~*Sneak Peek*~

Blessings dear friends! Here is a sneak peek of the ditties I'll be offering on The Primitive Gathering and Lemon Poppy Seeds for the February 1st update.


I do still have some computer work to be done for the updates... but will have that finished before the clock strikes 12 on the 1st. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute... t'is the story of my life.

I would also like to share another fabulous, freebie finish. This one was stitched by Marilyn...


Once again, I am so impressed! I just can't give you all enough praise for stitching up my doodles!

Thank you, Marilyn, for stitching & sharing!

Warm smiles to you all...

Betty

~*Another Valentine to Share*~

Patti sent me an email yesterday to share another Valentine ditty! Lookie Lookie Lookie! Another fabulous finish indeed! Patti offers her wares on TDIPT Mercantile. This will be one of her offerings at the next update ~ February 1st. Be sure to swing by if you are interested.

Thank you, Patti, for stitching & sharing. I love how you add the olde key! AWESOME!

An update on my crafting day... well, it didn't go exactly as planned. I had a catastrophe with my refrigerator that required immediate attention! It felt like a major horror at the time! I had put a bag of chicken legs in the fridge to thaw... stupidly thinking the bag would not leak ~ it was sitting safely with the opening upwards. Well, the chicken thawed... but somehow escaped the bag. I had a mess of... well, I'll just call it chicken juice so as not to gross you out too much... all over! I was so worried this would make us sick... with all the news about salmonella poisoning lately. Cleaning the refrigerator has been on my To Do list for a long time & really did need to be done anyway... just not on my day of crafting! Aggravated, stressed, and just plain irritated as I was... I managed to clean the big ol' box. Amazingly it looks like new again! Yipee! BUT... crafting didn't get started until later in the evening. How did the fridge take the whole day away from crafting? Arrrggggghhhhh.... maybe today.

Many warm smiles to you....

Betty

~*Wonderous Wednesday*~

Well, so okay... maybe Wednesday has just started & isn't so wonderous yet... but I have some great enthusiasm to start off the day! I plan to spend ALL MY TIME crafting! No interruptions because I have way too much to get done. See? I have good intentions. LOL

I do want to share a few joys with you first though ~

Last night at Scouts was the annual Derby Car Race. Trinity is one VERY PROUD little boy! He and Tony spent a lot of time building this car. There was cutting, sanding, painting, more sanding,more painting, sticker decoration, weight calculation, and just lots of touches of 'pure perfection' that went into the making of this 'mean machine'. Unfortunately, Tony had to work last night & couldn't make the race. I tried to document the excitement with the camera & quickly sent him an email loaded with pics when we arrived home.






He was so happy! He won 3rd place! This is pretty good for a Tiger Cub... just his first year.

On a stitching note... I received another delightful ditty to share. Bren stitched up my Valentine freebie & said it is perfect for hanging on her Valentine tree. Valentine tree? That sounds GRAND! Bren stitched, stained, stuffed, and decorated her pillow with a vintage button & rusty pins. I've seen this ditty stitched many times now ~ each is a true treasure. Thank you for stitching & sharing, Bren!


Okay... time to get crafting. Many warm smiles to you...
Betty

~*More to Share*~

It is just so amazing how many finishes people are getting done! They are all just so sweet & stunning too!

Viviane stitched up a freebie that was offered to the stitchers of a wonderful Yahoo group ~ Stacy Nash Groupies. (Yep, the group consists of stitchers that are HUGE fans of Stacy's... you might want to check it out if you aren't familiar with it. It is a great group with wonderful prim~inspiration!) The group held a Halloween party last year & several of us offered door prizes and freebies. Viviane stitched up ~*Hallow's Eve*~...

The cupboard hanger finish is very prim~sweet. Or should I say prim~spooky? It is darling, Vivi, thank you for sharing.

Vonna stitched up ~*Oh Sweet Valentine*~ & gave it such a darling finish. She stitched the initials of both her & her husband, added a few other motifs, and charms ~ then constructed the sweet pillow with some scrap fabric she already had on hand. Just darling...

Thank you, Vonna, for stitching & sharing.

I would also like to share this great giveaway ~

My dear friend, Ginger of Primitives By the Light of the Moon just put this offer up on her blog. Now, I have entered to win... but think it is only fair to spread the word. Good luck to you all... the winner is going to be one lucky duck! :)

Warm smiles to you all... have a blessed day!
Betty

~*So Many Busy Hands!*~

Hello Friends! There are so many creative, happy hands out there! It is almost like I can hear the clicking of the punchneedles & the zipping sound of thread being pulled. Both sounds are so relaxing ~ almost like crickets chirping in the Summer or birds singing on a warm & sunny morning.

