8.31.2012

Taking some time off...

I'm taking a little time away from work.
Going to go visit the grand darlings
for a few days...
 
I will be back in the office next Thursday. 
 
Have a wonderful holiday weekend
everyone,
 and be sure to take note
of the blue moon this evening...
we won't see another one
 until 2015.
 
Brenda

8.30.2012

A finish is in sight!

I've really enjoyed
 reproducing and stitching
 the J.M. Gardner- 1888 sampler.
 I'm rounding third base
and on my way home
 with this piece...
just a few more posies
 to stitch in the border!
A finish is in sight!
 
She is such a sweet little sampler,
just 7" square!
Small in size,
but fully filled
with some of my favorite motifs...
Last evening I finished up the fruit basket.
I like J.M. Gardner's version of this motif...
a more long and stretched out version.
 
A fruit basket that symbolizes
love & fertility, and a
 couple of crowns  for
eternity
&
fidelity.
 
The sampler also has a lovely little brick house.  
Often times,
 this motif was a representation of the girls
house
or
 perhaps the school
 in which she learned to stitch.
 
After stitching so many apples...
dark red ones,
light red ones,
green ones
&
yellow ones...
I was craving an apple.
A carameled apple,
to be exact!
mmmmmmm
Doesn't that sound good?
 
It's that time of year!
I hear the local apples are ready. 
Time for apple dumplings and carmeled apples...
Pumpkins and mumms
 greeted me at the grocery store yesterday!
 
Can it be?
I'm asking myself,
where did the summer go? 
 
And lastly,
only because I know someones
going to want to know/ask...
An estimated release date for the
J.M. Gardner - 1888
chart will be sometime in September.
 
With thy Needle & Thread,
Brenda
 


8.27.2012

Halloween Fun!

Now up for auction on ebay
 are
 3 pocket watch necklaces!
 
Each pendant features
a teensy tiny Halloween-spirited motif,
and is housed
 in a
 pocket watch frame
with glass.
 
These are
 designed and worked
 by myself
on hand dyed linen,
using hand dyed flosses.
 
The pocket watch pendant
 hangs from a
 28"
black oxide chain.
 
Auctions begins tonight
 at 7:30 CST,
you can view
 these three auctions here.
 
This is a 7 day auction.
 
Happy bidding,
Brenda

8.26.2012

Miss Avry...our little ballerina!

First position,
learned!
 
Second position...
still
working on it...
Just 3 more positions
to go
and
then
I'll be doing
pique's
&
plie's
for
 daddy
 
in my football tu tu!
It is his favorite too ;)
 
Have a good week everyone,
Brenda

8.22.2012

Inspiration...

My dear husband,
the son of a watchmaker.
 
His dad's diploma
from watchmakers college...
 and
a pocket watch gifted to the dh
from his father...

family heirlooms
that I walk by several times each day...
momentos
of his father...
A gentle man,
with a keen sense
 of humor.
A man that always gave kids pennies for the gum ball machine.
He had a gum ball machine in his jewelry store.
A dish of pennies sat on the counter
for the kids...
 
 
Being married to the son of a watchmaker,
and being someone who collects
antique samplers,
you can imagine how
these little
 antique pocket watch samplers
 make my heart go a-flutter...
 
I would love to own one,
but they are expensive...
as much as a big sampler.
{sigh}
I love the simplicity of this one..
"Part
 not with
 a
moment
 but for its worth!"
 
It is stitched with hair!

Pocket watch samplers were stitched in the early 19th century.
  A wife would stitch one
 for her dh husband
 to be tucked inside the cover of his pocket watch.

 
You don't see too many of them,
  and they usually go for $500.00 on up.
 The one pictured...it is yours for $895.00.
 
So,
the wheels in my brain have been turning.
I've been
stitching,
planning,
and
 playing
 with pocket watch cases...
they are still in the early stages.
The decision making stages...
Do I make them into a necklace?
Or a brooch?
 
Hang them from vintage satin,
waxed hemp cording,
or rosary beads?
 
"Watch" for more details to follow...
 
 
"Time" to get ready for work,
Brenda

8.17.2012

Halloween Spirited Goodies...



New patterns coming soon
for your stitching pleasure...
 An 18" Halloween spirited cherub who flies over pumpkin patches
and sprinkles her fairy dust upon the pumpkins so they grow extra big.
Antique sheet music is used for Madam Halloween's wings and star garland
and a real pumpkin stems tops of her head.  Body is painted, sanded and then distressed
with stain and ground cinnamon for a wonderful old-time look
and delicious smell!

