You Have My Whole Heart

 

Tonight I wanted to do something with these spools of sewing thread...they are old and I've had them for a while.  I will never run out of thread as long as I live it seems, as I keep finding it here and there.

And, why not play with it now and again, I thought.  Also, You Have My Whole Heart, one of my favorite expressions kept popping into my mind....so, I tried to make a heart from the spools.  It's not as easy as it looks if you ask me.....but here you see the result of my effort.  

 

Surrounding the "heart" I thought I'd put the usual sewing tools we have around us.  Pincushions, needles, scissors, thimbles, a needle threader if you need one.  This one is actually a tool to run yarn through your knitting.  The little salt cellar holds a tiny pincushion...a gift to me from one of you.  I do love it so!  And, the Kelly Rae Roberts pincushion I use for a paperweight mostly...as I don't want to ruin it.

 

There's an assortment of thread spools here....and they all came from the flea market.  I particularly love the spools with printed ends rather than paper.

 

 I own several pair of embroidery scissors.  You've seen them all over time on this blog.  These are among my favorite.  A thimble, that's old too.  

 

 A little closer view.

 

 I had this mirrored tray and the lace doily in my bathroom with assorted pretty bottles on it, but changed that out today...adding to the chances I'd post it tonight.  Two more items from the flea market.

 

Just an odd little view of the spools.  And, unknowingly using the portrait setting on my phone, I managed to give you a closer view of the "junk" I have on the shelves at my work table.  I suppose I'm going to have to show more of that soon.  See those little houses on the cards.  They are vintage and I LOVE finding them.  They are what inspire me to want to stitch tiny little houses, barns and such.  I haven't done any in a while and I do want to return to those.  They are so sweet!

I have several things from Wednesday I'd like to show you...but wanted to use them each on their own rather than all together.  You'll see them soon.

So, there you are.  A heart made of thread spools.  Sort of.  Fun.  I don't know if it entertains you or not....but it does me.  And, this is why I never get bored.  There's always something!!!

until next time

BE WELL

from

Bird Nest Cottage

❤️❤️❤️ 

 

A Hot Cup of Tea

 

 When I was forty, I gave up coffee.  So I turned to tea. As often as possible a decaf.  I absolutely love a hot cup of tea.  At any time of day.  Or, sometimes at night.  I'm not fond of fancy flavored ones...I tend to like it plain.  No sugar, no cream either.  Plain and HOT!

The Old Navy Man used to say that the only reason I drank tea was  "to hold a hot cup." He was right about a lot of things....and I DO love to hold a hot cup....but I appreciate the tea also.  And, as I get older...even more so.

 

 I barely have space in my kitchen for a table, but this one is just fine.  It's only 28 inches in diameter and I can squeeze two chairs in there also.    Let's see...that would be tea for ME and tea for YOU.

 

 

 About my teapot:  Yes, Keep Calm and Drink Tea!  

Found at a flea market several years ago and loved ever since....and so true!  The bird teacup...Oh, My!  I found it browsing around amazon.com one day and purchased it immediately.  Isn't it sweet?

 

 This vintage tablecloth...just love it....also found at the flea.  Love the colors!

 

 These tea things I just placed here to show you...........but at this moment...I am planning on having a cup of tea while I watch "The Unforgotten" on my PBS station.  I am always glued to British mysteries and this one is really good.  Such excellent writing and acting!!!  Definitely good to have tea along with watching!!

 

 I found this tea tin at the Junk House just a couple of weeks ago.  Happened to have a pretend Monarch butterfly in the house.........they met and I just loved it!!!  That bird spoon a gift from Kathy...I think I showed it last year, but memory doesn't always serve me.

I hope you enjoyed the tea things.......do Be Well and relax with your own cup of tea now and again!

Until next time

from 

Bird Nest Cottage

♥️♥️♥️

Stars in Two Pines Park, Parts I. and 2.

 

Part 1. 

This week's post is in two parts.  Longer than usual, I guess.  Whatever 'usual' might be on this blog.

I bought this quilt several months ago at my favorite flea market...the Junk House in Beebe.  It is very pretty.  Vintage.  Hand pieced and hand quilted.  Pink and Brown mostly. And, a star quilt.  What's not to love?  

While it is pretty good condition....and beautifully quilted....there are seven or eight of the stars that are in various stages of disappearing.  Literally.  There will be evidence of this in a photo further into the post.  It happens with some older quilts...the fabric just melts away over time.  So sad.  