Debbie, another dear friend from An American Primitive Gathering, spent the retreat weekend punching up Snowy Tony. Doesn't he just bring a big smile to your face? I know he did to mine!
I love the finish! Just darling indeed!

Lei and her Mom worked together to make this beautiful pillow from the freebie ~ Home is Best.
I think the pillow finish is darling & makes an instant heirloom being worked on by both Mom & Daughter.

Thank you ladies for stitching & sharing!

Warm smiles to you all... Betty

~*More to Share*~

Hello Friends! It has been a very full, but rather fun weekend. We celebrated the January Birthdays today at my dear, in-law's home. January Birthdays for this side of the family include my darling husband and my soon-to-be DIL Kristy. It was very hard to stay to my diet... but I think I did okay. Next weekend we celebrate more birthdays ~ my Sister and her boyfriend both have little girls with January birthdays. The party theme will be 'Fairies and Knights'... it should be really cute!

Another part of the fun this weekend was shared with my online friends. I'm a proud member of the Ebay group called An American Primitive Gathering. We held our first 'Retreat' this weekend ~ online. What on earth am I talking about? Well, we decided to set aside one weekend a month to creative works to be sold, gifted, or just cherished. We inspired one another with frequent chats & lots of fabulous photo sharing. The gals in this group are just so super! We all live in states that span the country East to West... but have a special bond of Kindred Spirits.

My dear friend, Kathy from the group has told me she has been gathering many of my freebies... but it wasn't until this weekend that she had the time to stitch one. I'm glad she had the time! Lookie.....



The original freebie as offered was for a scissor FOB, but Kathy's cupboard hanger is darling. I love the vintage charm of it.

Kathy, thank you for stitching & sharing.

Warm smiles to you all... Betty

~* I just GOTTA share these!*~

Hello Dear Friends! It has been a busy weekend... after a busy week ~ you know how it is! Anyway, I received a couple of really sweet finishes that I would LOVE to pass along.

This one comes all the way from Israel! It was stitched by Viviane. Don't you just love the use of color & pretty lace? Thank you Vivi for stitching & sharing!


This lovely ditty was stitched up by Becky from Oklahoma. I love the color choice here too! The finish was made into a symple pillow... but it is oh-so-prim-perfect! Thank you too, Becky, for stitching and sharing!


Both finishes are so sweet! I'm always delightfully tickled to see my designs worked up. Keep the finishes coming!

I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend full of family, fun, and stitching!

Warm smiles to you...

Betty

~*Need Help Stitching on Linen?*~

Hello Dear Friends! Have you only been stitching on Aida cloth? Are you interested in stitching on linen, but don't know how? I've heard this many times & would love to offer some assistance. At least I will give it my best shot online to show you.

For my example, I'm going to use 1 strand of floss (you could easily use 2 & often times that is how I stitch) 'over 2'. What does the 'over 2' mean? This means you will be making your stitches over 2 strands of linen thread vertically and horizontally ~ the threads that make up the linen fabric. These 4 threads (2 up and 2 down) will make the 'box' that you are use to using/seeing on Aida cloth.

To begin your stitch ~ bring your needle up in the lower left corner of this 'box'. Put the needle down in the upper right corner of this 'box'. Here is a photo to show you...
click on the photo to enlarge the image


Pull this stitch completely through before moving on to part two of your cross stitch.

Next you will bring the needle up in the lower right corner of your 'box' and down through the upper left corner of your 'box'. Like this...
click on the photo to enlarge the image


This method is for stitching with one cross stitch at a time, but you could easily stitch in rows if that is how you are accustomed to doing it.

The thread count of linen refers to the number of threads the fabric has per inch. For instance, if you are using a 32-count fabric and stitching 'over 2'... you will be making 16 cross stitches per inch just like a 16 count Aida cloth.

One more thing I can add to this ~ but don't want to confuse anyone.... sometimes designers will refer to stitching 'over 1'. This will make a cross stitch one half the size of the 'over 2' stitches. It means that you will make your 'x' stitch over just one thread vertical and 1 thread horizontal. My opinion... you have to have some really GOOD eyesight for this one! ;)


I did do a web search & have found many websites that offer up some great tutorials with good diagrams. If you need more help, you might do a web search too. Hopefully this has helped answer a few questions. If not, I'm happy to offer help via email the best I can.

Many smiles to you...

Betty

~*T'is a Freebie Doodle Day!*~

Hi again! Yup... two posts in one day! Today is my darling's birthday! ~*~*~Happy Birthday Tony! I love you!~*~*~ I thought I would doodle up a ditty to celebrate! Tony has the biggest heart & the most caring smile... and so many other wonderful characteristics that would be way too many to mention here! While I can't really say that his looks are the inspiration for the doodle... 'cause he looks nothing like this... the big heart and the soft smile might have a sort of similarity. :)

~*Snowy Tony*~ Freebie Doodle

© primitivebettys 2009

Enjoy the doodle with the medium of your choice... but please give credit where due ~ Betty Dekat, primitivebettys. Remember... I enjoy seeing the finished works! Please email me a photo if you get a chance.

