A Little Peak at the New Patterns

No 156 Patches & Pockets

This is just the "first take" for the new handbag pattern and it doesn't even have the straps on it in the photo but I thought you might like to see it anyway.

No 154 Playing Dress Up or maybe Dress Up or Little Dresses

I am handquilting this one since it is so little . . . it was so much fun to stitch - the raw edge appliqué was done on the sewing machine - really fast. It will have red binding to sort of frame it. The pattern will also have an assemblagé or shadow box included - an easy project for those of you who are crafty. What title do you like best for this pattern?

No 157 Sweetbriar

This pieced quilt is made with Windham's Worn & Loved group by Jeanne Horton . . . I love this fabric - it looks so vintage and has a very nice hand just like old fabric. mmmm delicious! The quilt is 46" square and the pieced border actually goes all the way around . . . I took this photo before it was done. It is headed to Sandy Strunk for quilting . . . she is the very best long arm quilter and so sweet to fit my quilts in. This pattern will also have a small sewing needle/supplies case.

and . . . the projects for Primitives of the Midwest are coming along too . . . but not ready for photos yet. Very soon though . . .

xoxx, Renée

Utility Apron

This is one of two apron versions in my new pattern "Utility Apron" - it will be ready for Spring Quilt Market coming the beginning of May. The second apron will be finished as soon as the rest of the fabric arrives. I think my dress form looks pretty cute in this one. The other patterns are Sweetbriar, a pieced quilt, made from Windham's new fabric line Worn & Loved by Jeanne Horton - a really old looking group. Patches & Pockets a new handbag - I bet you can guess that it has lots of pockets and fabrics! Little Dresses (not sure on the title yet - other title choices are Playing Dress Up or Dress Up) - a little appliqué quilt along with an assemblage or shadow box project - really fun to make! As soon as they are presentable I will post photos here for you to see. Which title do you like best for the dress quilt pattern? Probably would be easier if you could see it . . . and that will be very soon!
xoxx, Renée

An Amusing Stitchery

This precious little Sonia Sandell, Primitives by Kathy stitchery is so amusing! Little 6 1/2 year old Lillie may want to consider a profession other than teaching . . . one that doesn't require any patience.
xoxx, Renée

My Treasure from the Country Loft

So charming! I love it!
xoxx, Renée

Back Home . . . and finally a few minutes to share a glimpse of my wonderful weekend in La Mesa, CA for the Country Loft workshops.

This is Kathy at her fabulously decorated home - so inspiring! She is such a darling hostess . . . and makes me feel sooooo welcome. Thank you for being such a sweetheart!

and this is Jo Ann at her wonderful home . . . I got to see her awesome newly finished studio - it is the whole floor upstairs. I decided that even though she has a bed and bathroom in the studio I wouldn't be able to sleep there because there are too many fun inspiring things to stitch or paint or stuff or hook or ? . . . . her whole house is perfectly decorated too! Jo Ann and Kathy are sisters - and both are managers at the Country Loft. How fun would that be to have a sister to work with and share a love for stitching and primitives?

What a lucky girl I am to get to visit them and all the adorable ladies there! Visit the shop along with workshop photos in my new photo album The Country Loft Workshops . Thank you to all the darling girls that were in the workshops, the wonderful Country Loft staff and the very sweet shop owner, Sharon! She gathers the coolest antiques all across the country - drawers, baskets, boxes, cabinets . . . all ready for me to bring home. Thank goodness I figured out it was better to drive . . . so much more room to bring treasures home. Look for a photo of my newest Country Loft treasure soon!
xoxx, Renée

The Kits are Ready!

These are the kits for teaching at The Country Loft in La Mesa, CA . . . now I can hardly wait to to start my adventure! Go WEST young woman - on the road Friday morning - it's about a 5 1/2 hour drive. Rain is predicted but I am crossing my fingers that it will be just a light sprinkle! I will take lots of photos to share so you all can join me at this wonderful shop!

and this is the first Easter decoration - the rest will have to wait until I get home . . .

xoxx, Renée

Sweet Emma & A Big House and a Cherry Tree

This is Sweet Emma . . . we will be making her at Cotton & Chocolate in Thousand Oaks, CA in June. Her hair was done with a felting needle - so much fun! If only my hair could work that well to tidy up. Though that would be a little more pain than I would want to endure each morning with all that poking!