Years ago, Georgia Bonesteel made a quilt she named "Rescue the Perishing."  I thought of that some time back when I came into possession of several very old quilts also in various stages of decline.  Some of them way too far gone for rescue.  I have recently hand quilted a top made in the 30's.  The top is in decline also, but I've quilted it anyway.  It has a story but I can't tell you about it until after July when it will be given as a gift.  Do you remember a while back, I also rescued a beaded bag from the 20's?  It took a while.  So did the quilt I have been working on....and so will this one.  Perhaps in rescuing these quilts and other items, I am also rescuing myself.  Seems that way to me.

 Most of the quilt looks just like this.  Solid as can be, beautifully pieced and quilted.

 

 The batting is extremely thin, as you can see it where the fabrics are gone, but even the backing looks good and the quilting stitches are very small.

  

 And, it's very soft, both in looks and to the touch.

I took these photos about 5:30 in the evening.  The light is good at that time on a pretty day and being as I took the photos under the trees....well, you can see the quilting really well.

 

Lastly, here is a star that has virtually disappeared.  The only star fabric left is where there was a seam and in the center...down the five lines of quilt stitches.  The rest has gone.  So, those few stars will have to be replaced.  I'll applique as appropriate a fabric as possible where there used to be vintage fabric OR, I'll piece a new block and insert it into the space left by this one when I remove it.  We'll just have to see.  Tricky either way and time consuming.

I've two important projects going on and taking into next year to complete, but you can bet, this star quilt will be one of the first rescues I will attempt after they are done.  And, then I will show them to YOU.

 Part 2.

 

 As mentioned, I had decided to photograph this quilt yesterday about 5:30.  It really is a nice time to take quilt photos.   This photo shows the quilt and the back of my house, where there is a property where an old home used to be.  Now, on that property, way at the back is a clinic.  The front of the property is right behind my house, and though I think it also belongs to the hospital, as does the clinic, I call it my backyard.  For now.  I'm sure another clinic will be built there at some point.  I do love it though and as you can see, it's NICE.  I have also named it.  Two Pines Park.   There are two very large pine trees on this property.   You can see their trunks on the right side of photo #1 toward the street and also the photo below.  I wanted to tell you why I named it the way I did.  (Now, everyone I know also calls it TWO PINES PARK!)

A couple of years ago, I began reading a series of mysteries written by Louise Penny, a Canadian novelist.  You might enjoy them as much as I have if you love mysteries.  The stories of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, and the village of THREE PINES, a village south of Montreal, Canada, kept me on the edge of my seat through the entire series and I am ready for another!  They are excellent!

The first book is named STILL LIFE should you want to read one.  

So, did you catch why my little backyard park is named TWO PINES?  It's my little homage to the village in Canada.

Another little interesting fact:  my son-in-law has lived here his whole life.  He remembers the old home that was torn down when the hospital built the clinic.  It belonged to a family named Quattlebaum.  I was telling him about reading the books and why I named  the property TWO PINES PARK and he said, "Well, that's funny, because I believe Mrs. Quattlebaum was from Canada!"

Do you find that as crazy a coincidence as I do?

Love it!!!

So, there you have two stories....one about a star quilt and one about a fictional village in Canada, both connected, in my mind,  to this little cottage home of mine. 

  

We could have a picnic right here in this photo!

Here is a photo of the book.........if you like mysteries, you'll probably like this series.  You may also be inspired to name a special place of your own after the village...or maybe that's just done by a funny person like me.  Or, make a Star quilt....for no other reason than they are beautiful.

until next time

from

BIRD NEST COTTAGE

♥️♥️♥️

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilts, Part Three

 

  Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilts, Part Three

So, here we are with Part Three.  This will be the final episode of the Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt posts.  I had planned on showing you TWO quilts today, but, after a conversation with a friend this morning....I remembered there were two more of these quilts here in my house.  (My memory is haywire these days!)  

This one is really pretty, it has a "Garden Path" throughout.  I really like that, but I would never have pieced it myself.  This quilt, which I bought at the flea market, is beautifully made, but like most I get at the flea market, it has issues.  At some point, I hope to remedy that.

Can you see the green path?  This is a very pastel quilt.

 

 Look at that edge!  Oh my, binding that does not appeal to me....and the binding does have it's challenges.

 

See!

  Now, repairing that is going to take some creativity.  At this point, I have no idea what I will do, but, I'll figure out something.

 

 Isn't it pretty?

