Finished Product

 Finished! Love this one...such lovely colors, and so fun to embroider. (Thank you, sweet B.!)

A Fine Afternoon

 

A cup of tea and a finished piece of embroidery (it's a tea towel...it has a matching one with onions, I think--next up!). 

Sampler

 

This is a self-drafted sampler of some of my favorite things. I started it years ago as part of a blog stitchalong but I didn't get very far and I tucked it away. When I got it back out, I didn't like very many of the squares I had done and I ripped out all but 3 of them and in essence started over. Are there wonky things? Yes! 

I really like how it turned out, even with the wonky stuff. It was so fun to make this--I was a little sad when I finished! Now to press it out and frame it up!

Garland-y

 

This is kinda cute, yes? I sewed vintage Christmas cards onto bobble trim (love!). This is two separate garlands--there is a button and a buttonhole on each end so that you can combine several together. I had planned to get these into my Etsy shop so that folks could buy them, but...best-laid plans/mice/men, etc. etc. etc. 

Sock Monkeys in Love

 

(I made both of these...)

Christmas Crafting

 

This was, obviously, kind of a weird year, so not much Christmas creating/crafting happened. But this did, and I think it's pretty cute!

I Feel Felt

The holiday season is hectic when you have online shops, and this year is no exception...I did finally find time to do a bit of holiday crafting (this is for my cello teacher--and her cat!). Fun!

Shiny

A pretty glittered pinecone ornament courtesy of the sweet little ones in my friend's preschool class. I feel honored!

Say Hello to My Little Friend

I made this little felt skelly for B. for Day of the Dead, and Miss Mae, of course, was completely disdainful...although she IS resting her chin on it in the last photo. Silly girl!

Craft Craft Craft/Sew Sew Sew/Glue Glue Glue

Crafting madly to get ready for the Mercantile Mix @ Mira-Dera, a fun pop-up shop my friends and I are hosting on Saturday, August 16.

I plan to sell vintage AND handmade, so I'm busy busy...there's a Barbara Stanwyck marathon on TCM next week, so I may be glued to the TV as I sew (and glue!) away.

An Age-Old Profession

(No, not THAT profession, silly!) I'm talking about book binding. B. and I paid a visit to Frank Lehmann, a book binder, an artisan/craftsman who basically follows the same procedures as bookbinders have done for centuries. His tools are amazing, and quite beautiful. (Those above and below are for stamping leather bindings...)

 Rolls of paper for endpapers...

 Gigantic paper presses...

Various tools of the trade...

Twine/thread to sew up printed signatures before binding.

So very cool...I have the utmost admiration for those who carry on the noble traditions of the past: if they aint' broke, don't fix them. Carry on!

Playing with Dolls

 One of my Etsy shops, Sew Betty and Dot (check it out over there on the right), is full of vintage sewing patterns and other sewing paraphernalia. Etsy encourages you to join teams, and I'm on the Pattern Patter team--obviously, we are all sellers of vintage patterns.

We have a team blog, and I wrote a blog post this week about Barbie clothes (made by my very own sweet mom!). In order to write said blog post, I played with my Barbies (fitting for a fifty-year-old, yes?). In the above shop, classic red-headed Skipper is giving the side-eye to Cindy Brady Skipper and Scooter, that minx, on the left.

 Stylin' Barbie!

 Creepy Ken (those eyebrows!).

 This Twist-n-Turn Barbie has stolen Malibu Francie's cool shades.

 All of the girls hanging out in the dressing room/closet (more hand-made clothes on the Barbies on the right).

And accessories! Skateboard (that's Scooter's), tennis racket and ball, fuzzy scale set to 110 pounds, powder box and puff...and stockings and shoes galore (there are more shoes and boots than those seen here). I was a rather meticulous child, and so no accessory or shoe ever went awry.

But you know what? Those teeny clothes with their tiny armholes and weensy snaps are best suited for tiny hands! I struggled with them (not helped by the fact that my era of Barbies had bendable--rubber--legs, so things do not slide up and down them very easily--that somehow sounds somewhat naughty, doesn't it?).

It was a definitely a fun few hours...

Super Dog

 I made this for a friend's birthday...her sweet dog, Riley, as a superdog!

He has canine super powers, of course.

Of Housedresses and Dusters

I really love a good housedress--I've been known to wear them as out-of-the-house dresses--if they're cute, who cares?. Check out this darling homemade one I just got--love the print, love the sweet button detail, love the bias tape and piping detail (also on the pockets and the hem...the seamstress did a very nice job). Cool and comfy for the hot weather ahead.

And speaking of housecoats or dusters: check out this darling version made by Sampson and Lorrie of the super-sweet blog Puddles and Price. They bought the pattern from my Etsy shop Sew Betty and Dot, and they sewed it right up into a cute cute CUTE duster. They are the very best kind of Etsy customers--communicative and sweet, they are what makes Etsy such a fun place to sell vintage. Cheers, Lorrie and Sampson--and thanks again! I'll be checking in frequently to see what other fun things they're up to on their lovely blog.

'Tis the Season...

...to finally get around to making some Christmas presents!
A felt needle case with pre-threaded needles so you can sew a button on in a hurry...
...a felt cat toy...
...and chocolate-dipped ginger.
Voilà (pronounced "wa-la," right, Miss D?)! Fun...I love to make things and frankly don't do enough of it...New Year's resolution, perhaps?

The Welcoming Committee

B. was away for a week, so the welcoming committee was on hand to greet him upon his return. The sock monkey held up a sign.
While Tallulah Mae...did what Tallulah Mae does best--she supervised.
(Actually, Miss Mae goes absolutely berserk when B. returns, even from a day at work--it's as if he's been gone forever...crazy girl [and only for him--me, not so much!]. And I sewed up the sock monkey my ownself, from a kit; there's a pink one to come, a girl monkey for this boy monkey.)

This Little Bunny Says...

"Happy Easter, y'all!"
(The "B." is for my little baby great-niece [grand-niece?], Brooklyn.)

KyHOOTo!!

A cute little owl family...made by me for the darling and sweet baby who lives next door to me, for her first birthday. They're pretty cute, if I do say so myself...

Here they are, ready to go off to their new home (I had to miss the party because I've had the flu all weekend, boo...).

I derive MUCH satisfaction from hand sewing...I feel as if I could just sit and do it all day (born in the wrong era, I swear! BTW, I wonder if Jane Austen would blog were she alive today...) Now I must get started on making some things for my sweet and darling great-niece--her first birthday is coming right up!