A Big House and a Cherry Tree

This is the little quilt that we will be making in the other class at Cotton & Chocolate. How cute is that quilt shop's name . . . mmmmm delicious can you think of anything better than that combination?
xoxx, Renée

Be Mine . . . abundant hearts!

a fun little Wendy Addison heart wreath

putting the chalkboard to good use!

xoxx, Renée

A Wire Skirt

I have been neglecting my blog but this week my goal is to at least post a few photos. I found this little doll in a box of old stuff. She needed to have these blocks for a stand so I drilled holes and then glued little pieces of dowel to connect them. Then came the cute wire skirt - it took a little play to figure that out but I think she looks pretty good now. She is still going to get some charms, tags and a little key added to the wire but too much to do today to work on that.
xoxx, Renée

A New Washtub

Last Saturday I bought this washtub to use for a rolling file box . . . or maybe it can hold current projects or perhaps it can be for new fabric bundles? hmmmmm - can't decide yet . . . . anyway it was too cute to pass up and it was a pretty good price. It was hard to decide between this one and two others - a really cute green one and another one that had a removable galvanized washtub on a rolling base. I have one like that with two metal tubs on my back patio. It's great for parties as a cooler for water bottles, soda cans or beer packed with ice plus it looks cute! ahhh form and function - very nice! You can see Hailey is catching a few winks and Axel is off chasing lizards in the backyard.
xoxx, Renée

Saturday I went to the Phoenix Art Museum to see this exhibit
After Dark: 100 Years of the Evening Dress

These were my favorite dresses in the exhibit . . . the details were amazing! I left the pictures gigantic so if you click on one of these photos you will be able to see the beautiful workmanship. Judging from the waist size of most of the dresses in the exhibit these women must have never eaten a single dessert! They were so tiny - AMAZING!
xoxx, Renée

and the winner is . . . Tracy in Beaverton, OR. Rebekah will be moving to her new home tomorrow via USPS Priority Mail. She is soooooo excited!

This is Bob blindfolded (LOL) drawing Tracy's name from the bucket. Thanks dear - what a good sport! Thank you to each of you that entered the drawing and especially for your sweet thoughts. I will have another drawing for a doll very soon. There are quite a few dolls that need a new home.

It snowed here today . . . brrrrrr it is so cold - it is not supposed to be that cold here in this part of AZ. I can't wait for it to start warming up.
xoxx, Renée

Happy Birthday Cindy!

shhhhh these are her presents - I hope she will like them . . . they are for her empty clochés. (I put the pear and box under one of mine to take the photo) There is just one box - I used it in both photos - there is a favorite new to me quote on the box "a friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words" anonymous. I love that!



The little silver bird came from Anthropologie (it really is shiny silver though the photo makes it look sort of brown). She can put the bird in a real but empty nest as soon as I can find one. We are celebrating with lunch today at Sauce - I love their pizza and salads even though they have the bad brand x poison drink (refer to #2 on "Tag I'm It" post"). Happy one year older and even better Mz. Cindy!
xoxx, Renée

BTW several people have had a problem posting comments and have emailed their entry for Rebekah's drawing which is perfectly fine - you have been entered in the bucket drawing.

Meet Rebekah

Drop your name in the bucket (leave a comment) for Rebekah's drawing. Poor dear, she and her little dolly have been locked away in a plastic box for so long and she wants a new home! All you need to do if you want a chance to give her a new nest is leave a comment on my blog. Just put your name, town, state and the word drawing in your comment. (Thank you for the kind comments from yesterday - your names are already in the bucket.) On Sunday evening I will put all the names in a bucket and then have my blindfolded husband (totally random - plus I just want to blindfold him LOL) draw a name and then send Rebekah off to her new home on Monday. Sound fun? I think I was able to change the settings for comments so you don't have to have a blogger acct to leave a comment - at least I hope that works. I will post the winner here - first name and location and send an email to the winner along with a photo of the bucket drawing event. Maybe I can get Jake, my son, to make it a little video - not sure about that but for sure a photo of the blindfolded - BOB!
xoxx, Renée

Tag I'm It!

The Rules: Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.

aaaahhhh - I was tagged by that cutie, Tracy and then again by darling Charlotte so I get to post SIX WEIRD THINGS about ME . . . hmmm how will I ever pick just SIX? I have been just waiting to have the opportunity to share my weirdness!?! After some pondering here are the top six.

