Homemade family treasures

No, not Alice. I just needed to show you where she normally snoozes. No wonder the cushions are pulling away from the frame of the couch. I used to blame the kids.

She's a bit spoiled. If she isn't here, she's on the back of the chair, on one of our beds or sunning herself in the front room -- on top of the dining room table.

Today, she decided the afghan on that table (waiting to be photographed for this blog entry) looked pretty comfy.

This column is dedicated, from left, to my Uncle Beanie, Aunt Nene, Grandpa Red and Grandma Edna. Nene and Edna were sisters.

Like most people that grew up in the Depression, nothing was thrown away or went to waste. I was lucky enough to inherit many handmade items from this, the paternal, side of the family.

Nene (Geneva) lived well into her 90s. She lost her only son in childbirth and outlived the rest of her generation. She had lots of stories to share. And needlework -- tatted doilies, crocheted dishcloths and knitted afghans. This flame-stitched afghan is my favorite, even though it mus've been done in her later years. One end is about a foot wider than the other, lol.

I'm not sure who stitched up up this red gingham animal. Not even sure what kind of animal it is. It was my dad's, as well as these children's books. They are the first things I remember inheriting in my early 20s. It has inspired a lot of my fabric collecting lately. I'm drawn to red gingham.

And this is my newest handmade inheritance. My grandfather made this with directions ordered from a newspaper ad. He took up residence here when my parents' moved this past summer.

While taking his photo, I realized this hooked rug was also made by my great-aunt, lol.

This decoupaged jar was either made by my grandmother or for her by one of her children. It now sits on her Singer sewing machine, right here next to the computer.

And last but not least, this is a boat my dad made as a child. We also have a boat made by my husband and a much cruder one made by my oldest son.

after the frost

Dana at Old Red Barn Co. inspired me this morning. After seeing photos of her gourds and greenhouse, I dressed the babe, grabbed my camera and headed outside.

Despite having had a frost already, there's still color out there.











As always, more over on Flickr.

A little catching up

So, Natalie received my 100th post give-away. Just happy to share the blogging love and to put smiles on her cute kids' faces.

I took the Handmade Pledge. I'm number 2452. We always have some element of homemade in our holidays. Trying to expand on it a little bit this year and this pledge is good motivation. Great source for finding new websites and blogs to look at, over 3,700 strong now.

My sewing notions swap goodies are ready to go to Australia. I hope Laura likes them.

I've been invited to be part of a new shop on Hyena Cart. I'll post more news when I'm able to share more.


While those goofy guys did the yard, I was able to get a lot of organizing done in my studio this weekend. Meant packing things up for upcoming shows, rearranging furniture a bit and cleaning off my entire worktable. The bins of fabric still piled up in the middle of the room belie the fact that I did so much work in there though.

Guess the little guy didn't get enough sleep last night. He fell asleep while having a snack this morning. The dog was still waiting for him to share, lol.

Old family photos

I've been playing with family photos today. Actually, the inlaws' family photos. Lots of great shots of kids, travel, outdoor activities. I'm especially drawn to the photos of women together, this one in particular. Love the obviously 20s-era hats, but look at their neckwear. One has on a man's tie and the other is wearing her scarf in a very modern way.

A few wee projects in the works

This is one of those ever-evolving projects where I start something with no idea where it will end. I started with pink ribbon roses (I think that's a roll of hem tape) on vintage hairpins. I then added vintage button centers and white ric-rac.

The silver of the hairpins got me to pull out the little bundt pans and the pink of the flowers led me to pink fabric and ribbon. Thinking they could be used as jewelry holders, I added a pincushion tuft to the centers of the pans. Don't know if I want to keep the center or even where to go from here. Stick the flowers into the pincushion? Add ribbon around the outside edge of the pan? Maybe put it on the inside instead? Any idea?



While in Scotland, I bought the top two fabrics. The cotton tartan is that of the kids' band my son played with over there. I picked the rose-colored wool because it matched best. The nubby green is a vintage Irish wool skirt I thrifted awhile ago. Together, with vintage buttons, they became these:


I figured out how to cover buttons for this project. It's funny how many projects can be done by expanding on the plain old yo-yo.

This is the embroidery from a ratty bib I picked up cheap. It was stained on top of the image and it wouldn't come out. I tried coffee staining it but now like it even less, Unless I can find just the right fabric to go with it, I'm think I'll risk bleaching it.


Believe it or not, this is the "after" picture. Well, maybe the "in process" picture. I had been storing all sorts of notions in my collection of decorative times. It was a PITA. Every time I wanted something, I had to open every container because I couldn't remember what I had put where. Time for a new storage solution -- and it was right under my nose the whole time.

My dining room suite has 3 big pieces of storage. (I'll show you a picture of the whole room once show boxes and all the stuff that is normally in our basement are moved out.) The 3 drawers in this piece held vintage fabric, doilies and tablecloths. I was able to condense it all into two drawers leaving the top one free for trims.

There was no way all of these would fit into those tins anyway.


And there's an example of my creative genius at work!!! I was going to put those empty movie reels on Etsy until I realized they are the perfect size for holding ribbon. I can now see most of what I have. On to actually getting some work done.

It's a swappy day

As promised, I have paired up swap partners this morning. (After finding something else for my little guy to do, other than putting his sippy cup to my ear and depressing the spout until the orange juice came out. @@)


Some basic guidelines. Check out each others' websites to get a feel for who they are and what you should put in their package. Items should fill a box approximately 9" X 12" X 6" and should be mailed by Friday, November 16th. Share what you got (and sent) on your blog and give me a shout out about it so I can link it here. Most of all, I hope you get to know someone knew and have fun swapping.

Little Grey Bungalow swaps with Chicken Blog

Lori Kay swaps with Mama Said Sew (Lori Kay, I don't have an email address or website for you so I hope you contact Christy yourself.)

Brown Sugar, LTD swaps with Hobos and Little Birds

Squaresville swaps with Cat's Fiber Adventures

Musings of a Southern Girl at Heart swaps with Spring Bean Things

I miss you cupcake swaps with ME!!!!

Post-Halloween

The candy is divided up and put away. The decorations are back in the basement. And I'm now faced with really getting things ready for craft shows. No more putting it off, lol.

First, here are a few photos from the last few days of festivities.

Here are Shaggy and Scooby, a cowboy and Frankenbox.

And my far-from-ferocious dragon.

All of my boys got those wonderful long eyelashes. It's so not fair.

Here are the pumpkins we carved this year. All designed by kids and mostly carved by me. They lost interest really fast, lol.

Here's Alice greeting trick-or-treaters. I pulled a chair up to the door so my youngest could see who was coming but when we all stepped outside, Alice thought it was for her. (She has two different colored eyes so they come out creepy when photographed with a flash.)

My 3rd boy has two different colored eyes too. His don't look creepy just serious while eating sour candy.

One last one for posterity. Here I am with my twin sister and our brother, circa 1971.