Sump'n Sassy

Unexpected Gifts

2011-12-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

I live in a small town in central Texas, and, perhaps because of its size or maybe because I'm retired and home all the time, we've come to know our delivery people more than we ever did back in Dallas. Each year at Christmas, we tip them: the postman, the alternate post-lady, the UPS guy, the newspaper delivery-person, and the garbage pick-up guys. The hub's mother did this when he was growing up so it's intrinsic to who he is. (My family didn't, but we barely had enough to make ends meet back then.)

All that to say that this year our post-lady (alternate) gave us a lovely thank-you gift: an aerial photo of our house.

We're the house at the bottom right of the photo. See the little building with the roof the same color as the main house? That's my studio. Behind it, with a different color roof (that was intentional, btw), is the hub's workshop. The metal roof covers where he parks his pick-up truck. To the side, or top as it appears in the photo, is the greenhouse. Our property goes from the street on the right (out of view) and the dirt road in the back.

Here's a cropped version of just our property.

I know the little thingies (actually they're trellises with vines) that appear to be in the middle of the back yard look odd aerially, but hey originally marked our property line. We bought the second lot several years after we moved in.

To the north of us is the golf course--see that outcropping of granite? Magnificent, innit? It looks even prettier from my back porch.

IMHO, the thank-you gift is worth far more than the gratuity we gave. What do you think?

I realize I've been very lax about posting and I can't promise that will change significantly anytime soon. So, those of you who are still reading this blog, thank you. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of you.

Billie's Padded Hanger

2011-11-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

My sister, Billie, recently bought a silk nightgown at the thrift store. She says it's in perfect condition and made of silk so sheer she could pull it through a hole the size of a quarter. She doubted she'd wear it, but at something like $1.99 she couldn't pass it up. It's blue, as is her bedroom so if she ever changed her mind, at least she'd match the decor.

When she decided to hang it on the outside of her closet door, I offered to make her a padded hanger. She was down here a few weeks back, and she brought a favorite worn silk shirt for me to use.

I made it using directions I found in the newspaper in the late '70s. (I was just remembering the other day how newspapers used to have a Women's section, and it didn't include the funnies! I miss that.) It's really nothing more than padding a wire hanger with batting, tracing the outline to make a pattern, stitching it together leaving an opening big enough to insert the hanger, then stitching up the opening. This one I put the hanger in through the bottom, but with the ones I made in the '70s I used a seam down the center.

It went in the mail yesterday. I'll get her to take a pic once she receives it so I can show how it looks in place.

Speaking of Billie, her daughter has started a blog called My Mom Texts. It's some of Billie's funniest texts to her daughter. IMO, Amanda's equally as funny as her mother. I thought I'd share some of them here.

***

Me: Gonna have to up my dosage on crazy meds. Everyone on the planet is pissing me off… Common denominator. Being crazy sucks!
Mom: So so sorry you’re crazy. I’m relatively sane today and they’re pissing me off too.
Me: Okay… So maybe it really is everyone else. Either way more meds can’t hurt!
Mom: That’s my motto

***

Me: Jadon just told me that high school is going to suck bc he’s so small and there will be kids there with mustaches. Let’s pray for a growth spurt!
Mom: He has inner mustache.

***

(Regarding Washington earthquake)

Mom: If you hear about pentagon its not end of days… Probably fracking in the area.

***

Mom: I have frking cataracs. And I don’t even care if spelld wrong. Am so mad. Don’t want an old people eye disease
Me: Oh no…. Idc about old I don’t want u to have any disease. And it’s not an old ppl disease. Bai’s friend has cataracts. Can’t u get a weed prescription for that though? Wish I had cataracts.
Mom: I think that’s glaucoma. Damn, was getting excited.

***

Me: I’m the worst daughter on the planet… I have no idea where u are. :’(
Mom: That was my plan. South of France. Cabana boy. Ring a bell?

***

Mom: I didn’t get out of bed yesterday except to open door for Chinese food delivery. Watched 26 episodes of Stargate. Why am I so tired?
Me: Lack of exercise. And sunlight.
Mom: Piss on ya.

***

Mom: Just realized I haven’t eaten since 11:30 yesterday. Tuna salad. I may be hungry. I shld be a lot goofier
Me: Wow… You really should. You’re almost totally lucid (relatively speaking of course).
Mom: I know! Wonder how long I cld go. Ok banana smells good. Nvrmnd

***

Mom: Just saw man running across parking lot toward open door. Yelling as ran. Thght what if someone w gun in there. Then thght no nvr happens if you think of it. Wonder if he knows I just saved his life?

***
(While Amanda flies over Georgia)

Me: What do they mine here? We flew over some huge hole right bf we landed.
Mom: Really? Pretty sure it wasn’t there yesterday. For serious only associate georgia w peaches. Pretty sure they grow on trees. Ok wait. Cracking myself up. Maybe its a peach pit.

Enough of that. Time to go. Have a good day, y'all.

Blah blah blah

2011-10-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've had the blahs lately when it comes to creating, starting many things and finishing few. Still, I thought I'd share one of the things I've almost finished and some of the things I've barely started.

This took forever! Something like 121 rolled roses, all stitched by hand. I used a wool blanket I felted several years ago and by the time I got to the end I was down to bare scraps of the fabric. And yes, that's the reason for the red rose. I still think the pillow looks a bit bare in places but without my resorting to more red roses it'll have to stay as is. The unfinished part? It's an envelope pillow and right now the back looks like a full-figured woman in a blouse she bought to fit her shoulders. In other words, it gaps. I think I'll put on a couple of buttons and strap buttonholes to hold it shut. I should have enough scraps left for that. One of these days.

As for the projects not quite started, a couple of weeks ago I bought some vintage lampshades to redo. Two of them are octagonal,

Actually one is octagonal. The other is this round one with eight panels, not really octagonal. For the round/eight paneled shade above, I'm embroidering some white linen, a work still in progress.

My intention is simply to do rings in white crewel wool, some intersecting, some free-floating.This shade will be for a lamp in my guest bedroom, an old openwork brass lamp. The real octagonal I'll use here in the office

The lamp is green and cream openwork porcelain, and I thought this fabric would work perfect as a shade. I bought it from Avenue 55 on Etsy.

The third is hard to describe so I'm not even going to try. It reminds me of the lampshades you see in those old movies with Myrna Loy.

For it, I would love to find some black and white striped silk but so far haven't found what I'm looking for.

This is a Dr. Seuss-inspired cotton stripe from Fabric.com. I'm liking it, but I'm unsure if it would work for a lampshade. It's for "quilting and craft projects as well as apparel and home decor accents." (The green newspaper print I bought sight unseen as well, but it's a linen cotton blend so I have faith it'll work.) What I really wanted was more of a cabana stripe in a silk.

Like this one, which is actually a beach towel from Ralph Lauren. (At $95 a pop, even if it would work as a lampshade I'd have to pass.)

I do have a Scalamandre silk onhand, but it's just not what I'm looking for. (As in, not black and white.)

It's a lovely silk, and I may use it anyway. Just have to get my mind to stop focusing on the cabana stripe.

That's all from here, for now. Ta.

Good Gravy!

2011-10-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I made one of the hub's favorite dishes, city chicken. As I was making the gravy, it dawned on me that there might be people who haven't learned the tips I picked up over the years for making good gravy.

I was nineteen when I married and didn't know diddly about cooking so it was pretty much OJT (on the job training) for me. And it's been a long haul getting to the good gravy stage.

Tip number one: Make sure the flour is well-cooked. You probably already know that, but I didn't until I was in my thirties. Cook until it turns a nice golden brown, taking care not to burn it.

Tip number two: Remove the pan from the heat to add your liquid. This I learned in a cooking class about ten years ago, and I was amazed at the difference it makes. It keeps the roux from clumping when you add the liquid.

Tip number three: Bouillon cubes. Okay, don't wrinkle your nose; just do it. It really deepens the flavor. For chicken, I keep both regular and salt-free and try to use both together. That way, they're not as bland as salt-free, nor as salty as regular. With beef, I only have regular on hand so...it is what it is. The beef is actually a cube, and I use one for about two cups of gravy. The chicken is granules, and, all told, I probably use about a teaspoon and a half for one recipe.

Tip number four: Potato water--or the liquid of whatever vegetable you're cooking for dinner. I use regular water to start, but whenever the gravy needs thinning, which always happens for me, I thin with the liquid from whatever vegetable I happen to be cooking. Better that you take advantage of nutrients you'd otherwise pour down the drain.

Tip number five: Browning sauce. Depending on how brown I got my flour, I may or may not use browning sauce. Made of caramel color, vegetable concentrates and seasonings, it adds a nice color to any gravy that might be lacking such. (You could also use a bit of instant coffee if you have that on hand. Me, I prefer the browning sauce.)

And finally, tip number six: When you're making gravy from a liquid base, as in last night's city chicken dish or a pot roast, pre-mix your flour and water in a small container--I use an empty jelly jar. Just put in a couple of tablespoons flour--or whatever's required for the amount of gravy you want-- add a third cup or so of water and shake that thing until the flour's fully dissolved. Then add this to your liquid base. Works a charm.

That's it for my gravy-making. Hope it helps with yours.

Another Lamp Shade

2011-09-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

I've finished my second lamp shade. I won't say I'm getting good, but I think I'm improving.

It took me a while to make this one. First I traced the panel size from the lampshade itself and then drew it onto the linen using a water-erasable pen, then worked up the embroidery design--as shown in the photo, I alternated designs on the panels.

It's just a chain stitch, done in wool crewel yarn, but it took me awhile to finish. Then, using my machine, I stitched five of the panels together. On the sixth panel, I messed up--it seems to happen at some point in every project I do. At any rate, when I was cutting out that last panel, actually the last side of the last panel, I began to cut on the stitch line instead of the seam allowance line. :^P

I was so disgusted I put it aside for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to redo the embroidery. I mean, it wasn't hard; I didn't mind doing any of it--once, but re-doing something irritates me. Finally I decided to move the panel up on the fabric--I'd only mis-cut an inch or so--and fill in the embroidery with a leaf and a curlicue, Then I put that panel at the very back of the lamp.

See. Not a disaster after all.

A closer look at an alternate panel.

This is the lamp with the shade in place--not a great shot, I know. I didn't feel like bringing the natural lamp inside. Bear with me please.

The lamp's a cheap-o I'm thinking of repainting, but I do like the re-made shade on it. (I used the shade that came with the lamp, which is why it fits so well.)

That's all for now, except for a note on the next shade I've decided to do. Kathleen Mullaney is my inspiration, and she showed this lampshade on her blog.

I'm working from ignorance and trying to recreate a pleated shade similar to the one Kathleen did. It's not going well right now, but I'm nothing if not determined. Perhaps in another month or so I can post a completed lampshade, cuz, you see, I have a back-up plan in case the method I'm working on now doesn't work out.

We'll see what happens. 'Bye, y'all.

Max

2011-09-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago next month, hub and I were having dinner with my sister Ginger, her hub, and my brother and SIL. Ginge had two cats, Miss Doofus and Mimi, and I had none. We had to put my Maine coon down a year earlier, and my heart broke so I couldn't even think of having another. Not forever, just for a while. I always called Murphy my soul-cat.

In the middle of dinner that night, Ginge let Miss Doofus out, and then we heard a bunch of caterwauling. (Did you know that caterwaul means "of a cat"?) Ginger went out to make sure Miss Doofus was okay (All right, I know Miss Doofus was a heckuva name for a cat, but she was loved so--what the heck?) Ginge came back in to tell me Miss Doofus was fighting with a yellow stray. Long story short, I took a scrawny flea-ridden Max home with us.

It didn't take long before he ruled the house. We lived on the lake back then and moved to this house a few years later. Originally our back doors were french, which we replaced with sliders. Max quickly learned to open them. To keep him in the house, we either have to lock it or remember to close the screen. Thankfully, he hasn't learned how to open that.

He's not allowed out by himself. We're surrounded by pasture on two sides, a golf course on a third and a street on the last, none of which are good places for a cat alone. So I corral him with a water gun. I don't spray on him, just around him, but it works--usually.

He's used to being mostly with the hub and me and doesn't take kindly to strangers. I had a cleaning lady who was terrified of him, and one day we came home to learn she'd hidden in a bathroom for half an hour before venturing out to find Max had totally forgotten about her. She didn't stay my cleaning lady long after that. (Her choice.)

Later, I learned how scary he could be. One night, the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep and decided to work in my studio for a while. On the way out, I managed to navigate the backyard with the light from the kitchen window, but returning a few hours later the night seemed darker, and I couldn't see a thing. When I got to the back, I reached for the screen door, and Max went wild. He'd opened the slider about four or five inches, and he was guarding it like Cerberus. I tried talking to him, tried letting him smell of me so he'd know who I was, but there was no getting past him. Luckily we have a key pad on the garage door so I could get in the house 'cause there was no other way. Butter wouldn't melt in Max's mouth when I came in the front.

All of that I've told you in explanation of the following poem. My sis, same one as above, wrote it for me for my birthday. I've read it over and over and still cry and laugh in the same places. I hope you like it.

October

As darkness fell

I knew that I must

Try to find some food.

I crossed the road and down I went

Into the neighborhood.

First house was dark,

As was the next

One sitting right next door

So on I trudged with hopeful heart.

Oh, my, how many more?

I finally caught a glimpse of light.

It was just down the way.

So off I went to see if it

Would serve me food today.

It was October, long ago,

When I ventured out

One lonely night to find some food.

Who knew how it'd turn out!

They sat behind their dinner plates

O'er at the sister's house.

I heard the laughter from inside,

Stayed quiet as a mouse.

Then all at once, I saw the thing

Its hair was long, and then

She ran for me, and I was scared;

Around the house, I went.

We hissed and spewed

And meowed and pffffft,

Made lots of noise, and then

I heard the door;

It opened wide,

And then it shut again.

Oh, yes, it closed...most right away,

I heard the whisperin',

"This door, I will not open 'til

You promise to take him."

How could she know,

My person, then,

That I would be just right

To change her world and curl right up

Within her bed each night.

She'd lost her love of many years.

He was her soul-mate fellow.

Imagine her surprise to see...

"Replacement"

Came in yellow.

Well, it was tough to get to go

Home with my chosen one.

Her family begged and pleaded with

That grumpy, big ol' one.

He finally let her take me home.

I tried so to stay calm.

I later learned to love him, though.

You know, his name is Tom.

Well it was tough to get them trained

To do just as I bade.

But now it's sweet and happy times.

Oh, meow, I've got it made.

We've moved just once,

But that's okay.

I really love it here.

Although they tick me off sometimes

By sitting in my chair.

It didn't take me long to get

That door to slide my way.

And now when they're not looking

I'll slip outside to play.

They do their best to keep me close.

You oughta see that gun.

That water squirts at least a mile.

Oh, my, oh, my, it's fun.

I run inside to get away.

I hope that I can make

It to my chair before they do

Cuz then I'm finally safe.

They think it scares me, but oh, no.

No better time have I.

Water stream is closing in.

Oh, me, oh, my, I'm sly.

And even when they let me out

I have to stay real close.

I wave my tail high in the air

and sniff with my pink nose.

The morning is my favorite time.

The land is cool and still.

I'll slip away if there's a chance.

I know I'm such a pill.

She just won't let me go out far.

Imagine her dismay

When I sneak off

All by myself;

It really makes my day.

Don't think it's always easy, though,

That I live without a care.

Sometimes I have to get real tough

When there are strangers there.

There was a little lady that

used to come to clean.

She came into my person's room

I had to act real mean.

Geez, I wouldn't really hurt her,

But she sure got really sore.

It took her thirty minutes to

Come out that bathroom door.

She's no longer with us,

Killed two birds with one stone.

Maria comes and shines our place

and

I'm never left alone.

One time I thought my person

Was a booger bear that night.

I saw her walking to the back.

She gave me such a fright.

I growled and hissed and scared her off.

Imagine my surprise

To see her coming through the front.

Could not believe my eyes.

I felt a little bad for that.

Was I wrong? Oh, I suppose.

But when I think back on that night

I get to laughing so darn hard

That milk comes out my nose.

Oh, yes, I love my persons,

My mom and big ol' dad.

I am the luckiest yellow cat

This world has ever had.

I'll be sitting right here forever.

Nowhere I'd rather be

Than sitting at my window sill

Just him - and her - and me

Faux Stone

2011-09-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

I've been admiring the paint finishes created by Rosemary at villabarnes and thought I'd try the stone finish myself. The pot I worked on was just a plastic pretend-clay pot. Sorry, no before pic, but this will give you an idea of the beginning color.

The hub repotted some spider plants that almost died from too much water. I know, we're in the middle of a drought, but--what can I say?--overcompensation. After saving what was saveable, we wound up with one pot too many. So I decided to faux finish this one.

I followed Rosemary's tutorial for the stone finish with one exception: where she used wax for the final finish I tinted some Annie Sloan wax with gray, painted it over the pot, then wiped it off.

Not half bad for a first effort, huh? Good enough to warrant this second post in one day? Don't get used to it. I'm liable to go MIA for the next month or so.

