Under The Sea

This past month has been a busy one for stitchin'~ all gifts for special friends and family... and friends that I consider family. These two lovelies are going to make their way to Boise, Idaho to two of my favorite people in the whole wide world-- mother/daughter dynamic duo, Debra and Chelsey. Deb, Chelsey, and I have been lifelong friends.

When Chelse-Woman was a wee one, she loved Disney's "The Little Mermaid". She would spend hours in the tub singing Ariel's "Ahhhh... ahhhh... ahhhh...". Those of you who have kids may know that song well, as your little ones probably sang it in the tub too. When Chelsey sang, you could hear her down the hall, and Deb and I would just look at each other and giggle.

Chelsey was a fun, precocious little girl, with gorgeous red hair and an incredible imagination. Chelsey was often in "Chelsey-World"~ dancing and singing around the house in her tie-die leggings, and her twirly-whirly red square dancing slip that her grandma found for her. Seriously, (giggle) I don't think I ever saw her without one or the other-- or both. Chelsey could speak from a very early age, and introduced us to vocabulary we didn't even know existed. To this day, we still incorporate "Chelsey-isms" into our conversations. ("Oh my goodness-- Deb! We need to have a discussment!") Just goes to show, close friends have a "language all their own", right?

Well, Chelsey has grown into an incredible, lovely, talented, world-travelin' young woman. She's an amazing photographer (I love, love, love her photos), a great cook (she can cook Julia's boeuf like none other), and she's got great style (she wears her leggings in solid colors now). And yes, she still has that gorgeous red mane.

However, no matter how grown up Chelsey is now, whenever I see a great mermaid image--I think of her. Needless to say, this was the inspiration for choosing these vintage mermaid embroidery patterns to stitch for Deb and Chelsey. I hope these images will bring back sweet memories, and that they will love them as much as I loved stitching them!

Hugs,

Clay Play, And Some Sweet Vintage Embroidery

ost Fridays, my friend Kathy and I get together for what we call an "Artist Date". It's a fun way to stretch our creative wings, discover creative inspiration, and to simply have fun. Recently, Kathy and I had the opportunity to play with clay! Kathy has access to a kiln, so we have been excited to try our hand at sculpting. Above is my sculpture. Can you tell what it is??

Is it easier to tell in this photo? It's a pincushion! You know, the classic tomato with a strawberry needle sharpener. I used white clay, and decided to glaze it clear. I thought it would turn out with a more of a matte finish, but it's a bit glossy. I had hoped that the "fabric texture" would show more too. The strings came out okay though. (Okay, okay, okay, I'll stop the critiquing...)

Although I learned so much on just this little project, I have so much more to learn. This little pincushion was so fun to create and I'm really looking forward to the next project!

I love this little vintage embroidered dresser scarf thingy-- did you notice it under the pincushion? I collect vintage embroidery pieces here and there, and this is one of my favorites.

Each stitch is so perfectly stitched, and the images are so sweet. I love this mama duck and her little ducklings. Check out the baby duck butt-- that little duck is diving for something!

I love the trees on this piece also. They used two shades of green, and they look great.

Such a sweet stitched scene!

Hugs,

Time For A Cuppa

Hello, Sweet Friends. I've finished stitching another tea towel and wanted to share it with you before I send it off to my favorite auntie! (Won't it look cute next to her yellow kitchen aid mixer?!) I love these vintage anthropomorphic images. They've got so much whimsy, and they're super easy to stitch.

Oh-- and I love that this silly teapot has a pair of spiffy red shoes! She's stylin'.

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of the weekend... I'm spending time with friends tomorrow, and looking forward to doing some more stitchin' on Sunday! I've been embroidering a lot of tea towels lately, and will be catching up on posting them soon~

Hugs,

Valentine Swap, Part 2

Hello, Sweet Friends. I've been so excited to share Part 2 of this Valentine Heart Swap, hosted by the marvelous Marsha of The Tattered Chick!



**(Please click HERE if you missed Part 1~ believe me, you don't want to miss it!)



Kate, from the blog Crazy Purple Mom was the recipient of this little valentine heart that I created. As you can guess, her favorite color is purple, so I decided to stitch a heart in a soft shade of periwinkle/lavender. I love periwinkle. I've always thought of it as the perfect shade of purplie-blue. (Yes, another new vocabulary word for you all!)

This was my first real attempt at stitching with felt, and I loved it. I may be hooked. I wish that I could stitch a valentine heart for each of you! I've always been inspired by the beautiful and whimsical stitched felt creations of Elizabeth and Paulette, and have always wanted to try my hand at it. This heart swap was the perfect opportunity to stretch my stitchin' wings! I sent this little heart in the felt envelope above, addressed to Kate...

... and even sealed the envelope with a tiny stitched "xox"! I stitched the back of the heart with a little flower, a "J", and a little stitched heart. As they say, "love is in the details"-- right?

