~Lesson Learned~

September is passing so quickly and I am so busy with work and home, but still I am trying to squeeze in time creating for the October 1st update at TDIPT Mercantile.

As many of you know, I do a lot of my stitching on my commute back and forth to my office in the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River in downtown Chicago. I've learned lessons along the way about working with needles and seed beads on moving trains, buses, and boats...

Today I learned a new lesson...

Do NOT work with white velvet while wearing a black business suit on your way to an important meeting.

Velvet sheds. A lot.

I now have a very strong lint roller tucked in my desk. But it never quite picks it all up. I wonder if the people on the water taxi thought I had a very fuzzy white dog? I think that the velvet will be staying home from now on... better to work with in jeans or even pajamas :)

I am a little closer to completing some velvet pumpkins for TDIPT...

I think I'll work on some cross stitch tomorrow instead.

Blessings, Patti

p.s. Happy Autumn! Enjoy the Harvest Moon!

TDIPT Artists Fall Swap

The artists from TDIPT Mercantile just had a fall swap.

I was so lucky to be paired with Sharon of Mustard Seed Originals! My swap box smelled divine as I opened it. The first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful card of the tombstone angel. (I forgot to ask Sharon if she made it...) Then I started unwrapping...

Wow was I lucky to receive such lovingly made treasures!

I just love this great witch make do! The details are perfect from her warts to the little spider dangling from her hat. I've had my eye on Sharon's witch makedo's for a while and now I have one of my very own!

The pumpkin man was the source of the lovely autumn fragrance and looks so sweet hanging in my hallway!

And the witch on the prim knobbly stick how cool and prim is that!

I really hit the jackpot and can't thank Sharon enough for the lovingly made treasures!

Here's a peek at what I sent to Sharon:

A wool table mat, velvet pumpkin, a velvet and wool acorn pinkeep and a little leaf needle book.

I thought it would make a sweet autumn vignette.

The inside of the leaf needlebook features a pocket for sewing scissors, and a little wool heart on which to park your needles. The mini acorn can be used as a scissor fob and I thought I would add a little cross stitch for good measure.

It was a delightful swap and a great way to get into the autumn mood!

Blessings, Patti

A Sale

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! It’s hard to believe how quickly the years have passed by! And what’s even more amazing is that I love my husband even more today than I did back then… I guess making memories together and creating a family together made our relationship even stronger. We go together like knives and forks ~ locks and keys...

To celebrate I want to share my joy by offering a sales discount to you. Effective immediately through Tuesday, September 21st all items in my etsy shop are 25% off.

If there is an item that you are interested in, simply convo me through etsy or drop me an email at pgagliardi9@hotmail.com. I will send you a paypal invoice with the discounted total or I can hold the item and give you a revised total so that you can mail a check or money order. I will answer all emails/convos in the order received.

I just want to close by sharing the passage that our wedding sermon was based on:

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
~Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

A reminder for me to keep God in all my relationships :)

Blessings, Patti

A good start

It's been a good start to a long holiday weekend...
At a local antique resale shop, I found this great needlepoint doorstop.
I just love the colors.

We stopped at a favorite used book store and I found these great bargains:

Folk Art - list price $12 for $5

Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott - list price $25 for $7

Home Sweet Home - list price $50 for $4!!!!

I love a bargain :)

Last week our Stitch Club met. Cathy and I both celebrate birthdays in August so we celebrated with a delicious cake.

Show and Tell is one of my favorite parts of club.

Jan finished this wonderful pencil box for her sewing room - I love that rick rack trim!

Kim finished a beautiful pincushion.

Aren't the colors great?

And Diane finished this purrfect needlepunch.

Here is a peek at what I was working on.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend!

"So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you.

It's as sound as the day you first heard it from me.

Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us."

2 Timothy 1:13-14

Blessings, Patti

*Welcome September*

I love pears!

The unusual shape. The colors of early autumn.

