Autumn Purse Block Update

Just a quick post for today everyone.  Thought you would all enjoy seeing an update on my Autumn Purse block:

Bet you'll never guess what's going on that spider web?  LOL!!!  I may still hand-paint that lace piece on the top right.  I still haven't decided yet.  Stay tuned!  I'll be offering this in my Etsy shop when it's complete!

Taking Apart An Old Hat Tutorial

Bubba & I hit 2 Flea Markets yesterday!  I didn't find anything all that exciting but I did pick up this ugly old hat for $6.00:

I buy these these old hats for the vintage flowers.  Many times, they're velvet and silk and usually in very good shape.  I buy them when I find them for around $4 - $6 and then I take them apart.  This may seem like a rather dumb tutorial but I thought someone out there may like know how to do this.

In most cases, the glue on these hats is rather brittle and the flowers will come off easily but I have had a few that were a big old bear to get off!!!

First, I started on this one by removing the leaves:

The leaves & flowers are usually glued to each other.  Find a starting point and carefully start pulling the leaves or flowers away from the mesh base.

Silk flower petals may tear a little.  Do your best to carefully pull them off and keep in mind that if they tear, it adds to the charm and raggyness of the flowers.  I for one, love the raggy look of vintage things!  They can always be slightly trimmed with a pair of scissors.

There may be areas where you just have to cut the mesh base to get the flowers off.

Once I had the flowers off of the sides of the hat, I cut the mesh base on the top off.

This just makes it a wee bit easier to get the rest of the flowers off.

Continue to carefully pull the flowers off the top.

I pulled them all off the top of the hat and then I pulled them off of each other.  And now I have a nice bagful of silk & velvet vintage flowers & leaves!

It takes about 1/2 an hour to tear one of these old hats apart but it's well worth it.  The flowers can be used on crazy quilting, art quilts, cards, art dolls...just about anything!  They can be sewn on or glued on with a glue gun.  The can also be glittered!!!

If you find one for a few dollars, give it a try!  It's fun to re-purpose these old flowers on new projects!

If you would like to see some the projects I use these Vintage Millinery Flowers on, please visit my Shabby Chic Boutique at Etsy!

When I finished tearing that old hat apart, I did some baking!  My Kitchaid was calling to me!  LOL!!!  I made some Banana muffins with chocolate chips:

I just used a regular Banana Muffin recipe and replaced the nuts with chips.  Scott always laughs at me because I put chocolate chips in everything!!!

Then I made a batch of Sugar cookies with cinnamon and chocolate chips:

This is my basic Drop Sugar cookie recipe.  You can find it in my sidebar.  I added 3/4 of a teaspoon of cinnamon to it.

By the time I was done baking, it was late afternoon and Bubba had gotten the headlights on our Model A:

Is this incredible or what?  He's been working on this car for 7 years now and it's really starting to come together.  He has the running boards on it now too!

Finally for today, I'll leave you with an update on my Autumn purse block:

This is ready for beading now.  I'll start on that later today!

Before I head out and start my day, I wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the sweet comments that you've left for me on my depression & anxiety discussions.  If any one would like to share a link to the articles on their blog, please feel free to do so.  I truly feel that if I can help even one person who's going through a horrible depression experience, then my energy in writing these articles is so worth it.  My next article will be available this week.

Happy Pink Saturday!!! A Very Pink Surprise Gift!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!  I always so look forward to this weekly event hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound blog!

Earlier this week, I received a lovely goody package from my friend Mary Anne!  I mentioned here on my blog, that I was in search of pink eyelash yarn so that I could make a pink peacock purse, similar to this one:

Well, my friend Mary Anne found some in her neck of the woods.  Little did I know that she would put together a whole package of lovely pink craft supplies for me!!!  The box was even wrapped in pink rose paper!!  It was gorgeous!

Inside the box, Mary Anne included 2 lace butterfly appliques, some pretty beads and some little cat charms:

Mary Anne's notecard was also pink!!!  And here are the lovely skeins of pink eyelash yarn that she sent to me:

Are these gorgeous or what?!!  The multi-colored yarns are incredible!!!  What a lovely surprise.  And as you can see, even the tissue paper is pink. Thank you Mary Anne for such a wonderful gift!

