I'm a fool for pretty paper, pens, pencils and things like that. I could spend a good hour in an office supply store or the pen and paper and stationary section of Walmart, Dollar Store or anywhere like that looking at everything. I stopped by the Dollar Tree this afternoon and look what I found!
They had some beautiful, floral clipboards, notepads, notecards and pens. And they were only $1.00 each. I bought a pretty floral petite clipboard, 2 notepads, and a small box of notecards with envelopes and a pack of 3 floral pens. I wanted to buy more stuff, and I may go back tomorrow and get some more. This kind of thing makes a great gift for someone who loves to write or journal. They even had some small journals and they were square. I may go back and look at those too.
I'm also crazy for floral journals and even if I have several if they are reasonably priced, I've been known to buy one or several. You see, the way I figure it is if I love them, then chances are that someone else will too, so I like to keep a stock of things that like on hand for last minute gifts. I must get this stationary fetish from my mother because she loves those things too.
This week I've been all wrapped up in Alice in Wonderland. Through the Looking Glass to be exact. A friend of mine loaned me her copy of a wonderfully illustrated edition. She got hers at A.C. Moore for about $3.00. Unfortunately, A.C. Moore closed their store in our city, so I didn't make it to get a copy. Anyway, my friend and I really know how to find a bargain. It's because we don't have much money to spend, so when we find treasures, we have to take advantage of it.
Here are some pictures of the book and a couple of inside pages.
The last few days here have been absolutely gorgeous! The temperatures have been in the middle to upper 70's and sunshine almost every day. I wish it could be this way all summer, but I know that eventually it will be really, really hot and humid and almost unbearable to go outside. So, I'm really enjoying this wonderful spring weather right now.
Yesterday afternoon I got into a picture taking mood. I went outside and took some pictures of my flowers and I wanted to share.
The first one is of one of my azalea bushes that are in full bloom right now.
The second picture is of the begonias I bought at a plant sale last week. I'm afraid to plant them right now because I'm afraid there might be just one more frost and I don't want them to be taken by the frost.
This last picture I have to say I'm very proud of because it's one of my hens and chicks plants and I've never seen one this big. At least I've never grown one this big before. It's so pretty and it's just flourishing.
Yesterday afternoon when I typed this, I had my windows open, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. I hope these pictures inspire you to work outside in your gardens and take some pictures of your own. I have spring fever right now and I wish the same for you because it feels really good!
I've had so much fun this weekend crocheting cookies. I found a really fun, easy pattern in this Etsy store. I also found a free crochet oreo cookie pattern here.
Both of these patterns are very easy to do. The only thing different I did with the oreo pattern is that I used black yarn instead of the brown the pattern called for. The reason is because every Oreo cookie I've ever seen has been black on the outside, not brown. For both cookie patterns I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn because it was all I had and I had lots of different colors on hand already.
Like I said, this was alot of fun this weekend. I'm going to put a platter with these cookies arranged on it to keep on my Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen. I also want to make some more Oreo cookies and put them in a clear glass jar of some kind. I just think these are cute arrangement to put in the kitchen. They look real. Of course now that I'm doing this and fooling all of my friends and family, I'll have to have some real cookies on hand. Looking at these crochet ones will make you want a real one.
I love photography and especially taking pictures of flowers, so I want to tell you about two new postcard prints that I have just put up in my Etsy shop.
I just found the neatest web page for crochet cakes. These would be so much fun and I can't wait to try them. I think I'll make some and put on a pretty plate and arrange my dolls around them for a tea party. What fun! She has free patterns too!
Hello again, I just found this wonderful video clip on Youtube of Mary Poppins and the "I Love to Laugh" scene. It's about 7 minutes, so if you want to take a short break, sit back, relax and enjoy. And don't forget to go to the bottom of my page to turn off my music before you watch the video.
