Scraps: Green Light!

More cool cold spring weather this week. It even snowed! Luckily, it didn’t last long and I had protected the flowers I had already planted. The long range forecast shows a slow but gradual warming trend. Maybe we will have summer this year. At least I’ve been able to play with my green scraps to satisfy the green itch!

First up, my green Friendship Star variation blocks. I absolutely adore these! I made 25 green blocks this month, which puts my total number of these blocks at 67 so far. I will need a total of 172. This project is likely to carry over into next year.

And then here are the happy little 4.5” bow tie blocks. I made 30 of those. Only half a bazillion to go on these. This is definitely a multi-year project.

Right now I’m working on my scraps and my kitty quilts (small kennel quilts) for the Best Friends animal shelter; I’ll have those to show next week. And speaking of kitties, aren’t these flowers the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? My daughter Megan sent them to me for Mother’s Day. She is a cat lover like me and is owned by two female cats, Lola and Iggy. 

I also finished a crocheted rug that I started on Christmas Day. I totally had forgotten about it  until Bruce and I switched our favorite chairs back to their usual positions. We had traded places because his right arm was out of commission during all those surgeries, so we wanted him to be able to access a side table with his left arm. If that makes sense. Anyway, once we moved everything back, I found this nearly-done rug and finished up the last 3 rows. It’s made from wonky strips of leftover cotton single crocheted with a huge hook.

If it looks wonky, that’s only because.... it is. I haven’t yet blocked it, washed it or tucked in any of the ends. What you see as the length of it was actually going to be the width, but enough is enough. It eats up fabric at the rate of about a half yard - maybe slightly less -  per row. And that was it for my cheap and/or scrap strips. But it was fun and it’s done.

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday.

Can You Say..... GOLD MINE??

Well, to me anyway, it felt like I’d struck gold last Saturday.  DH and I were going to go out and hit some yard sales, when I noticed an ad in the paper for an estate sale in our subdivision - about 3-4 blocks away.  We thought we’d swing by there first, not really expecting much.  And at first glance, we were right.

But then I noticed that it was being run by two elderly ladies who were very calmly and slowly bringing things out and fussing about where to put them.  In chatting with one of them, I learned that she was cleaning out her 90+ year-old mother’s things, and some of hers, too.  It was apparent they needed help, so I gently began asking questions and helping carry out things from the depths of the garage to the driveway and lawn.  

One of the ladies took a shine to Bruce (that happens alot; he’s such a sweetie) and they began talking about an old radio in the back of the garage with a bullet hole through it.    She said it was her mother’s pride and joy and was the first radio “back in the day” in Delta, Utah.  One of the men accidentally shot off a gun, it went through the window and into the radio.  Didn’t harm any of the internal workings, but she cried and cried about her lovely radio.  But they had the bullet hole reminder from then on to remind them that they were lucky it was ONLY the radio that was shot!

Then she showed us a couple old sewing machines she wanted to sell.  I took an immediate shine to this one.   It’s a very early electric portable machine.  “Portable” is a relative term, however, because it is heavy enough to pull your arm out of its socket!!  

All the attachments, the foot pedal and the manual were included “for one low price”, LOL.  Yes, it works.  The brand is a Eureka Good Housekeeper, and from the limited research I’ve been able to do, it is circa 1951-1953.  Look at the lovely workmanship on the arm, below.

When she found out I was interested in linens, she grabbed everything she had.  Together we went through them and she pulled a few things she wanted for sentimental reasons, which was fine.  The only thing I lusted for that she kept was her own sweet little baby shoes.  But who could blame her?  

The hot pink fabric in the upper right is a yard of bridal-weight satin, fresh and clean, circa the 1960’s.  The top left shows two vintage sheet sets I snatched.  They’re getting highly collectible because they coordinate so well with today’s bright prints.  I intend to begin cutting them up and selling fat quarters.  Stripes are especially coveted because they are a timeless accent for children’s clothing and crafts.

The crocheted potholders she gave to me as we were leaving.  I really didn’t want them, but thanked her profusely anyway.  After washing, they looked a bit better.  I took them apart and the flip side (that was the inside) of the rings are pristine, so I can hopefully use the crocheted rings for something.

