Look what I found…..

I found these wonderful old Vogue magazine covers over at Miss Moss.  I’m posting two of the covers from her site and she has even more of them at  flickr.    I won’t tell how long I spent looking at her past blog posts.  Miss Moss (Diana)  is a graphic designer who lives in Cape Town, South Africa.  She has tons of photos in her favorite areas of fashion, art, design and photography.

I also found a cute video….less than two minutes long.  It was on I SUWANNE.  If you love dogs and toddlers…you will love this video.  Plus, this blog is another photo laden blog with lots of everything on it.  The video isn’t on You Tube or I would have put if directly on here….check it out, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Wait! I did find it on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNZa2ht_34

I haven’t forgotten….

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here…about a month.

I did get a new sewing machine….Janome Magnolia 7330.  It is computerized but I’m finding it easy to figure out and I write down the combination stitch length and width, etc…so, that I don’t have to think about it next time I want that particular stitch.  I researched for days…read reviews,  and this one is the machine that seemed to be calling out to me   I went to a local sewing machine store to buy it.  Well, local for us is an hour away.  Anyway….so far…..I love it!

I’ve been working on my vintage materials quilt….I have used old linens, old hankies and other old vintage fabrics. Sometimes, I did have to use some new fabrics and laces.  I’m about ready to sew it together….I have one more block to complete and I’m calling it finished!  I have four blocks to show here…I’m disappointed in my camera…the quality of the photos just do not seem the same to me as those taken with the old camera.

This first block is mostly all vintage….I did embroidery the “Don’t Bug Me” piece:

This block features a screen printing my granddaughter gave me:

This block is kind of wonky but I like it:

I’m still working on this last one:

Christmas Eve Eve…………

My hubby has a huge collection of vintage LP albums.  I was looking at  the artwork on some of the Christmas albums.  The above photo is the back of one of the albums showing a traditional Santa…looks like his beard got a little sooty   This is below the picture of Santa…it reads:

Here’s the cover of an album with lots of old favorites like “White Christmas.”

See you in the new year!!!  Have a wonderful holiday time!

Free to look at the bigger picture…

Stating the obvious…I’m back  We finally got some relief from the heat and  a nice long rain last night. We are thankful for every drop of the rain!!! 

I just finished a workshop with Juliana Coles called Extreme Visual Journal Workshop.  I have also signed up for her sketching class which started yesterday.  The first photo below is a spread I did in a book I am altering.  I have difficulty sharing my extreme side, I think.  I figure that when one gets to be my age, I have worked through a lot of the conflicts and anxieties of life…if I haven’t..it probably won’t happen now   Anyway, I’m free to look at the bigger picture…age has a way of putting things into perspective.  The bigger picture for me entails getting to a place of peace and contentment….most days anyway.  If only,  I can get others to see the big picture the same way I do…it would solve all the world’s problems…(kidding, of course). 

*Click the photo to see the bigger picture*

I also have continued to sketch in the old book I have been using as a sketchbook:

Quilt Project – Stitchery

 

In Seattle you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.  ~Jeff Bezos

I have three quilt blocks completed now and I have three  more ready to embellish.  I really enjoy going through all my vintage embroidery pieces and and putting together these fabric collages.  The blocks are 10 1/2 inch squares.  I started this project last winter.  If you want to see the blocks I made last year, click on embroidery over in the tag section.   I’m not sure how I’m going to set the blocks together as I have two layers of fabric.  My initial idea was to butt the blocks together and sew…but… what to do with the raw edges???  I have been quilting the top layer to the bottom layer as I go.  I will need to consult with some people who quilt to get some ideas about how to put this together.  If anyone knows or can point me to someone who might help, let me know. 