 

 Fortunately, it doesn't need a lot of other work...mostly two of the edges and a few little places to mend.   Well, the binding does need some help....another thing where I will have to figure out what to do.

 

 It's beautiful!

 

Here is another pretty quilt...with one big issue.  A friend of mine past away recently and this quilt top in her stash came to me.  It's beautifully pieced.  I actually think her mother pieced it.  At some point, someone decided to quilt it.  Why, I have no earthly idea, but they took some polyester batting and started to quilt the center of the quilt.

 

 Here is a view of the back.  Isn't that strange?  That's a lot of quilting, then it's trimmed.  I would not know where to go from here, so I am going to un-stitch that quilting and start over.  It deserves to be quilted properly. 

  

 Here is a close-up of it.  Really odd, but like I said, I don't think my friend did this...it's not something I think she would do.

 

 It looks really nice from the front.

 

A close-up.

 

Here is a better look at the piecing.  Lovely.

 

During a conversation I had today, it suddenly came to me that I had two more Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts.  How did I forget them?  So, I raided the quilt closet and there they were.  Of course, you have to see those too. 

 

 A lovely quilt top....beautifully pieced.

  (I love dappled shade, don't you.  I took these photos outdoors behind my house.)

 

 Very nice piecing!

 

The only issue with this quilt...Yeah!  One of the corners is not a full corner.  

What will I do?  Another challenge, for sure.

  I wonder what happened?

 

 And, lastly. a vintage baby quilt.  It has been very used and does need repair.  I've had it a very long time.  So, it will finally be put into the que created by these quilts and someday, I will have it mended and usable agian.

 

 You can see there is definitely work to do. 

 

 But, there are good parts too!

 

 A really special quilt that deserves repair.

The end of the story of these quilts is in the future, as there is lots of work to do.  I have

decided I love this "mending" of old quilts.  I think it will be good for my soul.  Don't you?

These quilts I have shown you the last few days are in need of attention and a good bit of care lest they just gradually fade away.  That could be sooner than one might think, the way time flies.  Somehow, it seems important to me, at this particular stage of my life, that I do my best to rescue and revive these quilts, along with others that I have here.  There are many quilts out there that can't be repaired as they are so very fragile, but I hope to do what I can, while I can, with the ones I have.  And, maybe future ones I run into at the flea market.  You know I can't resist, right?

I hope you enjoyed the stories of these quilts.  I will post more about them as work is done.  I will begin with my sister-in-law's quilt....

from

Bird Nest Cottage

until next time

♥♥♥

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part Two

 

This is Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilts, Part Two 

This photo was taken behind my house....On a sunny day...too sunny really, as this quilt is actually darker than it shows here.  You'll see later.

So, here's the story:

This summer I went to Texas for a few weeks and while I was there, my sister-in-law, Nancy Jo, brought this quilt out to show me.  Actually, as you can see, it's still in the quilt top stage.

The top was made, we think in the 30's, by Nancy Jo's aunt, who was a school teacher at the time, living in a boarding house away from home.  So, she pieced the top during the evenings to pass the time.  (By the way, Nancy Jo's family lives in West Virginia.)  Her aunt, the sister of Nancy Jo's Mother, is no longer with us, so the quilt belongs to Nancy Jo's Mom.  It was never quilted so I was asked if I could 'do something with it' for her Mom's 90th birthday.  How could I say no?

 

As you can see there are some black places on the quilt.  Those are holes.  There are several.

Before it can be quilted, it must be mended.  That will be quite the task.  The mending won't be invisible, of course, but I will do what I can to make it 'look good.'    It's still a top and that will be helpful, actually.

 

 A better look at the edge.  Also along the bottom, in this photo, there needs to be another row of piecing.  I'm not doing that, so will figure out what to do instead.  Did you hear me say I like a 'challenge?'

 

 I'll even the edges too.....for easier binding.

  

I will have to give some thought to the quilting itself.  I'm not going to quilt around each hexagon....it would just take too long and my deadline is next June.

  

This is the quilt...photo taken at night in my house.  While the quilt really is darker than those first photos...it's not as dark as this photo...although I love the way it looks here!

 

And, another look. 

I will do my best to make the quilt presentable for Nancy Jo's Mom's birthday next year.

And, YES, it will be a challenge!

 Every year I look for the first Bluetts to bloom.  I missed that this year, but while I was out taking the photos behind my house....there were lots of these!  You see them in white, pink and also BLUE.   So tiny and cute!!!!

 

Tomorrow, Part Three!

from

Bird Nest Cottage

Until next time

♥♥♥