The peacock cross-stitch dishtowel (above and below) charmed me.  I’ll eventually get it listed in either my Etsy or on Ebay.   I also loved the colors in the embroidered dishtowel, but you can barely see the center pink stitching of glasses.  I may just have to salvage the trim off this.... any ideas?? 

Stitched peacock (above) and the tin, which came from England (below)

I couldn’t resist picking up the old indoor clothes hanger.  It’ll come in handy for displaying linens as necessary, as well as drying clothes.  I don’t have an outdoor clothesline, although I covet one.  It’s on DH’s long list of honey-do’s!  But in the meantime, this will be a great place to hang hand-washed items, dyed laces, etc.    Or to show you some more treasures....

I’m no Martha when it comes to staging pictures, and the lovely tablecloths were particularly problematic.  Not to mention I should’ve ironed them first.  The striped one (underneath) is immaculate around the stripes, which were the part that hung down from the table.  The center part is stained.  The vintage strawberry print (what a beautiful, soft feel it has!) is torn and stained in too many places to fix.  I thought of cutting it up.... and the idea came to me that I should fussy-cut some of the motifs and applique them to the stains in the center of the other one.  That sounds like a fun winter project. 

A lovely hand-embroidered linen towel.  The linen is a pale yellow.

 More tea towel, hand towels and an embroidered doily.

I LOVE these bright, festive dishtowels because they remind me of the ones my Grandma Szakal (mom’s mom) used to have in her kitchen.   

 A lovely dresser scarf

An embroidered butterfly to salvage from a dishtowel

Senor Siesta here is in great shape (well, the towel is)

And then the hankies.  Several dozen of them.   This pink one is on its way to a friend.

The white one with green squares is silk.  Mmmm....  Several of these are coming with me to Colorado next month for our Crazy Quilting International Retreat.  One of our classes will be Making a Hankie Quilt, and I’m going to share with those ladies who haven’t been bitten by the HankieBug, or who can’t bear to cut up an old hankie.

When a hankie is beyond redemption because of holes or stains, often the edging is salvageable.  I also find that white hankies are great to layer behind other hankies, because they’re all so thin.  And the white edging is often a great counterpoint to a colored edging or busy hanky when piecing.

My personal favorite in the batch was the hankie on the left with the appliqued roses.  But that embroidered hankie with pansies and lilies-of-the-valley is beautiful too!

Well, that’s it for the pictures.  This morning as I loaded these pictures, I noticed that Blogger has upgraded their picture uploading process.  Wow.  All 17 of these pictures transferred from the clipboard to the blog at once.  NICE!!!!

By the way, if you are into Crazy Quilting, stop by the Crazy Quilting International blog (a couple links on my sidebar).  They’ll soon be announcing a CQ Giveaway contest!  Also, if you’d like to learn more about CQI, check out the post here.

Hugs,

Mysteries Solved & Some CQ Too!

Thank you all for your wonderful and interesting comments on my last post.  There were a lot of great ideas about what some of those "mystery" artifacts were, which led me into some fun online research.  So, I thought I'd just do a post to answer some of the questions and comments....
Let's start with this:

There were suggestions from Lesley and Leaking Moonlight that this was perhaps a bourdaloue.  From Lesley's description, I had a pretty good idea of what she meant, but I was wondering why it would be so decorative. Marilyn and Ruby both thought it was a spoon rest.  The answer is .... it IS a spoon rest.  Or more accurately, a spoon stack.     

This is a bourdaloue:

It is a portable chamber pot from the "good old days", LOL.  And yes, it's rather ornate for its function, don't you think?   Come to think of it though, even though most of the chamber pots I've seen (like in the historic farmhouse at Wheeler Farm where I work) are plain, I have seen some quite fancy ones.    By the way, a bourdaloue is also a fancy tart which can look something like this: 

Try not to get the two confused!!!  :-)  

So, this is what I found out about the spoon stack.  Here is a sample of a Noritake spoon stack.

Most of them were made between 1890 - 1910.  The Noritakes I've seen online at Replacements Ltd. and other auction houses sell for between $60 to $95 each.  But remember, mine had no markings?  Well, apparently Noritake made some blanks, and those were sold in more limited numbers to handpainters.  You can see the style is nearly identical, although my handles are more ornate.  The blanks are more rare, but I've only seen one sell, and that was for $45.  Either way, not a bad investment for the $5 I paid, was it??

