This picture marries two of my favorite themes in my house...

Vintage sewing & vintage kitchenware - I just wanted to add it to my blog. I am good at looking at an item & then being able to copy it. Guess what is one of my next projects? Bellmore flea market - here I come!

The Little Things in Life

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things" ~Antonio Smith

Had a wonderful weekend! Big Guy (DH) came home early from his yearly male bonding trip Upstate & on Friday night we ate out & Saturday we sailed (garage sailed) & visited all of our favorite thrift shops. Picked up a wonderful white enamel basin - about 20" round - chipped & rusty - PERFECT!! (LOL) I know just the spot for it in the garden filled with marigolds or impatiens! When we got home, then we barbecued some luscious steaks, built a fire and hung out on the deck all night. Sunday we walked the flea market & brought a cute cow cookie jar & cow teapot (in my kitchen, along with vintage red ware, cows are also the theme). While we were away, I had a big pot of Italian tomato sauce bubbling on the stove &when we returned feasted on a great dinner. Today when I woke up, I decided I needed a mental health day & let little Guy (DS) stay home too! We slept late, lounged and had a great day! Sometimes the little things in life make things great!!!!

My Vintage Sewing Collection

I am mad about vintage sewing notions - from threads, needles, pin cushions, old buttons, etc. There is something so lovely & endearing about these articles - the loving & creative hands that used these things to create everyday necessities for their families. I like to imagine who they were & what they look liked - next to cooking, sewing was probably the most important thing a woman could do for her family. Back to school clothes, baby blankets, mittens, prom dresses - so many occasions made even more special with their wonderful creations. It's funny because I can't sew a button on straight! I can pretty much do or create anything - a lot of times just be looking at something I can create it almost exact. When looking at an everyday object, I can see at least tens ways I can alter it or incorporate it into my art - but I could not take up a hem if my life depended on it. Perhaps that's why I am drawn to these notions - it gives me a sense of connection to past generations of women before me.

My Menagerie

Let me introduce you to my animal friends - there is Lucy -a 110# Rottie mix - she is 4 yrs. old & there's Teddy, a 100# Rottie mix - 3 years old (10 months younger than Lucy). They both think they are lap dogs - trust me they are not - not when your thigh goes completely numb after they sit on it for a while. Then there's Nalla & George - litter mates and they are 21 weeks old .

Outside lives Squittle (named after a Pokemon character - { I kid you not} ) & Oreo - for obvious reason. Also outside live about 18 gold fish (no pictures sorry!) they are all orange, about 5-8" long & look exactly alike except for who we call "Big Moe" - I brought him for .69 and he was about 2" big. He is now about 15-18" and VERY fat - orange with black & white spotting -he definitely king of the pond! We have indoor birds - but that's for another post. My husband thinks I am out of my mind, but I want to get a rooster & chicken for the backyard as well - maybe in the Spring!

We are getting spolied with all this nice weather!

Middle of October & it still feel like Spring - nary a chill in the air. I have mixed feelings - I love this weather - but also miss the Autumn crispness & that bit of chill you feel. The leaves have yet to begin to change color - someone at work remarked that he went to PA over the weekend & the leaves there haven't started to change yet either. It's sad actually, I feel we (mankind) have screwed up the earth (with fuel emissions, pollution & God knows what else we've been pumping into the Earth's atmosphere for the last fifty years) - the weather patterns have completely changed from even as little as five years ago - never mind up when I was growing up (oh sooo long ago! LOL).

Guy's first boy girl dance

Last night was my DS first boy girl dance. He is in 7Th grade in a private school & traditionally the school has a dance for 7Th & 8Th graders in the beginning & end of the year. No he did not have date - he just hung with the boys & would not tell me if if actually danced! While the kids danced, the mom's went to Piccolo's - a local favorite Italian restaurant & ate, drank and gossiped. Then when we picked up the kids, we took them to Applebee's so they can eat - we left them almost on their own so they could feel grownup. It was a nice night.
I can't believe that he is 12 already & our SEAS (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School)days are winding down - that school has become the center of our universe - with all the volunteering & committees I am on - the wonderful friends I have made - even DH is super involved. I am going to feel horrible when he graduates - but that is two years away & high school follows that so it will be a new beginning.
On his first day of school this year, when he came down in his new uniform (7 & 8 graders change uniforms to make them feel older & different from the younger grades) there was a catch in my throat seeing him that way - older & handsome - I still have his kindergarten picture on the refrigerator - my what a difference - but I guess that's what motherhood is all about!

I am Swapping Again

There was a time when I belonged to so many art swaps I could barely keep track. Then some crummy things started happening: I would send, never get any thing back, or what I got back was so below standard (yes I have to admit I expected decent work, not necessarily professional quality, but something without ink smudges or hair embedded in the glue - but that's another story!). It got so bad that I just stopped. I caught up on artwork & projects for myself. I gradually returned to my old forums and just recently joined four swaps. I feel better about things and hopefully I won't encounter as much negativity I did in the past. This is where I have been swapping at ATCards.com . & PaperCraftsMagazine.com.
I also joined a blind swap "Halloween Hat" on a site I stumbled on The Speckled Egg . Mine is the second one that I sent to my partner - made out of felted wool & the first one is the one I received in return.

Off to the Flea Market

Every Sunday, in the commuter railroad parking lot, in the next town, the Lions Club holds a flea market. I walk through it just about every week. It's funny, that through the years the themes of the "treasures" I look for have gradually changed. I was on a red, vintage kitchenware kick for the longest time - my entire kitchen is done up that way. Then it was vintage sewing - that is still growing strong, although I have become very particular in what I buy. Vintage ladies accessories (gloves, hats, purses) are still big, as I alter them - again they must fit into my altering eye or I pass them up. Recently I am looking for old jewelry - costume mostly - again looking for things that I can dissect & use as pieces in my art. But pretty much anything is fair game - garden art, something jaunty enough to fit my living room or anything that I know some day "I gonna need that" LOL!

PS - Two Of My Finds

Selling my artwork

Last Saturday I finally opened my Etsy Shop & the next morning I sold a piece! Great encouragement! Although I did sell some pieces on E-bay aleady, I am anxious that I will stall & sell no more. I am adding a link on my forums to "advertise" - we shall see. Slow but sure as they say!