just listed...

...in my etsy shop after months of not listing anything new. Man it felt good! And last weekend I bought a vintage desk for my kitchen and decided to use it for my pics and not use the big blue book anymore. What do you think of the change?

etsy treasury...

...in cool ocean colors put together by susantique. Wouldn't a nice vacation at the beach be wonderful? I can feel the ocean breeze and the sand between my toes now... 


Go here and leave a comment, if you like...

received in the mail...

...this week. My awesome husband handed me some cash from our tax return and told me to use it for 'craft stuff or whatever you call it'. And so I did just that!

First came fabulous letterpress candles from Alison @ Bee and Bird Candles. Aren't they cute on the vintage plate she included?! You really should take a look at the colors and letters she offers! She also gives some details on how she creates these beauties. 
(Oh, and I found Bee and Bird via Little Paper Dog -another Michelle with a wonderful blog! You should stop by and say 'hello'!)

Then, Stitch Nation's new 100% wool and bamboo/wool blend yarns (of course, I had to buy one of every color) and 100% cotton yarn for wash/dish cloths and the like, all from JoAnn's.

And next, a variety pack of Fancy Pants Design rub-ons from Peachy Cheap. Have you been there yet? The have a different item available for one day only that can be clear acrylic stamps, ink pads, stickers, and the like. You never know what they'll have each day and their prices are discounted big time (think 40 - 75% off retail)!

I can't wait to use the 'craft stuff and I still have some $$ burning a hole in my pocket! My fabric stash is in dire need of some solid cotton. Which solid quilting fabric do you prefer?

my flickr favorites...

...this week sum up my feelings about this seemingly never-ending winter. black, white and sometimes beautiful. i love trees in the winter especially when there is a layer of ice, frost or snow on them... and how they light up when the sunlight hits them just right.

flickr favorites...
Originally uploaded by craftydill

1. The trail..................., 2. Big Ones, Small Ones,

3. Willows, 4. Untitled

Stop over and see more mosaics or add your own at ArtMind!

vintage finds...

...from my latest thrifting excursions. Most will end up in my Etsy shop but a few I might have to keep (cause I truly only buy what I like!). And I have to admit that this is only part of the loot from the last couple of weeks...

 

1. Vintage tree stump and deer bank, 2. Vintage cornucopia planter, 3. Vintage black Frankoma planter, 4. Vintage Dutch accordian planter, 5. Vintage flame orange Frankoma planter, 6. Melamine & McCoy(?), 7. Brown Texas Ware, 8. Gold and white Pyrex bowl, 9. Vintage serving bowl, 10. Vintage pitcher vase, 11. Shenango divided restaurant plates, 12. Dutch white and blue dishes, 13. Vintage green plastic lazy susan, 14. Mother's Day 1970 plate, 15. Mother's Day 1970 plate & Johnson Bros bread plates

...I better get busy so I can do more shopping! More pics of my other finds coming soon...

granny square...

...pillow cover. I needed a new pillow for my desk chair during my 'winter break' and decided that surely I could just make two granny squares, sew them together and then insert a pillow form.

Of course once I got started and realized how large the spaces in a granny square, I decided I would need to cover the pillow insert as well. I also decided I would need some way to hold the insert in without a zipper (I need more practice first! :D) and while I'm at it, I might as well just make the whole things washable. And I wanted to use buttons to hold the squares closed.


So here are the pieces (I ended up using different buttons because I needed five across instead of four)

 

And here's everything all put together

  

  

Did you notice that I reversed the order of the colors on each side? Would anyone be interested in a tutorial on this pillow? 

And there's a great story about the chair the pillow now calls home (I have a 'thing' for old wood chairs... might make for a good post series?)

Had a great weekend since I spent most of it thrifting, flea marketing and antiquing. I'll be sharing my finds this week- some for my etsy shop and some for me! 

Have a good week everyone!

 

flickr favorites...

...in blue-violet

 

1. LaTour, 2. IMGP4501, 3. red and blue, 4. rainbow

Would you like to play Flickr Favorites? Stop by ArtMind and submit your mosaic and view all of the other beautiful choices!

handmade valentines...

...this was my first holiday 100% handmade and it felt really good!

I made these pocket cards stuffed with vintage hankies and other goodies for grandmothers and my great aunt...

crocheted these dish cloths...

 

Pattern for pointed granny found here 

sewed these fabric baskets for my Mom and MIL using one of Pink Penguin's wonderful tutorials (the first one is made out of linen and a vintage sheet, the second is canvas and quilting fabric)...

