Pinterest Copycat

As I've come into a lot of doilies recently, I've been scouring the 'net for ideas for them, concentrating on pillows. I'm not that fond of those with a doily stitched full-on onto the front. Because I had one in the '70s, which I loved, the idea now seems dated to me. Anyway, I found this one that I really liked.

It's from a Turkish blog called Moab Like Braids. I liked it so much I decided to try one myself.

The pillow I made from a discarded matelasse bedskirt, ergo the size: 12"x12".  The doily was one of a pair I picked up at a thrift store.  I think they're gorgeous with the bunches of pouffy grapes. To that, I added roses leftover from another project, the lighter one of felted cashmere, and the two darker of felted camel hair. The images in the pocket are from Graphics Fairy--naturally.

So how'd I do? Is it bothersome that my pillow comes out lighter than the original? Shall I do a muslin for the next, since I still have another grape doily? (The doily shows up lighter in this pic than it actually is.) I'd love your comments.

I'll be linking to The Graphics Fairy Brag Monday and later in the week to Timewashed's White Wednesday.

Shades of White

I'm not a frilly person, but I do like things a little bit girly sometimes. The only places I try this, though, are my guest room and my studio. The studio, as usual, is so messy that I may never show it online,  but the guest room is normally relatively clean. (I say relatively cuz I cleaned out the closet in there over the weekend and still haven't found places to put the stuff I dragged out. But I can keep that stuff out of the photos!)

First I found a vintage matelasse spread on Etsy. (Because of the height of today's mattresses, vintage coverlets don't fit.) It works well with the bedskirt and the lamp shades I made earlier, and it started me on a search for more white.

In this shot, you can see both the graphic lamp shade and the one with the button band.

Another angle. (The green chair I hope to slipcover in the fall.)

I've been acquiring pillows all year. This one came from the thrift store. I cut a down bed pillow apart to make the insert.

This also came from the thrift store. I used the remainder of the bed pillow for this insert as well.

 This one I made last year. All those rolled roses. and I ran out of the felted cashmere before I had enough! Hence the red rose. I would have liked to have covered the entire pillow with roses, no gaps, but needs must when the devil drives.

Another one I made, more or less. I found a lovely hand-embroidered cutwork dresser scarf at the thrift shop and made a linen pillow to wrap it around. The blue glass is a button I made wrapping sterling wire around the glass. This one's on offer at my Etsy shop. 

 To close out, here's a close-up shot of the pillows on the bed. (The yellow pillowslips behind I had to add trim to make them long enough. Again, needs must. Or--necessity is the mother of creativity!) The doll in front was made for me quite some time ago by a dear friend. Isn't it gorgeous!

I've shared this post with Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday and Timewashed's Blissful White's Wednesday

I'd love to hear comments, and thanks for visiting.

April Fools Day and other miscellanea

Thirty-five years ago today, I married my husband for the second time. It's not an anniversary we celebrate, aside from a quick remembrance, since we were simply correcting a mistake I made in divorcing him in the first place. Well, I call it a mistake now but I'm sure that neither of us would be the people we are today had I not done it, nor would our relationship be quite what is either. At any rate, despite the naysayers. it's the best decision I ever made.

What else is happening this April 1st? Well, bluebonnets are blooming in our back pasture.

  

Actually, they're blooming all along that back road and in all the empty lots on our street.  It's a very pretty time of year in central Texas.

My jasmine is beginning to leaf at the bottom. I think the freeze killed all the vines from last year and I don't know how long it will take to get as full as it was, but it'll be fun to find out.

With that, I'll say goodbye. Y'all come back, ya hear?

And Yet Again

I've been working on a pair of tassels by request. I finished the first but wanted to run it by the client before I complete the second as I changed a few things from the one he referenced.

 The tassel head up close. (What appears to be white paint spots on the top bead is glare from the camera.)
The completed tassel. (The skirt appears darker than it is--again, lighting issues.)

So--done and done. This is me, back to the grindstone.

Done and Done

For the past year, I've been working on a couple of brooch bridal bouquets for my Etsy shop. Actually, at the start  I intended to do a single mixed metal bouquet, but that didn't float my boat so I separated it into two. That meant I had to search longer for pieces than I thought I would, but who doesn't love searching?

Here's the gold one as I was working on it. (I removed all the masking tape before I finished, but it's a handy way to hold things for a while.)

Here it is completed. Do you love it or am I just blinded by my own shining self?

I even added a decoration to the bottom of the handle.

Cool, innit?

To make the bouquet, I followed a number of tutorials I found on the 'net but they only took me so far. From there, I improvised. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, but think I'll take a break before working on the silver. (Finding silver tone pieces has been much more difficult than finding gold tone, perhaps because with the silver I want rhinestones. As a result, I've got a lot more money invested in the silver than in the gold.)

This is me, dusting my hands in satisfaction!

Tassels Heard from Again

It's been awhile since I worked on tassels, but I recently had a request for a couple. I thought I'd use this blog to present ones I've already done. So here goes....

This is more formal, sort of elegant. I used bits of sample fringes to make it, bits I no longer have. It's not in the colorway the client wants, nor are any of the others I show here, but hopefully they'll give an indication of what I can do.

Only in the past few years have I been adding ruffs to tassels. I like the look of them, but they detract from the heads, which I consider the most creative part.

On this one, the ruff I added was more sparse so it doesn't completely obscure the head.

I like the ribbon yarn I used on this one, not that crazy about the ruff. If I try that technique again, I'll have to tweak it. (The yarn's in shades of blue and green. In this one, I emphasized the green more than the blue.)

This is probably my fave yarn. It's strips of silk cut from saris and sewn together. The colors are random but I like how they work together.

The tassel the customer referenced was made before I started adding ruffs. See how much more striking the head is without the ruff?

Button Lampshade and Thrift Store Lamps

I finally finished my button lampshade! It was a lot of work, and I can find oh so many things I don't like about it, but it's done. 'Nuff said.

 

I actually don't have problem with the shade as much as how it suits the lamp that bothers me. 

The lamp is formal, the shade feminine. Sometimes the difference bothers me, sometimes not not so much.

But finishing the shade got me thinking about thrift store lamps. I started thrifting years ago and found the lamp above in the late eighties in a DAV store in Oak Cliff, a Dallas neighborhood, for around $15. (Actually my friend found it and let me buy it. She's got the best eye of anyone I've ever known!) It's getting harder to find lamps of this quality anymore. Not impossible, just harder.

 

This one came from a junk shop in Mesquite, a Dallas suburb, around the same time. I paid $4 for it, but it had had its electrical bits removed. Isn't she gorgeous? A friend says she looks like Elizabeth Taylor, and maybe she does a bit.

The friend who found that first lamp found this one as well. As I said, she has an eye. Anything Margie finds is either beautiful or worth a lot of money, often both.

This was painted gold when she found it, though I think the original finish might have been bronze-like. I stripped as much of the gold paint as I could, but it'll never be what it once was.

Here's a closer look at the details. Cool, huh?

Several years ago I found a lamp for my sister and posted about it here.

I fell in love with it myself and if I hadn't already promised it to her would have kept it. Wouldn't my button lampshade look terrific on it? Ever since I've wanted one just like it, but they sell for several hundred dollars if you find them on the 'net. So I bought this one for about thirty dollars.

Similar but not the same quality and much larger. Hmm, wonder how my button lampshade would look on it. Maybe I'll try switching things around tomorrow.

I'm sharing this post with Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday.  Check it out!