Did You Guess "Messenger Bag?"

I know - that one was too easy!

Here is the front....



And the back.


I had some of the froggie squares leftover so made a zipper pouch to match.




Thank you for reading my blog.

WIP

I have a new "use it or lose it" attitude with regard to my far-too-large stash of sewing supplies and fabrics. If I can't think of something that I want to make RIGHT NOW with the item at hand, it goes into the "donation box."

I hesitated at these batik fabrics...



Then I plunged in...





What will it be?

I Heart Paul Potts

Just in case you haven't seen this....

Still Decorating

In an effort to bring more original artwork into my home I purchased this floral from Susan Brown. I spotted her artwork in a magazine (sorry I can't remember which one, can anyone help?) and located her on the internet. The first paintings that I liked were sold, but Susan graciously offered me this one. I have hung it in my dining room. What do you think?



Are you wondering about the chest? It is a vintage optometrist's case. It is filled with lenses! Want to see? This is what the insides of the drawers look like...



Let's look a little closer...



Any suggestions for what to do with the lenses? I have about a hundred - many sizes and thicknesses.

Rest In Peace, Kelly

Our precious friend Kelly, perished in a car accident on Saturday night. She was dear to each of the members of our family. Read more about Kelly here. We are devastated.

Blue Eyes and Pruney Hands

I've just returned from a trip to Florida to see my dad. I brought along my two youngest, James (age 15) and William (age 10.) My sister Leah also came down from Atlanta with her youngest, Stanton (almost 2.)




This is Leah and Stanton.




Here are William and Stanton comparing pruney hands.

Click Here to See My eBay Auction

After cleaning out a file cabinet of craft and sewing patterns I had intended to give these to charity or maybe to the high school textiles department. Then I checked eBay to see if these might sell. The results were mixed, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I started at .99 reasoning that if I were going to just give it to charity even a dollar would be nice. So, things are humming along. What a nice surprise!

Vintage Pinks

If this past week had a theme it would have been "Vintage Pinks." I had a lot of fun with a pink handkerchief, pink embroidery, pink buttons and laces.



These little Christmas ornament stockings are fun to make and a great way to use up vintage bits. I made some angels too.



The pinks are put away for now and I am working on something completely different. Please stay tuned. Thanks so much for reading my blog.

Shopping in My Own House

Often when antique shopping I would say "Oh, I think I have one of these somewhere..." or "I think my grandma has this..." Kaitlin may have been tired of hearing it because at one point she said, "Mom, we don't need to shop here. We need to go shopping in OUR OWN HOUSE." So that became our theme. Before we went out browsing the antique show or store we would first try to determine what we were looking for and - most importantly - what we already had!

So I am reminded of this now as I open up boxes and bins that have been packed away. I found this tin in a box on the top shelf of my closet:



I had completely forgotten what was inside, but I did feel like it was something "special." So I opened it up and found a handcrafted pine-needle basket filled with sewing-related ephemera!





What fun!

Also - I now have a scanner. I don't know what I was waiting for honestly. We found a Lexmark X5470 combination scanner, printer, fax machine and photo editor for $89.99 at Best Buy. I was able to replace the fax machine AND the printer from my desk with this one machine that does more.

I have quite gotten the hang of the scanner yet. The photo at the top is my first effort. More to come! Don't you love the bluebird buttons?

Precious Treasure

I read a lot of fun blogs and I enjoy seeing photos of the treasures that others find at the thrift shop or the flea market. Well, this has never happened to me. I have been to my share of thrift shops and flea markets and I have never found a treasure. Never.

I have not been antique shopping since January, but yesterday I realized that this was the last week of school for the kids and I had better take advantage of the time.

Since I have been purging I was determined not to purchase anything unless it was REALLY special. Ha - famous last words, right?

Well anyway, there I was checking out the case at my local antique mall when this little box caught my eye... Does it have vintage Christmas cards inside? Hmmmm... could be interesting....



Let's look inside....



GASP!!!!! My heart begins pounding. I check the price tag... you won't believe it.... $24.95. "I'll take it," I nonchalantly say to the salesgirl. Eager to examine the contents I open the box in the car. Let's look inside....



