Quilted Tea Cup Hot Pads and a Bit of Vintage Fun

This pair of tea cup hot pads was for Mom.  The flower fabric reminds me of the drifts of roadside wildflowers here in the Texas area.  The blossoms are wrong, but the colors and airiness are right.  One of the nightgowns I recently made is of this fabric, and is trimmed with the orange bias tape that is on the handles.

What I really want to share with you today is this wonderful vintage hanky.  It is amazing, because the edge is applied.  For those of you who do not sew, that means another layer of fabric was added on top, and the edges were folded back to be sewn down with the teeny, tiniest stitches imaginable.

  Adding the shapes in the corners is simply mind boggling.  It would be very had for me to do all four corners to match.  The petals on the flowers are so very, very tiny!  I could embroider them easily, but never have I attempted applique that small.  Have you?

Do you want to know a secret?  This one year break from my shop to get us settled here in Texas is driving me bonkers.  The plan was made for good reasons, and it is working really well.  It is just that this absence of constantly finding and funning with vintage goodies is driving me nuts.

Before I open up again I need to check the Texas small business laws, find a good venue for hunting down vintage goodies in Texas, and possibly change the name of the shop.  

I am going to let myself do some small stuff, so that I do not go completely insane.  The Texas Ware Sun Plate is listed, because I decided I want more blue where I was going to put it.  Last week I did find some fabulous designer hankies for the shop.  I will share them with you as soon as they are laundered.

I guess when you really love something, you just cannot stop doing it.  What would be unable to stop doing?

Quilted Coffee Cup Pot Holders

Too Busy To Blog.  I know, it's unbelievable!

Projects have been multiplying around here like bunnies.  I am so busy crafting and sewing, that I am forgetting to share them.  These coffee cups were "put on the shelf", at least their photos were, in order to wait for Mother's Day to pass.  We would not want to ruin any surprises.

That's right, you guessed it.  They are hot pads with handy handles for hanging.  Go ahead, say that five times really fast.

You might recognize the fabric from the baby quilt in April.  When fabrics are this yummy I want to use up every bit.  This colorful pair were for a gal whose cheerful outlook and positive attitude brighten any day.

Most quilted hot pad patterns you find have edges bound with bias tape.  I wanted to slip the handles in the edge though, so I turned them like a pillow case, and slid the double layer of heat resistant batting in afterwards.

Those of you who quilt will know what this is.  I love these miniature patchwork squares in the seams on the reverse side of pieced fabric.  They are like the little tiny wildflowers that hide in the grass.

I have also sewn three new nightgowns trying three different patterns.  For the first time I made a purchased, printed pattern item that actually fits!  There is way too much fun going on here in Texas.

May Basket Pouch with Crochet and Quilting

A Tisket a Tasket, a Green and Yellow Basket!

Each corner of this crocheted doily has a real little bitty May Basket to last all year long.

This is one of the few scraps I brought to Texas.  It was definitely worth the trip and the wait.  

Color did not stop even if Blogger did

Colorful things were going on around here during the time Blogger was not working.  Here are two of my favorites.

We inherited this chair from dear neighbors.  It was such a light blue, that whenever I asked a child to go get me the blue chair, they had no idea what I was talking about.  "Oh, thaaaat chair." 

I am a problem solver!  Of course the kids are teenagers now, and they remember which one I am referring to.  Better late than never though!

My sister adopted a wee little baby girl, so I whipped up a cheerful quilt for her.   I always make a point of making girl baby gifts NOT pink.  As much as I adore pink, a mother can only take so much.

"Whipped up" makes it sound so easy.  Our oldest was my virtual shoulder to cry on when I realized, too late, that fabric width has been reduced on the bolts for sale at JoAnn's.  Is it this way everywhere?  My goal of working through my stash made it so I have not had to by an exact amount of fabric for a quilt for almost a couple of years now.

The good news is that I used up most of my stash just in time to move to Texas.  Fabric is heavy to move!

Those of you near and dear to me can have photos of our new Eveleen.  Just let me know in the comments, or email me.

Handmade Bags as Wall Art

Yes, yes, I am a bag lady.  Everything in a bag, and a bag for everything.  I have not made one since we have been in Texas, and I think I am having withdrawal symptoms.

If you want to see a bunch of the bags I have made click bag and bags to visit my old blog.  I never did get around to doing a post about my Copy Cat Bag.  It was made back when I had to go to the photocopy place to make copies of the patterns I wanted from other people's books and magazines.  Every couple of weeks it would be chuck full of books to take.  It has quilted fans, my first letter embroidery,  Sashiko embroidery, and cats!

This is a an embroidery piece I did one day just because I wanted something simple and colorful.  Everybody needs a quickie once in a while. 

Meet our smallest neighbor.  Everybody say "hi" to "Alex the Lizard".  We did not realize she was a giiiirrll, and named her Alexander Graham Bell.  She lives in the phone box.  Hubby says she runs the telephone switchboard for Geico.  We would call her Alexandria, but the lady who lives one door away from the lizard is actually named Alexandria.  Can you imagine the misunderstandings if I started walking by every day baby talking Alexandria?

By the way, those are the stick on "Command Hooks" you see advertised nowadays.  I love them.  They work great as long as you follow the directions perfectly, and do not put them next to a hot stove top.  

By the way, I fixed the comments section, so make sure to say "HI"!