Saturday's Treasures

Isn't Saturday one of the best days of the week! It's the one day I get to go treasure hunting and these are the treasures that I found today.......

First is this delicate little china plate that has Bavaria stamped on the back side. It will go in my downstairs bathroom where I'm slowly building my old plate and lid collection.

Then I found this wonderful scrapbook for 1.25! It's a book that someone published of their scrapbook of their grandmother and it is absolutely delightful........

This is one of the very first pages with a picture of grandmother......
the entire book is filled with articles and ephemera and all kinds of fun clippings as well as recipes and advice to live by. It's something I know I'll receive much pleasure from.
Besides these I also brought home an older McCalls pincushion pattern, a cross stitch book filled with small patterns and bag of plastic strawberries--yup plastic!

Then when I went to pick up the mail and I received my Covered Tape Measure swap from my swap partner Thea. She used machine embroidery for my name and the ever so appropriate saying. When you turn it over it has a built in pincushion. Thank you Thea!
One more week til next Saturday and I hope it too will be filled with lots of wonderful treasures!

Covered Tape Measure

I'm doing a Covered Tape Measure swap on the Crazy About Pincushions Yahoo group and this is the one I sent my partner today. I don't think she knows about my blog--so I don't think she'll see it. It's my first try at a little bit of silk ribbon embroidery and I so enjoyed it. I did her initial--T--and then added the roses, rosebuds and leaves with a bit of feather stitching and beads on white wool. The tab should have been at the side or bottom and as you can see I goofed and it's at the top and the scanner squished my roses a bit, but all in all I think it came out fairly well and I think I'll try a few more of these, they're really rather fun to stitch up.

Old Pot Lids & Such

While I was talking to my mom on the phone last night she was describing what she had done with an old pot lid she put in her laundry room and I told her I had done the very same thing with one in my laundry room--and we had both seen it in a magazine at some point somewhere.
What we both had done was to take an old enamel pot lid, drilled a hole in the lip part of the lid and hung it on the wall to use as a towel holder. A fun and unique way to use an old lid that has lost its pot and is laying around as an old castoff hoping to miss the trash pile.

Then I got to thinking about some of my other favorite lids like this one that hangs in one of my bathrooms. I found it at a thrift store for $4--a bit more than I wanted to pay for it, but I just love it and it’s colors are so rich and it was too pretty to end up in the dumpster.

There is also this little sugar bowl lid that used to have a sugar bowl until it was tragically smashed in the ride home from the flea market, but I couldn’t toss the little lid and eventually it found it’s mate in a new sugar bowl that had somehow lost it’s lid.


Then there is this poor old teapot and lid that don't match and the tea pot's spout has even been broken of at the very top, so I rescued this odd pair and have enjoyed them ever since.
So the next time you're at a flea market or thrift store keep an eye out for misfits lids needing a partner or purpose in life. They're important too!

Happy Birthday To The Husband

Happy Birthday to my cowboy! Today is his 45th birthday--he's getting close to grown up and still as cute as can be. Not sure what his plans are for his special day, but I do need to get started on his birthday cake--homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting--his favorite! Hope he can blow out all those candles at once! hehee!

Vitnage Laundry Bag--New Pattern

New Pattern in E form--Vintage Laundry Bag. I designed this one after an actual vintage laundry bag I had found a few years ago and have since then stitched up a few using vintage pillowcases. I love the simplicity of it and it has just the right amount of yesteryear to it. This one I've stitched in turkey red--to match my laundry room, but I'd love to do one in jadite green or a bluey aqua color. I think it would look quite pretty in whatever color a person chooses. This is just the first piece in a collection of laundry room designs I'll have ready soon. In the meantime you can find the pattern at Patternmart http://www.patternmart.com/patterns/search/section/All/Hazelruthe/All and soon I'll have it listed on Etsy too.

The Quiet of the Morning

Ah, the quiet of the morning. It’s so peaceful and relaxing and a time to be cherished. The husband is off to work and the little kid is still in bed sleeping. It’s just me, the cat and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies as I sit here in the quiet of my sewing room perched at my large drafting table doing my morning reading. When I am done I turn on the oven to finish baking the cookies I had started the night before. There is a gentle cool breeze coming in thru the kitchen window, along with a beautiful view of blue sky, white clouds and the tops of very tall pine trees with the birds flitting about, singing and doing whatever it is birds do in the quiet of thier morning.

I return to my sewing room where I resume my perch and pull out my newest magazine--this one is on altered art pieces and I peruse it pages ohhhing and awwwing all the pretty projects and jotting down notes of ideas to incorporate into my own upcoming projects and making mental notes of what to do with my day.

