Pretty lady, Cute puppy

Isn't this a lovely lady? I found her recently and got a great deal on her. This is an older piece from about the 1920's, but I think it was relatively recently that it was made into a heart shape pillow. I have her on my guest bed next to another '20's pillow that I found for only $6.00!! Both have beautiful old lace as part of the design. So pretty.

These adorable puppies are hand embroidered on an old clothespin bag. The needlework is very nicely done, but I just love the subject matter of this linen. These puppies are just too cute and I couldn't resist keeping this one for myself.

Someday, this will have a prominent spot in my laundry room. I have to do a few more things in there before I can start decorating. (Like add a sink, and put in cabinets...we'll see if that can get done in 2009)

Check out the Gasoline Prices

I was running some errands the other day and saw the gasoline price around our neighborhood. It was so shocking (in a very good way) to see them so low, that I had to take pictures. And it wasn't just these couple of stations, almost all the gas stations around here are below $2.50/gal. I never thought I'd see THAT again.

Up date since I took these pictures:

A couple of days ago I filled up for $2.28/gal. And today, I saw several places that showed, believe it or not, $2.19/gal!! This is sure going to help our budget. I hope this lower-prices trend continues!

Tranquil Pond

I mentioned in my last post that we just put in a pond. This is something we've always wanted to do, but never had the space for in California. I wish we could have had a professional install it, but that was WAY out of the budge (by thousands of dollars!) So we decided to try it ourselves.

Here are Floyd (my hubby) and Cody (one of my doggies) outlining the shape, size and location of the pond. The ground here in my part of Texas is mostly rocks and rock slabs. So we decided to build the pond up rather than digging down.

We built a rock "retaining" wall up using stones we found, bought and dug up from the ground. Filled in the sides with purchased dirt, and laid the liner.

After we laid the liner, skimmer and water fall, we got a truck load of more rocks! It's amazing to me that with all the rocks around us, we had to buy more.

The preparation for the pond took many week-ends, but we built the liner, rocks and put in the water in one weekend. After about a week, we added plants and fish.

Finally finished! It was waaaaay hard to do. It was so labor intensive that I was only happy that we were done. I wasn't happy with the pond at all! However, that quickly changed now that the memory of the hard work is getting farther and farther away.

I've only had the pond for a short time, but we've already had so many stories revolving around it. I sit at the edge almost every day after my morning walk and do nothing except for feed the fish, watch the birds and spend quiet time with God.

Lots of easy to care for plants line the edges between the pond and the retaining wall.
Planted inside the pond and along the water's edge are calla lilies, miniature cat-tails and water lilies.

This is the back view of the rock wall on the path side. It's dry stacked and amazingly stable and strong with the dirt holding everything in place.

I almost forgot to include a photo of my fishies! We bought 14 little gold fish and two little koi thinking that most of them would not survive the "new" water. Not only did they all live, but they're growing fast! The two white ones are the koi that are named Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

I hope you enjoyed my pond-building adventure. There's still so much to tell you about our little bird, frog and snake friends who come around for a visit. But that will wait until later.

Blessings!

Patricia :o)

Back from a Break

It's seems like such a long time since I've been able to do some blogging! Time just seems to slip through my fingers like there's no tomorrow. Yet "tomorrow" comes and goes so fast that I sometimes feel that I can't keep up. I presently fall under that little saying that says, "I'm so far behind that I'm ahead!"

I'm also back to selling on eBay after five months off. I didn't mean to be out that long, but I was just enjoying life. Here are a few things that are being listed within the next few days. It was so nice to start pulling out my linens and working with them again. I really do enjoy these beautiful pieces of art.

(click on any of the photos to go to my eBay store)






Two of the biggest things that have been taking up some of my time are the pond we installed in the backyard, and a little corner that I'm renting in a local antique shop. Both are/were new adventures for me. Though I have to admit that the pond is so much more fun and sit, watch and enjoy.

Time management will be my biggest challenge since I'll be working my eBay store, my web store, my real store, and family/home. I enjoy doing it all now we'll see if I can. Wish me luck!!

So exciting!

I'm so honored and excited that Pearl, of A StoryBook Life, just featured my shabby linen closet. She has a wonderful blog full of beautiful living ideas. She is incredibly creative as you will see by her gorgeous posts and photos. Be sure you have a few minutes to read through her blog, because once you start you won't want to stop! Thank you, Pearl!

Batting Zero at the Thrift Stores

This weekend I went to several thrift stores and Goodwill stores. I was so excited to be out on the hunt for new places to shop. But all I found was junky and surprisingly expensive items! I'm so disappointed to have come home empty handed. Since I don't have any new finds to share with you, I thought I'd go through some linens and post pictures of some lovely vintage pillowcases!

Aren't these absolutely gorgeous!? I had planned on selling these, but the pink is just so perfectly cottage chic and the workmanship is amazing so they're staying with me. These are keepers for sure.
This pair of pink rose pillowcases are done with bright pinks and hunter greens. I love the pink hand crocheted trim that goes all around the openings. I can't even imagine how much time these must have taken to make. They're just beautiful!
My favorite color combination is pink and blue. This sweet pair of pillowcases are done with happy little tulips and tiny daisies. They're so perfect for the guest room. These are the kind of linens that definitely get noticed and always get happy comments from guests.

This is a simple but lovely design, and the workmanship is very well done, too. The stitches are so tiny! I just love vintage linens and never get tired of looking at them. Hope you enjoyed looking at these pretties!

Easy Pillowcase Project

Have you ever come across a wonderful vintage pillowcase that was too damaged to be used, but too beautiful to pass up? The great thing is that you can usually get them at the lowest prices ever because nobody wants them. And when you find that special pillowcase, you can make this!

To make this sweet little pillow, all you need is about 9" to 10" of the open edge. Take off the back side of the pillowcase and reserve it for later. The front side of the pillowcase is usually where all the hand work is done and should measure around 20" x 9" or so, depending on the design and pillowcase size. Fold it in half, short sides together, with the wrong side facing in, and sew along the short end. Press seam so that it's centered on the back, and sew along the top. (I should have taken pictures at each step, but didn't think about it until it was too late).

For this pillow, I used the crocheted edge of the back of the pillowcase to use at the top. I just slipped it in before sewing up the top. Use the left over fabric of the pillowcase to make the little pillow for the inside. I used a scrap piece of fabric with tiny checks of pink and white so that the crocheted skirt would show off better.

I like the back to be pretty, too, so I added a pink bow and a vintage-looking pink rose in the center.

Now you know how to rescue a beautiful pillowcase that may have seen better days. You only have to sew a few straight lines, and that's it! Super easy!