Happy Easter

These are some lovely old postcards that were found behind the baseboards in my grandmother's house when she was growing up. The owners of the house were doing some remodeling and found them and tracked down my one cousin to return the cards. So she gave them to me. They were sent to my grandma by her older sister who had married and moved away. This would have been around 1910. I had to smile at what she wrote on the back of one.

And I want to thank everyone who joined in this week, and added their photos and memories to the Easter Parade. It was so much fun visiting all your blogs and seeing the wonderful pictures. I really don't know how to close Mr Linky, but that's ok.. we'll leave it open.. so anyone can still add their photos next week.

And just as a side note.. these were my actual paper dolls and their clothes used for the button. You might think they look similar to some of the dolls in the new moda fabric line "Snippets" by American Jane.. and that's because they are!. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to find the fabric too. ☺

Happy Easter! Because this is what life is all about. May you have a blessed celebration.

See you next week! ☺

Valentines At Last

The cost of stamps is going up, and the postal service is in trouble.. right? I guess that's their good excuse for why my Valentines were so late this year. Truthfully I think they were all just enjoying a little too much President's Day Celebrations. ☺ But whatever the case, on Tuesday evening when Mr Attic came home, he announced there were Treasures for me. I was expecting a package.. I had ordered a pattern last week. And that was there. But also two unexpected packages.. the first from my friend Nanette.. one of her adorable potholders and a Valentine card. "I Yarn for You". ☺ She knows how much I like Raggedy Ann and Andy!

Look at that cute little fabric postage stamp on the potholder. You would have thought that would have made it FLY to my house in no time. She is away at a quilting retreat this week.. so I'll shout real loud.. thank you Nanette!

...and then totally unexpected.. this box from my fun friend Belinda at Brown Dirt Cottage.

A darling heart which I know is made of vintage fabric from her Gramma's stash.. she had sent me a little bit of it once before when we did a Cottage Block exchange between ourselves. I think it looks like peppermint candies. I love it! And I will find a place to hang it right here. Also an assortment of chocolates.. yum!..

Gorgeous old buttons.. I am a sucker for these!.. and some fabulous yo-yos..

Oh.. some of you might be wondering about the fabric underneath.. with the cherries and berries and other scrumptious looking fruit. That is a vintage feedsack I put on top of my plant stand by the window here.. it is good lighting for pictures right now. I don't leave it there all the time.. the sun would fade it too much.

But anyways.. more from Belinda. If you haven't read her blog before, it is a real treat. Mr Brown Dirt runs a cotton plantation, and he specially for me went out and picked a cotton bole for Belinda to send. You can kind of read that on the little card in there.. even though it's upside down. I have never seen actual cotton on the plant before.. so this was thrilling for me. Belinda told me it will last forever this way.. so I'll just leave it right in the bag. And then in another bag.. the cotton after it is processed..

We sort of have a private joke about cotton.. Belinda and me. It is very useful for many things.. including sticking it in one's ears when one is cooped up in the house during winter months, and one's spouse is playing some very loud music which might not be to one's taste.

Thank you so much Belinda.. my funny sweet friend!

One more package!.. some fabulous charms from my friend over at Bumble Beans. we did a little swap. How about that vintage red, green and gray birdie fabric there?? I LOVE that!

And finally.. my double four patch is done. This is not very big.. 61"x83".. it fits a twin sized bed. We will sandwich this on Saturday and knot it.. then I will bind it and either donate it for our church auction in the fall, or take it with me the next time I go to Kidron. We have a center out there that runs a thrift shop and gathers supplies and blankets for disaster relief. Next time I go I will try and remember to take pictures and blog about that. It is a fun place.

I really loved how this turned out.
Tomorrow is Hitty club. The last meeting we had was January 10th, when we had that big snowstorm with ten inches of snow.. and I couldn't go. I was SO disappointed. Well it is snowing right now. And we could have up to 6" by morning. But that's ok. I'm still baking my cookies today and AM going. I can make it!

Merry Christmas Day..