In the meantime.... Ta, y'all.

End of Summer Lament

2011-09-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Summer's almost gone, and I've barely accomplished a thing!

What I did do, and what has kept me entertained through the heat wave we've had here in Texas, was become involved in reading the current projects of a couple of writer friends.

Patricia Burroughs--or Pooks as she likes to be known--was published the same time I was and stopped writing romance shortly after I did. We belonged to the same critique group back then and became good friends. She made the transition from romance to screenwriting while I was switching to mysteries. I failed horribly at writing mysteries, but she went on to win a number of awards for her work, one being the coveted Nicholl Fellowship. She's back to fiction now, her present work being a compelling fantasy about a magical England during the Regency period. I'm on my second reading and find it equally as exciting this time around. Actually it seems I'm spending more time with my rear glued to the chair now than I did when writing myself!

Patti's first novel, which she adapted to the screenplay that won the Nicholl

Another author whose work I admire and whose books I recommend is Linnea Sinclair. We met in a writer's forum in 1999--same place I met Maire of Procrastination Diary (Hi, Maire!). Linnea was a private detective who gave me great insight into that profession for a novel I was working on at the time. In exchange I critiqued her finished novel: Finders Keepers. (It's still one of my favorite of her works. Another I also critted for her back then: Accidental Goddess. I think that is my very fave of all her books.) She has since gone on to publish eight novels and has been included in two anthologies. Yay, Linnea!

Linnea's first published book

She writes scifi/fantasy with a touch of romance. If you're looking for something to keep you warm this coming season, check her out.

And now, like summer, I'm gone.

Etsy Spotlight

2011-09-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

I know there are some lovely shops on Etsy, and many deserve spotlighting. Why then do I save my spotlights for my sister? Because she does such lovely work and she's totally changed directions since I last spotlighted her.

Anyway, her shop is Little Sassy Mini. She's done a gorgeous collection of miniature bedding, like this black quilt.

Lovely, innit? She sells the pillow too. See the vase of roses beside the bed? The vase was a bead and she filled it with handmade roses, which she details here on her blog Little Sassy Sews...and paints...and crafts...

But my favorite thing she's doing lately are the pitchers.

Is that gorgeous or what? She talks of the process she uses here.

This gives you an idea of the scale. She says they're not difficult to make, but the work looks intricate to me. Think I'll stick with my stitching, of which I'm not doing much lately.

Check Daisy out, even if it's just to admire the work she's doing!

My First Lampshade!

2011-08-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted! Blame it on the heat. I do. I've become lethargic, escaping for hours into the pretend world of books.

I've only done a few things since last I posted. Back then, I promised I would finish the lampshade I was working on within a matter of days. Took me quite a bit longer to get it right. It was the first I ever covered that wasn't simply cutting and gluing. But my first effort left me with wonky trim and the shade just a bit too short for the lamp.

So I ripped off the trim, replaced the bit that covers the spokes, and added a 1" pleated trim at the bottom, then used gimp as the finishing touch.

Here's the end result. Still nothing I'd enter in the county fair (if we had one), but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye! (The glass lamp is a vintage one I found at a thrift store in Eureka Springs AR.)

An up-close shot:

The back:

Hoping that practice makes perfect, I'm currently working on the embroidery for a second lampshade. I should have that completed by tomorrow, then we'll see how well I do with the rest.

What else have I been doing, did you ask? I had lunch with my oldest sis a couple of weeks back and she brought me two vintage brooches to use in my crafting. One I've already put to use in a flower brooch.

I'm kinda liking the look of it. I think it'd be spiffy on a winter coat.

The final thing? I mentioned losing myself in fictional worlds. Well, those worlds were expertly crafted by a dear friend, Linnea Sinclair. I first read her work back in '99 when she and I critiqued each other's work. She was a great deal of help with mine, but I was blown away by hers. While I finally put away my dreams of being published again, she's become an award-winning author of sci-fi romance for Bantam. Check out her website here. And her list of books here.

I hope this hot, hot summer is keeping all of you well. Take care.

Thrift Store Finds

2011-07-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've found that as the years go by the things I search for in thrift stores change. While working, I often looked for clothing, finding lovely designer outfits at one store in Dallas. I bought a lot of other stuff back then too. Back then, it was easier to find good stuff, like my pottery vases. And back then I had room to display them.

Now I look for pieces I can sell on Etsy, vintage items and stuff I can upcycle. Recently, I've come across a number of down throw pillows in excellent condition at great prices. At first I picked them up simply because it's the cheapest down pillow forms I've ever seen. Once I got the pillows back to the studio though, I realized what a find the covers were as well.

I didn't take a before picture on this one. I'll have to remember to do that in the future.

The pillow I bought was a plain yellow corded cotton pillow from Crate and Barrel, similar to the one pictured above, though where this has a simple knife edge, the one I bought had welting.

Here it is, finished.

(If

A closer look. I made the flower out of the last of a fulled ivory wool blanket, twin-size, that I bought in Fredericksburg last year.

I found the directions for the flower in a B&G DIY magazine, though the directions given in the magazine weren't clear and didn't work. It said to cut twelve layers, each a half-inch smaller than the last, beginning with a 15" circle, and, though they didn't give the size of the middle piece, the pictures showed it to be no more than 2". Silly me, I didn't do any calculations before I began cutting. I was on about the fourth circle and it no smaller than a foot wide when it dawned on me those directions weren't working. So-o-o, I adjusted my sizes. Can't remember now how much smaller I began cutting them, but in the end, it turned out fine. (If you click on the shot, you'll see how I've needle-felted color in the center of the first few circles, as they did.)

This one sold already, actually in the first few days listed. The buyer was enthusiastic about it once she received it, which really warms the old heart cockles!

Here's her photo of the pillow in her room. Looks great, dunnit.

This one is pleated on the front...

And tucked on the back. There wasn't a lot I could do to upcycle this one, but once I got started, I decided to try. So I needle-felted a couple of buttons...

And stitched them on each of the top two corners...

Along with a couple of beaded tassels.

Now for the last one:

This is the back, but it gives a good idea what the pillow looked like when I bought it. It's a lovely dupioni silk with a hidden zipper closure. Its problem? There was a small stain on the front.

So I sprinkled bullion roses all over. Bet you couldn't guess where the stain was!

I have three more I plan to do: one is a gray denim Ralph Lauren flanged pillow; another a lovely deep red velvet, on which I need to first fix the zipper; and the last is a deep red silk. On the gray denim and the red velvet I've decided to do button designs--the gray denim I've already started on.

I'll post those once finished. Tomorrow though I'm hoping I'll have completed the lampshade I'm making. See ya then!

After the weekend...

2011-05-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our sisters' getaway is gone. Over. Done with. Nothing but memories remain. Well, maybe one little booboo, but that too will pass.

We had a mahvelous time. If anyone is ever thinking of visiting Salado overnight, you must go to Inn on the Creek. Besides it being delightfully luxurious, the staff were fabulous and the food fantastic.

The Inn is a compound of four historic homes moved to Salado from other places in Texas. We were in the Holland House--moved from Holland, Texas, doncha know.

I didn't take photos, and of course now I'm regretful, but a couple of my sisters did. I'm hoping Daisy will post some on her site soon. (Above and below are shots from the Inn's home page.)

The first night was the night of my booboo, a squishy-squashed finger, and I lay down with a book around eightish because of the throbbing. When Billie came in for the night, she was bubbling over. She and Ginger and Alice went down to the creek. There are hammocks there, and it was just the three of them and Alice, our sedate little Alice, got a little kooky. That, I hated missing, as well as the fact that They Saw Fireflies! I've not seen one in ages.

This is a shot I found on the 'net of Salado Creek viewed from Inn on the Creek. Looks as if it's set up for a wedding. Gorgeous, innit?

The second morning we were there, we were sitting on the front porch of the house where our rooms were...

When a lady and her two darling golden retrievers came by. The dogs made a dash for the porch where we were. Who couldn't love someone that glad to see you? Their owner was delightful as well, but I'm afraid she had to take second place to the girls. While I'm not that much of a dog person, if I could adopt either Brisa or Belle, Max would have to make room.

This lady is a boot collector, as is Daisy's hub. Wish I could have recorded their conversation about boots, but then I wish I could have recorded the entire weekend.

The lady came by again the last morning we were there, bringing cookies as a traveling gift. How sweet was that? So I decided to make a card as thanks.

I needlefelted the boot.

Inside I wrote a line from a Jim Reeves song, A Stranger is Just a Friend, with a tad bit of artistic license taken. I'm wondering if I should stamp Thanks on the first page. Secondly, should I print the saying out on paper and glue it on? While I have a passable handwriting, and as is it certainly says personal and handcrafted, it lacks a certain professionalism.

What say you? I'd love to hear comments. (And thanks in advance.)

Recycled Gift Package

2011-05-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

In preparation for my weekend away, I made a list of things I needed to do and have been trying to complete those, but yesterday afternoon I took a break and shot photos of the gifts I'm taking. I've mentioned before that on our annual get-away my sisters and I alternate celebrating a sister's birthday. This year it's Billie's turn. We tend to go the same time each year, and as Daisy's birthday falls around the time, I usually get some little something for her as well.

Yesterday I shot pics of the packaging and the cards I made for each of them and duly transferred said pics to the 'puter. Or thought I did. Not checking first--I mean, who does that? Not me, certainly--I deleted the shots from the camera. I never do that, at least not immediately, but I was still readying myself for the weekend. And somehow I lost every shot I took except these two.

:^P (That's my fave emoticon. What says disgust better?)

Now on to the pics. I love Sephora bags; I just hate that they stick their name EveryWhere, making them pretty darned un-useful for gifting.

But I wanted to use this one. It fit the gift so well. So I covered all that writing up with embellishments.

The ribbon I simply painted on the underside ends with Elmer's to stop it raveling, then glued it down, again with Elmers. The flower I used the box technique to make, as demonstrated here. (She uses paper and does it beautifully! I used four layers of burlap. Maybe next time I'll try for eight layers.)

There was even more writing on the back so I covered that with a frame of ribbon. Shoulda mitered the corners; I'll do that next time. In the center I added--not to cover up anything, but just cuz--a needlefelted button. (See technique here.)

And that's all I have, though I used the box flower technique on Daisy's package as well. On hers, I cut the circles from a wallpaper border I picked up at the thrift store. Guess it goes without saying that I love repurposing!

It's 5 o'clock in the a.m. here in the Texas hill country, and I've been up since threeish. Couldn't go back to sleep, but I'm thinking I may be able to now. So ta, y'all. Talk to you when I get back.

Better Belated Than Never

2011-05-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

I forgot my dear friend's birthday. :^P

I made a gift for her in March, intending to send it to her then and call it an un-birthday present--we don't exchange gifts anymore; both of us have far more than we need. But I didn't. Then I remembered her birthday in April, when it isn't, and forgot it in May, when it is.

Actually, I was only four days late when it dawned on me, but we spoke on Sunday, three days after, and I didn't mention it--cuz I didn't remember. Dang me!

Anyway, I'm not gonna call and tell her I forgot. (Obviously, she already knows.) I'm getting her gift in the mail today. (She doesn't read this blog so I can tell y'all without forewarning her.) I thought I'd share the gift I made her.

Kathy's a talented seamstress, has made her own clothing forever and took couture sewing classes years ago. I wanna be her someday! So I stitched up this little sewing basket for her. It's made of wool felted from a blanket (a gift from my sis--thanks, Daisy.). I used a silk plaid for the lining, stitched a pocket on the front for a pair of folding scissors and hung a felted wool ball from a twisted perle cotton rope for a pincushion. The pins I made from a couple of beads I had (owl and the pussycat, anyone?) anchored onto the pins with polymer clay--and a bit of E6000!

A closer look at the pins. I'm not sure they'd work for actual use, but they're kinda cute, methinks.

A glance at the inside. I have gobs of this silk, used it as a bottom border on a shower curtain and for purse linings but have hardly made a dent in it

This weekend I'll be going with my sisters on our annual getaway. We'll be in Salado, just a couple of hours from here, at a gorgeous B&B on Salado Creek. As my 'nother sis Ginger said, "We may never leave!"

That's all for now. Take care, y'all.

Back again

2011-05-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've become so neglectful of this blog I almost forget I have it! Now and then, though, I like to show what I've been up to in my absence.

As I mentioned many times, I love buttons. Here are a few things I've been working on.

I made this necklace from vintage MOP buttons--about 75 in total--some sterling wire, a sterling necklace, and a few glass beads. Pretty neat, huh? If you're liking it, here's a tutorial.

This elephant thingabobbie I found in a box of old buttons. Carved bone, I believe. Isn't it cool? I used a sterling headpin and a green, jadey-like stone bead to make a necklace pendant. (It'd be cool as a charm, but I think at an inch and a half it's a bit long.)

Another necklace pendant made from a MOP button. On this one, the button itself was about an inch and a half so it too had to be a pendant.

What else? Well, I made another awning for our back porch. It's a difficult one to photograph since my house faces east and the sun's not in a good position for picture-taking until late afternoon. Hmm. It's late afternoon right now. Maybe I'll just nip out and see if I can get a shot or two.

Here it is, awnings closed. The one on the left I made several years ago; the one on the right is the new one. Since we have a western aspect to our back yard, the awnings are necessary to shade the living room. And sitting on the back porch is a killer without them! The new one, though, is mainly cuz in the afternoon the sun shines right in the hub's eyes in the LR!

I made them from drop cloths, a 4' x 15', so all I had to do was cut the 15' direction to length, add a hem to one cut side and along the bottom to hold a pvc pipe, then add rings for the ropes. The hub had to do much more--he put a long rebar inside the PVC to weight it, built the runners for the pipe to ride up in--and to keep the awning from blowing in our strong winds, added pulleys at the top and mounted the whole darn thing.

While I'm at it, and while I was out snapping the above pics, thought I'd show my caladiums now that they're finally beginning to bloom. Pretty, huh? They'll get even more magnificent before summer's gone.

That's all, folks!

A Lovely Life

2011-04-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful time of year here in central Texas, at least for the main part. Already we're having some record-breaking temps, but it's cool enough in the mornings to work in the garden. This morning, my Maxie cat and I were doing just that. I took a break and while we wandered the back yard I thought about what a lovely life we have here. So I wanted to show if off.

This was taken earlier this month. Isn't it gorgeous? This is my cross vine. It's several years old and only blooms in the spring, but it's magnificent when it does. The trellis is at the back of what was our original lot. We've since bought the one behind us and expanded so it's now pretty much in the middle

This is one of my favorite parts of the back yard. It's a big old post oak tree. I didn't want any competition for the roots so I planted only a couple of things in the ground. Half of the tree, though, belongs to the next lot, which is undeveloped, and weeds and such grow on that side. Poor tree!

A closer look at my caladiums. They're only just sprouting but they'll look gorgeous soon. (I have them in all four of those bigger pots.)

My herb garden and the hub's itty bitty pond. (He has it covered to keep the raccoons from making off with the fish.) Some herbs I plant in the ground, some I confine in pots. The catnip, the plant that's closest to the sprinkler in the middle, is in a pot in the ground. That makes it easy for Max to roll in it.

I love the bucolic feel of this area.The line of rocks behind the copse of trees is the back edge to the part of our property we maintain. The rest we've let go to pasture.

This is my studio. I've shown it before but I think it's a darling little building, and I love spending time out there. The building you can see behind is the hub's work shop.

For the past couple of years we've grown honeysuckle on this trellis. For several years it was morning glory, which I dearly love, but there's an insect around here, can't remember the name, that dearly loves the morning glory. Someone told me to use insecticide soap on it, but as hot as it can get in this part of the yard, I feared it would burn the plant. So I switched. Doesn't the honeysuckle look lovely?

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my backyard. Isn't it a lovely, lovely life?

Heirloom Jewelry

2011-03-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm a great lover of, though not a great wearer of, antique/vintage jewelry. Some things I've collected are in my Etsy stores, but others I won't part with. Some of those I thought I'd share with you today.

This Victorian brooch/pendant I found in an antique store in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, some twenty years ago. It's from the latter part of the 19th century, is about an inch wide with a small diamond in the center and pearls on each of the rays, and has a pendant bail that folds away. I think it's gorgeous! I used to wear it, back when I held down a job, but it kinda doesn't go with t-shirts and jeans.

Tooling around on the 'net, I found several pieces similar, though none that were exactly like.

This first has a larger diamond; they're asking $595 for it.

This one has more pearls, a larger diamond and more detail at the center. They're asking $585 for it.

This one is most like mine, but with more pearls and a larger diamond. They've dated it to 1870 and are asking $775.

I found others ranging from $295 all the way to $895. Apparantly this was a popular design of the period.

For a second or two, I considered selling mine, but I don't need the money, and while I don't wear it now, that doesn't mean I mightn't someday. I sure as heck wouldn't spend the money to buy one at these prices! (I think I paid something like $50 for it.)

Now on to the other heirloom stuff I wanted to show y'all:

This filigree birthstone ring belonged to my mother-in-law; it dates to the early 1900s. Isn't it lovely?

