Friday, August 29, 2014

New product line!

Recently one of my retail buyers ask me to present some towel options for her shop.  What an opportunity!
And you know that I dove right in!  I used the opportunity to add napkins and table runners!  Here's just a glimpse of my new products.


Decorated Linen kitchen towels:


decoration close-up



Autumn Table Runner:



Reversible!

Matching napkins

Whatca think?  Watch for some 
more new offerings coming soon!

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Back to School--Throw Back Thursday

The BBArtisans Challenge for this month is about back to school. You can see the other posts here. My kids are grown and I have grandchildren in school, so I decided that a written memory walk to my elementary school might be interesting to some readers.  Times have changed since I was little, and most kids today ride a bus to school, or are driven to school by parents. (The following is an excerpt from a book that my hubby and I are currently writing. Information at the end of the post.)

Me at age 5 or 6
When I was little, my mom didn't drive.  We rode the city bus, if we wanted to go shopping or even to doctor appointments.  Out of necessity, I walked to school. I went to the same elementary school from kindergarten thru sixth grade and walked everyday, only very occasionally getting a ride with a neighbor kid’s parent on a rainy day—it didn't rain much where I lived!

That walk is indelibly printed in my mind.  I remember my steps very well even though it was well over 50 years ago!  I can still picture in my mind the houses, yards and some of the people who lived along the way.  The residential section I lived in was set up in a grid, with streets running parallel to one another, not the more modern flowing streets and cul-de-sacs.  My elementary school, named after a famous educator, Horace Mann, was three blocks over and four blocks up.  The blocks were long city blocks with about 8 to 10 houses on a block, with blocks back-to-back with the next street.  That made the blocks going up to my school only two houses deep between streets. I lived on Kentucky Street, with Lake and Monterrey streets in between my street and Nile Street where my school was located.  This gives you a picture of how far I walked each day; it wasn't a mile up a snowy mountain, after a 15 mile bus ride like my own children had to do for several years of their lives!

Anyway, I would set out in the morning, sometimes walking with a friend or two from my block.  I don’t remember much about the walk to school.  I was just interested in getting there on time. After school, we all would pile out of the big double wide metal doors, run down the concrete stairs to the sidewalk, gathering down beside the retaining wall at the corner’s curb. We waited for the crossing guard to stop traffic on the busy thoroughfare.  When ready, the big black man with the round face and the perpetual smile would walk out into the road, hold up his hand-held stop sign and then wave for us to cross. We had to be careful to walk across the street, but as we hit the curb at the gas station most kids pressed for an all-out run down the sidewalks for home!  

My solitary walk home provided time to dawdle; I enjoyed time looking at everything all along the way. 


I remember chain link fences, lawns with no fences, lantana flowers between the chain link fencing and the sidewalk;


 picking up maple seed pods, sometimes called whirligigs or helicopters, and playing with them on the way; 



sometimes picking up a stick and picking it apart all the way home.  I remember the houses along the way that I had been in, only a few, for birthday parties of other students.  I remember yards well kept and some that were not.  Sometimes I would walk down one block and over one block, sort of in a diagonal pattern to home. Once in a while I would walk diagonally across the street down a long block, provided there were no cars coming—which their usually weren't, since people didn't drive as much in those days.   And I never cut diagonally across someone’s lawn to shorten my way, because I was taught to be respectful of neighbor’s property. 

The final portion was from the corner of my block to our house in the middle of the block.  I always marveled at the corner house, so neat and clean with several cars.  I knew they were a cut above our pay grade just by looking. The big picture window revealed lovely fancy furniture not like in my house.  The next house was a small wood frame house with a little old lady living in it.  I felt sorry for her, her house was a bit run down, in need of paint. Next was my friend’s house with a small apartment behind it. They too, were a marvel because they were the only one on the block with a boarder.  The next house was usually well kept, with the next one being a little mysterious set way back on the lot with lots of shrubbery like a shroud.  Then there was our neighbor’s house with her chain link fence and our house also with a chain link fence and a pepper tree in the corner of the yard.  I still remember the smell of the tree while opening the gate and running up the walk to home! **



**Excerpt from Household of Faith, a legacy book by Andy E. Pruitt and myself, being written for our large extended family.





Thursday, August 21, 2014

Forgotten Projects?

I was looking back at my list of posts and I realized that I have not been featuring my craft!  I'm sure that I took pictures to show you, but I guess I just got lost in life!  Anyone ever done that???

Here's a few projects that I forgot about:

Hedgehog pouches for my oldest granddaughter's pet. Soft blue interior!



Nutmeg

A special order of wedding boutonnieres using yo yos!


Making little exchange gifts for sewers and crafters to take to seminars or camps!

Vintage Lace on a wooden spool in organza bag! 

Have you ever been to a craft seminar, or camp?  A blog friend of mine goes every year to one that she loves. She's made some very good friends!  I would love to go to a quilt camp!  How about you?

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Tag, I'm it!

Kathy Roeth of tapestry316 invited me to join her in a blog hop. I love Kathy's blog; she has a great sense of humor while dispensing her country charm, honesty and faith at the same time!  Besides, I love her watercolor! A delight to read!