This was also one of my first attempts at beading. Don't you love these little pearl beads? They're so teeny tiny-- it took a bit of time to get the hang of handling them. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this sweet little valentine, and hope that it makes Kate's heart happy. I know that having the opportunity to stitch it for her made my heart happy!
Happy Valentine's Day, Sweet Friends!

Hugs,

PS: Please visit Marsha's blog for links to see a fun variety of hearts from this Valentine's Day Swap!

Cookie Factory

Hello, Sweet Friends. It's been a cookie factory around here! Last weekend I baked one of my favorite cookies-- sugar cookies!! I never was able to get my fix at Christmas, so with Valentine's Day around the corner, I figured I could break out the rolling pin, and have at it.

Yeah... and it's an excuse to break out the sprinkles too. I love these jimmies-- don't the colors just make you happy? Color in the winter makes me happy. Making things in the winter makes me happy too, so this was the perfect combination of happy.

This recipe has been in the family ever since my sister-in-law, Monica, joined the family and shared it with the rest of us. I'm so glad she joined the family. The girl can bake, and these are the best sugar cookies ever. They are rolled out thick and they're really cake-ety. (Yes, that's a real word. At least among my friends, it is. It's usually used in a sentence as in "Mmmm... I love chocolatey cake-ety".)
I don't usually do tutorials or recipes on my blog, but I know that you are going to ask for this fabulous recipe. Therefore, I will share it with you. Yes, I will take the time to type a recipe out. I guess it is less tedious than having to write it out, so I won't complain. Here it is:

Yummy Cake-ety Sugar Cookies

(This recipe is easy to roll out and makes wonderful Valentine and Christmas cookies!)

1 Cup Shortening*

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 to 5 cups flour

* In some countries shortening is called "white vegetable fat", in case the word "shortening" sounds foreign to you. Yes, it's that ingredient that I try to avoid thinking about when I'm eating one of these yummy cookies! (Thanks Susan, for asking! I wondered if anything in the recipe would be "lost in translation" for my friends abroad!)

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream and vanilla. Add in dry ingredients. Refrigerate for about one hour. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut in desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. Bake on ungreased baking sheet. (I bake them on parchment paper.) Let cookies cool, then frost and decorate!

These are a fun cookie to decorate~ the possibilities are limitless! I made this batch of cookies to bring to Lisa's Creativi-Tea, so I decided to back stitch them! Yes, those are jimmies. No, it was not as tedious as it looks, but I would only go to the trouble for something special. It helps to have a friend come over and help. Beverages help. My friend Kathy and I often get together on Friday nights for an "Artist Date". We try to do something or go somewhere creatively inspiring to kick-off the weekend. Sometimes we go to an art gallery. Sometimes we play with clay. Sometimes we go vintage shopping. Sometimes we get pedicures. We try to go to restaurants we haven't been to-- or sometimes we just "picnic". We love our "picnics". Our picnics are simple and usually consist of yummy cheeses, fruit, olives, a good crusty bread, and beverages. Our picnics involve no cooking, and we can get right to playing.

Since I made part of this batch as a hostess gift for Lisa (and Sean, her hubby who loves sugar cookies), I made a little tag for the container. I made a "belly wrap" for the container using shelf liner that I bought to line my dresser drawers and shelves. It worked out great because I could just slice a strip to the length I needed. Then I just used a simple di-cut, and some of my Cath Kidston labels to embellish. Viola! Ready to gift.

I also used part of the batch of cookies to give to my sweet next door neighbors to thank them for helping me out when I locked myself out of the house. I used my special valentine sprinkles for these. Damn, I love sprinkles. Lovelovelove them!

Well, I hope this post wasn't too long and rambly. (Yes, that is a real word-- in my vocabulary!). I'm trying to be better this year about posting about projects and the crafty shenanigans that I've been up to. I hope that you can try out this cookie recipe sometime, and enjoy it's yummy, cake-ety goodness for yourself!
Hugs,

Coffee Time

Hello, Sweet Friends. I've been doing a lot of stitching these past couple of weeks and thought I'd show you what I've been up to. This is a dishtowel that I stitched up for my friend's 88Th birthday! (Yes-- 88 years old and amazing!) Jeanette's favorite color is blue and she loves her coffee, so this is what I came up with. I used a whimsical vintage pattern and added the words "coffee time".

My friend Jeanette is very dear to me. We were next door neighbors when I lived in my little apartment, and we became really great friends. Now that I think of it, I bet she was quite entertained by my shenanigans. I always had something crazy going on out on the front patio... outrageous multi-dimentional pumpkin carving for contests at work, silly outdoor decorations for every holiday, growing sunflowers and building gnome gardens with the neighbor kids. Oh, and the baby possums that use to come up on the porch to eat the cat food! Yeah, never a dull moment.

