Winner of the Mystery Giveaway!

Good morning to you all! I am excited to announce the winner of my giveaway -- congrats to Becky at Primitives n Stitchin.  Here is what she won: a red work kitchen towel I embroidered while on vacation; a wool strawberry pincushion (also hand sewn by me); a little kitty magent; some blueberry tea; and cream of wil rice soup mix. Just a little busy this morning, so I'll sign off for now. FYI, I will be having a little stitchery give away in August (hint: it will have kitties on it!).

My First Hooked Rug

I actually did some crafting while I've been away.  I have been trying my hand at rug hooking.  A few years ago I purchased a hooking frame and other accessories and they had been sitting around.  Well, I wanted to craft around little Henry, but I didn't want to worry about losing pins and needles when hand sewing, so I thought I could make up a simple hooked rug pattern and try out my talents as a hooker (LOL).  The pattern I came up with was inspired by a hooked rug I saw somewhere based on one of the verses from "Simple Gifts" (tis a gift to be simple). I thought that was pretty neat and decided I'd like one that said "tis a gift to be free."  So here it is, my first attempt at rug hooking!

It really was a make-do kind of project as I used wool that I already had in stash from my wool kitty projects and penny rugs.  I learned a few things (especially what not to do) and made another one very similar to it and just a tad bigger for my mom's birthday.

Here it is hanging on my Americana wall.  I am thinking of making another one for the local American Legion's (I'm an auxillary member) auction this fall.  We use the money raised to send community teens to summer camp.
 

I have another hooked rug project I'm currently working on -- wanted to get it done this spring but the gardening took over! It will be a nice thing to work on when hubby and I go on vacation up north in a few days!

As far as my cats go, they LOVE playing with the wool strips whenever I'm  not looking.  Here are Louie and Oscar looking very innocent and lazy basking in the breeze on the screened in porch. What a life ... they are always on vacation!  Well, I wish you all a lovely weekend full of fun times and quality stitching.

Kitty Christmas November Giveaway

I thought I should get busy and get my November giveaway posted!  I hope you all like it.  I modified a little pattern from Kitty Kringle's Pattern Book.  This little ornie was stitched on fiddler's cloth and backed with wool.  I aged it with my very own "secret" technique that I will share with you all someday. 

Now for the giveaway rules:
1. You must be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post only (new followers welcome).
2. You can post about my giveaway on your blog (additional entry).
3. You can tell me the names of your kitties (additional entry).
4. The giveaway will end November 30th at midnight.
5. I will draw the name of the winner by December 3rd.

Cat Haven Crafts November 2011 Giveaway

Good luck to all who enter!  We are having a wintery day here ... drove to work in snow, sleet, rain, and 35 mph winds! All at the same time.  It can really mess up a girl's hairdo!  My kitty's refused to go out on the porch this morning! I don't blame them.  I would love to be home stitchin' on a day like today!

Good morning all you crafty ladies! I hope you are having a wonderful, fall day.  It's been very foggy here this morning, but nice and cool and crisp.  I just wanted to remind you that my Scaredy Cat Pillow Giveaway ends 9/30 at midnite!

I also want to share with you a free pattern for a thanksgiving wool applique pillow.  Click here for instructions and the pattern.  I am thinking of stitching one up this weekend.

Kim also has compiled 101 Festive Fall Tutorials over at her blog. So, please take a minute and visit her at Everything Etsy

Some of you have asked about the wool kitties I used to make and sell and whether or not I will be making and selling them in the future and the answer is YES! So please stay tuned.  I may not get around to making my fall/Halloween kitties, but I most likely will be stitching up some of them for winter/Christmas.  Thanks for asking!

Weekend Wanderings

Hello! I hope your weekend was wonderful.  I was able to get some things done even though I an limping around. I fell a few days ago ... I am really such a klutz ... and hurt my left ankle and foot. I am now wearing a boot and am not supposed to put weight on that foot ... we'll see how that goes.  A few weeks ago I dropped a large rock on my other foot and broke two toes.  I'm thinking that these are signs from God telling me I must spend more time sitting and stitching! :)

I had a wonderful time on Saturday with Henry as he visited his first pumpkin patch. Doesn't he look like he is having the time of his little life?