She asked me to answer these four questions and invite a few friends to do the same. Writing about myself is not something that I regularly do and being that I was at a juncture where I was at a loss for writing material, I said, "Why not?"

Me with a couple of grands

1. What am I working on/writing?

Now there's a question!  What am I always working on?  Aprons!  I call myself  "the apron lady", it's continuous!  But in reality, I am always working with various mediums--you can see that by my varied blog posts!  I get bored working on the same thing all the time, so I work from project to project  with photography, watercolor, charcoal and pencil sketching, hand embroidery, crazy quilting, and using up scraps from my apron making--quilt piecing, yo yo making. I am a "Jane of all trades"! But I also love to write. I have two active blogs, this one and one that I write only periodically, called Sabbatical Musings and Adventures.   My current major writing project is a legacy book with my husband.  Being a widow married to a divorced man, we have a homogenized family of ten children (and at this point in time) 27 grandchildren. We want to leave a written history/commentary about our separate lives and heritage for our blended family and future generations. We are unique, in that our family is successfully blended and very large. In current culture, much family history is lost, so we are writing this book for family understanding and hopefully longevity of a well blended family.  I should be working on my grandma books (see tab on my blog home page), but I seem to be momentarily stalled on that project.  


Illustration from my Grandma Books

2. How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?

I don't  know that my sewing or writing is so different from others---there's an abundance of crafters and writers out there in the world.  I just try to learn as I go.  My love of sewing has developed into a side business selling aprons, and they are my own design.  I guess that is a difference--they're original!  My writing brings a unique perspective because of my age and world outlook.  Many bloggers, from the 24-40 year old category, seem to focus on fashion and trends; I want to focus on things more lasting and substantial, even practical. I hope that my blogs model how to love family, spend leisure time with purpose, and learn some human relationship skills (thru my illustrated grandma books- which are focused on different generational perspectives).  I guess you could say that I am different because of my focus on family, not the baby/child/young family how-to stages of family, but the entire generationally bonded family. 


Thanksgiving with our clan

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write blogs, mainly for two reasons: 1) to keep an audience informed as to my products and my work process and 2) to keep my writing skills sharp.  The advice to writers is always, "Write!"  or "Just write something to keep in shape!" Writing a blog keeps my hand  in the craft. Of course, it's not all work, I put in some updates about my family gatherings and my grand children, I just can't resist!




4. How does my writing process work?

Process?  I just write!  Then, I go back and re-read and makeing adjustments.  In my lengthy book writing, sometimes whole sections are placed in another place thus giving the reader a better explanation of what I am trying to present. But most of my day-to-day writing is short and hopefully succinct, so it's the "off the top of my head" sort of stuff!  

OK, hope that gives a a better picture of me!  Time for three other recommendations.  These are three very different types of blogs, I hope you enjoy them:

My friend Margaret, has a wonderful blog called Splendid Little Stars.  I just love her photography!  Her nature photography from personal trips is awesome! Also, check out her tab for "Margaret COOKS" Yummy recipes!

Fellow Oregonian Sharla of BeadedTail has a unique blog written from her animal's point of view.  I always marvel at how she can write consistently in their voice!  If you love animals, you will love this blog! Psst . . some her proceeds benefit "Pawesome" animal charities!

      Sharla, Isabelle and Angel's post dated 8/25:  
       http://beadedtail.blogspot.com/2014/08/our-so-called-writing-process.html

And a friend that I met thru a blog team journal exchange--Laurie of IndulgeYourShelf.  If you love and I mean love, vintage, you will love Laurie's blog.  It is simply vintage finds and projects.  My favorite project that she has done was posted the end of July, called The Joy of Creating.  You'll love it!     

      Seems Laurie was previously nominated.  Here is her post:
      http://indulgeyourshelf.blogspot.com/2014/08/blog-hoppin.html

OK, that's it!  Time for you to go visit a few blogs.  
Thanks for visiting!! 



Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Summer Evening



Late evening from my deck!  Hot but serene, with a shower coming.

How's your summer going?

Friday, August 8, 2014

My Friday Finds

My usual post on Friday is 'Friday Finds'.  I like to feature other Etsy sellers, but this Friday, I am so excited about some finds of my own, that I am choosing to share what I have found!

Been spending time at estate sales and thrift stores, so I have lots to list in my Supply shop! Some items are listed, and some will be listed in the near future.  Keep checking back!  Just look at some of the treasures that I found:

One estate sale box had a ton of conchas in it!  All sizes and shapes!  From hearts to circles to cowboy boots!  I'll be listing them soon!


And beads!  Lots in glass tubes, and in all colors! 

Vintage beads

And then there were these vintage packs of baby rick rack!  I've been wanting to add supplies for crazy quilters, since I will be featured in a 2015 crazy quilt calendar.  Been looking for items that will appeal to that clientele and this baby rickrack may be of interest to them!

And buttons . . . I'm always looking for buttons!  Not just for crazy quilters --- I just like them! 



I also found some new holiday patterns that were previously in a quilt/sewing shop.  I will be listing them shortly, since the holidays will be upon us before you know it!  But I'll share those another day!  

Have a great weekend! 


Thursday, August 7, 2014