a pretty rose

Happy Monday! 

Hope that you had a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for the lovely comments on the vintage pot holders and book.

Well, I finished the rose pot holder and I am lovin' how it turned out!! The pretty red and mint green were the perfect match.

It took me a couple days to finish, as I worked on it in the evenings, and the end result was worth every little stitch. I have truly gained such an appreciation for the amazing ladies who made all the vintage ones I have collected.

I think the back took longer then the front, and I had to change the pattern a little to make the edging cleaner. I am even thinking scallops would look so pretty, too!

I am already working on a pink one, and plan to do a few more colors. I also want to try some of other patterns from the book, too. And, you may even see some of these pot holders soon in my shoppe, so stay tuned! 

 Now it is hung in a vintage green frame and bringing some handmade prettiness to my home. 

 With Valentine's Day approaching, I have been working on some pretty hearts. I crocheted these using this lovely pattern, and I am adding some cross stitching to them. 

And, some pretty felt hearts with some sweet fabrics that need a little hand stitching and will be made into ornaments. Are you working on any pretties for Valentine's Day?

Wishing you all a most lovely and creative week! 

vintage pot holders

One of my favorite vintage treasures to collect are crocheted pot holders. Oh, how these lovelies make me smile and warm up inside! I love how they bring such handmade prettiness and color to my home. I adore the rose ones most, and have been wanting to try to make them ever since I started crocheting. 

So, I started collecting vintage pot holder pattern books to learn how all those sweet ladies made them. This one was my latest find, and I just love the graphics. Wish I could have bought it for 10 cents! 

All these pot holders are so delicately crocheted with the smallest of colorful threads and hooks. 

Are you the Queen of the Kitchen? I love this window scene pot holder. Too cute! 

The rose ones are always so beautiful! 

I made it my goal this year to try my hand at making some, and I can tell you that I have been so intimidated by that No. 7 size hook and size 10 thread, but...

I finally started one, and I am actually loving it! It took a little bit to get used of the hook and thread, but so far so good. I had to learn how to make a cluster for the leaves, which was confusing at first, but I finally got it. So, I am off to add the creamy white stitches. I have a feeling that these might become a little addicting to make. I can already imagine all the pretty different colors to make them in!

Wishing you a day full of sweetness!!

christmas hexies and quilt

Happy Sweet Friday!!

Hope that you have had a lovely week, and are enjoying this Christmas and holiday season! I have been working away on some projects this week and hoping to get them all done before Christmas. I do love creating handmade pretties this time of year!

One little project that I am almost finished with are these Christmas hexies. I used some of my favorite red and green 30's reproduction fabrics, and just love the vintage feel the prints gave them! 

 They will be made into coasters, and I have been wanting to make some for awhile, so what better time than now. I just need to sew some batting and felt to the bottom, and they will be ready to bring some prettiness to Christmas.

The sun came out a little bit today to take some photos of my Christmas quilt. I used a charm pack of the sweet Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hoey and bordered it with the two grey fabrics from the line. I do love that pretty grey!! ;) 

For the quilting, I tied it with white yarn, but when I washed and dried it, the yarn frizzed like crazy. So, I had to remove the yarn, and tie it with white embroidery floss. Have you every tied a quilt? What yarn or thread do you like using?

 Another sweet Christmas quilt ready to bring some warmth to those cold nights!

Last week I was a lucky winner of these adorable miniature pink and aqua Shiny Brite ornaments from the most lovely Jean of Ruby and Arthur!! 

Aren't they so beautiful and cute!! I can't wait to add them to my small tinsel tree! Thank you so much Jean!

Wishing you all a blessed and joyful weekend!!

a christmas garland

Happy Monday!

Hope your weekend was wonderful! After Thanksgiving, I unplugged a little and had some good crafting time, and just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. 

I finished my Christmas garland inspired by the beautiful 'gleeful' garland the talented Tif of Dottie Angel created. I followed her tutorial, and just added a little touch of pretty green.  