1. I never leave home without my own pillow - I won't share a pillow with ANYONE not even BOB - sorry dear! Seems sort of like sharing a toothbrush - eewwwwww!
2. I don't like to eat at restaurants if they don't have DIET COKE! Why drink poison if it's not your favorite kind?
3. I love EGGO waffles with creamy peanut butter and lots of syrup - mmmmmmmm!
4. I am addicted to magazines and books . . . I LOVE them! ok that isn't so weird but I'm still counting it!
5. I wouldn't calculate my personal number (as figured from your birthdate) for years because I love the number 5 and was afraid it wouldn't turn out to be 5. Finally when I secretly figured it out it was 5 - YAHOO!
6. . . . and still on the numbers thing - I figure out all kinds of odd number patterns like our birthday dates are in order oldest to youngest - Bob on the 1st, Renée the 5th, Travis the 11th, Brett the 20th and Jake the 28th. Now that is WEIRD!

hmmm I tag Maija, Dawn, Lisa, Lelainia and Michelle. I hope you won't mind doing this - sort of a fun thing if you have time . . . and at least there are no hexes or voo doo pokes sent your way if you decide not to!

xoxx, Renée

Quilt Pink . . . it is on the front porch and ready for UPS to pick up today. Before I wrapped it up I took these photos to remind myself how much fun a little pink quilt with reproduction fabrics can be to decorate with.

This photo is just like one I took before it was quilted but it looks better quilted.

It looks pretty nice with my Vintage Stars quilt too

. . . and this is the label I made and put on the back . . . not very fancy but it is a good idea to put a label on all of your quilts - I think I will start doing that on all of mine.

Some of the blogs I visit regularly have been having drawings for different things - party favors or cleaning out their studios or ? what a fun idea. Tomorrow I think I will post a photo of a doll that perhaps can find a new home! There are quite a few that have had to live in plastic boxes around here for way too long - they need someone to love them. All you will have to do to join the fun is post a comment so I will know you want to be in the drawing. A few days later I will put the names in a bowl and blindfold (hmmm that sounds like fun!) my husband so he can draw a winner. Hope you will join me - I will post the photo tomorrow.
xoxx, Renée

Just a few pictures today. Some old button cards and a measuring tape
. . . the scissors are new

a cute little sewing machine . . . probably doesn't work though - who could sew and crank the wheel anyway?

I love this dress form . . . it's in my bedroom now - this is an old photo of it when it was near the front door!

xoxx, Renée

A Magnetic Board

I made this little enamel tray into a magnetic board after seeing a really cool gigantic magnetic calendar on B. Original a craft show on DIY & HGTV. I really wanted to make the giant one that she made with an automotive drip pan but didn't really think I had wall space to actually use it. So this was my little version of it for a bulletin board. The bird postcards are from the Cavallini & Co Natural History and Birds & Nests postcard sets. They have some really cool cards, papers and file folders.

My Quilt Pink quilt is quilted - thank you Sandy - the binding is on so I am going to wash it today to make it have the softer old vintage look. Then add a quilt label and it will be off to American Patchwork for their auction. Once it is ready I will take one last photo of it and post it here.

It is still sooooooo cold here . . . we covered all our exposed pipes last night since it was expected to get down into the teens. There was a great big icicle on the one water spigot that we forgot to cover. It doesn't seem to have caused a problem - thank goodness. It was the coldest temperature here in 17 years brrrrr! We are supposed to start a gradual warm up now and I am ready for that!

xoxx, Renée

hmmmm . . .

It has been a while - just sort of lazy I guess and couldn't think of what to photograph. So here are some random pictures just for fun. This is my smallest cloché with quail eggs in a little nest. I love the reflection of it in the mirror!

and this is in the same bathroom . . . a collection of old class photos

more class photos in a bedroom along with a cute stitchery from
Marshalls Home Goods (last year) . . . and some little vintage dresses

Will try to be a little more energetic about posting but brrrrrrr . . . for the next few days it is freezing cold here in Phoenix - a high of about 43 today - so that makes me want to cozy up by the fire and stitch. (We are pretty whimpy here.) A little doggie on each side of me sleeping and keeping me warm! Sounds pretty inviting don't you think? I will try to remember this cold weather along about July when it is close to 110 degrees!

xoxx, Renée

Quilt Pink Decorating . . .

Yeah the top is done and ready to go to Sandy for quilting . . . but here is a little decorating fun first!

Who knew what fun a little pink quilt could be to decorate with?

I am not such a pink girl but with a cause in hand and a little reproduction pink fabric - it looks pretty cute in all three vignettes! I couldn't decide which picture was the best so I decided why not post all three photos! Not sure when AP&Q will have the Quilt Pink Auction but the quilts are due in Des Moines by Feb. 1. That should work out pretty well.

xoxx, Renée