Fresh from the Garden...

It's my birthday this week and I received the nicest surprise in the mail yesterday... this WONDERUL wall quilt from my friend, Vicki. I was thrilled... what a AWESOME BFF I have, don't you agree!! I love the embroidery which she did from a sampler found on eBay and the lime green and checkered borders are perfect... it went up on the dining area wall immediately. Also love the hand written label on the back of the quilt... I like that it tells the history of this art quilt. THANK YOU, THANK YOU again, Vicki!

Free Patterns: 

I have some freebees that I want to offer to anyone interested. Vicki shared a box of vintage embroidery, crochet and quilt related patterns with me recently. They are from an estate sale. We both have gone through them, saving what interested us, so now I am wondering if there is anyone out there who would like to have a bundle of vintage patterns. I have bundled them in to categories: kitchen related, pillowcases, Aunt Martha, vintage crochet, vintage quilt related and a big pile of miscellaneous embroidery patterns. They are available on a first come, first served basis. just leave me your e-mail address in a "comment" and I'll get in touch with you. See the photos below for a sample of what I'm offering. 

Kitchen related:

Pillowcases:

Aunt Martha:

Vintage crochet:

Quilt related:

Miscellaneous patterns: (not the whole box, just what is in front)

Just to clarify, if you are interested in say the "kitchen related" patterns, let me know and I'll send you the whole bundle. So there are 5 bundles of delightful goodies here if you like this sort of thing. Thanks for looking!

"The greatest gift is a portion of 

thyself" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quilts of Valor...

Whew, another project to cross this off my "to do" list. A while back I picked up several 9" squares of the same fabric from a local quilt shop to turn into blocks for their QOV program. The shop donated the fabric, I just needed to use each in a quilt block and return the block to the store. Well, I decided to be an over achiever and make a whole top adding some fabric I bought and some vintage fabric I had on hand. My top measures approximately 60" x 80" which fits within the required size(s). 

Here's a scan of the QOV fabric from the quilt store:

I have a case of the "warm fuzzies" on two levels now, one getting a project done and two, creating something for a worthy cause! Thanks for stopping by...

The more you know the less you need to say. ~Jim Rohn

Fun day stitching...

It was about a year ago that my bff, Vicki and I started making these wonky blocks for a quilt or two. Well, we decided to get back to stitching more blocks yesterday in a day long sewing fest that included homemade soup and cornbread (by Vicki's husband) and ended with a trip to II Dolce for gelato! Are we spoiled or what.... it doesn't get any better than spending a day sewing and eating with good friends and of course, my hubby!

We stitched a few more trees, birds and butterflies and then traded a handful of blocks. The plan is to put together either a lap quilt or full quilt depending on how many more wonky blocks we want to make or by by filling in the gaps with sashing, etc. The blocks I pieced are pretty much all the blue backed ones on the left side of this photo. Vicki was far more busy piecing this past year .... you can tell by the number of blocks on the right. We both feel back in the grove now and hoping to finish this collaborative soon. 

Here's a photo of the wall quilt I stitched and embroidered for Vicki for Christmas. It's a play on her having taught school and introducing me to the quilt book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci. Here's a link to her Tonya's blog: http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/. Piecing letters, words isn't difficult and really a lot of fun, but I do have to diagram out what I want to say.

The embroidery is a purchased panel from LakaDaisies Redwork Design out of Texas. Here's a link to their site http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-Lakadaisies/StoreFront.bok.

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found 

not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

Some recent embroidery projects...

I love handwork and enjoy sitting in the evenings with the hubby watching TV with a sewing or embroidery project on which to work. Here are a few projects that I have started and finished these past three or four monts. Recently discovered a source on eBay for vintage (un-worked) Jane Snead Embroidery kits, this is one of the kits I purchased on eBay. These kits come with floss, but I usually substitute a color here or there or all together, like I did with the "character" sampler below.

Here is a link to Etsy for Jane Snead Samplers: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TraditionalKeepsakes?ref=seller_info.

I also have a passion for maps. Here are two maps samplers that I embroidered this past fall, the "History of Transportation" was finished this week. The kit came with floss, yet  I used some of my own thread, substituting colors here and there, especially had trouble using red floss for the train wheels as suggested in the pattern key. This particular kit dates back to the 1950s ... you can see towards the bottom where the first 3 numbers (195...) are printed...you were to embroider the date you finished the piece. I stitched a "0" for 1950 plus "+ 62" for 2012.

Found this awesome colonial era map for a very reasonable price on eBay last month. It was already embroidered and who ever did it, really did a nice job...the stitches are lovely!

Since I am on a roll showing embroidery, here is a sweet thing I found at a local antique mall recently. It's a piece of muslin mounted in a plastic frame with a pattern printed on the muslin. Am sure it's for teaching embroidery...notice the "Stitch a Story" logo at the bottom of the frame.  Love finding things like this for my quirky collections... it's vintage, it's about embroidery and it's a cute little cowboy...how fun it that! 

This is definitely 1950s era. Check out this Etsy link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/82873268/vintage-stitch-a-story-childrens

I just saw some later versions of this "stitch a story" toy on eBay with starting prices ranging from $38.00 to $150.00...YIKES, what are these sellers thinking? 

The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary.  ~Mary Kurtz

Happy 2012...

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
                                            ~T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding