Out of the Gate....

Sewing Space-- see, you CAN make a space anywhere

you are.

~~~~~~~

Well, it finally happened.

I almost feel like a normal person, meaning

one who's obsessed with all things making:

Sewing, knitting, photography, reading, writing, etc.

~~~

The above project is the first one out of the gate:

Fig Tree & Co.'s Nantucket Mystery BOM.

It was the latest project that arrived in the mail,

so became top of the heap, and a most obvious choice

to START.

~~~

GOD BLESS YOU ALL OUT THERE.

If I could, I'd wrap my arms around all of you

and give you a great big hug.

Loving each other as God loves us is

really all that matters.



Candy Flower Magic

Am extremely homesick today.  Maybe, just maybe, these

Candy Colors will make me feel better. 

I found this piece of Grandma's Flower Garden piecework

on Ebay years ago, and have never known just what to do with it.

The blues just got me today, and then I had a brainstorm.

This window was just too bare.

All I did was fold over one edge of the piece and sewed it

down to make a casing, using a Long stitch length, in case there

comes a time to take it down and use it for something else, the stitching will be

easy to remove.

It needed the little "V" in the middle, like my other valances, so I found:

a Vintage Turtle pin, which I used as a younger child. (I'm an "older child" now!)

 I simply pinned up the middle just a little.

I like the way the turtle shell echos the hexagons in the

Grandmother's Flower Garden patchwork.



These are some of the bears in the corner chair.

This little one is only about 2 inches high.  I made this little one

several years ago.  It's so small, it's a wonder it hasn't been lost.

And, holding up the corner, is a wooden church box.

~~~

I really think the person who made this patchwork really

understood what a Grandmother's Flower Garden patchwork

ought to look like.

It really captures the wildly bright colors I love in flowers.

Above:  Flowers from my garden: Red Rose, Purple Zinnia,

Coral Zinnia, Pink Peony, and Orange Zinnia.

~~~

The valance is hanging on the window that you see going upstairs

to the Playroom (sewing room). 

Will it cure my "blues"?

I pray it works it's magic.

~~

You have to get up and do something when you

are missing someone or something or someplace.

Make something new, rearrange the furniture,

go play with color, even if it's your kids' crayons.

What else would be fun is to buy yourself a

set of watercolors- I like Windsor and Newton colors -

and a couple paintbrushes and some watercolor paper.

Then Play with Colors.

It's the best medicine.

XXOO,   BB



First Patchwork - Child of the 60's

From Bebe: Because this is the anniversary month and year of Woodstock, I have been reflecting on the influence of the 60's upon my artwork. I was very young then, but I can not deny the influence that era has had on my work. I was already "making things by hand" since about age 5. Coming from a family of women who valued handwork was also a plus. I think the original "handmade movement" came from any people's who had to make things from scratch, like log cabins and such, when there was no one to make it for them. It was a way of being independent and useful. I think that is why people who make things for them selves are some of the happiest. It is part of our true nature, and the closest we can come to complimenting the Creator. The 60's embraced "handmade" all over again!

Above is my first patchwork- on my favorite pair of jeans. I loved them so much, I couldn't bear to part with them, so made the front and back legs into bags. The fronts are in velvet and denim patches, the backs are leather sewn on by sewing machine.

I learned to crochet from Granny Lil. I explored it throughly, coming up with my own myriad of combination of stitches. This is the one vest that has been kept all these years.

Out of all the values I learned and embraced from my ancestors, it is this: that handmade gifts are always best. They truely come from the heart of the maker. ~ BB