Happy Easter!

Wishing you a blessed and happy Easter!

Square 33

The Plunge

So, for years I've had this thing about Cath Kidston.  I study her catalogs, and I went nuts over her line at Ikea (I'm still kicking myself all these years later that I didn't buy more of her line when it was available at Ikea prices)!  Every now and then I've ordered something, all the way from the UK, like my strawberry oilcloth bookbag, that is currently home to my 39 squares project:

But I haven't ordered anything from her in years, mainly because of the shipping cost.  I keep filling up my online shopping cart, only to change my mind because of the shipping.

Well, last week I reached a huge personal milestone -- I went over 1000 sales in my Etsy shop (something that last year at this time I thought was impossible).  I decided that this big achievement deserved a little Cath Kidston!!  So, I took the plunge, and finally completed an order!  I'll take pics and show you all of it when it arrives, but one of the items I bought is the darling cottage sewing basket shown above.  LOVE IT!

Below is my latest square:

Hope you have a happy Thursday!

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....