Giveaway Winner!

I was a lucky winner last week at Rhondas' Blog, A Little Bit French and when her package arrived, I was thrilled! Such a beautiful, feminine little pouch, full of all kinds of goodies tucked inside. Lace, ribbon, a couple of collaged tags, and a cute clothespin! Each and every Friday, Rhonda has a French Friday giveaway, and each week she gives away such pretty things. Very talented lady!!! Thank you Rhonda for the lovelies. Go and visit her wonderful blog....you'll be glad that you did.

Sorry for the blurry picture!!

Lookie! Lookie!!! Awesome Fabric!!

I found this fabric on Etsy and it arrived today! It is a beautiful weight and I am more than thrilled with it!! I can see it used for pillows, in fabric collage and in a million more places. I wish now that I had ordered more than just one yard of it.
Now I can't wait to use it! I think I hear my sewing machine calling my name......LOL!!!

The name of her shop is Renees' Fabric on Etsy. She just opened the end of May. If you shop there, tell her we sent you!!

Nannies' Lace

Years ago, I received a box of my Grandmothers' Lace from my Mother. I was thrilled to be entrusted with this box of loveliness from the past. I have many projects planned for all of this lace and have spent the past few days gently washing it all. I searched the net for the best way to clean old lace without damaging it. One site said to use Dreft detergent....it is for babies and it is very gentle on vintage fabrics. Well, it worked wonderfully! I soaked the lace in batches in Dreft and warm water. You would not believe the nasty icky gunk that soaked out of it. Some of it is still a little damaged and stained, but that adds to it as far as I am concerned.

I plan to make pillows, collages, and some of it, I may just display the lace itself. The lace collar below is one of those pieces that I just could not cut into pieces. It would be a sin!!

Lovely, lovely lace! I love the pattern of this one (above)

Piles of lace and doilies! With washing all of this lace, my house looks like a bordeaux with lace hanging on everything to dry. My hubby thinks I am NUTS....lol!!! What does a man know about these things???

Another lace collar. Very fine lace with a little damage, but still usable. I will find something to use it for.
More piles of lace. I love the beige trim and while looking at it, I thought it would look awesome with some burlap that color and make a pillow out of it. Woooohooooo!!
I love the pattern of this lace and I have quite a bit of it.
Here is the trim at the bottom of a little dress. The dress is shown below and it didn't get washed. There are places where the fabric is so thin that is has torn a little. I'm afraid that if I wash it, more damage would be done.
Click on the above picture and look at all the pintucking on the bodice. There is a lot of work there. So beautiful.

I hope that you have enjoyed my little lace tour.....I have more to wash and dry yet, so might take somemore photos. There is a very large piece of black lace and I think it was either a shawl or maybe a piano scarf at one time. It is in such poor shape that it tears if not handled gently.

So I think I will leave it alone for now.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

hugs, Sue

Goodies in the Mail!

When I went to my mailbox the other day, I was so excited to see a package there waiting for me. I was the lucky winner of Mysteles' journal giveaway. I was so giddy when opening the package, you'd have thought it was Christmas. I have loved, loved, loved Mysteles' work for a long time and took her "Gut Art" class last fall (which is fabulous!!!) So I was excited to know that my name was picked to win some of her work. A treasure for sure. The little journal is wonderful...old papers, painted pages, tabs, pockets and all ready to add my own touch to. Also, in the package was a little bundle of papers and trinkets, but when I opened it, I was amazed how much was packed into a little clear envelope. WOW!!! Thank you Mystele, and please go to her website/blog and check out her work. It is so unique and wonderful....as is Mystele herself!!

Fun Watercolor Flowers

I've been having such fun tonight! Over on Martha Lever's blog, she has a couple of videos on painting these cute little 5 minute flowers. They are painted with watercolors on WC paper. I need more practice, but I had so much fun painting these. I think they would really be cute on greeting cards, with a hand lettered greeting. I think I might get busy and paint a bunch of them to try to sell at our Farmers' markets this summer. Thank you Martha! Your blog is always so inspiring to me.

Spring is HERE!!

Spring is in the air!! Finally, some warmth and sunshine to enjoy! I am enjoying it a lot too. I saw my first robins a couple of days ago, a sure sign of Spring. I spent the afternoon yesterday, out in my greenhouse, planting seeds for our veggie garden. I have tons to plant yet, but the tomatoes and eggplants are in pots. We raise a large garden each year and have fun selling at farmers' markets. I have some crafty ideas too, which I will take along and sell as well. Here is a photo of the greenhouse that we built from recycled materials (it was taken last summer). It is about 16x24 ft. So, we have lots of room to start plants!! I love to be out in my greenhouse, with a cup of coffee and just taking it all in!!

Three New Projects

I did a journal page, using some of what I've learned in Sharons Tomlisons' class. The

photo didn't turn out the best...it is much richer in person. Oh well, at least she is here.

I had fun creating a couple of new paintings. These were from some painting magazines that

I've had for quite awhile. It was a nice break from my lessons.

So, now it is back to my lessons. I've only got about 4 more to go with this session. Each one

seems to get a little more difficult, but using different techniques. I am working on a still life now which is a nice break after all of the stokework in the last two lessons. I just hope that it turns out okay. It seems that most of these lessons have what you call "an ugly stage" before it comes around and starts to look like it is suppose to. So, you look at it and say....yuck, this looks awful! You keep on going and pretty soon it takes on a whole new look and you start to feel more confident.

Let's hope so.....