This is on the bottom. I am still learning my new camera so I am going to experiment with different settings to see if I can get a good closeup. Do you want to see the wreath?



There are about thirty of the little ribbon motifs in the box. Also a couple of yards of the trim. They are completely unused. Many still have the little price-stickers on the back. They are all either $.25 or $.35. Adorable!

Here I pulled a couple of them out:



The background looks a little busy, so I will try a solid:



That's a little better... Let me try to get really close...




Aren't they wonderful? Someone please tell me that you understand....

WIP Wednesday

Things I Hate

Inspired by this post, I have decided to try to come up with ten things I hate... Shouldn't be too hard, right?

1. Men's cologne. It gives me a headache.

2. Spaghettios. Again, the smell...

3. Anything "powder fresh."

4. Shopping at Abercrombie and Fitch. The music is too loud, the place reeks of cologne and the dressing rooms are locked. The people "working" there are too busy talking among themselves to actually help a customer. When it is time to check out the line is 20 minutes long because there is only one cashier. Also, the clothes are worn and torn - even though they are new - and they cost a fortune. Huh?!?! Dan used to like to shop there when he was in Middle School. Fortunately he is over it.

5. Stepping in chewing gun.

6. Cigarette smoke.

7. When I am sewing late at night and I run out of something.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll try to think of more.

Birthday Girl T-Shirt

I've been finding a lot of "buried treasure" during my cleaning out adventure. This "Birthday Girl T-Shirt" was in a box on the top shelf of my closet. I used to make these way back when Kaitlin was a little girl. This must have been one I was keeping "in reserve."

I happen to know a precious little neighbor who is turning six on Jume 20th. Perfect timing!

I actually sold this design to a craft magazine. I think it was "Creative Ideas for Living." I remember being very very disappointed. The editor took some creative license and re-made my design. She invented a boys version of the cake which was horrible and on a khaki-colored shirt. I think it had animal crackers on it or something. She also remade the girls shirt. It was completely awful and it had my name listed as the designer.

Well... at least they paid me.

I'll try to get a photo of my friend wearing this!

Tim Gunn is not the only Author on a Book Tour

Martha Kines is the author of a brand new book called Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student. She is also a wife and mother living here in Scottsdale and has a blog called The Random Muse.

Her blog and her writing style were so entertaining and compelling that the publisher actually contacted her about writing the book!

Martha had a signing at our local Barnes and Noble last night. It was a standing-room-only crowd. She read several excerpts and signed copies for her fans. What fun. I had three of my boys along - they are always happy to hang out at "The B&N."

I started reading Ivy Briefs last night and it is hysterical. Congratulations Martha.

My Entry in the Tea Towel Challenge

Well you know I had to purchase this pair of kitchen towels. I mean come on! They are red AND they have rick rack. I made them up into bags, but I've never used them or sold them. They're lined with red gingham and have pockets. So when Barb announced her first purse challenge, I knew that this would be my entry. What do you think?

Living Room Photos

These shelves are on the west wall to the left of the secretary desk. Still working on the desk....


Here are the new bookcases. They are on the east wall opposite of the secretary. I still have some work to do...


I know I like to see close-ups of shelves. Those are my Oz books from when I was a kid. They were my favorites.



For now I am resisting the urge to fill this with vintage beaded fruit.... NO MORE COLLECTING - Purge purge purge.... Hey - "urge" and "purge" rhyme.... I feel a Limerick coming on....

Purging For Peace

This is a fabulous book! It contains essays from mixed-media artists. I haven't read the entire thing but last night I read "Purging For Peace" by Marilee Fosbre. This is exactly what I am doing. Purging the things from my home and my life that no longer bring me inspiration and focusing on the things that provide it.

It took Marilee two months to clean out her studio. I'm doing the entire house. I hope I can finish faster!

Tomorrow we have a charity pickup. I have three bookcases, one bed, one dresser and several boxes of household stuff on the front porch. Also the recycling bin is filled to the brim.

I received my new bookcases from Ballard Designs on Tuesday. They look fabulous. They're in the living room and I've already filled them. Also I've hung some artwork. Sorry - someone borrowed my camera for his golf outing and drained the battery.

