Corners of my home

This is a corner of my dining room. Mike bought me this corner cabinet some years ago. He found it at a yard sale one day on his way to or from work, and very thoughtfully bought it knowing I would love it.
The shelves hold my collection of ironstone pitchers, and the cabinet stores my good set of china and miscellanous stuff. The bentwood chair is one of two that my brother gave me. I painted them white and made little seat covers. And on the seat, more of my flea market needlepoint pieces made into pillows.

A taste of spring

This week we are enjoying temperatures above normal--we may even reach 70 degrees, before some rain arrives at the end of the week. But the best is the SUN, which we have barely seen since last fall; so I headed outside to enjoy it and find some signs of spring...



The hens have been flying the coop to ravage every flower bed I have for bugs & worms. They travel the yard in little gangs of three or four, methodically covering every square inch.
The daffodils are up in the front bed and are forming buds-it won't be long!

And walking up the lane, I found these pussy willows.

So, much of the week has been spent outside cleaning out flower beds (much already done by the chickens) and raking the yard and soaking up some much needed sunshine.

yard sale bargain!

Saturday morning my sister and I went to a "town" yard sale. It was held in the old school gym, and even though we arrived early, it seemed very picked over. I did find one 'treasure' though--this shelf unit for a whopping $2. I know it looks awful--it is completely covered in sticky woodgrain-look contact paper; but underneath is real wood and good construction.

I love picking up old drawer or shelf units--I figure they're useful and will help me get organized, at least I hope. I'm going to get this stripped and painted, and I think I'll use it to store neatly folded fabric, which seems to be piling up lately.

Messenger bag

This is the messenger bag I've been working on, which is now for sale in my Firefly Farm shop. It's made with the vintage fabric I mentioned here.

The inside has a couple roomy pockets and is lined with this mini floral fabric (not a great shot, sorry).
The flap has a big old button and a velcro closure.

This was much more fun to make than my last bag; I think I'll stick to my own simple patterns.

Corners of my home...

This is an area in my kitchen--I almost didn't post this because looking at the picture suddenly made me realize it looks ...cluttered? too much stuff? ...but this is what it looks like, so here it is. The wall cabinet was $7 at a yard sale long ago, and is filled with vintage mixing bowls and a ceramic canister set. The table/sideboard? is old and the black paint has a great crackly patina. On the bottom shelf I have an old egg scale and kitchen scale. And, of course, some chicken prints and a ceramic rooster in honor of our hens, who provide us with lots of eggs.

Projects Update

I have no completed projects to show. A birthday party over the weekend for the kids didn't leave a lot of time for sewing, but here's what I've been working on:

• I'm working on a messenger style bag using the vintage dark green fabric I bought. The lining is ready to be sewn in as soon as I get the flap done. Hoping to finish this tonight.
• I also started a tote bag using the blue and brown print. I've set that aside until I get a quilting foot for my sewing machine as I'm having trouble sewing through the multiple layers of fabric and ribbon I'm using. Hoping a new foot will help.
• The cotton cabled tank I'm knitting (Cynthia) is also on hold for lack of a 16" circular needle. Joanns and Michael's stores are almost an hour away and when finally I got up there, neither store carried the size I needed. Hoping to find one this weekend when I head out to a yarn shop in a nearby town.
• The bathroom is almost completely finished. The two antiques sconces are being stripped and repainted, and I really want to get them up before posting pictures.

I am greatly enjoying the beautiful fragrance coming from this hyacinth. The bulb was a birthday gift from my parents, and after a cool, dark time in the basement and some sunshine in the sunrooom, it is in full bloom. It may be freezing outside but in my sunroom it's Spring!

Library & secondhand shop finds

I had some extra time this week to rummage around at the secondhand shop and this is what I found: two linen calendar dish towels
some blue cotton rick rack
some black twill tape
a large blue vintage button--might work great on the bag I'm making now
three stitch holders--which I really needed

Then at the library I checked out this book by Lucinda Ganderton. Not a new book but it looked interesting. Lots of basic information for needlecrafters with a variety of projects to try.

This patchwork pillow caught my eye--I would like to try the image transfer technique that was used on this cushion. It's done using an image transfer solution which I am not familiar with, but maybe tonight I can find it at Michael's.

Corners of my home

This is another spot in my sunroom. The old chimney cupboard was found in the basement of an old house we once owned. I added shelves and now it holds a lot of books. The table is from the flea market; I painted it white and then used a paint pen to add a quote around the outside edge.
This old iron crib came from the flea market also. I painted it, and covered the kid's old crib mattress for the seat. The pillows were made from pieces of needlepoint, again, from the flea market.

A new bag...