I have to laugh at the first picture in this post (scroll back to it). I'm wondering about the meaning and purpose of the "pumpkin" catapult in the right hand corner of the photo? LOL!!!

I am also thrilled and humbled that I now have more than 100 followers! To celebrate, I will be having another giveaway in October.  And I will be tallying up my questionnaire about eBay vs. Esty vs. a Selling Blog as soon as the give away is over.  But I can probably say that I will not be going back to selling on eBay.  Here are a few items that I've finished, need to be stitched into pillows or mini-quilts, or stuffed that you might find on my selling blog one of these days.  The first photo is a little mini-quilt/wall hanging that I made up from a free design offered recently by Shirley Hudson over at Hudson's Holidays;

This little saying makes me smile every time I see it.  I am also making a little pillow from the pattern on muslin, too.  Here are a few of my items.  When/if I sell them, I will let you know who is the pattern designer, but right now I can't find the original patterns in amongst all my patterns (thanks for not asking me to get up and look, the foot you know! :) )

All in all, it has been a wonderful weekend ... the corn is looking good, spent time with my grandson, my daughter and I spent some good quality time together and she made a DELICIOUS bacon/spinach/broccoli quiche for supper for us all!  Well, the work week starts early tomorrow so I'm off to get into my PJ's and enjoy a cup of chamomile/lavender tea!  Hope you all have sweet dreams tonight.

Fall Ember Day #1 Report

Well, today is the first of the Ember Days for this fall.  Here in east central Iowa it will be 5 degrees below average for this time of year, mostly sunny, and windy.  So folklore says that's what our October will be like. The Old Farmers Almanac forecasts October to be 2 degress below normal, little rain, and mostly sunny for the majority of the month.  Maybe there is something to Ember Days after all! We'll see.

The picture is some of my fall decor this year.  The beautiful quilt I got at a auction a few years ago and the little pillow I stitched up last year.

Hope you have a great Ember Day!

Cat Haven Craft Giveaway Coming Soon!

Yes, that's right! I have a cute little Halloween giveaway coming in the next few days.  It is my first giveaway and my way of saying thanks for all the giveaways I have won in the past year or so!  Please stay tuned.  Also, please see my sidebar today for some new giveaways you might want to enter.

Cat Haven Crafts Says Hello!

How I've missed you all! Just a short note to let you know that I will be posting and crafting again.  I've much to share, especially my new grandson, Henry.  Please stop back for more Cat Haven news and pictures of Henry.

FREE PENNY RUG PATTERN!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was very restful! But before I go any further with today's blog I have to share a picture of my kitty, Nicky.  Nicky loves wool, he loves balls of thread, he loves all my craft pens, he loves rolling in freezer paper, and most of all he loves yarn!  We came home to find him curled up in one of my daughter's knitting projects ... doesn't he look absolutely content!!! He is also a kitty who loves to sleep on his back with his feet in the air ... its hilarious!

I had a great surprise in the mail too! Valerie from the Wooden Acorn sent me, as a gift, a lovely feather tree.  I had admired the one on her blog that she had decorated! What a sweet lady to do this.  I hope you'll take a minute and visit her at her blog.  Anyway, I was inspired to design some ornaments for my new feather tree.  Of course, they had to be about cats!  I had some kitty buttons on hand and here is the first one I made.  I have another type of button that says "Meow."  I might make some of these to sell, too.!

And now for the free pattern I promised! This is my own little design I call "Snow Flurries" that I thought up this weekend.  I've listed my finished one on eBay.  All you need is some nice thick wool, some iridescent beads, and some snowflake buttons (I purchased mine on eBay and I'll list the store at the end of the tutorial) or you could stitch your own.

