Congratulations on beginning seamstress. I cannot think of a more rewarding hobby or life craft. I have done them all and every 'downsizing' event sends another remainder from another craft to the 'charity of the week'. I'm tempted to start the 'coloring fad' that seems to be catching on......thinking, thinking etc.

So that's what those rugs are called. The repetitiveness, similar to needlepoint, appeals to me. I like the coloring but I think I'd be lousy at it. I tried learning to knit but did not catch on

I've been working on a device to latch the horse paddock gate, and after a predetermined time automatically unlatch the gate. This evening I added a manual override/reset circuit to the device.

when the bar on the gate presses the metal trigger next to the aluminum latch mechanism, the circuit turns on and drives the steel bolt through the latch, and starts a timer.

I felt very much like I was channeling my father who passed away last year. He would do projects like this all the time, in fact the switch that triggers the device was from a box of stuff I brought home from his house.

I want to try oil paints! I bought all the supplies and now just need to find some time...

I wish Bob lived next door to me. I've wanted something like that for yearS.

Some of the kids want me to teach them to crochet recently. I don't know if they'll follow up or if it was a passing fancy. Which led me to remember that I've never mastered the Afghan stitch (the double layer kind). I'm not sure I want to crochet an entire Afghan, but I figure I would have mastered it by the time I was done. :) I'm more into lace than yarn, but it would be a cool thing to learn, and may become my Winter project.

I have not cut a gem stone in a couple of years. Now that I've had cataract surgery on both eyes, I should try another one. I'll start by reviewing a bunch of designs - some are mine - an select a promising one with a lot of light return.

Last year I refurbished an old bedroom set. It turned out so well that after Christmas I will start another one.

I don't plan anything new, just want to work on things I have here to do. Lots of sewing, embroidery and coloring when I can. Too much goes on around here for peace and quiet :)

Sue

I thought that this was going to be a fantasy thread about space travel! No really.....I did!

I am a beginner crocheter. My next project will be a baby afghan. Then I want to learn to do the shell stitch.

Rhizo, what is your craft choice and to what interstellar location will you be traveling? Hee hee!

Not a frontier, but I have two knitting projects which need completion, socks. They will be on my New Years resolution list.

After making over thirty putz houses I would enjoy making more but have no place to put them. For a long time have wanted to make angels but have never figured out how to make the heads and make them look angelic.

For those who like to crochet, I've noticed how-to programs on the net.... Pink

I've been unemployed for the last 4 months, in that time I have learned to felt old goodwill wool sweaters and have turned them into Christmas gifts. I'm finishing a couple today a shawl and scarf for my mom then I'm moving onto a couple of items for myself a vest and a coat. From there I plan on learning to loom knit. I have the looms and have watched many video's just need the time which I'll have after this is all done. From there it's rag rugs. I'm really looking forward to that, have already started to clear the closets of jeans and that is what I will start with. I just have to convince my husband to build me a loom, I plan on starting very large with one for the dinette.

So many talents here! My craft of choice is old-fashioned rug hooking--the kind that uses strips of woolen fabric and a hook like a crochet hook with a wooden handle. I want to finish this Chinese Water Dragon in time for my granddaughter's birthday, but it's more like a gentle slope than a mountain.

My real mountain is painting with watercolors. I started reading books on the subject several years ago, but the more I learned the more I realized I'll probably never be able to produce something I actually like. I've read so many books on watercolor that I can talk a good ballgame, but execution is something else. I should at least finish the one painting I started.

Water Dragon:

The past few years I have taken up sewing again. With 6 granddaughters I have kept busy. Also sew for our church bazaar I made the cutest little girl aprons and sold everyone of them. This year I did baby blankets, bibs, hooded towels and such. Use to craft a lot. Did a big craft show with 25 ladies.. I have slowed down a lot. Taking care of my hubby these days..

I enjoy crochet and knitting. My next hill to climb is doing a stocking on double pointed needles.

I think I'll just keep on sewing and quilting and letting the animals in and out. That's a full-time job right there!

I've got lots of plans, but problems with execution. I'd like to learn to crochet, but need someone to teach me. My rug I made out of scrap t-shirts a few months back doesn't lay flat.

This week I am making ornaments from photos per special request. We had some pretty silly ones growing up sort of like Alisande's cards with her parents. I'm cutting out, gluing and and embellishing photos with 3D accents. So far, I'm wearing angel wings and a halo, my husband has wings and a sting of lights around his neck. I need to make him a pitchfork. The pets are getting party hats and funny clothes.

Pink, never heard of putz houses before so had to look it up. Charming!

My passion is crocheting. I'm making another baby blanket called animal pockets. This one is a little smaller than the other one I made. It has only eight pockets. I will be crocheting little animals to put in the pockets.

I am going to reorganize my craft closet and keep only the projects I plan on finishing. I see something, buy it but never get aound to working on it. I would like someone to teach me how to us the serger I bought. I have books and have watched online videos, but I learn better with an instructor working with me.

Pink, my Dad made putz houses along with a church, barn etc. I have the set he made for me and most of the set he made for Mom. He is in heaven now and when I put up those houses (on book shelves because no tree) it makes me remember the old times. He would sit at the kitchen table and create wonderful lifelike houses etc from old gift boxes. He never wasted anything! Cotton coming out of chimenys, gold leaf windows that reflect light and make the houses appear lit, snow scattered on the roofs and etc. The barn even has a silo and hayloft with "hay" . When I worked I displayed his village in my office window and drew in many customers! Thanks for my trip down memory lane.