(click on the photos to get a closer look)

Art Stitchery Quilt Blocks

I have three quilt blocks completed and two more put together but I have some hand stitching to do on those.   I’m mixing new embroidery pieces that I have done, old linen embroidery pieces, vintage handkerchiefs, and  fabric scraps that I’ve probably had long enough to be vintage.   I have several handkerchiefs that I have collected over the years.  I don’t feel badly about cutting those up because most of them are fairly fragile.  I’m putting these together crazy quilt style so I have another layer under each pieced block.   I have never done anything like this before so I’m making it up as I go along.  A lot of the hand work is done at night while I’m watching TV.  I need better lighting because I used dark purple on something thinking it was black.  I haven’t done embroidery work for many years…I went through a counted cross stitch faze in the 80′s…I had to find out how to do a French knot because I’d forgotten how to do it.   I found a great website that has little short videos showing how to do almost any stitch you would want to do:  http://www.needlenthread.com/videos

Folk Art Motifs

A few weeks ago, I posted about a book sale  sponsored by our local friends of the library.  At that sale, for fifty cents, I purchased a book  in the art section entitled: Folk Art Motifs of Pennsylvania by Frances Lichten. It is a Dover book.  It is under copyright by the estate of Frances Lichten. The first copyright was in 1954.   

I picked the book up last week and looked it closely and I was amazed by the sketches and color pages.  The author redrew motifs from quilts, ceramics, painted furniture, tinware, and other items.  This portrays a look at traditional Pennsylvania Dutch motifs.  My favorite ones in the book are tulips, birds, parrots, and mermaids.  I was surprised by this book and the variety of motifs.  I haven’t checked Amazon to see if it is available there.  I know I’m going to be able to incorporate some of the vines and leaves in some of my own doodles.  I have another spread finished in my journal but I will have to share that another day. 

Journal & Doodles

 

This morning, we went to a book sale sponsored by Friends of the Library.  They have a spring and fall sale.  We try and go each time they have them.  I picked up several books to use as altered books or  art journals. I found a German language book  printed in the United States in 1933.  I plan to use it for collage.  My hubby found a 1907 copy of  The Iron Heel by Jack London.  I think it must be one of his lesser known books….at least, I’d never heard of it until this morning.

I am taking Traci Bautista’s class “Creative Doodles”  that started this week. I am posting two doodles from that class. It’s a lot of fun. Read more about it here: http://creativityunleashed.ning.com/    Also, here are three more pages from my Remains of the Day Journal I posted about yesterday.

Post Cards – Old and New

I found this old Irish themed post card. It says nothing about Saint Patrick but has other Irish symbols on it.  I am showing the back of the card so you can see the pretty handwriting.  Handwriting used to be an art.  I’m thinking this was mailed in the early 1900′s. The postmark doesn’t show the rest of the date because the card is heavily embossed.

 

Here are some post cards I traded for…first is Kitty’s card

http://slovoni.blogspot.com/

Second, is one from Amy over at Gauche Alchemy 

Third one from Joyce in Washington state

 A big thank you to all who traded with me, I still have some cards  to trade if anyone else is interested.  If you are, send your mailing address to my email at the top of the sidebar.

Garage Sales

I found some good buys at yard sales this morning.  Since I have no art to share, I thought I’d talk about yard sales today.  Hubby and I have a flea market booth to fill so we go to a lot of yard and garage sales.  We would go to auctions but most of the auctions around here are farm auctions.  We have tried auctions once or twice but left before they were over.  We don’t like to stand around all day waiting until the one item we want goes up on the block.  Anyway, back to the yard sales…I had to go solo today because hubby had surgery on his ankle last Thursday.  I found several indoor sales and that was great because it was raining(again).  I am finding that many people are charging more at their yard sales.  Some are charging what I would pay at a flea market.  However, one can still find good deals.  This morning, I found an old tea pot,  two cup and saucer sets, and several pieces of old jewelry.  I also  found an old notebook, dating back to 1987, kept by a lady named Ann.  She apparently kept a detailed record of all knitting yarn she purchased along with store receipts and in some cases, mentions the person who will receive the knitted garment.   She also listed some quilting fabrics purchased.  I found it a fascinating record…the last entry was in 1991…Jeff’s Navy Guernsey sweater.  I wonder if she got to complete Jeff’s sweater?  I paid fifty cents for this dear woman’s notebook.  I bought it thinking I would use some of the labels, etc., in some of my art work.  I’ll have to think about it before I tear it apart.   I scanned some pages from her notebook plus the jewelry I found.  I paid a dollar for each necklace and the pair of earrings.  The loose beads from an old pair of earrings were thrown in free.  The colorful necklace and earrings were made in Japan and quite old,  I think.  The necklace is made of abalone shell pieces and glass beads.  I scanned the jewelry and several pages from Ann’s notebook: