Pumpkins for Cathey!

Please hop on over to Daffycat's (Sharon's) blog to see the list of all that participated in this special surprise for Cathey.  And, if you aren't familiar with Cathey's story, please hop on over to Pumpkin Patch and Co.   Be ready to cheer her on in her battle against cancer.  Be Strong Cathey.               

My New Favorite Vintage Clothing Website

Hi blogging Friends,

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a wonderful clothing company called "Shabby Apple". They were wondering if I would be interested in reviewing a dress for them.  Well, of course I jumped at the chance, especially since this company was new to me.  I was curious to see what they had to offer. They specialize in Vintage Clothing.

Choosing a dress was not an easy task.  Seriously, there were so many darling things to look at, that I poured over their website for days!  Finally I decided on a dress called, "Heart of Me", because it was different than anything that I own...and IT'S RED!  I just love the color red. 

One thing I really love about Shabby Apple, is that they donate a portion of their proceeds to a charity organization named Unitis.  Their mission is to give micro-loans to the world's working poor.  The clothing tag on the article of clothing will tell you a name of someone that they are helping.  My tag had the name of a 35 year old widow from India, who is a bamboo weaver and has benefited from a micro loan of $89 to help her with her business.  I love supporting companies that use their good fortune to help others.

The dress was a wonderful lightweight cotton, and was a great color with a soft white flower print on it.    It had some great details, such as lots of pleats and generous amounts of fabric.  I loved the giant bow in the back.  It was well constructed.  I ordered a size bigger than normal based on the website reviews, and did not have to do any modifications to it.

Heart of Me dress by Shabby Apple

They are reviving the art of the dress, and have expanded their clothing line to tops, skirts and swimwear!  They also have wonderful accessories, and shoes.  Please, go and check them out!  You can like them on facebook and follow them on instagram for special savings.  I am going to buy my next holiday dress from Shabby Apple!


That's all for today friends.  I am working on a blog post to show you what I've been up to all summer long.  Happy Sewing and shopping. 

Getting my head back in the game!

 

 

Hello!  How do I come back from such a long absence?  I'm just going to jump back in with both feet and hope for the best.  Hopefully someone out there will be somewhat inspired by the progress I've made the past several months.  I finished my Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, by Carriage House samplings!  (Hallelujah chorus singing!) It was stitched with Vicki Clayton Silks, and a few NPI silks.  The fabric is 36 count cream, that I hand dyed with tan Rit dye.  Wow, did it ever feel good to put  the final stitches in this sampler.  This sampler took me just over 5 years to complete, and I dedicated it to my husbands 7th grandfather back.

William Mayne Duncanson was a Captain for the East India Trading Company.  He amassed a fortune during his trading days, and moved to Washington D.C. in 1794.

With that fortune he built a beautiful historic home near the nations capital, which is one of the few houses still standing today.  It was named, The Friendship House or The Maples.  The house was finished in 1796.  William entertained guests such as George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson and was influential in politics and government.  Sadly not long after finishing the home, his business partner swindled him out of his fortune, and he lost his home.  He passed away in much more modest circumstances.  The house was later owned by Francis Scott Key. 

It was fascinating to read his story and to learn more about this relative.  In 2012 a development company bought the home, and they are now building upscale condos around the property.  The home will serve as a gathering place for the residents.  I can't wait to go and see it someday.  It has such a rich history.  I stitched a bit of this history on the bottom of the sampler, and will include a more detailed history with the frame. 

I got a few quilts back from the quilters and I have been busy putting on bindings.  This is a quilt top that my mom made for my 40th birthday.  This quilt is called The Journal Quilt and it's by Wednesday's Best Quilts. 

This is The Garden Fence by Fig Tree Quilts.

This quilt is called "Home is Where the Haunt Is".  It's by Kimberbell Designs, and was a mystery quilt that I signed up for a few years ago. 

This is called "A Vintage Christmas" and it's by Bunny Hill Designs. 

I got this framed a while ago, but never showed it on my blog.  This is called "The Village Alphabet" by Cross My Heart.  This one took a whopping 18 years to complete. 

