Do you have one of those projects that you start and just never finish...well, to be honest I have a few.  But I started a needle punch Halloween piece probably 4 years ago--maybe even longer than that.  A dear friend gave me the piece and I got about 1/2 of it done and just quit.  I decided I just did not enjoy needlepunch as much as I thought I would and my hats off to all that enjoy this artform.  Maybe I would enjoy more if I did it more.  But I really got tired of rethreading that needle!!

Anyway,  I finally finished and had intended to frame my "masterpiece".  It is an odd size of 5" x 5" and I did not like how it looked in a frame.  I ended up cutting it down and made a small pillow tuck that I backed in black wool.  Looking back, I should have made the "pillow tuck" bigger by adding strips of wool to frame the piece then back it with the black wool ....   But I love it and I will enjoy pulling this out every Fall and remembering how long it took me to finish this piece..

Do you have a piece you took forever to finish....love to hear your stories....

Hugs,
Margaret



 how it looks in my kitchen.  I also did the rug hooked pumpkin piece on the shelf above the needlepunch piece.  I really love to rug hook.  I just dyed some white wool a pumpkin color with dark and light shades...  and am going to draw a pumpkin and crow to rug hook.  Will add my wool dyeing pictures next as I love how the color turned out  and I will show the progress of my rug hooking!! 

A few pictures of my Fall/Halloween Decor

Every year I take pictures of how I have decorated for the season.  The pictures are always just for me so I can decide if/what I want to do different next year.  I was just looking at them and decided I would put a  few in my blog.  Nothing is staged and you can even see my dirty dishes!! lol!!

 My decorating is for me and my family and will never be like the beautiful rooms I see in magazines, here on other blogs and on Pinterest, but that is OK.    I just love the fall season and  I am happy with whatever I come up with and have fun changing and adding as the years go by.  I have even done a bit of changing around since I took these pictures.  Oh, well........

It is too warm and early to add real pumpkins yet and I only have mums on my porch so far.  And  now I have decided that I am going to work on sewing up some more wool pumpkins to add around the rooms....because adding one more thing to my "to do" list sounded like fun!!!!

 I did want to crop some of the pictures, BUT for some reason, my picture editing program is not working right now, so please excuse these somewhat sloppy looking pictures....

HAPPY FALL AND ENJOY!

 

OOPS!  I meant to put these in some kind of order!  :-)

How I got my Blog Name

Karen, from KM Primitives has a really interesting contest going on--how did you come up with your blog name!!   Great idea, right.    One I can not wait to read the results of.  So here I go with my little story. 

My name is actually Margaret, not Tilly. I started this blog in 2010.   For me, I wanted my blog name and my "business" name  to be the same.  So why did a Margaret call herself  Tilly from "Tilly's Farm House" ???

We are a military family and we would move ever 2 to 3 years--one move came after only 6 months.  Not as bad as it sounds, but hard when you are trying to have any type of "business".  With every move,  I would "try" on a new name for my business--which were storefronts and craft shows over the years.  Every move started a new game of "what should I name my business this time?"...  My poor husband and son had to participate every time.You wouldn't believe some of the business names I have "tired on" over the years!!    

When we moved to Virginia and I decided to start a blog and sell on ETSY, I knew I had to pick a name and stick with it---not that I haven't tried to change it several times again.  I am HOPELESS!!!

Being as old as I am :-)  (smiles!!!), I started to reflect on "where I came from".  My Mother's side of the family had some wonderfully talented women.    I can still see myself as a young child staring at all the beautiful samplers and pillows made with hand dyed threads, the lace that was hand made and sewn to dresses and so many other beautiful works of art.  All of which are long gone now and only a memory for me.  My mother had a favorite Aunt Tilly- a spinster who lived with her spinster sister way out in the country, in Ohio where I was raised,  in a beautiful old farm house that I always loved and dreamed that one day I would live in something like it.    I decided I  wanted to try and honor all these wonderful women who have  inspired me and came before me,   by naming my business after my great Aunt Tilly and her beautiful old Farm House--thus "Tilly's Farm House" was born...

