of the steps for me to come out. He seems to follow anyone wearing a skirt, probably because they are the ones with the scraps of food. Sometimes he waits at the front door and greets the church members with his cheerfulness as they go in the door. Both the peacock and the banty rooster have made the mistake of following people into the meeting house a couple of times.  We would prefer not to clean up after they leave their calling cards. Once in the summer when the windows were open, this little rooster crowed all during the sermon, which just happened to be about the apostle denying Christ before the rooster crowed three times.

Henry walks around in the garden here and crows at people as they enter the meeting house. It was built in the early 1900's and appears to be similar in style to some of the Amish meeting houses.

Hmm...wonder what kind of fabric would remind me of this sunset taken just last night:

It reminds me of one of the paintings by Jesse-Wilcox Smith, and another by Besse Pease Gutman,  of a mother and child looking at the moon.

Sweet and Low by Jessie Wilcox mith

This painting has similar colors to the sunset pictured above.

Moon Beams by Jessie Wilcox-Smith

I recently used a couple of coupons at the fabric store and got a very good bargain for some foam to make a seat for this old, long wicker couch. Temporarily, it is covered with a quilt, but later I hope to get time to cover it with upholstery fabric and welting (piping), possibly with something like this:

In the meantime, it is easy to make a change of looks for this couch, by wrapping a quilt around the seat, and adding matching pillow shams.

I have been looking at these giant magnets at Collections, Etc. which has a mail order catalog and one online, and finally got one on sale for about $5.00 for my dishwasher. They are available with scenery and still life paintings for washers and refrigerators too. I have my eye on the rooster/farm scene magnet for the side of the washing machine in my laundry room.

From the same catalog I ordered this little rug, which puts some brightness in my monochromatic living room:

Some brands of applesauce have apple barrel shaped jars. Here's a collection of these kinds of jars, from relish, baby food and other products, that all look like the old fashioned apple barrels. I've always wanted to make some canisters out of them, so this year, I painted the lids, and found some water-slide decals from The Decal Cottage online, and made myself some homestead style canisters. The decals show up better on a white background, but look okay on clear glass.

Here is the finished product:

Like some of the other homey bloggers I've been culling and sorting things, and when I got my magazine collection, I found this picture on the back of a quilting magazine. It is made of photo- quality shiny cardstock, so I cut it out to make a card for someone, to share the intensity of the season. We are having a warm autumn, temps in the 70's, with lots of sunshine.

One more photo before I mail these treasures. Autumn is nearly gone!

These are all projects I have been working on in small snatches of time since my last post, between housekeeping jobs. Autumn seems to have inspired a lot of bloggers to de-clutter and deep clean, gutting out entire rooms and giving them a good going-over. I read somewhere that autumn is God's reward for surviving a long, hot summer! 

" Thou crownest the year with thy goodness..."

Psalm 65:11