Still in Patriotic Mode

I wanted to do a few pictures of my patriotic tree before I take it down later this month.  A lot of the items have been gifts to me over the years.....some I have collected from travels and little "gifty" stores.  Others I have stitched and those are probably my favorites.  I keep my tree in the doorway between our kitchen eating area and our living room.....so it is like a night light in the evening that lights up the whole main part of the house.  I have it set on a timer so it goes off and on without any effort on my part.  I used to keep a full size tree up, but I bought this one several years ago at one of the local craft shops after Christmas.  It has a wooden tree trunk and is tall and skinny with pine cones glued to some of the branches.  Very quaint and it doesn't take quite as much room, but seems to handle all the weight of the ornaments......there are quite a few...... but I always say more is better.........

Here is Abe & George, that I stitched several years ago.  You can also see in most of the pics several red metal ornaments....those were all given to me by a dear friend.  The shiny tin Uncle Sam is very fun.  The little flag is just put together from printed flag fabric with a fusible webbing to secure it to a backing fabric.  I added some buttons and ribbon to make the hanger with the glue gun.  You could do this with any shape and make a garland type decoration.

This little stocking was done on Herta cloth I think...about 5-6 count and you use 6 strands of embroidery floss at a time.  There is a little patriotic Beanie Baby bear in the background....BTW.....I have a few of the seasonal type Beanie Babies that are very cute to decorate with....the last time I looked on eBay you could buy most of them very cheap.  You might want to check it out.  :)

The little Betsy Ross doll is a vintage Hallmark piece...maybe from the the bicentennial.  A quilt friend gave that to me and I love it.  Also I came across some red chandelier drops, so I added ribbons to them to hang.

The bunny with the heart and the log cabin were both gifts to me from quilt friends and the little crocheted medallion pin was done by my grandma....I added ribbon to hang it.

A patriotic angel is finished in a tart dish....also a Christopher Columbus ornament from Hallmark.  I usually check their patriotic ornaments each Christmas season and most of the time you can purchase those after Christmas on clearance.  :)  The little patriotic kitten is ceramic.

A sweet little patriotic angel that says ......

"Her little flag

She grandly flew

And cheered the

red, white and blue.

Happy 4th of July

Here is wishing you a Happy 4th of July!!!!


I haven't done much sewing this past week.  My mother had some medical issues and we continue to work on our bathroom makeover.  The "Silver Fox" laughs as he measures again for the umpteenth time......he tells me he doesn't get paid by piece work.....I believe it.    We are progressing slowly, but everything that is done looks great.  So slow and steady seems to be working.  So this week I am going to share some sights outside my front door.  We have had such good rains that everything is just lush here in Eastern Iowa.  I also tucked in a nice piece of clip art to share with you.

 Here is the view outside my front window as I sit in my living room and write to you.

I keep my hand garden tools and my knee pad in the old mailbox.

 We built a "civil war" type fence in the background.  The kind that go zig-zag....which I have never understood the concept around that.  But we have piles of wooden fence posts around here and it was a good way to use a bunch of them up. 

Let's just say these are even more breath-taking in person.  I love the lime green buds against the red flowers.....stunning color combination.   These babies are about the size of my hand.

I have tucked in a special piece of patriotic ephemera for you to save. Right click on it to save it to your computer.  I love to collect pieces of paper history....repros and originals.   This would make a wonderful pillow......print this out on fabric and sew it up.

Little Quilts In My Mailbox

I belong to the Carol Doak list on Yahoo and we are in the midst of a postcard swap. I love doing foundation piecing and have used Carol's method for a long time.  Our only requirement was to use one of Carol's designs.  Carol is a great teacher and if you have the chance to take a workshop from her, do it.  You will have a great time and learn a valuable quilt technique.  I have always wanted to do one of these swaps. 

I used Timtex to give the cards body and stitched a heavy satin stitch around the outside edge to finish it.  We were divided into groups of 4 and we each made 3 postcards and mail them out to the other 3 in our group.  Here are the 3 cards that I mailed out.

A little ray of sunshine.

Just had to make one with a patriotic theme and then added a little machine embroidery bling!



A little Iowa scene.....represents what is outside my window.

And of course you want the back to look as good as the front and I wanted a vintage feel to my card.  I used a Tim Holtz stamp set for the "postcard" and star design.  The lines were from a journaling stamp from Close To My Heart.

I got my first "little quilt" in my mailbox yesterday.....how fun...... a sweet little butterfly.  Who wouldn't want one of these pieces of pure joy when you pop open that mailbox?  I wonder when the next one will come and what will it be....... 

