Tuesday, July 31, 2012

More Quilt Blocks

Once again I am finishing my Block of the Month quilt blocks on the last day of the month. I always think I'm going to start the new blocks right away each month but it doesn't happen.
This is my favorite of the four I made for June and July.


This one is a different version of the dresden plate.

These were the June blocks. I didn't post them on their own because I think they are kind of boring. I'm not sure if I'll have to redo the one on the left. There is only one other block that is very pastel like this and I'm not sure if they will really go with all my blocks. It is the same group of fabric which is Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda but all the others have at least a little of the darker colors in it.

I'm going to a Sewing and Quilt Expo with my sister later this week. It is going to be so fun!!

I hope you all are doing well!!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Fun With Old Paper


I've been doing some collages in my gluebooks lately. The one above is in my tiny 2 1/2 by 4 inch Moleskin. The background is a real piece of newspaper from 1883. It was a scrap that fell out of another old magazine I have. Since it was already cut I didn't feel bad using it. The old stamp is also real but the other things are copies. The lady is from Steam Tea Travels and I forget where the other piece is from. Have you ever visited Steam Tea Travels? Very creative blog!


This one is in my larger Moleskin. I used a year book from 1936. I'm not thrilled with it because the shiny paper was hard to glue without having it ripple and I was too heavy handed with the distress ink on the side. I bought the yearbook at an estate sale and the National Honor Society membership card belongs to the lady that owned the book.


The background in this one is an actual drafting assignment done in 1915. The little square that says "Practice Sheet" is another assignment from 1917. I like to pick up these old things and put them to good use in something creative. 


I used some advertisements from an old McCall's magazine from the 1920s for this one. It has such pretty images in it!

It was fun playing with paper and glue again (and a little ink) so I'll have to keep it up. There is nothing more relaxing to me!

Have a great week!!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Vintage Birthday Card

This little cutie was photographed about 78 years ago. This is my mother Dolores and she is 79 today. My grandfather loved taking photographs so luckily there are lots of pics of my mom when she was young. It may not be the clearest picture but it is cute anyway.
I wanted to make something for my mom so I made this card for her using only vintage items. First I took an old photo album page and put the picture in it.
I glued some old trim down the side of the album page that was torn from the book. This covered its rough edge. I added a thin piece of lace along the bottom of the page and on top of that I added a crocheted corner. I don't know what this was originally attached to but I love it. I always buy old lace at estate sales. That is something I can't bear to sell because I want to keep it all. I haven't seen any reality shows about lace hoarding so I'm not going to worry about it.
I used an old faux pearl necklace to make the hanger. I restrung the pearls onto wire so it would hold its shape. I cut the words from a vintage birthday card and added an old piece of tatting to the corner. I added vintage buttons that still had their old thread in them and some old millinery flowers to finish it off.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!!