A closer view of the filigree detail.

These earrings are not as old, but I consider them lovely. I found them in an antique store in New Braunfels in 2003 and paid as much for them as for the sunburst brooch. Because of the similarities to Mum's ring, I had to have them. Besides, they were in a price range I could afford.

Here I've shown the earring and ring together. They're similar, yet different. The earrings aren't any older than the '70s or '80s, but they're sterling with gold filigree, and I consider them worth every cent of what I paid.

The final piece today is my mother-in-law's engagement ring. After she died, my father-in-law gave it to me, which meant a great deal to me. I've been proud to wear it ever since.

Poor, pitiful me never had one of my own, which may be why Dad made sure I had this. What he didn't realize is that it was my choice not to have an engagement ring. I wanted just a band. Even then, I worried about money. Starting out, we were so poor we barely had enough to set up housekeeping. I couldn't see spending the money for an engagement ring. Over the years, though times got better, there's always been something else to do with money. I know lots of women would beg, borrow or steal for a diamond ring, but not me. Even now, when we can afford it, it seems a waste. So when I wear a ring, I wear Mum's.

Here it is as I wear it, with a wedding band I found at an antique store in downtown Dallas ages ago. I like the two together; they look as if they've been passed down through generations, as they have and as they will be.

Isn't that what an heirloom is?

Me, again

2011-03-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've become so random at posting I'm not even going to apologize. So, this is me, moving on.

The pillow I planned to finish two weeks ago I finally completed a week later. I tried some new techniques, which were a little more involved than I thought they'd be. Still, I think it turned out rather well.

The next one didn't take quite so long, though I still haven't managed to do one a day.

Both these were made from samples of high-end fabric. Embroidered in wool on a hand-woven cotton base, they're to-the-trade only fabrics in the $150-$200 a yard range. On the first I used an ultra-suede type fabric for the back and on the second I chose a natural-colored raw silk.

So what does one do with the remnants of fabric this expensive? In my world, one improvises.

This is a set of small sachets, one 3.5"x5", the other 4"x5". Inside each is a muslin packet filled with dried lavender from my garden. I have several more sets under construction. Gotta use up all those bits!

With that I'm gonna sign off. Time to watch a bit of telly with the hub. So 'bye, y'all!

It's Been Awhile

2011-02-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

How easy it has been for me to ignore this blog! Life happens, and my life since last November has left me enervated. (Or maybe just lazy.)

The hub had his surgery the first of December, and for a while it was a rough road for the two of us to hoe. He's all better now though, much better than before. (Somewhere in there my computer died, but better it than he.)

I have been doing things, just not recording them with pictures. Sorry. I made a bedskirt for my sis, pre-surgery, and a trio of Euro shams, post. I meant to take pictures in situ but somehow always forget my camera when I visit.

This is the only thing I've completed and photographed, and that's simply because I listed it on Etsy. That will make me get my camera out!

Then I had the brilliant idea of turning vintage earrings into wedding shoe clips. I still think it's a good idea, but I'll leave it to someone who doesn't respect the workmanship of old jewelry the way I do.

Instead I've added the earrings to my Etsy shop so that that other someone can use them for crafting--and I need never know. Aren't these gorgeous?

And these? They're a brand I never heard of before: Sphinx. Seems Sphinx was a jewelry-maker out of Chiswick, England. (Doncha love how they pronounce Chiswick? Chizzick. Or dictionary style: /ˈtʃɪzɪk/.) They were in business from 1948 until 2000 and made high-quality, upscale costume jewelry, sold at, among others, Saks 5th Ave., Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdales.

These are unsigned but look at the quality! I love them, just think they're a bit large to wear as earrings. But wouldn't they look great on a headband or as part of a fascinator? Or even as shoe clips.

Lastly, what I'm working on right now, and hope to finish today is a throw pillow. I bought several gorgeous pieces of decorator fabric from a lovely Etsy shop Fabric Samples. The one I'm working on today is crewel.

Isn't it lovely! I'm using a beige ultra-suede for the back. At first I considered serging the edges of the crewel, but, as always, I have to do things the hard way. I've decided to do a Hong Kong finish on the crewel, serge the edges of the muslin I'm lining the front with, and leave the ultrasuede as is.

I'm hoping to get most of it done today. We'll see.

So that's sorta kinda bringing things up to date with me. 'Til next time....

Crispy Crust Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was a quiet day for the Hub and me. But, side benefit, it seemed I could do nothing wrong while cooking. The roast chicken was yummy, and I think the stuffing might have been my best ever. That, along with mashed potatoes, gravy, and fruit salad, made up our meal. I know, there wasn't a green thing on the menu, if you discount the grapes in the ambrosia.

Oh, and for dessert we had pumpkin pie, the subject of this post.

I've long hated the way the bottom crust on pumpkin pie so often turns out soggy. Seems I could never truly get it done; it was just bleahh! So last Thanksgiving I tooled around the internet until I found a lovely article at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, which paper I must say, has some of the best recipes I've ever found. (Perhaps I think that because I spent ten years of my youth in Pittsburgh and found a number of recipes in that newspaper that I still treasure.)

The Post Gazette article agrees with my contention that keeping the crust crisp is the biggest challenge of making pumpkin pie. They say the problem is caused by proteins in the milk and eggs, which denature and exude water.

So now we know what the problem is, the question becomes how do we fix it?

What it boils down to is baking the shell first--yes, I know, you already do that--then making sure the filling is warm when you pour it into the crust.

Here are details from the article?

"Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. (Some recipes bake for a short time at a high temperature, but that can cause the pastry to shrink.) Use your usual pie pastry recipe, transfer it to the pan, fluting the rim higher than usual to contain the filling. Put the raw shell in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up. (I think this helped immensely.) Put a piece of foil directly onto the cold pie shell pressing it to conform to the shape, and pour in the pie weights or beans. (I use weights.) Bake the shell for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the weights or beans and continue baking until the crust is light golden brown and cooked through, another 15 minutes or more. Let cool on a rack.

"When ready to bake the pie, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine room temperature filling ingredients (pumpkin, eggs, sugar and spices) and mix well. Heat milk or cream until it is hot but not boiling. Slowly whisk the heated milk into the pumpkin mixture. It should register about 100 degrees on a digital thermometer, no more, just beyond lukewarm. (Poke your finger in to take both a temperature reading and a taste.)

"Pour the filling into the baked pie shell and bake about 30 to 40 minutes depending on your oven. The pie is done when a knife, inserted off-center into the pie, comes out clean. (This was new to me. I've always stuck a toothpick in the middle of the pie.) The center of the pie will continue to cook after the pie is removed from the oven. Do not overbake.

"The pie crust will stay crisp until the pie is gone, even the next day. That is, if it lasts until the next day."

I have to say it actually does stay crisp that long, longer actually cuz between us it takes several days to eat a whole pie.

As a sidenote, I make the filling with Splenda. I'm not that crazy about using artificial sweeteners, but I also can't use sugar, and I do like pumpkin pie this time of year. So sue me. ;^)

I'll be pulling this recipe back out again come Christmas time. It's a given that we have pumpkin pie both holidays. But give it a try, whydoncha? It really does work.

I'm linking to Hope Studio's Tutorial Tuesday.

Button Icicle Tutorial

2010-11-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

The other day I was in a hurry to find a little thank you gift to include with an item someone had bought from one of my Etsy shops. Quickest thing I could think of was to whip up a small button icicle ornament. I didn't take a pic of that one, but thought I'd create a tutorial to show how I make these ornaments. They're fast and easy.

Some in the pic above were made with vintage plastic buttons. The one I'm showing is vintage MOP (mother-of-pearl).

Materials needed:

Heavy duty thread/string (I use crochet cotton; I didn't care for waxed linen.)
Buttons of varying sizes
Scissors
Sheer Ribbon
Some kind of dangle--I'll be using a bead charm on this one.

First lay out your buttons in diminishing size. I try to do two of each size. The quick thank you I made only had about eight smaller buttons, but I usually do fourteen to sixteen in these larger ones.

Cut a cord at least six inches longer than the length of your buttons.

Tie a loop in one end of the cord; trim the short end. (If you're a jewelry maker, a crimp bead would work well here. I've made some using such, but am not sure where I stashed those beads so I had to improvise!)

Begin stringing the buttons. I don't use a needle since the size of the holes vary and a needle with a hole large enough to thread the crochet cotton doesn't always fit into the smallest button.

Be sure to string the buttons back to front. (I'm sure you already knew that, but believe me I had to work it out.)

Continue stringing buttons, laying back sides together.

Once all buttons are strung, tie dangle tightly onto the bottom (or use a crimp bead). Here you can get creative. I've used dangles from old earrings, old pendants, the beads from beaded fringe, plastic beads from Walmart. Practically anything goes.

If you tied rather than crimped the dangle on, thread the tied end back through the bottom few buttons and tie off. Clip the end.

Loop a length of ribbon through the beginning thread loop.

Tighten.

The one I showed in the tutorial is the third from the left.

While I'm at it, I'd like to show another ornament I made yesterday--not that it took that long to make. In the early '90s, while garage sale-ing with my sis Betty, I found this hand-painted pendant. I meant to give it to my mother but never got around to it. Never found anything else to do with it either and it's been stashed in a button box ever since. I think the painting is nicely done so I tied a ribbon on, sewed on a button and Voila!

Truly, I think it makes a better ornament than pendant. What think you?

I'm linking to Hope Studio's Tutorial Tuesday.

That's all for today. Take care, y'all.

Shop Additions

2010-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

I will get past this dearth of posts eventually. That's a promise.

Lots of things happening here. In my last post, I mentioned Hub had been in the hospital. What we feared was heart-related turned out to be pneumonia, although while in hospital the docs found his stenotic (narrowed) valve has narrowed even further. Which means heart surgery. (This is probably TMI, but valve narrowing has a completely different cause than artery blockage. As it was explained to me, or rather as I understood what was explained to me, valve blockage is similar to scar tissue, caused by a number of things, one of them being strep throat. Who'da thunk?) He doesn't see the surgeon until next week, had to have time to completely get past the pneumonia. So we're in a holding mode here.

Enough about that. Since I've hardly done anything creative in the past month, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I recently listed in my shops.

I found several old sugar sacks at a garage sale a couple of years ago. Couldn't think what to do with them; they were too small and the graphics went the wrong way to make even a small pillow. So I cut one up for Christmas ornaments.

I love these next brooches, picked them up for next to nothing. I've listed all six in the vintage shop.

These are actually a lot larger than the photo makes them appear. The scarved lady--doncha love her!--is 2.5 inches long. (As a side note, the pink marbled stone brooch is much prettier than it looks here.)

Those who love blue and white--and who doesn't?--might appreciate this dessert plate by Mason in a pattern called Romantic. It's hard to tell from the mark exactly when it was made, but it was at least before mid-last century.

Another thing I've been working on is button hair clips.

I've put together a mixture of old and new buttons and attached them to hair clips. Personally, I think they're gorgeous!

Love the colors of these!

And these.

But I think of all of them, these are my faves.

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures. I am working on a few more projects: new pillows for my living room sofa, a new euro-sham for the master bedroom--we traded our queen bed for a king--and I just finished a new bedskirt for my sis. I'll get photos of them in situ in the next few days and will post then.

'Til then, y'all take care.

My To-Do List

2010-10-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

I started this post a while back, working on the Hub's teeny-tiny laptop while Gertie was in the 'puter hospital. I didn't get far. My hands just weren't made to work with something that small.(And no, I don't use a Smart phone.)

Then the Hub wound up in the real hospital, and all thoughts of blogging went out of my head.

He's out now and doing well...and so is Gertie. So here's the post I didn't post before.

These are projects/ideas I've picked up over the last month or so with the idea of one of these days....

Scrappy roses are all over the 'net. These lovelies--and a tutorial--are from Little Birdie Secrets.

Aren't these patch pillows gorgeous? Check them out at C.R.A.F.T. here.

Another patch pillow. If, like me, you're interested in trying one, here's a tutorial on embroidery stitches from the Caron Collection.

I think I've shown these lovely covered books before from Drab to Fab, but I'm wanting to do a few for my sis who's redoing her master bedroom so this is to remind me where to find the directions.

For a whimsical take on all the recent book page crafts, check out these clothes pins by One Cheap B*tch.

Cool scrapbook paper pumpkins from make mine lime.

I'm always looking for ways to organize my sewing space. Love this Sewing Caddy from How Joyful.

Here's another tute for covered books from Murphy's Law, Only Worse.

Scrappy roses extraordinaire in this Recycled Roses Pillow from Alisa Burke.

How about this machine applique from Made at Greenlodge? Tute here.

Another machine applique from Jane of All Crafts.

Gotta love these covered buttons made from embroidery scraps. For the above button, Julie used a scrap of a vintage embroidered handkerchief. Find details at The Adventures of Blue Girl.

Aren't these maple-leaf roses wonderful? The blog Lobzik is written in Russian, but the pictures are self-explanatory. Find the tute here. (That link should take you to the Google translated page.) Take a tour around her site; there are some lovely items there, such as this

Isn't it fabulous? Check out more pics here.

.
How about this button sewn on with bullion rose buds? Is that cool or what? There's no tute, though she does give tips. If you know how to do the bullion stitch, easy peasy. If not, you can find directions here. The pic above comes from this site.

That's all for now. Take care, y'all

Catching Up

2010-09-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my last post, and I plead the Fifth!

Aside from not feeling so all right, I've been steady working on cleaning my studio. I know I always say I'm working on it, and so far I haven't managed. This time, since I have a big project coming up, I tore the whole blinkin' thing apart and started anew, beginning by wrapping my fabric yardage around comic book boards so I could store them like books.

(Whoops! Guess DCW didn't want me posting pics of the comic book boards. Still, if you click on the link below, it'll take you to the site where there is a pic. Thanks, Daisy, for bringing this to my attention.)

I only bought a hundred, couldn't imagine needing more, but I'm running really low on them now. They're only about 10 bucks for a hundred here, though shipping doubles the cost. (Find the tutorial for fabric wrapping here.)

When I took the above photo, I'd only done three shelves. The basket on the bottom left has now been redone as well with all my scrap fabrics rolled into tidy parcels and secured ala Just Something I Made. She shares a PDF Download for labels to wrap around cigar-wrapped remnants here.

I'll show more pics of my cabinet once I complete the arranging.

The other thing I did while I was not posting was this new tea cozy.

I made it of a lovely linen fabric I found at our library thrift store a while back.

I've had a good old time testing fiber content of this and other fabrics I've picked up here and there. Did you know that if you leave a piece of 100% wool in bleach for a while it will disappear? Silk will disappear as well but takes longer. Other fibers need the burn test to determine content. You can use the burn test on silk and wool as well, but since my smeller's not the greatest, I find the bleach test more conclusive. Just know that petroleum products become molten plastic.

So with that and my sincerest apologies for my inattention to the blog, I'll sign off now. Take care, y'all.

A Few Finished Projects--Finally

2010-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I've been working on some projects that seemed to take forever. First, I've been making a couple of tea cozies as a gift for a friend. Both her large for-company-only and her small daily-usage teapots are Meissen Blue Onion pattern. I wanted to make cozies for each.

The large was relatively easy, once I worked out the design. I used white linen as the outer fabric and embroidered the word tea on the front.

The trim on the bottom came from Etsy, a nice woven blue onion-patterned trim.

The lining also came from Etsy. It's a remnant of a vintage tablecloth, which I machine-quilted onto a piece of felted wool blanket for heat retention.

This one I'm liking.

The hardest was the small cozy, and I'm still not happy with it. First I wanted to use the same white linen, but as it's very easy to drip tea on a bachelor tea cozy, I nixed that. Then I tried a fabric I had only a small remnant of, and I cut it wrong! So I decided to do a patchwork with what I could salvage from the messed-up fabric and another piece I had. That took me in an entirely different direction than the blue and white I intended.

See the teapots on the blue and white stripe? That was my original messed-up fabric. Since there was a great deal of pink in the teapots and cups depicted on the fabric, I originally intended to use a pink for just the liner, but instead used it as alternating patches on the front as well. Now I'm thinking the pink has taken over, becoming the dominant fabric.

I've made bachelor cozies, with the handle and spout free, before and had no problem, but since I was using lightweight fabrics for both the outer and inner sections, I decided to add felted wool to make sure I had heat retention capability. I got a bit zealous though, putting it on both the outer and inner fabrics. It makes it seem more of a down-filled teapot jacket as opposed to a nice dressy woolen teapot coat.

I'm going to send it to Kathy as is and hope she can use it. Maybe I'll make another and send later.

The other project I've had going on lately was for my sister Daisy.

This is the fabric she used for her dining room drapes, nice and tailored-looking. And this is what I made for her wall.

Again, I'm not as happy about this as I wish I were. Since I had no fabric to go with her drapes, and since I'm trying to use things in my stash, I opted for wallpaper, which was in my stash. This picture makes it look as if it needs batting underneath. 'Cept there ain't no way I'm gonna start all over on this one! (Sorry, Daisy.)

