Happy Birthday, America!

 American women have long shown their pride in our country through their needlework. The needlepoint tapestry above is probably 30 to 40 years old. The workman ship is beautiful! I believe it was used as wall art.

 This gorgeous counted cross-stitch needlepoint was done much more recently, but with as much love and pride. It shows a beautiful bald eagle with the American flag behind it. The colors are bold and bright, and the detail is amazing.

Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Keep the Embroidery

I can't resist beautiful embroidered pieces. I can't stand to let a great work of art go to waste just because there is a hole or stain on the linen. This adorable hand embroidered heart used to be part of a vintage pillowcase. There was major damage right smack in the middle and no way to hide or repair it, so I cut off the embroidered part and made it into a Christmas stocking.

I used a mixture of vintage items and new fabric. I know that these stocking are found all over the place, but since I hadn't made one before, I was pretty proud (I made this one two or three years ago)

The inside is lined with pink and white cotton gingham and trimmed with a white cotton ruffle.

The back is an older, though not quite vintage machine embroidered fabric.

Check out the tiny embroidered roses. Aren't they cute!

My favorite part of this whole stocking is the rhinestone button sphere on the very end. I've made several stockings since this one and all of them had vintage embroidery on them. I even made a pair using "his" and "hers" pillowcases. If I ever find the pictures, I'll post them.

Patricia :o)

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!

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!

Pretty Ladies to Embroider!

Wooo Hooo! I just received a beautiful give-away that I won from Dani. They are printed with a lovely crinoline lady on each one surrounded by flowers and flowing ribbons. And I get to embroider them!

I love the way she wrapped them up in natural colored paper all tied up with string. Then she tucked in a really cute card in it. So sweet!

And here are the pretty pillowcases to be embroidered. I get to do that and it will be great to choose the colors. The package came with instructions, too, so it should be very do-able. I'm going to be using pinks, blues and minty green. I can't wait to get started!

Dani has a couple of great blogs. Drop in to visit her at Eagle's Wings and/or Glad Tidings, Primitives and Folkart.

The Bag-bag: uses for damaged linens

I like to be organized, but I also like things to be pretty. Having Bag-bags (those sock like cloth tubes to hold plastic grocery bags) are great to have around in the kitchen, laundry room, and garage. When you come home from the store, just stuff the plastic bag in the top, and pull it out the bottom when you need it. Great idea!!

However, I didn't like the ones that are commercially available. They're ok, just not my style. So, I thought, why not make my own? For this pink one, I used an embroidered pillowcase that had too much damage near the middle, but the embroidery was still in excellent shape. And it had the added bonus of a pretty crocheted trim.

I used some pretty fabrics that complimented each other, some satin ribbon and a vintage earing.

This is a vintage clip-on earing that I stitched onto the center of a pink satin bow. I'm a little bit of a magpie so everything has to have a little sparkle on it, even if it's a bag-bag.

I made this one out of a battenburg lace pillowcase. Again, there was too much damage in the middle, but the pretty opening was fine.

I love the fabric on this one: minty green, soft pink and peach roses. Just gorgous. And I used a shiny rhinestone button for some bling.

Pretty Tea Cozies

These are some tea cozies I've made out of old linens. They're my favorite to make, mostly because I love to have tea parties. I think they're pretty enough to display even when not in use. This is a great way to display old linens that maybe show too much "history." This one is made out of an old pillowcase.

I LOVE linens, and always look for items that are in the best condition possible. But sometimes I get so excited about how pretty it is, that I don't always catch a flaw until after it's been purchased and washed, and I'm in the process of ironing it. Some flaws I can live with, some not. But I can't stand just throwing these beautiful, hand worked items away. So I save them up and make something out of them. This pretty cozy was made from the corner a pulled-thread tea towel.

This beautiaul blue belle tea cozy was made from a pillowcase that had been torn in half. I bought it anyway because I couldn't resist the amazing embroidery and crochet work.

Here's another pillowcase turned into tea cozy. This was an old one from about the 20's. I love how it turned out!

This is the back of the blue belle tea cozy. I like to make the backs of my cozies as pretty and interesting as the front. That way it looks beautiful from all angles and everyone can enjoy them.

I hope you enjoyed these pretty tea cozies and got some great ideas on using vintage linens that are past their prime.