Moving on to the mystery of this:

Kimberly in SLC (shout out to Kimberly!!!) suggested it might be a southern-type beverage cover.  So, I began Googling those.  But I noticed that they were less "airy" (to protect the pitcher or glass from bugs flying in) and were FLAT.  The flat crocheted protectors were draped over the pitcher.

So, then I checked out snoods, my original hunch, and I believe I'm right. Check out this vintage image:

Yes, they are LONG compared to today's shower caps and hair nets. Wow, and were there ever some stylish ones!  I saw a number of modern day versions that are being made (check it out sometime!) that are absolutely lovely.  I think I'll let my hair grow, LOL!!

And finally, to keep this somewhat related to stitching and crazy quilting, here is a picture of my Images of Africa quilt.  I made it for the $100,000 Quilting Challenge back in 2006-2007.   I was one of the ten semi-finalists (or was it quarter-finals?) in the Crazy Quilting category that were asked to send in their quilts.  However, it did not make it to publication in the magazine.  Oh well, it looks great in our African-themed library.

I've been thinking of perhaps posting this quilt block by block, but honestly, it has a lot of interesting  STUFF and ideas on it, but the stitching was a little on the lean side (at least compared to how I do things now).   There's another crazy quilt in me trying to get out, and I'll hopefully embark upon that this winter to meet the CQ by 2012 Challenge that I started on some of the CQ lists.   I ought to "put my money where my mouth is", eh?  (I ought to put something where my mouth is; this post has rambled on long enough!)

Antiquing Treasures

Today was a semi-holiday from work for me.  I only had to go in for an hour to get a couple things done, and the Farm had modified business hours.  And poor DH had to work today.  So, I thought maybe I'd head over to the final day of an estate sale I'd gotten notice of.  Couldn't get into much trouble there, could I???  LOL.  Well, I didn't.  But I picked up a few goodies, and on the way home passed by an antique mall.   Since I was in a shopping mood, I stopped and did a bit more shopping to complete my morning.


So let me show you some of my treasures.  

Over at Crazy Quilting International, this month's Challenge (as I mentioned a couple posts ago) is Velvet. It was natural, then, that these vintage velvet fruits caught my eye.   I would estimate them to be from the forties or so, and they feel like silk velvet.  I don't know if they're supposed to be apples or what, but I love them!  And the collar is a fifties satin collar with goldwork.  Since our December Challenge will be goldwork, and I'll be joining in a goldwork round robin later this summer, I felt that $2 to purchase and study the goldwork on this collar was a good deal.  Both of these came from the estate sale.

The pierced-edge cherries plate (sooo fifties!) and the two cute berry bowls with gold trim were purchased at the antique mall.  Tonight we used the bowls to eat apricots (canned), since there's not a berry in the house in February!  I wish there had been more than two.  And the plate will sit up on the shelves in the kitchen where I display my cookie jars and other assorted pottery.  Someday I'll have to take pictures of that.....

The little rose vase had no chips, so I thought it would look cute in my frou-frou guest room.  The little jar on the right was actually something I picked up at a thrift store last month for $1.  I plan to make a pincushion in it.  The battenburg lace collar was "thrown in" at no cost from the estate sale dealers today (they're the ones I bought the Singer treadle sewing machine and vintage mirror from last summer).  

And you know me and vintage aprons..... I couldn't pass this vintage apron of pink tulle, silver rick rack and pink satin ribbons!   Obviously, this was a hostess/cocktail apron and not utilitarian!  It looks like something Glenda the Good Witch would wear.

More hankies, vintage baby booties, an embroidered pillowcase (a cutter) and some vintage crocheting.  The crocheting is done in four separate panels, sewn together.  I'm going to separate them and use the individual pieces in crazy quilting - those are just perfect pansy colors, don't you think?

The pink and black embroidered piece will look good incorporated into some vintage-inspired artsy apron.  The crocheted potholder is just something, like the baby booties in the previous picture and the vintage baby sweater in this one, that I'm apparently collecting.  I guess when I have at least a half dozen of something (why am I so fascinated with odd things like this?) it becomes a collection.  And the Vogart transfer.  I've been collecting vintage transfers thanks to the wayward influences (LOL) of my friend Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me Designs.   Actually, I had three large envelopes of Italian transfers that I bought at a yard sale about ten years ago (and have used), but between Pam's influence and my love of embroidered linens (kitchen linens and pillowcases) from the thirties, forties and fifties, well, things just evolved.    