I'm hoping to get both of these in the mail tomorrow. Kathy doesn't read the blog so it should still be a surprise for her when she gets it. Daisy does, sporadically, which makes it a coin-toss as to whether she'll see it online first.

So what have you been working on lately? Does it take y'all as long to finish projects as it does me? Do you have long lists of things you want to get done...one of these days? (I'm thinking my next project--once I get my studio back into a shape where I can actually work on something--is going to be the pillow with the flower I blogged about last.)

Hope you all had a lovely Labor Day! Ta.

Pillow Design Quandry

2010-09-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

First, before I get into the pillow design question, I want to note that I've decided to use my blog as a memory jogger. After spending what seemed like hours this morning searching for a design I recently saw, storing the images here seems the easiest way for me to find things.

So now for the question--I picked up a pillow the other day from the thrift store, solely for the down insert. Both the cover and the insert are in perfect condition, hardly used, but it's a banana color, not so great for most people's decor, definitely not for mine. But it's a Crate and Barrel pillow, not expensive but still not something you'd pick up at the dollar store. So I decided to find a way to foof it up, yellow and all.

This next pillow was on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog and was also featured on Someday Crafts.

I'm thinking the bright yellow Crate and Barrel pillow would look cool with a flower like this. (Tutorial found here.)

Using the same process, different dimensions, she also made this flower brooch. (Tute here.)

That would look terrific on a bag. And isn't it cool that it's using scraps of fabric? I'm all for using what I already have.

Another design I'm considering for the front of the pillow is this one from Michele Made Me. She calls it Teddy Bear Swim Needle and Hook Book.

Pretty cool, innit? Tute can be found here. Whether or not I use this design for the pillow, I certainly mean to make the needlebook. I do love me some needlebooks!

I don't do that much crochet anymore, but I'm thinking the inside could be adapted to hold tools I'm always misplacing, i.e. my sewing gauge, bodkins, seam rippers. It could be made to be very functional, methinks.

My last idea for the pillow transformation is to translate a rainbow in buttons. How cool is this picture? I'd love to use that as an inspiration but I'm afraid it would take more buttons than even I have.

But a simple arc of buttons in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red shouldn't take that many, should it?

So those are my options. I'm leaning toward the flower because 1) I have some pretty cool scraps of fabric and 2) it seems fairly easy. Still, I'd love feedback on which design you think I should choose. All comments appreciated, my friends!

Etsy Texas Crafters $5 Monday

2010-08-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late getting this posted, but the Etsy Texas group are having a $5 Fifth Monday sale. To see a listing of items offered, go to Etsy and do a search for the ETC5 tag .

I've chosen a few items to tempt you:

These hair clips are by lilwawabutik. She calls them Hello Kitty Korkers. Cute, aren't they? I can just see them in a little girl's hair.

Love the fabric in this Vintage Yellow Rose Mini Wallet by The Yellow Rose.

These Turquoise Teardrop Earring Charms by Wild Moon Design are wrapped with sterling wire. Five dollars will get you one set of charms. (I have a small pair of silver hoops these would look gorgeous on. Better hurry; they may be gone soon!)

I'm loving this Cobalt and Yellow Glass Bead Bracelet by Simply Raeven. At $5, it's a deal!

This handmade Goat's Milk Soap by SophieCls is $5 for one bar. Gotta love it!

I'm really liking this set of Button Hairpins by Texas Eagle, though truthfully it's making me think, "I can do that!" If you can't though, five bucks is cheap, cheap.

This is only a small taste of what you can find today. Why not check us out?!

Button Fever

2010-08-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

My friend's downsizing. For some, that might mean moving into a cottage sized for one. For Carrol, widowed for more than ten years, it means a 2400 sq. ft. house, bigger than any I've ever lived in!

But, lucky me, her downsizing means I inherited a box of buttons. The neat thing about Carrol's button box is that these are the extras that come with garments, and she's never stinted on the quality--or the cost--of her clothing. There are some gorgeous buttons in the collection.

Which has started me thinking about buttons again. (As if I ever stopped!) And started me tooling around the 'net again. (Ditto on the earlier parens.)

I think I referenced this pillow in a post I did a couple of years ago, but really, it deserves another mention. You can find the tutorial here.

Love the way these buttons have been woven together to make a coaster. Check here for the tute.

Another rendition of the woven button coaster. Looks like crochet here, doesn't it? The tute's here.

These buttons I made a while back. Love the look of them! They're called Singleton buttons and you can find the how-to here. (They look pretty darn cute at the top of my guest room shower curtain, which I will show one of these days.)

These Dorset buttons are similar to the Singleton--both are made with plastic rings. Pretty darn cool, aren't they? Get the tutorial here.

And these are Sharpie-painted. Again, I'm enamored. Info here.

For the final button magic, this necklace is a stand-out. Info here.

Time to fold clothes. Ta, y'all.

Fini

2010-08-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

I worked my bum off last weekend, focusing on my friend's gift. If you'll recall, I used as inspiration this pillow I found on Letter Perfect's Etsy site.

Lovely, innit? She used a darker burlap, which wasn't available at the store when I got mine. So once I'd finished the lettering I felt the buttons didn't have the oomph they needed.

There were other problems with this version, which I mentioned here.

So-o-o, back to the drawing board. First I outlined the lettering with embroidery using a green perle cotton thread: green because of the green and cream check I put in the back. Still it needed... something. I was off to the 'net to find inspiration.

Anthropologie has this:

I like the double poms, but I was working on a deadline and I'm not an expert pom maker. Then I found this, still at Anthropologie.

Tassels I can do, tassels I excel at (IMOHO). I unraveled some burlap threads and made a couple of tassels, then made a couple more using the unraveled burlap and the embroidery floss from the front. Voila! Two per corner.

And here she is, all done.

The front...

And the back. Okay, she looks a bit wonky on the back, but she isn't, I promise. I'm a worse picture-taker than I am pillow-maker.

I'm linking this to Cheap Chic Home's Fabric Fun Thursday.

Check her out!

The End Result

2010-08-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted about a couple of projects I've been working on. I've finished both, one I'm fairly happy with, the other not so much.

This was a new St. John's Bay straw bag I picked up dirt-cheap. It had a plain blue ho-hum lining, which I decided I could change out easily. (Turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. :P )

I picked up this fabric from Etsy and translated one of the flower images into a button design for the front of the bag.

It's a loose translation; I wanted to use all MOP buttons and didn't have that many greens and blues. Still I think it turned out kinda cute.

This is the inside of the bag, post transformation.

This project I'm reasonably pleased with. Not totally, I'm too much of a perfectionist for that, but, as we Southerners often say--sometimes maybe too often--it'll do.

The next project I'm judging thumbs down. It's meant as a gift for a friend, needed by next Tuesday.

I really don't like how it turned out, reason being that I always over-think projects and thus shoot myself in the foot. I decided that in order to have clean seams I'd make a bag, one side burlap, the other muslin, which I could turn inside out with the seams caught inside, then seam the resulting package together. Good in theory, not so great in practice cuz I wound up with a double-bulky seam. So I either have to rip this thing out, resew, and serge the seams or come up with another quick to make idea.

I'm thinking I'll be doing some ripping this weekend.

And with that, I'll sign off. Hope y'all have a weekend filled with better things than re-making pillows!

What Am I Doing?!!

2010-08-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'm linking this post to Cheap Chic Home's Fabric Fun Thursday.

Stop by and check out all her fabulous links!

***

It's been over a week since I last posted and even I couldn't say how I've kept busy in the meantime. I made--and listed on Etsy--another rag-quilted tea cozy.

I'm liking this one much better than other I made, perhaps because of the fabrics. I bought a charm pack by Lila Tueller and put them together along with a green liner.

This green fabric is one my sis Ginger passed on when she cleaned out her fabric stash. I cringe when I see how even more cluttered her cleaning has made my studio, but as this is the second time I've used this particular fabric I shouldn't complain, should I? Now if I could just get around to using the others I got from her as well as all I've collected my own self. :P

I've also been working on a button-art straw purse, which I'd hoped to finish today, but apparently won't. The button art--a flower and leaf--is completed, the liner is done, and now I simply have to sew the liner into the straw. Easy, right? Well, not so much. I tried sewing it, but since the straw is stiff and I can't use pins, and since the purse itself is cumbersome, the liner fabric kept slipping. I tried using masking tape, tried stationary clamps and finally decided to hand-baste the lining in place. Maybe tomorrow I can get it stitched in.

Another project in the works is a pillow for a friend's birthday. With this pillow, I'm flattering (as in imitation being the sincerest form of) this lady who does such beautiful work.

The pillow I'm making for my friend is burlap, no ruffles. I've all but the last letter stitched, then need to put the pillow together--before next Tuesday when the GGs again meet for lunch. I'll take a picture of mine once it's done, as well as one of the above-mentioned purse.

Now, I need to get back to basting the liner into said purse.

Ta, y'all.

At what age...

2010-08-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

Should one consider himself too old to make major life changes?

The Hub and I have been thinking about moving back to Pennsylvania. Me, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd consider returning, but in all fairness, Hub came back to Texas for me and has lived here for the last thirty-five years. And he's missing life in Pittsburgh. As am I, truth be told. (Actually, we're only thinking of living there part time, with a home in Pittsburgh and a condo in Texas.)

Last week, during breakfast at a local diner, I was having a poached egg and a piece of dry rye toast. (Okay, I'll admit it: I'm always on a diet.) But I was telling Hub about the first time I ever had rye bread.

I was twenty-one when we moved to Pittsburgh. He'd just gotten out of the service, and I was at heart a country girl who didn't know diddlysquat. It was a real adventure for me: taking the street car into town to look for a job--all by myself. I remember stopping for breakfast at a drug store lunch counter and ordering dry toast. (Even then I was on a diet.) The waitress misheard my order and brought me rye toast, liberally spread with butter. And yes, I swear it was real butter. I know this because, being the timid soul I was back then, I said nothing, just ate that mahvelously delicious toast and fell in love with rye bread. (I had my first poached egg at that same lunch counter and my first English muffin.)

There were a lot of firsts for me in Pittsburgh. By the time I came back to Texas, I'd become an adult person. I realized when Hub and I were talking at the diner that I was born and raised in Texas and grew up in Pittsburgh.

We've been looking at houses on the 'net and found one we both like. There's just the two of us; we don't need a lot of room, and this one doesn't have much: it's 884 sq. ft.: two bedrooms, one bath, kitchen, LR, and an unfinished basement. But it's next door to the house where we last lived in Pittsburgh. I clearly remember it had a cherry tree in the back. (It ticked Hub off cuz the cherries would drop on our car. He felt they should trim the branches over our drive; I felt we should park the car in the garage cuz it was a lovely tree!) It's a good neighborhood there, and the houses on that side of the street back up to a wooded area that's part of a park.

Tons of potential here. I think it would make a perfect cottage for two. Of course, I'd tear out the hedges and put in a charming cottage garden--Pittsburgh has such lovely dirt!

We'll probably never do it. Our number one roadblock is our cat. Last February, Max was diagnosed as diabetic. Turns out, though, that his problem was the food we were feeding him. A diet of canned cat food has kept his blood sugars stable, but wet cat food's not something you can leave down for him to snack on all day. In order to give him the calories he needs--he's a big cat--we feed him four times a day.

As a result, we never both of us go away at the same time for more that half a day. And buying a house in one city and selling one in another would involve lots of leaving Max behind.

Other roadblocks? It would be hard for me to leave my family, but I'd be here for the summer and phones work just as well from Pittsburgh to Texas as they do within Texas.

Another roadblock is our age--moving was a lot easier when we were young and after Hub's heart attack last year, I fear what the strain would do to him. (That's last on his list of concerns, highest on mine.)

First on Hub's is Max. For those of you who don't remember, take a look at this:

Isn't he cute? And did I say big? And scary sometimes. (He frightened one of my cleaning ladies so badly she wouldn't come back!) No way we could get a pet sitter, and I wouldn't ask my sister, whom Max likes, to come in that often.

So for now we'll just dream. And innit strange that when I daydream of living in that house I'm twenty-nine? And cute. And weigh 105 pounds! And did I say cute?

Oh, well, except for the heat, we've got it pretty good here in central Texas. And Max is a luverly cat...most of the time.

Ta, y'all.

Button Bonanza

2010-07-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last week was busy for me, and I can't even much remember much of what I did.

One thing, though, was this: I bought a jar of mother-of-pearl buttons from the online Goodwill site.

The whole jar, including shipping, came to around $30, but it's a small price to pay for how entertained it's kept me.

I still haven't gotten all of them separated, but I did quite a few. I'm storing them, by size and by color, in manila envelopes.

Encased in glass, they don't look like that many, but upended on my work bench, they make me think I'll be separating buttons for years!.

Here's a shot of them along with a button painting I made. (Though the buttons in the shoe are all MOP, they're ones I already had.)

A closer shot. See the dyed ones at the top? I'm loving those. There's a purple/brown, which may be the natural color of the shell, and pink and green and blue and red, and I even found a yellow one today.

A closer shot of the shoe. I stitched the buttons onto a piece of scrapbook-paper-covered cardboard.

More shots of the buttons. I'm also loving the carved ones. I found a wide variety of carved designs. (On the left side, upper third of the picture, you can see a couple of moon buttons. I've found three so far.)

Still more.

See the dyed carved ones in the middle? And the white carved on the right?

How about that lone little diamond button on the right. Isn't it gorgeous? And there's a square one on the left side that is darling. At the very bottom, you can see bits of the moon buttons.

A closer shot of the diamond, along with some of the carved buttons.

I'm also loving the MOP buckles. Making bags thriftily often means you don't have enough fabric for one long strap so I've been using buckles on them. These will work great!

Too cute, right?

Another thing I haven't shown here is the rag quilt tea cozy I made. I went thrift store shopping with a neighbor a week or so ago and found some small pieces of upholstery samples. From those, I made this:

I really like the look achieved by the rag quilt process. Who knows where it'll take me. I'm already planning others. (On that same trip, I picked up some scraps of teapot/teacup print fabric I think might work well with this technique.)

The back side of the tea cozy. (Aren't my name tags cute!)

Sunday's almost gone now, and a new week is starting. Hope you all have a terrifical one.

Nifty Thrifty Me

2010-07-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Last Friday the hub and I stopped at our local DAV thrift store. It's not the best of places; you have to dig to find anything, if in fact there is anything to be found. But the pricing's great. Nothing is marked; you simply take it to the check-out counter and they quote you a price, usually quite low. This time, I stumbled on a couple of 20" pillows with down/feather inserts. That's all I paid attention to: the inserts.

The checker messed me up though; he told me to pay whatever I wanted. Dang him! I know I could have had them for a couple of bucks, but it's a charity, and the inserts would have cost a pretty penny retail so I gave him seven dollars. Still cheap, all things considered.

Once home, I discovered the pillow coverings were nice in themselves with a neat quilted front: a center medallion and paisleys on four sides. But the rust color wouldn't work with my interior.

Then I found this pattern on a blog I ran across while wandering around the internet.

I don't remember which blog it was, but you can find the pattern here. There's a charge for it--and stipulations on the pattern that it not be used for items to sell. That latter fact I wish I'd known before I bought it, but in the end I decided to use the pattern as a learning tool, and for that $7 is insignificant.

But my mind had started working: I wondered how the outer shell of the pillows would work as a handbag.

Not too bad, all in all. The pleats didn't turn out as definite in the quilted fabric as in the pattern picture. They might be more so if I ironed them down, but I didn't. I made a few other changes as well.

I put in a zippered back pocket and a magnetic clasp, neither of which were called for in the pattern.

I also added a cell phone pocket in the front. (The pattern included instructions for one open pocket.)

Because the length of my available fabric was limited to 20", I had to fudge on the shoulder strap. (The pattern calls for 24".) I used one 20" length, and a shorter strip with a vintage buckle on the end. Then I added a button instead of the flower--because the button's really neat and matches the color of the buckle. I also think a vintage pin would look good on this.

All in all, it turned out pretty well for scavenged materials. (The lining was something my sis was getting rid of. Of course, I took it!)

And now I have plans for making more. Maybe the next one I can complete in less than the three days this one took. And perhaps next time I can make it look like the original. Maybe if I just follow instructions--I don't know why that's so hard for me.

So now I've finished my second glass of wine, and it's time to join the hub. Ta, y'all.

Tossing and Turning

2010-07-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

I found myself unable to sleep last night and, after a couple of hours of boring TV and internet, decided to brave the dark and work in my studio. I've mentioned that I live in the country; need I say there are no streetlights? There wasn't even much in the way of moonlight so I turned on the light in the kitchen window.

My cat Max was still in the bedroom, but I knew I couldn't simply shut the patio door. He learned long ago how to open it. There've been times we've forgotten to latch it before going to bed and found in the morning that he'd been playing free and easy with outdoor access. So last night, I made sure the screen was closed. He hasn't learned how to open that yet. (I don't know if that made things better or worse in the end.)

