Linen Treasures Found!

Here are some of my new Treasures!!!

Above: hand embroidered pillowcases with crochted trim

I never did tell you all about the beautiful linens I found on my last trip to California a couple of weeks ago. And boy did I find some nice things. (Pasadena, and the surrounding area, is full of very old homes and have the greatest estate sales. In addition, I have a friend who knows what I'm looking for and helps find them for me- What a sweet heart!) I was able to find over 100 pounds of linens that I shipped back in three boxes. Here's just a sampling. Keep in mind that these are all wrinkled and have not been laundered. I'll get them ready for sale by the end of August (I hope!)

The greyish/blue tapestry is so beautiful! I'm not sure if I'm selling that one or not. I think it will make an adorable foot-stool or pillow. But sometimes I'm all bark and no bite and it ends up for sale.

I love this "Good Morning" red work pillow dust cover. It's embroidered with a small child who is just awakening to a beautiful morning.

One of the things I love about embroidered linens, is that there are all kinds of items that people used to enhance with embroidery. In the picture above there's a brush and comb holder, a light weight baby blanket, and of course, that beautiful pillow dust cover.

Some of my favorite designs include Southern Belles, Bluebirds and animals. I always get so excited when I find linens embroidered with these designs.

I don't usually collect yellow or orange items. I'm not sure why, I just don't seem to be drawn to them, but this Daisy Doily was just to cute and differnt to pass up. It will be adorable once it's washed and lightly startched to hold those cute daisy petals in shape.

There are so many more items that I could share, but I think that would get a little boring. I'm just tickled with my finding and couldn't keep it to myself and had to share with you. I hope you enjoyed it.

Blessings!

Patricia :o)

I've been Tagged!

I was just tagged by RoseMarie at Sugarplum Cottage. You've gotta go visit her blog, especially if you love cottage chic, crafts and beautiful flowers! She just posted a bunch of pictures from her garden (Yes, I'm a little jealous about that), and she has a wonderful Etsy shop, too.

Here are the five questions I must answer:
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was working 6 hours a day for a carpet manufacturer. I was very blessed when I was able to "retire" 7 years ago to home school my daughter for a little while (it was the best thing I ever did)

2. Five things on my "To-Do" list.
Plan next week dinners
Do grocery shopping
Update budget
Call landscape guy
Answer emails

3. Five Snacks I enjoy
Mixed nuts (no peanuts)
Brie cheese and crackers (YUM!)
Pecans & crazins
Fresh Blueberries
Chocolate chip cookies

4. Five things I would do if I were a millionaire/billionaire?
Have my husband retire early!
Buy a cabin by a lake/river
Pay off all my and extended family's bills, and take us all on a huge cruise to anywhere.
Travel the USA and the world
Make much larger donations to Compassion International, Wildlife Refuge in OR,

5. Five places I have lived.
Rosario, Argentina (where I was born)
Cerritos, CA
Buena Park, CA
San Antonio, TX

Gardening Tip - Mulch!

As you may know, I am diligently working on my Texas weeds, er, um I mean, garden. We're just about finished (for now) on the flower bed in the front of our house. Because weeds seem to be very easy to grow here in San Antonio, my hubby and I laid down weed-guard after putting in our plants. Next came the mulch and I wanted to pass along a great trick in adding mulch without covering and/or smooshing our little plants. It's an easy tip that I only recently learned (don't remember from where though - some TV show I'm sure).



After you put in the plants, cover them up with the pot they came in from the nursery. Then you pour the mulch over and around the pots. (There are sweet little nandina plants under the pots in the picture below)

When you're done, pull off the pots, and voila!, the mulch stays off the leaves, and creates just enough space between the plant base and where the mulch begins. It's so easy!


The plants need to be small enough or flexible enough to fit inside the pot, but most of the 1 gallon plants do. I just gently stuffed them under the pots and even if they didn't fit back in all the way, they were still covered enough so that we didn't have to worry about damaging them. I thought this was such a great tip, that you might like it, too!

Blessings,
Patricia :o)

Heart Attack - Know the Symptoms

My family and I went to the river a couple of days before Memorial Day. We spent a lot of time in the water, in the sun, and eating things we shouldn't. That night I went to bed feeling very tired and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Less than 30 minutes after I laid down, a sharp and persistent pain in my chest woke me up. I sat up and waited for it to go away. But after 15 minutes, it was still there.

I called Floyd and asked him to look up the symptoms of heart attacks in women. I knew they could be different from men, but never bothered to look them up. I only had pain in the center of my chest. Everything else seemed normal.

After waiting about another 15 minutes and the pain still didn't go away no matter what I did, we called the paramedics who recommended I go to the hospital asap. To make a long story short, it turns out that I probably did NOT have a heart attack, though I did have enough of the symptoms to get everyone worried. They did a battery of tests that showed I'm very healthy. (some of the tests were not fun and I don't want to ever have to do them again).

But, it all got me thinking. It could have been very serious. The doctors still don't know exactly what I experienced and I've decided to begin living a healthier life style which for me means eating more fruits and vegies, less fat and sugar, and exercising a little more. Also, I did some reading on heart attacks to become a little better educated. If you're interested in knowing some of the symptoms women are more likely to experience, visit the American Heart Association.

Be back soon!

I'll be back soon! I'm still here, but I wasn't feeling well for a few days and had to stay in the hospital over night. Everything is fine and I'm OK. I'll post on that later. I'm leaving on a business trip tomorrow to CA and won't be back till next week. I'm going treasure hunting!!! I just happen to know where there is a ton of linens just waiting for me, so I'm going to scoop them all up. Wish me luck!

Blessings to you all!

Patricia :o)

PS: This picture is my first "real" rose here in Texas. I took this just after a magnificent rain storm. (I did have a couple of other roses that got burned by the sun, so they didn't look very pretty)