Square 31 and My Most Recent Obsession

Here's square 31 -- more of an assemblage of things than an embroidered square.

In keeping with my recent (and still somewhat surprising) focus on embroidery, I wanted to share with you my latest obsession: vintage embroidery transfer patterns.  Not too long ago I bought a box of these, not exactly sure what I would find, or even what I would do with them.  This week I took the time to go through the box, and here's just a little sample of what I found:

Seriously -- could these be any cuter?  The tea set with faces?  The dancing cutlery?  The basket full of hearts? The love birds?!  I just can't believe how awesome these are!  I'm still not exactly sure how I'll use them.  I think they are too fragile to try to use them as intended (iron-on transfers).  Instead, I may use tracing paper to transfer the designs onto embroidery projects.  Anyway, lots of fun to come, I think!

Happy stitching, everyone!

39 Squares: Square 30

Here's my latest square, a strawberry.  This darn thing drove me to distraction last night!  I had the most exciting idea for this square, but it did not pan out.   I have these wonderful antique beads left over from (long ago) when I bought a bunch of old beads for my wedding dress.  Some of these tiny old beads have a slightly silver sheen, and they were perfect -- PERFECT -- for the seeds on my strawberry.  Only one problem: I don't have a needle that is small enough to fit through the bead!!  Ugh!  I tried 4 different needles, and finally had to give up and resort to French knots.  I looks okay, I guess, but it wasn't the grand plan that I had in my head.  Well, you know what they say about best laid plans....   :)
On to the next square!

39 Squares: Sampler Update

 

Here's an update on my sampler progress so far, along with a picture of squares 28 and 29.  I like how it's all coming together -- and I can't believe I'm almost out of squares! 

Warrenton/Round Top Antiques Fair, Part 2: The Loot

We found a lot of wonderful treasures on this trip!  Kari found so many cute things for her shop -- especially cute vintage hand towels and hankies, and a couple of antique redwork pillow covers that are to die for. I found a nice amount of antique lace, and I'm getting it into my shop as fast as I can.   But I also found a few things for me, which was fun.  I loved the bright retro graphics on these heavy linen towels shown above -- those strawberries!  Love 'em!  These are already washed and  hanging up in my kitchen.

And this fabric in the pic below -- I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but it is FLOCKED!!  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it exactly.... but I love it!

I found a vendor with lots of these little Victorian calling cards that I like so much.  I think I may have gone a wee bit overboard:

I found some pretty laces, though not as many as I hoped for (though I may be unrealistic in that regard -- I can never have too much!).  I also found some vintage flax toweling fabric (the lace is on top of it in the photo), that I'm thinking of stitching on for my next stitching project.

But the most exciting find of the day for me -- by far -- was the Alice in Wonderland fabric!!!  I have one small remnant piece of this fabric, and for about 2 years I've been looking for more, with no luck.  Well, I stumbled onto 3 big pieces of it in this one lady's tent, and I started jumping up and down and shouting, "The Alice in Wonderland fabric! The Alice in Wonderland fabric!"  Let's just say it did not put me in the best bargaining position.  But no matter, that fabric was coming home with me no matter what!!  I may part with some of it -- some small pieces may show up in my shop -- but I think most of it is staying right here to be made into pillows for the window seat/library area I want to make for my girls.

What fun!  We had such a great buying trip, we're thinking about driving back up there this week....

Square 27 and Warrenton/Round Top Antiques Fair, Part 1

Yesterday was our twice-a-year trek to Warrenton, Texas, just outside of Round Top, for Texas Antiques Week. We arrived early at about 8:30, and left at 5. We sat down once for a quick lunch, but otherwise, it was all shopping! We found some fabulous loot -- FABULOUS! -- which I will share more about tomorrow, but for today, here are some pics to give you the flavor of the show, as well as the ever-popular weirdest item of the day.

I loved these little Easter chicks:

This booth was so fun -- bins and bins of charms of all kinds, which you could mix and match into bracelets and necklaces. Sadly, by the time we found this place, we were both out of money. I plan to start there early next time!

A pretty display:

One of my favorite pics from yesterday -- this wonderful group of vintage wedding cake toppers. I wanted to buy one, but Kari talked me out of it. Dang it! Should've bought one (or two....).

Below is a pic of the most clever display idea -- this lady draped vintage lace to create an "umbrella." It was charming!

We saw so many fantastic vintage foofy dresses yesterday. I wish I had taken more pictures of the dresses!

Wish I had a perfect spot for this dreamy couch:

And finally, without further delay, the weirdest item of the day! A stuffed wallaby! (And yes, it had a plaque on it that identified it as a wallaby.) There were a few other odd things, including one item that was so disturbing that we decided not to even photograph it), but truly, the wallaby won the prize yesterday!

Stay tuned: can't wait to show you some of the great treasures that I brought home!

Square 26: Easter Egg

Ugh -- this egg is not what I hoped for. My daughter looked at it and didn't know what it was. Not a good sign. So, I'm a tad frustrated with my stitching. Would it be wrong to do nothing but tutus for the rest of my squares?? Ha!

In other news, Kari and I are off to Round Top today for a whole day of antique shopping in the fields! I've got my sunscreen and my sunglasses and I'm ready to shop. Trip report to follow!

Square 25: Hydrangeas

I was kind of excited about the idea for this square. I love hydrangeas, and I've tried repeatedly (without success) to grow them in my yard. Anyway, I'm not sure this turned out as I hoped it would -- it kind of just looks like blue blobs. Oh well, it was worth a try!

Square 24: Tutu and Exciting Sale News!

I just heard some fun sale news: Kari has put all of the "bunny" items in her shop on sale! All items with a bunny rabbit are now 20% off! So, hop on over (ha ha) to her shop and snap up some darling vintage Easter linens before they're gone!

Square 23 and Scenes from West Texas

Here's square 23. I was going for hyacinths. Not sure I accomplished that, but I do like the way the square came out.

Below are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to west Texas. Such a beautiful, vast part of the world -- I highly recommend it, if you've never visited. My husband kept saying, "I can't believe we're still in Texas!" The landscape is just so different from what we're used to, here in the tropics of Houston. But if you're not from here, the scenes of west Texas might be just what you expect, because they are kind of "stereotypical" Texas scenes. I have to admit, I loved every minute of it!

This is historic Fort Davis. Really wonderful historic site, very educational. My girls loved it:





Below is the courthouse in Fort Davis:

We stopped in Pecos, Texas. They have the greatest sign I'd ever seen -- I love these old fashioned silhouette signs:





Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which is right on the border with New Mexico:



We stopped briefly in Ozona, Texas, to see the Davy Crockett memorial:

They also had a neat pioneer memorial:

And another lovely old courthouse (I have a thing for old courthouses):


That's the end of my travel report for today. Happy stitching!

39 Squares: Squares 21 & 22

Sneak Peek: New laces & trims

It's sunny here again (hooray!) so I was able to take pictures of some fab laces and trims. I'm hoping to get all of them into the shop today. I also took my 39 squares project out of the hoop so that I could see how it was coming along (there's a pic of that at the end).

I'm going to be participating in a fun Secret Garden swap -- so excited to do my first swap! More on that later. Lots of work to do today, on this last day of Spring Break. Hope you have a lovely Sunday!