Embroidery Project with Artiste Floss

In late March, I found myself wanting to embroider.  So I had some fun with some Artiste floss and the button hole stitch again.
 

 

I just LOVE these happy, springy colors!

 

 

 

 

 

That's just a sneak peek for now, as this is still a work in progress.  I am not too sure what to do with the white space around the circles.  I guess time will tell.

That's all for today, until another time, have a happy, stitching day!

Borden's Starlac Box

 

One of my favorite finds, from my January trip into Vintage City, trip is this Borden's Starlac box with the powdered milk still inside!  (I know, eww, right?)   I just love the graphics and the colors on this box!

 

 

 

The box now sits on my shelf of vintage goodies above my desk in the kitchen.  I may put it away at some point to prevent fading.

 



 



I leave you today with a commercial from You Tube advertising Starlac.

Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

 

Vintage 80s Commercial #5

According to my folks, they remember me saying, "I've just gotta have a My Little Pony or I'll die!"  Dramatic much?

 

I did end up with a My Little Pony Cotton Candy and I STILL have her. My daughter played with her for awhile when she was younger, and now she sits upon a shelf in our library. 

 

Here is the 80s commercial

 

Canister Decals Redo

Throughout the month of January, I went through somewhat of a Vintage craze.  I incorporated as much vintage style into my daily wardrobe, hair, and life as was possible.  My days were sprinkled with little vintage projects, including the one below where I changed the decal on my glass canisters.

 

First, I peeled the old decals off of the canister.  They are just printed pictures with clear, contact paper over them.  After a few years, they were looking pretty raggedy.

 

 

After finding some vintage clipart online, I printed them and went over the printings with colored pencils to brighten the colors and sharpen the edges up a bit.

Then I got out my clear contact paper and stuck them to the glass!  Easy-Peasy!

 

 

 

 

I hung a little red potholder behind, to add a little something to the bare wall.

 

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned because there is much more to come!

Until another time, have a happy, vintage day!

My Gardens and Flowers

We are deep into the winter months.  The hours of daylight are short and I miss the green grass and flowers of our yard.  Here are just a few pictures of our flowers and rock gardens from the past summer.  Hopefully they will help to brighten your day!

 

 

 

The north garden....

 

 

...and south garden.  The flowers in my south garden didn't grow as big as in past years, I was very disappointed in them.

 

2017

 

July 2015 (grass sod was brand new and flowers were BIGGER!

In 2017 my daughter planted a small vegetable garden.

 

 

And our trees!  I'm glad we have a couple of nice trees now.  I can see them from the window above my kitchen sink.

 

 

That's all for today.  Until next time, keep dreaming of Spring and have a happy, sunshiny day!

 



 



Christmas Embroidery Projects

Here are the stitching projects that I did throughout November and December.

The one farthest left was the first one I did and it has an embroidered fruit boarder.  Every time I see it I think of the 1949 LUX Theater radio production of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House because that's one of the shows I listened to (two evenings in a row) while working on it. 

 

I was so bummed out when the sun beams behind the strawberry baskets didn't was out.  I accidently washed them in WARM water instead of very COLD water.  An important embroidery lesson was learned and I will never forget...cold water!

 

 

I found this ADORABLE Aunt Martha pattern at my local Thrifty White Drug Store (that's where I find the best flour sack dish towels too!)

I whipped up this Market Day one using pretty Spring colors.

 

 

 

That's all for today!  Until another time, have a happy stitching day!

 

November Embroidery Sneak Peek

I did some stitching throughout the month of November.  I dusted off my embroidery case full of threads (literally had to dust it off as it hasn't been used in....I can't even remember how long) and while I can't share the projects with you because some might end up being Christmas gifts, I would like to give a sneak peek!

I did a little thread sorting and had to wind some bobbins  (that's almost as fun as embroidering!)
 

 

 

I found this SWEET 1930s reproduction material at JoAnn's Fabrics.  Because I had a coupon, and because I loved it so much I bought a whole yard!  I found out that JoAnn's has a ton of new 1930s feed sack styles!  Yeah, because that's what I need is more feed sack fabric. (eye roll)

 

 

Here is a sneak peak at what I'm doing with this adorable fabric.

A little red rick-rack is always fun!

 

Oh, I can't wait until when I can show you all of my embroidery projects!

Until another time, have a happy stitching day!
 

Stitching--Blasts From the Past

Sometimes it's fun to go through old photo files to check out what I was up to, crafting wise, years ago.  I found an old folder of embroidery projects and wanted to share them with you!

First, there's my fuzz bud, Kramer, who loves to sit on my lap while stitch.

Below is the little train case I decorated.  It still holds many of my little crafting treasures.

 

I'd forgotten all about the TUSAL jar!  It was a jar where I collected the little bits of thread snipped off of a project that were too short to use.

 

 Back when I first started embroidering everything fit into this little desktop organizer.

A living in the country set made from Aunt Martha's "Life on the Farm"
embroidery pattern packet #4021

One of the first travel kits I put together.

Well, that was fun!  Next time I will share a sneak peek of the embroidery project I've been working on as Christmas presents!
Until another time, have a happy, stitchy day!

Catalog From Kenmare Museum

While visiting the Lake County Historical Museum in Kenmare a few summers ago (one of our favorite museums) I came across this old catalog from 1917-18 and found it to be quite interesting!  It is 100 years old!

 

Time to pick a pretty dress.  I like the blue dress.
 

 

Apparently, they were big on decorating their clothing with buttons, embroidery and lace back in 1917 and 1918.

 

 

Yes, much ornamentation on these blouses!  Beautiful, decorative buttons and lots of pretty embroidery embellishments! I wonder how many of those buttons ended up in button boxes.

 

 

 

Wish I had a coat like this today!  Look how nice and heavy they were!

 

 

Even their undergarments were decorated with embroidery and ruffles!

 

 

 

And sweet children's coats and hats...so adorable!

 

 

 

I wish I had taken more time to look at the catalog and had taken a few more photos.  I hope that someone from the museum will take the time to very carefully scan all of the pages inside to preserve the illustrations.  They are like a time capsule!

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy, vintage day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December Flea Market Finds

These are the little things I found at the December Flea Market.

I love the little Christmas Hankie and plan to wrap it around my vintage tree as a "tree skirt".
 

The tiny Santa pin was a quarter and I think has a vintage look to it. 

One of the reasons I visited the flea market this month (besides meeting my folks there) was to find an old book to cut up for a Christmas craft.  But as I looked through the old books I just couldn't bring myself to purchase one knowing I planned to destroy it.  What if there is someone in Kentucky or Montana that has been on the lookout for that exact book?  What if it's a treasure to someone else, just as the Still Meadow books by Gladys Tabor are to me!?  Nope, I just couldn't do it.  But while I was looking I found the little brown book in the photo above, Sylvia Sanders and the Tangled Web.  The inside cover caught my eye.

Come to find out, the book is about a gal who moves to Chicago to break into the radio business!  I haven't read it yet but it looks to be geared towards high school age students.  The copyright is 1946 and was written by Ruby Lorraine Radford.

I have very little extra time for reading these days and have been using any extra minutes here and there for crafting and embroidery.  Therefore, this book will have to wait patiently on the bookshelf until the new year.

Those were the finds for that flea market trip, and that's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy VINTAGE day!