Long time, no posts

Sorry I have let this blog coast for so long.

I have moved and unfortunately, my needlework has gone on the back burner. Hopefully, I will be able to get sorted soon. I do have a good working space that will be available once we are settled in and I hope to pick up my work once again.

In the meantime, I have discovered a very talented artist named Dan Moyer who creates whimsey.  He is currently doing a spin-off on the Blue Willow porcelain we all grew up with. He is producing versions of these plates called Calamity Wear with hidden disasters worked into the design.

Here's an example plate from the run.

And as if this is not enough, he has also been in the process of redesigning the traditional bandana.

Just for fun, I sent him this graphic of how the Japanese used a square of cloth to create shopping bags and other handy things.

Click on the images for more detail.

Going North

Time to pack up the car and head North. See you soon.

Ooops - Drapes

See the previous post - I just realized that I didn't post the finished project.

This is how the room looks now.

Drapes

I usually don't like curtains.  As soon as we moved into this house, I immediately yanked down all the curtains. Windows are never big enough for me.

But

I need to cover the windows in my family room, both for privacy at times and for inside climate control.

My family room and kitchen are connected. The family room windows are around two sides of the large room with a tall glass door giving access to the back yard. The back yard is shallow with access to a golf cart route. Golfers usually whizz by too fast to see in. But not always.

I like to get up and cruise around my kitchen in my nightgown. I don't enjoy eating with people looking into my kitchen. So, drapes and blinds are needed.

I'm not a fan of Venetian blinds either. But sometimes when the sun is blazing in and you don't want it, blinds are good. And at least, you can run them all the way up to the top of the window and get an expansive view.

So here's what happened.

I was flipping through a House Beautiful magazine the other day and saw these great drapes pictured in a room. They looked like something that would just melt into my buff yellow walls; the color appeared to be close to the paint and the design was subtle.   My family room colors are warm light brown woods, white door trim, white floor, yellow-tan walls and light brown leather furniture. Glass-topped, tan base metal side tables with a basket lamp, cork lamp and  a wooden based lamp in light maple-y wood.













So, I searched the 'resources' listing at the back of the magazine to see where they had come from.


No luck. The designer only said they had come from a good discount design firm.

I thought, "Well, I'll try to find something similar." So I Googled 'yellow curtains' and 'gold drapes' and 'tattersal drapes' etc.

Lo and behold, I FOUND them in a photograph that gave the company name. I checked out the sizes and found I could match two long narrow windows, a 4 ft. x 4 ft. window and two very tall glassed doors. And the whole thing was very reasonable. I wouldn't have to hock my car to buy them.

They are very good quality curtains. Beautiful fabric and well made.

They just came yesterday and they are nearly a perfect match for my wall color. Hooray!

The company is Light in the Box.

Sometimes, It is good to be a hoarder

Necklace componants:

Mother of pearl antique belt buckle.

Mother of pearl beads, buttons.

Agate beads.

Faux pearls

Real pearls

Glass beads

Seed pods

Wooden beads

Coconut shell beads and buttons

Shell beads

Brass beads and tiny brass bell

Moon stone beads

And for spice: Black onyx and glass beads

What to do, What to do?

The antique kimono material on my sofa pillow is falling to pieces.    

That is to say, the Mon or Japanese family crest symbol, is deteriorating.

And I'm in a quandary as to what to do.  Do I sew a backing onto the underside to stabilize it and let it continue to deteriorate? Or do I put a backing on and embroider the surrounding fabric? Maybe I should put a contrasting color behind the Mon and let it lose threads creating a whole new process and design?

Or maybe I should locate some other fabric or motif and applique it over the Mon, creating an entirely new design?

The whole pillow is black and white.

I really don't want to trash it; I love the feel of ancient silk.

P.S.  I forgot to mention, the bottom of the Mon is down to horizontal threads in the lower 1/3; the top of the circle is totally coming unfastened and can be lifted up.

Any ideas?

More Eye Candy from the Files

I'm always grabbing images off the web to keep for reference.

Now my computer is complaining. So I'll have to print them off onto paper in order to uncrowd my image memory. So, here's a few goodies:

Certainly worth saving choicey bits of fabric, cording, beads, buttons, and frill-frall. Don't you think?