My best friend and her husband just came back from their son's wedding in Memphis. On the way, they stopped at a Cracker Barrel and bought me this gift. I was so surprised and the gift was so pretty I hated to open it. I always have that problem. I love the way gifts are wrapped and packaged almost as much as the gift that is inside. I really appreciate the time and thoughtfulness that someone puts into making a package pretty. Here it is in it's wrapped state:
And here is what was inside:
They know how much I love cats and I'm a sucker for stuffed animals. This one is so cute! Now I have to think of a name for her and maybe a story! Hmmmm.
As promised, I have a photo of the project I have been working on for the past 2 weeks. They are drawstring jewelry pouches. Inside they have 8 separate compartments for rings and earrings and the middle part is great for necklaces and bracelets. They can also be used as small portable take-a-long bags for sewing items like sewing thread or embroidery thread, thimbles, a small pair of scissors and things like that. They drawstring tightly closed so you don't have to worry about anything falling out and getting lost.
I really had alot of fun making these and I plan to put a few of them in my Etsy store just as soon as I can get more photos taken and get them listed. I hope to do that this weekend.
I have been so tardy in posting to my blog lately. It has been so busy here at work and at home that I feel like I'm in a whirlwind. I work in an academic library which is busy most of the time, but I work mostly behind the scenes in technical services. That means we do all of the receiving of new books, cataloging and processing them to prepare them for going on the shelves. We also do a yearly inventory during the summer and some departments also do weeding (or withdrawing of old books from our collection) during the summer months when things are quieter in the public service area. But, for me, my workload doubles in the summer months because all that weeding and inventory involves lots and lots of paperwork, which I'm involved in. It really doesn't sound like much, but the time it takes to do all that and the paperwork involved is unbelievable. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I love books. In fact, I wouldn't be happy if I weren't working around books, so this is the ideal place for me to be. The only other thing I would rather be doing is staying at home and having more time for artwork, sewing and all the other things I love to do.
At home, when I don't come home and collapse after work, I have been doing lots of sewing, so I do have some fun things to show you as soon as I get a chance to get the photos I took posted. Just a hint is that it has to do with jewelry and traveling.
Speaking of traveling ... we are planning a vacation with some friends and family to Panama City Beach, FL the first week in June. I'm going to take an extra week after we get back, to rest before I go back to work. That's terrible isn't it? You take a vacation to rest from your vacation??? I'm just not one of those people who can drive 8 hours one day, get home late that evening, and get up early the next morning to go back to work. I would be exhausted.
On another fun note, one of my blogging buddies, Mica, just published a children's book. I also think adults would enjoy it as well. I know I have. It's called The Tale of Spring Forgotten and she published it through blurb. I had never heard of blurb before, but now that I have I'm going to think about publishing a book there later. Maybe a poetry book or something else. My mind is clicking with ideas.
This morning I stumbled onto a whimsical web site. I found the link through Garb-oodles Soup links. I just love these whimsical dolls and the ones made by Mica at Garb-oodles Soup. I don't know how they are made, but I would love to learn to make some.
Please be sure to go to the bottom of my blog page and turn off my music to watch this video.
I love Beatrix Potter books and the Miss Potter movie. One of my favorite books is The Tale of Tom Kitten. The following is one of my favorite pages from the book. In fact I have it framed and mounted on my wall at home.
She sent them upstairs; and I am sorry to say she told her friends that they were in bed with the measles; which was not true.
Quite the contrary; they were not in bed; not in the least.
Yesterday, was a movie watching day. The first movie I watched was Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. It was a wonderful movie and I had just started watching it when, alas, the doorbell rang and my mother-in-law popped in. Drat it. Well, it wasn't her fault I had been planning on watching this movie for about a week. She stayed about an hour, and then left. I did get to see the ending of the movie, but I'm pretty sure I have seen the movie before, just not in its entirety. Just bits and pieces. To view the video below, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of my page and turn the music off on my music player.