1.  First trace an 8" circle on freezer paper and iron it onto the wool you will use for your top layer and cut out.
2. Next trace an 8" circle on fusible web and iron it onto the wool you will use for your bottom layer and cut out.
3. Now for the penny circles ... trace eight 1 1/2" circles onto fusible web and iron onto your wool and cut out.
4. Remove fusible web from your penny circles, space evenly on your top wool layer and iron into place.
5. Sew penny circles to top layer using DMC perle cotton thread (No. 8) using a blanket stitch.
6. Sew snowflake buttons onto penny circles.
7. Sew beads onto buttons and around buttons.
8. Now its time to add the bottom layer of wool! CAREFULLY, iron the front and back pieces of wool together being very careful not to scorch or melt the beads or buttons.
9. Now, using a double thickness of DMC perle cotton thread (No. 8) finish your penny rug by sewing the front and back pieces of wool together using a blanket stitch!
10. Carefully, iron out any wrinkles and use a lint brush to pick up any strays threads or wool bunnies and you are finished and ready to display your penny rug.
11.  Please feel free to use this pattern for crafting and selling, but remember it is copyrighted by Cat Tales and please give me credit if you sell this product on line. You are not permitted to sell this pattern.
12.  If you would like to purchase the snowflake novelty buttons at the site I did, please contact me!

I hope you will send me pictures of your finished penny rug!!!!  Happy crafting and give your kitties a treat for me today! :)

More Gnome Kitties

Hi All, hope your Monday was wonderful! Things for me were a little weird at work today, but now I'm home and can get stitchin'.

Here are a few more gnome kitty pictures I hope you will enjoy.

I also had a little time to stitch up a wool candle mat from a design by Primitive Gatherings.  I love the bright colors in this! It was really fun to stitch up and you can find it at my eBay auction site - cat_tales_booksandprims

Don't have much else tonight, gotta go get supper ready!

Take care and hug those kitties! 

Swap Goodies and New eBay Items!

Scaredy cats are always welcome at my house!

The weekend is coming to a close and tomorrow is another work day! Sigh, how I wish I could retire and spend my time doing what I love ... crafting, baking, sewing, and decorating.  Someday ... but just not today.  My weekend was lovely, beautiful weather and I got a chance to relax. Finished a lousy book (somehow I couldn't put it down, but I will not buy its sequel) and started a great book by author Steve Alten called the "Grim Reaper" ... somehow seems appropriate for the season, no?

On Saturday, I received some swap goodies from a good blog friend, Gina! She swapped for some of my hand dyed wool. She made two autumn hand towels, two Halloween pillows from vintage Halloween post card fabric, a absolutely adorable kitty purse, and some great smelling wax ornies. Scroll down to see what she sent and where they have found a home in my house.  She makes the neatest stuff and has great ideas! Please visit her at Cat Nap Inn Primitives.  

I also had some time to sew a little turkey pincushion and an acorn pillow that I've listed on my eBay site.

I made a trip to Goodwill, too, to see if I could find any wool garments that I could recycle to add to my wool stash! I was really lucky, I found several black wool skirts and a cream colored wool skirt and a checked blue wool skirt. They are all 100% wool and so should felt nicely when I wash and dry them.  The cream and blue wool will be used for some winter penny rugs and the black wool will be for some of my signature kitties ... so stayed tuned, there might even be a giveaway coming up in December from Cat Haven Crafts!

Haven't received the Feliway for the cats yet, but I did go to PetCo and find some homeopathic drops to put in their water bowl that seem to help them all get along.  I'll give it two weeks and then if its still working, I'll post about it.

Well, my eyes are getting heavy and the kitties are already making themselves at home in my bed ... so that means its time to turn in too.  Hope all is well out there with you all and that your kitties are having sweet kitty dreams.

Good Evening!

"When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam, may luck be yours on Halloween." Irish Saying

Well, I would like you to meet Vlad d'Kat tonight. He has been rolling around in my head for a while now, so I drew up a pattern, cut out the wool, and stitched him up!  And please don't be scared, Little Vlad isn't as fierce as he looks!  You can find him hanging out in my eBay store. 

 I bid you all good night and look forward to reading your blogs tomorrow (Vlad and I are very sleepy!).

Shopping for Christmas!

