Another bit of precious

Yes, I AM stitching but nothing quite ready to show at the moment, so how about showing you another piece of my special china.  This also belonged to my grandmother; it's obviously hand-painted and is very fine china.  

There are no markings on the bottom of the cream pitcher, but the sugar bowl is labeled 'Austria'. Beyond that, I know nothing about it.  

Your quote for today..."Sometimes when you're in a dark place, you think you've been buries, but you've actually been planted"

Little pitchers

I have been stitching on my latest barn but taking a photo at this point wouldn't show you much more than you saw the last time.  The stitching involves mainly highlighting, so difficult to see on its own.

So....instead of seeing that, how about I show you a couple of my little milk pitchers?  I don't have many of those either, but these two are my favourites...

They both measure about 4" tall.  The brown one is from Pier 1 Imports so is quite modern (reminds me of those brown Betty teapots) and the other is labeled 'Churchhill England'.  No idea of the age of it because I think I picked it up at a yard sale.  

Your quote for today:  "Four things you cannot recover:  the stone after the throw; the word after it is said; the occasion after it is missed, and the time after it's gone"

The last two

This is the final post in the cup and saucer 'series' I've been doing.  As I mentioned before, my collection is small!!

This one has a quite nondescript outside

and it's only as you drink your tea that

you realize the pattern is on the inside.

It only has the words 'Fine China' on the

bottom - no other identifying marks.

This one is from my mother's collection.

She never had 'good' dishes and when

company would come she would set

the table with her normal mismatched pieces

that she used every day.  When I got my first job

I decided that for every occasion such as birthday and 

Christmas, I would buy her a place setting for her

favourite pattern.  She ended up with enough

for twelve settings, as well as some completer pieces

which I have now inherited.

The pattern is 'Trillium' by Royal Albert

and has since been discontinued.

And, just to prove that I HAVE been doing something in the stitch part of my life, here's an update on the latest barn I'm working on...

 

Another anonymous quote..."A strong person is not the one who doesn't cry.  A strong person is the one who cries and sheds tears for a moment, then gets up and fights again"

Two more

Here are two more from my cup and saucer collection (I promise...there is only one more post to come!).  

This one is another that is labeled 'Castle...

Hand Painted Japan'

It is also highlighted with

mother of pearl.

This cup was one that I received 

in a gift exchange when I was in public school.

It's the ONLY one in my pitifully small

collection that actually belongs to me and

wasn't inherited.  
It is labeled 'Royal Standard - Fine Bone
China - England'

Another anonymous quote for you today..."If you don't like something, just take away its only power:  your attention"

More precious-nesssssssss?

First of all, I have to share a picture of the beautiful flowers I that were delivered for Mother's Day from our #2 son and daughter-in-love who live all the way across the country in British Columbia.  Aren't they beautiful?  We also got to Skype with them yesterday and had a lovely visit.  Great fun watching our sweet little grandson as he's testing out lots of new words!  Thank you Shawn and Winnie 💕

Because precious little has been happening on the stitching front, I thought I'd do as someone asked and post a few more pictures of my small cup & saucer collection.  I don't ever use them, preferring to have my tea and coffee in a mug, but I like to see them sitting in my china cabinet anyway!

This one belonged to my maternal grandmother 

and is labeled on the back with

'Castle - Hand Painted - Japan'.

The inside of the cup is mother-of-pearl.

This one also belonged to my grandmother.

She had a set of dishes in this pattern and

all that remains (that I'm aware of) is this

cup and saucer and one small

tea plate. 

The pattern is called 'Bridal Rose'

and was made in Western Germany

This one, also from my grandmother, 

is also lined with mother-of-pearl

and is labeled 'Castle - Hand Painted - Japan'

Another quote from 'Anonymous'..."Make a list of things that make you happy.  Make a list of things you do every day.  Compare the lists.  Adjust accordingly"

Something precious

Yesterday the subject of cups and saucers came up and I thought I might share one of my favourites from my collection...

This one belonged to my maternal grandmother who once had a very extensive collection of cups and saucers of various patterns.  I was lucky enough to inherit a precious few.  This one is hand painted and the china is very thin - it appears that it was hand painted in Japan but that's all I know about it.  

There has been no stitching happening here at Chez Magpie over the past several days - too much of being a social butterfly (and errand runner) to have time to play in my sewing room.  Hopefully over the weekend I will get to sit and pick up my stitching.

Instead of a quote today, I would like to wish all mothers a very happy Mother's Day!

Another beginning - and from the kitchen

Over the weekend I started working on another barn landscape.  It doesn't look like much as yet, but thought I'd show you anyway.

DH puttered about in the kitchen and this is what he created...

Here's the recipe - just in case you'd like to make some too!

FREEZER PICKLES

10 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced*

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

1 large green pepper, chopped

3 Tablespoons salt

2 cups white sugar

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon celery seed

Combine cucumbers, onions, green pepper & 2 T. salt.   Cover with crushed ice and mix well.  Refrigerate for 8 hours.  Drain, rinse and drain again.