Christmas eve came and went.. and what was I thinking? We needed new stockings to hang by the fireplace. So I did a little reorganization of my list and made some time to sew these up. They go along with my Dr Seuss tripod. I first saw some really cute little ones here that Christina made.. which led me to the tutorial and the template at A Fanciful Twist. I scrounged up all the colorful felt I could find.. enlarged the pattern by 130%, then also made them a little longer to hold the stuff. They were a hit with the family.. and my children are all adults.

And look what almost bloomed today!

It was such a Merry Christmas this year. I am so thankful for my family, and that I either visited or had phone calls from all of my brothers and dad, and all my kids got home safe. We are enjoying not having to get ready and go anywhere and just lazing around all evening. Santa brought me a tripod! So no more boxes stacked up. ☺

I don't know if I will get around to visit everyone before tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to hearing about your Christmas Day.

And looking forward to some quilting... ☺

Yo-yos & a Dr Seuss Tripod

I don't think I've showed this here yet. But it's the whole tree.. except for the very tip top of the angel.. she got cut off. I found her a few weeks ago at that big rummage sale I was telling you about in November. See that Christmas Cactus up there on the left? It actually has two buds, and I'm hoping at least one of them will be open for Christmas. That would be sweet.

You can see why I have to have a skinny tree. There is hardly any room for it in this cluttered small house, but it fits perfectly between the TV thing and the old piano. I was thinking I might get rid of that ugly upright piano, but then I started thinking where would I set my doll house and stuff?.. so I am toying with the idea of painting it white-ish...? maybe someday.

Below is my current tripod. It has helped me tremendously in taking pictures without the flash so as to get a nice pretty glow of the tree lights. And I'm getting better at it..I can tell it myself. My friend Helen told me it looks like a Dr Seuss tripod. ☺

Ok. It is coming down to the wire. I've been giving my little groovy jingle owls and feedsack turtle doves to friends.. and even had to make some for Mr. Attic and the kids..(they are not little kids either). But I still needed some more so I've been working on them yesterday and today. My friend Karen said that the yo-yos should be made first.. that way you can see how many owls you really need to make. Good idea.. but here all this time I've been doing it backwards. It is easy to whip up the owl bodies.. and sew on the bells and beaks. FUN actually. Then you discovered that if you are going to make three owls.. which seem to go together.. then you need to make six tiny yo-yos. I have a long ways to go to finish that stack..

On and on.. sewing little circles with buttons on them.. tooo many are needed. Somebody had a brilliant idea when I showed this guy a couple weeks ago. They said he just needs a winking eye.. (was that you T?). Sounds good to me!

And oops.. I got a little punch silly here. Definitely NOT going to happen... I don't care what anybody says..

(as a side note.. that garland?.. is over 30 years old. I made it the first year we were married, out of rolled wallpaper strips and foil. We can maybe talk about that later on..)

Anyways.. here is what I actually got done today...

The only ones staying here though are Mr. Winky, and my single little golden turtle dove down there at the bottom. He was my practice bird. The doves are a lot of fun to make.. and you can get the free pattern over at Spool Sewing. I reduced mine in size just a little, and made the tails flip up instead of down.. and added the bells for the feet.

Well I guess that's enough for today. It's going to be a really hustling-bustling next few days for everyone. I hope you all stay safe, and have fun! I'll be around to visit you tomorrow sometime.

Christmas Stockings ~VTT~

I haven't played Vintage Thingies Thursdays for a while. I'm usually gone on Thursday mornings.. but ha-ha.. I'm wrote this yesterday and scheduled it for today.
To see lots more Vintage things today.. visit Colorado Lady and find the links.

Here in the US we hang big huge stockings on our mantels on Christmas Eve so Santa can fill them with goodies. When I was little, I would stare at these pages in this story book for a long time imagining finding these things in mine and my two little brothers' stockings on Christmas morning.. (if you can't read the poems.. I think you can click them bigger)..

I never did get that little Tea Set inside the Green Apple. Wouldn't that have been a treasure? And I can't remember ever getting a baby doll or a locket in there either. My mother told us that only very spoiled little children got so many toys in their stockings. Ours were filled with very practical things.. like a new toothbrush, a brush and comb, and some Chapstick. And oh.. usually a Silly Putty egg.. remember that stuff?

