Barbara at Oodles and Oodles recently wrote about her newly renovated bluebird houses. Here’s one of her photos where you can see a potential new resident. When I read about her bluebirds, I remembered I had a couple of cute birdhouse pages somewhere in my vintage coloring book collection — it just took me a…
These blocks are going to be a nice project to work on over the summer — a little similar to the ABC blocks in that they are very detailed and stitched with one color. Because I have two months off each summer, I try to work on Christmas presents for my family, but I never…
Thank you everyone for your kind words regarding Jack’s death. It is hard to lose a pet, but I am feeling much better now. This embroidered block was very enjoyable to stitch — the tiny outline work really appeals to me, although I did struggle with Alice’s face. The whole piece is stitched with one…
Yesterday we had to euthanize our 14 year old cat, Jack, who was diagnosed last year with liver disease. I just finished this little mourning quilt, which is named for him. The blocks were made with mourning prints and shirtings from this quilt top. The border is new, and the binding is constructed from antique…
One might think this blog should be called B is for Book. I am working on several quilt projects now and should have photos soon — including a mourning doll quilt suggested by Kathi — sort of a strange idea, but I like it. Anyway, these Alice images actually are quilt related since I have…
This Platt & Munk book is not dated and no illustrator is credited, but I am sure it is quite old. It’s smallish (about 7″ x 10″) and printed on very heavy stock. There are only 12 pages, the first 9 of which have been colored with wax crayons. It’s a very laborious process to…
These butterfly wings and bodies were purchased on ebay in 2002, along with the Crazy Baseball blocks used to make this quilt. I assume they were made by the same quilter, since several of the fabrics are the same. The newspapers on the back of the Baseball blocks were dated 1943, so I guess that’s…
The Big Paint Book Whitman Publishing, 1930
Elliott uses this hexagram as his logo — it’s the tattoo on his favorite GI Joe character when he was little (Snake Eyes), and Elliott also has it tattooed on his forearm. Whenever I use a GI Joe theme for his birthday, I try to incorporate this design. Last year we had hexagram cupcakes, but…
The quilt for Baby Doll is finally finished. BD is the youngest daughter of my blog friend, Ann at Nifty Needle, and she needed a “blanket” for her doll. I think she is going to like this sunny yellow quilt made with 30s scraps. The prints in the top and the yellow fabric are vintage…
Today I didn’t sew at all — I was too busy cutting out and putting together these fun Cubees from CyberDrone at deviantART. These are some of the decorations for my son’s family birthday party next weekend. It’s kind of silly (since Elliott is turning 28), but for years I have done either a GI…
This block was a real fiasco — what was I thinking? Finally, it’s done and now I like it very much — it has a lighter feel to it and looks better with the other two finished blocks in the Ann Champion Series. Of the three blocks so far, this one was the most difficult…
This is the third block in the Ann Champion Series, and it was the most time-consuming so far. The large interior pieces can be machine stitched, but all of the smaller curved pieces must be hand stitched. The center circle is appliqued and the muslin outer piece is machine sewn. The outer edge of small…
Because I am still working on the embroidered Christmas quilt top, the Baby Doll quilt top and the latest Ann Champion block, I don’t have any photos right now — hopefully very soon, though. While we’re waiting for me to finish something, here are some cute illustrations from one of my old copies of John…
Here is Laura Wheeler mail order transfer, #2307, dated 1939 — a project for sewing and embroidering a laundry bag with an appliqued and embroidered pocket for hankies. On the original transfer, the HANKIES lettering was not on the pocket so you could iron it separately onto the applique fabric. Probably most of you (with…