Tonight I wanted to say something about 'inspiration.'  As you know, all of us are inspired by a vast assortment of things and many different people and whatever it is they do to help us dream and imagine all the wonderful experiences we hope to have in our lives.  To me, I find inspiration in the 'everyday' things of daily life.  And, then, there is the inspiration I receive from people I've been fortunate enough to spend time with.  This week, I had a visit from some friends who reminded me that I'm most inspired by people who have ENTHUSIASM.  No matter what their  specific interest is...it's the enthusiasm that grabs my heart and won't let go.

Three friends from Mountain View came to visit me at the downtown studio.  Old friends, and dear.
They brought along a new friend and I know she is one I can make 'an old friend out of ' for, like the other three,  she quilts and shared one of their traits...enthusiasm!  Knowing they were coming to visit, I took six quilts down to the studio with me so I could provide a little 'Show and Tell' for them.
Now, I knew my three friends had already seen these quilts, but my NEW friend had not.  You'd never know it though, as all four of them oohed and aahed over each quilt as if they'd never seen them before.  ENTHUSIASM!  I don't know what seeing these quilts did for them, but it did me a world of good to know that my quilts still could make people smile.  And, their comments made me really want to buckle down and QUILT!! 

So, Susan, Linda, Joan and Kay.....you said I inspired YOU, but really, you inspired ME!  And, that my friends is really good medicine!  And, a few laughs here and there is also!  So, because you seemed to enjoy seeing the quilts....I'm showing a peek of each one here.  This basket, well, I won't go into the story of it here, but I know you liked it and you gave me a keener appreciation of it through your comments.  It is made with vintage scraps and I quilted it to look 'old.' 

These are just little peeks, as I said, of the six quilts....they've been shown in my blog posts before.
For those who have never read my blog before...all my work is by hand.  This quilt I made for my grandson when he was a small child....now 26, he still appreciates it.  Actually, when he was that little kid, he called every piece of my fabric stash 'a quilt.'  Each star on this quilt is a different blue scrap of fabric.

 And, yes, the border is appliqued, not pieced.  Actually, I am known around here for applique over piecing, but I can and do piece occasionally.

These photos turned out way to yellow (photos too light, too dark or too yellow - what you get when you try to take impromptu photos at ten o'clock at night in a rather dark bedroom!)....but I included this one in the Show and Tell because of the appliqued hearts (one of my favorite motifs) and the surrounding embroidery.

 Then, there is that embroidered "E" monogram.  I wish I had left that part off this quilt....to tell the truth, but I DO love that bow!

 And, I loved stitching this little angular vine around the first border of the quilt.  It was great fun!

 I have come to love embroidery on my quilts....and now can't imagine not embellishing my quilts in this way. 

Notice the hearts on this quilt.  The fabric was hand-dyed years ago by my friend, Mary Morgan.  She gave me several pieces in shades of this teal color and some pinks too.  And, as always, my favorite  heart motif.  I have two quilts Mary dyed fabric for...even more special to me since she passed away.

Lots of silk ribbon embroidery embellishes this quilt.  I believe I showed you this not too long ago.
I've always said I'd make another, but to date, one hasn't appeared and I don't know if I would do another completely covered with silk ribbon embroidery.  Well, actually, who knows?

I loved stitching this little cluster of flowers and the leaves.  This quilt took months to make and it is one of my favorites....maybe just because of all the work involved.

And, then, there is the border.  If you click to enlarge, you can see the beads I included in the quilting stitches.  I did enjoy that and had no idea I'd like it until it was nearly done.  

 Last...some more applique.  This is one of the few quilts I made with someone else's pattern.  It is made from one of Robyn Pandolph's patterns and nearly all of it from her line of fabric.  LOVE!

 So, you can see what I showed the girls on Wednesday.  They seemed to enjoy their little quilt

Show and Tell.  I've heard since from a couple of them and have been told they DID enjoy it, thanking ME for sharing my quilts and inspiring THEM.  But, actually, what they don't know is as I said at the beginning of this post....THEY inspire ME!!!  And, the enthusiasm they had....well, it's catching and that's a really GOOD thing!  Thanks for the visit my Mountain View friends...and til we meet again...Happy Quilting!  And, you out there in the Blogosphere....hope you enjoyed the little peek at my quilts too.  take care, pat

From My Porch to Yours

 I thought a nice way to wish you a HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY was to show you my porches.  It's sort of like inviting you in without you actually being here.  As you will notice, the flags are out.
The old navy man likes the flags to be out on all holidays, and especially this holiday.   We have to have our American Flag and the Navy flag both waving!  ( My sister and her husband presented us with a beautiful flag that flew over the capitol in Washington, DC, but I keep it in the house so nothing will happen to it.  So, Debbie, just in case you were wondering...this one is not the flag you gave us!!)