What did you get in your stocking?? It would be fun to hear.

Here are some very cute stockings made by Christina... she found the template on A Fanciful Twist.. I think these would make adorable little ornaments.

What I Like About Christmas

This is the Nativity set we had when I was girl. It's in pretty bad shape really. My dad patched it with some sort of plaster stuff, and the one wise man and baby Jesus are from another set because when I got it the baby was totally dissolved somehow and there were only two wisemen. I don't actually think all the pieces we had when I was little were all from the same set either, because there are different names on the bottoms of them. Some are marked Germany and some Italy. But from a distance and with soft glowy lights.. it still gives you the idea. I played with these pieces a lot, and it was always "my job" to set it up for as long as I can remember. Mom packed it away in an ice skates box when she got a nice new one, and wrote my name on it...
So one of the things I like most about Christmas are all the lovely memories I'm lucky enough to have. Because I know not everyone does.

This badge came to me from Ulla, Suzie, Melanie. Thank you girls ☺

Here are the rules for the Christmas award. You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award. The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas. You must link back to the person who gave you the award. You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space! Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 45; it's up to you. But, you must pass it on to at least one person in order to keep the Christmas cheer going! Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment.

5 things I love about Christmas:

1. That it is the time of year when you hear songs of Christ's birth just about everywhere you go.

2. Thinking about the people I'm buying or making gifts for.

3. Plugging in the Christmas tree when I get up in the morning.

4. Watching the little children's Christmas Play on Sunday afternoon.

5. Having all my big children come home for a few days.. eating, shopping, laughing, watching movies, playing games, drinking fine coffee, and hanging out.

I'm going to award this to T at Purple&Paisley. She has the most darling grandbabies, pictures of them with Santa, and her house is decorated wonderfully for the Christmas season. I know she is creating a lot of memories.

Not So Flashy

This came from my friend Helen the other day, but this morning was the first chance I've had to open it. I like to do things a lot more ceremoniously ever since I started blogging. But she told me I needed to open it right now because there were things in there for the tree. It is the cutest little bag all stuffed with tiny treasures in every pocket.. and garnished with generous handfuls of ribbons and sparkle. I love that little magnet there that says "clean your room". Helen knows me pretty good. She also sent me this link about taking pictures of Christmas trees...

So that picture above was taken this morning.. and I am just thrilled to figure out how to take pictures of the tree so that the lights are twinkly and everything looks glowy. I set my my old Olympus camera on "automatic" but then turned off the flash. There is a lamp on in the room and the light on the ceiling fan.. that's it. But I think the trick is using a tripod.

Anyways, last week (before I knew about the no-flash thing).. I opened something from Ulla who lives in Finland. I adore Ulla.. and we had such a wonderful time this past summer putting the Summer Stash Quilt Challenge together. Her box was so pretty.. it came in the mail just like this:
There was a present for Hitty! so they all gathered round to see what it could be..

Some fabric for dresses! And believe me.. this is not just any old ordinary fabric. I about flipped when I saw that vintage novelty organdy.. that itself would have been way more than enough to send me for Christmas. Ulla told me it was from a piece that her mother made pinafores for her as a little girl. I can't think of ANYthing more precious. And I have never seen anything like it before.

But then of course there were goodies for me. This little sewing kit and angel all handmade by Ulla...

Pin cushion, zipper case to keep things, and a needle book.. complete with a needle that looks exactly like my favorite needle I have here and use all the time. Now I have two!

And these adorable die cuts from Germany.. aren't these terrific?
An Ulla-made card.. AND one of those amazing Finnish straw wreaths..

Last year I only put vintage glass balls on my Christmas tree.. but getting this new wreath made me dig out some of my other straw ornaments that I had purchased a few years ago from Ten Thousand Villages (but I don't see these angels on their site anymore)..
Each one is playing a different musical instrument.

Look how pretty that wreath is..

So now I'm going to go dig into that bag of stuff Helen sent and find places to hang more ornaments on my tree.

Lots of things to share with you yet.. I'll try and get back here tomorrow. But now I'm off to see what all of you are doing....

haven't seen this in a while..