This time won’t last for long I realize as the little kid awakens and the day slowly starts to speed up to it’s normal rate of hub-bub and this is also a part of the day that is good and to be enjoyed and I know that as always the peaceful quiet of the morning will return once again--tomorrow………………………

E Patterns

Depending on how you know me, you may or may not know that I've just begun selling my patterns in E Pattern form and it's very exciting! My Primitive Antique Baby Shoe Pattern is my most popular one so far.

In case you're not familiar with E - Patterns yet they are patterns that you receive in a pdf. file via your email and print out on your own printer whenever you are ready. They are usually a little cheaper than a hard copy pattern and there's no shipping! Especially now that the postage rates are so high and you get them either instantly (thru Pattern Mart) or within 24 hrs (Ebay or Etsy). You can have a peek at them by going to Other Places You Will Find Me in the right hand column underneath my picture. It's a fun new world and I'm working on some brand new patterns, so keep an eye out.

365 Challenge Quilt

What is a 365 Challenge Quilt you say. It's a really neat way to keep a journal and quilt at the same time! I found it recently at Leanne's House http://leanneshouse.typepad.com/leanneshouse/2007/04/the_365_challen.html

There's a link in the upper right hand corner of her blog that goes to the tutorial.

Here are a few of the fabrics I've chosen to get started with. I'll be doing my journaling on various shades of cream and beige fabrics and will add in blocks of color as I go along with lots of embellishing of various types. I'm really looking forward to this quilt and seeing how it grows.

This piece of fabric by Moda from the Rhubarb & Ginger collection is one that I found at the same time and just had to have! I love the look of old samplers. It won't be used for journaling but I'm sure I'll figure a way to work it into the quilt somewhere and who knows what other projects I'll find to use it in.

A Wonderful Surprise!

Look at the wonderful surprise I received in the mail today from my friend Kelley B http://kankerdoodle.blogspot.com/ She made me this as a housewarming gift and I absolutely love it! There's a cool prim heart, a bowl full of ceramic buttons and little garden and sewing pins and this awesome punch needle pincushion! The pictures just don't do it justice! Kelley's work is just gorgeous! I don't think I'll be using this as a working pincushion--it's just too pretty!

Thank you Kelley for this primitively awesome treasure! I will think of you everytime I see it!

Images for Printing

Well my posts got a bit confused. This one should come after the one below it on--How to Print on Fabric, so read that one first and then this one will make more sense! :)



Above are a few images you may use to print on fabric and use as you please. All I ask is that you right click and save them to your own hard drive. Happy Printing!

How To Print On Fabric

I thought I'd put together a little pictorial tutorial-- ;) to show how easy it is to print images onto fabric. So let's get started.

You will need, some muslin or other light colored fabric, freezer paper, scissors and your printer. Please note this for inkjet printers only. Laser printers can melt the freezer paper and then you'll have a big mess and need to buy a new printer---you'll want a new inkjet of course. ;)

NOTE: If the project you are making will ever be washed then 1st pre-wash your fabric (not necessary for non-washables like an ornament or decorative item that will never be washed) and 2nd use a product called Bubble Jet following the product instructions.

First off choose the image that you want to print and make sure to size it if needed thru whatever photo editor you use. You may not even need to do this step, depending on what it is you want.

Next decide if you want your muslin tea dyed or not--if so now is the time to do it, because if you wait till afterwards your image will run.

Using either scissors and a ruler or my favorite a rotary cutter and ruler. Lay your freezer paper out and cut it to 8 1/2 X 11 inches.

Next do the same thing with your fabric. Tip--you may want to pink the edges of your fabric to keep fraying at a minimum. I usually leave mine all straight edges, but either way works great.
Now that we have both the freezer paper and the fabric cut to the same size as a sheet of paper lay your freezer paper over the fabric with the shiny side facing down--facing the fabric.Now we're ready to iron our freezer paper to our fabric using a hot iron and no steam. A few swipes across it all and it should be adhered together.

This is what it will most likely look like--a bit curly, but that's ok. Make sure to trim off any stray threads at this point. We don't want them getting stuck in the printer.
Place your fabric/freezer paper sheet into the printer making sure that you know your printer and which side needs to go face down. On mine the fabric goes face down--which I think if fairly standard. If you're not sure take a piece of printer paper and mark a big X on one side and run it thru the printer and see which side comes out on top. When you get the X to come out on top you'll know which side to face down.

Now that you have your fabric loaded, either place your image onto the printer to be copied or choose an image that you have saved on your computer, click to print and when the print box pops up make sure you set the paper settings to something that is heavy. On mine I use the linen greeting card setting. Matte greeting card or cardstock settings work great too. Click print and wait.................

