Tolentreasures

  These have been in the back of my mind for awhile. Pennants with a twist. So, after cleaning the sewing room, I messed it up again. I am always buying boxes of linens and hoarder than I am, I cannot stand to throw any of them away. Even the stained, ripped ones.   This is what I decided to do with them. Bits of fancy needlework...salvaged! Lots more to go!    The original pennant tutorial is here   http://tolentreasures.blogspot.com/2012/11/free-pennant-tutorialvery-easy.html   The only twist?   The serger on the edges.   I bought this serger from a friend this summer.   It has sat and sat and sat.   So after dusting and cleaning and Olympic gymnastic acts to get it threaded, it is working!     How fun are those machines?  

  Apologizing right up front for blurry and weird pictures! Oh and sideways pictures also!   I am on a real kick with these blocks right now.   I am blaming it on having to get rid of my wool. You might say, "Oh, you needed another project since you don't have the wool?" But I say, "I found all this material when I cleaned out the wool!"   Books and books of decorator fabrics. You can ask for them at furniture stores, or sometimes you can buy them at salvage places. I even saw them for sale at Joann's one time and believe it or not, did not buy any.   It took everything I have in me not to buy them I left chanting, You do not want to be on Hoarders You do not want to be on Hoarders....   My mom's friend, Ruth is my pusher supplier. So, here we go, this is what I do, I am not a quilting expert, so it might not be the RIGHT way. I like things totally random, so throw away your OCD tend...

Giving my obsession with the health care fiasco a break, I needed something else to jam into that space in my mind. It is not really working yet, however, I am really trying to make them all think it is working. So, I am taking up some other obsessions. Crazy quilt blocks for one. Since having to give up all the wool or live with the itching, I needed another stitching project. These fit the bill! Creative and fun. Collecting and planning for the trip to Haiti. I leave for Haiti on the 17th of November. Hopefully and Prayerfully, a promise kept. Six years ago, I promised to return and teach calligraphy to the students at the EBAC orphanage. Why would I do that?   Make that promise? Life has been in the way since and I did not know if I would be able to keep that promise. So, the door is opened and I am sewing dresses and skirts and shorts to take with me, collecting formula to take along, some baby clothing an...

While perusing through my pictures  this morning,  I found some things I hadn't shared.  This was a whim project after being at  Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.   Most of the letters were found there,  some I had, some I made.  I think that I might make more.. it was fun!   Shipped off to Gracelyn and Garren's toy room!   I know that this is hard to see in the picture. This is an old display case that I have had around for years.  I had an old fur collar off an old wool coat that I laid in there first and then arranged all my pins, So many keepsakes in there. Alligator pins that my dad bought for me in Florida when I was little, A pin of my grandmothers, and one belonging to JWS' grandmother. My old Brownie and Girl Scout pins. A great-great aunt's pin, one made by a friend... Memories. I made these pillows for Gracelyn and Kenda...

For giveaway... one of my hand-embroidered pillows. Old fashioned stitches on a patchwork of satins and laces. Here's the rules, you know you have to have them. 1. Comment on this post. 1 entry. 2. Share on your blog, a second entry. 3. New follower, another entry. 4. Already a follower, TWO additional entries! (because all of you that have been here all this time deserve something extra for following the shenanigans) Just let me know in the comment, how many times to enter your name! Oh yes, for every 25 comments.... I will add another pillow!

Ann at A Hole in the Basket issued a challenge to me to see which one of us could finish the most projects by Friday! Always up for some motivation.. I accepted!  If anyone else wants to join in just comment here and we will link your blog and sign you up. There might even be a prize! So that being said, the two pillows above are one and two. Of course, it would not be fair to have yesterday's finishes. A few more blocks on the stash buster. And if you saw yesterday's post, you might recognize the disaster rat's nest of fabric. All organized, that should speed things up. And a project in progress. A bath mat throw rug that I started awhile ago, got a few more rows this morning. So any takers? Let's see how many things you can finish this week.  Comment here or over on Ann's blog, and join in!

Loving it! Outside sitting spaces, Tons of flowers, A little embroidery, Some painting. And some knitting. Along with a lot of mowing, weedeating, and watering. But all fun! As a side note, the painting was for friends that are redoing a room. He is a plasterer and does ornamental plaster work. I have been on mission trips with him, but have never been to their house. They asked about colors for a room that they are doing and I told them that if they brought a sample of the plaster to me, I would paint some "ideas" on it. The perk for me? I got to visit their home last Sunday and WOW! It was so interesting! It made me want to rip all the drywall out of my house and start over, but we all know that is not going to happen!

My Mom, Shawnee and I are taking an embroidery class. It's a bit of a drive, and at first I just didn't think I wanted to do that after work.  150 mile round trip after an eight hour workday?  I almost didn't do it.  But, it's fun and I get  150 miles of visiting with Shawnee. Good times.   But, we have homework!  Did I really need another obsession?  So, I made all these crazy squares,  and have been practicing stitches,  and embellishing them.   Totally obsessed!   Perhaps that was what I was thinking when this incident happened.  I got pulled over for speeding.  Those who know me,  know I drive too fast. But, somehow under the radar because  unlike JWS I have no tickets. He has lots, and lots, and then some more.  Actually he has half of the Eastern Seaboard covered for state tickets.  I have none, ...