A little sewing, a little embroidery, and a bit of other crafty stuff.......

“The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”― John Wooden

I have been in one of my "instant gratification" modes......wanting to make things but wanting to make 'em fast!.....so since I also had some items that I needed to finish soon so that I could deliver them in person.......I decided to whip out some stuff quickly..........

Several years ago my Dad gave me a couple of religious pictures that used to belong to his mother.  I framed one of them and had it on my wall for awhile and the other I stored away......The picture I framed was a canvas reproduction of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and also the patron saint of the little church my Grandmother attended.  After awhile I borrowed the frame for another project and stored that picture with the other.........well, anyway.......a couple of weeks ago my Mom and I visited one of my favorite cousins...Ralph and his wife Lindy.  Ralph built a little chapel on their ranch for Lindy's birthday.......after 35 years of marriage this is the first thing she ever asked for........and he delivered!  This little chapel sits on the other side of their property several yards away from the house.....(that is my sweet Mama in front).....

and, of course, every chapel should have a chapel bell right?? Here is my cousin Ralph ringing the bell.......

here is a photo of the inside.........it has 6 pews inside and a beautiful view from these two windows.....

  So anyway.........I realized I had just found the perfect home for Grandma's pictures!  Ralph and I are "double first cousins".....his Mom and my Dad were brother and sister and his Dad and my Mom were brother and sister....so these pictures belonged to his grandma too!  ....I told Lindy that I had some pictures for her chapel that I would mail to her.............. I knew I wanted to frame them first so here is what I did............
I sewed the Virgin Mary canvas print over some old lace and added a machine embroidery label to the bottom before framing it:

  the other picture was one of the Holy family.......has anyone seen an old print which has been glued to newsprint and then glued again to fabric?  That is what this one is.........it makes it look very much like an old canvas...........It is about 12x14 inches.....I'm sure it is at least 50 years old..........

the picture is cracked, and as you can see....it has some stains and missing areas......of course, for me this just added to its charm........initially I was going to mount it to a board, burn the edges and decoupage it.  I bought the board and then dropped by Hobby Lobby and  found a beautiful frame with a mirror in it marked 90% off!  Well I'm a sucker for a bargain so I bought it....broke out the mirror and then antiqued and stressed it to try to make it look older........ I glued the print onto a piece of art board and then stuffed it into where the mirror had been...........

 Voila!.........I was rather pleased with myself......I used some crackle paint on the frame which doesn't show up in this photo......and took off the three pegs on the bottom ....will probably fill the holes with some old brass tacks or something..........they could even put candles on the shelf if they want to........

What do you think?? Are you as pleased as I am??? haha...



 

 
 
 

Ice Cream Sundaes and Birthdays!

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection"    -Buddha

 

Last week I visited my Mom and we celebrated her 94th birthday!

She was such a good sport........wore the Princess tiara for us and we told her if she didn't like 94 it was 49 from the other direction!
My sweet Mama amazes me........94 and still going strong.  I am blessed.

I made her a chocolate and cherry cake and then gave her this ice cream sundae pin cushion.........I am a sucker for pin cushions and when I found this free tutorial on Jennifer Jangles blog....I knew I wanted to make one myself.......

 I thought I might have overstuffed Mom's sundae a bit so tried a couple more and also sewed the "scoops" to each other a little tighter.....I think I like the shorter ones a little better.....

I think they look great next to the cupcake "in the hoop" pin cushions I made on my embroidery machine, don't you?

 

Raggedy Ann meets the butterflies!

"We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone"— Ronald Reagan

When I went to meet my new grand daughter I was very pleased with the theme my son and daughter in law had chosen for her room......they incorporated the Raggedy Ann Quilt I had made for her with a Butterfly theme.......

My son had showed me the plans for a mural he will paint on her wall.........he used one of the Raggedy Ann embroidery panels in the quilt as a guide and added a butterfly net and showed me this pattern he made....
 
...they had a crib set which included a butterfly theme curtain topper that was a little too short for the window so they had used it on a 48 inch shelf instead....and they also had the butterfly mobile....(This is a stock photo from the manufacturer)

 I was excited to add some machine embroidery to the topper for the Raggedy Ann theme and my son also gave me the dust ruffle because they were using the Raggedy Ann dust ruffle I sent with the quilt on her bed instead...........so anyway...........here is what I came up with..........I used fabric from the dust ruffle and added length to each side of the existing topper.....added some embroidery and......voila! It looks pretty good over my fireplace so hopefully it will look as good over the window......lol............

 Then I used more of the fabric from the dust ruffle to make a cover for the shelf, complete with Raggedy Ann, butterflies, and Lili, (their Black Lab)....here it is already up in Iris Emma's room! (The train was made by my Dad and given to my son a few years ago)

They had also asked me to make something for the mobile so I made a Raggedy Ann Face and a little Lili:

 

they removed two butterflies from the mobile and replaced them with Raggedy and Lili..............

 Here are some closeups of the embroidery I added..........(Yes, I still LOVE my embroidery machine!)

And I have saved the best for last.............here is a photo of Miss Iris Emma next to the Raggedy Ann that Nana made for her......

 You might recall that I made 3 dresses for Raggedy Ann so Iris could change her clothes when she played with her............Daddy decided that this next photo will make a great one to show her when she's older........check out the outfit that Raggedy Ann loaned her friend to wear!  I'm in love.............

  

So that's it for this time.......I am off to make a birthday cake for my Mom who is 94 years old today!  I am blessed...........

Ta ta for now....................................

  

Gifts and Blessings

"Family is not an important thing. It's everything" — Michael J. Fox

I was just about to post about some finishes I had to show you when I saw this unfinished post entitled "Gifts and Blessings" so I decided this post needed to be a "finish" and I will show you those other finishes in my next post...........

So the gifts:  First is a fabulous gift from my little Sis, Barb.....for Christmas....sorry I am so slow...I have been wanting to show this off since December......All my family knows that I am Gaga for the Wizard of Oz and Barb painted this jewelry box for me!  Here is the front and back........

 the sides..................

 


and last but not least.....the top and even an extra on the inside! I am Gaga about my new jewelry box!
 

 
















.....As I said........my family knows I'm Gaga for the Wizard of Oz......just check out what I got from my son, Jeremy, for Mother's Day!..............I did not even know that the band Electric Light Orchestra had made this album! Jeremy framed it for me!

 My son also knows how I love to sew and he was able to find me some more Wizard of Oz fabric to continue my "There's No Place Like Home" wall hanging  (which has now become a UFO...)

 I promise it will soon come back into the WIP pile.......but first....

Do you remember the Raggedy Ann doll and quilt I made for the grandaughter I was waiting for????............Well  here she is!
This last photo is both a gift and a blessing.......Hello Miss Iris Emma!

Til next time.........I am off and will say Ta-Ta for now..............