Spring Swap for All Seasons

 

The theme for our March Swap was Spring and the color yellow.  I recently sent my swap to partner Debbie of Kitten Creates in Ohio.  The image above is a vintage flash card from a reading program.  I added the Happy Spring stamp.

 

Here is the card I made for Debbie.  The image is copied from a vintage Easter card.  The background is lace from my stash and hand stitched on to the card.  I added flowers and butterfly as embellishments.  Added a strip of coordinating paper to the envelop and added Happy Spring stamp.

 

Here is the tag.

 

The images are from my vintage pattern collection.  The is no date on the pattern but the envelope is very small and gray paper with the color images attached with glue.  The seam allowances are 3/8" instead of the standard 5/8".   Wish I knew the exact date.  I'm sure some research on my part would solve the mystery!

 

 

Here are Yellow stash items I included in the package.  The fabrics are 30s repo fabrics.  Debbie is currently working on a couple of quilt projects and I wanted to include some fabric for her.  The flower in the upper right is a Japanese Kanzashi Fabric Flower that I made in a class a few years ago.  Perfect to include in my yellow stash items.

 

 

Ready for packing into the package I made from the flash card above and a folder.

 

I cut the top from a yellow folder, added the flash card, and sewed ribbon around the two sides for a handle.  All the items fit perfectly into the pocket. 

 

Thanks for Linda for another wonderful swap.  You can sign up for the April Swap on April 1st by following the link at the top of my blog. 

 

Happy Spring.  I will be taking a blog break and will be back in a month or so.  Exciting things happening here and there!!!!

 

 

 

Valentines for Marie

 

This month's Swap for All Season's theme was Valentines and the color was red.  Here is the card I

made for Marie.  The old photo is from my collection, I downloaded the Bingo card and added the embellishments (buttons, lace, tag, and hand dyed ribbon from Debbie).  I stamped an image on a brown envelope to complete the card.

 

 

I stamped small hearts on a hand dyed tag from Debbie.  (Debbie was my partner in an earlier swap and I received the tag and ribbon as a part of the destash).  The image is a vintage Valentine card from my collection.  The original was a teacher's card and I removed the teacher part.

 

 

These are my red destash items.  I again used vintage Valentine image from my collection on the note pad. 

 

Packaged and ready to mail.

 

 

 

 

I decided to use a brown paper bag as my packaging.  I remembered using paper bags in grade school for Valentine exchanges and thought I would continue this theme into my packaging.   Marie received the package yesterday and was pleased.  This was a fun swap.  You too can join in the fun by clicking on the Swap for All Seasons link at the top of the blog.

 

 

 

 

Vintage Fabric Pillows

I found this vintage fabric stashed on a shelf while putting away Christmas.  I had completely forgotten about this wonderful fabric.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.  Throw pillows for the love seat.  It has the perfect colors.

Looks great with the walnut Pottery Barn canvas slip covers.  I love those vibrant colors.  They are a perfect compliment to the dining area leather chairs.

I already had this feed sack table runner on the table.  Isn't that pear great.  I found it at Home Goods.  I won the feed sacks in a blog give away a few years ago.  I made them into this table runner.  It is perfect for the dining room table and it too compliments the leather dining chairs.

I'm linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday. What's It Wednesday.

Vintage Kewpie Dolls

Last week I found this Kewpie Doll at a local Goodwill.  She is dressed in a pink crochet dress and cap.  I thought she would be perfect for a Pink Saturday post.  She is a little over 7" tall and has the # 11 on the back of her head but no other identifying marks.  I believe she is vinyl.  She had a 99 cent price tag!  So I quickly added her to my shopping cart.

 On another shelf I was lucky to find her twin dressed in a mint green and yellow crocheted outfit.  She too had a 99 cent price tag so in my cart she went.  I brought them home, washed their clothing and gave them a bath.  The are displayed on the shelf in my studio.

According to my reading, Kewpie Dolls became popular when Rose O'Neill wrote a comic strip featuring baby cupids called Kewpies in the early 1900's.  First dolls were bisque and celluloid.  Later they were made of rubber and vinyl.  These dolls do not have the wings on their backs.

When I got the dolls home, I remembered that I had purchased two smaller Kewpies a few years ago.  I found them in my studio.  These little ones weren't dressed.  They measure 3" and 4" and are also vinyl.  You can see their wings below.

Maybe I'll add these dolls to my Valentine decorations this year since they are "Little Cupids".

I am linking to Beverly's Pink Saturday.  Please stop by here blog to see other interesting Pinks.

Look What I Found at Goodwill!

I was so excited to find a vintage feed sack yesterday at Goodwill.  I immediately recognized the fabric as vintage but didn't realize it was a feed sack until I took a closer look.  It is still a sack.  The stitching hasn't been removed.  The price ----- 99 cents.  But it was Senior Day so I paid 75 cents for this lovely piece of fabric.

Feed sacks are stitched with a type of a chain stitch which can easily be removed.  You just have to find the securing stitch and then pull on the thread.  It should pull out easily to reveal a flat piece of fabric.  Above you can see the securing stitch.

I'm thinking the fabric is probably from the 50s because of the design and color.  Feed sacks were made until the mid 60s according to the information I read.  I have collected a few other feed sacks over the years and even won a set of vintage feed squares which I sewed into a table runner.  I also made a doll dress from one of my feed sack fabrics.  I sent the doll to Russia as part of a Valentine Doll Swap a few years ago.  You can see the doll here.

I found the image below on Pinterest.  Thought you might enjoy seeing it too.

I'm linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Prayer Shawl for a Special Friend

This is a prayer shawl that I crocheted for a special friend in Kentucky.  She found out recently that she again has ovarian cancer.  She had surgery and chemo a few years ago and had been cancer free until her last checkup.  She will be undergoing surgery and chemo soon.  I decided to make her a prayer shawl.

The granddaughters helped pick out the yarn.  They wanted something cheerful and not "dull and drab".  I think they succeeded in choosing a wonder yarn that looks lovely and cheerful.  It is so soft.  The granddaughters and I said silent prayers before I began crocheting.

 I had never used this type of yarn before and it did present some challenges.  I had difficulty gauging my stitches since the yarn is very bulky and you use this huge needle.

The pattern is only one stitch (a half double crochet).  You can see the pattern here.

Many prayers went into this shawl.  I'm mailing it tomorrow.  I included a little info on Prayer Shawls and the story of her prayer shawl. .

I pray that the shawl will provide some warmth and comfort while she is undergoing treatments.   A blessing for the completed shawl can be found  here.

Prayer Of Blessing (blessing for a completed shawl)

By: Janet Severi Bristow - 2000

 May God's grace be upon this shawl...

warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing.
May this mantle be a safe haven... a sacred place of security and well-being...
sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones.
May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace,
and wrapped in love.
Blessed Be!

Explore - My word for 2014

I finally decided on my word for 2014.  I have chosen EXPLORE - to examine or investigate.

As I look over some of my plans for 2014.  I realized that I plan to explore a number of things.

Some of these are:

• travel to new places (cruises through the Panama Canal and to Alaska)
• learn new quilting techniques (class already scheduled)
• my Janome 15000 (class next week)
• scrapbooking
• cardmaking (Swap for all Seasons)
• ?????? more to come

“This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” – John Steinbeck 

I'll keep you posted on my progress.