Candy Colored Potholders

I have always had a bit of an obsession with vintage style kitchen items, so I decided to do a little crocheting and make some colorful potholders. These sell well in the shops and I have found some people like to collect them. I hang them from little magnetic hooks on the side of my fridge near the stove; they brighten up that corner nicely! I'm also going to pair these with embroidered towels and crocheted dishcloths for gift sets. I have started working on the border of the tree quilt and will post pictures soon.

Cotton Print Tree Quilt

I started this wall hanging size quilt awhile ago to use some of my stash of pastel cotton prints. They have such a soft, old feel. The base fabric is, again, a flour sack towel. I just love the texture of these towels and at a dollar apiece a real bargain.

Of course I can't leave it alone at this stage , so I plan to add birds and flowers before I start quilting. I haven't quilted in a number of years and was very meticulous about perfect, tiny stitches (or at least that was my goal). I may loosen up a little with this one and embroider and quilt with floss instead of traditional quilting thread! Radical departure!

Kitchen Sets

Another method used on flour sack towels. Some of these are adapted patterns from old embroidery magazines and others are original designs. I love the look of what I think of as farmhouse or cottage style, especially in the kitchen.

I plan to do more of these sets in a variety of colors and patterns. Some will have the nailbrushes and others will include a pack of recipe cards, handmade soap or maybe a vintage kitchen item. These are for sale in our lollishop and on etsy.

flea market finds

We went to Buffalo, Mn. for a look around the markets and antique stores a couple of weekends ago. The above packet of bird prints was too good to pass up. My favorite, the baltimore oriole, is included (orange again!)

I did not personally purchase the above linens, a good friend of mine who works many local estate sales has been getting me bags and bags of embroidered pieces and lace. It will be a new experience to work with items I have not crocheted or embroidered myself- should be fun! I think I'm going to have to redesign my workspace to include more storage space- some open shelving because I like to see all my materials and not have to dig for things. Unfortunately my room is not that big, will have to get creative.

More applique towels

When I start appliquing flour sack towels it can become addicting! The towels themselves are such a pleasure to work with, such a nice feel to the cotton. The one above is in more subdued(for me) colors and the one below uses my favorite orange.

I will be posting all these towels on either http://www.manitobagifts.etsy.com/ or http://www.lollishops.com/manitobagifts. I am also working on some farmhouse gift sets which I have already posted two of on lollishops. I'll show them here next time along with some flea market finds.

Summer Blossoms

It felt like time to do some summer themed items and work with something lighter than wool.I love using flour sack towels and the batiks work nicely against the white.

The pots we planted outside the shop are coming along nicely.

These pots should be even fuller come the middle of July. You can't beat sitting on the porch and stitching towels as part of your workday!

Magazine Photo of Pincushion

Another way to use small pieces of left over wool. These also work up fairly quickly and I can do as much or as little crochet and embroidery as I want.
The newest Artful Blogging magazine came out this month and I am thrilled that my pincushion giveaway for OWOH was included in the wonderful article about Lisa Swifka. The entire magazine is beautiful and very inspiring.

I have been digging out some unfinished projects and contemplating additions to some of them. I haven't done any quilting for a while and have one wallhanging size I might pick up again. It needs more applique and some other embellishments. Will post the work in progress next time.