Monday, April 27, 2009

Sweet Cottage charm

My dear daughter and I have enjoyed browsing through antique and thrift stores in our area. We have found a few real treasures along the way. My dear daughter has a real eye for decorating so I thought I would give you a little peek at some of her personal decorating tastes.

Cozy chair found on craigslist. Don't you love the antique skis?? You do know we live in Florida, right??

She bought this antique sewing machine when she lived in the windy city. I am not sure if it still works, but it makes a great decoration :-)


My dear sweet husband made these curtain rods for me several years ago. I just love them. We have them in several rooms. It's a super way to elevate your decorating statement.




Very sweet simple pictures are above her headboard.




I love how she has stacked these old suitcases at the foot of her bed. Very lovely linens are stored inside.

And here is a beautiful quilt in the making. Don't you just love the fabrics? It is the same Bunny Hill pattern as my Cottage Quilt. It is going to be a real beauty.
Just wanted to welcome you into our little cottage on this Monday morning. Hope your day is sew delightful!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

What's a girl to do?

Okay, when you are on a shopping binge, and you come across something that can be reworked into a project, what's a girl to do?? I found this lovely 100% cotton skirt, which was 2 sizes too small, but might be something that could be made into a tote or an Amy B lookalike bag.

The real deal on this skirt is that it was only $1. Now for $1 my seam ripper works really well. Would it be worth cutting up and trying a pattern that may later warrant LQS fabric? Today I found a piece of linen in the fabric remnant bin at Joann's. 34" is pretty close to a yard, original price $7.99 a yard, marked down to $1.89.

Skirt on the left, linen on the right. Hummm..... seems to me it is an exact match in color. So maybe I can figure a purse pattern. How about the Buttercup bag by "Made by Rae"? Or the Hobo bag from jcaroline creative. What fun options.

My dear daughter also has spruced up her room with her treasure finds. Guess the winter folks have all flown the southern coop, because most of the shops are offering generous discounts. She found these botanical prints for a song.


And you remember those cute little creamers the restaurants would serve with your coffee?

Who said they were just for cream??

Enjoy your weekend!

Great tags!

Last week I won a prize from "I Have A Notion". Kelly had a sweet giveaway on her blog.

So when I got the mail, there was a package



and here is my prize!!



Aren't they sweet? Bright and cheery, and easy to spot. And so well made. The fabric has bows and hearts, two of my favorite things :-)

Thanks Kelly! I am going to enjoy using these tags on my essentials. And you KNOW what that is, right?? Sewing machine bags, fabric totes, etc, etc.

I think everyone should stop by Kelly's blog and pay her a visit. She always has some fun things going on. She also has an online store with lots of notions for you to browse through. So go take a peek. I think she is going to have a tutorial on making these great tags very soon.

Happy quilting!

Friday, April 24, 2009

More treasures......

More treasures....................




Doesn't this vintage cross stitch table linen look
perfect with my spring dishes? It was the find of the day for $1.












When you least expect it, there is a treasure lurking underneath.


What a prize.


It will look so cozy on the back of my rocking chair.


Have a wonder filled day!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A day for the earth

I love the pretty things that grow in my little piece of earth. So I thought I would share a few of the colorful delights that are gracing our yard right now.






And if you look very closely, there is a little vegetable growing to be strong and one day will be red and delicious.


Thanks for joining me in a little tour of our cottage backyard.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Happy Stroll

On Saturday, my dear daughter and I went to a little town north of us. We decided that we would do a little antique hunting.

I planned the trip on this particular day because the one and only quilt store in town was having a sale!! Yea!
What fun it was to plunder through this little quilt shop. It was wall to wall quilters. I was in need of a thimble, and of course wanted to check out any new fabric that might have needed a new home. As the line stretched through the shop to have fabric cut, I decided that a few little fat quarters would do just as well.

We headed to the antique shops for an afternoon of browsing. I have found some real treasures at bargain prices in the past. But on this day, my daughter came away with this precious little tea cup and saucer. Isn't it sweet? A genuine Wedgewood cup and saucer!

I found this little demitasse cup and saucer at the same shop.As we strolled through the little town, we came upon a little shop with this charming resprite.

Makes you just want to sit and watch the world go by.


At least until the quilt shop has another sale :-)


Happy Quilting!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Selvage conservation

Let me first say that I have had a wonderful time visiting so many fellow quilters/bloggers on the first Bloggers Quilt Festival! It has been so much fun seeing everyones quilts and creations. And thank you all for the very sweet comments either here or sent to my email. I love hearing from each one of you. I hope there will be another one next year. If we can't show our quilts in a National Quilt show, this is definitely the next best thing.

Karen over at the Selvage Blog asked how we store/save our selvages. I was saving them in a zippy bag, but found a nice little clear plastic container to serve that purpose now.


My selvage collection is not very large at the moment, but it is growing. If I really needed more selvages, I could certainly cut some from my stash.

But right now I am too attached to the fabrics as they are in their pristine state :-)