Where we've been

My youngest has/had a funny little finger. We discovered last summer that his left index finger had a bump at the joint and it was growing crooked. Our initial thought was that he broke it, but he was diagnosed with an exostosis and referred to Shriner's Hospital in Springfield, MA. He had the surgery this week. Instead of rewriting it, you can read about the visit here. And see more pictures here.

Along with the care of the excellent staff and volunteers, comfort came in the form of items donated to the hospital, including the handmade ripple-stitch afghan and matching teddy bear given to our little guy as he was coming out of surgery.


If any of you make items and donate them to hospitals around the country, know that they are very much appreciated by their recipients.

There's still time

Go back here and enter my 200th post giveaway while there's still time. No need to rush.

There's no telling at this point when I'll get around to deciding what I'll be sharing or drawing the winner's name anyway.

It's been a crazy few weeks and I just haven't had time to do it.

I want to thank Dawn for sending some special goodies my way. I'll post photos of them later in the week. My boys all crowded around the box as I opened it -- and fought over the shredded tissue paper that protected all the packages, lol.

A walk in the woods

I took these photos while communing with the little tiny bit of nature I found in suburbia yesterday. It is the seeme place I took these photos. It is amazing what a difference the state of the skies makes. It was overcast and gray yesterday compared to the setting sun of a month ago.

Someone else had enjoyed the area as evidenced by all the footprints. Anyone good at track identification? There were two different types -- 3 impressions creating a triangle and single file prints.

Lots of crafty inspiration out there

Folded Gingham -- love this blog's name and the vintage "Martha Stewart green" jadite dishware and the touches of red in her banner. She's been sharing her progress in decorating her new house in a lovely primitive-style.

doe•c•doe -- This is a full-time graphic designer and it shows in her blog. She is so organized!!! She even has a schedule for her entries.

Monday = Thrifted
Tuesday = Fabric
Wednesday = Books
Thursday = Embroidery
Friday = Misc.

area thrifty one -- I've fallen in love with the softies here, esp. the giraffes and long-legged horses.

Primrose Design -- Yet another graphic designer who is into vintage. I keep finding kindred spirits in my travels in the blogosphere.

Vintage Indie -- This is a shopping site where the motto is "Modern Life Vintage Perspective."

make and do -- This is AD from Georgia. I wrote about her last week.

sweet sassafras -- I first saw this lady's work on Wardrobe Refashion, I think. She makes absolutely gorgeous vintage-inspired clothing. Go look at her entries about her handmade wedding. Beautiful!

jane's apron -- this is another Julie. Love her motto -- vintage. thrifty.simple.fun. I want to follow her directions for pillowcase pants.

Vacation and Belgian post cards

It's winter break here and not only do I have my 4 boys home, I've managed to have a kid (or 3) extra. Wouldn't change it for the world!!! Not much time to devote to my blogs or artwork though. I feel like I'm following behind everyone cleaning up, lol.

I photographed these vintage postcards a few weeks ago and planned on posting them before Valentine's. Better late than never.

I bought the five of them about 15 years ago when we lived in Birmingham, Alabama. I used to focus on postcards from back here in upstate NY and florals but these ones called to me. At $1.75, they were expensive to me back then.

Can anyone translate from French to English?

I understand the backs basically say they are from a "trusted jeweller's store established in 1874" called C.Parion Schampaert. I can't find anything online about the store or where the bas relief images are from. A neighboring museum or the store front, perhaps?

I remember enough high school French to know what the title of each carving says, lol.

L'AMOUR -- LOVE

LA POESIE -- POETRY

LA MUSIQUE -- MUSIC

AU REVOIR -- GOODBYE

ADIEU -- GOODBYE

Now that I've unearthed found them again, I need to figure out how to use them. Maybe framing copies in a vintage frame with a lacy mat? Or decoupage? Collage with French sheet music or poems? Map of Brussels, Belgium maybe.

It really is a global village

And the Internet makes gets us even closer to our worldwide neighbors.

Since I started keeping track in September, I've had over 4,500 visitors from 57 countries. How cool is that?

Sue Myles from Falkirk, Scotland said in an email to me that we live in a global village. I completely agree. She heard about my blog from her son who lives in France. I had written about seeing her artwork while we were in Scotland. I'm sorry we missed each other while I was there, but it was nice "to meet" her now.

I recently got an email from Carla in Holland. She was looking for Spiderman images for grandson and found me, lol. I went to her website and saw beautiful photos of her garden. Amazingly, she trades and receives seeds from all over the world -- over the Internet.

My niece, Robyn, is new to blogging and she's doing it from her new home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Africa! And I thought we were adventurous flying to the UK with small children.

A.D. from Georgia and I actually know the same people. She has a bagpiping son and met my son's bandmates at a competition last year. Maybe we'll be able meet up this year.

Don't forget I'm sharing the blogging love. Leave a comment on my last post telling me what you want me to share in my giveaway.

200th post give-away

Well, lookie here. I'm making my 200th post today.

I'm going to forego what I had planned on writing about and I'll instead decide what I'm going to give away for this auspicious occasion.

Should it be winter related since we are on winter break here? Or should I think ahead to spring?

Should it be some of my photography? Something sewn? Something vintage?

I can't come up with anything, so leave me some suggestions and you can consider yourself entered into the drawing.

(You might ask what SpongeBob and his little friend have to do with this post. Absolutely nothing. It's just a cute shot I wanted to share.)

The ice a day later

Chains of love

I was sick last weekend. Spent most of it in bed, sleeping or cutting out hearts. My new Christmas pinking shears got a good workout.

Once all the hearts were cut out, I realized they weren't weighty enough to hang as garlands like I wanted, so I cut out 50% more to put between the layers.

I centered the inside fabric, used fabric glue to tack down the edges then ran each one through the sewing machine for a quick straight stitch.

I used up scraps of gingham, pillowcases and other color-coordinated cottons. I made a total of 4 garlands.

An extra long one with white binding tape trim.

Pink, yellow and white one with pink scalloped trim.

Mostly reds with red trim.

And finally, mostly purples with purple trim.

The toughest part was getting them onto the binding tape. I used fabric glue first, then added a straight stitch on the machine again. It was tough because I had a little helper who insisted on pulling on the strands as I was gluing and sewing.

The photography session wasn't much better. I didn't have anywhere to swag them nicely and the weather/light was horrible.

I'm thinking of listing them for sale on Collage. Might take better pics first.

Snow -- and ice -- day pictures