timeless reflections

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Kyle's Olympics

Did you get a chance to see the opening Winter Olympic ceremony? It's one of my favorite parts... the pageantry, the world coming together for a moment in time, the athlete's enthusiasm and the excitement for the events they have prepared for over many years, and especially the lighting of the torch.

I was thinking maybe over the next 16 days I should participate in my own Olympics. I can set what ever goal or goals I want, work on them and see what metal I'm awarded on the podium at the end of two weeks. Let's see.

1. I'm going to head to the basement every morning and do my jogging. I'll pretend I'm on cross country skis.

As you can see I have a cheering section.

2. I am going to complete one section of my Ocean Wave antique quilt restoration each night that I am in front of the TV. This is my figure skating event, precision is key.

3. I'm going to sew on the binding to my tisket a tasket basket quilt. This is my giant slalom, around 4 sides, around 4 corners and then head for home.

That's enough events for even the finest athlete. I don't want to injure myself.

Until Next time- Kyle

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Ebay=Valentine Hankies

In January, 2000 I found Ebay. I loved the search, finding cool stuff, and the cut throat tactic of bidding. I didn't have much $ to spend. But I discovered there was a lot of neat stuff out there and you could find good deals. I started by investigating the vintage hankie category. I didn't know there were so many different types of hankies. Now women hankies are pretty much collected and not used. Actually, thank you for Kleenex. (invented in the 1920's)

Some hankies are quite collectible. My first purchase was a "K" monogram hankie. I was pretty nervous making that first bid. That's another story.

Anyway, what I did find was all the different vintage Valentine designs out there in Ebay land.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I thought I would share a few of the fun ones I've collected.

Don't you love them?

Small and cute

The red and white patterns are so sweet.

Some patterns are small with lots of roses, hearts and cupids.

Some added another color.

I love the scalloped edges.

Hankies may not be popular for practical use, but they are fun to collect. Maybe they're a symbol of comfort and style all wrapped up in one small square of fabric.

Until Next Time-Kyle

Sunday, February 7, 2010

February is the Color Pink

Actually, Valentine's Day is represented by a lot of different colors now. At the store we have fabric that is red, white, pink, black, purple... So I decided I would just use pink to represent the month of February. I am not really much of a pink girl. But I thought I would share a few quilts that I have that are primarily that color.

This week I have been doing quite a bit of sewing and have completed a top. It is with the Rouenneries fabric that I have been working on.

It's not a great photo and once it is quilted it will look so much better. But I have to save up to have that done. The fabrics are red, pink taupe, and greenish gray. It is a pattern by Carrie Nelson, Miss Rosie's quilts.http://www.missrosiesquiltco.com

I think it will look great in my guest bedroom.

A couple of other quilts that are pink.

Hearts and Arrows - 2001

Can you find my deliberate mistake?

It was fun to use lots of the double pink reproduction fabrics I had collected over the years.

The next two pink quilt tops are vintage ones.

This is a simple double nine patch. Most of the pink color comes from the sashing which is pink and the border. The little blocks are made from early 19th century fabrics.

I would guess that the blocks were made first and were set together at a later time. The pink sashing doesn't look quite as old as the blocks, but old nonetheless.