ALL THINGS OWL

I am one of the many quilters who are crazy about owls. I spent part of National Quilting Day yesterday sorting some of my fabric and didn't realize how many owl prints were in my stash. I hate to sound like I'm not selective; I really am. I don't just buy every owl print out there. They do have to speak to me. These little guys say playful and whimsical.

Dressed in watermelon and lime hues, these flirty owls would make the cutest curtains for my sewing room.

This print is also a good candidate for window treatments, or perhaps a ribboned pinboard? The possibilities are really endless.

I have this fabric in three different colorways I liked it so much!

You might have seen this owl print in an earlier post.

I love owls so much that even my husband will surprise me with something owl-related once in awhile, like this adorable Valentine's Day pop-up card. 

For whatever reason, owls make me smile, and that's a good enough reason to add another owl print to my stash! 

SPRING FEVER

With this winter's unseasonably warm temps, the garden is greening up earlier than usual. We have several garden areas at Ashton House but my favorite is the arbor garden, which my husband and I planted shortly after arriving at Ashton House. We chose a location for it just off the house because both the kitchen and dining room enjoy a view of it. I took this photo of my arbor garden just before it was shot for Country Gardens magazine a few years ago. The arbor was brand new at the time, so the clematis had not yet had time to establish itself. That's why the magazine brought in these beautiful potted rose topiaries.

The arbor garden is a small, intimate enclave that envelops our home's silhouette. To save money, we installed all the brick-lined beds, plants, and pea gravel ourselves. Considering this area started as a bland patch of lawn, it has filled in nicely. Since this photo was taken, the 'Green Velvet' boxwood has formed a lush hedge. We chose that variety because it performs well in our Midwestern climate. It's a cross between the gorgeous English boxwood and the hardier Korean boxwood.

Most of the plants in the arbor garden are herbs and perennials but we mix a few annuals in for visual impact. This old-fashioned stock reminds me of my grandma's garden. You might have noticed some rose foliage mingling with it; we plant very tightly to discourage weeds.

We usually mulch with a simple layer of black compost, but for the shoot, we mulched with cocoa hulls for their texture and color. When it's freshly applied, it has a wonderful chocolatey aroma. However, you should not use it if you have dogs because it is harmful to their gastrointestinal systems.

There is a quilt-related connection to this story. A few years ago, a quilt book used the arbor garden as a backdrop for some of their photography. The photo team brought in this lovely quilt and props. Unfortunately, I didn't shoot this photo at a good time. It was afternoon and that's a bad time to shoot outdoor photos unless it's an overcast day. All the professional photographers I've worked with say the best time to shoot a garden is early morning before the sun's garish rays overpower it. I've learned a lot from them over the years. They all say that the key to good photos is NOT using a flash. Who knew?! Now I never use the flash when taking my photos! Hope you enjoyed this little garden tour.

A DELIGHTFUL DIVERSION

One of my favorite afternoon diversions is visiting my friend Mary's shop. She and I met in china painting class eight years ago. We are kindred spirits in our love of art, antiques, and preserving the past. Mary is a true artist with a talent for painting, stained glass, and much more. In 2006, she and her husband renovated a vintage brick building into a homey haven for art, antiques, and decorative accessories. Mary supports other local artists by selling their work, including these finely crafted lamps and the framed artwork.

The shop is filled with several lovely paintings, such as this fun button one (I forgot to see which artist painted this one). I am fortunate to own some of Mary's original paintings, including a lovely poppy portrait. She also paints wonderful pastoral scenes of sheep. Those who know me well know that I love sheep. Remember the photo of Yoda, the Lincoln sheep, that I took while at last year's Sheep and Wool festival? If you're interested, you can see him here.

Mary has a keen eye for antiques. Many of her display pieces are antiques with a weathered patina. She found this amazing old hutch in an old barn. I love its chippy finish. Now it holds Danish accents.

A local woman crafts these cute spring baskets filled with bunnies and little handpainted accents. They make wonderful gifts for Easter or anytime of year, really.

These artful letterpress cards come in all sorts of fun themes. Love that owl! Mary also sells owl pincushions and pillows.

This old hutch makes a charming stage for vintage blue and white china—always a classic color combo.

Mary also carries an enchanting array of April Cornell linens. I like to drape the dish towels over my farmhouse-style sink and change them out with the seasons.

Want something warm to slip your feet into during the winter months? These woolly slippers will certainly do the trick!

It's often hard to find truly unique baby gifts but Mary has a bunch of them—all handcrafted like these sweet knitted caps and hand-dyed shirts. She also has a great selection of baby blankets, bibs, and little hats made of handkerchiefs (I didn't get a photo of those because they were all sold out at the time). In addition to her many other talents, Mary smocks and made several little smocked dresses for summer. I wanted to get a photo of those but they were all gone.

Hopefully these photos tell the story of why this is one of my favorite places to go. There is always something new to see!

A THRIFTY KIND OF DAY

My church holds a few rummage sales throughout the year, and yesterday was the first one. So I stopped by and found a few goodies to bring home. I spent all of $8 on these finds. I am obsessed with owls, so I couldn't pass up this $1 vintage owl linen calendar—with my birth year of all things! It must have been kismet! The colors are kind of bright but I thought the owls were so cute. For privacy purposes, I have hidden the year under the blue card.