And they taste divine, especially in salads with blue cheese and walnuts.

I have a small collection of folk art pears by Stacy Nash, Schneeman Folk Art, two by me and two by unknown artists.

I recently purchased this antique velvet pear pincushion and it inspired one of my offerings this month on TDIPT Mercantile.

Velvet pear pincushions in light gold, dark gold and green velvets.

Each has a leaf made from a vintage wool army blanket. I had taken more pictures of groupings, but unfortunately our laptop crashed last night and I lost a bunch of photos.

I also stitched up a key fob. I haven't done that for a while, but was inspired by the approaching fall season and this primitivebettys design by the talented Betty Dekat.

My Etsy Shop has also been stocked with some offerings for fall.

Stop by and take a peek if you have a chance.

Wishing you lovely early autumn weather in your corner of the world.

Blessings, Patti

As Summer wanes...

When summer gathers up her robes of glory,

And, like a dream, glides away.

~ Sarah Helen Whitman

School starts tomorrow, so at Winding Vine summer has come to an end.

The weather & temperature lets us know that the summer weather will be here for a while longer...

I thought that I should hurry and complete a few final summer projects before moving on to autumn.

"Star Spangled Banner"

design by Maggie Bonanomi

Country Sampler Club Kit

I finished stitching this up while my oldest son was in Guatemala, but couldn't decide how to finish it ~ frame it, make a pillow?

I finally decided this weekend to turn it into a bellpull, add some army blanket points, and back it with antique ticking.

"Country Sampler Liberty 1776 Sewing Pouch"

design by Stacy Nash

I finished this club kit as well.

I made the dog a little shorter and longer in honor of our new family member Orion :)

I also substituted some antique ticking for the heart.

and added an additional heart inside the flap for storing needles and pins.

I think I'll move on to some early fall projects now...

"As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease."
~Genesis 8:22

Blessings, Patti

A Contented Heart

Do you ever feel like life is better than you could have ever imagined?

Do you feel like God has blessed you infinitely more than you deserve?

I feel this way on a daily basis and even more so earlier this month when I celebrated my birthday. In addition to my oldest son returning home from Guatemala and having the best rescue dog ever make our home his forever home, we also went to the best estate sale ever.
We bought my birthday presents there :)

We missed the first day of the sale, but were excited to see the half off sign on the door when we were finally able to go on the last day...

I've always wanted a stack of firkins and we found the bottom two and the top one at a reasonable price ~ I started hyperventilating immediately! I just love them and find myself just looking at them and smiling periodically (my sons think I have gone crazy!)

We also found this beautiful wood bowl and...


this great wooden trencher.

I love the make-do repair where it had split. It adds great character.

There were really wonderful antiques throughout the home. And wonderful handpainted murals on the walls of the dining room. One thing that really intrigued me were the wonderful clothes from the early 1800's through the 1920's. Each outfit was labeled with who wore it, when they were born, when they wore it and when they died. My favorite was a brown silk dress worn for a wedding in the early 1800's. I wondered aloud to the man running the estate sale, "How could the family part with these incredible treasures?" He replied that there was simply so much and that the family had taken so many incredible treasures out before the sale that these were merely the leftovers. Who knew that a 1920's suburban home just blocks from my own house contained such incredible finds...

I went home and lovingly cleaned my purchases while my mind thought of all the other wonderful things that I saw. I decided to go back the last half hour to see if anything was left that they might want to make a deal on...

I came home with this lovely wool blanket in perfect shape gifted to the family on Christmas Day handwoven by an aunt from sheep on her farm. The blanket was gifted in 1934, but the dealer running the sale insisted that it is almost 200 years old. I don't know about that, but the blanket and letter are just precious!

I also picked up this old cutter quilt.

a pewter childs mug, a redware santa, and a sweet original paper cutting made and signed by Claudia Hopf.

Each of these are treasures that I will cherish.

I truly possess a contented heart!

Blessings, Patti