Warm smiles.... Betty

~*True Love ~ Two Birds*~

Warm Greetings to you Friends ~

Yesterday I received another delightful email sharing with me a beautiful finished ditty. My buddy, Beth was given my ~*Two Birds*~ needlebook sampler pattern, from a friend as a Christmas gift. Beth also designs primitive cross stitch patterns ~ JUST ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL ONES! She told me she had been wanting to make a needlebook for the longest time & getting the pattern gift was (as she says) "a kick in the pants". She customized the pattern to her needs by adding her own initials, a button closure, a thread winder and a scissors pocket. Hey... that is okay with me! It is wonderful that folks can make my designs special for them. She says now...."This little cutie is going to start travelling with me whenever I take a project along. No more ziplock baggies for me, no-sirree!"

Here are a few photos of Beth's beautiful needlebook ~




Beth is a hunter & gatherer of all things beautiful and vintage. She always finds the sweetest buttons, lace, and adornments. This button fits PERFECTLY as her closure.


The ~*Two Birds*~ needlebook pattern was one of my first pattern releases. When it was released, I hadn't thought of Valentine or True Love.... but looking at it today, it just seems perfect for the 'LOVE' theme and occasion. If you are interested in the pattern, it can be found in my Esty Shoppe.

Warm smiles & happy stitching..... Betty

~*Here Kitty Kitty...*~

Good Day my friends! BbbrrrrrRRRRRR... yes, it is still freezing cold here. Although, they say it is suppose to warm up to the mid 40s this weekend. I'm sure that will feel like a HEATWAVE after having below zero temps. I've tried to stay busy with crafting, but am still playing catch~up around the house. Trinity went back to school yesterday & is feeling wonderful. He really did recover so much more quickly than I had expected him to do. His surgery for tonsils, adenoids, and ear tubes was just one week ago today.

I received another email today with wonderful pictures. (You KNOW I LOVE to see finished works!) This email came all the way from The Netherlands. This is still just so amazing to me! It was only about 4 years ago that I started 'playing' on the computer. I've never been out of the country & haven't really even seen that much of the US. (I've never seen the ocean... believe it or not!) The computer has brought the world to my home & given me a chance to meet some really wonderful folks from ALL THE WAY AROUND IT! I don't know what I would do without it now & really don't know what I did before it. Silly, huh?

Anyway.... Harmien from The Netherlands stitched ~*My Favorite Kitten*~ pinkeep pattern (available at your local needlework shops or at my Etsy shoppe). She stitched on 30ct Irish Creme linen by R&R Reproductions and coffee stained/baked the fabric after stitching. She remarked at how much fun she had stitching... and that she couldn't stop at just one! Now... aren't they darling?!



Here are the backs...(LOVE the fabric choices here too!)


Now... I'm going to have to make my way to The Netherlands so I can HUG them! LOL

Thank you Harmien from sharing. They are sweet as can be!

On the pattern note... it was asked the other day where my ~*Friends Sampler*~ can be found. It too is available from my Etsy shoppe.

Have a day full of glorious smiles....

Betty

~*Sweet Stitches*~

Hello Friends! Boy is it cold here! They say we aren't getting record breaking temps.. but it sure is BITTERLY COLD! I hope you are staying warm ~ spending your time crafting.

Today I was thrilled to receive a couple emails sharing some sweet, stitched finishes. The first came from Kathy....

~*Silent Holy Night*~


She said she didn't get it finished by Christmas, but is thinking of leaving it up all year. You gotta know how GREAT that makes me feel! :) If you aren't familiar with Kathy or Kathy's home... she and her home were featured in Mercantile Gatherings Holiday 2008 issue. Her home is Out-of-this-World magnificent!

The second email came from Michele (don't have a blog listed yet... but I'm checking). She stitched up my ~*Friends Sampler*~ (one of my pattern offerings for sale) as a gift for her Mom for Christmas. A friend of hers also stitched up the pattern as a gift for HER. Michele changed the pattern a bit to fit the Mother/Daughter theme & then stitched it up into a sweet, pink pillow.

I hope Michele doesn't mind... but I just have to share her words from her email to explain the excitement, fun, and sweetness...

"I thought I'd send along a couple of pictures of your "Friends Sampler" chart. The pink pillow I stitched for my mom because I drew her name for our Rug Hookers Christmas party, but the funny thing is, my friend, who drew my name for the same party, stitched the exact same sampler for me! I opened mine and was so surprised but couldn't say anything because my mom hadn't opened her's yet...anyway, she was next in line to open her present, so we all had a good laugh! Like minds think alike and know a great chart when we see one! Of course, I changed a few things to fit my mom and I."