Now it is hung and bringing a little 'gleeful' handmade touch to my home for Christmas!

The beginning of a wintry blanket with pretty shades of blues using this sweet pattern.

Christmas decorating has begun! Candy canes sweetening up vintage bottles, and 

vintage ornaments are making their appearances. Have you started decorating?
 Wishing you a beautiful and creative week! 

a vintage deer pillow cover tutorial

Today I am excited to have a sweet little tutorial on how to make a vintage deer pillow top cover using the Oh Deer vintage digital image made by the sweetest Keren of Free Pretty Things For You. Just a little note that this tutorial is for a 16x16 inch pillow cover top, and not a complete pillow tutorial. Shall we get started? ;)

::Lovely Supplies::

:: Oh Deer vintage digital image that you can buy here. 

::Avery Light Fabric Transfer paper sheet which you can get here.

:: Thermoweb Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold which you can get here. 

::Pretty fabric for the top cover that measures 16.5x16.5 inches. Note: if you don't crochet an edging you can cut your fabric to measure 16x16 inches.

:: a vintage doily

::100% cotton batting that measures 16.5x16.5 inches

:: two 8.5 x11 inch pieces of white or cream colored muslin. White cotton fabric works just great, too. I just like muslin. ;)

::Follow the directions on the transfer paper and print out your vintage deer image. Make sure you print the image flipped! Cut around your deer.

::Now place your image on your white or cream colored fabric, and follow the directions for your transfer sheets on how to iron the image on. 

::Once your done, you should have a cute vintage deer on your fabric!!

::Now trim a little around the deer, so there is not a lot of excess fabric around the border.

::We are now going to put some Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold adhesive on the back of the image.  Cut a piece that is the same measurement as your whole deer piece. Make sure you do not have any excess of the Heat'n Bond hanging out because it will stick to your ironing board. 

::A little note before we start. Please turn your iron down to a low setting with no steam. I have mine on 4-blend, no steam. It is very important that you do these next steps with low heat, otherwise you will melt your image and it won't be pretty. Trust me, I have done it more than once! ;) 

::Take your second 8.5 x 11 piece of white cotton or muslin and lay it down on your ironing board. 

::Lay your deer face down on the fabric, and then the Heat'n Bond. With your low heat, no-steam setting carefully and lightly, without too much pressure go over the Heat'n Bond to adhere it to the deer image. 

::Carefully lift up your image, and it should look like this!! Hope everything is going great so far!! ;)

::Next, take some scissors and cut neatly around your deer. 

::Peel off the backing.

::Take your pretty fabric, sweet vintage deer and your doily, and practice where you would like everything to be place. I made sure there was at least 2.5 to 3 inches from the edge.

::Okay, now here is the next very important step that needs some patience and I know that this is breaking the rule of not ironing a transferred image.

 Make sure that your iron is still on a low heat setting with no steam. Carefully place the plain muslin on top of your image. 

Now, with very light pressure run your iron over the image. Let it cool. Carefully, lift up the fabric and check to see if the image is adhered to the floral fabric. If not, place back the muslin, and repeat. 

::You should end up with this prettiness! How are you doing so far?

::Next, sew on your doily.

::The last step!! Take your fabric and place it on top of the cotton batting. Pin and sew 1/8 of an inch around the edge. 

::Once your done you should have a pretty vintage deer pillow cover top!!

 ::Now, I am going to leave it from here for your beautiful and creative minds to make this your own pillow. You could crocheted an edging like I did, you could put some pretty lace or pom-poms for the edging, or even sweet ruffles would be most lovely. If you know how to crochet and want some help doing the scalloped edging, please feel free to email me, and I can tell you how I did it! ;)

::For the back I did a simple envelope cover. I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and if you make one please make sure you link back, and let me know so I can come see your pretty pillow!! 

And, this pretty vintage deer pillow cover is in my shoppe!! 

Wishing you all a crafty and creative day!!