Looking at knitted tea cozies! My next project? Granny Chic!

Yesterday, I ran across this book which looks delightful!

This, along with cold winter days causes me to think about making a tea cozy. Crocheted like the one above?...., or knitted????
These tea cozy are images for inspiration.....

Some free patterns are available on the Internet. I will probably do the one below, without the flowers!

So cute for the season!

And finally, the cutest ever....following the current cupcake craze...

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More on "granny chic"......for a dramatic, glamorous granny.....a jeweled spider!
(Found on Amazon )

Easy, peasy, not glamorous, frocks.......from Dottie Angel....who has an ETSY shop, a blog and a book...

These soft dresses tempt me, speak to my heart, which loves retro, cozy domesticity!!!! I almost want to start sewing some from my fabric stash!
But, this is a look I have tried before....here, when grandaughter Lilia was playing with her rain gear....Mr. P snapped this great photo....with granny-aproned Grandma Lila looking on....

Is this the fashion statement I want to project?......hmmm
Reality vs. fantasy, LOL!!!
But I might still read the book!

And I have made a crocheted granny square afghan!

and I finished a cardigan from Madelinetosh DK wool in "Esoteric" (color way) which I started in the Denver Airport on a layover....Sunday Dec. 1st. For my beautiful daughter-in-law who lives in all cold climate...now off to mail it, and the alpaca brown scarf for my son!

Home at last!

Just in time to cut a bouquet from the gerber daisies!

I took 3 days to drive, with frequent breaks to shop I mean walk and stretch my back. Of course, this was mostly in retail stores and flea markets....so I had "fun"!

I think I was thirsty a lot because tea sets and tea cups climbed into my cart.....

Along with this pretty apple serving tray!

I also picked up birthday goodies for DH, Steve.....whose birthday I had just missed!

The best part of the trip was visiting my two brothers, where I met their newly acquired mare. She is a Missouri Fox Trotter , and she needs a name.....I think "Ginger" is a very good choice, her pale ginger ale color and she is at times a wee bit feisty!

Near the large horse, was this newly emerged fungus. I LOVE the color! I was watching my step for other reasons...when I found this! LOL!

My SIL's angel trumpets were blooming nicely! her flower garden is always interesting!

 

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On to my brother Chris's home. Late afternoon and darkness comes quickly , so I couldn't stay very long.

He is on a rise, and has a great view off to the west. Of course, the sinking sun just made haze I my photos. I'll have to go back when there is more daylight so I can take photos or do paintings!

 

I managed to pull into our garage just as the twilight was getting g deep...6:00 p m !

Good to be here! My back is doing fine!

 

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Welcome Wonderful Autumn! Projects for today....

Yesterday, two friends and I set out to visit our mutual friend, Lizzie, in Carthage, Mo.

A lovely "small town America" destination!

Above is the courthouse.....the town has many Victorian houses from it's glory days when zinc mines brought wealth and made millionaires.

Later, Route 66 added to the retro charm of the area!

However, we weren't there for those points of interest, more just to hang out and visit, to sit around Liz's living room catching up with each other's news, to "do lunch", to have tea and homemade coconut cream pie...! Our time there did include a trip to a flea market, and a couple of purchases!

First, another silver ring,....not sure what the stone is....dark amber in color. What can I say? It just caught my eye and now is on my hand! LOL!

Today, I will put these hands to work on a couple of projects....chalk painting this chair, ( my other purchase from the flea market, yesterday) and quilting this scrappy little quilt! ( made from leftovers from a "real quilt")

Back with finished project photos soon.....ha!

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Here, on a different chair, is my little wid quilt. A thread scribble! It would be cute in the center of a table, or on a wall! Now to get it on ETSY!

 

It is uneven, unbound--I used lots of zig-zag stitching with variegated thread as an edging. Free-motion machine quilted with red variegated thread. Love it!

 

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Home and busy...fun!

While at my art retreat, I found a little table in a thrift store, bought it, brought it home and yesterday used the chalk paint which I had mixed and not used on the armoire....just about 1 cup of paint...it goes really far...did two nice coats...( I think my gallon of paint will last for many projects! Yikes!)

BTW, I had some accidental "over painting" smears on the sides of the drawer. this mrning, drubbing alcohol and a soft cloth took them right off!

Next step will be to rub it down with 2 coats of clear finishing wax from Minwax..

This little table will be perfect to keep some of my hand sewing supplies out of sight but easy to find!

While the table was drying, used my sewing machine and some Kaffe Fassett striped cotton to sew this dress for my adult daughter...She loves it, hope it fits! In the mail soon!

Still inspired, this morning, I pulled out the little package which had come ( in the Royal Mail!) while I was gone last week.

Small scraps of Cath Kidson, Laura Ashley and other sweet English fabrics! Purchased on Ebay from Great Britain. I added just a bit from my stash and now have a little lap or crib quilt top. Just need to quilt it!

Sometimes I make myself soft fabric souvenirs of places I haven't been recently....Japanese fabric works that way for me too!!!

