Pink Roses

more flea finds...

Here are a few more treasures that were in that big bag of sewing things I bought at the flea market last weekend.  All of this lace and trim was tangled up in a knot, and had to be ironed so I could photograph it. The bottom piece (below) is a piece of silk ribbon that is fragile and stained, but I'm afraid to wash it.  The crochet piece is a collar, and the eyelet is a flat length of trim about a yard long.

The top piece (below), with the scalloped edge and square embroidery, is another yard long length of flat trim, and the eyelet piece below that appears to be a part if a doll dress, or maybe a really fancy cuff on a ladies blouse.

Everything in the bag was in the same creamy white color palette, and I just love it all.

There was also rick rack in different sizes...

...and one crazy combo that looks like art to me...

Hope you have a great weekend!   

52Q: weeks 3 & 4...

I got a little behind, so here's last weeks challenge. I made it from a page ripped from my watercolor journal, and just added the black doodles and writing.  Here's this weeks...

I cut a black and white photograph of myself into a tag shape and added some German scrap roses. Here's my little tag book so far...

Right now I'm holding the tags together with a pipe cleaner, because I still need to make a cover.  Might be my weekend project! 

P.S. My sister is going to start the 52Q challenge this weekend, and catch up when she can...if you are interested, the info is HERE.

Artful Blogging...

I am honored to have this little blog of mine featured in the beautiful new issue of Artful Blogging.  When I started this blog, I had no idea anyone would actually read it.  I had no idea I was stepping into a world of amazing women, with such gracious and caring hearts.  Every day you come to visit and share ideas...you laugh with me, cry with me and pray for me...you "get" me.  Thank you for allowing me to share my life (good,bad & ugly) with you.

The greatest honor of all, is calling you my friend!

In book stores February 1, 2009.

tat rat...

At the Nashville Flea Market this past weekend I bought a bag full of, what appeared to be, sewing related things.  It was a big clear bag and I didn't open it, but just looking through the plastic I could tell it might hold some treasures.  It was from an estate sale, the seller told me, and back at our hotel later that night, I dumped the contents on the floor and started going through it all.  There were lots of bits of sewing and lace, a few silk ribbons, but the most interesting was the tatting.  SO many tiny pieces of tatting...some still attached to the spool, like in the picture above.  Here you can see how small the piece actually is...no more than 1 inch...

Her tatting shuttle, with project still attached, was in there too...

This woman had so many projects started all at once...I wonder if I am related to her? 

She saved even the tiniest scrap of thread...this is no more than a yard of floss, wrapped around a broken matchstick...

She was a pack rat, but for tatting...so I'll call her a "tat rat"...

There were also small ball of threads...the pink one below is the size of a small marble...

and lots of old spools...

and cards of trim...

I LOVE cards where they have wrapped and saved bits of more than one trim...I have no idea why, but these are always my favorite...

little crochet pieces too...

There are many more pieces to photograph...

here's more...

I hope that this woman somehow knows that her things have fallen into the hands of someone who appreciates her work.  From one pack rat to another...hope you enjoy it too! 

answered prayers...

We just got back from the doctor and I wanted to write a quick note to let you know that Will does NOT have cancer.  All of the tests and biopsies came back negative, and the doctor said that maybe it was a viral infection...(seriously-why did you say the word CANCER over and over ??).  Basically they still don't know what is wrong for sure, so there will be a few more tests, and another CT scan in a few weeks to compare what's going on.  But the news was great.  He got so excited, and my parents cried when he called them, but I think I am in shocked. I was trying to be really strong, so it may take a moment to sink in.  

Last night he and I went to dinner and we talked about the power of prayer.  I told him that my blog friends all over the country were praying for him.  He said that he has felt such a sense of peace and calm the past few days.  I have too.  We agreed that it was prayer lifting us up.  He sends his thanks and so do I.  Our prayers were answered!

easy turtles...

A friend brought me a tin full of these "easy turtles" last week, and boy were they good!  Here's how you make them...you need: Mini Pretzel Twists, Rolo candies (chocolate and caramel), Pecan halves...that's it!