Around 4a., I felt I might be able to sleep so I shut off the studio lights and left for the house.There's a big difference going into the night from a semi-dark house and from a lighted studio. It was so dark outside I swear the night creatures needed flashlights! Still, I know the way. I just kinda had to follow the sidewalk, and I only wandered off a couple of times.

I was barely on the porch when Max started in. Omigosh, you'd have thought I was a night creature myself! I couldn't believe the hub slept through the ruckus. Max had opened the glass door about four inches, and he must have thought I was an intruder because the closer I came the louder he got, hissing and spitting and growling. I tried putting my hand down so he could smell me, but he got worse, like he was in the middle of a cat fight.

So-o-o, what does one do under such circumstances? I had a few options: I could return to the studio and try to sleep on the dinky little chair I have out there, or...my other two options required me to get to the front of the house, and I wouldn't have the light in the kitchen window to guide me.

As I rounded the side, I could make out the concrete flower bed edging so at least I was able to steer clear of the plantings. Thankfully, years ago the hub put up a key pad garage door opener, which has come in handy many times, but never more so than last night.

Max was still spitting when I came in the garage door but calmed down once he realized it was me. And still the hub slept on. (My last option was to ring the front doorbell, though I'm not sure he wouldn't have slept through that too! Thank God I didn't have to find out.)

So what did I do those hours in the studio?

Of course it involved buttons, and of course it included a shadowbox.

These buttons are all mid-century. To me, they're works of art in themselves. Can you imagine a time where simply clothing closures could be so lovely?

Now I have to learn how to take pics of glass without a glare. Google search coming up!

Button Shadowboxes

2010-07-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession--well, one of several new. A while back, I picked up a button-filled shadow box at the thrift store. I've never made a secret of my love for buttons and the shadow box was reasonably priced so of course I had to have it. It's now hanging in my office. (I have no bare wall space in my studio!)

This isn't the greatest pic in the world. Today's rainy so I don't have the best light, but maybe you can get an idea.

Since I have such a large collection of old buttons, I decided to make a shadow box using some of mine. This is what I came up with.

I used some scrapbook paper as a backing and a regimented display style. Now I'm think it might be too regimented. This one, though, will remain as is. It's my next one I'm fretting over now.

While I was in Fredericksburg a few weeks back, I found an empty shadow box at a thrift store. (Living in the country means I don't have a large number of places to look for them.) It was obviously vintage--probably '70s--but I thought I could make it work.

The above was my first mock-up, before I realized the frame is supposed to be horizontal. It wouldn't be that hard to shift around, and it's not too very regimented.

Still, I tried this positioning: a spray of mother-of-pearl buttons. (Again, remember the lighting. I didn't want to get out my tripod or my natural light. Forgive, please.) This is using the same scrapbook page as the first sample, a paper I intend to be the backing of the final product.

Here I tried grouping the buttons in a bird pattern. All of these are shell/MOP. (The white pattern is underneath on this test run so if I choose this the blue paper will show between the buttons.)

My final mock-up: I replaced the dark shell eye button with a blue plastic, which I think I like the look of better. (The blue is vintage--probably from the late '80s, early '90s, but it's not as old as the others.)

Shall I go regimented, random, or pattern? Or shall I mimic the design of the first? It would be easy enough to copy that randomness. Can you even tell the last two mock-ups are birds?

I'd love to hear your comments, thoughts, ideas. Thanks in advance.

Post Corrected---Just a Note

2010-07-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was unable to view the pics in last Saturday's post, I've fixed the problem. Sorry for the mix-up and thanks for bearing with me.

Tassels Finito

2010-07-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Remember Billie's triangular pillow?

Here are the tassels I made for it.

I know they're different, but I'm hoping Billie will appreciate that about them.

I used the same white crochet cord for the tassels and tied them all together with one bead that's the same. On this one, I added a silver leaf bead cap on the head, a light blue bead, then another silver bead cap, and topped it off with a Chinese blue and white bead.

This has a silver bead cap (rescued from a vintage piece of jewelry) covering the entire head, then the same Chinese blue and white bead, and a pearl bead.

I used the same silver leaf bead cap on the head of this tassel, then a darker blue bead, next the leaf bead cap with a silver bead, and finally the same Chinese blue and white bead.

All in all, the time I spent making these was a nice respite from everything else I should be doing, but now they're done, so it's back to reality.

Happy Fourth, y'all!

Miscellany, Etcetera, Ad Infinitum

2010-07-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering (I know you were!), I survived the lunch I gave for my friends, but I've had neither the energy nor the inclination to post since. Still, as I've been the recipient of some cool pics lately, I thought I'd share them with y'all.

I recently mentioned that my sis Billie is redoing her bedroom in blue and white. This pic was taken with her cell phone. (It's pretty good, considering.) Doesn't the bed look cool? (The pillows bookending those in front are ones I made for her. On the left is the one I showed in this post. On the right is one I made for her birthday in January. Never got around to showing pics of that one.)

The triangular pillow she recently found at a thrift store. I'm in the process of making tassels for each point. (I love the fourth pillow, though you can't get close enough to clearly see the details of it. 'Minds me of an embroidered dresser scarf.)

My 'nother sis Ginger recently learned that her beloved cat Buster has a heart murmur. Devastating news. She's treating Buster with meds but the vet can't promise more than a year. (We're hoping Buster proves the vet wrong!) To help her get through the devastation of what she fears is coming, she found a new kitty who needed a home, a Bengal. He's the creature on the table in this fuzzy pic--another made with a cell phone. She wasn't able to get a really good shot of him, said she'd get the phone set to take a photo, click it, then before the pic actually gelled, the son-of-a-gun was gone!

Buster's in the foreground. She's hoping they'll become friends so Buster will have company when she and her hub aren't home.

Another shot of Rufus. He hasn't learned how to play to the camera yet. Ginger thinks he's not actually a full-blood Bengal, but he's pretty darn cute anyway.

We met him this afternoon. He's not a bit shy! And Buster looks wonderful, as if there's not a ding-dong thing wrong with him, though he does seem to have slowed down a bit. Tomorrow's his second birthday. Happy Birthday, B-boy!

Here's Buster eating heart healthy. Max wishes he could be so skinny! (Max and Buster are both yellow kitties, though Max is a bit more orange than Buster. And a lot bigger. And quite a bit older.)

This next shot is my grand-nephew Maxton. His mother Amanda is a cupcake artist. You can see her work at Adventures in Cupcaking. She said while Maxton was playing in the bathtub, she asked what he was doing. His reply: Making cupcakes! (Isn't he a cutie?)

Last but not least, here's my yet another sister Daisy, sailing with her hub. Doesn't she look gorgeous?!

She wants us to do a calendar with twelve months of photos of the six sisters. She's assigned each of us two months--and no, we won't be nude! I have April and August: Easter and the dog days of summer. (Doesn't Daisy make a great calendar girl?)

Tomorrow, I'll try to post shots of Billie's tassels. They're as good as done, but I'm not in the mood to take photos.

'Til then, ta, y'all!

N.

Whew!

2010-06-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

One thing down, fifty bajillion yet to do.

Next Wednesday, I'm having a group of friends over for lunch to celebrate a birthday. We do this several times a year, switching off places where we lunch. Our birthdays fall quite conveniently: two in January, two in March, one in July--or is that June? I can't remember--and two in August.

Josie's the newest addition to our group--she's the June-July birthday. As she's from New Zealand, I decided to make her a tea cozy. The first incarnation showed up in this post. I wasn't pleased with how it turned out, and a friend, Mary Keenan of Procrastination Diary, suggested a design, to which I made my own changes. Thanks, Maire!

Here's how it looked last Saturday.

And how it looks now.

I made it adjustable since I have no idea what size Josie's teapot is. This last pic was taken on my 4-potter.

So that's the handmade part of my gift completed--except for bag and the card. But I have a list a mile long of things to be done before Wednesday.

(If you see sump'n speeding past you on the freeway, just wave. It's prob'ly me.)

Saturday Putzing

2010-06-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

I recently mentioned I was making a tea cozy for a gift. Well, I finished it up today and am now wondering if I went too far. Sometimes it seems as if I don't recognize "enough" on my way to the finish line. I'd love some input as to whether I've overdone this. Please, pretty please!

It's not sitting on a teapot so it looks a little distorted--that'll change on a real teapot. The main thing I'm wondering about is the embellishment. The way I have the two flowers situated you can hardly tell the bird's a bird. I feel that the red one is overkill, but one flower seemed not enough. Is it merely the placement that's out of whack? I thought about doing this kind of a flower, even bought some pink gingham to do so. Should I go in that direction? (I still have a couple of weeks before I need the gift.)

BTW, you can check out the tutorial for this lovely quilt at IamOnlyOneWoman.

Another thing I worked on today is this shadow box.

I picked up the vintage shadow box frame at a thrift store in Fredericksburg yesterday for half a buck. The paper I printed out from a free scrapbook paper site, and the buttons, well, they're from my stash. What do you think? Should I hang it on my wall, or go with this one?

I put this together a while back to use in my office, then decided to list it in my Etsy shop instead. But it's something I can always pull out--and I've been wavering about that. Guess I'll just have to try them and see.

Something else I picked up at the same thrift shop yesterday are these two framed needlework pieces.

At first I thought I'd use them as insets on pillows or tote bags, but they're beautifully done so I'm rethinking. I may offer them on Etsy, may hang them myself.

And that's my Saturday pretty well wasted. It's time to feed the cat, and I need to get some veggies ready to freeze--my neighbor gave us some wonderful things from her garden.

So, later, guys. Keep on keepin' on.

PS: I meant to show a pic of the tea cozy with an adjusted size. Since I have no idea what size pot my friend has, I thought I'd do an adjustable cozy. Here's a pic of how it looks smaller.

Wednesday...

2010-06-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Is a fave day for me. While my cleaning lady cleans, the Hub and I retire to my studio. I have a nice little sitting area for him and a television, and as he watches the Today show, I putz. (Today, I made a big dent in cleaning up my craft table. Yay, me!) Once Maria's gone and while the Hub plays poker with some of the neighbors, I have a whole, clean house to myself!

Today, I put up newspaper blanks for some pictures I'll be hanging after I pick up the proper hanging paraphernalia. And I finished a handbag I've been working on for quite some time.

And I cut out a tea cozy for a gift.

I ordered this from Goodwill online as part of the gift. It's a vintage Merit China Occupied Japan teacup and saucer set. Pretty cool, innit?

I did a bit of rearranging in my guest bath, substituting this:

for this:

(I know it's crooked. I stuck it back on so I could show it here.)

And laying this on the floor in front of the sink:

The light was pretty bad in there, but how cool is that? Daisy made it for me a couple of years back with the express order to use it in my studio. Only recently has she allowed me to bring it into the house. It's wonderful underfoot! (Thanks, Daisy!)

Well, the Hub just got home. Have no idea if he won or lost but we picked up Chinese takeout yesterday so at least I don't have to cook this evening.

Ta, yall.

Pillow, pillows, pillows

2010-06-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

I love me some pillows. And I've made a few in my time.

This one I did for my sis Ginger for her b'day in March. I used a vintage antimacassar and some lovely linen from Dharma Trading. (Many of these I've shown before. Bear with me, please.)

And this I have in my Etsy shop here. It's made of a vintage tea towel. It's one of my faves.

This is also offered in one of my shops. Here I took a vintage tea towel with some purty big holes in it and cut it up to use with a remnant chenille fabric I found for a song in a lovely store in Austin.

Another vintage tea towel turned into a pillow, this on the bed in my guest room. I made the one on the right as well a lo-ong time ago, using a vintage needlepoint I picked up at an antique store and a remnant of fringe. Cheap those, but then I had an 8" down pillow form made for it. I mean, who can tell if a pillow that small is down? It's not exactly sink-into-able. Silly, silly used-to-be me!

This I made not too long ago for my hair stylist. It's a design I intend to re-use. (I fixed that right corner but didn't take another shot. Sorry.)

This I didn't actually make, just sorta redid. I picked it up for four bucks in an antique store in Port Townsend, Washington. Its filling was all flattened and as trim it had this yucky hand-made cording--I know handmade's cool, but not this stuff. I loved the look of the old worn velvet on the back so I pulled off the trim, restuffed it--polyfil this time, not down, which most of mine are. As trim I used a couple of handmade buttons I also picked up in Port Townsend, though on a different trip.

I love this one! I made it from a sampler I stitched ages ago, using a design borrowed from a $125 pillow and vintage fabric I salvaged from an old table runner picked up in a thrift store.

And the point of all this?

This pillow I just made for the bedroom my sis Billie is decorating in her new apartment. (Yes, I know it needs pressing. I will do before I send it to her.) The lamp I showed here has sent her in a new direction--blue--so I used a tea towel I picked up at Dollar Tree when we were all in Fredericksburg. Few tea towels are big enough to make a decent square pillow so I embroidered some of the Dharma Trading linen to stretch it.

So, that's my show and tell for this lovely Saturday. The hub should be waking soon, and I haven't had breakfast so I'd best get moving.

***

I'm linking this post to Fabric Fun Thursday at Cheap Chic Home. Check her out!

And to Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple.

Check 'em out.

Ta, y'all.

Sisters and Winged Pigs

2010-06-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Omigosh! It's been almost a month since I last posted. I've had a very laissez-faire attitude to much in my life lately. And no, I don't mean the economic kind of laissez-faire, but the 'nother kind, where I've allowed myself a deliberate abstention from doing certain things. (Am I taking too broad a poetic license on the phrase?)

Daisy, though, has done a great post on our weekend. You can check that out here. She also took some terrific photos; me, not so much.

This is the bed and breakfast where we stayed. It was wonderfully situated a block from Main Street.

The entrance to the courtyard on the side of the house. We spent a lovely Sunday morning in our jammies out here with our coffee.

This bedroom I shared with Billie and Daisy. Jeanie, our eldest, stayed in a BR by herself since her biological clock is on different rhythm than ours. And Ginger and Alice were in the BR on the third floor, bless their hearts.

I doubt any of you can understand how wonderful my sisters are, how truly extraordinary. I use that word purposefully because on our way back from the weekend, Ginger and I in one car since we both live down here and the rest in li'l Alice's car as they all live in north Texas, Ginger was talking about how extraordinary she found the sisters and how ordinary she believed she was. I was astounded. Reminds me of Burns: O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! (O would some Power the gift to give us To see ourselves as others see us!) And yes, I realize he was speaking of a socially pretentious woman, but I maintain the reasoning stands. It's as easy to overlook your own wonder as it is to magnify it.

To prove my point: as homework, we were all supposed to write about how we missed our mother. (I say supposed to because I didn't. I find that difficult to do. Sorry, Alice.) Ginger did a bang-up job, as did the rest of my sisters. She, though, prefaced hers by claiming not to be a writer. I disagree.

The Mama Poem

This poem today is for our Mom,

No doubt, there is no other

Who'd love us all and do without.

You bet, that was our mother!

I miss her little twinkle toes

A dancin' she would go.

She'd cut a rug

And break the hearts

Of men on every row.

She'd laugh and sing

Before the dawn

And wake our asses up.

On summer morns

We'd grump and groan.

She just ignored our guff.

Porch lights would "flick"

When boys were there,

The signal to come in.

God bless her soul.

She did her best

To help us not to sin.

She'd fight a bear

For one and all

And never blink an eye.

'Member that fine day she did.

She made the neighbor cry.

Mom's name was known both far and wide

Within our neighborhood.

There was no doubt

There was a swath

Where Gracie Brown once stood.

She never said "I can't do that."

Went climbing on the roof.

She went to school and walked the stage

What more is needed proof?

She left us oh, so long ago.

She left us all alone.

But what she did that fateful day

Was make the sisters strong.

What was it that she gave to us

Upon the day she left?

Our hearts, they broke.

Our tears did flow.

She'd planned "The gift" herself.

It wasn't until later

We knew what she had done.

She made us better sisters

For now we're all for one.

The trials and tribulations

the woman did endure.

She's finally up in heaven

Safe and sound, secure.

Oh, Mom, she wasn't perfect.

But Lordy, nor am I.

I know she's looking down on us.

She's waiting upon high.

I wish she could be with us.

To hear us laugh and sing.

That always made her happy

In sunshine and in rain.

I'd like to say before I go

To bed and nighty, night.

There is one thing I know for sure

She did do something right!

P.S. I am her sunshine, you know!

How cool is that?

There are some inside jokes, some perhaps needing no explanation, others that do. In her sixties, Mama actually did repair her own roof and walked the stage for her AA degree--after dropping out of school in the eighth grade! And yes, she really got in a cat-fight with a neighbor over what she perceived as said neighbor's mistreatment of one of her children. The memory of that always embarrassed her--she truly was a gentle woman.

As to the last line in the poem, that comes from a card we found while clearing out Mama's things. It was from Ginger, and on the outside Mama had written, "You are my sunshine." According to Ginger, that proves she was Mama's favorite.

To Ginger, I say, "Get in line, lady girl. I've got seniority." Or, loosely translated, when pigs fly!

It's that time again

2010-05-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, my sisters and I go on our yearly get-away. This year, because of the Hub's heart attack last fall and my wish to not be too far away, our destination is Fredericksburg, about an hour's drive from home.