  

and crafted these magnets

 

  

It was a lot of fun doing a mix of crafts... thank goodness my female relatives LOVE handmade!

Update: Oh my, I have blundered by forgetting to mention where I got all of the wonderful pink, red and white graphics! They all came from one place, one great resource, one generous designer, tricia-rennea . She is a wonderful illustrator and is often offering free personalized PDFs and free printables on her blog and also has a shop on Zazzle. I used her designs on the round magnets, the embellishements on the red valentines and the tag on the crocheted dishcloths. You really should check out her blog!!

what flower...

...grows between your nose and chin?

 

1. Valentine Tulips, 2. Tulip

Tulips are my favorite flower and I owe these beauties to my sweet husband!

flickr favorites...

...for this week are centered around my longing for the end of winter. And for some odd reason white picket fences make me think Spring. 

 

1. ♥, 2. just another morning, 3. the American Dream, 4. Northern California

It's not like you take your fence down for winter...maybe it's because where I live, you can't see the fence in the winter- it's either buried under the drifts or blends in with the snow.

look, look...

...what I won and received from this SewMamaSew! giveaway! It's a fabulous fat quarter pack picked out by designer Amanda Soule @ SouleMama.

Isn't each and every piece gorgeous?! I swear the prettier the fabric, the harder it is to cut into it. I know for sure that I want to make the Crazy Nine-Patch Lattice Quilt pattern by Oh, Fransson! and maybe this is the fabric. But, I'll probably change my mind a thousand times before I make my first cut... 

...and before I start something new, I really need to first finish some of my crochet projects like this afghan

and my own version of this vintage potholder

valentine...

...for Grandma. Not sure which grandmother, but either mine or one of husband's grandmas. This is my 'prototype' for the others:

 

Using this Purl Bee post as inspiration, I started with a piece of white card stock. The black & white pockets are made out of the inside linings of envelopes I have been accumulating from statements, solicitations, etc. trimmed with black washi tape [purchased from Tinted Mint ].  Both the pockets and the card stock are hole-punched around the outside [somewhat evenly :D] and to hold it all together I crocheted around the edge with red crochet thread (size 3). I added a little tag to the front pocket, created a Happy Valentines Day tag [seen in back pocket], and stuffed the heart with a vintage hankie and a heart pin I crocheted with red/white bakers twine using the same pattern I used here. I hope Grandma likes it!

flickr favorites...

1. Snow squiggles, 2. CrystalPalace-Squiggle-9210, 3. River squiggles, 4. More Tree Squiggles

I discovered the wonderful blog Artmind today and love her idea of sharing Flickr favorites as seen on her post here. So, I decided to create my own mosaic... can you guess what my search term was?

vintage find...

I found this beautiful Smith-Corona typewriter today! It's a mid-century, teal blue, and portable Corsair Deluxe with a matching hard cover.

 

And you'll never guess where I found it... in my own hallway closet! How could I forget about this gem and leave it sitting in a pile of spare blankets? Well, I barely knew it was there, in my defense :)  My eldest brought it home after spending an afternoon with his great-grandmother and said 'Punkin gave me this typewriter to give to you' and then he stuck it in the closet. Which is where it has remained, forgotten for the last 6 months. I came across a random blog post where a typewriter was mentioned and I thought 'I'd like to have a typewriter for crafts' and then it hit me- 'I HAVE a typewriter!' As soon as I had five minutes of free time after work, I was digging it out.

I wasn't sure what I would find when I took the cover off but was pleasantly surprised to see everything intact. I crossed my mental fingers when I pushed the first key- hoping that there would be ink on the ribbon- but it looks like I will need to go on the hunt for new ribbons...

 

Oh well, another great vintage item found and it didn't cost me a thing!

etsy treasury...

LOVE this treasury! The colors, the mood. I found it because the kind curator selected one of my items as an alternate. 

 

You can find the treasury here.

blog banner...

...updated! Using my trusty GIMP and basic info from Design Mom, I was able to make a real, (but not real professional :D) blog header.

A special 'Thanks!' to my friend, Amy @ Ponder and Stitch (you really must check out her beautiful blog and cuffs), for the tips and ideas on how to make the appearance of my blog better!! 

The weekend was pretty uneventful, consisting mainly of watching old movies on TCM (think Wuthering Heights and Five Came Back) with my husband and transferring what seemed like thousands of pictures from the hard drive of my Mac to an external hard drive (fun, fun!). Oh, I did get new pictures uploaded to Etsy for some of my current listings... now if I could just get to my new listings that I already have pictures for! 

Please let me know what you think about my new banner... and have a great week!