~*Friends Sampler*~ by Michele & Friend...


Thank you, Ladies.. for sharing your talent & your stitches. You brought some warm smiles to me on such a chilly day.

Warm smiles to you all....

Betty

~*I'm so Excited!*~

Happy Sunday to you all! I've just come across some delightful news & am so surprised, tickled, and touched.... all at one time! Guess you could say, I'm GIDDY! I've just learned that Tammy of Skip To My Ewe has proposed a challenge to her local hooking group. The girls in the challenge were offered two of my Valentine, freebie doodles to hook. Here are two... one finished & one in progress, both of the freebie ~*Hearts Pair 1957*~...

This pillow was hooked by Renee. I so love the scalloped edge & the contrast of pinks and blacks. (Renee runs the Ebay shoppeSkip To My Ewe.)


And this is a work-in-progress by Sheri of Shabby Sheep. Again, I do just love the pinks & blacks together... just brings images (and cravings) to mind of all the yummy Valentine candies! She says that she is pulling some of the darks out to add a grenedine color so her rug (another pillow finish actually) will match a Karen Kahle rug she has hooked.


Now... as the topping on the cake!.... Tammy left me a comment saying that many of the finished pieces & their makers will be at the Lenexa hook-in at the end of February! I'm going to be there too! I get to see them all in person! YIPPEE! It is so GREAT to see folks' finished works using my patterns... or doodle ditties! Not to mention, I get to meet the awesome makers themselves! See.... how exciting?!

All this news comes at the end of a full week for us at home. Trinity had his tonsils & adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears on Friday. He has needed lots of TLC... as any little one would! He is recovering remarkably & has been so brave! Such a strong Little Trooper!

Warm smiles to you all..... Betty

~*Goodness.... Seems Like Forever*~

Hello Friends! It does seem like forever, but I have listed ~ finally listed ~ a couple of new ditties on Ebay!

~*Dancing Bunny Pinkeep*~


and ~*Kitty Valentine Box*~


Both are listed with only .99 starting bids! If you would like to see them ~ CLICK HERE.

Thanks for letting me share.... warm smiles to ya!

~ Betty

~* I Owe Lisa an Apology*~

Hello Dear friends! Oh deary... I do owe Lisa an apology. Before this year began, seven days ago... she sent me a note to show me her newest, darling ditty and I spaced off posting it to share! SHAME on me! Lisa, I am so sorry!! Here it is though... isn't it GRAND?!



I love how she made it into a cupboard hanger... and I totally LOVE the primming of it!

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing & working with my patterns. I promise to be more on-the-ball next time!

Warm smiles,

Betty

~* First Freebie of 2009!*~

Hello My Dear Friends! Valentine's Day will be here before we know it. You have time to stitch up a sweet treat through! Enjoy!


© primitivebettys

58 by 52 stitches

Please remember, I love to see your finished goodies. My email link is at the left. So send me your finished works so I can show them off!

Also, please be kind & give credit to the designer ~ Betty Dekat... primitivebettys. Thank you!

Warm smiles to you...

Betty

~*Do You Remember Our New Spare Room?*~

Hi Friends! Do you recall we recently re~did our spare bedroom... so we would have a spare bedroom? Apparently it has been claimed by Sarah as her 'very~own' room...



Often times when I walk by, she will be stretched out on the bed... soaking up the sunshine from the nearby window. However, recently I've seen her snuggled up on this little hooked rug. This is one of her most favorite spots in the house now.

I must have bothered her. When she saw me snapping some pictures, she immediately had to get up to stretch...



Then wouldn't look me in the eye...



At all!



Then headed off to find her food dish... or some other spot in the house where she wouldn't be bothered.

Smiles...

Betty

~*One more~ Yippee!*~

Hi Friends! Becky from The Stitchin' Post stitched up ~*Silent Holy Night*~ and finished it off into an ornie to give to a friend. Look! :)



Another sweet finish...huh? Next to it is a design by Tanya of The Sampler Girl. Both are just darling! Thank you, Becky, for sharing!

Warm smiles,

Betty

~*Another Freebie Finish to Share*~

Hello Friends! I do hope your New Year is starting off with a bang of happiness! I'm delighted to share another freebie finish with you....



Isn't it darling? This was stitched by Ann of A Hole in the Basket Primitives. She is a frame collector.... snatching up good ones for pennies at the local goodwill and area garage sales. Although this finish is in one of those frames... you could NEVER tell by looking. It is finished very nicely!

Thank you, Ann, for sharing your marvelous work with us all!

Many warm smiles,
Betty