Arrange pretzels on a cookie sheet with one (unwrapped) Rolo candy on top of each pretzel.  Heat in a low oven (250 degrees) for just a few minutes (2 or 3) until the chocolate gets soft.  Remove from oven and immediately press a pecan half down onto the candy to smash it.  The caramel will run out of the bottom of the candy, but the pretzel keeps it all together.  Allow to cool until the chocolate and caramel set up again, and the turtles will maintain their shape. Store them in a tin with waxed paper between the layers. 

You can probably make them faster than I just typed this!

Bite sized and delicious...Enjoy!

something blue...

Post holiday decorating is always a bit of a letdown for me.  Everything seems so boring after the sparkle of Christmas.  I loved the way the dining room looked at Christmas, and seeing it stripped of all its glittery goodness, it was...dull.  So I went with an old standby, my favorite color (besides pink)...blue.  I was cleaning up and getting ready to throw these Hydrangeas in the trash (they are left over from last summers garden), when I thought they would be the perfect color for winter.

Blue has always been a calming color for me, the color of sky and ocean and robins eggs.  This still looks like Winter, but with a promise of Spring.  Something cheerful on this cold winter day...

she knows me...

Elizabeth called me on Thursday night with an elaborate speech planned out. 

"Mom...what are you doing this weekend?  Because I was thinking...you could come see me in Nashville...you know it's the weekend for the Flea Market at the Fairgrounds, and there's this great new place for cupcakes called Dulce  that I've been dying to take you to...and we could go to the Frothy Monkey for lunch, they have the best sandwiches...and we could go shopping at Pangaea and Anthropologie...and OH, you can spend the night and we'll go to Cabana  for dinner-You know that's the place that has those great appetizers called "Tennessee Sliders"-little sweet potato biscuits filled with smoked country ham and homemade peach preserves-I'll call some friends and make reservations-we'll have a girls night out.  Come on mom...you need to get away...will you come?"

How could I say anything but YES! 

I have just returned from a quick 36 hour whirlwind of a trip.  We did everything on her list and more!  I think I gained 3 pounds.  Her friends were delightful, Nashville is one of the best cities EVER, and my daughter never fails to cheer me up.  Did you know that when we are walking together, she always holds my hand?  In public, in broad daylight...she holds my hand.  I love that.  So instead of feeling tired after my trip, I feel energized, renewed, alive, and loved. 

It was just what I needed. 

She knew that.  She knows me...

busy hands...

The past few winters I have been in a bit of a "knitting frenzy", any time I had to sit and wait, I would knit.  I knitted scarves, because that was the only thing I knew how to do, and they took one ball of yarn...quick and easy.  I knitted enough scarves, that every human I knew had one...or two.   Enough already with the knitting.  Unfortunately, I still have a big stash of yarn-just one skein of each style/color...not enough to make anything other than a scarf.  So to change it up a bit, I switched to crochet...The scalloped cream scarf above just took a day...this granny square scarf is taking a bit longer...

This blue scarf said it only took one skein, but I ran out of yarn and it is a bit narrow.  It makes up for it in length though...it wraps around my neck 6 times!

I bought this book at Michael's and this is how I learned to crochet.  Her instructions are very easy.

Next project is going to be this flower scarf...

and maybe someday this shawl...

just keeping busy...

52Q:week 2

This was the question last week for the 52Q challenge, and I just had the time to do it today.  It's kind of ironic, that during a week when my life saw so much change, I had to answer...am I afraid?  My answer is "yes", right now I am.  But if you had asked me last week, or last month, or last year, the answer would have been "no".  Change has always been a good thing in my life, new people and places, new ideas and inspiration...but I realize that I like to hold onto the old, and just add to it.  I don't like big, drastic, sudden change.  I like to play it safe.  My hairdresser knows to only cut off an inch at a time :)

My tag this week is fairly simple: some printed cardstock, a few typed words, and a ticket from the hospital parking lot where I parked everyday.  A reminder of why I said "yes" to being afraid.  I'm sure that will change, but for now it will be a little time capsule of how I was feeling. 

It's not too late to play along if your interested...you can find details here:  52Q...