The place that I am selling my stuff at for the Craft Festival has lots of people that love coffee... so I might make a few of these to bring with me to!

This 1960's yellow dress is making big cut-outs actually work. I love the bow at the end of the sleeves. I want this. This is not an "everyday" find.

1960's lace dress.... This is just perfection. Do I really need to say anything? Just look at this dress. Gorgeous, sexy, chic, and so "now". The bid has gone up to $102 right now and ends TONIGHT.

An authentic 1970's maxi dress that looks completely modern with an incredible print. This is an extremely rare perfect find, so it's priced on the expensive end, at about $275. If I were the seller... I don't even know if I'd sell this, I'd keep it and wear it.

This vintage houndstooth dress is screaming with style thanks to the big tuxedo bow. The model is pulling it off quite well. I'm impressed with this outfit.

Vintage Valentino Cream Leaf Skirt and Jacket. This skirt is super-chic and the jacket has such a cool cut. This is a great 2-for-1 find for the right person.

This red and white knit jacket would amp up any outfit. I'd probably want this in any color combination.

Neon pink and black stripes with a bow in the back make this 80's dress too much fun to ignore.

Embroidered text messages.

BCBG is one of my absolute favorite brands because they make something for everyone. I love this dress because of the color palette. The original retail was over $400. It occasionally pops back on eBay, often around $80-$100. I paid $24 for this dress, brand new with tags still on it. YES I PAID TWENTY FOUR DOLLARS for a brand new BCBG dress. Yes. I'm proud.  The dress is gorgeous, and as soon as it arrived in the mail, I put it on to go out to dinner with my boyfriend. He loved it too.

Rachel Leigh Turquoise Necklace

Just got it in the mail last week. It’s even cuter than I imagined! LOVE IT! I’ve seen this necklace retail from $75 to $125. I won this auction at $9. YES THAT’S NINE DOLLARS. Brand new with the tags still on it. I’ll give you some time to let that sink in.

Cole Haan Handbag

This bag retailed for about $435. I paid just under $200 for it on eBay and it was my first “real” handbag purchase. Until I got this bag I had enjoyed cute bags from Forever21 and the like, but this Cole Haan bag was love at first site and I had to have it. It is my favorite bag, and I was proud to get it. I use it almost everyday and have received many compliments on it.

Kenneth Cole Turquoise and Coral Ring

This was my first “fabulous” ring purchase.  I used to only wear dainty rings. Somewhere in college I decided that I was into big rings, and this was the beginning of a collection I’m still adding to. One at time. I love wearing this ring out to dinner. My girlfriends “ooh” and “aah” over it! The original retail was somewhere near $150 I think, and I paid $60 for it.

Tonight it will rain, of this I am certain. As I sit here typing, I can smell the damp rain in the window. Rainy  days are just perfect for working on our website. I added several new pages. CC online also have a contact me form, and a very small online portfolio. There are also lots of pictures to go along with it.

I went up to the Emporium the other day, and I took a whole basket full of new linens. We have a couple of table clothes, some hand embroidered table runners, and lots of colorful lace doilies. I found a great bargain on them at an antique shop, and passed my nostalgic finds on to the shop. Linens are by far my biggest seller and it's easy to see why. The hand embroidered flowers just look so cozy and reminiscent of grandmother's house. I even kept one small linen myself. It depicts a Southern Belle in a hoop skirt watering her garden.

Well, I'll be working more on the site and hope ya'll have a wonder afternoon!

I had been planning for a long time to make them into pillows, but I had just never managed to find the time.  When I pulled out my sewing machine to hem pants for my eldest, I remembered those embroidered panels and how they made me feel comforted.  I decided it was time to make good use of them.  I made pillows using materials I had on hand including old zippers, fabric, thread, lace and trim.  I had pillow forms I had bought to make pillows a long time ago.

The two pieces of embroidery I used to make the red and black pillows above was actually from one panel. The embroidery was done a black satin fabric. The sections between the embroidery was torn and had holes, so I cut the pieces apart. The embroidery was not perfect and the piece with the house still has a small hole in it. Everyone seems to read the Home Sweet Home pillow wrong the first time.  It says "The Dearest Spot on Earth to Me Is Home Sweet Home".  I loved the embroidery when I bought the piece. 