Last night I finished this bag and I'm glad it's done. Everything was going well until the topstitching. It was really difficult to get it perfect--actually it was impossible for me to get it just right! ...especially the bottom corners-ugh. And the little tabs were annoying also as I tried to get them positioned squarely. The construction of the bag is very different than what I'm used to doing--the lining is sewn to the fabric before the seams are sewn. Thus you have lots of raw edges inside--at least I do. Maybe I've done something wrong?
I had considered giving this as a gift, but I think I'm just going to keep it for myself and use it as a toiletries bag for traveling.

The pattern is from Bag Boutique. I like a lot of the bags in here and hopefully will have better luck with the next.

Wee Wonderfuls has the cutest "wee bunny pattern" available. Even though I have no little ones, I am tempted to make it anyway.

A brand new blog I discovered called country girl corner looks very interesting, and she has made a great looking denim bag.

Corners of my home

This spot is in my favorite room--our sunroom, which is right off the kitchen. Most of the things in it are flea market or yard sale finds. The cushion on the rocker I made from a piece of needlepoint I found and the bottom cushion is a recyled couch cushion covered now in white denim. The old footstool is re-covered in needlepoint I did myself. The bookcase in the background was awful when I found it at a yard sale for a few dollars. I added a new top, some post finials from Home Depot for legs, and painted it all white, and it works well enough. Behind the rocker is an old iron lampstand which has been rewired, painted white, and I added a glass shade. The black & floral tole tray on the stool beside the rocker is good for holding a cup of tea while I sit here and read and soak up the sun.

Todays fabric finds...

I stopped at the antique co-op in town today after grocery shopping. I didn't have a lot of time but just before leaving I found this vintage fabric which used to be a window valence. Hopefully I can turn it into great handbag or totebag.

These two fabrics I found at WalMart and they're a printed cotton duck--a nice sturdy fabric for more bags.

Now if I can just get some sewing time in...

What's on my needles...

I have been working on "Cynthia" for a few weeks now, usually just a little in the evening or while working with Stephanie on her school work. I found the pattern in Melissa Leapman's Hot Knits. I really can't decide whether I like that high neck or not. Do I play it safe and stick with the instructions or try to wing it on my own??--somehow I'm afraid that might not go so well.
The cotton yarn was a great deal from elann.com--Endless Summer Collection Connemara in nougat. 8 balls @ $1.78 plus shipping-- $20 altogether.

Zip purse and weekend projects

This is a little zippered pouch I made. I used some remnants I had laying around--some cotton duck with an Amy Butler fabric on the bottom. I added the ticking ribbon and a vintage button. The inside is lined with the same Amy Butler print and both front and back outside are the same. The zipper is a little pewter frog. I think I'm going to add this to the Firefly Farm shop.

The bathroom project is progressing. Most of the Saturday was spent on it-running to the hardware store, painting baseboard, putting up beaded board, etc. The ceiling and walls are painted and the beaded board is now all up.
Mike worked on the trim pieces for the beaded board which will form a little ledge along the top. My job today is to at least get the primer on them.
Sunday was a little more relaxed--church, then Panera for tea and a danish, Home Depot-more supplies, more work on the bathroom, a walk with Mike, and a tiny bit of knitting.

Some new fabric..

Today was grocery shopping day since I didn't get it done on Wednesday as usual. I found this fabric at Walmart and liked it because of the combination of red and blue.

The floral and the coordinating paisley:
No idea what I will do with it yet...
Last night we watched Pride & Prejudice which has just come out on video. I loved it--very romantic.

corners of my home

This is my desk-in its organized state- in a corner of the kitchen. The drawer unit I bought at a flea market-it was an industrial gray so I painted the wood box black which better matches the drawers. It keeps pens, scissors, glue, tape, notepads, etc. where they can easily be found. The wire basket, a yard sale find, holds papers and notebooks.

This little glass door cabinet, from a yard sale, holds our nature finds--abandoned bird nest, speckled eggs, silver dollar, pheasant feather, acorns, etc. Someday I will decorate the inside with some interesting paper.
The old chalkboard is great for keeping my shopping list. The desk has a zinc top with an aged patina, and the garden chair was $5. last summer from the flea market. Mike made a seat out of plywood for me and I covered with the $1 garage sale needlepoint which I finished.

Cosmetic bag

It was a busy day today--Ash Wednesday mass, homeschooling, eye dr. apt., library. Here's what I found to read: Hip Handbags by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader; Vintage Style by Cath Kidston; Stitch and Sizzle Accessories: hot handbags, scarves, wraps & accents; Decorating Junkmarket Style by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer; and 3 magazines for 25 cents apiece off the sale cart: March issue McCalls Quick Quilts, January's Clotilde's Sewing, and January's The Quilter magazine. Stopped at Blockbuster and rented the last copy of Pride & Prejudice, but won't get to watch it til tomorrow evening. I haven't fit in any sewing for some days, but this is a cosmetic bag I made awhile back and sent to one of Stephanie's friends for her birthday. I would like to make more of these, but I really need to figure out a way to press them better--the iron is just too big for these little nooks and crannies. I found the tutorial to make this at small hands.