Moldy, Oldy Stuff

For as long as I can remember, I have loved old things. Being a rather domestic, home-body, I tend to gravitate towards things from the 30's & 40's. I'm rather fond of the shabby chic cottage look and it works for me considering my house is a cottage that was built in 1937.

Oh, I had thought I wanted something bigger, newer and more extravagant. What was I thinking? I'm by no means stuffy & stiff. I'm very casual, laid back and down to earth. Well, I was down to earth before my breakdown last Christmas but I'm sure in time, my feet will re-anchor themselves to the planet! Any day now would be fine with me!

Many of my needlework followers feel that they need to address me as "Mrs. Kellogg". Please! I like it when the neighborhood children call me that but as for stitcher's who enjoy doing my designs, I really prefer to be called by my first name. I'm just a normal (I use that word loosely) everyday girl who just happens to have a knack for designing needlework and other creative things. I'm really no different than anyone else. Well, for the most part anyway.

Many times though, my readers have told me that they wish they could get into my head and have a bit of my creativity! I always say, "Oh no you don't!" My head is a crazy place. I have Attention Deficit Disorder and Anxiety that is off the charts! The creativity is a side effect (a benefit, supposedly) of the ADD. Over all, I do see it as a benefit but there are times when it's a curse. Too many ideas at once cause my mind to race out of control which then causes my anxiety to go up. On the other hand, stitching and designing quiet my mind. It's a vicious circle. Someday, I'll explain what it's really like to have ADD. Oh, and to live with it! My husband has ADD too. We always say we're together because no one else would put up with our crazy ADD behavior! Ha, ha, ha! Truthfully, my husband and I are kindred spirits. I do truly believe we were meant to be together.

Well, enough yaking on that stuff. The point I started to make was, I love "moldy oldy stuff" as my sister refers to it. Well, actually, she uses a different "s" word but I don't care to offend any of my readers so I'll go with "stuff".

I was talking over the weekend about things to do with mason jars. I thought I'd share this idea with you:



A few years back, I bought a vintage blue Ball Mason Jar to keep my Mother Of Pearl buttons in. Out of the blue, I had the idea that it would make a really cool lamp. Well, I ask my dad, who is quite gifted with electrical things, if he could make it into a lamp for me. And here it is! Filled to the brim with my MOP buttons. Right now, it's in my living room on my electric sewing machine but I'm thinking of getting a different lampshade for it and putting it on my Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen after the holidays.

Another great idea for mason jars is this:



When I do finishing, I usually wait until I have a few things to finish and then do it all at once. I usually need several different colors of thread so I buy those small sewing kits that have a ton of little spools of thread in them and I store those in a mason jar. That way, I can just grab the jar with all the different colors in it rather than digging through my big spools of thread every time I need a different color.

There's more mason jar ideas coming. Just thought I'd share those for today. In fact, be sure to check back later this week as I'm going to hold a drawing for a mason filled with something very nice! Like I said, more details later this week.

Onto some stitching news, I'm finally almost done with my Vintage Vogart Dresser Scarf with the kitties. I have about 50 more French Knots to do and then I can move onto to another project. I usually keep an embroidery project going that I can do in the car if I ever have to wait anywhere. Crazy Quilting doesn't travel well! So I'll be starting another embroidery project to take out and about with me but here at home, I'll be starting on my Floral Crazy Quilt:



This will hang in my living room when it's done. Here is block #1 up close:



The quilt will be very flowery, with vines and quite a bit of SRE. Stay tuned to see this garden grow! I know Allie, with her love for flowers, will be watching this one very closely!

Before I head out, I like to reply to everyone who leaves me comments. In some cases, I can't find an email address to respond to so I would like to take a moment to say thank you to Sandy, who is also looking forward to seeing this quilt progress, to Linda who sent me a very sweet and encouraging message regarding this depression nightmare that I've been going through and to Annie who is enjoying my new approach to blogging. In fact, I'm hearing from so many of you that you find my "domestic" approach to blogging rather refreshing. Honestly, I do too. I never did like hiding behind the facade of professionalism.