Small treasures

Recently I was given my grandmother's old sewing box. Or rather it's a wooden box on legs. It was full of lots of old and wonderful things. Most of the things were the usual finds, buttons, old wooden reels of cotton, snap fastners and needles.
Lots of needles.
These are just some of them.
My grandmother used to find time to do lots of stitching, she made doilies, and clothes, and mended everything that showed the slightest sign of wear and tear.
I was quite fascinated by all these needles!



These curious things were also part of the sewing box treasures. However I have no idea at all what they are! They are tiny, just slightly bigger than my smallest fingernail, and made of cotton. They are softish, but have something hard inside. They are stitched to this piece of card. They don't appear to be buttons.


A puzzle indeed, does anyone recognize them?

Carole :)

this and that

I have been trying to do a bit of sewing, but with the Christmas break and visitors coming and going, I'm not getting much done in a hurry!
I have been working on more paper piecing for DH's quilt, the one I was supposed to be giving him for his birthday back in November! I only have 3 more pieced sashings to complete and then I can start on the quilting. Yay!

Yesterday in the mail I received this gorgeous postcard (and some extra fabric to admire and play with) in the mail from Jenni in Australia. It's covered in the most sumptuous Asian fabric, the photo doesn't do it justice at all. Thanks Jenni, it was a lovely surprise!

I wonder what 2010 will bring?
Carole :)

Just had to show you this little jem!

Well? Isn't it adorable!! The very clever Darlene made this for my blogging buddies quilt. Darlene has a blog, but SHAME ON ME I can't remember it!! ---FOUND IT!!---
My photo is a little pale, but you know the correct colour. It is so lovely, Thanks heaps Darlene!!

I only have 3 more to come home now, v e r y e x c i t e d!!
Just hope I can live up to all you brilliant stitchers and create a quilt to do you work justice! lol

Carole :)

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIENDS!"

Merry Christmas to all my
special friends and blogging buddies!


May your day be filled with

laughter, good food, family and friends.

(and may 2010 be like finding a tinsel nest filled with candy canes!)

Best of wishes to you all!
Carole x

Another stitchery!

WOW! This little stitchery has traveled all the way from Texas, Thank you Linda!! It's a gorgeous wee bunch of flowers, and it going to look absolutely fab in my quilt!
And I think the bee is just too darn cute for words!

Carole :))
(one more sleep till Santa comes!)

Another little stitchery arrives!

When I got home from my trip to Auckland this gorgeous Christmas card was waiting for me. It was from Jen and tucked inside was her stitchery!! How exciting. The card alone was amazing, but don't you just think the stitchery is adorable?



It looks a little like a vintage sampler. Thanks Jen, this little treasure will sure be added to the quilt!!
Also tucked inside was this cute wee button fairy! Couldn't believe it! It is by way far the coolest ornament on my tree!!

Carole :D

It makes me wanna shout and wave my arms about!

Well, I must say, my first ever rock concert went extremely well! American band Green Day was playing 2 concerts in Auckland, 8000 rockers each night. 2 1/2 hours and 29 of their best songs!

The concert was held at Vector Arena, which is down on the water front, and tickets sold out for each concert. We got there almost 2 hours before the concert started, and ques were starting to form already.


I'm not going to bore you all with untold pictures, but here are just a few so that you get the feel of the evening.


I think I would have liked to have been down in the mosh pit so I could jump up and down and act like a kid! (not sure if it's ok to do stuff like that when you are getting close to 50?) LOL


All these photos were taken without the use of a flash, so sorry if they are a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.


An absolute fantastic night! And before we knew it, it was time to go home!

Carole :))

Brooch alterations...

For my birthday earlier in the year my sister gave this neat brooch. But I haven't worn it. I picked it up the other day and wondered why I hadn't worn it. It was made of 2 circles of felted wool, a wine coloured one and an orange one with a few beads in the middle.

I think it looked a bit too bulky. I cut some petals out of the felt. And then I made the orange felt a bit smaller too. Sorry I didn't think to take any before pics!

 

Then I thought it just need something else...

So I dry felted some bright silk sari threads to the centre.

Perfect! Thanks Sis for the coolest brooch!
Carole :)

Another quilt is finished!

Remember this quilt I was making? I started it last January. Well this weekend I have finally finished it. I decided to hand quilt it using #8 perle cotton in pale green. It looks really neat, and although I would be the first to say that the hand quilting is probably not perfect, it's my very first attempt at it and I'm super pleased with the result!