Some day I'll have to show you some of my collections.  Like my hankies; I swear, they multiply on their own when I close the drawers they're in, LOL.  Cookie jars, paperweights, vintage lace, vintage floral postcards.....  it's a good thing DH really loves me!   But then, you ought to see his crap collections of resistors, capacitors, wires, tools, etc. in his "la-BOR-atory".   We're definitely a match made in heaven!

Hugs,

Owls and Crochet and Giveaway Thoughts....

I've been stitching my brains out (yep, I had some brains once, LOL)... I saw the cutest pattern for stitch-n-stuff owls in Handmade magazine (an Australian publication). The issue I have, which I just bought a couple months ago, is Volume 25, No. 8. Don't know what year, but I found it interesting that on their website the "current Issue on sale now" is Volume 27 No. 6. Now, that's quite a lag, LOL!! It's understandable, of course, with it being Australian, but I sure wish those Aussies put dates on their magazines! (and this is probably exactly why they DON'T!!).

Anway, here are a couple of the owls, with several of their feathered friends in progress.

Since I've taken this picture, they're all stuffed and all I need to do is sew up their little bottoms. I love owls. When I was a teenager, I collected anything OWL. I even had a cat that I named Oliver Wendell Livingston (OWL). We called him Ollie. And of course, Owl (or should I say "WOL") is one of my favorite Winnie the Pooh characters. But I digress..... I'll post another picture of the whole gang when they're done. They're for the Christmas boutique, of course....

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but on one of my recent thrifting forays, I scored a major treasure - loads of crocheted motifs and edgings. Per the tags, they'd just been put out the day before I got there. Let me show you some of these.

There are sixteen of those fans and six of the purple and yellow floral motif strands. I'm pretty sure that they were intended for pillowcase edgings (at least some of the following were). I don't know if they're vintage or modern, but they're pristine. And would've looked better if I'd bothered to iron them first, LOL.

Six of these lovely pink & green pieces..... look at the detail!

Six of these yellow (gold) and white pillowcase edgings...

Two of these gorgeous orange and white pillowcase edgings...

And last but not least, these miscellaneous pieces and edgings. There are actually two of the pink edgings, although I only photographed one.

I think I'm going to sell half of them and keep the other half to use as trims in projects. The fan motifs are especially well-suited to crazy quilting!

Some of you readers who have been around awhile might remember that a few months ago I got an amazing windfall gift from a very generous stranger named Catherine. She has actually moved here to Utah and is my brother-in-law Doug's girlfriend. Last weekend I got to meet her for the first time when she and Doug came over to visit. Catherine also brought me another load of goodies, which includes fabrics (including vintage fabrics from the sixties), trims and laces (mostly vintage), books (including some vintage treasures!) and magazine articles and other supplies. She encouraged me to pass on whatever I don't need or want myself. And that brings me to my next topic.

It's about time for a Giveaway again. When I'm done sorting, I'm going to pull goodies for four prizes - something for everyone. There will be a prize geared for crazy quilters, one geared for sane quilters, one geared for fabriholics, and another for lace and trim lovers. Or something like that. Honestly, I haven't quite worked out the details, LOL, because some of those crocheted trims will be in the giveaway, too. Maybe I'll have to do five prizes! I'm planning that you will look at the prizes and tell me which one you want to be entered for, and I'll do separate drawings. But this is just a heads-up, because it will be after Thanksgiving, OK?? Too much on my plate for the next couple weeks. Besides, I still have sorting to do!

That's it for now. I've got so much more to post, but DH and Boomer (my chatty cat who is meowing at my feet) tell me it's time for bed. Talk to you soon!

Hugs,

Getting Ready for the Boutique - Part 1

I've been working madly for over six weeks to prepare for a local Christmas Boutique that will be held at Wheeler Farm, one of the places I work at part-time. Back in the day, say 10-12 years ago, I used to do boutiques when I was a Creative Memories consultant. My crazy quilting days started in Y2K, but as crazy quilting is very labor-intensive, it is hard to focus on it for boutique items. If you charge for the actual time you spend creating a piece, you price yourself right out of the market. So, I tend to focus on small projects that include sewing and other skills. My business cards indicate that I will do custom commissions, and I will have some CQ pieces on display or on me (my CQ vest shown here).

