Vintage Thingie Thursday -- Tablecloth Purse

I love vintage linens. Especially tea towels, sheets, and tablecloths. I have a closet full of all three. I was recently perusing Etsy.com when I came across this lovely little Spring/Summer bag made from a vintage tablecloth.

It was love at first site. I had to have it.

It's one of my favorite vintage-nouveau thingies!

For more Vintage Thingie Fun, Head on over to The Colorodolady!

First Finish of 2012 -- A Process Post

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I realize it is MARCH and I should have already had a finished quilt. But hey, I'm a busy gal!

I'm happy to show off my first finish of the year, though. This quilt is for the soon-to-arrive grandchild of a dear friend. When I asked my friend baby colors, she said "soft pinks and greens". Those aren't colors I typically buy and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am on a fabric buying diet...trying not to buy any quilting fabric unless it is for backing. I am proud to say that everything in this quilt--except the binding--was from my stash. Hooray!

The patchwork blocks are made from two Lilly and Will Moda charm packs that I bought ages ago. I pulled out only the pinks and greens from each stack and "fiddled" with them until I came up with the idea to do four patch blocks and sash them w/a wide border. Please ignore my hideous design wall/cat scratcher.

After digging through my stash, I found an off white print that actually had enough yardage for the sashing AND the backing. Woo Hoo! 

My last attempt at free motion quilting was a pain in the neck, so I opted to do a straight line design following the patchwork blocks. I get a little impatient while quilting and that often results in a few wonky lines and puckers(although I'm not certain puckers come from trying to hurry). This quilt is no exception. but I'm hoping the recipents won't find the mistakes to be  as glaring as I do. If I do say so myself, I did manage to snap an awful purty picture of the quilting in process! 

I went against my new no-fabric-unless-it's-for-backing rule and bought something for  binding. I had nothing in my stash that would work. NOTHING. OK, I did have enough of the off white, but I wanted the binding to stand out a bit. I'm very pleased with how this soft taupey print worked with the other colors. I refuse to speak of the hell that is machine applied binding, but the binding was applied by machine.

It is a noticeable frame for the quilt, but the pink and green patchwork blocks remain the stars of the show. 

So the lighting is horrid in this last shot, but I couldn't wait to photograph it in natural light! Here' the finished product...I'm pretty happy with it!

I'm immediately starting on another baby quilt. I want to take a bit more time with it. I have an idea (thank's to the babe's grandma) and I'm hoping that it will be a hip, funky quilt for a very special little person! Hopefully I'll have pics to post very soon!

The Bangles

I have a thing for vintage costume jewelry. I have since high school. I used to go to flea markets and yard sales with my mamaw as a teen, and remember picking up bracelets, necklaces and especially brooches. How I loved a gaudy old brooch back then! I still have one of those brooches that Mamaw bought for me. It has a big ugly lion on it and I thought I was totally rad when I pinned it on my denim jacket with the puffy sleeves and turned up collar.

Mark and I have spent many many hours at flea markets and antique malls(he's definately not an early bird, so we don't usually do yardsales) over the past 24 years. I don't know how much vintage jewelry I picked during that time, only to sell it in a yard sale or send it back to a thrift shop. Sigh.

Not too long ago I was blog hopping when I came across this photo:

Photo Source: http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/2012/01/bangles-and-bras.html

"GAH!" I thought to myself. "Holy Bakelite Batman! That is one fabulous little collection of bangles! I cannot go on living without my own fabulous little collection of bangles!"

And on a sidenote, if you've never visited Vixen Vintage before...Do It!  I discovered the blog through the bangle photo and became instantly enamored. She posts some of the most beautiful photos and amazing vintage goodies that you are likely to see. It's one of my new favorite blogs!

I immediately went to my jewelry box and started digging. I knew still had at least four bangles because I constantly wear the polka dot, black, gray, and red(not pictured) ones. I managed to dig up several more and WooHoo! I do have a small collection!

Yesterday, Mark and I took off for another round of flea marketing and I picked up a few more pieces to add to my collection. 

None of these was over $2.00! Score! I was so happy to pay .50 each for four of these that I didn't notice the red one was broken until I took the photo this morning. Luckily, I have another red one! This one will be used for a craft project...I'm thinking decoupage.

These were a bit more costly...$3.00 each!! Oh how I love getting stuff for cheap! 

I realize there is not a single piece of vintage Bakelite in the bunch. And a girl can't really have a bangle collection without some Bakelite, can she? For now this girl will...because she is a public school system employee. Furthermore, she already has a serious spending problem with fabric and sewing/quilting items.  So, sadly,  no Bakelite for me until I win the lottery.

Here's my current collection, a few are vintage 60's but most are 70's and 80's bangles. I'm cool with both of those decades! I am looking forward to hunting for a wider variety of eras and lots more colors!  I might have hopped on to etsy.com and ordered a few more just this morning. 

using a sock/underwear drawer organizer for storage. A pretty vintage one is on my "to get" list. 

Despite the Bakelite disparity of my collection, the bangles make me happy! 

For even more Vintage Thingies fun, head on over to The Coloradolady! 

                                            

Cookie Bliss

Sugar Cookies. Mmmmm.  I love them...they are, without a doubt, my favorite form of cookie. I love a good warm chocolate chip cookie and a nice crunchy peanut butter cookie, don't get me wrong. But a simple sugar cookie with icing is what my heart truly desires when it comes to cookie goodness.

I must admit, I am sucker for the thinner, rolled version with glazed icing. A local bakery makes the most fantastic version...I try to stay away from the place, but when a box of Golden Glaze cookies shows up in the teacher's lounge, I cannot resist and admit to eating more than my fair share. 

These cookies are nothing like those glazed cookies , but they are just as delicious! I found the recipe at The University of Cookie--where they do some incredible things sugar cookies and have video tutorials so the rest of us can do incredible things with sugar cookies too! This recipe is not for fancy glazed and decorated cookies, however.

This is a thicker, softer cookie with fluffy icing. And y'all.., It. Is. Heavenly. Think Lofthouse, only better. Much better. They're soft--just enough. The icing is out of this world and the perfect amount of "sweet" to compliment the cakey cookie. I wish I had one right now!

I will warn you against eat them first thing out of the oven, though. Give them plenty of time to cool and let the icing "set" a bit before digging into them. Trust me on this. You won't be sorry...the wait is worthwhile.

I took some to my quilt meeting the other night and some to school to share with my coworkers. Rave reviews. One person even said they were the best sugar cookies she'd eaten in her entire life! 

They did take a bit of time to ice, but compared to cut out cookies, they were a breeze to make! I didn't change a thing from the original recipe, so if you want to make these, head to University of Cookie, grab the recipe and have yourself some cookie bliss.