ahem ... a little intermission or something

I got this darling Irish lassie from Magpie Ethel. So cute!

I should post something but ... ay yi yi, I can't think of a thing to write about. I'm rather bored with myself hahahhaha.  

Busy as a bee over here.  Consumed with working on taxes, Ebay auctions and getting organized in my craft room.

The dogs and I would much rather be outside in the whisper whisper oh so lovely warm weather we're having here in Los Angeles.  And I'm ready to begin working on my Easter Spoolie Swap project for my partner and can't wait to start.

I'll be back in a bit when I'm nearing completion on the things I need to get done.  Hoping you're all doing well and staying cozy!

521 lake street easter swap-a-roonie

 

I'm casting my Nervous Nellie usual self to the wind and taking my very first dip into the world of blog swaps. Dear Sandy at 521 Lake Street is hosting an Easter Swap and it sounds like so much fun!  We are to make an Easter "spoolie" creation for our partners and also include an Easter basket or box, complete with goodies for our partner.  How cool is that?! 

happy valentines day

 

Wishing you and all your sweetie pies, a very Happy Valentine's Day!

look what I found

Jeepers.  Stop. Start. Stop. Start.

Well I'm at it again.  I've started to go through my parents things again ... so many things I had wanted to keep but unless I add on a storage room to my house, I can't. 

So I'm going through my mom's tablecloths and I found this cutie!  Teeny thing, what could it have been used for???  Nowhere near big enough even for a card table.  Darling cross stitch, someone's handwork, I assume my mom or my grandma but it could have been a gift too. This one I'm going to keep and also my mom's Christmas cloth that I shared at holiday time. 



Anyway, I was hoping that maybe my vintage loving and knowledgeable friends could tell me how I can safely wash and press it and not ruin it?!  Thanks so much for any help you can give me.

Joining in the Rednesday fun with Sue at It's A Very Cherry World.

vintage valentines

We went to the Antiquarian Book Fair in Santa Monica on Sunday.  Although it's always advertised as also being a "paper" show, there seldom is anything except for a map or document vendor.  This time one of the booksellers brought vintage valentines along with him.  WOOHOO!  Now I'm kicking myself for not having picked up more.  BOO HOO!

Joining in the Rednesday fun with Sue at It's A Very Cherry World.

Joining in the Vintage Thingie Thursday fun with Suzanne at
Colorado Lady.

Joining Claudia for A Favorite Thing Saturdays on
Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

come, let us have some tea

 

Come, let us have some tea
and continue to talk about happy things.
~ Chaim Potok

There are still some paperwhites blooming over here. 
Makes me long for Spring.
Thoughts of old friends fill my mind.

Wishing we could sit and catch up over a cup of tea.

Quote found at Bluebird Notes
Tea cup graphic found at The Graphics Fairy
Free printable Valentines paper found at B. Nute Productions

valentines from mom

Treasures of the heart, valentine gifts from my mom to me.
Royal Doulton annual Valentine plate from 1977
and two darling teddies with hearts.

Joining along in the fun with Claudia
on A Favorite Thing Saturdays
at Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

hearts and chocolate

Oh goodness me.  I am ashamed to say that I have perhaps been a little too generous ... to myself LOL!  

I'm having one heck of an unbelievable rolling birthday over here - it's turned into a month long event hahahha! It started early with a membership in Little Stitches Handwork Club from Notforgotten Farm (can't wait to receive my first kit!), classes at French General, the miniature show and the quilt show and yesterday I received these cuties I treated myself to from Sweet Nellie on Etsy for my Valentine's Day decor (I've been following her blog for years and always wanted something of hers and now that I'm as old as dirt, I thought this year was the year!). 

AND to keep the birthday bash rolling along, in today's mail came the bestest birthday card from my friend Pam - I fear she has had me under surveillance as this card is a perfect depiction of my relationship with chocolate!

I ordered the most darling of Valentine angels 

and a Valentine garland for my mantle from Sweet Nellie.
Everything was charmingly wrapped and perfection in person.
Can't wait to unfurl my garland and get to decorating!


This is my favorite card Pam, thank you so much!
You have captured my chocolate loving heart to a tee!
Or is that to a "T"?! 

I have indeed spent the month of January like this,

how did you know?!  I laid out too many clues, left too 

many literal crumbs to my true nature, haven't I?!
Can I have a napkin please?  MWAH!

and then there was the quilt show

The continuing birthday saga ... after the miniature show, we went to lunch ... no, make that we got lost and then we went out to lunch LOL. Then we made it to the quilt show and it was insane! Ginormous and packed with people.  Very hard to see anything.  But that did not deter me, nuh uh! I was on a mission for blue fabrics and buttons for my Charlotte Lyons Traveling Needlebook project.  Eureka!  Found some pretty fabric (at Shabby Fabrics) and wonderful buttons at The Button Box (be sure and visit her booth if ever you go to the quilt show).

I also got some oh so yummy hand dyed cottons from Liberty Homestead and they also had some darling antiques toys and stuff at their booth and I had to grab these three little chicks for Easter.  I did briefly lose my mind and buy a bunch of patterns at one booth, ay yi yi.  I better tackle them soon with my squinty middle aged eyeballs and arthritic thumbs.

Hitting two crowded shows in one day was a bit overly ambitious in retrospect but it was a fun birthday gift to myself. 

prim littles

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided I wanted to go to the miniature and quilt shows that were in town this weekend. 

The miniature show turned out to be rather small but there was still plenty to see and wish one could come home with! 