We've rented a log cabin a block away from Main Street so we'll be close to shopping.

(I snagged this pic online. It doesn't capture the brilliance of a spring day in Texas, but it's pretty representative of Main street.)

We're also just a short hop to the Peach Tree Restaurant.

What's not to love about a place that serves apricot fried pies?

And black bean pizza? (Recipes for these two items--and more--can be found here.)

Saturday afternoon, we'll be attending the matinee at the Rock Box Theater, again a short distance from our cabin. It's gonna be a fun weekend!

We always celebrate a sister's birthday, rotating calendrically. This year it's Alice's turn. She'sa ma baby sis. (My 'nother sis, Daisy's birthday's the end of this month so we can't forget her!)

This year, I made birthday cards--my first attempts. Since Alice won't have a chance to read the blog and Daisy might, I'll only show the former's card right now.

The outer front.

The inside.

I can also show the package wrapping, which I'm pleased with since I not only reused some old gift packages but also used these stacked button hair clips for adornment.

This is Daisy's.

And Alice's.

(In each gift, I included the hair clip to turn the stacked buttons back into hair jewelry.)

That's all for now. I've got clothes to pack!

Ta, y'all!

Billie's New Lamp (Singular)

2010-05-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

The online lamps I found (see post here) for my sis's new apartment didn't work. Poo! The cool green one shattered in shipping,. (Luckily, the seller refunded the money.) And the Goodwill lamp, while Billie says it's as pretty in reality as it was in pics, doesn't suit what she had in mind.

So I went searching again, this time locally. Billie will be down here next weekend for our sisters' get-away (more about which later). And I found a treasure trove for lamps just up the street...okay, up the street, over one highway, down another. Not far at all. I found lots of cool lamps, made me wish I had room to use some of them--but I don't. This one, though, this one if Billie hadn't wanted it, I'd have found a place for it.

It's Capodimonte, probably from the thirties. I found one exactly like it in an eBay listing where the starting bid was $249. I paid $45.

Take a look at the base. This isn't a great angle--and the lamp has already been put away--but those are dolphins supporting the lamp. The base is supposedly brass, but it's definitely tarnished over the years.

The seller included a lampshade, which I took, but once I got it home I realized it was too large for the lamp. Don't want that. The shade above is the one I had in my office, switched out in my redo. (I know, I haven't shown any pics of that, the reason being that I haven't finished! My makeover-in-a-month may yet turn out to be a makeover-in-a-year.)

But doesn't the lamp look scrumptious? Shall I tell my sis I broke it, then hide it whenever she visits? I'm beginning to think it'd look terrifical in my bedroom. (In response to that, the hub said, "Well, we did pay for it.")

Next week, the sisters and I are heading to a little town about an hour's drive from here for our annual get-away. I'll post more about that later.

Ta, y'all.

Billie's New Lamps

2010-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

My sis Billie's really excited about the larger apartment she recently moved into. She's trying to pare down but sometimes in order to pare down you need to find things that work better. She was talking about her fruitless search for new (to her), thrifty, lamps when I thought I might look around myself. She has a job; I don't.

We have similar tastes, and the two I found for her I would've liked to keep. I do love lamps.

This first was from eBay.

Now that it's bought and paid for, I'm a little skeptical that it will work as she wants. But, as I said, it's bought and paid for. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The second was from Goodwill online. It's my fave.

Can't wait to see how they work in her apartment!

Mo' Buttons

2010-04-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

I don' do Facebook so here's my daily update: I'm still obsessed with buttons. I've begun making hair pins from them, but there hasn't been much interest so far on Etsy. What do you guys think?

Why wouldn't someone like these?

I mixed both new and old buttons on most, though a couple are purely vintage buttons. They're all stitched to a circle of felt that has a strip on it to hold the hair pin.

I'm beginning to think this is my fave.

Though truthfully, I love the pop of this one too.

And I think this one sings.
This one's not my fave, though it is all vintage buttons.

This last is a bit of silk ribbon embroidery I did back in the late '80s. As with so many things, I never finished it once the embroidery was done so instead I made a covered button of it. And never used it. It's been in my button box since God made the Brazos river!

I'd love to have comments on these. Should I turn my attention elsewhere?

Thanks in advance to you lovely people.

Buttons

2010-04-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

My name's Nancy, and I'm a button-aholic.That doesn't mean I'm a true collector. I'm not; I'm a hoarder. I have no sense of pride when it comes to what kind of button I accumulate. I'll adopt them all.

The button below is the one that started me down this circuitous road. It's a true collector piece.

Made of elephant ivory most likely in the 19th century, this is carved--see the dragon--and inset with tiny stones. It has a detachable shank--it screws off so the garment could be cleaned without harming the button. I've had this for probably twenty years and think I might mount it in a small shadow box and hang it in the office I still haven't finished. Good idea?

The next few pictures are of some of the largest buttons in my stash. Some I know what they're made of, some I don't.

I have no idea what this one is, but I think it's gorgeous. I'm thinking of using it as a closure on a white linen pillow.

This is another I'm in the dark on re what kind of plastic it is, but I love the mid-century look of it. This and the one above are quite large, perfect for closures on a handbag or memory bag or a pillow....

This one's celluloid. I love the deco styling of it. It too is large enough to use as a focus closure.

I have no idea what material was used in these nor do I remember where I got them. They may have been in the button box my used-to-be next door neighbor gave me. They're an inch and a half wide with metal shanks, probably came from a coat. They too I could see as focus closures, but dang I don't need that many. Some of these I may offer on Etsy, yunno, maybe four of them? That would leave two for me to some day do something with.

These I find interesting; some of them I also feel would make great focal points. (Sometimes when I look at my buttons and think of all the projects I could use them on, I feel overwhelmed. Maybe someday I'll take a shot of all in toto and show what I mean.)

These are celluloid. They truly need a bath, though it would have to be a dry one because they are celluloid.

This bunch is a medley of styles and types. The three at the top are metal, the two on the right below that are shell, the two to the left of those are celluloid, the four at the bottom also are shell, and I'm unsure of the ones that look like wood.

Now a shot of some that make me happy.

A handful of plain mother of pearl (MOP) and various other white buttons, I love the look of them. One of these days I'll do a design of whites on a brown linen pillow. (The two at the front are whistle buttons with one hole on top and two on the bottom. I think they're from the turn of the last century, but because they're so plain, they're not considered collectible.)

Here's something I did with a number of other whistle buttons as well as a few others. I used a sterling bracelet blank with mini glue pads. I like the look of this.

Maybe someday I'll start selling these by the pound. (Yes, I have that many.) I don't have enough years ahead of me to use all I have! (I'm on my third week of having given up sugar. Maybe I should give up buttons next.)

That's all for now. Ta, y'all.

Pillow Fever

2010-04-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Lately I've become obsessed with making pillows. I do that often: focus on one aspect of creativity to the detriment of all others. (Notice that I haven't posted completed pics of my March office redo? That's cuz it's not completed. Still working on it--when I'm not working on something else!)

I showed you pics of the pillows I made for my sis and SIL for their birthdays here and the one for the $5 challenge here. There were others I posted in the past but those were the latest.

Here's another:

This is a knife edge pillow made of linen/rayon with three attached wool felt flowers. (I need to redo that right upper corner. Dang, I thought I was done but it looks wonky, doesn't it?) As on many of the pillows I made lately, I did a hand-picked zipper. (Read about the technique at Threads.) I'm in love with hand-picked zippers! (It also has a 100% down insert I bought reasonably here. And when I say reasonable, I mean exactly that: $25 for an 18" square plus $5 shipping. You pay almost that much for a mixture in some of the shops around Austin.)

This shot has a glimpse of another pillow I'm working on, more pics to come when it's finished. (I'm also making another dollar store tea towel pillow--stymied right now cuz the buttonhole needs to be larger than my Pfaff makes automatically and I can't figure out how to do one the semi-automatic way. I may have to resort to using my old machine--although I do have one more method to try!)

Not pillow related but another thing I did recently is this sewing kit made for a gift exchange.

I used a tutorial from Nini Makes you can find here.

I've since made another for myself; I'm often bringing handwork into the house from the studio so it comes in handy.

And that's all she's gonna write today. Have a good 'un, y'all.

Doot, Doot, Do, Lookin' Out My Back Door

2010-04-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dinner's over, the kitchen's clean, the Hub's ensconced in front of the tv, and I'm on my second glass of wine. What better time to share some recent pics of our back yard?

Spring in the Texas hill country means bluebonnets. After a winter such as we just had, it means fields of them! (For the legend of bluebonnets, look here.)

This is the view from my bathroom window (taken outside, but from that vantage point).

Max doesn't care so much about the flowers, but he loves being out in the early a.m. Here, he and I are waiting outside for the Hub to wake up and our day to begin. (Max also loves the row of boulders.)

This is the view from the master bedroom window. (See note above. Remember, the Hub's still sleeping!)

Another shot of Max and his boulders with a bluebonnet backdrop.

There's a vacant lot between our house and the golf course. It's filled with bluebonnets this year!

Max and his rocks, redux.

Ditto, yet again.

This final pic is not one I took but rather one I intend to take--next week, I'm hoping. Not sure when this was shot, but it can't be this year; the bluebonnets haven't filled the field yet. But they will, and I'm watching. (It's an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of Marble Falls, the next town over from us. Lovely, innit? Doesn't it make your storyteller minds start to weave fantasies?)

That's all I have for y'all right now. Happy spring, wherever you are!

Reporting In

2010-04-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week what with yard work and trying to get my studio clean. (I feel like Sisyphus, continually pushing a boulder uphill.)

Yesterday, though, I managed to get out for lunch with the GGs. We were celebrating the birthdays shared by my SIL Sunny and my sister Ginger a few weeks back. (We're a tough bunch to get together, mostly because some of them actually have lives.) I, of course, made my gifts, as did another crafty member of our group: Donna, the quilter. (No, she doesn't blog. I don't know how she finds time to quilt.)

Inspired by Claudia of Cloud Nine Creations who recently made a button bracelet for her friend, which you can see here, I made bracelets as part of my gift. Instead of buttons, I used some vintage silver earrings as well as sterling blanks I bought from Popko's Etsy shop. They turned out pretty good, doncha think?

A while back, I showed the pillow I made for Sunny's gift, It wasn't the best picture, didn't represent the true color of the fabric.

I made her a second from the same fabric--and these pictures are more representative of the actual fabric. This one I made with a twist: it has a front from the wrong side of the fabric...

with welting and the back made from the right side.

That's it for the birthday gifts, but while in town I had to hit the thrift store. Some things go without saying, right? And I bought this:

Lovely, huh? You should click on the pic to enlarge it. At first I thought the handles were elephant heads holding a ring. Not so sure now what they are, but I still like the look of the vase. (I finally figured out that it's a bird's head on the side of the vase. What I thought was an elephant trunk is a bird's beak. Okay, so they're nothing alike; my mind just went there.) I previously had the greenery in a pottery butter churn, the mouth of which was too large for the amount of greenery in it and I didn't want to buy more. This works perfectly!

Time to feed the cat! Later, y'all.

Oops! I forgot to show Ginger's pillow. It too appeared in an earlier post, but I didn't indicate why I'd made it. (She reads the blog.) Anyway, here it is, one more time.

Bye again, y'all.

Five Dollar Challenge

2010-03-25T05:22:00.000-07:00

Living with Lindsay is having a $5 Spring Challenge, that being to create a new spring decor item for your home using only $5 worth of items purchased at a dollar store. (Not including sales tax.) In doing this, one may use supplies already on hand: paint, glue, paper, fabric, tools.

Okay, right off I'm disqualifying myself because I've chosen red projects, not springy. But the challenge coincided perfectly with my office redo, and red works better in here.

Recently I showed a pillow I made from a dollar store kitchen towel.

(This pic was taken in my studio on a chair that's older than dirt. Please excuse the quality of both.)

Since I didn't take a picture of the towel while it was still a towel, here's a shot of another I bought at the same time.

I love the stitching in these, though it didn't show up that well in my first shot. So here's another.

I'm sure any sewer can tell immediately what steps I took in making this. Me being a perfectionist and invariably choosing the hardest way 'round, I first ripped the hems on the two long sides and one short side. Then I stitched a new wider hem on the latter for the buttonholes. After making the buttonholes, I folded the towel into shape and stitched both sides. (I also re-hemstitched each side of the seam allowance to avoid raveling--this is where the harder way comes in. Leaving the long seams in before stitching would have avoided this step.) I then made a pillow insert from muslin I had on hand; stuffed it with polyfil, also on hand; inserted said insert; figured out where the buttons should go; then sewed them on. (Need I say I also had those on hand? I have tons of buttons on hand!) Ergo--a pillow for a buck.

This next project pushes the line a bit. The frame cost a buck at Dollar Tree--that's the dollar store connection--the linen I had on hand (leftovers from the pillow I showed here), and the buttons I had on hand. (See note above.) (The line pushing comes cuz buttons weren't included in the list of things one could use from on-hand items.)

For this, I simply printed out a fleur-de-lis template I found on line (this is the one I used--I enlarged it first to fit an 8x12 landscaped paper), transferred the outline to the linen using a water-erasable marker and handstitched on the buttons. Easy peasy! I wrapped the cardboard backing that came with the frame with batting first--I had that on hand too--then with the button-stitched linen. Next, I hot-glued the batting and linen onto the back. I used a salvaged cereal box to back the frame with, then glued on some brown paper we keep in stock for shipping. Et voila! My dollar wall art.

That's all she wrote, folks! Hope you like my stuffies. (And please forgive they're not soft spring colors.)

Don't Hate Me Because I Sew

2010-03-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

I'm no Martha Pullen, but I do know my way around a machine, and I love when something comes together quickly and easily. As it did with my Dollar Tree pillow.

We have to drive an hour each way to get to our nearest Dollar Tree--don't you feel lucky you have them closer? Last Saturday on a day trip with my sis and SIL, I picked up several items from the Dollar Tree in Fredericksburg including, but not limited to, a few dishtowels. They're 100% cotton, made in India, and I thought they might work well for several projects.

Et voila! I used one dish towel, some muslin, polyfil, and three vintage buttons (all but the towel I had on hand). End total cost--around a buck, eight. (Taxes, doncha know.) I still have a blue towel and a green one--both with similar stitch lines in different color threads. They'll probably show up here later in other projects. (What my pic doesn't show all that well is that there are blue and orange stitching lines up and down this towel. My vintage buttons are orange.)

I showed this pillow in an earlier post, my SIL's birthday gift. I finally gave it to her today--her birthday was last Tuesday, but I've not seen her since then. The fabric was hers, as was the pillow form. I simply did the sewing and made the tassels, but I think it looks kinda cute. I told her I'd make another, using the flip side of the fabric for the body and welting of the side shown above for trim.

Now the last pillow I recently made: the linen on this one came from Dharma Trading. Have you ever bought from them? They have spectacular prices for white and natural-colored linen and silk, the only things I've ever bought from them. (Some items come in black as well.) The antimacassar I picked up on eBay, and the brooch was a $.35 thrift store find. The down insert was one I already had, bought several years ago when I was really into making pillows. (I buy them online from United Pillow Manufacturing. Their prices, even with shipping, is generally better than what's offered in stores around here.)

The next few days I'm gonna be working outside. Here in Texas, it feels like spring. I love sitting on the back porch, sun shining down on me, listening to the fountain. Makes me feel like a contented cat.

Purrr.

More Thrifty Lamps...and few buttons

2010-03-09T04:33:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd show some thrifted lamps I've had a while as well as one I bought last week. Lamps are one of my weaknesses. This first one, some of you have seen before, but she's one of my faves. I found her in a junk store outside of Dallas, probably in the early '90s, stripped of all her lamp parts. She cost less than five dollars--$3.98 as I recall. I put her back together using items I found over the years. She's not what she once was but better than when I found her.

The next one also came from a store outside of downtown Dallas, probably bought about the same time as the first. It cost a whopping $5.98. (When I got it home, I found they originally priced it $15.98, but it was marked in grease pencil and had been smudged enough to where the first number was mistaken for a dollar sign.) I believe it's marble. (I wanted it to be alabaster, but wanting doesn't change a ding-dong thing, does it?) The shade's a cheapie I picked up at Walmart about ten years ago, painted with dots, and added some welting. (I'm a dotty kind of person--I still like it.)

I'm always on the lookout for lamps, even though I don't need them and have a couple of beauties stuck in my closet and another couple in a storage unit. When my sisters and I went away last spring--we try to go away together every year--I found this next lamp in a thrift store in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. (I love visiting thrift stores when I travel!) This one was also sans shade--most thrift store finds are--but I had one I picked up some time back, which I think goes well with it.

Last week, on my way to have lunch with my sis and my SIL, I stopped off at a local thrift store. I have to tuck money away in pockets and hideaways in my bag just for occasions like this. I never carry a checkbook and most thrift stores don't take credit cards so last week I was glad I had a couple of twenties stashed away. I spent every nickel.