I absolutely love the way this sampler turned out.  This is a Quaker friendship round robin that many friends stitch on.  It is one of my favorite samplers of all time!  I think the frame goes perfectly with it. 

This is Hillside Traveler, by Little House Needleworks.  This is another favorite sampler.  Do you ever have a sampler that  you wish you could hang in several places in your house at once?  I feel that way about this sampler.

Sorry about the flash showing on the glass in this sampler.  This is The Weeping Tree Sampler by The City Stitcher.  I have this hanging in my kitchen.

This little quilt was easy to do.  I just had to add the boarder and binding.  I quilted it myself, because I need the practice.  The doll clothes were ironed onto fusible fleece, and then cut out.  I made a little bag to put all of the clothes in, and I think I'll keep this out were it can be played with during the Christmas season.  I took this to my guild for show and tell, and after the meeting about 5 ladies ran up to the local quilt shop, and bought the rest of their panels.  It's so cute in person. 

In January, I took a class from Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  She is a fabulous teacher, and if you get the chance to take a class from her, do not hesitate!  I didn't think I would learn that much, as I have been doing embroidery for 30 years, but I found her techniques improved my stitching by leaps and bounds.  We made this wall hanging on the first day.  Wool, is my new obsession.  I have a lot of wool projects in the works right not. 

In February, my daughter talked me into remodeling her room.  It was quite an undertaking!  I guess after 10 years of being in our home, it was time to make the bedrooms more appealing to teenagers.  So this is what my daughters room looked like before...

..and this is after.  I had to do about 15 coats of paint to get it to this point.  I don't look forward to painting over that black someday.  She absolutely loves her room now!  It's so girly, with lots of black Eiffel tower accents.  The best part is, she keeps it really clean!

Unlike my son, who's room was such a disaster, we opted to take things out of it, rather than clean it up for a before photo opp.  It looks like his comforter needs some readjusting in this picture, but at least he made his bed, right?  We added a queen bed to his room, and painted the dresser to match.  I am going to paint his room this summer.  I'm thinking gray and white.  I am a little tired of the tan and red, although it's not bad. 

My in laws moved last summer, and wanted to clear out some of their things, so we inherited this antique type set case.  It's kind of a fun way to display little treasured knick-knacks that you don't know what to do with.  Many of the things in here came from my husbands grandparents, and then we added little special things that have been given to us over the years too.

I made more Abbey Bags.  One for my sewing room, and one for a gift.  They are so much fun to make.

I got some wonderful treasures for my birthday.  I have sweet friends!

One of the wool projects I started is this wool lamb by Buttermilk Basin.  I am working on getting blankets cut out to take on vacation.  It's easy to get them cut out and ironed down, the sewing is the part that takes me forever. 

This little project was intended for Valentines day, but I just got it sewn into a pillow last week.  This comes from the Valentine Need'l Love book.  I still need to make some buttons flowers to tuck into the heart pocket, but once summer hits, I should have time to work on it.

I'll leave you with another fun antique we inherited.  Another summer project on my list is to make a Gail Wilson doll to put on this chair.  I love the way it sits in my stairway.  

I hope this post finds you all well dear blog friends.  May you enjoy each moment with your sewing and do as much of it as you can.  Talk to you all soon!

Finishing!

It's hard to believe we are at the end of the year!  I wanted to quickly post and share with you the finishes that I have done the past couple of months.  I've waited quite awhile to get these quilts back from the quilter, but it was worth the wait.  I've been binding away and my fingerprint is worn off now.  (I'm not kidding...I had to use my thumbprint to get into the park at Universal Studios, because the machine could not recognize my fingerprint!)

A close up of the quilting.  This is a pattern by Quilt Soup called Sunny Disposition.  It will be a fun, bright quilt to display in the Spring and Summer.

This quilt was for my daughter for Christmas.  It has minky on the back and is so soft!  I think we may fight over this one when watching movies. 

A close up of the quilting.  Love those flowers!