Right after that movie, I saw that Key Largo was coming on. I love Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart together in movies, so I wanted to watch this one too. I didn't really enjoy it, though. I don't think it's one of their best movies together. I did watch it to the end, it was just the story line I didn't like, not the actors because Bogey and Bacall are exceptional actors in the movies they were in together. I just think their acting ability has been put to much better use than this movie.
This weekend I finished making a baby sweater. It's for no one in particular, but I like to have a few of these on hand in case of baby showers.
I also took a notion for some deviled eggs. I don't eat them very often, but every now and then I really like them. When I saw how pretty they looked on the plate and I saw my pretty salt and pepper shakers, I decided to take a picture.
When I was making them I started to reach for my regular salt and pepper containers, which really aren't containers at all. They are more like the containers that they came in. Then I happened to see these pretty shakers, and I decided that I wanted to make this an elegant experience, even if it was just deviled eggs I was making.
Using this pretty Lady Carlysle dish and those elegant looking shakers reminded me of my aunt. She used to set a perfect, elegant table and always used cloth napkins. When she passed and we bought her house, we found all kinds of lovely linens. None were embroidered that I remember, but she had lacey type linens and just all sorts of napkins, tablecloths, pillowcases. I kept them all, of course, because I love to use these things.
I wish I could have been more like her. She lived in the era where most mothers and wives stayed at home and she never even learned to drive. I'm glad I learned to drive, but sometimes I long for the simpler times when she was a wife and mother. With this faster paced world where it seems it almost always takes two incomes to make it, there doesn't seem to be any time for things like real linens and things like that unless we stop and make the time.
Maybe turning 55 last month, was a liberating experience that made me put things into perspective. So, I have decided that I'm going to add more elegance to my life just by using my fine china teacups and dishes for the simple things. What am I saving them for? I've started drinking my coffee every morning using a different china teacup every day. I'm going to start using those Lady Carlysle dishes. Since that is my favorite china pattern, I would love to add some dinner dishes to that, but the outlet store that was close to us in Calhoun, Ga. closed. I'm going to have to figure out a different way to find them.
I'm very excited to tell you about two new paintings that I just finished over the weekend. You can find them in my shop. I really enjoyed working on them and I hope they find a new home with someone who loves them.
These were so much fun, and I have lots of ideas floating around in my head for more paintings in the near future.
I been kicking myself because I kept forgetting to post the picture of this beautiful doll that my friend made and gave to me for my birthday last week. I love her and she's found a home on my fireplace mantle for the moment. I haven't named her yet. I'm going to have to ponder that for awhile ...
I also wanted to post a picture of my new friend, Pinky. I saw her this morning at the grocery store and since I've become smitten with pink flamingos lately, I couldn't resist. She's keeping me company near my computer at work.
Other than that, things are going fine except for some mild stomach bug over the weekend. I also finished some new paintings for my shop that I will share with you tomorrow!
Friday night was the opening night in our city for the movie The Other Boleyn Girl. My friend Susan took me to see it for my birthday. We both really enjoyed the movie. In addition, she gave me a lovely doll that she made for me, but I forgot to bring the picture that I took of her with me today so you could see.
My cousin recently won a world-wide award through AC Photos for a photo that she took called "How to Completely Disappear."
Seeing her photos on her myspace page has renewed my interest in photography. She is a talented artist and photographer. She even has one of her watercolors on her myspace page that is available as a print.
It's called "The Gathering" and is an 18"x30" and giglee' prints are available.
Our local newspaper came to our Jazzercise class awhile back and taped a video. I wasn't there that day, but you get an idea of what we do.
I haven't been to Jazzercise in awhile, but I need to get back. It's so hard to go home and then go back out to class, especially in the winter months, but it needs to be done. Sigh!
Monica Ferris is one of my favorite authors. I love her knitting mysteries. I couldn't get the other links to work so that you could directly link to them from here, so when you click on the link above and get to her web page, click on the large picture and you will get some great pictures of marzipan yarnballs. If you scroll on down you will find a link for a tutorial for how to make them. Just click on the link that says "Tutorials here".
