Vintage treasures

I haven't disappeared, just running back and forth spending time with family over the past couple of weeks. That means not much time on the sewing machine, but there has still been some fiber-related fun going on.

Working backward, yesterday a box arrived stuffed with vintage fabric scraps. Someone on one of my email lists had offered the scraps for sale a couple of weeks ago and I was thrilled to be able to get them since I have several vintage quilts that need some repairs.

The box was full  of the goodies shown, including a thick stack of approximately 6-inch pieces of feedsacks (on right), some larger and some smaller scraps, and some partially completed blocks, including several partial Dresden wreaths. I guess I'll have to think of something fun to do with them!

Moving backward, while I was visiting, I worked on some hand applique and did a little bit on some postcards. That included adding some beading and making some little crochet pieces of seaweed and coral, which I stitched to the postcards. I was inspired to do the crochet when I ran across this blog, which has some amazing crocheted pieces, including instructions for seaweed.

In one of those bits of serendipity, while I was visiting my sister and I went to an estate sale where I found a large needlework basket full of goodies. It's one of the old-fashioned folding fabric baskets on a wood frame that sits open on the floor, but you can grab the handles to carry it. I'm sure there's a name for this style but I don't know what it is. The basket had some yarn (nothing exciting), a bunch of balls of crochet thread (more exciting) and a case full of knitting needles – more than a dozen pairs (very exciting).

Here are some of the almost finished treasure chest postcards. The "treasure" was created using all kinds of glittery bits and wash-away stabilizer, then stitched to the postcard. The coral is the crochet pieces and beads and glitter glue was added to finish it off.

Time to get busy. Happy Thanksgiving! More later.