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:

Vintage Sewing Patterns

I ran across this website today and was immediately intrigued by all the ideas for reusing old sewing patterns.  My favorite is using the pictures on vintage pattern envelopes to make magnets.  I also liked the flowers shown in the picture below.  Think of all the uses for these flowers…make a whole bouquet of them.  One could make little tiny ones and attach them to a handmade journal. 

Crafting a Green World is the name of the website. ”Crafting a Green World features do-it-yourself projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials. “

When you get to the website  go down below the  picture of the magnets and click on “Dont’ Scrap the Selvedge. What a chair!  Talk about using every little bit!

Check out the website here:

http://craftingagreenworld.com/2009/04/15/reuse-sewing-pattern-tissue-paper/

Quilt Giveaway

The Old Red Barn Co. is giving away a free quilt. The quilt is backed with a vintage sheet. The colors in the quilt are just lovely! People are even making videos to increase their chances of winning the quilt. Go to the link below to read more about the giveaway:

http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/