Go Back To Glass

Every time I throw away a plastic water bottle I get irritated at the mounting size of my garbage.  Ok recycle...sure, whatever....what about the way we used to do it?  Glass Bottles!  One blogger described them as heavy and, oh my goodness, you have to return them.  Such an inconvenience?  Here are a few for the picture books..

.

Personally, I would just love to have some of  these!

These can be found on my favorite site, Etsy. HERE!

House De-Cora

Well, the long awaited arrival of my first granddaughter's first birthday has come and gone and now I'm left with a house of newly cleaned toys to put away.  So I'm busying myself with my house de-cora!!  (sigh)  We had a lovely lovely time together and being with family is just soooooo important to living life to the fullest!

Sunday Dinner

So funny how we play mind games with ourself, we can enjoy our selfmade distractions, we can "live our own life", do our "thing", seek "fulfillment", live in the "moment","find ourself",  ...etc.  But there is nothing in this world like being with your family.  When we live too close we take each other for granted...but too far and we pine away at for all the times we miss being together.


My faraway daughter....(too far)....wanting to come back home....wrote me this "choke back the tears" blurb from her poetic mind...

here's what i know:

i want to have sunday dinner with all of you...
to create and learn with/from you
to come over without feeling like the clock is ticking...
to enjoy Ohio in the fall
pick up apples at rouster's
make pies
cora to grow up knowing who her family is...her roots
so much more...but enough for now

...how beautifully said!

I'm Not A Perfect Mom

...those words couldn't be more truthful...and the way that my daughter said them to me couldn't have been more perfect.  Thanks daughter!

VINTAGE TECHNOLOGY?

I ran across these two interesting items
 on my morning stroll through Etsy.

(what would we do without Etsy?)

Is this what we would be looking for
if we didn't have our

 our iphones,
ipads,
blackberries,
thumb drives,
 flash drives,
and digital picture frames?

ROMANTIC VINTAGE PHOTO ALBUM

FIND THESE ITEMS AT KIAMICHI7 at ETSY

Romantic little vintage gold tone metal photo album case. With a dreamy image of a woman in a swing, surrounded by forest and angels, this compact-like photograph album measures 4 inches long, 3 inches wide and 1/4 of an inch deep.

When open, the left side of the case has a note reading "These precious photos are my valued treasures. If lost please return to:". Following this message are three printed lines where an address/phone number may be written, in case the album is lost.  When open, the right side of the case has another note for listing favorite friends and family names, addresses and phone numbers.  

AND THEN . . . 

VINTAGE MINI RHINESTONE ADORNED ADDRESS BOOK

This mini gold tone vintage address book has thirty pages for names, addresses and phone numbers. The textured metal cover is embellished with 3-D leaves enhanced with blue, pink, green, red and yellow rhinestones. Mini address book measures 2 and 3/4 inches long, 3/4 of an inch wide and is 1/2 of an inch thick. A little chain is looped through the corner of the book for attaching to a purse, etc.

IF I WEREN'T SO DARNED PRACTICAL
 THESE WOULD NOW BE IN MY STASH!

"Cora TV"

Never thought I would go this long in between blog posts!  But since  August, I've been busy with a few items (I'll share with you later about some other stuff).  But today I'll talk about the birth of my granddaughter, Cora Elizabeth.  She has changed things for us even though she is over 1,000 miles away.  So instead of a snack before bed or "a TVshow" before we hit the hay these days--this is what Kent (my husband) and I do.  We call Arizonia to look and talk to Cora on our computer screen.  We act completely silly so Cora will watch us--sometimes I think we are turning into cartoons.  Today, when she saw me, she gave me a half face crooked grin...the first for me on video cam.  I was giddy and still am basking in that precious smile.  The things we do for our grandkids!  Life is so sweet!

Kendra and Cora

I've taken a step back and away from sewing for just a bit....re-evaluating all my activities since the birth of my first granddaughter.  Becoming a grandmother on August 19th has really been life changing.  I knew that it would be good but I had no idea of how profound it would be, and how deeply it would affect me.  BUT  it's more wonderful than I could have every imagined!  Here are two pictures from 1983 (Kent and me with Kendra) and two pictures from 2010 (Cora).  See the resemblence?  I've heard that Cora's hair appears to have some "red" in it--just like Kendra's did, but at this point in time I don't think Cora is a  "redhead" like her grandmother.  As far as grandma names, looks like so far, I'm "grammie"!

IT'S DONE!!

Best Friend's Quilt Shoppe over on Colerain Avenue
 here in Cincinnati professionally quilted my quilt.
   I chose a stitch pattern called floopy flowers.
 Since the inspiration fabric has bees,
 I thought it was appropriate to have flowers.
  I also had them do something special in the quilting, can you see it?

If you click on the picture above
 you can see the inspiration bee fabric much better.

If you didn't see the "special" quilting, here is a close up below.

I can't wait to see little Cora curled up on this!

This quilt pattern was taken from Alex Anderson's Quilt Book: 
Baby Quilts with Love
12 Timeless Projects for Today's Nursery
(Find the book by clicking on the title.)

Cora's Quilt

I'm sorry I've been remiss in blogging lately.  Everything has taken a back seat to preparing and anxiously awaiting my first grandchild, Cora's arrival.   This is Cora's quilt before I took it to be quilted.  I'm picking it up on Friday and then I'm flying out of Indianapolis on Sunday --heading for Mesa, AZ, the land of first grandchildren.  Cora's due date is the 13th, but what "first" child ever came on their due date?  I just so can't wait for this blessed event!

GREEN AND BLUE, AQUA AND OLIVE, SKY AND GRASS....and a little GOLD

What is it about green and blue with a touch of...of...antique gold???  I just adore it and perhaps this will be the color scheme for some room in my house.....suggestions?  I gathered some of these among other items for my "first Etsy treasury" made by me.   The pillbox hat is on reserve for me at TPARTY.  The earrings MIGHT make it down to the Mercantile Antique Shoppe, if I don't claim them for myself first. 

Happy Thursday everyone and hope you have a wonderful July 4th weekend!

TPARTY

VELVETMORNING

VIVIDCOLORS

MYJULIEJEWELS

A Little Inspiration for Wednesday--ZiBagz---refreshing!

I love this bag maker, she inspires me.  I ran across her today on Etsy, her shoppe name is Zibagz. (Don't you just love that name!!)  There is a sense of freedom in her style.  I love the incorporation and combination of vintage crochet, buttons, fabric etc.  AND the way that she poses her beauties is "loverly"!   So I ask myself, "why don't I create something like this?"....and then it goes to my mental bucket list and I determine at some point to do just that.  But, what is so interesting to me is that we can't escape ourselves and our own innate creativity and style.  What comes from our creative resource is who we are and when we try to duplicate what others do, aside from  just "copying", it will be different and the result is always "our interpretation".  It often feels like you are fighting yourself..ever feel that way?  So maybe someday when the "mood" strikes I'll have the "freedom" to do something similar?  In the meantime please enjoy!  Also note the way she does her tag...love it.  Be sure to visit her shoppe on Etsy.  Zibagz  Her new blog is http://www.zibagz.blogspot.com/.

 In a few days I want to introduce you to another long time inspiration of mine...so come back soon!  I love hearing from you and your comments!

THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO BE TODAY

 Admiring my own

 vintage plate arrangement,

Sitting on this lounge,

 sipping,

 HERBAL DECAF ICED tea,

with my laptop

videocamming with my two daughters

or the reading the latest

DIY publication.

AND ALSO

making a quilt like this

for my coming grandaughter, Cora Elizabeth.

Found on PassionateQuilter's Blog.

BETA PREVIEW

Say hello to "beta"..she is not completely "finished" yet, but I couldn't wait to share some pictures.  This is the combination of fabrics I posted awhile back.  Since this is the second design version and I'm attempting a  prototype, hence the name "beta".  The floral is a wonderful weight linen blend.  The vintage buttons just "happened" and I love the woven stripe which quietly reiterates all the colors.  Beta's completion has been delayed due to waiting  for "inspiration" to show up so therefore adding to the characteristic of  being a bit of a snail .  Hopefully the finishing touches will be completed this week,  and she'll be up to the challenge of "ETSY" , pass Kendra and Katie's inspection (my lovely fashionista daughters), and I'll start on another pattern design for this fabric "duo".

Looks Like Its Treasury Wednesday for Pear Mcgee

This afternoon I was contacted by two fellow Etisans to let me know that they included me in their "Etsy Treasury". (THANKS!)  And if you have been following my blog, I bet you could guess what made it to those treasuries....yep...the (perhaps now I should call it) "stunning" pink striped vintage linen clutch seems to posess that "star" qualtity.  It has now been on Etsy's Blog: The Storque and received over 700 views now and over 90 "etsy hearts".  The interesting thing is that no one has purchased it..yet!

Here are the two treasuries to peruse and enjoy:

Treasury #1  Pretty In Pink

Treasury #2  You Can  Find a Lot of Neat Things


While I'm At it:  Some Past Blog Highlights you might enjoy:

http://thelongthread.com/?p=986

http://kitschdesigns.com/?tag=/handkerchief

WABBITS for TGIF!

Bad me I ordered these earrings for my friend Donna and then when they came, they were sooo cute I had to keep them for myself!  Sorry Donna!  I guess I should find out if she can make another pair.  They were made by vintageboochco, one of my favorites on Etsy.

