Floral Plissé (Stash Sunday)

Here’s a piece of vintage plissé for this week’s Stash Sunday theme, “Spring.” I love the colors in this… and the texture. It reminds me of a pair of jammies I had when I was little (in the fifties!).

Dogwood Blossoms

My late-blooming dogwood tree is in full bloom!

Nature Journal Sketch: Dogwood Blossoms

Painted Quiltlet in Progress (Stash Sunday)

In an attempt to reduce my huge (and growing!) pile of UFOs, I’ve begun to stitch some of my projects from the Monoprinting and Personal Symbols courses. I’ve outlined the main components on this monoprint painting with stem, back and running stitches and will be adding lots more stitching and beads.

This week’s theme for Stash Sunday is Orange and Yellow, so I thought it would be apropos.

I’ve also been busy working on the final lesson for the Personal Symbols course – creating a mobile. I’ll be posting my progress on that soon, hopefully…

Working Title: "I Got You Babe"

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”

As a belated Easter treat, DH and I finally got around to renting the “The Chronicles of Narnia” DVD. What a great film! Watching it got me thinking how the Gospel message has really been disseminated around the world (even in places where it wouldn’t normally be welcome) just in recent years; first, literally, in “The Passion” and then, allegorically, in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Aslan surely must be “on the move.”

Allegheny Serviceberry Flowers

Here are the Serviceberry blossoms close-up. Last year, I posted a photograph of these flowers on April 21st. They were just beginning to bloom according to my blog entry. I remember last spring as being exceptionally cold and it looks like it must have set the plants back by about a week (compared to this year). Interesting…

I also heard the unmistakable song of the male Rufous-sided Towhee this morning. He usually doesn’t arrive here until the end of April. DH said he heard him last week…

The Allegheny Serviceberry Tree is in Bloom!

Here is the Allegheny Serviceberry tree in full bloom. Just beyond that is the screen house. I have plastic covering the picnic table so I can paint fabric out there without making a mess in the house.

"Here We Come..."

Last April 7th, I posted a picture of the monkshood plants sprouting. Here they are again as photographed yesterday (April 16th). These seem to thrive on neglect (my kind of plant!).

Hey, hey, we're the Monkshoods...

Spring is Here...

These beautiful little blossoms belong to an unidentified tree that has "volunteered" in my foundation plantings.

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

I’ve just uploaded a few more Easter postcards to my Flickr group (five members strong, so far). And here’s a link to a brief but informative article about the symbols found on Easter postcards – just in case anyone was wondering what baby chicks have to do with anything…

Postmarked 1912

And More Bargains (Stash Sunday)

I visited my favorite antique store in Mt. Holly, NJ, the other day and found this box of treasures – yards and yards of vintage trim! The dealer had brought it in fifteen minutes before I arrived. Talk about serendipity…

The entire lot cost $45.00 but there's enough there to trim a bazillion Santas, pillows and more!

Vintage Trim

Bargains (Stash Sunday)

Here are some stamps I purchased recently on sale. The prices were fifty cents to one dollar each. Couldn’t pass them up…

A New Flickr Group for Vintage Postcards

I started a Flickr group last night called “Vintage Holiday Greetings Postcards.” I only started it because, unbelievably, there were no groups dedicated exclusively to this subject. So far, I’m the only member – and feeling a bit self-conscious about that, I must say! Please join in if you love old postcards. I only have five posted so far, but plan to add more as I find the time…

Here’s a sneak preview:

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It’s the one year anniversary of my blog today! (And they said it wouldn't last - hehe...) I have met so many wonderful people - from all over the world! Ain’t the internet grand? I’m hoping more people who visit my little corner of the web will comment and say “Hi.”

Leverett’s close-up shots were finished this afternoon and he decided he wanted to go to Shanty Clauses since it’s getting a little too close to Easter (the 16th!) for timely shipping after an auction. I made an interesting discovery today at the bookstore. I was looking at a book on vintage postcards and found the exact rabbit card (see previous post) valued at $10.00 to $12.00. WOW! Now I wonder what other little treasures I have in my old postcard stash…

Antique Postcard

Here is a scan of the antique (postmarked 1910) Easter postcard that Santa Leverett will be displaying. Isn’t it just the sweetest thing? I purchased this on Ebay a couple of months ago along with some other old postcards and was delighted with all of them - the graphics are so charming. This one is lightly embossed.

I love these little pieces of the past...

Postcard (1910)

Here's Leverett

I finally finished my first Santa for 2006. His name is Leverett (that’s French for “young rabbit”). He’s dressed in tea-stained vintage ivory chenille trimmed with antique lace and cool vintage mother of pearl sequins and a large mother of pearl button. I’ll be adding two antique postcards for him to display: one for Christmas and one for Easter. He’s not sure whether to he wants to go to EBAY right away or to my Shanty Clauses site…and I wish he’d make up his mind…

Leverett

Busy Bee

The magnolia tree is blooming! I love spring! The temperature is in the 70s today…

Magnolia Blossom and Bee

The Periwinkles are in Bloom...

It has been over a week since I last blogged! I really lost track of the time. The weather has been below average for awhile and I am getting cabin fever! I want to play outside. The periwinkles are in bloom - a little cheerfulness on an otherwise gray day. Here are a couple of watercolor sketches and a photo of the periwinkles growing under the foundation plants.

Nature Journal: Periwinkles

Personal Symbols Lesson Five

This painting on lutradur was created for the Personal Symbols class and is meant to be cut down into smaller pieces, stitched and beaded. I used a stylized sassafras leaf for my symbol. I had an awful lot of fun just playing in the paints and not being perfect!

Big Spider!

DH found this beauty today while he was bringing in some logs for the fire. He/she is around three inches long (including legs). I have no clue as to identity…

Vintage Hankie 2 (Stash Sunday)

This week's theme is "green." Here’s a vintage hankie with green crocheted trim just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! And there’s an old pressed four-leaf clover just for luck…

Vintage Hankie - Crocheted Trim