~25 Years Of Country Crafting For Me~

As you all know…I’ve moving from my sewing/crafting area in the basement to my very own room. It shouldn’t be much longer before I can start working in there. Which is good…because this is the time of year that I start working on all the goodies for my shows that I do in the Fall. While working on my new room…it got me thinking about all the years that I’ve been sewing & crafting and I realized that I’ve been doing this for 25 years. (Exactly half of my life!)

Then I got thinking about what I started out crafting all those years ago and how things have changed over the years…or did it really change that much. Join me in my walk down memory lane and you’ll see what I mean.

Let’s start with “Game Boards”…I loved them then and I love them now. The look of the game boards I design have changed, but they are just as popular today as they were back in 1985.

  These are from back in the day…1985. When bunnies, geese, hearts, and amish girls & boys were very popular in country decor.

But I must say that I love the country look of today’s game boards much better.

As we continue our walk down memory lane, we come to another good seller for me that I made when I first started doing shows back in the 80′s…stenciled “Pantry Bags”.

 These were great to sit on shelfs or tuck into baskets.

I haven’t made stenciled bags in years, but the little machine embroidered “Pillow Tucks” that I make now are just as popular…great to sit anywhere or tuck into baskets and old sewing drawers.

 These little pillows are among my favorite things that I have been making lately. (Thank you to all the ladies that have been purchasing them.)

Speaking of Annie’s… Let’s stop and visit her. Here is a picture of the “Country Dolls” that I was making in 1989.

 I had several customers that collected these dolls. My mom still has the one that is in the upper left-hand corner.  Again I must say that I love the “Raggedy Annie Dolls” that are popular now much better.

 I made these two last year and sold them on eBay.

Another stop along  memory lane that  we must visit is “Samplers”. My style of samplers that I make now are very different from what I made in the 80′s.

 ”Wood Samplers” from 1987.

My “Machine Embroidered Samplers” that I do now have taken the place of the wood ones…and I just love making machine embroidery samplers. Love them on sheep, love them framed, and love them on pillows!!

 This one was made for me by a very special friend…but I’m making some framed samplers for my upcoming show season.

 I do have a sheep listed on my  selling blog …you can get to there through my side-bar under “my selling blog”.

Our last stop down memory lane is to “My Painted Items”. I love to paint but have gotten away from it some over the years. Well, that isn’t totally correct…Somewhere in the middle of these 25 years, I did alot of painting on “Country Seasonal Jewelry” and but stopped painting the bigger pieces until again here recently. When looking back at photos…I find that I still love the pieces that I painted 20 to 25 years ago just as much as I love the newer pieces that I done recently.

 I painted both of these pieces in the early 90′s…and I think that this next one would still sell well today in 2009. All it would need is a piece of homespun to hang by instead of ribbon. Might just have to paint another.

 

And of course…I love these new designs.

 I’ve started painting another raggedy doll on a small rolling pin that is already sold. I’ll share a picture of it when it is finished. I’ve been picking up rolling  pins whenever I find them…so that I will have some to offer at my shows.

Hope you enjoyed walking with me down memory lane today. Did you realize what I did…that I still love creating the same kind of items and they are still popular 25 years later.

Yes..colors have changed from soft blues, pink and peach tones to more prim colors of red, black, mustard, blue, and neutrals. We have changed the hearts for stars. (Well, I still have a few hearts, but I really do love the stars!) We have gone from geese to our favorite black bird..the crow and other primitive birds out of calico prints with a time-worn look. We still love our barnyard friends, but they are more simple and not so cutesy. It seems to me that the style today is less fussy and tends to be more inspired by our colonial past. But no matter how many years go by…the one thing that remains the same is that we all still love to decorated our homes in the “Country Style”!!

Until next time….     blessings, Cindy

~Bits & Pieces Of My Sewing/Craft Room and Goodies That I Won~

 Look at all the goodies that I won from Tracy at “One Prim Girl” giveaway. I got  26 reproduction vintage labels, 15 round coffee stained prim tags, a vintage feedsack bag, a vintage table runner, and 3 handmade prim hearts. Thanks so much Tracy…I love everything!!…and I can’t wait to put some of the labels on the glass jars in my bathroom.

