Gathering Dust

Sarah Has A Baby- The Next Round Robin Page

My most recent page in Her Life in Stitches Round Robin is for Lisa's book. Lisa's book has a story to go with it- it's about a girl named Sarah who grows up on a farm.  My last page for the book was about Sarah getting married, then Karla made a page about the honeymoon and Sandra made a page with a baby. 

The cover of this old baby "biography" was pretty beat up, but the image was so sweet that I couldn't throw it away- so I covered the edges in scraps of lace.

I embroidered an "A" on this little linen medallion, added a tiny sprig of flowers and an old baby pin to finish it off. 

(The "A" is for Sarah's baby "Alec", who was conceived- by me- while watching Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock.  I'm still obsessed with 30 Rock.

Never mind that Sarah's baby would have been born in the 1910's and Alec Baldwin was born in 1958.)

The back is simple-I loved this old black and white picture of kids having a picnic.  I just added some lace and ribbon to finish the page.

My favorite part of the picture is the dog on the folding stool in the middle.

Here's another cute dog on a stool.  The "Other Karla" is on vacation on and we're watching her dog Dixie.  Dixie's favorite hobby is the same as my dogs- looking out the front window.

Her Life In Stitches Round Robin Update

When I was at Karla's on Tues, she asked me about our Life in Stitches round robin.  She didn't have a book, but wanted to get started making some pages.  We started looking at the original schedule I had made up, and both ended up confused. 

I think the confusion started in Dec, when the holidays got in the way for some of us in meeting our deadlines--- I'm not naming names, but you can just call me "Guilty".  If I was to make a recomendation for future Round Robins, I'd say take the month of Dec off. For most people, Dec already has plenty going on. 

When I was part of a book club, we skipped reading a book in Dec and went out for dinner and shopping instead.  It was nice because we still all got together, but none of the pressure of trying to read the book the day before.

The first picture of the post is the front of the page that Sandra  made for Lisa's book.  One of things that these books have in common is lace- they are dripping in all kinds of beautiful lace and little details.

Like this- little pearls sewn on the edge of the page.  They almost look like pearl buttons along the side of the page.

The back of the page is a piece of crazy quilt.  I think this ties in so nicely with the quilted page that Lisa made.

Thanks for all the suggestions about the last square in my free style sampler.  Lots of people suggested I sign and date it.  I liked that idea, but I might sell the sampler, and I didn't know if a potential buyer would want MY initials.  After all, I'm not RL (Ralph Lauren). 

But I liked the idea of letters and numbers so I just did a simple ABC and 123.

Here's the full sampler.

There's a bit of shadow on the left side, because I had a DOG laying on the bed next to it.

Isn't it funny how a dog will lay down in even a little bit of sunshine?

Yes, Mom, that is a dog on the quilt you made, but he doesn't sleep there very often- it was his second choice.  Button got the first choice- the bench by the window.

Round Robin Pages- Two Styles

So far, the pages I've made for the Her Life in Stitches round robin have been heavy on using fabric, cross stitch and embroidery. The pictures on top and bottom left are my book, the bottom middle is for Karla's book and the lower left is for Sandra's book.

I kept the same kind of theme by using fabric and stitching for Lisa's book.  Lisa had a story about her book- it was about a farm girl named Sarah.  I tried to keep up the story by adding a page about Sarah's wedding- I call it "The Farmer Takes a Wife".

Besides the wedding picture, I added a bit of a marriage license printed on fabric.

I knew I wanted to add a locket or charm, but I needed more than one "dangly".  I looked in a bowl of old rosary chains and couldn't believe it when I found an old charm that actually said "Marriage License". 

Lisa's book was the last one I worked in in our first "round" of pages.  The next page to make was in Sandra's book- the second page I'd make for it.

I decided to go  a completely different route.  This page is bits of vintage wallpaper sewn to chipboard.  The ladies are from Green Paper Packages Vintage Catalog collection.

