Thrifting and Thank You's

It is such a treat to spend time wandering around in one of the sweet little antique shops in town or perusing a consignment store!  We have plenty of them to poke around in here in our lovely little valley.  (I've yet to attend a flea market, as we don't have any around here, but that adventure will come someday down the road!)

This adorable little striped apron begged to come home with me.  Look at the itty bity ric rac. And it's a Fruit of the Loom!  Remember those funny commercials with the men dressed up in their fruit costumes?

Collecting papers for a fabric journal in the works...

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I have met the sweetest women through this business.

A friend gave me this beautiful stack of hand knitted dish cloths last week with the nicest little note. They are my favorite things right now!

Our guild president handmade this sweet little sewing kit

just for me! It is a gem. 

I love seeing some scraps from our pillow projects!

Thank you, thank you!  

Love certainly makes the world go round!

Trunk Show

Yesterday I was invited to share a trunk show at My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe in their newly opened Attic.  What fun it was!  The store is adorable and they have done such a beautiful job with the space upstairs in "The Attic".  It will be a great place for them to host events and functions and I'm really happy for them. After jibber-jabbing for a while about how I became interested in wool, a little chat about dying and felting wool, and showing a few of my creations, we got to work making some cute little mason jar lid covers. The ladies are a blast to be with! As much as I enjoyed the morning, the big treat for me was stepping in the room next door to see the group of rug hookers from the valley and some of their beautiful rugs! Rug hooking was my first love affair with wool and seeing all of their amazing rugs gave me a shot in the arm! I can't wait to pull out my frame and start stripping and hooking again!

I hope your spring is as beautiful as ours is here in Cache Valley!

Thank You!

Karen was the lucky winner of my jar contest! Her prize is this sweet little birdie. I made her from a soft creamy piece of wool and cotton script fabric and I embellished her with buttons and trim from the jar.  The spool she is perched on was also from the jar.

Hope you enjoy her, Karen!

Our Spring Open House was a success!  Thanks to everyone who came by for a visit.  It was so fun to chat and hear about your latest projects. What a beautiful time of year! I just love stitching in the backyard listening to the birds chirp.

 New threads and ribbons...

 Everyone who came got to take home a little kit to make their own

bird on a spool.  Here is a photo for reference.  They are quick and super fun to create!

(OOPS! Please note that the body piece should be cut on the fold

I forgot to notate that on the pattern piece - sorry about that!)

 My cute friend Lisa shared a few projects she has done and is currently working on. 

Her stitching and embellished work are beautiful!

 Enjoy your Spring, feathering your nest, and creating!

Admiration

This post is l o n g overdue!  It's a story that happened back in December of 2010.  I made brief mention of it on our family blog and never took the time to get the photos uploaded. I have finally finished uploading them. With the class our guild had with Kerry Green this past week, I was inspired to share this.  It seems many of us have fallen in love with embroidery and embellishing wool projects.  As you will see, Sally should wear a crown in this arena. She is a master at it!

Mark & I have made several pilgrimages to Boston. We love it back there. We love the American History, the quaint architecture, the amazing restaurants and my family roots from the New England area. My mom grew up about an hour south of Boston. This December Mark attended a conference there and we went with our dear friends. It was their first trip to Boston and we had a blast seeing it with new excitement.

Months before the trip I was doing some poking around online to see what was going on while we would be back there. To my surprise and delight I discovered one of my favorite artisans, Sally Mavor, would have some of her work on exhibit at Danforth Museum near Boston and she would be there doing a book signing while we were there! What a treat that day was! My friend Stacey & I got ourselves train tickets to Framingham and after one wrong turn and a walk through a dicey neighborhood, we got ourselves turned around and enjoyed the sweetest afternoon. Photos do not do justice to her incredible work. Seeing it firsthand was remarkable and I was even quoted in a local newspaper article!

We looked around the gallery while we waited for her lecture to begin.  It was so  captivating to study the beautiful three dimensional illustrations!  They were incredible! 

She was very warm and gracious as she chatted with us and signed books.

It was so fun to listen to her talk about her inspiration and the journey this project took her on.

If you have a few minutes - check out this link on Sally's blog.  It will give you a peek into her studio and her thoughts.

Stitching With Kerry

Busy days getting kits ready and searching for a rainbow of threads.

 

Our guild had visiting artist Kerry Green teach a sweet class on embellishing. We began our individual creations of these cute Blossom Sewing Tucks.

Getting side-tracked admiring Kerry's beautiful bag and bucket!

A few of us brought little samplers we were working and soaked up Kerry's wonderful advice.

Everyone enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and found the rhythm of our stitching. There was a little salad buffet for lunch and great company as we stitched.

Here are a few close ups for reference as you ladies finish up your projects. We'll be excited to see the finished sewing tucks and your smiling faces!

Thanks Kerry for a wonderful class and for your enthusiasm and patience!