As I said, I don't need more lamps, especially pink ones, but I love glass lamps, and this one was just $8, and she had her own shade. How could I walk away? .

Another of my weaknesses is buttons. And on the same thrift store drop-in, I found 3 jars of nice vintage buttons.

The above shot is after I separated them into colors. These I intended to add to jars I already had of each color so I photographed them on my work table. See the ones in front? Those are crocheted. I think they're really cool, though I can't imagine what I'll do with them. There are seven: three gold, two green, one blue and one yellow. Maybe I'll close a pillow with them all marching across the flap.

The three jars to the right of the picture above are the containers that came with the buttons. They were filled to the brim. Into these jars, I put the white, black, brown, and gray colors. The whites are gorgeous! Lots of MOP (mother-of-pearl) and some interesting shapes. The blacks and browns and grays are nice too, some quite large as if they were used on coats.

I also picked up a couple of sweaters marked 50% off, making one a whopping $3 and this one below $2.75! The first was a 100% merino wool, which I've already felted. This was the other.

I think it'll make a terrific pillow for the fourth of July!

I'm linking to Coastal Charm's second Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

2010-03-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

Coastal Charm is having a Nifty Thrifty Tuesday blog party to which I'm linking.

I adore many of the things in my home that I've thrifted, some of which I've already shared with y'all, but I have plenty I can draw on for this party and many more to come.

This lamp was actually found by my dear friend Margie--we met in the ninth grade a hundred years ago--and she has a great eye for thrifting. (That's the Hub's workshop you see out the back door.) The lamp needs a new shade but I've not decided what style I should get.

Here's a better view of the detail on the middle part of the lamp. Gotta love the dolphins. It's made of spelter and was painted gold when Margie found it. I stripped off as much paint as I could without totally destroying the patina.

And a close-up of the bottom section. (I apologize for the pictures. Yesterday was a dreary day in Central Texas.)

The next lamp I found at a thrift store in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, almost twenty years ago. The brass was practically black when I bought it. I cleaned it until I was blue in the face, but it's darkened quite a bit since then.

Actually, it's part of my office redo. I've already changed out the lampshade and like the new one much better. (Forgive the plug in the corner of the shot--I thought I'd cropped that out, but don't feel like going back now and fixing it!)

The detail on the lamp: the bottom part has a raised chrysanthemum design. (I had to move the tassel out of the way to show the design. Now it looks all cattywampus.

For my final thrift show and tell: I bought this chair around 30 years ago when a builder moved his model homes and sold off the furniture. I think I paid $25 for it, and it's served me well over the years. (As a design note: those drapes are full-size matelasse bedspreads I clipped to a curtain rod, which is actually a 2" wooden closet pole my builder left behind when my house was finished. I'll take pictures of that one sunny day in the future.)

And that's all for this first Nifty Thrifty day. Why not check in with Linda over at Coastal Charm to see all the other nifty thrifty posts.

Crafty Thrift Store Finds

2010-02-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

Last week was a busy one. We had to go to Austin twice, which meant I got to go to Savers Thrift. Yay, Savers!

All I found when we went Monday was five chenille upholstery samples.

They're large, approximately 26" square. And they're luxurious. These pictures aren't the best, especially the last one. I took them in a hurry while out in my studio this afternoon with the light from a clip-on. Believe me, they're the kind of colors that make you want to snuggle up in them.

I've made them into so many things in my head since I brought them home. I've mentally clipped them to curtain rings to make a semi-valance over my curtains; I've sewn them into a valance for my dining room/kitchen windows; I've covered the 24" pillows at each end of my sofa; I've made seat cushions for my six dining chairs. Oh, and I even mentally used each of them as backing for the b'day pillow I made for my SIL!

I'm thinking though that they'll probably become chair cushions. I was wavering on that because they are five and my chairs are six, but my friend, whom I talk with every Sunday, suggested I use the leftovers from each sample to patch a cushion for the sixth chair. That'll work!

Two of the swatches are the same pattern. I thought at first they were different colorways, but checked the label when I was photographing and found they're the same colors too.

In these photos the first four appear to be similar--they are--with the last looking very different. It's much the same as well. Actually, the next few pictures gives a better representation of the color.

These five swatches were $2.99 apiece. All in all it wasn't a bad buy, though maybe not a great one. But I love the pieces! And the way they've kept me entertained all week long, they've probably more than paid for themselves.

This though was a great buy. The funny thing is I bought it from a thrift store that's quite proud of its stuff--and I almost didn't buy it. It's a bolt of felt that cost $4.30. Since I prefer using wool felt and couldn't tell what this was made of, I really hesitated, finally convincing myself that at the price I could find some use for it.

But guess what? It's wool! I tried the burn test on it and couldn't tell much from that. It didn't crinkle up like synthetic, but it didn't smell all that much like burning hair either. (Notice the color of the sample it's sitting on--that's the true color range for that last fabric I photographed.) But I read online that if you put a fabric into bleach and leave overnight, whatever's wool in it will melt. Mine melted. Yay! I don't even know how many yards I have of this--36" wide--but it's all pure wool. And I've never seen pure wool felt for less than $20 a yard. Doncha love bargains!

My final pics today are of the pillow I made for my SIL's birthday. That birthday's a week away, but Sunny doesn't do computers so I think I'm safe. See how the colors in her pillow don't go with the ones in my samples? That's why I nixed using one as a pillow back.

This was her fabric--she just had window treatments done--and her pillow form; all I did for the gift was sew the pillow and make the tassels.

Here's a closer look at one of the tassels. I made each a bit different. Hey, why not? The yarn I used is something I picked up in Washington state about five years ago, a textured thick and thin yarn with all kinds of fibers--and all kinds of colors--in it. It's got burgundy and purple and turquoise. So one tassel has a wooden bead with red and gold dots and the other end has a painted purple bead with white and black dots. I like it--I'm hoping she does too.

I guess that's all for today. (I really am working on my office, y'all. I started cleaning out the bookcase today. I hate giving up books, but I think it's time some of them blessed someone else! The writing ones are hardest for me to give donate--and some of them I won't even now, even knowing I'll probably never write again.)

I'm also linking this post to Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Ta, y'all.

A Room a Month

2010-02-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

Recently as I wandered through blogland, I came across a post where a blogger planned to redo a room a month in her home. I'm thinking that might be a good way to go. I'm always all over the board when it comes to decorating, never concentrating long enough on any one area to make a difference. So...for March--don't ask about January and February!--I thought I'd focus on my office, mainly because I'm close enough to being done in there that I might actually manage it!

This is looking into the room from the hallway. Treadmill's gotta stay. I actually use it--though not as much as I should.

So for what we see in this picture, I need to 1) hang the window treatment (or rather mistreatment) I've already made, 2) change out the lampshade, 3) put the slipcover back onto the desk chair. (I took it off for the picture shoot, cuz it was part of my redo, but was done way earlier than the rest. I told you; I have no focus!)

Lastly, the wall looks a bit bare behind the chair. I'm trying to decide whether I want to hang something back there.

Another view from the doorway. Biggest thing to do for this area is declutter. (Aside from the afore-mentioned slipcover.) I'd like a shelf over the desk...I think.

Bookcase mostly needs decluttering too. I intend to get rid of most of the books. Some I haven't looked at since we moved here five years ago.

This area's not so bad. I picked up the boxes a couple of years ago at Hobby Lobby and they keep the shelves pretty neat. (The painting is the one done for the cover of my first romance novel. Not what I'd usually choose but it has sentimental value.)

Another shot of my desk, which emphasizes my need to declutter and also how much I need something to hang over the desk. A shelf? A picture? A pinboard?

In a perfect world, there are a lot of things I'd do with paint in this room but it's not a perfect world and the Hub is not a lover of paint, so I'll pretty much stick with the things I've outlined and report back on this matter in a month. (Suggestions/comments appreciated!)

Ta, y'all.

Of Cabbages and Kings

2010-02-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings."

No boiling hot sea here today, nor wing-ed pigs, but I thought I'd share with y'all a couple of pics of the gifts I made for our GG (gym girls) January birthday girls.

My sister Ginger had a luncheon for the ladies last Friday and did a bang-up job. We met around eleven and left about four. I love these ladies and could spend forever just talking to them. (Actually I talked far more than I should have. I can't believe myself when I do that! I always try to salve my conscience afterward by saying I'm a natural born storyteller, but the truth is probably far south of that.)

As a note, I made PW's apple dumplings for dessert. OMG! Those things are so easy and so scrumptious. And yes, being diabetic, I only had half of one--well, truth is, I had the other half when we were getting ready to leave, but yunno, that was four hours later.

Both of my gifts were much the same. I picked up the gift bags at Dollar Tree--aren't they cute! The needlefelted cashmere heart is a sachet with lavender from my garden, the small jar is filled with that lotion I made a few weeks back--doncha love those jars!--and the unfinished bag is made of reclaimed felt. (It was unfinished cuz I had no pink ribbon in my stash. The finishing touch is to thread two pieces of ribbon--approximately twenty inches or so--through the pockets made by the buttons--one ribbon goes through two pockets, the other through one. The ribbons are then tied in a bow on top.) It's similar to this one, though I used a triangle instead of a square. I think maybe next time I'll do it differently.

And this bag was for Mary. (I forgot to mention the felt brooches on the handle. I'd never made that style before, but I think I like 'em!)

Now, as an end note--and truly the reason I'm posting at 6:58a Monday morning--Etsy Texas Crafters are having a First Monday Sale! Check here for a list of the participating members and the terms of the sales for each. In my SumpnSassy shop, I'm offering 15% off every item with free shipping--that's continental US and Canada--and 25% off buyer-paid shipping items. I'd love for you to check out the shop--I've added some new items and hope to add another, maybe two, before the day's done. (Finishing is the easiest. Then comes photographing and listing. Sheesh!)

Take care, y'all. And thanks for stopping by.

Etsy Texas Winter Design Challenge

2010-01-25T05:06:00.000-08:00

"What makes winter wondrous to you? Is it the holidays that occur during December? Or perhaps the miracle of snow in Texas? How about it finally getting cold enough to wear those scarves, gloves, and hats you love so much? Maybe long hot baths with your favorite handmade soap or bubble bath or slathering on your favorite handmade lotion or body butter to fight off winter's drying effects on your skin? There are so many possibilities!"

The Etsy group I belong to--EtsyTexas--has combined its December and January Design Challenges for one with a winter theme. There are a number of lovely entries, including this one by Anastasia of WildMoonDesigns.

Frost

Gorgeous, isn't it? And I'm not even fond of jewelry!

Apparently Anastasia is from my part of the country; she says she made this at her friend's bead shop in Fredericksburg. (For those who don't know the area, F'burg's about an hour drive from my home--one of my fave day trips.)

This is another entry I find interesting: an ID badge holder made of upcycled junk jewelry. Clever, huh? This one is from Monica at TheIDconnection.

Fallen Snow

And this darling hoodie for a child! How cute would a kid look in this? It's from Julie at StitchesbyJulie.

Winter White Child's Hoodie Sweater

Another by Julie from her Nature In Pastels shop.

Winter Stream

And of course I entered a couple.

Bloomin' Winter

This is the one on which I did the tutorial before Christmas. You can see it here.
And a sewing set created from upcycled herringbone wool. Gotta love it! (At least I do.)

Herringbone Sewing Kit

If you have a minute, why don't you stop by here, take a look at the entries, and vote for your favorite?

Tassels redux

2010-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

I've been playing with tassels again.

It's not an obsession. I can go months with hardly a glance at my tassel-making supplies. Then, all of a sudden, inspiration strikes.

This first idea started with a gift bag from my birthday last year. It was such a cool bag--glossy white with black dots and stripes--that I had to translate it into something. Ergo...

Once I'd made the head, I stalled. What kind of a skirt did it call for? I tried one of peach silk--didn't work. I made another of variegated blue ribbon yarn--cool skirt, but not for this head. (I'll be finishing up that tassel this week sometime.) The next was made of fall-colored ribbon yarn. It's now gracing a needle-felted pumpkin head--one of my faves. But nothing was working for this head. Then I stumbled across some recycled sari silk ribbon yarn here on Etsy.

Lovely, isn't it? And it made a great tassel skirt. See--

Here's a shot of the whole thing.

The ruff was made from eyelash yarn and embroidery thread I already had. (I'm working on adding ruffs to all the tassels I have on hand. I think it adds a finishing touch lacking in my earlier attempts.)

This is one I made last September.

Here it is with a ruff I made of some leftover fringe.

Makes a world of difference, doesn't it?

Another from last September.

And with the ruff. (I'm liking this ruff; it was an elastic bracelet with wooden bell bangles that I picked up at a thrift store in Arlington last August. My sis Ginger thought it might work with tassels. She was right, though I don't think this is what she had in mind.)

Here's a closer look at the bracelet/ruff. Kinda cool, huh?

That's as far as I've gotten with the tassels. Now I need to find a way to photograph them to good advantage. I see a lot of shots on an angle. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow from my bedpost.

Have a good one, y'all. And thanks for stopping by.

Ta.

Lotion Tute

2010-01-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, y'all! I know I've been silent for a couple of weeks, and I have no excuse, not even a reason. Laziness perhaps. Actually, laziness most definitely.

I'm in the process, as it appears many in blogland are, of cleaning and purging. Along the way--in the first closet--I unearthed some plastic containers I bought last year to package homemade hand lotion in. Never got around to making it and then sorta misplaced the containers, then got distracted by something else, then totally forgot I'd even thought about it.

When I finished the closet--well, sorta kinda--I made some hand lotion, which isn't as procrastinatory as it sounds since there are a few birthdays coming up, and I usually include a jar of lotion in each of those gifts. Anyway, I thought I'd share the lotion-making process with y'all. (This has been around blogland for quite some time, so y'all might have already see it. If so, never mind!)

First, the ingredients--these all came from my local dollar store--baby lotion, Vitamin E cream and petroleum jelly. Total expenditure for ingredients: $3. The biggest cost is containers. I've used plastic travel size from Walmart; I've saved empty jars from purchased lotions; and I recently bought some lovely glass jars from an Etsy seller Supplies For You.

Darling, aren't they? I bought a case of 12 of the small jars and think they'll make the lotion part of my gifts a bit more special.

Back to the lotion:

Dump ingredients into a bowl. I use a stainless bowl reserved specifically for crafts.

Mix thoroughly.

To aid in the mixing, I heat a pan of water and set the bowl in the pan. The water in the pan is below the level of the bowl. Makes mixing easy.

Fill the containers. A plastic bag with a small hole cut in one corner works great; funnels, not so much--believe me, I've tried. Be advised: when you're finished, your hands will be more lotion-covered than probably they ever have been!

Clean outside of filled containers with alcohol.

And voila! Enough lotion to last all year--unless you share, which I generally do. Honest, this stuff is good. Very moisturizing. For gardeners, you can double the amount of petroleum jelly. You'll need to rub longer to get the lotion worked into the skin, but it's great for abused hands.

Unless you plan ahead, you're likely to wind up with more lotion than containers. As mentioned earlier, I save old jars, and I've been known to tell my friends they can have refills as often as they want so long as they return the container.

I'd love to hear if you try this, or already have done. (I can't stop feeling of my hands. They're like babies' bottoms!)

Christmas Tour

2009-12-16T13:37:00.000-08:00

Seems as if every year I decorate minimally and swear I won't the next. Somehow, though, time gets away from me, and I do it again, year after year.

Several years back I picked up a pre-lit tree that's probably no more than three feet tall. I've been using it since, except when I haven't. This year is one of the latter times.

This little 18-incher is my fall-back. I've probably had it fifteen years or so, but it's served me well. This year I didn't even put ornaments on it--except for the chocolate sign my GG friend gave me. The rest are simply picks I stuck into the tree. I still like the look of it, except in this picture it needs a little straightening. Oh, and the mirrored cone beside it is one of those Dollar Tree things that are so popular in blogland this year. I picked it up last Saturday and haven't taken the time to age it down.

Here another pic of the tree, all straightened and in a position to highlight the poinsettia I made as a topper. (The cone is gone, and obviously the lighting wasn't as good for this pic as for the first.)

I look at these pictures and think OMG, they look so...bare. This little arrangement atop the lawyer's bookcase in my living room needs some, I dunno, greenery. And I'd use some, except I didn't bring all my decorative picks from the storage shed and I certainly don't intend to buy more.

I started gathering these crystal candleholders back when I was putting together glass totems for my garden. I bought way more than I ever could use as totems, even if I'd continued making them, so here they are in my Christmas dekkies.

And this is my table centerpiece. Not much; just a few pieces of faux sugared fruit around a candle in the old copper bowl I always use as a centerpiece, surrounded by a twisted berry garland.

Our stockings: Tom's has a flamingo on the top cuz we've had these forever and he used to collect them. Max's is the denim one at the top. Not fully visible in this pic is the Garfield stocking hanger holding it.

The wreath into my garage was made by a woman I used to work with, back in the dark ages. I think it's held up well, but it's a tad small for my front door.

This is what hangs there. It needs a bit more decoration, but I'm not up for that right now and probably won't get around to taking pics of it when I finally do manage to tart it up.

