Stitch Sampler

I finally finished it!!  This is my stitch sampler from Rebecca Ringquist.

It took me two years but at least I finished. Well, it didn't actually take two years. I'm bad about starting things and then before I am finished I get excited about working on something else, which creates piles of unfinished projects. I'm sure I'm the only one who does that! Right!

The fabric on the border is Soiree from Moda. I bought this charm pack several years ago and when I started the sampler I picked my embroidery floss to match the fabric.

I do have a couple other projects that are several years old and I am determined to finish them.  Then I'm going to stop doing that and work on one thing at a time until I finish.

Right! Like that's going to happen!!

Check out Rebecca's Etsy store, Dropcloth, for lots of pretty samplers.
Have a great week!

Cut & Paste

"Why?" says the man wearing the peppermint souffle on his head.

I saw this cute "Cut & Paste" sign on Mary Ann Moss's blog Dispatch From LA. I had to have it since I love to cut and paste. The background is just a bunch of pretty papers from Mary Green's classes that I had leftover.This fabulous girl came from an old Good Housekeeping magazine. I also got some old French magazines recently and that is where the guy came from. I added the word on his sweater since he is the victim of a crazy cut and paste lady.

I bought these old magazines thinking I would sell them in my Etsy store since I know so many people love collage but I couldn't stop myself from cutting them up for my own collages. The ads and the models from the 1950s are so great! And the fashion...!!!  Oh, I love vintage fashion!!!!!

 I found these two bathing beauties in the Good Housekeeping mag and knew they needed their own journal spread. This pretty chevron paper was also made by Mary Ann Moss.

This was my second attempt at this collage. I painted a background first but it looked horrible so I started over. I also used some rub-ons which was really fun. I found them for 50 cents and had to try them. I don't love this collage as much as the first one but it was fun to work on anyway.

I'm looking forward to more cutting and pasting!!

Have a creative week!!!

Quilt Squares And An Old Lamp

Isn't she lovely?

You may change your mind when you see the rest of her. I found her at a flea market last Sunday and I had to take her home.

There is no middle of the road here. You either think she is great or you are wondering about my taste level right now.  I understand either way!

I don't know what she wore when she was new but I would love to know. I figured it would be easy enough to find a lampshade for the top and create a skirt out of something for the bottom. The knob to turn it on is missing. I tried the knobs from every lamp in my house but none fit. I put two bulbs in and used pliers to turn it on and only the bottom bulb turned on. I guess I have to re-wire her. I think I'll wear a disguise to take her to Home Depot to see if I can buy a double whatchamacallit. I'm too sensitive and I'll be embarrassed if people laugh.

You may be laughing but I can't hear you.


I finished my April and May quilt blocks for the Craftsy Block of the Month class. I just finished the last one today so I have a couple hours to enjoy being caught up before the June video is up tomorrow.

                                                   The April blocks used hexagons.

The May blocks were called Wonky Log Cabins

I'm enjoying learning how to make these different blocks.

I hope you are having a great week!!

Pattern Ladies

I found these cute notebooks at Marshall's. They were $1.99 for all three. I thought they would make great little art journals or gluebooks.

The woman at the counter assumed I was buying them for my kids. I love kids but wasn't lucky enough to have any and it always surprises me when people just assume you have some. Anyway, the kid I was buying them for was me.

I wanted to use these cool pattern ladies so I used my water color paints and painted one of the covers. The paints dried into a waxy coating on the cover which was really weird. I started to go back over it and fill in the white spots and the already dried paint turned into water again and a big mess was made.

 I started with a new book and covered it with a vintage electronics assignment that I found in an old book.
Then I used some scrapbook paper and parts of the pattern to make a collage. The feet were torn on the girl with the robe so I had to get creative to cover them up. Her right foot was completely gone.

I thought it might be fun to do a whole book of fashion type collages so I started another one. I had this pink and white scrapbook paper that had dresses all over it. It was a little too cutesy so I tore it and glued the pieces together going in different directions.

It was still too much so I went over the edges lightly with gesso and went heavy in the center so the girls wouldn't blend into the background.  Unfortunately all the glue and gesso made the paper curl as it dried and the page tore itself right out of the book. So much for my $1.99 journals! Maybe I can punch holes and use binder rings to make a book. I think I'll give that third book to a real kid!