I've done some cake decorating before, but I think I'll just have to pass this time and enjoy the pictures. I think this is a little to much fussy work for me. I love the pictures, though. They are great!
I've been battling a toothache for the last week. It's actually been bothering me off and on since before Christmas. It's a tooth that has a really old filling and I guess they don't last forever. I'm sure I've had this one for at least 20 years or more. Last year before the holidays I went to my regular dentist who took x-rays and determined that I have a cracked tooth and that I need a root canal, a new filling, and a crown. Well, I've just been putting it off. Dentists are not my favorite people since I had such traumatic experiences as a child, but for the most part I just brave up and do it. It's gotten to the point that I don't want to deal with the pain anymore, so I'm going to have to make an appointment and get it done.
This afternoon we were doing laundry and our dryer decided it doesn't want to dry anymore. So, we went ahead and washed the clothes and tomorrow Eddie is going to take them to the laundromat and dry them. It's a really bad time for the dryer to go out, especially with a root canal and crowns coming up, but it could be worse, so I'm counting my blessings and not complaining. I guess the hammered dulcimer is going to have to wait for awhile, though, until we get some more bills paid off. We have to put our priorities in order, and the dulcimer is just not at the top of the list right now.
I did have some fun this weekend in spite of my toothache and the dryer going out. This first part actually happened last Friday when I was surfing the Internet for vintage embroidery patterns. I came across some Flickr sites where the ladies collect vintage Aunt Martha and Vogart embroidery patterns. All you do is click on one of the albums and you just scroll through them and when you click on a pattern you will see an "All Sizes" button in the top left corner near the pattern. When you click on "All Sizes" you get the pattern in the actual size. I think these ladies collect vintage patterns and scan some of them and make them available on the Flickr sites for non-commerical use only. I'm really interested in some patterns for pillowcases and I like doing the small ones, too, for pillows. I also like looking at blogs that have lots of pictures of embroidery that they've done using these patterns. Usually, what I do is go to Google and do a blog search for either Aunt Martha's embroidery or Vogart Embroidery and I'll get a list of several blogs that feature embroidery using these patterns. I can also do an Image search in Google using the same terms and can sometimes get links to blogs and photos. I also discovered that I can do a search in Flickr for these patterns and get more albums. It's really cool. I like looking at pictures of what other people are making because its eye candy and it's very inspiring.
I made several pieces of jewelry this weekend that I plan to put in my Etsy shop this week.
I also made a couple of necklaces for myself, but I haven't made pictures of those yet. I will do that and post them later.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Inspired by Garb-oobles Soup's sock monkey, I remembered that I had a UFO that I started a couple of years ago and had put it back. I think one of the legs came out smaller than the other one and, well, it doesn't take much to discourage me in a project for me to just put it away and deal with it another day. Then I thought, "why a dress would cover that up!" So, here is the result:
She was really fun to make, but in all honesty, I don't think I'm going to make another one any time soon. I'm glad I have this one, though.
Another thing I'm working on right now is some needlepoint of Pinky and Blue Boy. About 5 years ago, I bought a set of them that had the main design already stitched. All I had to do was stitch the background. Easy enough, right? Well, for some reason when I started Blue Boy a few years ago, somehow the stitches didn't look right to me, so rather that take it all out, you guessed it, it went into my ever-growing UFO pile. I dug it out about a month ago and started on it again.
The picture below is not very good, but it gives you an idea of what I"m doing. I haven't finished Blue Boy yet, but I thought I would put the color of yarn that I plan to use next to Pinky so you can see what it will look like. My plan is to put these in oval wooden frames, so I hope they will be antique looking.
It's a well known fact among my friends, family and coworkers that I love animals. Especially cats. I was looking around today on YouTube for videos on learning to play the mandolin and one of my coworkers sent this video to me. I think it's just adorable!
