folk art

With the 4th of July just days away, here in the USA, many streets and buildings proudly display our flag and many flag based decorations. Today we are sharing our version of the flag... an applique with lots of "heart" for our nation :) My plan was to turn this into a wooden plaque to hang off a seasonal rod I have in my house. But, alas, I didn't get to it this year. Perhaps next. As with all our appliques, this was designed to fit on a 6" x 6" block but it can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. The pattern for the Patriotic Heart can be found HERE. Enjoy :) 

NOTE: When cutting out this applique, you will notice that you are suppose to cut 3 long strips of white felt. They have not been cut to fit the heart because they can stretch and because you might not place them exactly. To attach the stripes, pin a long stripe to the heart following the placement of the pattern. Allow it to overhang at either end. Sew the stripe on. The carefully cut the strip to fit the heart being careful not to cut the heart or the blanket stitch below the stripe. You will need 1 full strip for the center stripe, but you should get two stripes from the remaining 2 strips.

The other day I shared our latest gnomes... the Old World Wooden Gnomes. In the past we've made Peg Gnomes, Knit Gnomes, Sewn Baby Gnome Dolls, and Michelle even designed Gnome Pillow Panels that you can buy from Spoonflower to sew and stuff. So, it only seems natural that we would eventually have gotten around to making wooden gnomes :)

NOTE: For general instructions on how to cut out wood, prepare it for finishing, then painting, and finishing, including the beeswax and olive oil finish recipe, check out the post HERE.

I made these from 1" ash, but you can use any medium or hardwood. Click here to download the Old World Wooden Gnome pattern. Begin by cutting the gnomes out of wood. As you will notice, they aren't perfect. The saw blade had a mind of its own, but that's okay. Even the wonky ones turned out cute :)

Although I've been working with wood for the past couple of years, and not nearly as often as I should to advance my skills significantly, I tried something new this project. I finally used the wood burner Michelle gave me for Christmas.

Trust me when I tell you I'm new to wood burning. So new I couldn't even figure how to get the tips off so I just used the one it came with! (BTW... I figured it out AFTER I was done with the project :) 

I transferred the pattern for wood burning to the wood using a pencil.



I then practiced on scrap wood. Yikes! Not as easy as I thought it was going to be!

I moved on to the "real thing" and wood burned the pieces. I did not do a perfect job, but I was reasonably certain... or at least hopeful, that it wouldn't matter when they were all done :)


When I was done wood burning the pieces, I erased the marks, then proceeded to painting.

As usual, I mixed up milk paints, and painted each a bit different. It was amazing how the burned lines made it easier to paint... the secret to "staying in the lines".


When they were dried, I finished them with my beeswax/olive oil.

They have such an Old World look to them. The wee ones pounced on them when they came over. I know I will be making a whole village!

REMEMBER: For general instructions on how to cut out wood, prepare it for finishing, then painting, and finishing, including the beeswax and olive oil finish recipe, check out the post HERE.

The actual pattern can be found HERE.

Hope you have fun and populate your house with a bunch of gnomie friends :)