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Our cat Matey sits on the deck railing. She likes the warmth of the Christmas lights.
Our cat Matey enjoys the warmth of the Christmas lights.
Photo – Christmas Light Cat
20 Friday Dec 2013
Author Archives: Julia Monroe
Photo – juice
17 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in photography, sunlight
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Just juice.
Orange juice.
Repurposed Men’s Tie Wool Interlining Rose Wreath
14 Saturday Dec 2013
Posted in Christmas, crafts, fabric, home decor, Uncategorized, wreath
That’s quite the wordy title for it! But that’s exactly what the flowers and hanging ribbons are made of – the rough wool interlinings of men’s ties. The hanging pieces are just as they were when I pulled them out of the re-purposed ties, complete with pointy ends, some crumpled and narrower.
The flowers are made using the wool interlinings of men’s ties.
It needs a couple more roses, “sushi buds” and pearl branches though which I hope to get made next week. I might forget to take another photo of the wreath so that’s why I’m posting this now. The pearl sprays were from Gilded Life monthly Stash Society boxes. If I have time, I’m going to make more of the pearl branches. They really make a big difference in the wreath.
I have officially changed the name of the ruffle buds to Sushi Buds because my guys say they look like sushi. Sweet. I’m hoping to have time to make a tutorial of the sushi buds. They are fun to make but do take some dexterity.
This big wreath is displayed on the living room wall every Christmas but it always had large, red velvet poinsettias. I love the new look of the soft creamy wool. I’ve wanted ivory flowers on this wreath for a long time but never had the budget for new flowers when I pulled it out of the attic each December. How peachy to come up with the perfect color flowers for free!
Well, there was a cost – I ransacked the guys’ stash of ties. Ha! They were very generous to give up so many they were no longer using. One tie makes one rose or two sushi buds. So that’s a lot of ties. These could be made using wool fabric but it’s important to cut a tie shape on diagonal grain. The tapered tie shape allows for larger petals as the rose is formed and the diagonal cut creates the perfect fuzzy fringe edge. So the wool interlinings from men’s ties worked perfect!
Roses, rosettes and sushi buds made from the wool interlinings of men’s ties.
On my worktable – Christmas decorations in progress
12 Thursday Dec 2013
Posted in crafts, fabric, home decor, On my Worktable, sewing, wreath
Tags
crafts, fabric flower buds, fabric flowers, fabric roses, men's tie crafts, ruffle buds, sewing, worktable
Many tasks, all quite mixed up. On my worktable, the big red bow for the front porch, the garland lights for the back deck and the fabric roses and ruffle buds I’m making for a wreath.
On my worktable – roses, rosettes and ruffle buds made from men’s tie wool interlinings.
The roses, rosettes and ruffle buds are made from the wool interlinings of men’s ties. I’m saving the silk tie fabric for other projects and kept the interlinings just because I can’t bear to throw out fabric. I’m glad I saved the pieces because they make beautiful roses! I tried unsuccessfully to make a rose bud so had to come up with another design. I really like how the ruffly buds are turning out, with luscious little layered centers. The next time I make icing flowers for a cake, I’m going to try to duplicate the design in icing.
Each full rose is made from the uncut interlining from one tie. The buds are made from a narrow interlining. One of the tie interlinings didn’t need cut to make one bud but the other longer interlinings did need cut to about 24″ in length. I can get two buds from one narrow long interlining cut in half.
On my worktable – men’s ties disassembled
11 Wednesday Dec 2013
Posted in crafts
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The beautiful silk pieces are reserved for other projects. But today I’m repurposing the stiff wool interlining pieces.
Today’s stitchery – re-purposing the stiff wool interlinings from men’s ties for a Christmas decoration. I will post another photo when I finish the stitchery.
The ornaments
10 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in All Sparkled Up, Christmas, home decor, sparkling
Tags
Christmas, Christmas decorating, Christmas desktop image, christmas ornaments, Christmas tree, ornaments
Some of our Christmas ornaments. They were all over the dining room table after Christmas last year and I dusted each one and packed them away. So many precious memories are in these ornaments! I’m looking forward to enjoying these glittering little pieces of our past again.
