Off-season on Lake George

This is the latest ever we've pulled my mother-in-law's boat off the lake.
Still so beautiful.

Swapping goodness

I didn't forget about my Sewing Notions Swap. I did forget to take pics of what I sent to moonshae all the way in Australia. Maybe she'll post some to share. This is part of what she sent me. My boys thought it was an early Christmas and grabbed anything of interest to them -- in particular the chocolate and coins.


She sent me this soft lavender yarn, little beads and jewelry wire (I'm already putting both to use in some gifts for my boys), a beaded bracelet, teddy bear eyes and buttons from her grandma's stash and embroidery floss.


She also sent a bag full of drawstring bags made from her project remnants. I think it is pretty funny I made similar ones in the last few weeks. Hers are buttery soft and the boys have already each taken one.


Fabric heaven!!! I want to see the reenactment costumes she made with these. They are lovely to the touch. She worried about sending plain solid fabrics but they are perfect compliments to the vintage patterned fabrics I'm using on projects right now. My favorite it the turquoise blue in the background. It is huge. I'm going to use it as a table covering for my craft show this weekend then decide a more permanent use for it.

And look at all of these vintage patterns. I haven't used patterns since an ill-fated attempt at making a dress in high school. These goodies are going to get me to take a stab at it again. I love the harlequin sheath but you won't find me ever wearing it, lol.

I tried to see what others in the swap sent and received but only found one post referring to the swap. Go see what Mama Said Sew received from Lori Kay.

And while you're at it go see what Missy at Spring Bean Sales has listed for sale. I understand her frustration with not doing well at local craft shows. Her little girl dresses are just adorable though. I'm going right now to buy a fabric-covered journal for a Christmas gift right now.

Creative diversions

Ever have one of those days with pie-in-the-sky plans about what you're going to get accomplished? Today was one of those days for me.

We're in the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas phase. I got caught up on laundry and sort of cleaned out my studio over the weekend. I was going to finish that chore this morning and then get to work on lots of sewing works-in-progress.

Putting boxes of supplies away led me off in a few other directions (it always does). I gathered up wooden ABC blocks and ornaments, Christmas ephemera and a big divided box to create a shadow box. Realizing that was probably to big of a first-time assemblage project, I went looking for smaller wooden boxes.


I didn't find any, but I did find these little metal frames (from Italy). I've had them for at least 10 years ago. They were an ugly gold-tone so I spray painted them black. That was probably 3 years ago. I've always wanted to put images in them but never found the right ones. I knew the perfect project would come along someday.

Today was that someday. I sorted and selected buttons, fabrics and trims for each frame and started experimenting. I couldn't be happier with the results.

I'm going to put them on Etsy tomorrow. Then I'll get busy with the projects I was supposed to work on today.

We're riding in the car

Alice was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with us. Here are shots of her in the car on the way home. She gets comfortable anywhere she darn well pleases.

Thanksgiving in Lake Placid

We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in Lake Placid, NY, home of the '32 and '80 Olympics. It looked a lot like Christmas.

Relaxing with the "dog cousins," Abby and Alice.


A little bit of Dancing Twister before dinner.


And the dancing/flipping monkey.

The kiddie table.

Our hosts. We knew the food would be great since they once owned their own restaurant.

Lots of crafting and gaming going on.

A game of putting spools of thread back in the jar.


Making necklaces -- from spools...

...and beads.

I made some Scottie dog ornaments.

We also played Scrabble and drank lots of coffee.

The dads were relegated to the bedroom to watch football. We watched a video of my niece performing in "The Little Mermaid" and a few movies while crafting.

The kids played outside in the snow for a bit too.

Look for more photos on Flickr, especially the ones that show how the weather changed on our drive home. It looked like Christmas up there but it's still fall here at home.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours

Happy Turkey Day to you, all of my new blogging friends!

I am thankful we will get to spend the day together and with family.

I'm thankful that we've been able to enjoy a little bit of crafting amongst the holiday mayhem, even if it is crafts of the little kid kind.

I'm thankful that we'll get our fill of yummy foods!

I'm thankful that we get to enjoy nature's bounty in other ways too. Grocery store flowers and SNOW.

That we get to pass on family stories and traditions.

That we got to bake these healthy and delicious choco-zucchini cupcakes. Find the recipe here.

Thanks to Garden of Pink Shadows for the vintage postcard images.

Sharing the thrifting love

Been very lucky on the few thrifting outings I've been on lately. I told myself I'd only buy things that I could use immediately or could put up for sale. I've kind of kept my word, lol.

I couldn't pass on all of these crocheting magazines. I thought I might try to learn to crochet, since each book also had basic stitch guides, but reality soon kicked in. There is no way I will pick up a new hobby in the next month, and since they are Christmas projects, I'll forget I have them before next Christmas. So I put them on Etsy today along with other instruction books and paper products.

I just looooved the look of Mr. Snowman.

And these candy cane reindeer.

Three makes a collection, right? I have had the blue Vera scarf for quite awhile now and just added the two bright ones. Can't decide if I want to sell them, keep them to wear or use them in a project. Kind of springy so I think I'll decide later.

I wish I had a whole set of these Eames-era Taylorstone Cathay dishes. After seeing how much they sell for though , I put them on eBay.

Now on to my two mystery purchases. This bottle depicts a Turkish or Morroccan theme to me. There are stars inside crescents all over the bottle. The bottom is marked with "Bagdad" and "Made in the U.S.A." as well as a manufacturer's mark.

I found one reference online to a similar bottle and through that a link to an explanation about the maker. I think it was made in an Owens-Illinois Glass Company factory in West Virginia in 1946. But I could be way off base. LOL

These are even more of a mystery. I believe they are a fruit knife and fork. The knife is marked "Stahlbronce" which is German for stainless bronze basically. I think the handles are enameled porcelain. I found a few similarly sized and shaped pieces on eBay (including one Limoge set which sold for a good bit) but not much information.

I paid all of 38¢ for them so either way they were a good deal. My plan is to use them in a gift basket with cheese and fruit, etc.

The stockings were hung....

My plan is to sell my Christmas stockings over on Collage but I wanted to give y'all a preview here first. I'm a little concerned that our planned grand opening on December 1st might be too late for folks to want to purchase stockings.

Here's my helper. He was getting in my way helping while I took photos. When I told him to get some toys to take pictures of, he brought back his toy camera. Aaaaaw!

He seems to need a lesson on how to point the camera, lol.

This pair of "his and hers" stockings are offered for $36.00 plus S&H.
(Click the links to see more information and photos.)

As is this pair.
(I almost forgot. All sets of stockings come with a free gift from me.)

This trio is for sale for $50 plus S&H.

This family 4-pack of Damask stockings is offered at $65.00 plus S&H.

All of these train stockings were made for the local model railroad show my dh ran for years. I have three of each color and they sell for $12.00 each plus S&H.

More information on this retro blue print is here.

More information on this cartoony cream one is here.

And this green one is here.

I also have more single stockings over on Etsy too.

If you'd like anything you see, please email me or send a comment. Thanks! And happy shopping!