 Our house is not large, but does have a generously sized front porch. We enjoy it a lot.  I thought you might want to see where I sit and watch the traffic go by when it's not too hot outdoors.  It's a good place to read or sew and listen to the birds, have a glass of sweet tea, or, as I often do...enjoy the porch swings.  (It's even more fun when there is a little kid here and we can swing high! Or, an adult who wants to remember being a kid!) 

 This old screen door came from the third floor stash of 'old stuff' at my son-in-law's family store when they sold it.  I have several things from there, including this screen door and one I have going from my kitchen into the laundry room/pantry.  Love the old things.  The blackboard/sign I got at a local flea market...with the writing on it. 

 I bought this long basket on the door at Green Alley the other day and  filled it with paper flowers from Hobby Lobby.  I like it so much.  And, you can see where we might sit were you here.

 Or, we might sit here.

 Yes, it IS a long porch.....I've never measured it, but I'm guessing it's at least 32 feet long, maybe 8 feet wide.  Two swings, two ceiling fans.  With the summers we have...those fans come in very handy.  Nothing at my house is 'fancy' as you can see, but we do use and enjoy what we are fortunate enough to have.

 I'm thinking this porch needs a little 'sprucing up'....but, for now...it's ok with me the way it is.  I think I'd like to paint the concrete....well, maybe not while it's hot out!

 If I say 'from my porch to yours' then I have to include THIS porch.  This is the porch to my NEST.  As you know...BIRD NEST ON THE GROUND, my backyard studio.  I took these tonight and it was beginning to get dark, so I left the lights on in the studio.  Another way to invite you in!

 And, with an open door!  Just a peek inside.  I've shown it to you before...but as you may remember, it never stays exactly the same for very long.

This is the perfect weekend to sit on one of these porches and REMEMBER all those who made it possible for me to have a flag and to sit on these porches in PEACE and to live in this great country.  The old navy man and I wish you all a very lovely, peaceful and Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Take care out there....pat

PS.  Special good wishes to my friend, Claudine, in France, for giving me blog posting tips.  THANK YOU, dear friend!

Five Pretty Things

Well, that week just flew by!!!  So, here I am with a new post...and as always, it seems, later than I intended to be.  Again.  Perhaps I should just admit that my posts are going to show up haphazardly in spite of the fact that I WANT to post in a more regular fashion.  My life seems to be 'irregular' these days...so posting will be too, I guess.  Well, I thank you for sticking with me...those of you who do.

Over the weekend, I thought of showing you some 'pretty' things from my flea market adventures.  These things are not necessary to life, you know, they just brighten up my days.  Don't we all need a little something once in a while to take us out of the everyday?  So....here's what I have decided to show you:

How about a candle in a teacup?  Everything you see in these photos came from a flea market except for the candle in a jar.  It came from Walmart.  I like these little candles in a jar...but won't light them and leave them on the counter or on a table unless I sit them inside a dish, or on a plate or something.  Just as a precaution....I don't think the glass would crack, thus making a horrible mess (or a fire), but I'm too chicken to find out!  So, here I have put the glass jar in a wonderful little tea cup, purchased years ago for practically nothing.  Notice the 'flavor' of the candle...Mixed Berries.  Smells yummy!  Sometimes I put buttons in the teacup.  You just never know around here what I will do.

I found two of these little painted glasses for $1.00.....and immediately thought they'd make good glasses to use when taking my daily medication.  If you have to take pills....I see no reason not to use  a pretty glass....seems to make taking meds more fun!

A couple of weeks ago, I found this crocheted cover....I think for a baby bottle or for a glass...complete with pink ribbon.  When I got it home....well, there are NO baby bottles here and hasn't been for YEARS and also no glasses the right size to fit it, but I did have plenty of water bottles in my fridge!  I think this could make drinking bottled water a lot more fun too!  And, doesn't it look sweet to you?