Last night I made some small rosette brooches. I created this design because I wanted to make a brooch that could be worn for Valentine's Day, but then realized that these can be worn any time and can be worn as a brooch or on a hat. I put them in my Etsy shop this morning and I have all colors of yarn in my stash, so I can take special orders too. As I make more, I will be posting more pictures.
Since it's Superbowl Sunday and I had a football cake pan that I had bought a few years back when I took cake decorating classes, I decided it would be a good time to try it out and make a football cake. I'm not a professional cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination, or not even a semi-professional, but I thought it came out decent and I'm proud of it. I mostly decided to use my limited knowledge that I learned in the class and just wing it. That can be a bad thing, though. Usually I have just enough information to hang myself and have someone else bail me out, but it was really fun decorating this cake.
We've had a fairly good weekend so far. Yesterday Eddie got out of the house after more than a week of staying in with his pleurisy pain and today he's feel badly again. It just takes alot out of him and the pain medication helps the pain, but it also knocks him out. I really think that the pain medication is just a bandaid for the real problem. Neither of us knows what it is (other than pleurisy), but I'm concerned. Maybe this is normal for this type of thing, but having never had it before and not knowing much about it, it's a troublesome thing. We're beginning our 4th week with this. I'm beginning to wonder, is this really what he has or is it something more serious? That's my main concern. His VA doctor has scheduled him for an appointment next week to see a pulmonary specialist in Murfreesboro, TN, which is about one and a half hours from here and maybe a little longer. I'm thinking that once we find out what kind of treatment he needs, we should find someone closer to home. It's just too far to drive when you don't feel well.
Other than that, I've been cleaning house and yesterday I made a hat using this pattern, but I think I must crochet really loosely because it seems like it came out alot bigger than the other hats I've made. I think it's because of the yarn I used. It has a more coarse texture than the other yarn I've been using and it requires a larger needle. Well, trial and error. That's how it is with crocheting and knitting. The good thing about crochet is that you can rip it out fairly easily. but it's not so easy with knitting. I really like the pattern, though, and the way the hat came out. I think I'm going to try it with a different yarn.
I'm very excited about my Etsy shop update today. I have been working on some Flapper hats and boas. I love these Flapper hats. They are so much fun to make and even more fun to wear. Every time I made a hat and tried it on I kept thinking that I needed a boa to go with it to look like a true Flapper girl, so I made a boa. Now I'm going to make some more boas to go with some more hats that I will make.
I also plan to make some newborn, infant and child size Flapper hats as well.
I keep thinking that with all these pretty hats, I need to have a Flapper tea party where everyone wears a Flapper hat and boa. Wouldn't that be fun?
Every time I put on one of the hats and boas, I want to do the Charleston and say "Boop Boop a Doo!". Ohh, we'd have to do that at the tea party too!
I've been busily making flapper hats and each one is so much fun. I just had to try them all on and when I did, I had the distinct feeling that I needed a feather boa. Here is a sample of what's to come in the shop.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my paper embroidery projects. Blaze asked me how I keep the paper from crinkling. The answer is that with paper embroidery you use cardstock and then it doesn't crinkle. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a package of white cardstock in the scrapbooking department. I also bought a pack of 50 cardstock weight blank bookmarks to make the bookmark patterns with. These are so much fun to make. I have a couple more that I will post pictures of as soon as I can get them taken.
Last night I started thinking about Flapper hats. There is a wonderful website that has lovely flapper hats and she has been so generous in sharing her crochet patterns. There are also some Out West Hats that she has made and included the patterns with those as well. These are also fun and easy to make. You can use the Caron Simply Soft yarn, which is so yummy to work with, or you can use any worsted weight yarn.