I bet you're thinking.."the table". Or maybe the Christmas decorations that I got out and haven't found a spot for yet. And yes.. both are true. But this morning the sun is shining in the window so magnificently.. I have not seen it in days. ooops. I now see some dust I haven't noticed either.. it's probably been there a while I'm sure. Will have to swoosh that away with a tissue.

All sorts of fun fabrics waiting there to be cut and made into things. And a blog I want to write about decorating and photographing the Christmas tree and opening another gift. But today I have so many errands to run out and get done.. and what a pretty day to do it! I'll have to work on those other things later.

I'll leave you with one more Christmas tree picture. I am so excited that I learned how to take pictures of the lights.

And thanks for all the nice comments about the little Jingle Owls. The tutorial was my Christmas gift to all of you that come here and see what's going on in the attic all the time. I hope if you make some, you let me know so we can come and see them.

On to those Ornaments ...hoot hoot.

Last week I worked on these little ornaments constantly it seemed. This is what happened to all those wool teardrop shapes and that pile of colorful flowered fabric..

(right now my workbench is just about empty! I will be putting my elf suit on again next week.)

On the right some little jingle bells and some embroidery floss.. which will turn into little feet and little beaks.
On down some white circles and black buttons.. they will become eyes that can see in the dark..
(those tiny yo-yos are fun..)

ooops.. that one looks like it has a built-in eye and doesn't need a yo-yo, doesn't it? So funny! I wish I could have cut the fabric so it would have had two eyes like that, but I couldn't find any that were spaced the right distance apart.

And on down the row.. some more little tweet ornaments are taking shape...

The lovebirds are made of vintage feedsack. (editors notes added Dec 7, I found the pattern to make these at http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog) Some of these have already found their way into new homes. These are harder to make than the owls.. and the fabric more rare.. so they are fewer in number..

And don't these just crack you up? They are all in new homes too.

Sent some of them in the mail.. gave them to friends visiting over Thanksgiving..


..and took a little basket full of them with me yesterday to give to my Hitty Friends..

..along with some Christmas cookies that got baked Thursday afternoon..

..and Betsy got her new cape to wear. :-)

...the basket of Hitties ready to go.
We had a really fun time of course. Lots of laughing and eating and freindship. I took pictures of the food and craft time and stuff.. but this post is getting a little long!.. so I'll say bye for now, and hope you are staying comfy and finding time to create or decorate this weekend. Thank you all for stopping by.. I love your visits. And I'll return them all soon!

more about those..

Yikes! I better try and write something.. I don't think I've gone a whole week before without posting. But I have been trying to keep up with what everyone's doing, and it's been so nice to hear of all the lovely festivities over Thanksgiving weekend, and all the fairs and festivals taking place across the world.

I cooked my duck last Thursday. It was ok. The guys liked it, but I was a little bit surprised when I sliced into the breast and discovered it was DARK meat. The whole entire bird. Guess I live a sheltered life.. I don't ever remember having duck before. But everything was good as it could be.

This is what it seems to be like around there the past couple of weeks... only I wish I had that many helpers..

I got a second load of packages off in the mail just a little bit ago.. but we're only about half done. Good thing we have a couple more weeks!


Hitty Club is Friday. Some of the ornaments I've been working on will be going along as favors.. so I don't want to show them quite yet. But here is another little peek at my quilt frame with a sheet pinned on the top work bench.

Notice I keep a couple of warm afghans handy to wrap up in. This little area is in the back of the livingroom.. behind the couch. It is "my" room. Have my computer off to the right so I can listen to Christmas music and wheel right over in my swivel chair to check my email when I take a break. (I'm on a really long break at the moment). My OTT light lets me see to work, even when everyone else wants to watch TV in the dim room. And there is a big picture window back there.. I open the mini blind in the daytime when no one is home and let in LOTS of light. Someday maybe I will get it painted and nice so I can actually show it. But right now forget that!

I told Mr Attic this is what I want for Christmas.. a room like this..

These photos were in my recent Quilting magazine I got last week. That's Sandy Klop.. she is "American Jane".

Ok.. I'm off to see what more I can get done today. Hope you are all finding some time. :-)