Patchworking the wallpaper together took longer than I realized it would.  When I finished, I told my husband "you have no idea how much work it is to make something look so random."

It's kind of ironic that my first four pages were all sewn by hand- but on this page, which except for the bow and netting, is all paper- I used the sewing machine.

More Her Life in Stitches Round Robin Book

Last week I was talking to Lisa about our Round Robin book and Lisa said that other than the pages she had made for her book, she hadn't seen any of the other pages.  I just happened to have her book, so I told her I'd do a post on it.

When we first started the Round Robin, we weren't sure if we wanted to post pictures of our pages- we were afraid it might spoil the surprise of getting the actual books- but that really hasn't happened at all.  So far, the pages have had so many details and so much texture that pictures don't quite do them justice.

Lisa's book came to me from Sandra- wrapped in this beautiful vintage wallpaper.

The cover is the first picture in the post. The center of the cover is a resin block.

On this page, Lisa used some Tim Holtz inspired techniques with alcohol inks to get the aged color on the farm house.

The front side of the second page has a pocket holding a piece of ledger paper with the heading "TEXAS COTTON", a sweet old bundle of rick rack and a tattered and spotted baby shoe.  Lisa is the queen of making stained, worn and torn items tell a story.

This is the back of the second page.  Love, love this fabric.  I wanted to figure out how old it was- my guess is before 1920 and probably before 1900.  I googled "dating calico fabric" and got a lot of hits for sites like "Match.com"- I don't want to GO OUT with the calico fabric, I just want to know how old it is. 

 I was also directed to a site where you can get a Russian bride...

This is Karla's page for Lisa's book- a beautiful French net doll dress on perfectly faded wallpaper.

This is the trim at the bottom of Karla's page- I love the ombre look.

Sandra's page for Lisa's book is full of little details, too- a baby shoe with a button, an embellished heart and a beautiful cross stitch initial.

The back of Sandra's page for Lisa- so many different kinds of lace, a pocket with pretties and a wand topped with a frozen Charlotte.

If you'd like to craft with Lisa and Karla, you're in luck- they both have fun new tutorials for sale.

Lisa's Altered Ballet Slippers

 

and Karla's Cuff Bracelet tutorial

What's fun about both classes is you can personalize and customize your piece to fit in with any decor, outfit, or style.

This is a cuff I made while Karla was working on her tutorial- I embellished mine with  a French label I printed on fabric, and then added a little rhinestone leaf.

Her Life in Stitches- Karla's Page

This month my page in Her Life in Stitches round robin is for Karla's book. Karla's book is inspired by her mother, who was a great seamstress, upholsterer and quilt maker.

I started with a picture of Karla's mom printed on fabric..

Then  I added a fabric flower, some millenary flowers and a rhinestone button because I know Karla likes them- and embroidered a heart with Karla's mom's name "Marty Jo".

The bottom of the page is part of a sampler that came from a box lot of linens.  I thought the saying was perfect:

"Mother's love is like a fragrent rose with sweetness in every fold."

I added some bits of pink embroidery stitches to give the page just a little bit of color.

The back of the page is simpler- just some lace, stitching and a mannequin borrowed from The Graphics Fairy.  At first I thought it might be too simple, but the back of a book is never as elaborate as the front.

This is my third page, and I've loved doing all of them- partially because vintage sewing is one of my favorite subjects, but also because collaborating with such talented people ( Lisa, Karla and Sandra) makes me want to do my best.

BothersMe

Yesterday, I sent off my page for Sandra's book to Lisa for the round robin swap we're doing with Karla.

 
My page has a cross stitch (and other stuff) sampler.  When I look at the picture of it, I realize....I'm NOT a very good seamstress.  The sampler really isn't straight on the page- so I pinned a bow in the corner to try to distract from it.

My mother is an excellent seamtress and master quilt maker- everything she makes  has perfect seams and meets up exactly.  She says if she has a mistake it bothers her until she fixes it.  She has some early projects with tiny imperfections that she didn't fix and whenever she looks at them, all she sees is the mistake.  She calls them "bothermes".