Satine

I don't have a craft of choice. I enjoy several of the "needle arts" and spend my time moving between crocheting, knitting, sewing, and quilting. I wouldn't say I've mastered any of them, but I've been crocheting for 54 years, knitting and sewing for 48 years, but just started quilting about three years ago. I still work full time, so I really have to schedule my time for sewing and quilting, since I am constricted to the sewing room for those projects. Crocheting and knitting can go with me so I get to spend more time on those projects. There are several quilting techniques I want to master, hopefully soon.

Donna_loomis, have you learned hand piecing, yet? It's really just about the starting and stopping. The rest is just a running stitch. Once you've learned to anchor the ends well (you don't want a knot), you can put all the pieces for a bit of patchwork in a baggie, and take it with you in much less space than it takes for yarn!

Janey, are you doing the double layer Afghan stitch for your baby blanket? If so, do you have any pointers?

Colleen, stoppers on the ends of your needles are the great secret to knitting with double needles! If you're doing something small, like baby booties, once you get going they're just in the way, but for anything bigger, they're just such a relief!

Two25acres, at the thriftshops here they often cut the legs off of jeans to make them sell faster as shorts, and throw away the legs. You might ask where you shop, and ask them to save the legs for you if they do that.

what a talented bunch! Had to look up putz houses. Never heard of that. Are they childrens toys or for display? would be fun to make a replica of your own house. Surprised nobody has talked about jewelry making. I do enjoy working with stepping stones/tiles, but it's such a messy activity. I have a bunch of tiles and a gillion ideas, but they remain just that--ideas.

@rhizo, my topic does sound like space travel! Mars anyone?

Thank you for the tip, plllog!

Plllog, I do not even know what an afghan stitch is-so sorry no pointers from me.

I'm enjoying my cross stitching, which is kind of like coloring, only you don't have lines to follow. You have to count the stitches and colors from a chart. I'm going to really up my game this year by attempting my first HAED (Heaven and Earth Design) piece. These are the Everests of cross stitch because they are so complex and so huge. I'm expecting it will take at least a year to finish.

I'd also like to go back to sketching with oil pastels.

Tally I'm a long-time cross stitcher but had never heard of HAED. Checked it out and OMG! Don't know if I would even attempt one but would love it if you would keep us up to date on your progress. I pretty much stick to the Mill Hill bead kits, both Christmas and Halloween.

pipsmom, you might enjoy some of the cross stitching groups on Facebook. There are a number of cross stitching artists that have wonderful designs - Mirabelia, Nora Corbett, Joan Elliot, HAED, Silver Lining to name a few. There are general cross stitch groups too, like Cross Stitch and Discuss, or Cross-Stitching It's My Thing. And groups for specific topics like Christmas and Halloween. I've learned about hand dyed fabric, railroading stitches, various lap
and floor stands, loop method of starting a thread, using a tablet to
search and highlight symbols on a pdf chart (especially good for confetti stitches),
copyright infringement and just a lot of good discussion with
needleworkers from all over the world. If you are on Facebook you might want to take a look-see.

This is the piece I'm starting on: Witching Hour. Artist is Lisa Parker. 229,600 stitches, full coverage, no backstitch, no fractionals. Um, make that 2 years! One stitch at a time...

The Witching Hour - artist is Lisa Parker

I wish I could do something like rug hooking. That looks beautiful, Alisande. I am not talented at any craft. I guess the only thing I have that I want to work on....my husband brought home an old metal tool box. I want to paint it or do something to cover it and use it for storage.

Tally, thanks! Will def. check those groups out.

Plllog, by Afghan stitch do you mean made with a single needle that looks like a knitting needle with a hook on the end? Where you carry all the loops on the needle for one row then work them off in the next? It's pretty easy, I taught myself from an antique DMC needle stitch encyclopaedia when I was about 14.

Marilyn, I taught myself to hook from a book back in the 1980s. No classes or other rug hookers around here. I wouldn't say talent is required. I enjoy designing my own pieces, but many others have a great time working on pre-printed backing. It's like coloring--you decide what colors you want to use. A given design can look vastly different depending on the colors chosen. The results are all beautiful.

Colleen, to answer your question, I went to look it up, since there's so much overlapping terminology, and I got mine from my mother. So, yes, that's the Afghan stitch, but what I was really after was the two sided one. There's one kind where you just make a double layer by crocheting onto the first layer to form the second. The one I never learned uses a double hook and two skeins. This video shows clearly where to pick up loops, which was always my issue when my mother tried to show me. It's for the simple stitch. The one I really want to do is fully two sided, whereas this is just one row one way and one row the other, but I think I have the stitch I want in a book. Now that the video has shown me how to proceed. Thanks!

For the past few years, I've been into machine knitting. Here's my latest creation, a cardigan for my mom.

My new hobby is creating greeting cards. I've been using paper quilling to incorporate into greeting cards. Here's one I made for my sister.

Recently, I purchased a die cutter. I haven't had time to play around with it yet. I found out I can use it to create pattern for machine knitting as well. So, this would be my next task to conquer.

I just taught myself to arm knit knit! Not bad for 77 yr. old!

thanks plllog, that double sided Tunisian stitch looks really cool!