turkey feathers

Begin Again

Well, I just finished another little quilt.  It's one I've been working on for awhile.  (I'm doing a series of these "message quilts" along with the doll quilts, and will eventually offer a few for sale.)   

This quilt was inspired by the arrival of spring, and this piece of artwork that Toni did last year, that hangs on my wall in my sewing room now, and speaks to me daily with it's simple message of hope and renewal.

I'm thrilled with how it turned out and was going to keep this one for myself, but after just learning about this, I decided to send it up to Blair with a hug and well wishes for brighter days ahead.

Doll Quilt Give-Away

I recently sent this off to its new home and was so happy with it, that I began making another one right away, and then another--and another.  I'm on a roll. 

A few works-in-progress. . .

There's not a lot of fore-thought going into what I'm doing, which is my usual mode of operandi.  I just start pulling pieces out of the scrap bins and let them fall where they may.  With maybe just a little tweaking. 

The design wall I made last year has been such a great tool and is perfect for laying things out, standing back and analyzing.  I've decided to offer some of my small quilts for sale in the coming weeks. After all, I only have so much wall space.

I also thought it would be fun to offer a freebie to celebrate the new season.  It will be a surprise, for both of us, so please don't ask if you can have this one or that one, cuz I don't even know which one it will be yet.  So.  If you're interested in receiving one of my little handmade doll quilts, (sight unseen) just leave a comment on THIS post, and at the end of the month (March 31, 2007) I will draw one name out of a hat, I mean, Bonnet, and announce the winner on my blog with pictures of the quilt on April Fool's Day.  (No foolin' either.)  Offer is open to anyone, anywhere...so let's hear from you lurkers out there too. 

You Make My Heart Sing

This amazing applique fabric post card from Mimi Kirchner just arrived and it's singing "Spring Spring"!  I love it so much.  I wish you could see the detail on this, it's so perfectly done.  The sweet face is painted on and she's signed it on the back.  I already have the perfect frame for it.  Mimi also makes some of the MOST beautiful cloth textile dolls I've ever seen--some are sold here.  Take a peek, if you dare.  Um.  Maybe a warning is in order: Entering adorable doll zone; possible point of no return.

Ok, you can go now, but don't say I didn't warn ya.

 

Birthday Baa-sh

Just popping in for a minute to say, *Thank You* for the Dollhouse Bakery love!  We are still getting many little packages together and adding back-orders.  Grace was amazed by the response, and so grateful, as always.  I think when you're young there's a tendency to take your own talents for granted.  I keep telling her she's got 'magic hands' but she just smiles and rolls her eyes the way teenagers do.  What do mother's know anyway?  I tell ya, I'm very thankful to get back-up from blog friends on that score.  So thank you all very much for your kind words and support.  On another, but not totally unrelated subject, a little celebration is underway...Lambkin is turning one!  And we'd like to invite all of our lambkin friends to join us for a virtual cupcake.  Gracious sakes how the flock has grown! 

Small Details

The Dollhouse Bakery has been turning out some lovely little things again.

Grace has been busy as a bee behind the scenes for weeks and weeks, creating all these wonderful yummy (albeit inedible) dollhouse things.  This is only part of a special order that's going out to a sweet blog-friend in Italy, who is making a dollhouse bakery of her own.   

Grace made a few extras too, and some of these little goodies will be available in her ETSY shop at 10 AM (Pacific Time) on Saturday morning.  That's tomorrow.  She's also included more donut and cupcake charms, since there never seems to be enough of those to go around.

But if you still miss the boat, she'll be taking a few pre-paid orders again.  Drop us an email if you want something that's sold out and we'll send you a Paypal invoice to secure your place in line.  Please be prepared to wait though, because she gets many orders and these little gems take time crafting up since they are all individually made by hand.  BTW, these tiny (and I mean tiny) paper flowers (rose and poppy) are also handmade.  They are the prettiest and most delightful creations.  I still don't know HOW she does it! I'm beginning to believe she's employed fairy-folk to make them.  They're not in the shop but she might be willing to make a small bouquet if you say, "pretty please".

Doll Warming

There was happy sewing over the weekend.  Here's a wee peek at my wonderful doll-size something (for guess who?) in progress: think ladybugs, picnics, & June bloom.    (I might just have to make a whole wall of these for myself now.)   

Ondori Morning

Waking to birdsong.The sun came out this morning and I'm feeling energized.   

Spring is in the air and I want to make music.   

Hard to decide what to do first.

I've got a long list of things I want to get to this weekend . . .