I've been planning to make the two vintage crewel panels above into pillows for so long, I can't remember where or when I found them.  They are a little newer vintage than the black panels.  I loved the big floral and the bunny and bird. The embroidery calls out vintage.  I love the colors!  I never knew they made so many pinks and greens.   The pieces are just perfect for pillows.

Normally I would have made the pillows with a plain trim just because it seems like it would fit the style back then and the current style now.  I had a bit of lace that matched, so I decided why not?  The pillows are for me, not for anyone else.  Why worry about what anyone else might think?

I don't know about you, but it seems like I'm constantly doing something for someone else.  I guess it's the hazard of growing up and having a family.  Yesterday, I was feeling a little low.  I thought I needed a little comfort.  My pillow project definitely brought me out of the doldrums.

Pillows are like teddy bears for big people.  Having a bad day?  Hug a Pillow!

-Great Condition Vintage Wegde = 1.5 points

-Orange Leather with Turquoise, Yellow, and White embroidery = 3 points

- Woven over the toe area = 3 points

- Two straps with buckles = 2.5 points

The other day I made this handsome little polar bear. He was in one of the Japanese sewing books that I am addicted to buying. I finally made something from one of the embroidery ones (woohoo) and it was so fun I think he will have friends soon.

I took one of the bees and after a lot of fiddling I came up with this:

I had to try out both versions but I think I'll use the second as a band in the sampler.

The motif on the right is adapted from an image of a vintage iron transfer I found in the flickr group Hoop Love. This may be the final version.

The motif on the left is based on a band from the Beginner's Guide to Blackwork by Lesley Wilkins. I also have Traditional Blackwork Samplers by Wilkins as well. The Beginner's Guide has more "raw material" in that it's mostly filling patterns and bands whereas Traditional Blackwork Samplers has, well, samplers.

In fact, that's where I found this:

Or rather, that's where I found this in pieces as part of a larger band in a sampler. I don't know if you can tell but almost every quarter of these two motifs are different. I had charted them on graph paper but I really needed to see them stitched up before I could make a decision. Only the bottom two on the right are the same and the design I finally settled on before I realized (with the help of my boyfriend) that they aren't even my style. Seeing them in context with all of my other designs really highlighted the differences and I decided to scrap them altogether.

This all leads up to the focus of the sampler: an embroidered comic! It's a little macabre but I couldn't resist.

The story is that the beekeeper is trying to smoke the bees to sleep in order to gather their honey and they take offense to this.

In the second "panel" they swarm out and he throws the smoker over his shoulder in surprise. The empty space where the smoker and his arm used to be draws attention to the swarm and then this draws the eye to the right where the dotted line indicates the smoker's movement.

He runs with the bees hot on his tail. I positioned the flower (and plan on adding a second) to indicate a left to right movement and the swoop of the dotted line-smoker-bees also helps this I think. I've since re-charted the dotted lines and the smoker to fill up the empty space in the center bottom. I've also re-charted the position of his arms:

I think I'm going to use the fragment on the left. These were my "sketches" of the beekeeper figure and I didn't bother to fill in the netting of his mask.

Back to the comic though: The fourth panel is the beekeeper's demise. Here the viewer sees the beekeeper in repose (maybe he's just sleeping) and holding a flower. I squeezed two actions into one panel and I hope it works. The bees have used the smoker against the beekeeper. This development plays on the previous two panels and the device I used to show movement. The technique used to tell the story turns literal within the story.

So, that's the comic and what I have for the sampler thus far. I think my mom will like it and find it funny and I decided it was more important to give my mom a present that was from me and have it be off-kilter rather than something I found in a book (not that there's anything wrong with that) that didn't represent my aesthetic.

Since Tilia misrepresented my relationship with Kip so distastefully as to almost suggest he was a one night stand in her post about her London Gwag Royce Part 1, I felt I should set the story straight now rather than later.

So Kip and I met during a film shoot, which was essentially, my film shoot, during college in London. I was writing and directing a short and he was hired by my course leader to be my director of photography. He himself, was in film school there and came highly recommended. Well just taking a look at him I could have told you that.

We met over coffee for pre-production talk, as filming would commence the following weekend. We connected instantly. (And contrary to this website's material, you may think this happens to me often, but it really doesn't) We had a shared love for deep conversation and philosophy that I rarely find.