Some of our Christmas ornaments. Click photo to access a larger image to use as desktop if you wish.
I made the quilled snowflake in 1976. The styrofoam ball with blue sequin letters JULIE was made by a friend of my parents in 1966. I made each of my children a paper shoe from a pattern fashioned after a vintage baby shoe in 1986.
The ship was made following the directions in The Decorated Tree, my all-time favorite Christmas craft book, by Carol Sterbenz.
My dear Grandma made the sweet sleeping baby doll many years ago. She made one for each of her grandchildren.
My sister Donna made the tiny mandolin.
I made the embroidered circle and heart ornaments from leftover wedding gown material for our first Christmas.
My sister Suzanne made the little red sled with painstakingly-wrapped teeny gifts on it.
My mom made the ceramic dove.
My sister-in-law made the real popcorn and wire wreath in 1980 and every year we’re amazed that the popcorn survived another year!
My mother-in-law gave me the vintage baby doll in a black tulle clown costume.
Not shown, but will surely be on our tree: the foil covered styrofoam ball with a little bite taken out of it by one of our babies, the plaster of paris wreath ornament made by one of the boys that is so heavy we have to hang it near the trunk on a really sturdy branch, the beaded ornament made by my husband when we talked him into joining our family ornament-making evening and many more. Themed trees are pretty but we have a small house and only one big tree. I admire exquisite decorator trees for their artistry but enjoy the old history of ours too much to ever change.
Decorating for Christmas
06 Friday Dec 2013
Posted in All Sparkled Up, Christmas, lighting
I took this photo several years ago. We’re putting the outdoor lights up this weekend, a most happy event.
Christmas lights are pretty even in rain.
Sleepover at Grandma’s House
26 Tuesday Nov 2013
And of course we did crafts!
First we played with paper dolls. She picked which outfits I should cut out.
Little Miss Christmas and Holly Belle, a reprint of a favorite paper doll I had as a child.
Beautiful color and detail in Little Miss Christmas and Holly Belle paper dolls by E.A.Voss, 1965
Little Miss Christmas wears her snowflake headband
While we were playing with paper dolls, we entertained each other by reciting lines from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer animated film. “Herbie doesn’t like to make toys!” “This fog is as thick as peanut butter. You mean pea soup. You eat what you like, I’ll eat what I like!” “Or a cowboy that rides an ostrich!” “We’re all misfits!” Oh we laughed and laughed and even forgot to go to bed at a decent hour!
When it was bedtime, my granddaughter insisted that Little Miss Christmas and Holly Belle have soft bedding. So we quickly made card stock beds with tissue-stuffed tissue pillows and tissue sheets and blankets.
She tucks a “favorite stuffy” next to each paper dollie, nestled beneath her tissue sheets.
The next day we tested crayon colors. I usually keep the crayons sorted
by color in the bottoms of recycled water bottles, all neatly tucked in a big tin. But we got all the crayons out because some had been mixed up. It’s hard to tell what color a crayon is just by the wrapper so it was fun discovering new favorites by drawing.
I taught her how to draw snowflakes. We tested out a lot of crayon colors and made a page of colorful snowflakes.
She wanted to know how to draw diamonds so I taught her how. Then she colored kites.
Drawing diamonds and kites.
Such a sweet time we had.
My granddaughter picks colors to test before drawing in her sketchbook.
On my worktable – torn paper fringe
20 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in crafts, On my Worktable
On my worktable this evening, torn paper fringe, made from a vintage French book.
This fringe will be used for the same project as the tiny snowflakes.
Torn paper fringe.
The book, Le Voyage De Monsieur Perrichon, is in poor condition, which makes it suitable for use in crafts. The binding is tight and the paper not too brittle but the book has pen and pencil scribbles on almost every page. I was going to erase the tiny pencil marks but decided they added to the charm. The paper is soft, dusty and easily torn.
On my worktable – tiny snowflakes
19 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in Christmas, crafts, home decor, miniature, On my Worktable
The tiny snowflakes are for a decoration I’m putting in our library/guest room.
Tiny snowflakes cut from a damaged vintage dictionary page. I have several vintage dictionaries that I cherish but this page was from a damaged book that is just for crafts.
All Sparkled Up 