Then I happened upon a small bag of vintage buttons. They fit my budget of no more than 50 cents per card—in fact, they were even better than that! The whole bag was $2 and had several original cards of vintage baby pearl buttons! These usually run $2-$5 per card, so I was thrilled to find such a good bargain. I'm only keeping the baby pearls and the little girl-face buttons, so the others are free for the taking. UPDATE: THE BUTTONS HAVE BEEN SPOKEN FOR!

Our older church ladies always bring in some interesting finds. I met the lady who was selling these two medium-size jars of vintage buttons for $2 each. How could I pass those up?

And lastly, this little $1 book on antique corsets caught my eye. Thought it might come in handy for my dollmaking. I enjoy studying period clothing, especially that of the 18th and 19th centuries.

What fun it was sifting through other's people's trash! After the rummage sale, I decided to visit my friend Mary's enchanting shop in a nearby town. We met in china painting class several years ago and have been good friends since then. I'll share some photos of her wonderful shop in my next post.

SWEET DREAMS

I've collected vintage doll beds for the past 10 years. Most of the time I find them when I least expect them, and sometimes, they find me! This little green bed is one such example.

When my husband and I lived in Des Moines, we were friends with a nice couple who lived just behind us. The woman was an avid antiques collector. Knowing I loved doll beds, she offered to give me the headboard and baseboard for this bed. Yes, it started with just those pieces! My husband crafted a wooden piece to connect the two. Also, the boards were cream colored but I thought they would look nice in a jadeite green. It's the perfect place for my antique china doll, Cassandra, to get her beauty rest. She came from one of my husband's coworkers, who wanted to find homes for all of her late mother's old dolls. These are the clothes she came in. I've often thought it would be nice to make a new dress for her in something more fitting such as turn-of-the-20th-century repro fabrics!

The doll quilt pictured on the bed was part of a series of doll quilts patterned by Prairie Star Quilts owner and designer Julie Larsen, who sold kits for all of them. I made this quilt with the kit. Sadly, Julie is retiring and the shop is for sale. We all hope someone will step forward so we can continue to enjoy going there. If you know of anyone interested in owning an established and successful Iowa quilt shop, contact Julie at 712/764-7012.

I'm sure there must be other vintage doll bed lovers out there. Do any of you have one of these treasures? If so, I'd love to hear about them.

EASY CUTTING FOR BALTIMORE ALBUM BLOCKS

In a previous post, I mentioned I was trying to take a little more time to relax these days, and that means playing with my fabric! I've been searching for the perfect project for this fat quarter bundle of Judie Rothermel's Quaker Quilts collection that I bought a few years ago. I love these classic red and green reproduction fabrics.

Yesterday, I got out my Slice Fabrique cutter to experiment with one of their new design cards, "Baltimore Beauties". I've always admired Baltimore Album quilts but don't really have the time to make them the traditional way. So I was thrilled when this card came out. You can make all of these Baltimore Album-style motifs with the cutter. It was the perfect project for my fat quarter bundle!

Many of you paper crafters already know that Slice cuts paper, but did you also know it cuts fabric, too? The Slice Fabrique was specially made to cut fabric. You must use it with a special glass mat, also by Slice. The handy screen allows you to scroll through the design options. Once you select one, you can customize the size.

You do have to back all of your fabric with a fusible web, so this is a great tool if you're a raw-edge appliqué fan like me. If you're a needleturn appliquér, it probably isn't for you. You also have to spray the glass mat with a temporary spray adhesive to secure the fabric in place as the machine cuts it. I use a brayer to secure it but you don't have to.

Once the cutting is complete, you just peel off the fabric and voila! You have an appliqué shape. You're limited in the number of shapes you can cut at one time but I do like that you can create many different blocks with just the one design card. I also had to get used to the fact that there is some fabric waste. Being the thrifty quilter that I am, I keep my scraps to use on other raw-edge appliqué projects.

I like to use this handy little Slice spatula to help loosen the fabric from the sticky mat underneath.

Here are all the pieces for my block, ready to appliqué to the background block underneath. I love the blanket stitch, so I'll probably machine-appliqué the block with it! In this photo, I simply laid the pieces on top of the background block, so I haven't secured them down yet. I'll make any necessary adjustments to them before doing that last step. Yes, I slanted this photo on purpose. Thought it made it look a little more interesting!

If you have a fondness for heart motifs, you might enjoy this new design card by Linda Hohag of Brandywine Designs. It's appropriately called "A Work of Heart". 

You can make all these fun designs with her design card. 

I have several other Slice design cards, including ones by Shari Butler and Fig Tree Quilts, in my stash. More on them later! Better get back to stitching!

WINNER OF QUILT BOOK GIVEAWAY

Congratulations to Anne, who left the following comment! By random draw, she is the winner of Dawn Heese's new book, A Year of Cozy Comforts. Anne, you have until this Thursday noon (central time) to contact me with your mailing address. If you prefer to do it privately, you can email me at my contact button on the right-hand side of my blog. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed editing it!

AnneFeb 27, 2012 05:32 PM

My favorite season is fall because I love the rich colors of the leaves turning and the rich, spicy smells of Thanksgiving dinner.

For those of you who are still interested in this book, I hope you will check it out at your local quilt shop, or order a copy here.