Miss Emilia Poole & a Winner

Back in February, I bought all sorts of wonderful items that debuted at the Nashville Needlework market. You can read about them here. Have I started any of them? Nope. But that hasn't stopped me from thinking of one of the designs that I had passed up. Miss Emilia Poole by Stacy Nash. I kept thinking about the design, but telling myself that I bought plenty and should start one of the new items that I had already purchased.

Miss Emilia Poole kept coming back to mind...

I couldn't decide which I loved more the darling sewing basket or the sweet little book.

Finally I caved and called Jeanne at Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin. 

I asked her to kit it all up for me with everything I would need to create both.

Well, it arrived and did not disappoint!

Look at the lovely colors and textures - hand-dyed floss, linen, cotton, wool, velvet and ribbon - all perfectly matched.

*sigh*

Is it wrong to sit and admire it? :)

I am heading out on a busines trip in a week and am thinking that maybe Miss Emilia should join me.

In the meantime, I might just sit and admire a little while longer...

Thanks to those that entered my giveaway.

There were 21 entries and random.org picked #6 - RoseMary of Virginia.

Congratulations RoseMary!

Your package will soon be on its way!

"Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: 

we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: 

bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."

~Psalm 118: 26-29

Blessings, Patti

Springtime Finish

"Live Simply BOM - April"

design by Buttermilk Basin

with blush colored velvet binding

Just had to share my most recent little finish.

Life has been getting in the way of my stitching time lately.

Things aren't going as quickly as I would like.

I will just be grateful for the little stitching that I have done.

I also had to share these daffodils from my garden.

Spring is really here, although the highs the past few days have only been in the low 40's.

There is still time to enter the giveaway in my previous post.

Just click here.

"Love and faithfulness meet together;

righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,

and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good,

and our land will yield its harvest."

~Psalm 85:10-12

Blessings, Patti

Happy Easter & A Giveaway

He is Risen Indeed!

A favorite Cross Eyed Cricket piece from many years ago - yet I never tire of it.

A New Finish

design by Country Rustic Primitives designed by Jenny Hoffman

and some of the pansies that survived last week's snow.

And on to the giveaway...

Each year the Easter children's message is about the resurrection butterfly.

How Jesus was like caterpillar when he lived his life like us on earth. When he died and was buried, he was wrapped in burial cloths like a cocoon. But then Jesus rose from the dead like a beautiful butterfly.

This little giveaway celebrates the resurrection butterfly with this little pinkeep with vintage embroidery, a bit of vintage flowered ribbon, some old mother of pearl buttons and an antique skeleton key.

Everyone is welcome to enter. Simply leave a comment on this post or email me at pgagliardi9@hotmail.com with "Resurrection" in the subject line and tell what your favorite part of Easter is. 

I will pick a winner on Friday, April 25th.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

~Matthew 28:5-7

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

Blessings, Patti

More Easter decor...

I thought I would share the rest of the photos of my Easter decorations.

Antique mohair rabbit, Schneeman cabbage leaves, Turkey Hollow eggs

Some favorite finishes of Stacy Nash designs and an antique tramp art box.

Velvet carrot by me.

Prim chicks and egg in an antique trencher with make-do repair.

Crepe paper daffodils and egg - both Maggie Bonanomi designs

An old finish from a Needl Love book, I believe.

A favorite antique basket.

Chick on old wood fragment by Ginny Henson.

Antique shaker box.

I think that I am overdo on hosting a giveaway.

So stay tuned...

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

~John 19:19-22

Blessings, Patti

April Mantle and More...

I thought I better hurry and share my April mantle before Easter has come and gone...

(Don't you love the huge carrot made by Maggie Bonanomi?)

For a while now standing rabbits with baskets on their backs have really appealed to me.

Some are handmade like the little chalkware rabbit and the white Walnut Ridge rabbit and others are mass produced. I would love to find an antique German candy container in the same pose. I keep looking...

I've cross stitched a few as well.

Hmmm I just realized that I haven't done one in wool applique yet.

I love their different textures and sizes.

I thought that I would share some of my other Easter decorations: 

Feedsack eggs and rabbits by Jenn of Rabbit Hill Primitives.

Eggs that I have made over the years in a favorite wire basket.

Velveteen rabbit by Ginny Henson and heart embroidered pincushion by Norma Schneeman.

Shaker box and half puzzle ball pincushion are antiques.

Well, I just realized that I have quite a few more photos of my decorations.

It's getting late, so I think I will post them later this week.

I will leave you with this glimpse of our spring day today:

Really?!?! 

We ended up with a good inch or two. 

I planted three flats of pansies and a flat of sweet allysum two weeks ago. Thank goodness they are hardy and should be fine. We actually got up to 80 degrees two days ago. Luckily this snow shouldn't last and should melt in a day or two...

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

~Matthew 21:8-9

Blessings, Patti

The end of a special trip

We didn't have much free time on our trip, but tried to squeeze in moments of sightseeing whenever we could. We took a quick drive through a part of the Roosevelt National Forest. It was in the mid-60's, but there were still patches of snow.

