Finished Project ♡

I finished my little Valentine heart project and am really happy with it. It went together so quickly and just turned out as I had it in my head. I collect Turkey Red linens, so chose one to line the wire basket and placed a small one under the basket on the table. Cute! This was such a great little project. I added some vintage buttons on some heart and just did a blanket stitch around the smaller heart with a wee bit of stuffing.

I think the little bird embroidered heart is my favorite. She's just so sweet with her little bow and all.

A pile of red and white hearts! Hard to believe this was an unwanted little quilt a few days ago.

Check out my post from January 10th if you want to see the beginnings of this project. 

Warming Up!

Winter made a surprise visit to Troutdale yesterday! It's been really cold here but often we don't get the moisture to produce snow when the temps drop. Well, I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but it snowed all day and was really pretty. I had to go out to Gladstone to drop off my dad's quilt to the longarm quilter, so my sweetheart drove me out in the morning. I am so anxious to get it back, get the binding on and then give it to Papa!

I leave the little snowman in a jar out in my kitchen during January. I found him at the Goodwill "bins" (or Goodwill by the pound) a few years ago and I just like him.

I'm almost done with my Valentine heart project, so will post pix tomorrow of the finished project.
I have bits and pieces to finish up today....tomorrow is ETSY day! My poor ETSY shoppe has been neglected! Lots of new fun things to post, so I'm anxious to work on Wednesday.

Have a great day and keep warm. We are thawing out today and I do believe it's above freezing!

Teacup Thursday # 87

Teacup Thursday! How quickly the weeks go by! I finally got all my Christmas decorations put away and the house is back to normal. I spent all of yesterday with my dad at his place taking down his Christmas and putting up his winter snowmen. I was pretty tired last night.

I do decorate my tearoom for Valentines as soon as I take down the Christmas things. It's not that far away and it makes me happy. I recently found this lovely burgundy colored cup and saucer. It's a Royal Albert. I am on the hunt to find some cup and saucers that are burgundy. My flash kept distorting the true color on the cup. It's really a deep burgundy color.

Thanks to Miss Spenser for hosting our Teacup Thursday.

I now have 4 teacups that are in the burgundy color zone. I'm still on the hunt but isn't that part of the fun?

Last Sunday Jim and I went to a flea market and I found a little quilt with a bit of red work. I found a great wire basket in Poulsbo in December and thought it would be fun to fill it with fabric hearts. This little quilt was just perfect to cut up and use for my project. I love finding things that I can give new life to and usually I can get them for a good price! So this afternoon after bible study, I set the day aside to start my little Valentine project. I haven't finished stuffing them but yet, but I hope to do that in the next day or two. I will have to do another blog post to show the finished project! You can see my work here. It was really fun to have time to be creative. I am going to try to do more this year!

A Winter Monday

Winter has settled in here in Oregon, meaning rain. I think I need a new umbrella and isn't this one pretty? This would cheer you up on a gray rainy day.
I spent the day packing and shipping ETSY orders and took down my last Christmas tree. Hope to finish packing up the last of the Christmas things tomorrow in my tearoom. I will set it up for Valentine's now. I don't decorate much for Valentine's Day except in my tearoom as it's so Victorian and pretty.
Time for bed.
Hope you have a good week.

First Friday Tasha Tudor Book Review~Tasha Tudor's Old-Fashioned Gifts

It's the first Friday of the month and time for another book review of one of Tasha Tudor's many books.
After Christmas and New Years, I'm ready to settle into winter with a project of two. I thought it might be fun to take another look at this book. It was published in 1979 by David McKay Company, Inc. of New York. It's a great book with illustrations of "Presents and Favors for All Occasions".

The illustrations were done by Tasha and Linda Allen. Linda Allen was a friend of Tasha's daughter Efner, who lived with Tasha for 11 years. She became Tasha's friend and student and they put out two books together. The book includes 118 pages of color and black and white prints with instructions for handmade crafts.

I was first introduced to this book when I went back to New England for our Tasha Tudor Kindred Spirits Gathering in 2007. Suzanne taught us how to make WOOL RABBITS from the book on page #1. Some of the gals made wool owls instead.

I love the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson at the beginning of the book:

"The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner,a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing."

I find myself thinking about Valentine's Day as soon as I get the Christmas decorations put away.
Are you a crafter? What do you enjoy working on? Are you ready to start a project?

If you can add some more information about this book, please leave me a comment! Happy Crafting.

Auld Lang Syne and Teacup Thursday #86

We begin a New Year and the first Teacup Thursday of 2013. I love the Robert Burns song Auld Lang Syne. It means "Times Gone By". My cup and saucer is a repeat from last year, but I really like it and love to share it with my new readers at this time of the year.  It was given to us from our dear friends Ed and Yoka de Vries of Powell River British Columbia.

One side has the Auld Lang Syne saying and the other side has the Christmas greeting. It's made by the English company Adderley. I have enjoyed this Christmas and New Year's season so much, I really hate to end it, but alas, I'm going to start packing up the Christmas decorations tomorrow.
Thank you Miss Spenser for hosting our Miss Spenser's Teacup Thursday.
Tomorrow is First Friday Tasha Tudor book review! My goodness, the months just slip by so quickly.

My Word for 2013

With every New Year, I choose a word that has meaning for me or something I want to work on. As I am with more older women now (could that be because I am growing older?), I find that I am really drawn to those who are GRACIOUS. I admire woman who age with grace and have a sweet spirit. I've been thinking about this for a few months and decided it should be my word for the year.

I looked up the word to get some insight and just wanted to list some of the definitions. I guess this will be my list to look back over during the year. I hope to "grow in graciousness" in 2013. Some of these things are easy for me and some are very challenging. I hope to be a more gracious woman at the end of the year.

Kind, warm courtesy, tact, merciful, accepting, good taste, sympathy, politeness, gracious to visitors, generosity of spirit, friendly advise, helpful nature.....I think you get the idea.

Happy New Year and I pray that I will be able to become more gracious!