My mom and I shared a love of dollhouses and miniatures (as well as so many other things!) and we used to go together to shows many years ago.  It was such fun to see two names I remember from long ago on the program.  

But the most fun of all was I found a third miniature artist, Jane Graber, whose work my mom had bought some for each of us about 25 years ago!  She turned out to be so darling and sweet, so delightful.  

The redware and the doggie shelf above were all made by this same artist and then her friend, who accompanied her to the show, made the one basket on the left and another friend of theirs made the trug on the right.  She also had wonderful cabinets and hutches made by other artisans and I am kicking myself for not buying one in particular.  WAH!

You may see more of Jane Graber's charming work here, on her family's website. 

I was so thrilled to come home with these little charmers, which are my new favorite things and I can't wait until next years show!

Joining Claudia for A Favorite Thing Saturdays at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. 

happy birthday to me happy birthday to me

Another year has completed and it's time for chocolate cake WOOHOO! 
 

We found the little chair I'm sitting on in the photo 

at my parents house, what a wonderful surprise that was!  

At this same table and chair, I sat outside of our house and 

sold lemonade and (chocolate) cupcakes when I was little.

it's raining it's pouring

it's raining

it's pouring
the old doggies are snoring ...

It's raining here today so we're all cooped up in the house.  Some of us are dreaming doggie dreams while I've been reorganizing and consolidating drawers in my craft room. 

I've emptied three small drawers, one large box and two small boxes ... there's still much to be done dagnabbit! 

What to do with all of my magazines???  I thought I'd get rid of my Somerset Studio magazines since I never find the time to look at them anymore ... but no, I had to go and start thumbing through a couple of them and now the craft hoarder in me doesn't want to get rid of them. WAH! 

Are you a keeper of things or a minimalist? 

And by the way, do you have any insight into WHY I had to have so many craft punches?!  Sheesh!  There must a special name for this disorder LOL.  And all the rubber stamps I had to have that I never use. 

I'm starting to twitch ... better not think about it anymore hahahhahahhahha ...

Happy happy weekend to you!

down in the doldrums

Oh! I've got a case of the blues, blogging and otherwise.  I don't know how you guys do it - manage to keep up with your lives, your homes, your crafting and your blogs (and visit other blogs)?  I am so overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I need to accomplish and so frustrated that I can't just craft or read a book.  

Last Sunday was our "19 year anniversary since we met" Anniversary and we had a lovely dinner out in celebration. 

Oh my gosh - we went to see the Oscar nominated French movie "Amour" on Monday (after watching the inauguration on TV). It was beautifully crafted and acted but so very intense and painful. I was very shaken by it and it took a long time to let it go. 

YIKES!  This weekend I have another one of those things, um, birthdays.  The good news is that I'm planning to go to a quilt show and a dollhouse miniature show too. WOOHOO!

The doggies are doing well.  Georgie is on an at-home chemotherapy med, in concert with two other regularly prescribed medications. He was only thought to have a few days to live the beginning of December and weeks have passed now.  We are so very thankful for his presence in our lives. And Gracie is a bundle of mischief and very funny and makes us laugh with her hijinks.

I miss all of you, my blogging pals!  Happy Hump Day! 

the art of craftiness ... or um, not

On the left hand side, journal given to all participants by French General.
On the right hand side, items from my kit for Charlotte Lyons Traveling Needlebook.

So ... last Friday and Saturday I went to French General for three classes over The Art of Craft weekend.  On Friday I had two classes:  "Traveling Needlebook" with Charlotte Lyons and "Stitched Jewelry" with Rebecca Sower.  On Saturday I had one class:  "Souvenir Journal" with Pam Garrison.

Not only were the projects fun but I got to sit with the most fun group of ladies. We laughed through all three classes.  So much fun!  The three hour class time flew even faster than when I went last year, if that's possible! I only got a couple of super poor photos taken since I was so busy having fun with these ladies. 

Under the best of circumstances, I don't hit upon my concept right away (it takes me several go-rounds, trial and error and lots of mulling it over!).  So to have limited time to do something new and performance anxiety on top of it ... WAH! 

I'm rethinking and redoing or tinkering with, all of my projects.  First off, I'm not artistic, I'm just crafty.  I was in awe of the women around me who could just throw together great stuff in three hours time.

Charlotte gave us charming quilt pieces for our needlebook covers ...

 I'm playing around with colors and placement ... 

those are my grammies buttons I'm thinking of including.
The cross stitch graphs and loteria card are from Charlotte's fabric line.

 

ACK!  

I'm not happy with the beginnings of my fabric bracelet at all ... sigh. 
Everyone was merrily and creatively embroidering inside these little boxes
that Rebecca had stitched on our linens, adding beads and doodads and I
was just lost ... completely lost. WAH!  I've never done the "inchie" thing
before or little bits of embellishments and I was just thrown. I had thought
to print out photos of my grandma on linen beforehand but that wasn't
enough.  I need to practice my foofing-it-up skills big time!



ARGH!
And I'm not pleased with how my inside pages turned out for my journal.
It's supposed to be a spontaneous, no rules, project and I guess I'm too anal for it.
sniffle sniffle ...

Anyway, I'm going to tackle all of these at my own pace ... I know I can do better.  I just don't do well with time constraints. I also get caught up in comparing myself to others and there's no benefit in that.

I will enjoy attending again (even though I suck at it!), so much fun to get to meet the wonderful teachers and spend the day with the other attendees and share a love of the handmade.

there's gonna be some crafting going on

WOOHOO!  

Very shortly I'm off to French General for The Art of Craft.  

Yabba dabba doo, so excited! 

Happy Friday and Happy Crafting to you!