I have loved tomato pincushions for as long as I can remember..........

I have seen them used by so many seamstresses and artists. They have held pins and needles  for the dress maker, the school costume maker, the quilter, and the embroiderer.  I love to collect them.

But..............

why a tomato and a strawberry...............

to keep our pins and needles in check????...............

Have you ever wondered?

Well I do, these are the kinds of things that keep me awake at night................

amongst stitching..............

Well, here is the answer..............

The most popular design in pincushions,  a tomato with a strawberry attached,  was most likely introduced during the Victorian Era. According to folklore, placing a tomato on the mantle of a new home guaranteed prosperity and repelled evil spirits. If tomatoes were out of season, families improvised by using a round ball of red fabric filled with sand or sawdust. The good-luck symbol also served a practical purpose—a place to store pins. Typically, the tomato is filled with wool roving to prevent rust, and the strawberry is filled with an abrasive to clean and sharpen the pins.

So now you know...............

And so do I!

 

How about you?

Do you collect these or is there another type of pincushion you like best?

I would love to hear!



There are a few "works in progress"

that I need to get to "work" on and to make "progress"with in my embroidery.

I have stitched on this set of flower coasters off and on for way too long. I don't have a reason for taking too long............I just start on something new and forget to finish...........

do you do that??

There are 12 to the set.

a flower for each month. I am stitching two sets as I go. One I hope to sell in my Etsy, the other I am keeping and using .

 

I am stitching both sets on a large cloth all together, and after the embroidery is finished, I will cut the coasters out and away from each other.

Along with that, I have just started another pillowcase set. This design is rather large and full of the most prettiest flower designs. I always like to try something new and different in the way that I embroider.............I wanted a speckled look to the flower........much like you would see in an Iris or Day Lily............I think it looks pretty this way..............don't you?

I will show more of this set as I go along and get it embroidered.

How about you?

Do you have a work in progress that has taken way too long for you to finish?

Is it embroidery, sewing, or painting perhaps?

I would love to hear!

I have added the extra touches to the pillowcases

that I posted about last week.

 

(click onto photos for a better view)

I added a lace trim and a bottom floral print edge..........

I was going to crochet the trim.........but this lace looks like hand crochet........don't you think?

 

Now the pillowcases have a cottage/nostalgic look to them............

what do you think?

As many of you know........I love Homer Laughlin dishware. My favorite is from my grandmother's dishes........... Virginia Rose...........in which I only have a sugar bowl(missing it's lid) , and two teacups. I have found little dessert plates and 1 small saucer.  I have loved this pattern since way back and I can't remember when.

I wondered if there were ever any dinner plates.

Yes...........there is!!  While rummaging through the dusty shelves of one of my favorite hang outs.......on the shelf were 4 dinner plates with the Virginia Rose pattern.

You can just imagine how I clung them to my chest and ran to the cashier!!

Isn't this the most beautiful pattern ever??

 

Now I have a wonderful set to serve my meals with! Oh yes, I am absolutely going to use them and cherish them!

 

 

Best of all............I have had these napkins...........stored away...........they still have the tags on them.

They are edged in a coral color.

I have never embroidered on them, because I felt that maybe one day, I might find the perfect dishes to go with them.............. and I could embroider a matching design...............

 

Now I am going to incorporate this pattern into a embroidery design for my napkins.

I think I will make a spray of the flowers............

maybe on the corners.................or should I embroider the centers??

what do you think??

I would love to hear!



I love the vibrant and petally Poppy flower..........

Yet it is the one flower I cannot seem to grow.

I know they grow in my climate, because a dear friend of mine once had them growing along her grounds. That is the first time I saw them and fell in love with them.

Have you ever grown these flowers before?

Whether they are growing in a garden,  dancing along in a field, or their beauty is captured on postcards or in books............

I think they hold a nostalgic and graceful look to them. They are what made me realize that the color red was really beautiful in embroidery.

Don't you think so?

I have several vintage designs of poppy flowers, so I decided to create a design using a tall poppy in the center, with a poppy bud on each side. I then filled in the area with small yellow daisies and grass.

I then placed a smaller poppy design on the right side along with more daisies and a few french knot flowers.............

and I then did the same on the left side.

(click on photo for a better view)

I then placed and embroidered this design onto a set of pillowcases. Now the stitch work is done, I still need to add a crocheted edge and perhaps a bottom floral edge.............

what do you think?