Anyway, when her birthday rolled around I wanted to stitch something up for her that she could use, so I stitched this up for her. Don't you love the rick rack trim? I love rick rack. I lovelovelove it. It makes me happy. So does dingle-berry trim. (That's what I've always called pom pom trim.) I now wish that I had stitched "Rosie The Riveter" on the towel. Jeanette was a "Rosie" back in the day. She worked on airplanes, and she looked just like "Rosie The Riveter"-- absolutely adorable!

This is just a quick snapshot of how I wrapped her dishtowel. It was a quickie-- as always-- right before I ran out the door. I even managed to make a little gift tag to coordinate with the polka dot tissue. I love making tags. They're usually quick, easy, and not as overwhelming to create vs a card.

I've been busy all weekend cleaning, purging, and organizing my studio. I've never completely moved into this house. I still have boxes full of stuff. Boxes in the studio, boxes in the guest room, boxes in the garage-- so many boxes! Well, I've had it with boxes. I'm so ready to be done with boxes.
Well, in the midst of working in my studio-- which is also a sun room-- I locked myself out of my house. In my pajamas. In my socks. In the dark. In the rain.

Good times. Thank goodness I was wearing a bra.

Oh, and thank goodness I was able to get my gate open, as opposed to climbing the fence. That would not have been pretty. Seriously. It would not have been pretty. I walked through the muddy yard over to the house next door. My sweet neighbors helped me find a locksmith and saved the day.

Long story short, the locksmith and I were greeted by a happy, shaggy, Hagrid about one hour later, when the door was opened. He was oblivious to the adventure that I had been on, but seemed happy to see me. Haggie can sit, shake, high-five, and stay-- but somehow I forgot to teach him how to unlock a door.

Hugs,

A Fresh New Year

Happy New Year, Sweet Friends. I know, I'm a bit belated with my greetings. I think for once, instead of thinking, talking or writing about what I want to do in the new year, I've just been doing it. Imagine that! Me, actually doing something!
This adorable, giant-poof-of-a-pincushion was a fabulous Christmas gift from my fabulous friend Lisa-- and it's kind of become a springboard into the new year for me.

I love this giant pincushion more than words can say. It's in my favorite colors, and I love it so much I want an ottoman that looks just like it, for my living room. Wouldn't that be adorable?! Lisa so generously cut into one of her favorite fabric stashes to create it, like only a true friend would. I know this was not the easiest thing for her, so I love it all the more. (Thank you so much, sweet friend!)

Like I mentioned above, this giant-poof-of-a-pincushion has been a bit of a springboard into the new year for me. When you bring something new into your home, do you ever clean and tidy the house before finding a home for that item? Am I the only one that feels that way? I also feel that way about crafting. I want the house tidy, and then I feel like I can "treat" myself to some creativity. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of crafting going on around here last year.

Without going into it, I'm really happy that last year is over. I'm really ready to move forward into this new year.

I've been cleanin' and stitchin'--- and it's been pure bliss for me. Creativity makes me happy. Simple, but true. I haven't been doing anything fancy, just sweet and simple stitching. Everything that I've been stitching has been gifts for friends and family. Creating for people I love adds a whole different level of joy for me. How 'bout you?

Well, my Sweet Friends-- stay tuned, and please come back soon to see what I've been up to!

Hugs,

The "Fabulous Mystery Gifts" Revealed

Yes, it's finally time (well over time) to reveal The Fabulous Mystery Gifts that I promised to the lovely winners of my Blog Anniversary Giveaway back in (ahem) May. I mailed them out a little while back and wanted to make sure my winners recieved them before I revealed the great mystery. I love gift giving, and this was a really fun one for me because I was able to personalize these gifts to the winners. My first lovely winner was Claudia...

Claudia was so fun to create for-- we love a lot of the same things, colors, and all manner of sweet vintage goodness. We both even love coffee. Claudia had randomly mentioned that she had run out Peet's Coffee. Being that there's a Peet's practically around the corner, I couldn't resist picking up some to send to her!
Claudia is restoring/remodeling a darling dollhouse. (Oh my goodness, check out the porch floor. I love it!) These little goodies are a combination of things I created and found. I made the beach bag and the table/chair (depends on the scale you use) in some of her favorite colors. That print on the table and the tiny "McCoy" vase remind me so much of her wonderful vintage style!

I've also done some stitchin'~ a linen dishtowel with stitched blue birds, and embellished with rikrak. This pattern immediately came to mind when I was thinking of what to stitch because Claudia had chronicled the hatching of a sweet little bird family earlier this year. I appologize for the wonky angle of this photo, but I wanted you to be able to see a bit of the trim.

Okay, here's a better shot. I love this pattern so much, I may have to stitch one to hang here at The Little Nest!