Eddie found out on Wednesday that he has pleurisy. He has been in alot of pain off and on for about two weeks. I'm glad we found out what it is, but I hope he gets better really soon. The doctor seemed to think an antibiotic wouldn't help but that he could take pain medicine and high dosages of Ibuprofen and let it run its course. We're watching it to make sure it doesn't get worse. He's had a low grade fever off and on with it and I'm really concerned about that. Whenever I hear someone has a fever, it makes me think there is an infection somewhere. I'm going to call the doctor today and see if we need to be concerned about it and whether she thinks he might need an antibiotic. Sometimes I get so frustrated with doctors. Why is it that sometimes I feel like we almost have to diagnose ourselves and tell the doctors what is wrong instead of the other way around? Please keep us in your prayers.
Last night I made two more paper embroidery goodies. I really enjoy this form of embroidery. It's very relaxing and I can do it while watching TV or listening to music.
First, is a cute field mouse:
Next, is a Christmas ornament that I'm going to make into a Christmas card:
I have recently discovered paper embroidery. I had seen it a few times, but I hadn't been able to find too much about it either online or in the craft stores. Once I did an Amazon search, I found several books that look promising. I also found a great website that has lots of information on how to get started and also has some free patterns.
It's really alot of fun. This is what I worked on this weekend, and last night I made some Christmas ornament cards. I'll take photos and share those soon.
I discovered that you don't have to have a fancy punching tool or a mat. What I've been using is one of those thumb tacks with a little holder on the end (they come either in clear, silver, or different colors) and you can find them in any office supply store or school supply section at Walmart, etc. I think I may have bought mine at Staples. For the mat I'm using a mouse pad, and it's been working great so far. And I'm using one strand of DMC embroidery floss, except on the large circle above, I used two strands because it just looked better.
I bought some bookmark patterns and I can't wait to see how those turn out.
Today I spent some time retyping the article that I got from the Demopolis Public Library into a more readable form. As I was typing, I was trying to think of how I could post this story and I decided that it was too long to put in a regular post on my blog, plus I wanted the story to be accessible easily. The story is just too good to only be read once in a blog entry.
So, I decided to make a blog just for the Trilby story with a link to it from all of my other blogs. You can also access it by clicking on "The Story of Miss Trilby Wragge" on my sidebar of this blog. There is also a link to it from my other blogs. the only thing I couldn't figure out was how to put into the Trilby blog the links to my other blogs. Every time I tried to upload it, I got an error message from Blogger about it. I don't know if something has changed in the html format or what, but rather than frustrate myself trying to do it, I decided it wasn't that important at this time to go from Trilby back to my Evelyn Rose blog. Most people will probably go to the Evelyn Rose blog first and then link to Trilby. Maybe. I don't know. I'll just see how it goes.
While I was browsing around in my pictures I found several pictures of my dolls that I had taken awhile back. I had forgotten I had the pictures. I'd like to share those with you. I love all kinds of dolls and pictures of them too.
This is a picture of the original Trilby Wragge doll that my friend and I took on our visit to the Bluff Hall Mansion in Demopolis, Alabama about 2 years ago.
I have found a wonderful treasure. It's the most intriguing story of the doll I've been telling you about named Trilby Wragge. I took a chance and did a Google search for "Trilby Wragge Demopolis, Alabama" and found a listing of articles housed in the Demopolis Public Library from the Bluff Hall Mansion. One of the articles is titled The Story of Miss Dotie Vaughan and Miss Trilby Wragge, from Campbell Long. I emailed the librarian there and she scanned the documents and sent them to me in an email as pdf documents.
Since I can't figure out how to put a link to a pdf document in my blog post, I'm going to retype the articles and just put a link to them in Word or something similar. Or I may just post the whole thing in its entirety on my blog. It's such a charming story and I see so many possibilities for dioramas. I can't wait to read the articles and jot down some ideas.
So, until my next post, I'll leave you looking forward to this story.
I was born and raised in Southeast Tennessee in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. My husband and I love driving into the mountains, especially in the fall, to see all the leaves as they turn. We are childless by choice, and have two cats.
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