There is a pretty good size collection of sugar bowls here.  I like to make pincushions with them, amongst other things.  There are always 'odd' sugar bowls at the flea markets.  This one, I particularly loved, so I brought it home and have used it in various ways...including holding sugar.  But, one day recently, out of the 'blue,' I thought of this use.   Seems I always have those large size wooden match boxes in the back of my silverware drawer, and why I thought of this, I've no idea, but I did and so had to carry out my 'plan' right away.  Why couldn't I use that sugar bowl for my wooden matches?  So, I cut the sides of the match box out (the 'striker'), filled the bowl and added the striker pieces inside.  Now, it's even fun to strike a match to light my candles!!  Who knew?

So, now I've come to the 'frogs.'  I've a small collection of them....you can see it here.  Four.  Around here they are hard to find and I usually buy them when I run across one.   I like to use them to hold business cards, certain size greeting cards, recipes,old photos,  and whatever else tickles my fancy.  Here I've shown them holding antique calling cards and one post card.  I LOVE these cards!!!!  Notice the back of the postcard...1911.  How cool is that?  So....even though these frogs aren't all that 'pretty' - they are really neat and they do HOLD something pretty, so I love them.  (I wonder why they call them 'frogs?')

 What do you think of my 'five pretty things?'  They are just little things....didn't cost much...but bring me great pleasure and I hope this post brightened your day in some little way.   Take care 'out there!'  pat

Buttons, Beads and Other Flea Market Finds

It is very pretty here today, so I decided to take some 'goodies' from inside the studio to the great outdoors and snap a few photos.  A table under the trees in the backyard always interests me, so I carried a bunch of these goodies out and spent a few minutes taking photos.  I love sitting out under the trees....reminds me of when I was a kid.

My grandmother's house, which was really nothing more than a shack,  had a porch along the whole front side and that is where I learned to love a porch.  I also learned to love sitting under the trees there....and napping under the trees too.  There was a very large tree amongst those in the front yard  (I'm thinking it was a live oak) and there was an old iron bed under that tree.  So naps could be taken there.  I don't think a bed in the front yard would even be considered in this day and age, but back in the 40's and 50's not unheard of in my little Texas town, especially down by the railroad tracks where my grandmother's house was.  (Remind me sometime to tell you about the ice house across the highway...one of my favorite memories.)

Anyway, today a few minutes out under the trees sounded good to me, so these are the photos I took.  Amazing how different your things can look when out of doors.  I took these photos just before lunch, but actually, I'm thinking around five o'clock in the afternoon would have been better.

So...what's here?  Well, a pillow I made a couple of years ago.  I've shown it on the blog before, but perhaps YOU didn't see it.  I LOVED making this pillow...Satin Stitches, the Leaf Stitch, ribbon appliqued with pearls and that beaded edge.  All by hand.  All GREAT fun!

I decided to use some of the flea market finds I have to hold pearls, beads, buttons and even some crumpled up seam binding.  (I know we all love that stuff!)  There are thousands of beads here in the Nest......these are just some of them and I love displaying them in various containers all over my house.

There is a glass compote of sorts, a bird candy dish, a vegetable bowl and a metal dish which I think is tin.  In it is a very old silver plate spoon with just about everything worn off of it.  LOVE THAT SPOON...it's just given the world all it ever had and is still functional enough to spoon my buttons!
Unlike my friend, Jim, who loves shining silver...I really love the old and very tarnished pieces.  The more tarnished, the better.  There is also a couple of belt buckles....they are not 'old' but I really like them anyway.

There is a monogramed needle holder and a white bird...those were gifts from a couple of my readers.
My blog readers are the nicest people!!  Some vintage lace....can there ever be enough of that?  No.

I have to tell you about that bird candy dish.  I bought it from my friend, Cheri's, booth at the new flea market.  I loved it on sight and grabbed it before anyone else had a chance.  So cute!  Then, when I was putting my purchases in the car, I dropped that dish right on the pavement!  Yes, it broke completely in half and one of the birds had a broken tail.  I was so upset....but, when I got it home, I glued it back together and when it is holding 'goodies' you can't see the repair...well, there is a little hairline crack on one of the birds where I reattached it's tail.  Almost good as new and I still think it is so cute!

What do you think?  Does sitting out under my trees appeal to you?  Well, I pretended YOU were out there with me....and it was FUN.  Y'all take care, pat

PS.  I'm still having trouble getting my photos in the order I want them.....from what I'm reading on other blogs...I'm not alone.  It's annoying...but I keep on trying.