This is my Amish Quilt.  This is a Sunshine and Shadow pattern of my own design based off of one I saw in Pennsylvania.  I have to say that I was a little stunned when I saw how my quilter chose to quilt this one.  It's not at all traditional, which is what I wanted...however the quilting is really beautiful and it's growing on me.  I am planning on doing some Amish stitching designs to hang next to this in my downstairs.

This is a quilt that I did during a reteat a few years ago.  A nice easy design from Pat Sloan, and it's from the book, I Can't Believe I'm Quilting. 

This is my favorite of the bunch.  I saw this in an American Patchwork magazine several years ago  It reminds me of Williamsburg.  I especially love the little star in the center of the quilt.  This one was a great addition to my holiday decorating this year.

A close up of the tiny star and the beautiful quilting.

Over the holiday break I got up the nerve to finish my Random Thoughts by Drawn Thread.  I decided to line it with some Heat and Bond light, and then add a cotton backing instead of stitching it the way the pattern suggested.  It added some weight, and it seems to hang better on the wall.  I'm happy to have this one out of the closet.

I also finished my strawberry sampler.  This is a terrible picture, but it turned out cute, and will look great with my wool strawberries that I display in June.

I finished this button sampler into a pillow today.  I'm not sure if I love the way I finished this one, but it's better done than perfect.  My daughter got the new Caroline doll for Christmas and she wanted you all to see it.  She is my favorite.  I will be sewing a lot of clothes for her this year.

I made a few Abbey Bags over the holidays.  These make wonderful gifts.  I can't decide which one I like best. 

My mom gifted me with this darling project tote, which was filled with fabric and books.  I just love it!  I'll really be styling when I take projects places now!

Here is a close up of the pincushion!  Isn't it sweet?

Another dear friend, Kathryn (no blog) made me this wonderful pincushion. I have it sitting by sewing chair. 

We have been traveling again.  My husband likes to take all of his vacations in the Fall and Winter time, so we headed off to Florida to visit my brother.  We went to Universal Studios for 3 days, and saw Mannheim Steamroller in concert and the Harry Potter park!  Wow is it ever cool.  I cannot believe the details that they put into the castle, Hogwarts and the village, Hogmeade.  We've been watching all of the Harry Potter movies over the break.  I wish I would have had time to do that before we left...I probably would have appreciated even more of the details.

Having a Butterbeer in Hogsmeade.  Yum!

My daughter and her cousins enjoying 86 degree weather.  The snow makes it look cold! 

Here is one of the amazing details of the castle.  There are tiny pinholes with fiberoptic lights in each one.  The pillar magically writes the name of the ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and then it disappears again.  It's probably something I would have missed if I hadn't been waiting for my kids to meet me.

My son got his Eagle Scout award this month.  I am so very proud of him and all of his efforts to get this award.  The man he choose to give his mentor pin to is Scott Monson, brother to Thomas S. Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   He is a wonderful leader and did so much to help the boys in scouting.

Here are few things I'm working on this week.  I'm going to make these Shepherd's Bush bags into pillows for the couch.  Originally they were finished into bags to put dried flowers in, but I think they need a refresh.  Also a punch needle pattern that has been started a couple of years.  I have something fun in mind to finish this off.  I'll share next time.

I bought the wool this week to start this beautiful wool quilt.  It's called Pennies from Heaven.  I'm working on getting it cut out.  It will take a while to complete but will be well worth the effort.

I've got to find a way to finish this project.  I'm thinking of a rolling pin, like Becky did in her Fall finish. She did a fabulous job.

I joined Nicola's Scarlet Letter SAL.  I'm so thrilled to be a part of it.  I'm still trying to decide on a bigger sampler, but for now I'm stitching ABCD 1817.  It's a miniature sampler, and it is the perfect start for me. 

That's it for me for this year.  Thank you so much to all of those who helped me with my dyeing issues on the last post.  I've decided to leave my sampler the way it is, and I've already sent it to the framers.  I'll show pictures when it returns.

Thank you to all that leave comments and brighten my day.  I wish you all happy stitching and quilting in 2013!