So that's my Christmas tour. I won't promise it'll ever get better than this, but thanks for stopping in!

Gotta love...

2009-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Etsy Finds. This is the second time one of my items has been included in an article, and the number of hits I got was remarkable! Yesterday, they included the box of dominoes I picked up at a garage sale in September.

Honest, I wasn't even sure I wanted to sell them so I set the price pretty high. I'd had lookers sure but nothing like after the Storque article. (In case you're interested, you can see it here.) And they sold! Edited 12-12 to add clickable link.

Last summer, another of my items was included: I blogged about it at the time and it didn't sell for another couple of months.

But it sold. Yay, Etsy Finds!

So the question is: how does one lure the Etsy Finds people to include items in the articles. I'm thinking photos. Gotta work on them photo skills. In the meantime, though, I'll consider myself lucky that I've been chosen twice!

Lunch with the GGs

2009-12-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas is about people. Sometimes when I'm chasing myself--I haven't decorated; I have no tree; I've not sent out cards; I haven't even looked at a cookie pan!--I tend to forget about that.

But...I'm never too busy for lunch with the GGs! I consider myself lucky to be part of a mahvelous group my sis calls the GGs (short for gym girls--Ginger always comes up with cool nicknames!) Disclaimer here--I haven't belonged to that gym in six years, but they let me tag along anyway.

This year for our Christmas lunch we went to the Hill Country Galleria, a neat little collection of shops in Bee Caves, about half an hour from Marble Falls which is sorta kinda a central location for all of us.

These ladies are really neat, and I adore them. We're an odd collection: Mary and Donna are retired nurses; Josie was in the travel industry in New Zealand; my sis Ginger still works--when her hub sold his business five years ago part of the agreement was that Ginger would continue to do their books for a while; I'm not sure what Joy did; I don't think I ever asked, but her hub was a lawyer turned entertainment agent, and Joy's the cool sophisticated lady that goes along with that; my SIL Sunny was a SAHM, and me, I worked outside sales for a local telco.

Mary made us all promise that when we get old--no matter what y'all think, we're not there, yet!--and all alone, we'll live on the same street so we can take care of each other. Since oldness is kinda looking at us sideways, Ginger surprised us with badges my 'nother sis Daisy made for each of us with our names on it. ('Cept Ginger's simply says Me.)

Cool, aren't they? Daisy's pretty darned talented. (And patient; she ran into a problem and had seven to make so it took quite a while.) Of course we all wore them while at lunch, just in case any of us had a sudden attack of dementia. (Mary says they'll work perfectly when we're in the old folks' home and can't remember who we are!)

We exchange small gifts among us, mine this year being the poinsettia ornament for which I previously gave directions. Actually these ladies were the reason I came up with the idea.

These are the ones I made for them, the originals. When it came time to get ready for the lunch, I needed boxes--and boxes are the bane of my existence. I actually own a boxmaker, a pretty cool tool, but still I struggle coming up with ones I like that are sturdy enough. (Often, as I'm struggling, I chant under my breath Nester's mantra, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!" Still, even knowing that, I find myself apologizing for the boxes whenever anyone compliments them. Someone kick me in the rear, please!)

After trying to decoupage boxes made from emty Cheerios containers and realizing it would take far too long, I finally decided on boxes made from old Christmas cards. They only had to be sturdy enough for a trip to Bee Caves.

I think they turned out pretty nice. (The reason the one on the bottom left doesn't have a bow is cuz my SIL has the flu and couldn't go with. She'll get hers when she feels better.)

Now for pics of my haul!

The Santa is from my SIL--she sent her gifts with Ginge since she'll most likely not be seeing the GGs before Christmas. The silver tree dish is from Mary, who nicely included soap that looks like candy instead of the real thing, in deference to my sugar allergy (also known as Type 1 diabetes!).

The candle was also from Sunny, as were the socks in the next pic. Looks good in my guest bath, huh?

This is the final lot--well, not quite: I forgot to include the lovely quilt potholders Donna made--she's a wonderful quilter--since I've already tucked those away. And the fudge Joy made, which Tom is enjoying. The photos are ones Joy took and had made into postcards. Wonderful shots, professional looking. They'd look great framed. The little wooden sign says Chocolate Makes my Clothes Shrink. Very apropos! (I think the sign will look cute on the tree--when I finally get it up. Hopefully that'll happen tomorrow afternoon, only I'm just going with a small one this year. I'm getting started too late to do the big one!)

Gotta go now. Lots to do--I was in the middle of a load of laundry when the water dried up. The water company says there's a blow-out down the line. Dang! Oh, well.

Later, y'all.

More Ornaments

2009-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, I won't be decorating for Christmas until later in the month so all I have to share that's seasonal are the ornaments I've been working on.

This first one is a soft sculpture needle felted snowman head. Easy peasy--it's not even fair to call it fiber art, but hey, I do!

Santa required a bit more finesse than did Frosty, but not much. Still not satisfied with his mustache. Hercule Poirot, he's not!

This last is one I made for a sister, which is why the pic was just taken on my desktop. Billie's admired similar ones, and since she did me a favor picking up a shared shower gift for a niece I thought I'd send this along with my share of the money. I kinda went overboard with the decorations, but I like it. I think she will too. (If you're reading this, Billie, it's going in tomorrow's mail, along with my check. And thanks!)

I'm enjoying everyone's posts about their Chrismas decorations. Just don't expect the same from me for some time yet, if at all. (When I do decorate, it's not that lavish. Maybe I'll take pics of my sis Ginger's house. Hers always looks fab. And when my SIL Sunny starts decorating again--well, that'll be something to see.)

Ta, y'all.

Reuse Recycle Giveaway

2009-11-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

I'm cleaning out closets. Not my fave thing, but it really is necessary. Hopefully I'll be getting rid of a number of things one way or another.

Today's the beginning.

Some time ago, I realized that the insulated packaging I get some of my meds in has a nice foam inner. I've been tearing them apart and saving the foam ever since. A couple of pieces I sent home with my sis last year--maybe the year before--along with some chair legs I never used. She meant to use an old wooden cutting board and make a foot stool, though I don't think she's done it yet. You know how your list of to-dos grows until the projects that still need that one extra part don't get done.

So here I am with fourteen 12.25" (31.1 cm) x 10.5" (26.7 cm) x 1" (2.5 cm) pieces of foam I don't need. If any of you think you could use any of them--as many as you want--all I ask is that you pay shipping, and they're yours! (If you let me know how many you want, I'll calculate shipping and you can decide if it's worth it.)

Spray adhesive will join these together nicely so if you take enough you can turn them into a decent size piece. Pillows? Cushions? Chair seats?

Use the button on the side to email me if you're interested.

Thanks, y'all.

Felt Poinsettia Ornament Tutorial

2009-11-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

This is my first real tutorial so y'all bear with me, please. When I tried to find poinsettia tutes online, nothing I found suited my purposes so I developed my own method.I like the result, and it's dead easy!

I started with three felt circles: two at approximately 3 1/4 inches () and one at 2 1/2.

Mark at equal intervals: eight on the larger, six on the smallest. I've used an air-erasable marker on these, but you can actually cut these markings since they'll be cut here anyway.

Cut two snips in the middle of each of the markings to make a small point. (See pic below.)

I use a pair of cuticle scissors, reserved for cutting fabric, to cut the petals as shown below. It makes the cutting of curves much easier.

Cut around all eight (6) petals on one side, then flip and cut the opposite curves.

Continue until all petals are cut on all three layers.

If using shank button as center, cut a small hole in the middle of the top layer.

Audition centers.

Cut a strip of ribbon--I've used about an 8" piece doubled--and stack between the bottom and second layers. Stitch the layers and button together.

I'm still learning this new blogging system so please forgive all the spaces in this post!

And that's all she wrote!

I'm linking to Holiday Highlights party & The DIY show-off
and The Centsational girl's ornament party.

Frosty, et al

2009-11-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

When my mother was alive, we always celebrated Christmas at her house on a weekend before the actual holiday. One year we decided to exchange Christmas ornaments among the siblings. Can't remember exactly how we did it but it was some kind of a draw so you had no idea who would get whose ornie. I got Daisy's. And of course she made it. (Daisy is one of those people who come so close to perfection in her creations you want to just kick her in the patootie!)

I love this ornament. She said the design was Martha's, though I can't remember if she found it in a magazine or one of MS's books.(It was so long ago I'm not even sure she remembers the ornament much less the making of. I probably wouldn't!)

I believe it's made of rolled fiberfill though I can't figure out how she shaped the head. The carrot nose, which looks perfectly round and carrot-like, is actually a bit of felt.

Based on Daisy's, here's one I created: a needle-felted creature with bits of Texas sage as arms.
Bless his heart, he pales by comparison! (I know his middle button is a bit wonky. Wonky's what I do!)

Another Frosty-type I felted onto a circle of felted wool sweater. You can't tell from this pic but he's actually balls of wool roving felted onto the flat bit, and his carrot nose sticks out. Because he's much more three-dimensional than ones I've previously done, I didn't feel I could felt on roving arms so to him too I gave sage arms.

Gotta run now. Tom's breathing down my neck as we have to go into Marble Falls in a half-hour and I'm not ready yet!

Ta, y'all.

Just Some Things I Made

2009-11-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd share with y'all some of the ornaments I've been working on.

This one I needlefelted on a bit of wool felt. It sold in less than a day. Am I asking too little? $6.50, free shipping? I sold a couple similar last year for about the same price, though I think I'm definitely getting better.

This one sold as well, though not so quickly as the first. Because of the work involved--that's eight handmade roses--and all the buttons I used, I asked $8 for this one. (I've gone free shipping in my SumpnSassy store.)

This is one I made from a bit of needlework I did some time last century. I was going through my old sewing box and ran across this bit and the one I used in the ornie below. They were so small I couldn't imagine making ornaments of them, though that's what they were both meant to be. As I recall, this one was to be mounted in a wooden frame, which got lost somewhere along the line. I've used cashmere felt to make the ornie and quite like the end result.

This is silk ribbon embroidery. When was it so popular? Late '80s, early '90s?

I made this from a quilt block I picked up in a thrift store ages ago. It's beautifully hand-stitched--the quilt block, that is--and I got one perfect heart out of a block but didn't want to scrap the rest so I did two more off-center ones, one of which I still need to complete.

This is the perfectly aligned one, which I sold last year. What do you think? Is there another direction I should go with the last off-center one?

And this is the last of the ones I completed. It's made of scrap fabric--a good thing--but I'm not as enamored of it as I thought I'd be. I like things a bit wonky, yunno, but somehow this one doesn't speak to me.

So my second question of the morning is: which background works better for pics? I thought the sheet music would be most eye-catching, and I do like it, but then I found this polka-dot plate at Walmart. I'm sorta leaning that direction. What say you? All comments appreciated.

That's all for now. Ta, y'all.

In Memoriam

2009-11-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

After a short five years, our lovely fridge has bit the dust.

What can I say--I loved this fridge. We splurged and had it completely wrapped in stainless--you can't see that in these pics, but it's gorgeous. And it's not it's fault it died. Well, maybe partly, but I take some of the blame. It was a mother to pull out and so rarely got cleaned out behind. Listen all you chillun, it's imperative that you clean behind your fridges--especially if you pay as much as we did for this one.

This is a webshot of our new one--it comes Tuesday. We hadn't intended to do side by side, because of that knee wall you see in the pic above, but this thing slides like a dream so getting into the freezer--as well as cleaning out behind it--will be a snap. But I'm gonna miss the beauty of the old one.

Except I swore I would never buy another utilitarian object for beauty alone. I want it pretty but that comes after functional. (I will miss my beauty though.)

We're having an appliance recycling company come pick it up. Hopefully they can fix it and resell it to someone who'll love it as much as I did. (Is that sorta like taking a pet to the animal rescue center, which I would never do, and hoping someone will adopt it before it's euthanized?)

And yesterday we said goodbye to another item we bought for its cuteness. The Smart is gone.

And here we are with Tom's new car. I know, another one bites the dust. I wasn't attached to the Smart and obviously neither was Tom once we got over the cute factor. The Soul--that's a Kia Soul--appears to be much more functional. Plenty of room even in the back seat--and that's the biggest plus: a back seat. Well, actually for Tom, that's the next biggest plus--he hated that there was no cruise control on the Smart. It was built as a city car, but we don't live in the city, and to get to one we have to drive for an hour. (I remember back in the day driving from Texas to Pennsylvania--or veetsa votsa--without cruise and never even questioning it. But as Tom likes to say it's easy to go up and hard to go down.)

Speaking of Tom, he'll be getting up soon for his once-weekly, specially-made-by-me breakfast. And shortly after that, I have a weekly telephone date with my dear friend in Washington state.

Ta, y'all.

Boxes, boxes, boxes...

2009-11-06T04:18:00.000-08:00

I've got boxes galore!

One of Tom's poker buddies smokes cigars and apparently has a box-a-month subscription. He's been kind enough to pass along the boxes to me, the self-confessed box fiend. I don't call them a collection; they're just a bunch of boxes I've picked up here and there, including the ones from Buddy's generosity.
This is the one he sent home yesterday. Cool, innit? Not sure what I'll do with it--I have a credo to leave them as is.

The following are ones he's given me in the past. A couple I use for storage in my studio. The rest I've merely stacked up. (I saw in a decorating magazine once where a w0man had a collection of cigar boxes stacked as high as she was, making almost a statue of them. I don't have that many, but I'm getting there.)

This one's a heavy wooden box. I didn't take a picture of the side, but it's about as tall as a normal cigar box.

These two are made of a lighter wood.
Here they are from the top.

This one has slats on two sides, solid on two, with rope handles.
The only marking is this label on top. For a while, I put toilet paper in it and placed it on the back of the toilet, but I wasn't pleased with it. I think it might have looked good if I painted it, but that would violate my credo.
These are two ordinary cigar boxes I use for storage. I like the pattern on them.

They even look good from the side.
I use this one as a base for my marble lamp in the guest bedroom. Makes it high enough to read by.
This one is in a tablescape in my living room. It too would look terrific painted (see aforementioned credo), but I'm leaving as is. Doesn't look too bad that way, does it? (That bronze in front of it was a purchase from an estate sale several years ago. It's pretty small, but I like it.)

Now for some non-cigar boxes. (That isn't all of my cigar boxes; I'll save some for a later post.)
I bought this in the '60s and used it as a recipe holder for many years.
From the side.
Several years ago, Carol Duvall had a guest who demonstrated a faux leather technique using crackle paint and shoe polish. I loved the look of it and tried it on this paper mache box.
Here it is from the side.And the inside. (I store cards of buttons in it.)
This is a technique I came up with myself, but it's so tedious I only made a few items with it: tiling with paint chips.
Here's the top of the box.
This is a pair of copper boxes my sis and SIL gave me for Christmas several years ago.
You can't see the box all that well here, but the lamp is sitting on a vintage souvenir cedar box a friend gave me quite awhile ago.

That's only the beginning.... One of these days, I'll post more. Am I the only one enamored of boxes? Surely not.

Ta.

Thrift Thursday

2009-11-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the FTP (Failure to Post--I saw that on someone else's blog and thought it was clever. Maybe everyone already knows what it is, and I'm a donkey's tail, but that's normal). I've thought of a million things to post about and never had the pictures--what's a post without pictures?

First, a Tom update: he's doing well and we've settled back into our normal routine.

Now to my thrift story: A week ago Tuesday I made it to the library thrift store in Marble Falls. (Tom says it's the neatest--as in clean--thrift store he's ever been to. It's also a bit high in prices, but it's located just between my hair stylist and where I meet Ginger for lunch. What's not perfect about that?)

I always check fabrics and linens at this store. Sometimes I find good things; sometimes not. Last week I found almost 4 yards of a light denim fabric and 3 of a lovely blue paisley. (I'm in the middle of a project involving those. More later.)

I also found two embroidered tablecloths I couldn't pass up.
This one's a lovely linen 72" round cross stitch in perfect condition. (I had to shoot toward the pantry as my refrigerator has gone out--:P--and while we're waiting for it to be repaired we've brought too small fridges in from our workshops, stacked one on top of the other. Repairman's supposed to come today. Yay!)

The bowl in the center is something I picked up years ago at one of my fave thrift stores in Fort Worth, a wonderful old copper bowl I've filled with pumpkins and a gold-beige candle for the harvest season.)
This is a tea tablecloth, the kind ladies used for their bridge games in the '50s, '60s. My mother never played cards with the ladies--she was too busy raising eleven kids!--but my mother-in-law did. Canasta, I think. She would have used a cloth similar to this.
This is a closer shot of the candle arrangement in the center. Not that you needed a closer shot; I just thought it was pretty.

A closer picture of the embroidery detail.

Once I used cloths like this, but I stopped when I moved into this house. Why? Because the delicacy of hand-embroidery didn't seem to lend itself. There's so much wood--beautiful, but almost masculine, which I do like but which, again, doesn't seem to call for lace and embroidery. Oh, well.

Take care, y'all.

Ta.