Fabric Collage: "When I'm All Grown Up"

"When I'm all grown up,

come what may,

I'll build a boat

to carry me away."

Hello there! I hope that you're having a great day.

In some of my earlier posts I mentioned that I started collecting pieces of cutter quilts (old quilts that have passed their prime and can no longer be used for their original intended purpose due to shattering, stains, and so forth.) They are so beautiful in their own right and we crafters appreciate the work that went into them, so we have started finding other purposes for the portions that are still usable. My purpose was to incorporate some of them into fabric collages using some of my favorite vintage photos, but quite honestly, I have let mine sit around way too long. I have only used one in a fabric collage (still for sale in my Etsy shop), and one for Christmas stockings, the result which I shared in an older post. So, a few weeks back I started another. Our summer has been kind of crazy, so needless to say, it took me way too long to finish it.

Finally, here it is. Sorry that the photos are not great.

This was made with an old

sailboat quilt that used feed sack fabrics.

I thought the era of the fabrics worked well

with this old photo of a brother and sister

sitting in a sailboat in a studio setting.

Don't you just love their haircuts?

I couldn't resist adding a piece of real driftwood to the top...

...and of course some lace along the side.

I thought the lace looked like oyster shells,

so I sewed on some iridescent beads to it

to resemble pearls...

The fabric used on the original sailboat part of the quilt is at

the top of the following photo.

It is so soft and pretty.

And of course, this beautiful quote was just the ticket.

I also added a piece of beach netting to the bottom...

The piece is backed with the same vintage

blue feed sack fabric that you see on the

waves at the bottom, 

and came from my small stash

of feed sack fabrics...

This has been listed in my Etsy shop,

though I will need to close my shop

 on Thursday evening for vacation.

We will be headed up to the mountains,

but I'm sure that it will be there for awhile!

Thanks for stopping by.

Inspiration in Old Papers

Good morning my friends!

Before we went to Birdsong this last time, I had ordered and received some stacks of old papers. They were from a few different Etsy sellers, all aged to perfection, and in my book, just lovely to look at. I haven't yet had time to go through all of the pages in each set, but a quick flip-through when I got ready to take these photos gave me an idea of what was in store. Most were random picks by the sellers, but so far I love them.

How bad could these be if one of the dictionary

pages included a raven

(think Halloween!)...

Some good book pages that also offer

some inspiration...

Another group of dictionary pages.

Do you suppose it is providence that one 

of them shows "perch" at the top?

(Think Miss Phoebe!)...

Random pages of sheet music...

I love these interest tables.

 Cool stuff from the days before computers...

So, I couldn't resist the 25 LARGE pages of railroad register

from the Long Island Express from the early 1900's.

The fact that I grew up on Long Island 

is besides the point! ;~)...

And who can resist old paper doilies,

aged with the patina of time?...

Now, a REAL artist would have immediately used these

in some mixed media masterpiece to be envied by all,

shared it on her blog for all to Pin,

and then put it in her Etsy shop for an outrageous price.

As for me, 

I guess I'll just stare at them while I ponder what to create with them.

Who said that I was a real artist anyway?

Red Zinnias and Limelight Hydrangeas

Hello and happy Sunday. We had been busy up in the mountains undertaking some large projects (more of that in a future post), so I'm afraid that I haven't had much time for this blog. I just thought I'd stop by and let you know that I am still here!

Last fall my neighbor (thanks Pam!), who is as avid a gardener as I, harvested a bunch of zinnia seeds and gave me some, which I saved in a drawer in the garage. Since I have never had much luck with seeds in this area, I threw them into the window boxes that we have hanging off of the railings on the back deck while I was also planting some verbena. The other night I looked out the back door just as the sun was starting to go down, and this is what I saw.

A flash of red that was almost fluorescent...

...growing happily with the red annual verbena

 in the same box...

...along with a limelight hydrangea bloom

hanging in front of the box over the railing...

I just love this entire mix-up of loveliness!...

Sometimes, when you least expect it, 

beauty just hits you in the face!

I hope you are all well and having a beautiful summer!