Next, this is what my 2nd prize winner Kathi received. Have I ever mentioned that I love wrapping gifts? I love wrapping gifts! In fact, I made the simple little box cover that you see above. It was easy peasy, using a couple strips of paper, a scalloped circle punch, and a simple sweet polka dot Cath Kidston sticker. The stickers and outer box address labels that I used in these gifts all came from an adorable Cath Kidston sticker/label set. I was so excited to have something special to use them on! Kathi loves anything beach related and I loved having a beach theme to create around. This vintage mermaid embroidery pattern was so fun to stitch!

Thank you, Claudia and Kathi, for entering my lil' giveaway! Thanks also to all of you sweet friends that entered this year's blog anniversary giveaway. I sincerely appreciate that you've all taken a little time out of your day to visit my little corner of Bloglandia. I love this little world, and love the inspiration and creativity that you all so generously share each day.

Some of you may ask, "Where has Jill been?" or "Is Jill still blogging?!". Well, I'm still here. Life has been busy. Some good, some great, some... stressful. That's how life rolls, isn't it? Well, here's some little clues to what fun things I've been up to lately:

1. A little day of fun with friends...

2. A little magical yummy goodness, and a day in The City...

3. A little bit of fall decorating~ Oh, how I love Halloween!! In fact, I'm a bit nutty about it. Post to follow soon!!! I can't wait to share the "magical" fun!! (I've stepped it up this year. Oh yeah.)

I'll be back soon!!

Hugs,

Jill

A Little Box Of Sunshine

A few months ago when we were experiencing our rainy season here, I was really craving spring. I wanted sunshine.... so I splurged and bought me some. I've always loved Elyse's blog, Cottage, and the sweet, enchanting "tinkered treasures" she creates. Soooo, I did it. I finally placed an order. So, how 'bout some "Show and Tell"??

First of all, look how sweet everything is wrapped. (You all know by now that I totally love great presentation!) Everything was so carefully wrapped, it felt like I was opening a birthday gift from a friend!

Just look at all this sweetness! I love Elyse's "signature colors"-- pink, aqua/blue... so soft and pretty! She even enclosed what I call a "cupcake ballerina", some blue flowers, and a book marker. Can I just tell you how much I love those ballerinas? I love those ballerinas. I had a ballerina birthday party when I was little, back in the (ahem) late sixties. (I was really, really little then. Not very old at all.) These ballerinas were on my birthday cake. After the birthday debut, we kept the ballerinas in my mom's green metal picnic basket where we stored all the cake decorating supplies. (For you metal basket collectors, it's the green "basket weave" one.) I think my mom still has that basket-- and those ballerinas. Anyway, those "cupcake ballerinas" always bring back sweet memories when I see them.

Okay, back to my box of sunshine... I love these tinkered clothes pins. I think they'd be so great clipped onto a bulletin board-- you know, the ones made out of a frame with the wires strung across. (Note to self: find frame, paint it, wire it.) I think they'd also be darling used to clip a gift tag onto a gift bag. Cutecutecute.

These little tinkered matchboxes are even sweeter in person-- I love the little ribbon/rose detail and the little sequin "drawer pull" (can't see it in this photo). And how cute is that little "wish ticket"?? I love to give earrings for gifts, and these little boxes are perfect! This little sweetie was a little stowaway! (Thank you so much, Elyse! I love unexpected "extras"!) I've named her Ellie, and she has found her home among the glittery goodness in my playroom. (Yes, I have a playroom, but that's for another post...) I think Ellie will be very happy among the sparkle and, uh, what I call crafty chaos. Anyway, I hope you've liked this sweet little box of sunshine~ please click on over to Elyse's lovely blog. It's a little ray of sunshine too!

Okay, so did I mention it was a rainy year? Yeah, I ordered some more sunshine. Sunshine was on sale that day. It was a sign. I knew that I had to have these bowls the moment I laid my eyes on them! I don't know what this style of printed enamel bowl is really called, but I love them. These ones are much smaller than I imagined that they would be, but they will be great for serving stuff... and snacks. I like pretty snacks. Now this really made my heart pitter-patter.... teacups, saucers, and dessert plates. I see another tea party in my future. I really love these teacups. I used every one of them within two days of receiving them. Loooooove. Them. They make me feel like a little girl playing tea party in her play house. Well, whatdayaknow...These cups also coordinate with my embroidery projects~~ all three of them. Yes, my dear-sweet-giveaway-winners (and my awesome swap partner)-- I have been stitchin' like a mad woman. The embroidery part is done, but my sewing machine decided to break down. (Great timing.) Okay, I have more excuses but I don't want to bore you with them. I am hoping to resolve the sewing machine problem in the next week, and then I'll be very close to shipping some stitchy goodness off to their new homes.

I can't wait to reveal what I've been up to!

Hugs,