Sewing Pattern Collage

At a recent estate sale I found a couple great old pattern envelopes. Some were empty and even the full ones were torn and had tons of damage. This thrilled me because I felt free to use them in a collage instead of feeling that I should keep them intact and sell them. The lady didn't even charge me because they were a mess. Lucky me! I've been wanting to do a collage on a canvas for a while so this was the project for it.

I covered the background with the tissue paper. I glued the girls to the back of a new envelope because the one they came off of was too dark and dirty and I wanted the contrast. Then I sewed around her to ...um... well I just wanted to.

This past weekend I went to a church flea market and I saw a whole large box filled with patterns for only $3. I started to look through it to see if there were any good patterns in the box then I realized I didn't care and I grabbed the box and paid for it. Several months ago I was helping my mom get rid of old stuff and realized that even though these old patterns weren't going to be used again, the tissue paper would make great packing material for when I sell things on eBay or Etsy. So don't throw them in the trash. There are lots of things you can do with patterns. I actually did pull out some nice patterns and put the others into my collage or the recycle bin. I used the numbers on the envelope flap to make the base for this collage.

Then I found this ad in an old Good Housekeeping mag from the 50s.

I had two canvases and several old pattern envelopes so I made two collages.

Isn't that dress cute? Oh I wish I had a little waist! I would make this!

I used the dictionary to find some appropriate words.

 I got this old rhinestone trim at the same estate sale as the patterns. I found it at the bottom of a box and she didn't charge me for that either. The stuff that she thought was worthless was my favorite stuff. Funny!

That was a fun project! I'll have to see what else I can do with all those pattern women!

I hope you are having a creative week!

Stitching

I have been working on several projects lately but nothing is completed. I'm working on my Block of the Month April quilt blocks and only have a week or so to get them finished before the May videos are up. I'm also trying to get back to my collaging. This past week I saw that Amy Powers was going to do a Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong in June. I really want to do it!!  It is on sale right now for only $10.00 on the Big Picture Classes website. I haven't picked up my embroidery for a long time so my deal with myself is that I can take this class as long as I finish the other stitching projects I started. Well, I have to finish two projects. I'm not counting the long ago abandoned projects like this one my mom found that I started when I was a little girl.

I think it's funny that I signed it when I hadn't done much work on it.

I finished this tulip today but still have a long way to go on my Stitch Sampler from Rebecca Ringquist. She has several pretty samplers you can buy. I want to finish this in the next week or two then I'll only have one embroidery project to do so I can do the stitchalong.

Sometimes you just have to discipline yourself if you want you to get anything done. Ha!

I'm having a hard time getting bright pictures today. The sun here in Pittsburgh needs to eat a Jimmy Dean sandwich. It's supposed to snow tonight.  What??????!!!!!!!

Have a creative week and join me in the stitchalong. It will be fun!!!

Grandma's Housecoats

I come from a family of savers. This is good and bad and you understand that if you are a saver too. It's great to have special items from the past but where do you put all that stuff? I definitely inherited the saver gene which is why I still have my childhood toys even though they aren't in mint condition or even close to mint. If I just would have saved my Mr. and Mrs. Mouse House I'd be a happy girl!

My Grandma Norwood died back in 1999. She was the sweetest lady!!  She was a saver too and I think all of us grandkids have something special that used to belong to Gram. One thing she saved was a box of old dresses and housecoats. Maybe to some that wouldn't be a special save but it was to me. One of my saver sisters collected them and held on to them before sending me some of them. I spent a couple years trying to decide what to do with them. Finally this year I put them to use making something for each of my sisters.

This apron was made for my youngest sister. My Gram was such a huge spirit but when I looked at her tiny dresses I was surprised how small she was physically. So all the aprons are pieced together with several fabrics.

Each apron has a flower with one of Gram's buttons in the center.

This next apron was made for my oldest sister.

This blue fabric was a dress and I was able to keep half the skirt together to use as the skirt of the apron. The bodice is actually the back of the original dress. It had a large complicated collar so I removed that and added some housecoat fabric into the V and used the same fabric for pockets. This fabric and the pink straps fabric was used in the first apron and also in the next. I liked how the fabrics went together so I wanted all three aprons to coordinate.

The third apron is for the sister that saved the dresses and housecoats.

The ruffles should be one long piece but I had to piece them together to make it work.

That is how I re-purposed Gram's housecoats and dresses. There are only teeny tiny scraps left now but the saver sister that saved Gram's things says she will make me an apron too. Um, Karen, you forgot to get the scraps when you were here. 

I love you, sisters!!

and

I miss you, Gram!!!