 

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Have been quilting..that is making tops!

Several are from a book called Sunday Morning Quilts. They use strips or scraps of my fabric stash....I love quilts with lots of fabrics more than ones where the same fabrics are repeated block by block, 30 times!

 

This soft quilt is called "Sunday Morning", it is a "low volume" quilt.....quiet, shhhhh, it is Sunday morning.

 

Now, ready to machine quilt is this one with bright cheddar yellow, aqua and lime. Love how scrappy it is too!

This may be the next quilt top I do.....easy but interesting!

 

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I am so excited because I am going to an art workshop! Acrylic painting with Annie Tagg!

Here is a wonderful painting which Annie did called " Wanderlust", didn't she just capture the feeling?

It reminds me of my daughter, Laura, who is a travel agent. However, Laura could only have a quiet moment like this in a far away hotel room....at home, when she pauses for a moment on her bed, four children soon find her and are climbing up to join her! So many blessings, but it does cause those wanderlust moments to be real....we used to say, "Calgon, take me away!", from the TV commercial!

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The project of the day.......

 

To carry some of my art supplies to the workshop, I am up cycling a old picnic basket from the flea market.

I just painted the lid black ( not for a chalkboard though I thought about it ...) and have a remnant of decorator burlap with a French theme to use on the sides......good- bye retro basket!

Now to see how those paints, brushes etc. can fit! I do have a supply list to help me know what to bring to the workshop!

 

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Yesterday afternoon was cold, dreary and gray. I happened to have the afternoon off so decided to go with Mr. Pear (still recuperating) on a short road trip.

We stopped at the gallery which has my bird watercolors for sale.

It was energizing to see these bright happy paintings on the cloudy day! Other works in the gallery were inspiring too. I hope to be painting more again soon!

Besides the art gallery and a coffee shop for a pumpkin scone to share, we visited a store with fabrics and a couple of flea markets and charity thrift stores.

These are the fat quarters (10) I picked up and below that, a pair of soft rayon pull on pants from April Cornell (a surprise find at the thrift store!). The pants are perfect for lounging or pj bottoms next summer!

top of pants in scanner....

More thrift store finds! A Japanese tea cup, a wooden serving dish (origin?) and a "holly" plate from England.
It was fun! Now back to work. [Maybe these new "things" can pose in a still life painting for me!]

[NOTE: I am waiting a bit before posting here again...I really like this post so much! And believe me, I have a quiet life so leaving the blog in Paula's garden for a while is a good thing! I may post some art work under my Arty Collage and Dolls blog...thanks, Lila (added May 28th)]


Late morning in Paula's garden...May 21st...

The sunshine hits the "forest of foxgloves" in full bloom at my friend Paula's!

Paula's garden is a labor of love for the last 2 decades....time has helped her to create a delightful quiet retreat in the Ozarks.

This year when my friend Cheryl and I visited, Paula had over 200 foxgloves plants in bloom! Just exquisite! This is one plant that local deer don't devour!

Foxgloves and Japanese Iris......

After posing in the lovely stalks of bell-shaped blossoms, I took my camera to capture some of the details in Paula's world....

Paula and Cheryl walking through another part of her gardens...the "secret garden" which is entirely fenced off from the deer. Note the bougainvillea blooming in front of Paula.

Japanese painted fern and a shiny ceramic ball. The wall of her garden with tools of her passion.....found objects like the painted wooden swan(rescued from beside a dumpster) and round stones from the river nearby.
Lichen, ferns, foxgloves, hostas, violets grow near rose campion (fenced so the deer won't eat it all!).

After the garden tour, we had tea and cookies under the trees with a soft breeze blowing....so peaceful!
In addition to gardening, Paula is a wonderful quilter/seamstress/artist, she rescued this old machine to use as a garden sculpture. Visiting her world has given me many wonderful images to recall and use for inspiration. Thank-you Paula!


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The trip home......Friday May 23rd
After visiting our mothers in Little Rock, we chose to take highway 7 (Arkansas) north from Russellville. [Sometimes voted one of the most scenic highways in America.] It was cloudy. We were driving on a high ridge but were up in the clouds much of the time! Finally, just before Jasper, AR we pulled over to see the view. Cheryl braved the mist and wind for the wonderful air and scenic layers of mountains stretching on for miles!






On down the highway and down into the valley of the Buffalo and Little Buffalo rivers is the county seat of Newton County, Jasper. There is a town square, with the courthouse in the center. (Made from native stone). Across the street is the Ozark Cafe where we had lunch. A "pattymelt" and homemade carrot cake....

Then out for a stroll around the square..... we visited the Chamber of Commerce which sells local arts and crafts, offers free gourmet coffee and lots of local lore.
Around the corner was "Emma's Museum of Junk " a sort of flea-market /second hand store in an old stone building. Her collectors' gardens were on either side of the shop.

So many cast-off things are put to clever use here!


Finally, right in front of Emma's shop was another cast iron black crow on a cauldron of indigo/purple petunias! Loved it!