We also stopped at Devil's Backbone on our way back to the Denver airport.

It just appeared before us on a drive looking for skating hills and was a beautiful geological sight.

We took a quick hike to take a look around.

It was a nice way to stretch a bit before sitting on a plane.

Estes Park is on my bucket list, but we knew that we didn't have enough time to visit. We thought we would just drive down the road a bit to see what we could see. Unfortunately, not very far in there was a rock slide. The road was down to one lane for both directions and there were significant delays.

So we decided it was time to head to the airport. 

As we were looking for the highway, we happened upon an antique store, so I hopped in for a quick look around. :)

And I found a few little treasures:

The moment I saw this Abraham Lincoln bank bottle, I knew that it had to go home with me (being from the Land of Lincoln :) Lucky for my mom, there were two. So she received one for her birthday. The cap has a neat Lincoln graphic on it. I'm thinking I will collect wheat pennies in it. I think the copper will look nice. I also found a sweet little heart pincushion filled with straw or sawdust with green x's along the seams. My final purchase was a pie crimper - this one is special as the handle is made of wood, but the wheel is made of bone. I will add it to my collection that you can see here.

And here you can see what I worked on during our trip.

To commemorate the winter that would never end. Our daffodils and tulips are raising their tightly closed buds, so of course they are saying that it may snow early next week.

This was a special trip for me. The future may be unknown, but I will treasure this time that I spent alone with my oldest son. When I look at my little souvenirs and this cross stitch piece, I hope that they will always trigger those special memories and the gratefulness that I feel that we were able to do this - together.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."

~Psalm 100:1-3

Blessings, Patti

Comely Colorado

I took a little break from posting about our quick trip out west, but I couldn't skip talking about Colorado. 

I hope that you don't mind :)

The area right around Denver reminded me of Central Illinois, very flat and wide open.

As we drove into the Fort Collins area, we approached the lovely foothills.

I knew immediately what was coming next...

My oldest son is a downhill longboarder and I knew that those hills were calling him.

I admired the view while he got his gear on.

Here he is in the longboarder's aerodynamic form.

As a Mom, it is hard to watch your son hurdle himself down a hill on a skateboard going 40+ miles per hour.

But I have to say that accompanying him down the hill in our car right behind him, I have a new appreciation. I feel more comfortable knowing that he is padded up with helmet and protective gear. And I see how careful he is of traffic and his surroundings.

He has had more than his share of significant road rash and a dislocated ankle, but it is his passion. 

Telling him he can't do it is like telling me I can't stitch due to carpal tunnel, or the like. It's not going to happen :)

It was a lovely day and felt nice and warm after our looong winter. A very cloudy day, but I think it made the photos more interesting.

The roads are more challenging than they are in the flat midwest, but they lead to lovely views.

We made a quick stop to Horsetooth Reservoir.

Pretty in early Spring and I bet really gorgeous in summer.

I think these skateboard racks at Colorado State University made my son feel right at home :)

I'll have one more post about our trip to Colorado and I think I'll share my stitching project for the trip.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe."

~Ephesians 1:17-19

Blessings, Patti

April Offerings and More...

My offerings this month were inspired by an antique pincushion purchased at the primitive shows I attended last month. I was so intrigued by this little pincushion and set myself to task to determine how it was created. My antique example was a bit mushed from years at the bottom of the sewing basket, But I could tell how it looked originally and was determined to recreate it. 

I used crushed walnut shells rather than cotton batting so that these will retain their shape. This gives them a nice weight and feel. Once I created one of antique fabrics, I kept wondering how other antique fabrics might look. The next thing I knew, I had almost a dozen created and I can’t tell which might be my favorite…

The pincushions measure approximately 3 inches across.

 

 Antique Puzzle pincushions are offered at $12 each plus shipping.

To purchase, please email me at pgagliardi9@hotmail.com 

I can send a PayPal invoice or I also accept checks and money orders.

When ordering, please let me know your have a fabric preference.

These are the ones still available for purchase:

Antique Indigo as seen in the second photo above.

·         Patriotic stripes

·         Shirtings

·         Patriotic homespun/ticking

·         Combo flour sack, ticking, quilt top

·         Printed flour sack

 

In other news, I just  had to share some happiness that came to me this week.

 

Are you familiar with Nickel Creek?

I am a big fan of their music and was so sad that they decided to separate seven years ago. I was so excited and surprised to see that they produced a 25th anniversary reunion album that was released this week! It is wonderful and possibly their best work to date. (It's hard to say as I love all their albums!) I was so fortunate to see Chris Thile in concert this past summer with YoYo Ma in the Goat Rodeo Sessions. If you would like to hear a little preview click here.

 

My other good news is with the Decorah Eagles. Do you follow them on Ustream?

 

 

They have three eggs this year.

On my Mom's Birthday the first egg hatched!

 

Now the fun will really begin!

I have to tell you that watching them can be addictive. Especially when they start feeding the babies and they start hopping around the nest.

You can see the eagles here.

 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

~Ephesians 1:3-4

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Hopefully it will feel like spring for us all!

 

Blessings, Patti