WHITE WEDNESDAY

Do you ever get sidetracked? Happens to me all the time! Every day, several times a day! Just can't help it! I started cleaning out a basket that holds a lot of my yarns and fibers, when I ran across an unfinished project. (A frequent occurrence in my house!) The hubs said "what the heck is that"? (another frequent occurrence in my house!) What it was, was the start of a hat that was crochet out of long strips of fabric. Not wanting to throw it away, I thought it might make a good cover for a houseplant. So I took some twine and stitched folds, willy nilly, on the sides to make it tighter, felted some wool pieces into it and added two sweet heart shaped drawer pulls to make it look more pot like. Now I have a perfect cover for the ugly plastic pot that was disgracing this innocent African violet..........And a big thank you to Kathleen at Faded Charm for hosting WW.

AND THIS IS WHAT ELSE I GOT........

.......from a very sweet dealer friend who decided she had to part with these treasures. I just love old textiles and I can't stop looking at them! This plaster cake topper is very old and beautiful. You would have to see this large awesome rick-rack in person to. It makes you gasp!

Some of this has never been used and most of it is from France.

There is 10 yards of unused Irish linen in this pic!

About a dozen boxes of emb. thread that had never been opened. Am I a lucky girl, or what!!!! Thank you, sweet friend!

WHO SAID DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND?

While taking care of some errands today, I noticed a sign that said " Mall Antiques". As I drove by I remember thinking to myself that "there was probably just a bunch of junk in there"! SAY WHAT! I love junk! I quickly did a u-turn. Once inside, my heart started beating faster because I don't think I had been in the presence of so much junk under one roof in a long, long time! Wow! What a fun half hour that turned out to be! There was a lot more so I will have to go back in a few days.

JUST LOOK AT THESE CLOCHES! They are old and heavy. I BOUGHT ALL THAT WAS THERE!

THIS OLD METAL EGG CARRIER HELD 8 DOZEN EGGS ,BACK IN THE DAY, IN THESE UNIQUE, LITTLE PAPER ROLLS THAT ARE HELD TOGETHER WITH OLD WIRE. LOVE IT!

AND HOW ABOUT THIS HAND MADE METAL CARRIER!

AND THE WINNER IS......

.............BUT WAIT A MINUTE, I HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO FIRST! I KNOW THAT I PROMISED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNER YESTERDAY, BUT MY COMPUTER WAS VERY NAUGHTY! IT STUBBORNLY WOULD NOT MOVE AND DECIDED TO FREEZE UP! I TURNED IT OFF SEVERAL TIMES AND IT WOULD TEASE ME A LITTLE AND THEN FREEZE UP AGAIN. SO I GAVE UP! I JUST KNEW THAT ALL YOU LOVELY BLOGGERS OUT THERE WOULD UNDERSTAND!.....ALSO, THE PHOTOS OF THE WINNINGS ARE NOT TO GOOD AS I WAS AFRAID TO TAKE INDIVIDUAL SHOTS IN CASE MY BEAST DECIDED TO FREEZE UP AGAIN! (so far, so good) I KNOW, I KNOW, ENOUGH ALREADY!..............................................THE WINNER IS.........ZUZU @ WWW.A-COTTAGE-IN-THE-WOODS.BLOGSPOT.COM. .........ZUZU, PLEASE E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR ADDRESS. So, it's a little wool cottage pillow, a cottage pin cushion, one of my lace scarves, an embellished bottle,a little votive with a paper flower, an Easter box with a little chick that I made out of old cotton batting, a cashmere heart pillow to display your favorite photos, an old quilt heart key chain, a pair of earrings and bracelet that i made, a paper flower necklace, a crochet flower pin and two botanical gift tags. Oh, and all of this goes in a large canvas tote which i forgot to photo!

POST 150!!!

O.K. DEAR BLOGGERS! THIS IS POST 150! SO, AS PROMISED, I WILL DRAW A NAME OUT OF MY BASKET ON SUNDAY AND ANNOUNCE THE WINNER AND SHOW WHAT THEY HAVE WON!.......In the meantime, the following pics are an example of the lace scarves that were very popular at Kane flea market last week end. I had to restock my booth with them on Sunday and I think I only took one back to the shop! I have been busy making more all week, some for the shop, but these are going in my Etsy Shop tomorrow morning! ( When I'm not so tired.) So you still have tonite and tomorrow to get your names in the basket one more time!

WHERE, OH WHERE, HAVE THE YEARS GONE?

The other day, I was talking to my BFF, Mary L. and we were reminiscing about our friendship and how we started out in the "business"! Mary and I put on our very first Tapestries of Nature shows back in 1988! Mary was a dried floral designer, as was I, and since my Husband had just built me my very own little cottage to do my design work in, we decided to invite everyone we knew to our first annual show. Right from the get go it was very successful! (Of course that was back in the day!) So, twice a year, spring and late fall, we had a show. It wasn't long before we out grew my little cottage and we found a old village hall that was kind enough to let us rent the hall twice a year. Despite the traffic jams we caused in this little village, often times having to call for a traffic cop to help with the directing of traffic and fixing parking jams, we were allowed to use the hall for about 12 more years! One of the things that Mary and I had in common was that we bought very few flowers. Instead we spent all year gathering weeds from the wild and growing our own flowers to dry. Nature, branches, twigs, nests, wild weavings and woodland gatherings were the major components in our work We often went gathering together and our customers would marvel at how alike our design work was. The great thing about our little business was that, while we often made similar things, we were totally comfortable with each other and never felt threatened! in fact, we loved each other's work, and rejoiced when any of it sold! We fed off of each other's designs! So the name that we chose, Tapestries of Nature, was right on! We either made things from nature, or had a nature theme to our things. And while a lot has happened to both of us in the ensuing years, we still find joy in each others work! We both have always made things and will continue until we are not able. I feel truly blessed to have such a friend! The next three pics are an example of some of our work from all those years ago.

I have showed this pillow before, notice the bird theme,that I made when I was in England last JUNE! Through the years, I have tried many forms of crafts and have all of the equipment needed to prove it! LOL! A couple of years ago, I read an article about a home business that employed older forms of printing methods to make beautiful and original stationary. It piqued my interest, especially the look of the screen printing! For the last several years, I had searched in vain for classes that taught screen printing. All of the classes in my area offered everything but! After much searching, I decided to invest in my own equipment and I am really loving being able to design my own images, many of which compliment my business name.

These are pillows that I have made using screen print, with the addition of old lace, which is something that I usually add to my pillows.

I really like my birdcage design. It was so exciting to make and because of the fancy bird cage, I decided to let this pillow be a little simpler, for now anyway!

Well that's my little trip down memory lane for now. And I think this is post 149!!!! So after my next post, it will be give away time!

MORE PILLOWS AND SPRING STUFF

I'm still having fun playing with some more silk screen stencils that I made. These will go to Kane and the shop and I'm working on more for my Etsy Shop.

I decided to experiment with wet felting and lace for pillows. Not only are they sweet but they are very strong!

CLOSE UP!

Oh, and i made more felted nests (as long as I had the wool out). This time with felted blue eggs and attached to some branches!

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT INFLUENCED ME TO MAKE THESE EGGS? IF YOU GUESS CORRECTLY, AND LET ME KNOW, YOU WILL GET YOUR NAME IN THE BASKET 2 MORE TIMES!