Summer in a Basket

What can you do with a worn out, old broken basket, a vintage mason jar, a chipping sparrow's nest?

I hope this arrangement will make you smile, as it does me.  It reminds me of those things that make summer great.

I used some leftover silks that I already had....filling the basket with flower oasis and tucking in some moss to cover it and make it look natural.  I used some taller stems in the back.....but you could do whatever you wished....and it might depend some on the shape of your basket. 

The "Silver Fox" and I live on the top of a hill out in the country, so when we have wind, which is quite often.  I find nests that have blown out of the trees.  So I have a nice collection of nests.  It was fun to tuck this sweet little one into the corner.

On one corner of the basket, the splints were broken out, so I added some moss and a couple flowers "growing out."

This photo is taken looking down from the top.....so you can see the mason jar tucked in the basket with a butterfly glued to a stick inside. 

This certainly brings back childhood memories of collecting fuzzy caterpillars in glass jars, that I had poked holes in the lid.  Then I graduated to a bug keeper that we bought at the local dime store.  I thought that thing was the cat's meow!!!

I hope this inspires you to collect a few of your flower blooms and some natural elements..... put them together in a old container.....and enjoy!!!

Whip Up

For someone who is so new to this blog thing, I am amazed by the statistics and the scope of where you all live.  It really is mind-blowing to me, that I would write something of my daily life and you are interested in it.  Thank you for spending some of you day with me and I hope that I make it worth your while to visit.  I love it when you write me and I always reply!!!
I am so excited!!!  A blog newsletter I have subscribed to since I knew what blogs were..... has linked to one of my postings on repurposing.  Kathreen sends out a marvelous newletter each week, with some of her favorite finds and ideas.  I could spend hours puruesing all the eye candy, inspiration and ideas.  I hope you check it out.

http://whipup.net/2011/06/19/some-crafty-links-and-good-things-to-explore/

Father's Day

Doesn't he look warm and cozy in his hand knitted snowsuit?....I am sure made by his mother.  My dad was born on his mother's birthday on a terribly cold..... winter day, during a snowstorm...such a happy guy and he still is.  He is kept busy fixing things and making furniture and repurposing furniture for our entire family.  He and mom, pop in and out during the week, out here on the farm and it is always a joy to have them stop by.  Thanks, dad for everything!!!  I love you.

I am still keeping up with making a felt puzzle every month for the grand kids.  June's has a Father's Day theme to it.  The puzzle has all these sports themes to it, which really is not my dad.....although he does enjoy watching the Cubs and the Vikings. 

His "fun" of choice would be fishing or working in his wood shop and being around his family.

Here is the cute pocket all ready for all the puzzle pieces.

Here is the puzzle page....with the puzzle all put together.  I must say the grand kids look for these as soon as they hit the door and are so excited when it is different.  :)  I hook the two pages together with a binder ring decorated with various colors of ribbon.

Here is the link for you, if you are interested in purchasing these puzzles designs.

http://www.secretsof.com/content/4288

Tis the Patriotic Season

I have been collecting Americana for a very long time.....

 long before it was popular or collectible.

It is probably my favorite season to decorate.....maybe because it is during the warmer months of the year or because I LOVE red and blue or because I enjoy the history of our country, 

 or all of the above.

Well my goal is to always have my patriotic decorations up before Memorial Day....so we can enjoy it all for not only that weekend, but Flag Day and July 4.....but this year I didn't get quite that far.  I did get my tree done...only to have one of the strings of lights burn out on me.  UGGG!!!

I don't have a window above my sink....but I do have a mirror and two lighted glass shelves and I usually place some of my favorite pieces there to enjoy while  I work in the kitchen.

I still love this piece of Rowe pottery from Wisconsin that I bought many years ago.....it is filled with vintage kitchen tools from my grandmothers laid on a vintage crocheted  red, white and blue potholder.  The patriotic angel was made by one of my quilt friends and the little sailor is a fun Hallmark card, setting on a patriotic doily made by Grandma K.  I am not sure Hallmark makes those kinds of cards any more.  At least the last time I looked, which wasn't recently.....they had nothing like this.

This little still-life includes a sweet framed print, Longaberger flag basket and an old "American" scale loaded with dish towels ready to use.

This shelf includes a metal ice bucket from a thrift store, and a wonderful paper honeycomb decoration of George Washington.  I got a set of these from a special life-long friend.

Another Hallmark card surrounded by a vintage food chopper and a wooded flag bowl.

Hope you enjoyed these little vignettes above my kitchen sink.