Strawberries still in season...

I'm still in strawberry mode and perpetually sidetracked :)

This is one of my strawberry displays. On the top shelf is an apothecary jar filled with antique strawberry emeries. The little basket on the bottom contains teeny tiny strawberry emeries that I made with scraps of velvet too precious to throw away lol. 

I recently found these two old jars at a flea market. They are missing their lids, but I still loved them. I really like the detail on the jar on the left. My husband thought it might have been a pickle jar.



I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but needed to have them nonetheless.

Then it came to me...



"Canning Jar Strawberry"

design by Maggie Bonanomi

Buttonwood Farm book

I love them and am so glad that I bought the jars :)

Wishing you a week filled with unexpected delights!

Blessings, Patti



A Sunny Summer Solstice & A Winner

Happy Summer Solstice!

It is hard to believe that summer is here and today is the longest day of the year...

Although with so many days in the 90's already here in Chicago, I do wonder how hot July and August will be...

Thank you so much to the 49 comments and emails I received for my Strawberry giveaway. I wish that I had time to respond to you all! I apologize for the delay in picking a winner. We had the double graduation bash on Saturday, which rolled into Fathers Day on Sunday, a 13 hour work day on Monday and exhaustion on Tuesday LOL! Using the random number generator at random.org, it selected #23 - Donna at Dirty Martini Queen's Musings. Donna, I sent you an email to provide your mailing address.  Congratulations!

I really appreciate all the wonderful patriotic words and phrases that you shared. The idea was to inspire me to get started on patriotic projects. And it did, until I saw this:

"The Strawberry Collection"

by Beth Twist of Heartstring Samplery

(photo shown with permission.)

You can find it in her Etsy shop here.

Oh my goodness gracious! I had to order it the moment I saw it!

Luckily Beth is a very quick shipper and I had it before I knew it.

I don't have a LNS anymore, so I usually stick to DMC as I know I have those colors on hand. But her photo was so pretty and used all handdyeds, so I pulled out the GAST and WW that I had on hand. I only had two of the colors that were called for, so I choose colors that I thought looked similar based on the photo.

I have an idea to make several sewing needfuls or smalls from parts of the patterns and I have already started stitching :)

Thinking about strawberries again, I also came up with an idea for a small wool applique project (which is shown in the first photo.) I hope to keep my fingers busy this upcoming weekend and hope to have a few finishes soon.

Then I promise to be inspired by those patriotic words and start working on some Americana projects! I need to come up with a patriotic creation for my July giveaway :)

Blessings, Patti

Truly finished!

Inspired by "Home is Where the Heart Is"

design by Bonnie Sullivan

Wools by Primitive Gatherings

After finishing "Patiently Waiting" , I realized that I had quite a bit of wool left from the kit from Primitive Gatherings. I have a side table in our family room that I like to put a smaller table mat on. So I set to create a final robin piece of the season.

A few posts ago, when I showed my finish of "A Patriot's Sampler", I had intended to share another finish. I photographed it and was adding it to my blog post when I discovered... my robins had no feet! Yikes! Luckily I was cheating on calling it a finish, as I hadn't backed my table mat yet. So I pulled out some pearl cotton and stitched on their feet. Then I went ahead and backed it right away.

Now it is truly finished! And I am enjoying it on the side table next to my usual stitching spot.

Be sure to take a peek and comment on my last post to be entered in my June giveaway. I'll be picking a winner on Sunday.

"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people."

~Acts 2:46-47

Blessings, Patti

A Strawberry Season Giveaway

It's time for my monthly giveaway...

This month is a pinwheel that I made from an antique embroidered table cloth. The back features some wonderful crocheted lace edging. I'm also including a vintage tomato pincushion with lots of pins, a wooden spool of red thread, a vintage velvet strawberry emery with a green velvet cap and and green velvet bow (not sure if the glued pearls were original or added later), some old buttons and two old keys.

To enter simply comment on this post or email me at pgagliardi9@hotmail.com with "Giveaway" in the subject line. At Eastertide you were all so helpful with coming up with some wonderful religious Easter words for me. This month, can you tell me your favorite Patriotic word? I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a wonderful week. I'll be back on Sunday with a winner.

The graduation party will be over and hopefully I'll be stitching and relaxing then :)

Blessings, Patti

Finally Finished

"A Patriots Sampler"

design by Plum Street Samplers

I had so hoped to finish this for Memorial Day, but it was not to be...

The good news is that it is ready for next Memorial Day!

The ticking is antique and the rickrack is vintage. It is backed with a traditional antique navy and cream ticking. I hope to have more finishes to share soon. 

This was a busy week! My older son graduated high school and my younger son graduated 8th grade. So I am now the proud mom of a college student and a high school student!

Where have the years gone...

Now I just need to plan for the graduation party next weekend.

I'll be back shortly with my June giveaway...

I'm thinking that it should be strawberry related.

Blessings, Patti Gagliardi

It's Strawberry Season!

It is Strawberry Season here on Winding Vine! We’ve had a hotter than normal spring in Chicago, so the strawberry crop isn’t as big as usual. I’ve only picked about 5 pounds so far and it is quickly winding down. But a hot spring is good for the raspberries and the bushes are loaded with flowers! The strawberry folk art crop has been productive J and I can't thank you enough for your enthusiastic response to my TDIPT Mercantile offerings!

My offerings may be gone, but please stop by the Merc and see all the offerings from the other TDIPT artists. Click here to see them all...

It will be a busy, busy weekend! Senior Prom and 8th grade Promotion Dance are both tonight and High School Graduation is Sunday - I better keep my tissues handy!

Blessings, Patti