Before I head out today, I wanted to remind everyone that I'm having a drawing and this sweet little Sewing Art Quilt is the prize:

Click here for the details!!!

So that's my Pink Saturday post for this week everyone!  Thank you very much for visiting me and I hope everyone has a very Happy Pink Saturday.

Please visit our sweet hostess Beverly at How Sweet The Sound blog and while there, take a few minutes to check out some of the other Pink Saturday bloggers!

This And That

First, I'd like to welcome my new followers!  I truly hope you enjoy my posts.  I offer tutorials, recipes, guest bloggers and tons of needlework & craft eye candy! I'd love to hear how you found my blog.

I've been busy the past few days, stitching on some little Halloween Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls!  Here are the first 2:





I have a few more in progress but these are available in the shop now.  I think I'll do an Autumn purse when I complete the next litter of Halloween kitties!

Also in the shop are some new Scarecrow Tussy Mussy's by mom:



There are 6 different Scarecrow Tussy Mussy's available, each one is different and so cute!  Mom is now working on some Halloween Tussy Mussy's!

Does anyone else feel like it's August already?  I don't know what it is but I feel like I should be putting out a few sunflowers and mums!  Maybe it's the extreme heat we've had the past few weeks.  Feels like I should be baking apple pies & carrot cake!

I've had Autumn on my mind a lot lately and came up with these sweet little Spider Web Needlekeepers:



I just love doing spider webs on Crazyquilts but wanted to make a few needle-keepers.  I'm planning on making a few more of these, not necessarily with spiderwebs but perhaps some flowers.  When I do, I'll write up a tutorial for you.  I'm going to make 1 little change to how I put them together next time.

In other news, Bubba has the gas tank in the Model A:



And he has the fenders on it:



Every day is getting a little closer!!!  Scott's been working on it for 7 years now!   If you would like to see more photos of our 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan, click here to visit my Flickr site.

Last week I mentioned that I plan to write some articles on coping with disorders such as ADD/ADHD, BiPolar, depression, anxiety and Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome using creativity to ease the symptoms.  From personal experience, I think it's safe to say that I've become quite the expert on the subject.  I like to keep my blog cheerful and uplifting so I won't be complaining about these things.  I've been able to see much of my disorders with a sense of humor!  I just want to help others who who suffer with these things.  I want other women to know that they're not alone and that artistic creativity is tool that we can use to work with the disorders rather than fighting them constantly.  I'll be starting this series of discussions in the next day or so.

I joined the Sister In Bloggerette Sorority at Some Days Are Diamonds blog:

Please hop over to Karen's blog and read about it!  Join too!  I think it'll be fun!

Well, I could swear there was something else I wanted to talk about today but it now eludes me.  I think my brain is fried for the day!  I'll leave you with my sister's newest pair of earrings:



These gorgeous green quartz earrings remind of Jadite Fire King!  They are so pretty in person!!!  And, they are available here.

Happy Pink Saturday!!!

Hello everyone!  And Happy Pink Saturday!!!  What a fun blog-land activity!

I finished putting together my Marie Antoinette Crazy Quilt purse and I've been saving it for my Pink Saturday post.  So without delay, here it is:



The back is rose colored velvet and the inside is lined with a pink rose print.  I had pink handles but they were a little too bright so I went with the clear handles.

I also thought you would enjoy seeing a Mini Art Quilt that my mom made for me:



This has always been my favorite photo of my mom.  She was about 1 year old here.  It was taken by a professional photographer in 1941.  The song "Pennies From Heaven" was popular at that time so that's what my grandparents called this photo.

So that's my post for this Pink Saturday.  Thank you so much for stopping by!  Please hop over and visit our gracious Pink Saturday host, Beverly.  You can find her here at How Sweet The Sound.  Be sure to visit some of the other sweet pink bloggers!!

Also, be sure to enter my drawing to win this sweet little Sewing Art Quilt:

There are 3 chances to win and you can find the details here in this post!