Wednesday

Is it just me, or are the weeks flying by?? It's another Wednesday and I have multiple projects in progress, as usual. 

I am sewing along with Donna at Donna's Lavendar Nest, and participating in her quilt along. It's not too late to join! This is block 1, and the instructions for block 2 were just posted today.

I am also working on some more dachshund mug rugs for my Etsy shop. They are popular and I do appreciate each of my customers who purchase them, whether for gifts or to keep for themselves. Thank you!! They are fun to make as well! The next bunch should be listed in the shop in the next week.

Lola enjoys sitting on "her half" of the couch. She keeps me company while I sit and stitch at night on whatever hand project I have in the works.

Meanwhile, Harry likes taking over Lola's bed, which is placed right in front of a heat vent.

Speaking of cats, are you familiar with Henri, le chat noir? A friend at work just introduced me to him, and I cannot get enough! Check him out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fUsssnHPw

Snapshots from the past

It was a good summer at the flea market. Or should I say season at the flea market, as I made my last visit there yesterday.  It's getting cooler here in the northeast and yesterday morning at the flea market was...dare  I say it, cold.  

I just love collecting and looking at old photos and postcards. I always imagine what the circumstances were surrounding the photos. Was it a special day? What was the occasion? Of course we will likely never know but it is fun to think about.

I bought the photo above yesterday. It was in a box that contained mostly postcards. In fact, though you cannot tell from the photo because I cropped it a bit, the photo is actually a photo postcard. On the back is the name of the photographer, and his location...Crystal beach, Ontario.  Likely a vacation for the two women. I like that they are both smiling, and I detect a family resemblance. Perhaps mother and daughter?

This photo is another favorite. I purchased it over the summer and found it in a large box of photos.  The women are modeling their homemade aprons. I like that at the very bottom of the photo you can see a dusting of snow.

A happy couple. I love the woman's coat. Looks wintry in the photo. My gut says it was taken in the 1920's though we'll never know, as it is not dated.

Who doesn't like a girl and her dog? I also like the woman's hair in the photo.

I really like this sweet girl having a tea party in the rose garden. Just lovely. My paternal grandmother kept a beautiful rose garden.  This photo reminds me of her.

This is an old postcard that I also picked up yesterday. I love the illustration of the beach at Saint-Malo. The post card is unused so I am not sure of the circumstances or date. Perhaps it was purchased as a souvenir. To remember.

I hope you have a great week! Back soon with some sewing updates!

Homecoming

Last weekend I headed down to my undergraduate college for homecoming weekend. I also attended my sorority chapter's celebratory banquet marking 25 years on the campus.  It was wonderful to see old friends, many of whom I hadn't seen in 10 years. For many of us, we picked up where we left off all those years ago.

When walking around the campus, I was surprised at how small it feels now. Not the size it felt all those years ago...

What a beautiful place Fredonia is. It was a wonderful place to grow up and I'm proud to be one of it's graduates.

Happy Days

Hello! How is October treating you? I can hardly believe that October is already here. But I am looking forward to crisp fall nights, lighting the fire place and the beautiful fall foliage. I do appreciate the rhythm of the seasons.

A few weeks back I entered a contest on Trish's lovely blog Notes of Sincerity.  Trish and her friend Donna, of Donna's Lavender Nest , worked together to give away a super fantastic stack of fat quarters. Two weeks ago I received an email message from Trish that I was the winner! I was over-the-moon excited to receive such a delicious fat quarter set in the mail. Donna did such a lovely job of wrapping too!

 I took the fabric outside for a photo shoot on the grass. Because, you know, who doesn't photograph their fabric on the grass?? ;)

Thank you Donna and Trish!! So far I've spent quite some time just admiring the fabric goodness but I have some ideas in mind. :)

In other news, I simply love Halloween, LOVE. This Halloween decoration I picked up at JoAnn's is quickly becoming my favorite decoration ever. Ever.

I also decided I simply must make a Halloween quilt. To be used all year of course! So far, I have a stack of half square triangles sitting on my cutting mat at home. More on that soon!

Tex and Harry doing what they do best. Sleeping on my quilts.

 Lola looking up at the top of the tree where the squirrels like to tease her. She literally will stand there for 30 minutes looking up at them!

Has anyone made 16 patch blocks before?  I might be late to the party, but these are quite addicting and oh-so-cute. I worked on sewing 8 of them together earlier in the week. This will become a table topper.

 If you're interested, I used this tutorial at HenHouse. Fun stuff!

Alicia at Posie Gets Cosy put her wonderful Christmas ornament kits up for sale today. Never too soon to start planning your crafty goodness for the holidays!

Wow. How many topics did I just cover? I feel like I was all over the place. On that note, bye bye for now and enjoy the weekend!