I've sewn on the bindings, and just have to sew on a sleeve to the back so I can hang it on the wall. I'll do that while I watch tv tonight.


Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?
Carole

WOO HOO!! GOING TO GREEN DAY CONCERT TOMORROW!!!!

Carole :)))

And a baby is born!

My friend had a wee boy a couple of weeks ago! I wanted to make something for him, I made her first son some wall hangings for his room. However being unemployed, I have to try and use whatever I have in my sewing room.
Some rummaging unearthed these 8 little Beatrix Potter panels. Mmmmm. I had some blue and I had some brown fabric,




And I had quite a bit of this gorgeous flanel left over from another baby quilt I made some time ago for a nephew. It will be practical one side, and cuddly the other!

Just have to put the bindings on now. Hope they like it! I am pleased that I have made this quilt completely from what I had in my sewing room, and I didn't even have to buy batting or backing!

Carole :))

Gorgeous brooches!!

Debbi, Annie, Doreen, Ann and myself have just done a brooch/pin swap, here are the gorgeous brooches I got in the swap!

This bright pink felted one is from Debbi. Love the intense colours! Thanks Debbi!


This one is made by Doreen, and it's so different. It's been made from all sorts of things, like tissues, cardboard, utee, gold wire and gold thread. It's a true work of art. Thanks Doreen, it will go quite nicely on my jacket!


This charming wee flower has been made by Annie, and has been made from silk paper! Very cool! Love the dusty pink colour too, thanks Annie!!

The next one is from Ann in the Netherlands, and it looks gorgeous too, aren't I lucky?

And finally, this is the one I made for everyone. I hope they like it! I made it using as much vintage stuff as I could find.


Happy summer everyone!
Carole :)

It might have been a quiet blog this last week, but....

I decided I better get a few decorations out and up! The xmas tree with all it's sparkly things certainly makes the place look a little more festive.
I also hung my advent calender up. I love the 25 small bags, and if I know we have children visiting I fill I fill the bags with sweets.


A few leftover tree decorations have been put into dishes to spread the cheer a little further!

Hope you're spreading it at your place!! lol

Carole :)

Things I'm getting sick off....

need I say more??

Carole :(

Some new needle keepers....

Four more needle keepers for my Etsy store...

...each one has 8 pockets, so you can keep a selection of packets...

...and each one has a strip of plain tea-dyed calico so that you can use a fabric
marker to write the type of needles in kept in each pocket...

...and some nice batting to hold surplus needles and pins...

...and one random teapot, which just seemed to suit! :)

Carole

Published!!!

How exciting! I received the latest copy of Sew Somerset magazine
(published by Stampington in USA) and inside were 2 pieces of my art!!
An Artist Trading Card and a Collectable Postcard! (and I got a whole page to myself!! LOL)
I am still amazed that they chose to publish some of my art, when they must get hundreds of submissions!
This has just made my week!!
Thank you Stampington!

Carole :)))))

I've done it again !#..&**!

Well, I kinda feel I should go to one of those meetings, you know the type, where you have to stand up in front of everyone and say things like, "Hi my name is Carole and I have an addiction."
I've gone and bought another old relic, I totally fell in love with it and knew it would be perfect to store something in, not sure what, but I just knew I'd have something in my sewing room that could do with a lovely new, oops, I mean old, home!

Here is my new prized possession, well what do you think?



It's a chocolate box. Yep, and it was once covered in lovely plush fabric. It's in a bit of a state of disrepair, there are a few little bits missing, and of course the fabric is well worn everywhere. I am really amazed it has made it to 2009! LOL


It even has a wee handle on the lid. Boy they sure made intricate choccy boxes back in those days. I wonder how much it would actually cost today to buy chocolates in a box made like this? And I wonder just how old it really is? Anyone have any ideas?




There's a wee Rowntree chocolate label on the bottom of the box.



The lady I bought it off, packed it really well.


And Rowntree's made chocolates by appointment of His Majesty the King.



Hang on ....... there was something under all that packing!



CHOCOLATES!!! Of course not Rowntree's, but Cadbury Roses Chocolates, mmmmm, just as nice! Wasn't that 'sweet' of her, if you'll excuse the pun!

Mmmm....that gives me an idea....




Yep, roses. I mod podged more of my tissue paper to the cardboard inside the box. And now I think it will make a lovely place to store my rather large collection of vintage postcards, all 6 of them LOL!


Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Carole :))