Meanwhile, here is a link to the website of one of my favorite artists, Sheri Rice. See the fourth picture - the one with the Mona Lisa in the top left? I own that and I just hung it in a NEW SPOT in the entrance where everyone can see it!

Making Progress

More books to the library today and three more boxes of sewing stuff for the high school sewing club! I also dumped another ton of magazines in the recycling bin. BUT the best news is that I have my machine up and I am sewing again. I had a repair to a customer's bag that had been sitting for two weeks. What a relief to have it finished!

We had to pull everything out of the garage in order to have the walls painted and so now that everything is beautiful and clean we are going to have the floor coated and some cabinets installed.

Things are moving along here.

Also, I had some inventory left over from Summer 2005 and I didn't know what to do with it. There were some fruity skirts and some scarfles that I discovered in a bin under my bed. It's funny because although they did not sell (I just made way too many) they are still fresh and bright and unworn. So they aren't exactly "used," but not exactly "new" either. Anyway, I took them to Buffalo Exchange and they bought EVERY SINGLE ITEM. I got $136 cash - not a lot but better than nothing.

Tomorrow my new bookcases arrive!

Ruby Clears it OUT

At my mom's house after her death I was kind of surprised to see how much STUFF she has kept. Although only my mom and dad are living in the house she has every single room, closet, drawer and cabinet completely filled with stuff. The garage is incredible. I especially noticed that she had at least 1000 books on shelves and in bookcases in every single room. There were paperback novels, hundreds of self-help books and tons and tons of cookbooks. In the garage there were bins of magazines that honestly were too heavy to move. The one that I opened was all Christmas magazines.

This is a four-bedroom house and my sister's former room seems to be exactly as she left it when she went to college 20 years (or so) ago. Her record albums are in the closet along with her prom gowns and pompoms.

My mom had about 300 bottle of vitamins and "supplements" in cabinets in the laundry room and kitchen. She also had an entire garbage bag filled with vitamin bottles. Now - the vitamins I suspect were the result of Mom's generosity. She was a target for any of her friends who decided to sell Amway, Shaklee, Melaleuca, Arbonne or any of the others. I am sure that if a "friend" suggested, "Why not order a 1-year supply?" she would.

Mom also had a thing for "new" clothes. Whenever she traveled she had to have new clothes for the occasion. She didn't even really like to shop - she usually just mail-ordered. So... every closet is filled with her clothes.

I also discovered that mom apparently never threw out a single Christmas decoration in the 48 years that she and dad were married. Also any picture (photo or artwork) that ever hung on her wall was stashed in various closets.

None of this is 'bad' or 'wrong' - it is just how she chose to live - BUT it caused me to look around my own house. I realize that I have WAY too much stuff as well.

I am guilty of saving magazines and books. And fabric. And neckties. And vintage laces. And buttons. And quilts. My shelves and niches are "decorated" with various vintage knick-knacks and antiques items which were quite charming when I started out, but now have become too much.

So I have embarked on the de-cluttering-and cleaning journey. So far I have donated about 300 books to my library, filled the recycling bin twice with magazines, made three trips to Goodwill and one to the dump. And best of all - sent ten cartons of sewing supplies to the high school "textiles" department.

As long as I am pulling everything out I though we should perhaps paint the house a new color - so it is now a warm light taupe. (Bland yes - but I am going for something more neutral and calm.) I also had all of my cabinets stained a cherry color. They look great with the taupe. I have cleared my niches and shelves of all "accesssories" and even sold a lot of it to an antique dealer!

Of course I am nowhere near finished. I'll keep you posted.

Can anyone use any neckties?

Just Returned from My Sister's in Atlanta

Leah's kids are completely adorable. It was really great to be able to spend some time with them. We went to a birthday party and to the park and we got haircuts and mailed packages and did errands and went to a piano lesson at Miss Arlene's. In other words it was a "normal" time in a busy household. Isabelle is seven and loves American Girl Dolls. (Just like Kaitlin did - once upon a time.) Gray is four and plays t-ball. Stanton (Actually Peter Stanton named after our father) will be two in July and his vocabulary increases daily. Instead of "no" he says "mo." He loves his orange crocs and wants to wear them 24/7.

Things are improving. Thanks for your comments.