X X X X X
A NEW cross stitch chart for a charming 6" ditty pocket.  A primsical witch is not seeing stars, she's seeing pumpkins...lots of pumpkins!  Which pumpkin would a witch pick????  A short and squatty one, a tall and skinny one, or one that has a wonderfully curled stem?  Pocket has an antique skeleton key stitched to the side...the key that opens the gate to the pumpkin patch!   The bag is filled with tallow berries for a warm autumn touch.    Design is worked on 35 count linen over two threads.
X X X X X



And lastly,
a NEW cross stitch chart for a pin keep...
a pumpkin-shaped pin keep!
This is a quick stitch Halloween-spirited sampler
that is sewn into a tall skinny pumpkin shape,
and then topped off with a real pumpkin stem.
Place on an ironstone plate and surround it with acorns
and you have a wonderful little Halloween vignette
to sit by your stitching chair!
Design is worked on 40 count over 2 threads.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my shipment
of dried naturals,
perfect for autumn-time decorating...
tallow berries,
acorns,
cotton bolls
and cotton stems
all will be arriving early next week!

More black oxide scissors are due to arrive early next week too.
I'll be busy updating the website with all these new goodies
over the weekend and into early next week.

TGIF,
Brenda

8.12.2012

Who likes scissors?

New scissor arrivals!
-3 3/4" black oxide scissors -
Victoria styled scissors from Italy.

 A perfect little companion
to your
 Halloween
 pinkeeps or sewing rolls!
You can find them here.

Do you like my owl plate?
This is my latest new found treasure.
I found it while perusing at an antique shop online.
Don't know too much about it...
the price was right,
and I love it!
I just know I will have all sorts of fun
with this piece.


Have a good week everyone...
tis a rainy Sunday morning here in Iowa.
Brenda

8.09.2012

Brrr...

words not spoken
 too often
 as of late...
brrr

With windows open overnight
we woke to a chilly house...
I was actually cold.
The cooler weather is most welcome.
Now,
if it would only rain!

Not a whole lot to report on,
I've done a little of this
 and
 a little of that...
charting new cross stitch,
sketching new punch needle,
and
 in between,
working on
reproducing
the J.M. Gardner, 1888 sampler...
I had a change of heart with my first floss selection,
I think I've got my floss pallette where I like it now...
What do you think?
I decided to stay true to the original,
 with the floss.
The only change will be in size,
the reproduction will be
a miniature version
 of the
 antique sampler...
petite & precious!

With thy needle & thread,
Brenda

8.02.2012

Hallelujah...look who's risen!

Hard
dry
cracked
soil

A picture of drought.

It's been a strange
past several months...
very little snow
and
now very little rain.
I'm missing rain.
I'm missing the smell of rain.
I'm missing thunder.

What are you doing
 to us
 Mother Nature?
I ask...
 how can tiny little green stems
 poke their way through
the parched, hard as rock soil?

One day tender green sprouts,
and
in a couple of days
these...

beautifully formed blooms,
just waiting to unfold...

With amazement,
I ponder how they can push their way through the
rock- hard ground
and
 come out looking
so beautiful?
Not a petal out of place.
Picture. Perfect.

They have risen....
Hallelujah!

These little ladies
 always visit me each August,
religiously...


drought,
or
no drought...

My garden welcomes thee...
thank you ladies!

Have a blooming day,
Brenda

8.01.2012

Almost one year ago...


my dh and I
 took a road trip,
 to visit the nephew in Wisconsin,
with my dear sister and her dh.
(her dh is my dh's brother, confused yet?)
Boys in the front,
girls in the back.

As always,
I don't travel without my stitching.
I had just charted a little Halloween chart that I thought
would be something I could start and finish
on this road trip.
At that time,
I didn't really have a plan...
I had no idea that it was something that
I would be doing for 11 more months.
No idea at all it would turn into
a montly series,
a series to be named,
"Word Play".
I had no idea
it would consume my whole year
the way it has.

So,
 as I was laboring with counting and stitching
 in the back seat of the car,
fighting road bumps,
and
listening to my sister tell me
that she didn't know how I could do this in a car,
and that she would get a migrane in doing so...

she was playing with my ipad,
the ipad app
photo booth,
 to be exact...
hardly seems fair
that she's having fun in her corner of the car
and I'm slaving away,
working,
in my corner of the backseat...
In between her laughing/crying sessions
of her photo booth experiences,
she would comment that she didn't know how
 I could see to work on such tiny linen....

I told her it might be her glasses,
she should get some new ones...
or maybe
 her eyes are set a wee tad too far apart,
plastic surgery,
perhaps?
I told her to just squint real hard,
yea,
like that...
helps to see the linen better
if you squint...
tee hee hee
and
 now that my sister is probably going to kill me,
I present the final Word Play...

"SEPTEMBER WORD PLAY"

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"
 for joining me on this year long journey,
it's been fun
 and I'm almost sad to see it end!

And visit my sister at www.piecesfrommyheart.net
and buy lots and lots of goodies from her,
pulease!!!!
 

Have a good day,
Brenda