Quilt Squares And An Old Lamp

Isn't she lovely?

You may change your mind when you see the rest of her. I found her at a flea market last Sunday and I had to take her home.

There is no middle of the road here. You either think she is great or you are wondering about my taste level right now.  I understand either way!

I don't know what she wore when she was new but I would love to know. I figured it would be easy enough to find a lampshade for the top and create a skirt out of something for the bottom. The knob to turn it on is missing. I tried the knobs from every lamp in my house but none fit. I put two bulbs in and used pliers to turn it on and only the bottom bulb turned on. I guess I have to re-wire her. I think I'll wear a disguise to take her to Home Depot to see if I can buy a double whatchamacallit. I'm too sensitive and I'll be embarrassed if people laugh.

You may be laughing but I can't hear you.


I finished my April and May quilt blocks for the Craftsy Block of the Month class. I just finished the last one today so I have a couple hours to enjoy being caught up before the June video is up tomorrow.

                                                   The April blocks used hexagons.

The May blocks were called Wonky Log Cabins

I'm enjoying learning how to make these different blocks.

I hope you are having a great week!!

Pattern Ladies

I found these cute notebooks at Marshall's. They were $1.99 for all three. I thought they would make great little art journals or gluebooks.

The woman at the counter assumed I was buying them for my kids. I love kids but wasn't lucky enough to have any and it always surprises me when people just assume you have some. Anyway, the kid I was buying them for was me.

I wanted to use these cool pattern ladies so I used my water color paints and painted one of the covers. The paints dried into a waxy coating on the cover which was really weird. I started to go back over it and fill in the white spots and the already dried paint turned into water again and a big mess was made.

 I started with a new book and covered it with a vintage electronics assignment that I found in an old book.
Then I used some scrapbook paper and parts of the pattern to make a collage. The feet were torn on the girl with the robe so I had to get creative to cover them up. Her right foot was completely gone.

I thought it might be fun to do a whole book of fashion type collages so I started another one. I had this pink and white scrapbook paper that had dresses all over it. It was a little too cutesy so I tore it and glued the pieces together going in different directions.

It was still too much so I went over the edges lightly with gesso and went heavy in the center so the girls wouldn't blend into the background.  Unfortunately all the glue and gesso made the paper curl as it dried and the page tore itself right out of the book. So much for my $1.99 journals! Maybe I can punch holes and use binder rings to make a book. I think I'll give that third book to a real kid!

Sewing Pattern Collage

At a recent estate sale I found a couple great old pattern envelopes. Some were empty and even the full ones were torn and had tons of damage. This thrilled me because I felt free to use them in a collage instead of feeling that I should keep them intact and sell them. The lady didn't even charge me because they were a mess. Lucky me! I've been wanting to do a collage on a canvas for a while so this was the project for it.

I covered the background with the tissue paper. I glued the girls to the back of a new envelope because the one they came off of was too dark and dirty and I wanted the contrast. Then I sewed around her to ...um... well I just wanted to.

This past weekend I went to a church flea market and I saw a whole large box filled with patterns for only $3. I started to look through it to see if there were any good patterns in the box then I realized I didn't care and I grabbed the box and paid for it. Several months ago I was helping my mom get rid of old stuff and realized that even though these old patterns weren't going to be used again, the tissue paper would make great packing material for when I sell things on eBay or Etsy. So don't throw them in the trash. There are lots of things you can do with patterns. I actually did pull out some nice patterns and put the others into my collage or the recycle bin. I used the numbers on the envelope flap to make the base for this collage.

Then I found this ad in an old Good Housekeeping mag from the 50s.

I had two canvases and several old pattern envelopes so I made two collages.

Isn't that dress cute? Oh I wish I had a little waist! I would make this!

I used the dictionary to find some appropriate words.

 I got this old rhinestone trim at the same estate sale as the patterns. I found it at the bottom of a box and she didn't charge me for that either. The stuff that she thought was worthless was my favorite stuff. Funny!

That was a fun project! I'll have to see what else I can do with all those pattern women!

I hope you are having a creative week!