Spring ...

Thanks for sharing these "spring" photos with me and for stopping by.

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread 

with one, and a lily with the other.  ~Chinese Proverb

Assisi embroidery vs. Aunt Martha...

I recently offered a bunch of vintage embroidery patterns free for the taking. I was thrilled when Tizana (http://blogtizy.blogspot.com/) voiced an interest. I boxed up the embroidery patterns, which included a lot of Aunt Martha's patterns, and shipped them off to Italy. In return, Tizana generously send me these handmade linen gifts from Italy. This first piece is known as Assisi embroidery which is a form of counted-thread embroidery...I think this is just lovely! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisi_embroidery)

This next piece is a wonderful hand-crochet (by Tizanna) and linen pillow top that coordinates perfectly with the colors in our bedroom. It's almost like she knew what color we painted our walls! How fun!

The last bit of my gift was a beautiful vintage pillow cover with an inset of filet crochet.

Thank you again, Tizana! Again, that was a very generous and very special gift.

...women are the fruit of creation...

Art in a box...

Have always loved the art of Joseph Cornell. Just finished my own art box. It's an anniversary gift for the hubby... the theme is all about Jim Croce's song Time in a Bottle. 
Front: found objects, old leather bound book cover, watch parts, etc. I collect old dictionaries and books that can be used in collages...this is a page on "chronicle to chronoscope".

Close up of inside: more watch|clock parts. I have been collecting old watches for quite a while...love the intricacies these tiny machines.

Close up of right-hand side: small glass vials contain antique watch parts I found on-line, Croce's song is hand-written on continuous velum strip inside large bottle.

Now, should I sit it somewhere or hang it on the wall?

"Women's real value comes with: self knowledge, self acceptance and self delivery"

Fresh out of the oven, a jelly roll top...

It's taken me a while to change the thought pattern feeling I needed to purchase fabric by the yard(s). Have always thought I needed at least 2 yards or 3 or even more of a particular piece that caught my eye. No specific project in mind, but at least I have this absolutely beautiful fabric tucked away, just incase I think of something wonderful made out of this fabric! Surly, I'm not the only one in the world thinking this way. So it has been a process to limit myself to buying "fat quarters" of a must have piece of fabric. This has gotten easier when I finally realized a smaller quantity of fabric is OK to have when used in just the right project. Am I making sense?

Anyhow, one of my favorite quilt shops has a big roll-around basket of fabric strips, pieces, etc. for 25¢ a piece... needless to say that basket has become an important destination every time I visit the store. Last week I found several nice long strips of fabric that begs to come home with me, They found their way (along with strips I cut from fabric I had) into the jelly roll lap quilt in the photo above. The top is quick and fun.... I love the randomness of where the fabric fell in piecing.

Here's a link with the directions for making this quilt:  http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?p=1897 This tutorial uses pre-cut jelly rolls, but you can have fun making your own!

Thanks for visiting.

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."