NOW for the funny part of the story--as every story has one.  Although Aunt Tilly was my Mom's favorite, she scared the " begeebies" out of everyone.  She and her sister only wore dresses that covered them from the neck to their ankles as "proper women" did not show skin.  I am one of 8 kids and she would have a fit when my Dad would take all of us (4 boys and 4 girls) down to the creek to swim and cool off on the hot days of Summer.  "You know boys and girls can not swim in the same area" she would say.  My sweet daddy  took us anyway and would just listen to her rant and rave!!  So my Mom's "Great Aunt Tilly" was  a fiesty old lady, but I owe her and  ALL the other wonderful, talented women in the family, a great debt of gratitude.  

THANKS!

Don't have a picture of my real
Aunt Tilly, but I love this
one.  AND she is smiling!

More Pictures of wool.

So here are more results.  Again, the camera does not do the color justice.  I have to figure that one out.  All in all, I am loving the results.  I know I am using the dark green as a background for a class I am teaching on wool applique.  It will be a holiday pillow with snowman faces on the front.  The plain dark red will be the background for another class and the holiday pillow will be the words "JOY" that will be a wool applique and I think I want to add some candy canes that we will needle punch on.  Have some playing to do!!! 

The deep cranberry red started as a light tan.  Put it in the pot with the plain purple plaid (2nd picture).  Added red and simmered away.....I kept watching until it turned a really deep red.  Added my vinegar and simmered another 20 minutes or so.  Then shut the stove off and let it all cool down.  When it felt cool enough, I dumped the water out, continued to cool, rinsed, got as much water out as I could, then into the dryer with a dryer sheet, an old white towel and a tennis ball (to help fluff)...I am loving it!!!
The bottom two pictures are what happened in the Rit green dye pot.  The green is really a very deep green.  Again, sorry about the pictures.....   I threw in that small piece of  purple plaid into the green pot as I had a lot of color left.  Again, I am loving that color. 

So if you have some wool you really don't like.  I recommend grabbing some Rit dye, old pots and just have some fun.  If you don't like the results, dye again!!!

Smiles going out to everyone!  Have a fantastic day.....



 

 

 

 

What I did with my wool

Storm has passed and now on to the dying of wool.  As I said, I like simple.  I am by no means an expert, but I have really enjoyed dying wool using many different methods.  What I am showing you now are the results of using Rit Dye in a box--well, the red was from the liquid Rit bottle, but I like the powder dye the best.  Several years ago,  I got a lot of wool from our Pendelton Store --they were no longer selling their wool off the bolt.  The colors weren't the best, but I knew I could dye over them.  Worked on a few batches over the weekend and this is what I got.  I first soaked my wool in a little "jet dry" and water for a few hours.  I was cooking breakfast, etc. so just let all my wool hang out in the sink for awhile.

Color Before

Adding Rit dye in a Golden Yellow
I added a whole box and then some....WAY too much as I
had a lot of dye color left in the pot...Lesson learned after that!

A slow simmer on my stove.  I just kept watching it.

Probably simmered a good 30 minutes or so before

I added vinegar and simmered some more.

 

Color After.  The camera does not do the color justice, but I

don't know how to really show the color.  I laid the wool on my off  white

carpet.  The  blue turned into various shades of green.  The tans turned

into the most beautiful shades of golden brown leaning towards burnt orange.

I love it.  Now I am looking for ideas of what to do.  Rug hooking

a Fall piece, wool applique???   IDEAS please!! 

 

 

Having fun dying wool

I can not believe how fast a day can fly by when you start playing with wool.  I have some before and after pictures and will tell you what I did .  It all started because I needed some deep green wool.  I took tan wool and just used Rit dye.  I like things simple and easy.  This is what the light tan turned into using dark green Rit dye.

 

Wow, as I am typing this we are getting hit by a terrible storm.  Lights are flickering, so will post more pictures and explainations after the storm.  Stay safe my friends...

Updating my Blog

I have been working all day on updating this blog.  I want to give a very special THANK YOU to Brenda from Hatties Workshop.  She made the greatest new banner for me and for my ETSY shop and is working on another.    On top of that, she has "held my hand" all day and helped me thru some issues on this blog.  I do believe there are gremlins in my computer--or in my fingers.  I always seem to have trouble adding to my blog. 