 

. . . some that I've only been dreaming about,

and drooling over.

Including a fun (secret) sewing project already in the works, that I can't wait to get back to.

   

None of which have anything to do with this book from, Ondori (1987), that I picked up from a second-hand book shop a month ago.  These designs seem fresh and new again, don't they?

Coming Out of the Shadows

I do believe that is sunshine coming in through my bedroom window.  Oh, what a beautiful day!  The first days of spring are like heaven.  We spent most of the afternoon outside, sitting on the back porch with friends.  There was fun sewing too!  Just what more could a girl ask for?  I credit the blog for keeping me on task with this pillow idea, made from the afore-mentioned tea-towel.  I decided to make a "sleeve" to slip over an existing pillow, and as it turned out, the ticking-striped bolster (my $1 thrift shop bargain) was the perfect size.  The towel fit around it exactly.  All I had to do was stitch two strips of bias-binding along the finished edges of the towel, and sew the ends together to make a tube.  Then added (tea-dyed) twill-tape ties at each end with mother-of-pearl buttons to fasten them.  The whole thing took about half-an-hour.

I love old hand-carved mother-of-pearl buttons.  The little flowers and animal shapes are my favorites.  I like to find creative ways to use them and think they added a nice finishing touch to my pillow. 

Other news, the "ABC of Wine Cookery" book give-away winner is, our dear Miss Jenny, who makes the sweetest art on earth, inspired by cupcakes and other treats. (She wasn't able to leave a comment on the blog because of a glitch in the system, but was the first to respond, albeit thru email.)  So I'll be getting this little book wrapped up and sent on its way lickety-split.  Apparently there are even more categories of these books than I imagined.  Who knew?  Thanks Ann for pointing out sources for them, I'll have to check those out. 

Making Discoveries

These little vintage cookbooks are fun.  I found them on my last thrift outing, along with the hand-embroidered linen tea cloth.  The stitching on this is beautiful, not a single spot on it either.  The delicate flowers and leaf sprigs remind me of chamomile, and send my mind drifting to the summer herb garden.  Well, when I saw this I knew it would be the perfect compliment to the soft blue toile print in the bedroom and decided to make a little pillow out of it for the chaise.  A nice weekend project perhaps.

Anyway, these ABC cookbooks were published in the 1950's-60's by Peter Pauper Press, a third generation family publisher that's been around for over 70 years.  I found the three entitled, The ABC of Jiffy Cooking , The ABC of Casseroles, and The ABC of Wine Cookery.  (There were two of the latter and I'd be happy to pass one along to the first person in the U.S. who leaves a comment here that wants to claim it.)  As luck would have it, or maybe because these are on my radar now, I ran across another one, The ABC of Salads.  I don't know how many there are in the series, but when I did an online search I found one for canapes and another one for desserts.  I'll be on the look-out for those now that I seem to have a collection starting here.  They seem to be geared toward young brides and new homemakers and have practical simple recipes from A-Z, which was funny to me when I realized this because of the A-Z quiche challenge I'm doing.  And if I get stumped, I can just thumb through these and see what's cooking for a particular letter.  There are  cute "decorations" throughout by Ruth McCrea, with her quirky quips like, "There's grit in the salad, and way too much salt, the cook is in love, so it isn't her fault." What a great excuse when things go awry in the kitchen!  (I'll  have to remember that one the next time I burn something and set off the smoke alarm.) Oh, another treasure I found, Betty Crockers Party Book (1960).  Such a tasty treat.  Almost as delicious as my cornbread.   

Warm Beans

Pillows were next on my sewing list.  I've made a few for the slip-covered chase (thank you for the lovely comments btw), but also decided to make more bean bag bed warmers from the left-over fabric.

These are about 9 x 4-inches, having started with a 10-inch square; folded in half and filled with (dry) navy beans and two thimblefuls of dried lavender.  In the past I've used other beans, pearl rice, flax seed, or legume.

Basically the filler material needs to be dry and something that can withstand heating in a microwave for a minute or two.  Do not use ceramic balls or baking weights--they may ignite the cloth!

Another thing.  If you use beans or rice, don't get them wet.  I had a little mishap with a bean bag that got gathered up with the sheets when I washed them.  What a surprise to find that it had expanded to the size of a brick and was just as dense, having been filled with pinto beans.

It was funny.  We laughed hysterically at that bloated blob.  I was just so grateful that the stitching had held together.  And that it had not exploded inside the washer. 

Oh my.  A mess I don't even want to think about.