'Tis The Weekend.......Again

'Tis the weekend.......again. This past week was a busy one lost in a flurry of creativity. Each day seemed to pass in a blink of an eye. Busy though it was, I had a lovely week filled with stitching and a little painting.

What did I stitch?? Pretty much the same ol' same ol'. That's right, nothing new.......just some bags and some cute Scottie dogs. There are a couple of ladies who asked if I might like to sell some of my creations in their shops, so I thought why not. Perhaps some others might take a shine to a few of my pretties; perhaps they won't. Anyhow, not to worry, I could always do with a new bag or two. =)

Over the last couple of months I have happened upon some really lovely vintage blankets. Blankets of the prettiest colours which I have not come across before. Vintage, pure wool blankets of these glorious hues are hard to come by these days. Though it was hard to cut into some of these woolly lovelies, cut into them I did; to fashion some cute Scotties.

Are not these blankets the prettiest of colours??

Oops....there is a rogue puppy dog in a brightly coloured, knit fabric.

Now for the bags. One of my favourite things, as you already know, is to fashion bags using some of the pretties that I have collected over the years. I always relish diving head first into the bottom of my many holdalls, in search of the perfect piece of lace, the perfect vintage trinket, the perfect braid or fringing for each bag.

Let the hunting and gathering begin. My treasure trove of pretties never fails to come up trumps.

The blue bag.

The purple bag.

The pink and orange bag. I am not really a fan of orange per se, but the combination of bright pink and orange in this bag does make me smile.

Three bags, all different, all colourful, all brimming with my collection of pretties....all a joy to stitch.

I did a little painting this week, as well. One of my sewing girls has started a little enterprise where she makes pretties and takes her creations to markets and sells them. One of the things Holly makes is headbands, so I designed and painted some 'girls' as props, on which Holly could display her creations. After all,  presentation is everything.....right?? My husband cut out my designs in MDF and I painted them. They took an age to paint as each part e.g. the eyes, the mouth, the hair.......required many coats of paint.

It has been a very long time since I have put paint to wood or paper for that fact, so my painting skills are a bit rusty (oh alright....very rusty), but all in all I am rather pleased with Holly's girls.

Scottie dogs, shoulder/cross body bags......... really are the most enjoyable pretties to create. I had the best fun fashioning pretties from these lovely vintage, woollen blankets. I wonder what colour blanket I will unearth next??

Just before I say goodbye, let me leave you with a bunch of Wisteria, Azaleas and Dutch Irises to bring a smile to your day. And......you thought I had managed to write a post without even a mention of a flower or two......wrong!! =) These are the flowers that have popped up in the garden this week. Spring is truly getting into the swing of things down here.

Until the next time............

Hot diggity dog

I have been stitching some hot diggity dogs these last couple of days. Yes indeedy, hot diggity dogs of the Scottie kind; fashioned from blankets that I have been collecting for a li'l while.

When I was a wee girl, everyone seemed to snuggle under these 100% woollen, seductive and soft bed coverings at night. With doonas being the popular bed covers of choice these days, blankets have been relegated to the linen closet smothered under moth balls, or perhaps donated to the op shops.

Once upon a time one could acquire a blanket for a song but not so now. Is it just my imagination or is it true that op shops these days are  a li'l more expensive than they once were? Some of the prices are not that much cheaper than some of the chain stores. I have discovered an op shop which is run by a high school where a shopping bag can be filled with oodles of goodies for the princely sum of $5!! As I teach kiddos in all matters of fun stitching this op shop is a regular on my "to visit" list.

One has to be quicker than quick in acquiring these woolly bed coverings in an op shop, because as soon as they are put out on the shelves they are quickly swooped upon by the savvy public. I suppose everyone has cottoned on to the versatility of these blankets in all things stitching.

I have collected blankets for a good while now. At The Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence, when the kiddos make a quilt more often than not they use blankets as the backing. As I teach quite a few kiddos I am always in need of a blanket, or two, or three on hand, and of course as blankets are lovely and soft they make excellent softies for kids to snuggle up to. My kiddos have fashioned quite a few softies from blankets.

I also love to collect vintage chenille bedspreads, though they are as rare as hen's teeth in Australia. Those of you who live in the USofA are soooo lucky as it seems to me these gloriously coloured and patterned, tufted pretties abound in your flea markets. I always salivate at the lovely chenille designs that appear rather abundantly on Ebay in the USofA.

So......back to the Scottie dogs I have fashioned. They are super quick to stitch and depending on how one embellishes the neck they can be finished in an hour or two.

This Scottie was fashioned from a pretty pink and taupe chenille bedspread that I found at my favourite market. I decided to embellish this doggity dawg with a taupe wide ribbon around the neck, finished with a ruched ribbon flower and a pretty pink button.

Another Scottie made from a chenille bedspread. This time I embellished the collar with snippets from some crochet doilies. Oooh....'tis a bit sweet!

One of the mums of one of my stitching girls asked me if I could use this lovely, old, brightly coloured blanket. Mmmmm....now let me see.....will I or won't I......why of course I swiftly said "yes indeedy", before she could change her generous, benevolent mind. This li'l doggy was super quick to fashion as the only embellishment is a ribbon and a vintage buckle for it's collar.

Another Scottie embellished with ribbon, snippets of lace and crochet doilies.

Four hot diggity dogs all waiting either to be gifted to someone or to go off to market and wag their tails at the madding crowds.

Funnily enough, with all the blankets that I have happened upon over the years, I have never come across the same design or combination of colours. It seems to me there was a plethora of patterns and colours loomed at the Woollen Mills in days of old.

Anyway, with my hot diggity dogs safely ensconced in their kennels it's toodles from me. Hope you all have a lovely weekend filled with a li'l happy stitching.

Linking up with Janine's Wool on Sundays over at Rainbow Hare.