So the rule she follows is "If it bothers me now, it will bother me later".  I also subscribe to this rule- but not nearly as much bothers me as bothers my Mom.

 
Thank goodness these little art quilts don't have to be perfect- if I make a mistake, I just cover it with a bow, a button, a stitch or a patch.

 
I was going to make the back really simple- just a doily with a bit of stitching, but once I started, I just kept going.

 
The printed sampler has a finger signing alphabet as well as three other fonts.

Not perfect, but it doesn't have any "bothersme".

Her Life in Stitches Round Robin Part I

 
In July, Lisa, Karla, Sandra and I decided to start a year long round robin book.  The theme is "Her Life in Stitches"- sewing, knitting, embroidery, fancy work, handiwork or fashion are all possible ideas for pages.

We started by making a cover and a page for our books and mailing them to another person, who will make a page, and then send the cover and the pages on to the next person who will make a page and send the whole bundle on- once a month for a year.

So, next August we'll get our own book back with our own cover and the first page we made and ten pages made by everyone else.  The first picture above is my cover and page, which is now in Lisa's craft room.

 
 
On Saturday, the mail lady brought Sandra's book to me.  Just from looking at the package, I knew it was going to be special.

 
This is the cover- love that ribbon bow and all the lace...

 
...and the little cabinet card peeking out of a filigree frame.

 
Sweet cross stitch monogram and rhinestone ring.

 
Beautiful lace pocket and embroidered flowers.

 
And tucked inside the pocket is a picture of a serious but sweet little girl.

Sewing and embroidery are a couple of my favorite things, so I'm excited to get working on my page for Sandra's book- and I think we'll all be excited for the first of the month to roll around and see what the mail brings.

If you'd like to see more pictures of Sandra's work, here's a link to her Flickr pages.

Addicted to Stitching

 
I used to be addicted to yarn- I LOVED it, loved to pull apart a skein of yarn and roll it into a ball, and then arrange the balls in a wooden bowl, and then I'd admire the textures and colors.  And then I might disrupt my perfect vignette by actually taking a ball of yarn and start to knit. 

Now I fell the same way about embroidery- I love to put together a color palette with skeins of floss, add some matching notions- buttons, trim, bits of cloth or charms, grab a piece of fabric and a SHARP needle and start stitching.

That's what I did with the piece in the first picture- no plan, just random stitches.  It's stitched on a damask napkin from my stash of "Linens to Recyle".  When I finished stitching, I cut the design out of the napkin and stitched it to a little zipper bag I bought at Michaels.  It's going to be my flea market purse- there's enough room for money, lip gloss, sunglasses and moist towelettes.

 
This is another "recycled linen".  Originally the towel had only white embroidery and cutwork.  I added the pink and green flowers, the pink trim and the fabric rose.

 
I didn't sell nearly as many linens yesterday at the flea market as I would have like to- so I see a lot more recycled linens in my future. 

The towel is available in my Etsy Shop

Books: Bundled, Best Sellers, Handmade & Collaborations

 BUNDLED BOOKS
The other day I saw a picture of a bundle of books on Dawn's blog and thought "I love old books, but they look even better when you bundle them together"- so I got out a little bit of twine and there you go....I don't know why crumbling, tattered old books tickle me so much, but I know I'm not the only one.  These books are for sale (seperately) in my Etsy Shop- Gathering Dust.

 
COLLABORATIVE BOOKS

About a year ago Lisa and I talked about making a fabric book together.  We've finally got organized and decided to make the book a round robin with a theme of woman, sewing, fashion, handicrafts etc etc.  Karla and Sandra are our other collaborators.  Each of us is making a cover and an inside page, and then mailing them on to another person, who will make a page and mail the whole package onto the next person and so on- the plan is to do it for a year...so you won't get your own book back for a year.