....for your image to come out all nice and pretty. Peel off the freezer paper---making sure to save it, because you can use the freezer paper over and over again.
Now that you have your image you can heat set it by pressing it with a hot, dry iron or you can lightly spray it with a spray acrylic clear coat. You can also use a product called Bubble Jet Set to preserve the picture you just printed in case you wash your project. Follow the product instructions.

Here is the image that I chose and I stitched it up into a little old fashioned looking feedsack. I used the one sheet of fabric for the whole bag. This image was purchased from Ewe and Me Printables--she has tons of great images.

http://ewenmeprintables.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=PrintableFeedsacks

The ideas of what you can do with images printed on fabric is endless. They make great ornies, pillows, additions to crazy quilts, postcards that you can actually mail, tags and so much more.

In the post above are some images you can use as you wish. Have fun with it and please save the images to your own hard drive.

Happy Printing!

NOTE! For Bloggers in the UK. Our freezer paper is different from Greaseproof. Greaseproof is wax paper and it won't work for this project. However I have found a couple of websites in the UK through a Google search that sell Reynolds Freezer Paper and I read that you may also be able to find the Reynolds Freezer Paper at Hobbycraft stores. Here in the states we buy the Reynolds Freezer Paper in the grocery stores and at quilt shops, so you might also check with your local quilt shop to see if they carry it. Reynolds Freezer Paper is originally used for wrapping and freezing meat, but it's also good for besides printing on fabric things like applique, making pennyrugs, pattern templates and so much more.

Here are two UK websites that I found that sell the Reynolds Freezer Paper......

Sew Essential

Rye-Pac

Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Country Living Magazine 4th Of July Projects

Have you picked up the newest Country Living magazine yet? If not it's the July 2007 issue and it has some beautiful 4th of July projects in it designed by Melissa Neufeld http://melissaneufeld.com/ Be sure to check out her site for some more great paper items.

I love these paper hat place cards, they look more like little crowns to me. I plan to make one big enough to wear! Wouldn't they be cute for the family--at least the girls to wear to the annual 4th of July parade!

Follow these links for the instructions to the little paper hat place cards and also for some darling vintage printable postcards for even more 4th of July projects............

Paper Hat Place Cards...........
http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/party-hat-placeholder0707

Crafting with Victorian 4th of July Postcards..........
http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/july-4th-crafts-0707

Check here for even more great 4th of July projects......
http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/fourth-july-crafts-0707

PS--lots of neat stuff in the current issue.

More Flat Dolls

Terri has received her flat doll, so now it's safe to show the pictures. I made 2--one for her and one for me. This first one is the one I made for Terri. In both of them I used antique lace tableclothes for the skirts and for the little over skirt and other lace trim I used antique lace trims from old pillow cases--mixed with some new ribbons as well as some antique seam binding and the buttons are old. (If you click on the pictures they'll pop up in a larger size for better viewing).

I used a soft gold colored moire for the bodice. I love morie fabrics and they really blend nicely in antiquety vintage style projects.

On Terri's I added a little silver pocket watch that I painted gold, a tag of rusty pins that I made, a heart charm and an old clock key and a true friends tag.
This is the one that I made for me. Using the same fabrics, laces, ribbons etc. Just a bit different in the bodice design and charms that hang from it.......
On this one I photocopied an old button card, backed it with some black velvet and added the buttons and ribbon for a laced up corset look.
I had intended to add the same things to mine as I did Terri's, but then I got to looking around my room and went with some sewing trinkets I had that needed to be displayed better. The scissors is part of a set that includes a thimble and a gold needlecase. I opted to use an antique quilters thimble with the top cut out instead, because I just didn't want to poke a hole in my nice new thimble. There is also a ladies pocket watch, clock key, pins tag and a neat magnifying glass made for a key chain. I had more to add, but decided this was enough--I think!

I had so much fun making these flat dolls, I don't know when the last time was that I had this much fun with a project. I'm thinking of gathering up some more trinkets and making a few to sell, so we'lll see how the gathering goes.

The inspiration for this swap came from the original Flat Dolls designed by Barbara Willis..........

http://www.barbarawillisdesigns.com/flatdolls.html

http://www.barbarawillisdesigns.com/oohlala.html

Don't forget to check out the rest of Barbara's site. She's a very talented artist and her work is to die for!

Saturday Treasures

Finally I got to go garage saling! I missed last weekend, because I ended up sicker than a dog, but I think I made out pretty good today. I got all this stuff for just under $15!