In large saucepan, combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed and remaining salt.  Bring to a boil & cook and stir for one minute.  Spoon over cucumbers.  Pour into jars, leaving 1/2" headspace.  Cool.  Top with lids and freeze for up to 6 weeks. *NOTE:  DH uses English cucumbers.

Another anonymous quote..."Be thankful for all the troubles that you don't have"

I told you yesterday that I had a post planned but the weather was dull and pictures wouldn't be great.  Well - it's still dull (warm though!) so I decided to do it anyway.  A friend and I were into a discussion recently about crafting supply storage solutions for small spaces.  Many of you know that we live in an apartment and my sewing space is the second (and small!) bedroom, which also serves as a guest room when needed as well as housing my computer desk.  I have managed, through trial and error, to stuff a large amount of stash into this room so I thought I'd share what I did with the closet.  It's your typical closet - with double sliding doors, one shelf and a rod.  I removed the rod and left the shelf in place.  

I've taken four pictures to show you the four (more or less) sections of my closet....

This is the upper right side.  The red circled area contains plastic (dollar store) shoe boxes filled with all sorts of crafting supplies.....threads, ribbons, assorted embellishments for crazy quilting.  Below that I have stacked a three-drawer plastic unit (on the left) and two more, smaller in depth, three-drawer plastic units on the right.  The green circled drawers hold various types of fabric trims and my hankie/doily collection.  On the right are more sewing supplies, along with some of the papers I use for various things.  There's a plastic 'box' on the right that holds my paper ephemera.

This is the lower right side made up of two five-drawer plastic units.  The red circled area are my fabrics for crazy quilting (along with the pink red drawer in the first picture)...sorted into colour families.  The top two drawers - one holds my containers of embroidery flosses, sorted according to colour families and, on the other side, my knitting needles, crochet hooks & paint brushes.  The Misc. drawer on the bottom holds a lot of 'stuff' that doesn't fit anywhere else.

This is on the upper left side.  The blue circled bag holds my crochet cottons (using one of those zippered plastic bags that sheets often come in)....the red circled bag holds some misc. fabrics;  and the purple circled area is a bag of stuffing for toy making.  Three plastic bins hold my interfacing, denim and felt.  Below that there's another small three-drawer plastic unit that holds my paper punches and metallic threads for sewing.  

And here is the lower left side.  The red circled area is primarily things that fall under the 'office supplies' heading.  The yellow circle highlights another plastic drawer unit that has my folk art/water colour paints (top) and beneath that is a drawer that I call my 'component' drawer.  It holds all sorts of 'stuff' that can (maybe) be used for crafting.  It includes some techniques and things that I've tried and not liked, but have kept in case they can be re-worked at some point.    The green circled area holds two larger plastic 'suitcases' - the bottom one holds assorted cotton fabrics that fall under the 'yardage' category and the top one holds my lace fabrics.  The 'blob' of stuff above that is just some miscellaneous 'stuff' that doesn't fit anywhere else.  Someday I'll pick up another suitcase to hold those.   The purple circled section holds a quilt bat and the yellow/green box you can see holds a selection of greeting cards.  

Well, there you have it.  Storage.....According to Magpie.  This system works for me and I have a LOT of stuff stashed into what basically isn't a very large closet.  Of course I have other crafting supplies in other units elsewhere in my room, but this is the basic 'guts' of my storage.

  For the quote, it's another anonymous one..."Just because some people are fueled by drama doesn't mean you have to attend the performance"

More - of the mumbling nature

Since my back is still being 'tricky', I don't have anything of the creative nature to share with you.  On top of that, the post I had planned can't happen because I need decent light to get pictures.  Hopefully tomorrow?!

Another anonymous quote..."A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can't get very far until you change it"

Tah Dah!!!!!

Well, here it is.  Finished.  Done.  Ready to be delivered.

SOLD!

I think you can click on it to embiggen to show more details (if you so desire, of course!).  And below is the original photo I worked from...

I chose not to attempt fate by adding all the shadows that appear in the original - just a tad outside my current abilities I think!

Now it's on to working on another barn!  I think it will be this one...

It might be a little slow moving for a day or two - managed to do a number on my back last night so I'm moving slower than usual!

Today is another anonymous quote..."When you feel like quitting, think about why you started"

Nearly finished....maybe

Yesterday I had some time to put a few more finishing touches on the house project, as you can see from this picture...

I've added the tree top on the left and changed the shrub on the right from what it was.  

For those of you interested in how I might have made the tree top...it originated with making some confetti fabric....

I chose about six different tones of green fabric, layered them, and then pretty much shredded them with my rotary cutter.  Once that was done I placed them between two pieces of melt-away stabilizer and then heavily stitched through all the layers.  I rinsed away the stabilizer (if you do this, be sure not to throw the rinse water down the drain because there's a lot of teeny fabric bits that escape, along with the glue....probably not good for your drain).  After it dried, I (for lack of a better description) stuck my fingers in some of the holes to embiggen them to give it a more 'airy' look.  Hmmm.  Not such a good result because a lot of the fabric bits ended up being 'wrong side up' and it was too white.  So....I watered down some different green shades of folk art paint and 'blobbed' some on here and there to camouflage where the fabric was wrong side up....plus it gave an added dimension to the colouring overall.  Once that dried, I simply cut the tree shapes from it and stitched them onto my quilt.  Then I applied a layer of fine tulle over top to be sure to corral any stray little bits of fabric.  