 
We really debated the format back and forth- was a year too long a commitment?  Wouldn't it be easier just to make three pages for everybody at once and swap them all at once? 

 
We ended up deciding that since we all like to make things, making one page a month for a year is not that big a deal.  The reason we're passing the books around for a year is because we realized how much our styles and techniques can change in a year- and seeing someone else's pages in a book you've already worked in could give you new inspiration. 

 
We're hoping that the books will kind of "build" on what's been done before- but no matter what, we want it to be fun, and I'm really excited to be working with people who's work I enjoy so much.

The page with the cross stitched alphabet is my cover. My other page has images from a rescued 1864 Arthurs Home Companion.  I love the detail on the children's clothing.

HANDMADE BOOKS

 
 
A couple of months ago, I bought this book-Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms.  I've always been interesting in making books, but most of mine have been the hole punch and string binding variety.

I had no idea there were so many different ways to make a book- and in two months, I've made TWO books- two books that turned out- several that ended up in the garbage. 

 
I started with simple folded books- well, I THOUGHT they'd be simple, but folding paper isn't as easy as it looks- I really appreciate why you need a bone folder. 

 
After a simple folded book, I graduated to a folded book with pockets. 

 
It was fun to fill the pockets on this one.  Both are available in my Etsy Shop.

Two books down, 98 to go.

BEST SELLING BOOKS

 

Have you read The Help  ?  Great book and great movie.  I was so shocked/surprised about the relationship of the women in the book to their "Help" that I almost forgot that the book is funny, too- in that warm Fanny Flagg way.  My surprise at the book is that it happened in my lifetime, and even though I think of myself as well informed, I really only know the high level history of the South- and I'd never thought about the day to day lives of "The Help".

Besides enjoying the movie plot- I couldn't keep my eyes off the wallpaper.  Beautiful stuff- and patterns I recognized and have used.

In a nice little coincidence, I scored some wallpaper at an estate sale this weekend.  Half used rolls of vintage wallpaper are scarce as hen's teeth at estate sales, so I had to pick them up, even though I don't need any more wallpaper.  I cut off  a few feet as souvenirs and put the rolls in my other Etsy shop- SugarPinkMoon.

Tag Swap Evolution

 
When I got to Karla's for craft day on Friday, she had my Bird Song tag book ready for me- the book was wrapped in a page from a bird watching book, a pretty flower and a tag made by our friend Nora.

 
I was absolutely amazed by the tags.  I started doing tag swaps about 8 years ago through Yahoo Groups.  I know some people have had horrible experiences with swaps, but I always got nice tag art back- but it was almost always a decorated & collaged manilla shipping tag. 

Tag swaps have really changed.

 
Karla painted a watercolor bird for the covers, glittered the bird cage bars to make them 3-d, and added a flower and a charm.

 
The back of the cover was covered in one of my favorite vintage wallpapers.

 
This tag was made by Tina McGarry.  Look at all the details.

 
The little door actually opens- this tag had so many great elements- vintage wallpaper, script paper, sewing, stamps- and look at the little bird on the roof.

 
Even the back was completely decorated.

 
Fun use of corrogated cardboard by Lilla Le Vine.

 
Vintage laces- all fabric and embroidery by Barbara Burkard.

 
Another fabric tag- sewn and embroidered by Susan Norwood.

 
A sheet music nest on distressed paper with a bird stamped on a fabric background- love the low color of this.  Made by Jill Sibbald.

 
This tag was embossed on metal- AWESOME.  The tag is signed but I'm sorry, I can't read it.

 
I'm not even sure what this tag is made of- but it's amazing- a board and batten bird house with shake shingles by Cheryl Comfort.

 
The evolution of tag books swaps is incredible- the materials used, the techniques- and the books  you end up with are  collaborative works of art. 

What a wonderful world to be part of- thanks to Karla for all the work, late nights and long days she put into this- this kind of swap generates a lot of good karma- and gives me a lot of new blogs to look at.