In the very back is 10 fabric samples that I will use for crazy quilting and pincushion making, the tall skinny jar will become a button jar, there are 3 magazines--Country Home and 100 Flea Market Find Ideas, 2 Beverly Lewis books, antiquety looking lamp to go next to my sewing machine, I love America blocks, Americana picture that is painted & stitched, cool blue jar that looks old, but is an Avon jar, old sugar bowl, the little red pitcher is a strawberry, white on white linen with a basket design stitched on it from about the 1930's, red & white small tablecloth, heart plate holder thingy and Raggedy Ann--a whole .25! holding a tiny santa face mug. I also got a big ol bunch of rose hips and the husband got a bunch of boring old boy stuff--tools and such, so all in all I think I did pretty good! Can't wait to see what treasures will be waiting for me in peoples driveways next week!

Flat Doll Swap

I just have to share the gorgeous flat doll that Terri of Prim Creek http://primcreek.blogspot.com/ made for me for the Flat Doll swap we participated in. I absolutely love it and it's pictures just don't show how pretty it really is.

Terri put a lot of beautiful sewing into it and the fabric is so pretty.....

Here's a close up, so can see the beautiful detailing. The brown ribbon is gorgeous!

Thank you so much Terri! I have truly been enjoying this beautiful piece.

I was a bit late in getting Terri's to her, so as soon as she receives it--probably Monday or Tuesday I'll post pics of the one I made her--can't have her peeking early ya know!

Flickr!

What is Flickr you say. It's one of my favorite places to go search and drool and can be quite addicting to those of us with a need for eye candy. You can find just about anything on Flickr from gardening to needlework to home decor.

At first I would go to Flickr--that's www.flickr.com and I would type in a word of something to search for say for instance--pincushion. It will pull up hundreds of photos of pincushions and then I discovered when I found an album full of wonderful photos that I could click on that persons favorites and it would pull up all these little boxes of wonderful photos and then I'd click on one of the photos and be in another new persons album and of course they had favorites, so I had to see those too and before long I was off on a tangent and filling up with lots of eye candy. Wanna try? Ok here's a link to my page of favorites. Just click on any photo that interests you and then peek around that album and click here and click there and well if you're not back in time for dinner call out for pizza..........................

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79155439@N00/favorites/

We won't even mention that there are Flickr groups for everything under the sun that will lead you further into the candy store and off the path of doing housework and other such unimportant tasks.........................

Americana Ornie Giveway and Swap Ornies

Gayle B our winner of the Ameicana ornie for the Post a Comment contest received her ornie yesterday, so I'm posting a picture of it and the ornies I've received in an online Americana Ornie swap I was in with some of my online friends. All the ornies were awesome as usual and I hope you'll enjoy seeing them all.

This one is Lady Liberty made by me for the swap and also one that was won by Gayle. I used a pattern by Sonja Sandell of Hickety Pickety.

A great big awesome Uncle Sam by Kathi R. I just love the size of this one!
Annie by Deborah B, how adorable is she in her flag dress and Happy 4th tag.
Flag by Joanne G. I think it's message says it all and I love the popsickle sticks!
By Kim L--A real picture of her grandmother in the year 1918--Awesome! By Christine S--this is coolest ever needlefelted sheep!
Glory Bee! By DiAnn R I just love the theme! So Cute!
July 4, 1812 by Rosemary W--Primitively Cool!
Liberty Annie by Phyllis S. This picture just doesn't do her justice.
Lots of wonderful detail as always.
I'll have one more to share at a later date. It's always a bit sad when these swaps are done. I've been swapping with these gals for about 7 years now and have the most awesome collection of ornies for all the holidays and then some and I look forward to many more years of swapping.

Random Act Of Kindness

I saw something today that I just had to share. While my youngest daughter and I were sitting in the Jack In The Box parking lot waiting on our order in the overflow area I was watching the traffic at the busy intersection when I noticed an elderly lady with a shopping cart--no she wasn't a bag lady--just a lady with a shopping cart, probably from her apartment complex that sits near to the large grocery store she was heading toward--when I noticed the car next to her that is stopped at the light. A woman on the passenger's side steps out onto to the sidewalk, walks up to the elderly lady and is saying something into her ear. The woman from the car then bends down and ties both of the elderly woman's shoes for her. During this time the light changes and the driver of the car pulls around the corner, the elderly lady's shoes are tied and she crosses the street and the other woman sprints down the sidewalk to her waiting ride.

Now how often do you see that. Such a simple thing by a very observant and caring person. I wondered if I would have done such a thing, but was grateful to be able to witness the simple act of kindness. It was not only an act of kindness to the elderly lady, but a reminder and perhaps a lesson to all those around who did witness it. In this very busy, ever changing world with wars and terrorist attempts, tainted foods and other unrests it's nice to know there are still good hearts watching out for those in need. I hope myself and all of us can take a moment this week to stop and see who around us might need their shoes tied.