HUGS to Brenda for a job well done on my banner---anything else that looks "non professional" is all  my doing!!! 

Smiles to all who are reading this....

I have just finished another pumpkin pillow.  This one is for sale.  Please contact me if you are interested or you can see it on my ETSY.

I had so much fun make this one.  Can you guess I am ready for Fall and all the fun decorating that goes with it!!!

 

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend....hugs to all

I just finished a fall pillow from a pattern by Calico Rabbit Designs.  It was the one in Primitive Quilts.  I just love it and it was easy to make.  I even took pictures of my progress, for once!!



Looking at my color choices

 



Pinned together and like this so far. 

 



TA DA!!!!  I love how this turned out.  Actually, the colors look better in person.
I am going to make another one to sell on Etsy.  This one is mine!!!

Wow! We just got back from a 2 week vacation in Florida. I lived in Florida as a teenager, and have been back many times for visits.  It is always so wonderful when you can get together with your family, well at least some of them, especially when we now live in many different states.  Seeing my daughters and their husbands and grandkids and one of my sisters and one of my brothers was such fun.....
  It was hotter and more humid here in Va. than in Florida.  And for the first time this summer, I was able to breathe and  not be all closed up from allergies!!  YEH!  Love the fresh beach air!!!

Wanted to share a few pictures today.  Soon as I get caught up--you know how that is after a vacation--I have some great recipes to share and a few things I am working on..... 

Have a great day my friends.....Life is Good!!

Beautiful Sunrise!

"Moon rise"

Lighthouse at Ponce Inlet, Fla.

View from top of the lighthouse....at Ponce Inlet, Florida

Before and After Pictures

I have wanted to add to my living room wall for years.  Wanted to change it up a bit.  Know what I am talking about?  Anyway, I had a shelf I had made for a booth I had at an antique shop.  Nothing great, but too good to chuck or tear apart.  After I left the booth, I cleaned it up a bit and knew it was perfect for my living room.  Redid the whole area and "ta da".....here it is.  I really do love how it turned out.  Now I wonder why it took me so long????
BEFORE:

AFTER:

The couch is old and not so pretty, so I keep it covered with an old quilt.  Not so "matchy-matchy", but who likes everything "matchy-matchy"!!  Not me...  Now I need to work on some new pillows.  I already have plans for the shelf for the fall and Christmas season......filled with lights and pumpkins and then a garland and lights and snowmen and mini trees!!   Guess I am rushing the seasons as it will be 100' here in Williamsburg today.  WHEW!!!  Time to get back to sewing. If by some chance you have found my blog-----enjoy and have a wonderful day......

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!  WE ARE ALL SO BLESSED.

Hail Damage

We were so very lucky to only have some limbs in  our yard and hail damage.  We did not loose electricity like so many others did.  We feel blessed to have a/c with all this heat.

Finished My Wool Applique Pumpkin Patch Mat!!











YEH! I finished my wool applique fall mat.  The first picture shows the real colors.

I know we are in the heat of summer, but I am looking forward to using this mat.  I have some small pumpkin guys that I will sit in the corner where the candle is.  Or I just might put a fall, grubby candle there!! Who knows!!!

Summer flowers starting to bloom

I had made this "breadboard" to sell and I am really glad it didn't.  I always liked it and it now has found its home...a place in my kitchen.   I think it was supposed to be mine all along.

 I used a woodburning tool and "freehanded" the willow tree.  My first time with the woodburning tool.  Was fun!!!

A fall Wool Applique Piece in progress

My Wool selection for this fall project

I am using a free pattern from"Create and Decorate" magazine.  In fact it is a very old one, I think.  Just using pieces of the pattern.  Only the pumpkins are sewn down so far.  I decided to add the penny pieces to the sides.  Still fiddling with the colors of them.  At first I was going to make a pillow, but I ended up adding the pennys to the side, so no pillow now, but will make a mat.  Finished picture will be next..I appreciate all comments!!

Smiles and hugs to all!