Well, I finally got some playing in yesterday--so much so that I wore myself to a frazzle and took a two hour nap in the afternoon.
First off was Quilt Guild meeting in Homewood, a 45-minute drive from my house down the interstate and through Birmingham traffic. That was the only bad part. I don't like driving anymore, another thing that the dreaded fibromonster has taken away from me. But once there, it was fun, fun, fun. And lots of good snacks. Pictured above is my Cuddle Quilt that I turned in. We make children and baby qults for several agencies, and each guild member is asked to make at least one a year. This one was made using the "Yellow Brick Road" pattern, a fun and fast way to make a quilt.
Guild members have the opportunity to purchase 6" squares of some of the latest fabric collections. Here's what I got today: a beautiful collection from Merryvale called "Victorian Lady." This packet included a large piece of the theme fabric.
There's a Salvation Army thrift store near where our guild meets, and several of us stopped off there after the meeting (of course). I found this wonderful 60s-era Pyrex bowl.
I also found a brand-new Sopranos trivia game in a great tin box. The game pieces and cards are still sealed in plastic. Vann says I should put it up for bids on E-bay. We'll see if I can bear to part with it.
And finally, I found these great cross-stitched wild flowers, which I plan to use to make quilt blocks. They were mounted and framed when I bought them. The owner had used that sticky mounting board to mount them, and the stuff has turned the cloth brown. I washed them in detergent, but the brown remains. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get the brown out without fading the embroidery floss? (Let this be a lesson: Don't mount your treasured needlework on that sticky board stuff.)
There were lots of yard sales this past weekend in my town. In between working with the photographers at the church to get our directory photos shot, I visited a few of them. Here are some of my finds.
I'm going to put this pretty bulletin board in my home office.
Last and maybe best, dig these crazy house prints. One of the mats had got wet, but I still love them. I'm thinking of using them in my Halloween art journal that I've been collecting stuff for. They look like haunted houses to me.
Gotta go. This is laundry day. It's also a cloudy day, so maybe we'll get some more much needed rain.
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On 06/19/2007, Donna said ...
SuSu!
When I first saw those cross-stitched wild
flowers, I thought "Soph's been to my house, but I didn't KNOW it!!" I have stitched everyone of those you show!! The
scarlet gilia & red columbine hang in this
craft room. The "bull thistle" is a "weed"
that grows around Okla, but it is so pretty
in the pinky-purple color, I dont care.
I used to do ALOT of cross-stitch, had to
quit cause I think it contributed to getting carpal tunnel. But I still do it
now & then.
Have you ever seen the pattern book of
cross stitch called Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady? That's my ALL Time favorite- has birds, nature in it, very
easy patterns, but very delicate when finished.
On 06/19/2007, anita said ...
When I have vintage lace that's turned brownish, I soak it in Biz and that works pretty well. Don't know about the embroidery floss color, though.
Love that bowl! I have a set of four similar ones (large to small), but mine are white and yellow with black decorations. They were my grandmother's, I think. I use them when I'm baking.
On 06/20/2007, Debra Spincic said ...
I absolutely love those floral cross stitch pieces! I collect vintage pieces for crazyquilt & often just soak my pieces in detergent. Rinse and repeat. I have found that some of the brown is just from age. If it doesn't come out, just plan to sew along the brown edge and pretend the fabric was tinted. No one will be the wiser. Those were a great snag!
On 06/22/2007, Granny Fran said ...
Great finds and wonderful victorian fabrics. Those cross stitch flowers are so pretty.
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