We are making progress on my new sewing/craft room…thought I would let you have a few peeks of some items that I’m putting in there. Ready?…here we go…

 I got this at one of my shows years ago. There are little baskets with homespun, old spools of thread, buttons, and a long zipper in this hanging piece made by a wonderful gal from “Sweet Annie’s Primitives”

 My sewing sign and other sewing goodies.

 My little scissor collection.

 A tiny wood ironing board, mini old irons, and my tiny sewing machine clock.

 My antique cedar cupboard that holds all my fabric. I got this from my sister years ago…it was left in a home that she had lived in and was falling apart. My DH rebuilt it  and at one time we had our TV in it, but when we purchased a big flat screen TV…this was moved to my sewing area to hold my fabric. And yes it is totally full of fabric!!

 Sewing box and a tiny sewing machine stacked on old books.

 My simplify sign. It hangs in my sewing area right now with my thread spool racks underneath it…so it is going in my new room also.

 And of course my old drawers that I shared on a recent post…these will hold some of my crafting goodies.

Last but not least…my favorite, most recent find for my new sewing/craft room.

 My new wallpaper board. I really wasn’t planning to put another border up in the room…but that all changed on a trip to a country shop with my friend Karen. Earlier in the week, she had ask me if I wanted to go with her to this shop that she was heading to. She needed to pick something up that they were holding for her…well, I never turn down a trip to a country shop if I can help it!! While there, I noticed that there was a bin with markdown wallpaper borders. Curiosity got the best of me and I just had to look…and this is what I found. I love that it is  both country and sewing/crafty…and I think it is just perfect for my new room!! And the price was perfect too… 4 rolls for a total of $17.00.

Hope you liked the little peeks at my room…more to come soon. Until then….   blessings, Cindy

~Olde Glory, Pillow Tucks, & Thrift Shop Finds~

Well…I wasn’t planning on going out today, but my sister called me and it changed my plans for the day.  I wondered why she was calling me so early today…I picked up the phone and had no sooner said “hello”, when I heard her say “Our bathtub just fell through the floor!”

To make a long story short…my sister and her husband are renting a small older bungalow while they are house hunter for a home to purchase. It turns out that there has been a water leak around the bathtub that no one knew about and it finally rotted out the floor underneath it. Luckily my sister was able to get out as soon as it started to fall…she said tub had gone down about an inch as she was jumping out of it, but it went down about 16 inches total. Needless to say, she needed to come use own bathroom. Her hubby stayed at home to wait for the landlord to come to see what needed to be done to get this mess fixed. So after she got cleaned up here, we decided to go to JoAnn Fabrics, the GW, and out to lunch…and let the guys deal with their bathroom mess.

 I picked up this fabric at JoAnn Fabrics. There are 4 flags in the panel…not sure yet what I’m going to make with them, but I just loved the look of this fabric. Maybe I’ll make some pillows for me and some for gifts.

I usually go to the GW on Friday afternoons or evenings as I found that those times are really good…because they are stocking the shelves full getting ready for the weekend. Well, guess what… Monday late morning is another good time to go because they are restocking the shelves from the weekend. I just love what I found there today!!

 I got this shelf box for $1.99…not sure yet if I going to paint & distress it or just rubbed some gel strain on it to bring the wood out a bit.

 And my favorite find today for $1.89…an old copper bed warmer. Not sure if this is going to hang by the fireplace or in the bedroom.

For my 1 year blogiversary and my 100th post…I gave away 2 sets of pillow tucks. One of the winners was Cheryl from Ohio, who does not have a blog…and I had ask her if she would send me a picture that I could share here on my blog so that we could see where she put them…

 …and I just love how she displayed them!! I also love how her old sewing drawer is painted!! Not to mention…that I love everything we get a little peak of in this picture!!  I guess by now that Cheryl knows I love it all!!  Thank you, my new found friend, for sharing this with all of us.

Until next time….    blessings, Cindy