Another anonymous quote for you today...."One smile can start a friendship.  One word can end a fight.  One look can save a relationship.  One individual can change your life."

More progress

It's a dull rainy day here (not snow...hooray!) and so this photo isn't the best, but I think you can see some of the work I've added...

After stitching all those lazy daisies onto the planter vines on the fence my fingers weren't overly happy!  In some places there was six layers of fabric to stitch through.  

Another anonymous quote for you today..."Behind you, all your memories.  Before you, all your dreams.  Around you, all who love you.  Within you, all you need"

Hodge Podge of Mumblings

Although I did get some work done over the weekend on the house project, it's not really noticeable enough to show you just yet.  

In the interest of having at least one picture in this post, I thought I'd share this little funny (hopefully no one is offended!).  

One step forward - (you know the rest)

Sometimes even I am astounded at my ability to do something stupid.  You're think, after all these years, I wouldn't be surprised at myself.  Anyhoo....a couple of progress pictures on the house...

I know, from this, that you can't probably see what I've done.  It wasn't until I started adding the embroidery details that I realized.  Perhaps this will show what I did?...

No?  You mean you can't see it?  Well, I guess that means that maybe my 'fix' worked.  (if you can't figure it out, count how many grey 'blobs' there are under the verandah roof in the first picture....and then how many there are in the second picture.  I thought (ahem) that artistic license meant that I could simply add a window where there isn't one.  Worse....I added that window in the corner of the wall where anyone with half a brain would know that a window wouldn't fit.  Sigh.  Ah well, hopefully I've camouflaged it and no one will notice.

There now, never let it be said that I'm afraid to show you everything, warts and all!!

Today I don't have a quote per se, but thought I'd share this little 'funny' instead...(author unknown)....

A small change

Woke up to lots of snow yesterday - and didn't get the heavy rain they predicted.  Right now there's more snow piled up in the parking lots than there's been all winter.  Where, oh where, is spring?

At least the conditions outside meant that I could be working on the house project, as you can see from this...

Another anonymous quote..."God gave us mouths that close and ears that don't, that must tell us something"

A start - and a stop

We have had a most interesting weekend (and it's still ongoing)....freezing rain, ice pellets, snow, rain, heavy wind.....you name it, we've had it.  This morning we awoke to what some would call a winter wonderland with all the trees covered in ice.  It may be pretty, but it's downright dangerous.  Fortunately the power, at least here, has stayed on, but that's not the case for many other areas in southern Ontario.  The weather people are now saying we're in for very heavy rain in the next day or so - which is going to create a whole 'nother sort of havoc.  People are being strongly advised to stay home and off the roads, which is precisely what we're doing.  It's better to stop and stay put, rather than risking our lives (and that of others).  

So....being housebound means I can get some work done on the house project.  Over the weekend I laid down the basic pieces of fabric and came up with this...

At this stage I always wonder why I'm even attempting to do this.  It looks awful.  I know it will get better (at least I hope it will!).

And....if anyone is interested....the piece (below) is for sale.  Drop me a message and we'll talk.

Instead of a quote today, I found this interesting tip....

My question is....

how am I supposed to remember

to clench my fist??

Committed!

And yes, I already know what thoughts are going through your mind!  Some would say it would serve me right...ahem.  Anyhoo.....

The person who purchased the barn (from my previous post) has commissioned me to recreate their house in fabric!  My first commission since I embarked on this landscape caper.  They live in an amazing old farmhouse that is a perfect place to visit (actually our #2 son and daughter-in-love were married there).  I really hope I can manage to do this house justice!

From an anonymous source..."When my arms can't reach people who are close to my heart I always hug them with my prayers"

Finished - and Sold!!!!

The latest barn is finished - and, wonder of wonders, it promptly sold!  And....even more amazing....it could have sold twice over.  Still reeling from that one!  

SOLD!

Now, if I could only sell the crazy quilted one I'd be definitely over the moon!  

Today's quote is from Eleanor Brownn..."Clutter is not just physical stuff.  It's old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits.  Clutter is anything that does not support your better half"

A little more done

I've been able to spend a couple of days at home so got a bit more done on the latest barn....

And here's a close up so you can see some of the details
(you can click to embiggen if you'd like)

Another anonymous quote..."Words are like keys.  If you choose them right, they can open any heart and shut any mouth"

A finished project!

Over the weekend I finished the crazy quilt barn landscape quilt.  Overall I'm pleased with it, but had I a chance to do it over I would choose to use a darker thread to do the machine embroidered seams.  Initially I didn't want the seams to be the focal point and take away from the barns....however, now I look at it I think it would have been okay to use a darker thread.  Next time I'll know!

FOR SALE

I think you should be able to click to

embiggen these so you can see the

details a bit better

And, just to remind you of what the original photo looked like...

Today's quote comes from two favourite characters..."How do you spell 'Love'?" (Piglet).  "You don't spell it, you feel it" (Pooh).