I really had WABBITS on the brain this morning and look what else I found!  I would love to have this rabbit trinket plate from  trudy10!

And oh look at this WABBIT from Foxforsale.

What is it about WABBITS??  I could go on and on....time to relax.. TGIF!!!

Vintage Linen Tea Towel--Now Tripping the Light Fantastic as a Modern Linen Clutch

I was perusing my Etsy account a little while ago and was looking to see if I received any new "hearts" on any of my items.  I gasped when I clicked on this clutch.  It was showing over 500 views and 82 hearts!  Wow!  So I'm thinking...did it make it into a popular treasurey or better yet, to the front page of Etsy and I didn't see it? (I know it made it into one treasury, but that was after the hearts were put on it.) Does anyone out there know if there is a way to find out?  I'm emailing Etsy and asking if they can check somehow.  But anyway...that is pretty neat and I'm so proud of this beautiful vintage linen tea towel!

MYSTERY SOLVED
The mystery has been solved as to the reason why I received so many hearts on this item.  This clutch was featured in Etsy's Blog:  The Storque in an article by Emily Bidwell entitled:  The Heat is On.  Take a moment and take a look if you have time.  The mystery was solved by Craftcult:  a website devoted to taking care of Etsy sellers by providing much needed technical and statistical information and also advertising and featuring Etsy sellers.  I didn't know anything about this until my friend Lynn told me about it.  I'll have to introduce you to Lynn soon--you will love her!

In Line At McDonalds on a TGIF

So, every three months or so, I allow myself to go to McDonalds for breakfast on my way to work.  This morning was that morning.  When I got there the line for the drive thru was pretty long, and so I knew I'd be a few minutes late to work, but this was my quaterly treat to myself so I stayed.  My allergies were really bothering me this morning so I spent the majority of my time waiting-- looking in the mirror and dabbing my eyes, so my mascara wouldn't run.

When I got  to the payment window there was a surprise.  The lady in the car in front me had paid for my breakfast and left me a note.  It said, "Do something nice for someone!  Have a blessed Day!" Wow, wasn't that nice!  So I did.  I handed the note back to the McDonald's employee, paid for the person behind me, and asked them to pass the note along.

Now that was a good way to start TGIF!!  (The McDonald's employee told me that this happens all the time--so I'm wondering...has it happened to you?) (Side Note:  Did she see me dabbing my eyes and thought I was crying?--haha!)

New Fabric Inspiration

I can't wait to design a new bag from these selections!  The top fabric is a linen blend and the bottom fabric is woven!  I love the soft colors!  What kind of bag do you see this as?

GEORGIAPEACHEZ

Michelle (Pink Daisy's Blog) and I were chatting down at the Mercantile Antique Shoppe a few days ago about Zara's neat new retro "frames" she has been making.  (I'll post a picture sometime of her frames when I get a chance.)  I started to tell Michelle about a similar type of frame I had seen on Ebay a few years ago--to my utter amazement--Michelle remembered that same frame and remembered the maker --Georgiapeachez!  So that led to a few paragraphs of conversation, talking about all the different things that we remember Georgiapeachez making.  We laughed and agreed that we definitely had spent "a little bit of time" surfing.  But we both found out that we had followed Georgiapeachez from Ebay to now being on Etsy.

So, I "convo'd" Georgiapeachez (her first name is Suzy by the way) on Etsy and and told her about my conversation with two of her admirers. It was nice making the personal contact and hearing from her. She was very positive and allowed me to show off her sewing room--along with a few other pictures of her work.

It must have been four or five years ago that I first found Georgiepeachez. On her Ebay site, she posted these two pictures of her sewing room. I was intrigued and smitten. Her distinctive style and flair for vintage was evident. I saved them on my computer for inspiration! Don't we all want our sewing rooms to look this good?

It's been fun watching Georgiepeachez as she has made retro frames, purses, pin cushions, jewelry, aprons, handkerchief make up bags, retro Christmas frames, etc...here are a few samples of her amazing work.  It seems that whatever this talented lady puts her hand to is just beautiful.  Check out her Etsy shop when you have the chance here:  GEORGIAPEACHEZ

Who is Ume Komachi?

This has been forced on my bucket list...finding out who this person is and why their fabric has disappeared from stores!  I love love this fabric.  The Japanese know how to do cotton!  I love the weaving of the different cotton threads--it begs to be touched and admired.

The color combination, orange, red and --teal, aqua, seafoam--just what is that color supposed to be called any way?  It came in a few different color combos, but this was MY favorite.  The bead dangle was from the talented JoEllen of Ally Beads.  I love her style--I could hand her anything and say..go for it and I know I will love it.  It was a blast to put this together.  Unfortunately my stash of this is so tiny now, it will be the last offering of this fabric in anything I do...unless I stumble on more.  Please let me know if you have seen this anywhere.  Enjoy!