 How about you?

What was the one flower that caught your attention the last time you visited a garden?

If you have had luck growing poppies.............what is your advice on such?

I would love to hear!

Not only does nature provide me with inspiration

for embroidery design ideas.............

(right click on photo for a better view)

but I also get much inspiration from reading other's blogs. I have become friends with so many of you because of blogging and I have been able to learn so much about the" common threads" we all share.

One such blog belongs to Kathy at Spot On Cedar Pond Blog.

She raises Jacob Sheep..............which I am totally in love with..... She raises much more, and she works her sheep wool into such wonderful yarns and tiny wee sheep figurines. Her blog is also very inspirational which led me to place the Bible verse on the piece above. 

You can visit Kathy and see all of her sheep by clicking on to this link

Spot On Cedar Pond

I wanted the sheep to look "woolly" what do you think??

Also, I always want the eyes to look real.......it really makes the character......

don't you think?

I am not that good at making hooves, so I just hid it's feet in meadow flowers.

(right click on photo for a better view)

Another delightful blog belongs to Sharon at 

Corgis In My Garden

She loves Corgis as well as vintage finds and buttons!

She also takes her beloved pets to rest homes and care facilities to make the folks happy. 

I have never tried stitching a dog as this, but I think it turned out well..........don't you?

You can visit Sharon and see what her Corgis are doing in her garden by clicking on to this link

Corgis In My Garden

I wanted the tongue and eyes to look real.........as well as the hair on the dogs neck area.

I always love to see potted flowers with some of their blossoms lying on the ground....don't you?

Who knows what I might find to catch my attention to embroider next?

How about you?

What types of blogs do you find inspiring?

What is your blog about and what do you love to do?

I would love to hear!

Have you ever spent time, creating something.............

thinking that you really like the way it is looking.............and then when it is finished, you find that you really do not like the end results?

That happens to me a lot. I spend a lot of time, planning, drawing out designs, and then embroidering for weeks and then after taking a good look...............I feel disappointed. This has happened to a few pillowcase sets that I have worked on.

A while back, a dark black butterfly landed on my hand and inspired me to embroider a set of pillowcases, making the butterfly look like this. I only embroidered one of the cases. Not happy with how the butterfly looked, I put the cases away.

Until the other day, I found them again and decided to pull out the embroidery I did not like and to re-stitch what I wanted. This seems much better. I finished embroidering both pillowcases,

then I crocheted the pillowcase end in the same light blue that the butterfly's wings have, and then added this sweet blue and white print fabric that has butterflies and flowers on it.

Now the set has a cottage look to it. Do you like it?

I also embroidered this vintage design onto a set of pillowcases a while back.

I love the cluster of flowers and the curve of the design.

I crocheted a white edge to the pillowcase and then added some of my very favorite vintage fabric.

Now the set has a shabby chic look........don't you think?

These cases look beautiful against a vibrant colored quilt............

or a vintage faded quilt.

How about you?

What are some things that you have created and then gone back to touch up or completely change?

I would love to hear!

To Sell or Not To Sell.........

this is the question that has been going through my mind...........and heart for awhile.

Recently, I have found a couple of new antique stores. Among their many wonderful items, I was able to find boxes of beautiful linens............all worked in cut work.............

from the 1920's to the 1930's.

 

Each piece is so intricately embroidered and has never been used. The labels are still attached. If you cannot read this......it says 100% linen real hand embroidery made in Portugal.

 

I found place mats in the settings of 8 and some to 12. Each with a matching table runner.

All corners and sides wonderfully stitched with beautiful designs.

 

 

 

Many of the sets are duplicate in design, which led me to the idea that I could keep a few and sell the rest. I am planning on doing this. I know that Etsy will allow me to sell vintage items as this.........but I am not sure that I want to sell through there are make my own site for these. I know Etsy would probably be the easiest for myself and for my customers. I still have much research to do on the pieces and pricing.............

What do you think? Would you be able to part with such treasures?

How would you sell them if you decided to do so?

I will let you know what I have decided to do and where to locate these linens once I have it all figured out.

 

Also, I finally did it!! I taught myself to knit and

after purling, knitting, pulling it all out and all over again...............

I finished knitting a dish cloth!!

It's the red one above. The blue dish cloth is one I crocheted.

I love the difference in the look that knitted items have..........don't you?

How about you?

Do you love crochet over knit..........or the other way around?

I would love to hear.