Pin Cushion Mania continues.....and an Invitation.....

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance. ~Author Unknown


I made some more pin cushions this week.........many come from ideas I have found on Pinterest and then adapted them to my own interpretation............I found this little wicker box and made it a tiny container pin cushion......



............this was a candle holder I had for a long time........I couldn't decide whether to glue the pin cushion down or not and finally decided to leave it just where the pin cushion can be taken out and then stored on the holder...........

 

............I found this idea on Pinterest.....the container I found at Good Will.........lol...........

 

 

............Another Second Hand store find.......a vintage cup and saucer is transformed into a pretty pin cushion.....

............and then I decided to "bake" a couple of pies.....

I use cotton low loft batting for the "crust" and then paint it with a strong brewed tea to make it look browned on top......

 

 

 

I think, perhaps, that I am coming to the end of my "Pin Cushion Mania"............but I must tell you that I find it only fitting that I should share some of it with you, my followers...........Today I invite you to Ida's "Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade"....a fun linky party with prizes which will open for you to post your links next Wednesday, September 2nd!  Click on the image below and it will take you to the link-up page......

 I have added a button to the top of my right sidebar....will you please grab it and spread the word? 

  You will have a chance to link your favorite pin cushions...........they can be vintage pincushions....pin cushions you have made or your favorite pin cushions.........it's up to you!  Add your link and join the fun!  Prizes will include some of the pin cushions I have posted recently plus other great surprises.......

I will be posting some reminders between now and then......hope to see you there!




 

Kachina Wall Hanging and the Saga of the Pin Cushions continues...........

"When one door of happiness closes, opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." -Helen Keller



My sister has always been an inspiration to me.........way back when I was doing my thing with all the different crafts and such.....Irene was cross stitching and embroidering and doing her thing...........One of the projects she finished was a set of 5 Indian Kachinas embroidered with wool yarn back in the early 1980's.............aren't these gorgeous? 

   
She had displayed them on her wall for a few years, then my niece hung them for awhile, and one day I saw she had them stacked to put away and she asked if I wanted them.  I don't have any Southwest décor in my house but I had always loved these stitcheries and an idea to take them out of the frames and sew the blocks together for a quilt of some  sort began to take shape so I picked them up and brought them home. 
  After I took them out of the frames I added a rectangular block with a Machine Embroidered applique at the top and bottom of each block then included two ME Kachinas and finally surrounded each with red and turquoise sashing. I stitched in the ditch of the sashing and added some stippling around the Kachinas.....I included the names of the Kachinas and the date she stitched them underneath each block.  I was really happy with the results but more important.....My Sis loved her "new" wall hanging!

 
And then the pin cushions began calling me again..........I have been stopping in at second hand stores for ideas to make pin cushions and have found lots of possibilities........Two miniature frames became a Southwest pincushion and a pansy delight..........

Teacups with or without saucers work well........

  I love adding machine embroidery whenever I can.......

I found this idea on Pinterest.....it uses a glasses case covered with your fabric of choice and includes a little pin cushion to make a fabulous traveling sewing kit!

And here is one last pin cushion for you to look at  before this post goes to the birds!........

Stay tuned for more pin cushions.....I am working on a fun idea for you all to join in on my obsession.........lol.......

One can never have too many pincushions......and the Birthday Celebrating continues......

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.”
― C. JoyBell C.



I am in a pin cushion state of mind........... I am having the best time making these quick little pin cushion projects...........This little cobbler is a pattern I found on Zippy Designs webpage....she has lots of cute Machine Embroidery patterns.....and the same place I got the fun cupcake pincushion ME pattern for the cupcake pincushions I "baked" last year.....

 So, anyway..........I have been collecting little boxes and other likely containers to make the pin cushions with and here is one that lent itself to the cobbler pattern............The "cobbler" lifts up so you can put extra pins or other notions inside.....
























.........and my birthday celebration continues............my cool staff at the hospital gave me a little party at work last night.....complete with flowers and goodies...............this was just a little part of the spread.........I also had a gourmet salad, fruit, and these awesome little bundt cakes!  (Notice the expensive flower vase in the photo on the right.........lol......)

When I got home, alas, the hospital "designer Vase" was having trouble standing up so I had to switch the flowers into another one....

On another note, I have to share the wonderful surprise I got in the mail from my lovely friend, Mary, who knows how much I love anything Wizard of Oz..........she sent me the sweet little teapot below.......It is a wonderful addition to my Wizard of Oz collection...........thanks, friend.......I love my little "Tea Party"..........can't wait til my granddaughter is old enough to enjoy it with me!

 This week I visit Mom and my siblings and, wait.....I wonder if I get yet another birthday celebration???? Yay!  I love getting older!  
Lol.............at this rate I could be celebrating all month!



 

Happy Birthday and a gift from Daddy.....

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old."

~ George Burns

I was totally spoiled yesterday for my birthday!  I did go to work but everyone at work wished me Happy Birthday and all my facebook friends too!  The best part was when I got home my Sis, her hubby and my son had a wonderful steak dinner for me followed by this yummy cheesecake!  I am blessed!

 

In addition to the dinner and the cake, Irene brought these goodies!  I got a new mini iron to press my quilt blocks as I sew the patches together and a neat assortment of thread.  Best of all is a cushion Irene made me from one of our Dad's shirts......The label reads: "This is a shirt that Daddy used to wear.  Whenever you hold it, know that he is near"...thank you Irene.....you know how much I love it all.  

 Next week will mark a year since we said goodbye to our beloved Daddy.......there are many times I still can't believe he's gone.....I want to share a little gift that he gave me about 45 years ago....I was 18 years old and in the hospital and he brought me this beautiful little alarm clock............

I proceeded to knock it off my night stand the very next day and it never worked again.......I loved it so much that I have kept it all these years...........A couple of days ago I opened the box it came in and decided I wanted to be able to look at it everyday so I formulated a plan...........

I found a pretty ME pattern and made this:

I really didn't want to ruin the clock even though I never plan to have it repaired because my forgetful self knows I will never remember to wind it everyday so I just glued the pin cushion top to it........all the clock parts are still inside.............then I glued the rhinestone border to the top of it.............

Now I can see my little clock everyday and even use it when I sew!.........here it is on my bedside table right next to a photo of my Daddy...........

 One of the good things about having a big family is you could celebrate your birthday indefinitely!  haha........next week I go visit Mom and my other Sis......so maybe there will be more cake!! lol...........

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....................................