This boutique was free to get into - they'll be having 10 shows next year and wanted to get a good variety of crafters and artists and develop a mailing list. So, I thought this was a good time to dip my toes into the waters, so to speak, and see if anything I do is marketable. I can always do Etsy, but thought I couldn't lose to try this first. It will be helpful to see what items sell or not, how my prices compare to the local market (Etsy prices would necessarily be different), and what's "in" and over-done or under-represented here.

So, following is a sample of some of the things I'll be hauling off to my table (not a booth!) tomorrow, December 6. Oh, and that's another thing. This venue will cram in 60 vendors and does not aim to compete with the Expo center shows (where booth fees run in the hundreds). I am allotted one 8' table, so creating height and visual interest will be a challenge while maintaining a cohesive but not-too-cluttered look. And I need to stand out somehow. I've been "practicing" setting up with various tablecloths, display bins and baskets, and.......... you get the idea.

First, the aprons. Featuring aprons is NOT a way to stand out. Maybe it was three years ago, but it is bordering now on "overdone". Having said that, however, I realize that everyone has their own style and target group. I had hoped to make a lot of "sexy" half aprons in organdy and hankies, but ran out of time. But that's an idea I may develop for the January 24 boutique, which will be a Valentine's Day theme. So, these aprons are from vintage patterns (4 of them) or my own basic design (bib, skirt, shoulder straps, ties).

These aprons above combine vintage fabric (new old stock 36" cotton kitchen fabric) with modern fabrics for accents. The left one is an old pattern, enhanced with hot pink batik and white rickrack. The right one is my own basic design, a pink, red and olive fruit print accented with a red polka-dotted modern cotton and red rickrack. That IS red, not orange - the colors didn't photograph that well.

Next are two aprons. I call them the "I Love Lucy" aprons, because the heart bibs remind me of the heart in the opening credits of The Lucy Show. These are made from a vintage pattern I have from the 1940's (have had it for years and made myself one years ago). I change it around now and then - enlarging the bib heart and/or deleting the lower edge scallops for a more rounded skirt. These fabrics are so cool; one is yellow and blue teacups and saucers on white. The other is a retro cherry print in yellow (I also have a smaller-scale companion print in yellow and the companion print in pinks). I've sold several of these over the last couple years.

As you can see, my photography skills need to be improved! These should be posed to show off the styling better. In this photo, too much of the waist ties and back straps show and obscure the fact that the heart bib is connected to the skirt along just a few inches of the bottom of the heart in front like this: ---V---

The next apron was made from scratch. I had a piece of cotton that had this cherry teapot print (sage green and brick red on cream) on it with a triple border print around it. I kept the first border of cherries with the teapot, lined it, and used it as a bib. The second border (the checkered portion) was used as a hem accent on the skirt I made from a sage green checked homespun. The final border, more of the cherries, went into making the shoulder straps. It was rather fussy, but actually looks much cuter in person than the picture shows.


And last but not least is the "chicken apron". I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bright, cheery, French-country-kitchen-inspired print in red and orange. I used a vintage pattern with this new fabric, and I think if it doesn't sell I'll keep it for myself!!
This last picture (for this post) shows a hodgepodge of things - a couple of crocheted scarves, some clothespins wound with vintage lace, a couple small pillows (is there something more romantic or imaginative to call them other than "small pillows"??). The black fleur-de-lis wide trim (edged in metallic lace and put on black velvet) was a piece that dear Willa donated to a traveling box of goodies on a Yahoo Crazy Quilt list about 6-7 years ago. It traveled between about 20 women, and we'd all take out what we wanted and put in other goodies to replace it. I took out some of this yummy stuff and made two small pillows. The other one is the same trim on a gold background, but it's having some technical difficulties on one seam, so I don't have time to re-do the seam before this boutique.


The round pink thing is a small purchased bandbox covered in pink wallpaper around the sides and topped with the a garden of vintage button-centered yo-yo's. To the very right is a small silk ribbon embroidered picture framed in a vintage-looking frame. The back yellow and pink cushion is just bits of home dec fabrics and trimmed with ribbon.

I'll post more later, as time allows. Thanks for looking!