This morning I recieved a little email from Erica's Craft and Sewing Center.  In it was a coupon for a 20% discount and so I couldn't resist browing the site!  I wanted to share with you all what I bought and also let you in on the discount.  The coupon code is COMEBACKOCT if you decide to purchase anything at Erica's! The link will take you to Erica's wool and woolfelt department.  I can't wait to get started on these. My only regret is that it's about time to stop making Halloween crafties! Next year I think I will start to work on Halloween patterns in July - I love the colors and patterns so much, I could stitch Halloween goodies all year long!

I also finished a penny rug last night called "Cats and Jacks" that was designed by Cath's Pennies!. It turned out so nice (in my humble opinion). I used the tan wool I coffee stained using Cath's recipe and the pumpkins were cut from some wool that I hand-dyed.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the orange wool is mottled.  Please visit Cath's blog to see more of her wonderful patterns. She has some adorable patterns for Christmas/Winter. She also has great tutorials, too!

I think I told you all that my daughter and her hubby are home from Oregon and staying with us awhile.  She has finally gotten over severe morning sickness and is doing well.  Baby boy is doing really well.  However, Molly and hubby have two cats, so we now have a houseful!! One of their boys is a young black cat named "Hex" (or as I call him catzilla) and the other is a senior gray cat with one eye called "Yar" (get it? Think pirate and eye patch).  We are having a slight problem with territorial marking (not sure who is doing it) so I think I am going to go over to PetCo and buy some Feliway. I've used it before and it does work. So hopefully it will again.  My last resort would be to cage the offenders when we are not at home but I don't really like that idea!  Hey Kady, any suggestions????

Well, I must get back to work to earn kitty kibble money, so I wish you all a very happy Tuesday and alot of time to do what we love to do - stitching!!!

99 cent SALE!

... When black cats are seen,The moon laughs

and whispers, 'Tis near Halloween. 

Hi All. Hope you've had a really lovely fall weekend!  It was just glorious here in my little spot on the globe this weekend. The weather was perfect and I got so much done getting my yard ready for winter, but I over did it and now I'm a little under the weather ... did too much yard work this weekend and have a bit of a sore back.  Any remedies you'd like to share???

I did some stitching this weekend and decided to have a 99 cent sale on my eBay site.  This is one of the items I am listing.  Its a little SKAT CAT candle mat.  I love scat cats and collect them. Do any of you collect any particular Halloween ornies? Below my candle mat picture, I thought you might like to see a few more of my Halloween decorating pictures.

I'm thinking that it may be a short fall here in Iowa. The corn and beans are already being harvested and we've had two frost warnings the past two evenings ... brrrrr. I had to turn on the heat.  Looking forward to browsing your blogs after I'm done with my post!  Take care and make sure you give your kitties a hug tonight!

Back to Normal (Almost)!

Well, good evening all! I spent a nice, restful day at home today because, after two months, I finally went to see the doctor about an ear ache I've been having off and on (for about two months!) Well, it turns out I had a low-grade fever, a sinus infection, an ear infection (both ears), and an infection in my eustachion tubes (which is why I couldn't hear really well, either). So, I had a lovely day with all my antibiotics and such.  I don't know why I put it off so long, except that it didn't hurt all the time (just most of the time!).

Anyway, I had a lovely surprise in the mail today. Cath from Cath's Pennies sent me one of her patterns! I just love it and will have to sew it up real soon. Thanks, Cath! I'll be sending you a little something in the mail soon as a thank you!. Isn't this just the cutest penny rug! You can find her blog and patterns at http://cathspennies.blogspot.com/

I have finally, almost, just about finished moving all my sewing stuff back upstairs to our computer room and in the process have cleaned house. I now have quite the tidy sewing area and a lot of stuff for my garage sale in September!!! I even have had some time to sew lately and have listed a few of the finished items on eBay. They are not my own design (except for what I've named them! One I call "Jack's Hat" and the other "Cro'ween"). The ideas for these two little Halloween pillows came from an online wholesale catalog.  I also cut out another pattern that I'm going to be working on tonight as I watch TV.  Hope you all have a great evening and remember don't delay in seeing your doctor! It really saves on the prescriptions!