Getting Inspired

Since we returned to California I haven't worked on very many art projects. Rather, I have been getting ready for a large garage sale this spring and the upcoming visit of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law next month.

I remade a bathroom curtain from a piece of my favorite vintage barkcloth. I had made it into a balloon type curtain before, but it never suited the fabric. I like it much better now that it is a plain curtain. It is a lovely pattern.




Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and to get inspired, I decided to print some Valentine and other images onto fabric that I purchased some time ago from Luna Girl. After I printed those, I decided to print some photos that I had scanned a couple of years ago. Most of them are from old photo albums I got at an antique mall. The photos are mainly taken in the 1920s in Carroll, Iowa. The people in the photos have so much expression and they looked liked they were full of life. I'd love to know their stories.




I am going to put housework and organizing aside for a while. Instead, I will work on a couple of fabric collage pieces this week. I will post something probably by the weekend.

Road 2 California 2009 - A Few Quilts to Share

My sister and I went to the Road 2 California quilt show in Ontario, CA over the weekend, and we enjoy going each year. We walked around and looked at everything for six hours, and boy did our feet hurt at the end of the day. Jodi is a quilter and I like to make scrap collage quilties.



There were so many beautiful quilts on display, but I thought I would share the pictures I took of the more unusual ones that we saw. You can see more of the quilts here.


We had such a great day, and we look forward to going together again next year.



The quilt photos below have their information placards next to their picture.

This first quilt, "Grape Harvest", won the Best of Show.

















These dolls were adorable!

The photo below on the left is Bonnie from B J Designs. She creates beautiful clothing from vintage textiles such as the jacket she is wearing in the photo below. She is located in Austin, TX but her card doesn't have a website to share with you. I always look for her booth when I attend the Ontario Quilt show. I like to look through her remnants for vintage pieces I can use in my quilties. She has a nice selection with reasonable prices. I found five pieces this year that are shown below with Bonnie's photo. I should have fun with these pretty pieces of fabric.

And The Winner Is....

I had my husband draw the winner for my blog - Mixed Media Mélange Give Away.

And the winner is..... Suzy (Suzyred). Congratulations Suzy. Contact me by email and let me know your mailing address so I can send your package of goodies.

Tintype Woman - Sarah's Story Revealed

I wrote a story and incorporated it into a wall hanging for Sarah the tintype woman. Thank you to everyone who commented not only with suggested names for this woman, but also for ideas on her story. Some thought Sarah suited her as I did, so Sarah she is.

The background for the wall hanging is a vintage faded feedsack. I used the original tintype picture of 'Sarah' which is sewn to part of a sleeve from an antique dress. Also attached to the sleeve is a piece of polka dot fabric embellished with three mother of pearl shank buttons. Next to her picture is an antique metal button with an intricate pattern. Below her picture is her fictional story. I printed the story on thick brown paper, affixed it to fabric with matte gel medium, and then stitched it to the sleeve. Behind the sleeve is a piece of red and cream ticking. At the top of the wall hanging I used a transfer of an altered photo of a log cabin that I took this summer. To either side of the cabin are appliques of flowers cut from a vintage cotton print. At the very bottom, the floral border is the edge of a vintage hanky. The wall hanging measures 15" x 25".

Sarah's Story

Sarah’s thoughts drifted as she remained dutifully motionless like the photographer directed. She was well pleased with the dress she sewed carefully for days. The material was bought with part of the egg money she had saved for a year, and the buttons were salvaged from her own mother’s dress that had years ago deteriorated. Her freshly washed hair was pulled back from her face, and secured with her only comb. The ribbon necklace placed around her slender neck had been a wedding gift from her father. She wondered how long it would be before William would hold this picture. It was difficult to be apart with only letters to keep them close, and she hoped the picture would help him. Oddly, she felt that her picture in William’s pocket would somehow make her feel closer to him. Working the farm was hard without him, but did not compare to her hunger for his embrace. Her children helped her with the drudgeries. They missed their father nearly as much as she missed her husband.

She silently prayed, "Oh please God, end this war soon."

© 2009 Threads In Time by Pallas

New Year Blog Give Away - Mixed Media Mélange

Give Away Closed - Winner Drawn

I am sorting through and attempting to organize my 'stash'. Since I have more stash then I could ever use, I thought it would be fun to have a blog give away of a few treasures. I have been the happy winner of two blog give aways in the past, and I thought it was time I hold one of my own. Among the things I chose to give away, shown in the first picture, are 16 small flour sack quilt blocks, 5 vintage handkerchiefs, a needle case, 10 vintage postcards, 5 vintage greeting cards, 2 pkg Aunt Martha's iron transfers, 5 appliques, 2 jeweled patches and a ship. In addition, shown in the second photo, is a huge lot of vintage Russian postage stamps with nice graphics.

Just leave a comment on this post. I will draw from the names on Sunday night January 11th and post the winner. The winner will need to contact me through email with a snail mail address so I can mail the package. Thanks for playing, and good luck.