Kip was originally from a respectable family in New Delhi and had originally intended to go into economics and engineering like his Muslim father. But during college, his brother introduced him to some documentary filmmakers and Kip discovered he wasn't destined for a 9 to 5 job. He fled to London on a film scholarship to begin his career.

The filming went smoothly, we finished on budget, early, actors were happy and did I mention the camera guy was the best part? We became fast friends but nothing more until the night of the premiere where I was late to my own film. (smooth) Afterwards, there was lots of free champagne, and at this point in my life not only did I lack the sense of a cut off period, I didn't care, as Grey was there with his twit girlfriend, drinking nothing but orange juice.

This upset me more than you could imagine.

However, my chivalrous and handsome friend Kip took care of me that night as I, no doubt, made a complete ass of myself. He saved me from almost losing my passport, and escorted me to the tube station where he sat with me for almost 15 minutes until the last one came. I put my head on his shoulder and he lightly stroked me hair. At that moment, we were more than just friends.

Sadly, soon after our flirtatious period of drinking in Covent Garden and spending lots of time in unconventional  conversation, I'd decided it was financially necessary for me to move back to America at the time, where he would stay in London for a while. It was because of this decision that I made a conscious effort not to sleep with him. I was afraid of falling in love with him.

Kip gave me a beautiful going away present that he bought on the streets of New Delhi; an embroidered Indian tunic and skirt, which for some reason fit me perfectly, even though he had no idea what size I was, nor had he even gotten a decent glimpse. (If you know what I mean, wink)

So we parted ways, but kept in constant touch. It wasn't until a couple months later that I regretted what could have been and actually admitted this to him. Hardly surprised, he expressed the same regret and I made a radical decision to return back to London that December for my 'graduation' which I'd never intended to go to. I needed to see Kip again.

So I arrived in London for a week, where Tilia also joined and we stayed in my old flat thanks to my lovely landlord.

Kip and I finally consummated our relationship and it was a sort of fairy tale week that felt like only a couple of days. (Oh and can I just say the sex was amazing) We drove out to the English countryside one night and spent almost 3 hours in a Christmas decorated tavern with leather couches, a fireplace and lots of mistletoe. We went to our favorite pubs and instead of talking, just made out with each other. (Consider it making up for lost time)

To make it even more movie-esque, he had decided to travel back to India the same day I would later fly back to America. He was going to 'Chaiya Chaiya Bollywood' to try his hand at becoming a famous director and I was embarking on a journey to Hollywood to become a famous writer.

After spending hours together at Heathrow airport on the night of his departure, neither one of us knowing what would happen next, but admitting we still had a desire to try to be together, he walked off into the distance after a kiss goodbye, I returned back to the flat, packed my suitcase and left for America.

(This was the same night Tilia, Royce and I attended the play readings and, hence the part where Tilia goes on a tour of London with Royce)

As time passed, we became more and more distant. And if the time zone difference wasn't enough, our lack of finances also hurt our chances in the communication department. So it was only recently that I called it off between us. Not necessarily due to any fault of either party, but just a lack of knowing what will happen to us in the future.

Kip is, however, planning to visit London later this year, and I told him I wouldn't rule out the possibility of seeing him again.

Because in a way with Kip, I felt I'd found my counterpart and it was, and still is, the only time I've been in love with someone despite their faults.

Check out the site, Threadsmith

So I tried to make some little bean bags to juggle with! I think I am going to give them to Jeremy for a gift! If any of you make some let me know... and share your ideas! I would LOVE to hear them!

Have you seen these up for sale on eBay?  There are a ton of these embroidered patches up for sale with logos of sports teams.  They may seem harmless, but many people buy them to create their own patch cards.  Once the person obtains a patch like this, they will cut it up and insert them into cards and try to pass them off as real patch cards.  It is very important that you check the feedback of the seller to see what their record is like.  They could have 100% positive feedback, but they may be buying a bunch of these patches.  Be sure to check the numbering of the card and the condition of the patch window.  If the window has damaged edges, that may be a clear sign that they altered the card.

I used a soft Snuggle Fabric brand for the owl material... and felt for the eyes and nose... with buttons as an added extra! Then just used matching fabric for the body! Pretty cute I'd say... for a first attempt anyway!