All Spooled Up

Here are some more vintage lovelies from Linda at Itsy Bits and Pieces.  She included these sweet wooden spools as a gift to me, and I love the way they look...thank you Linda!

I've never been much of a seamstress, but I do love old spools!

One time, back when I was in the 7th grade, and schools still taught home economics and shop...can you say 1970s?...I had to make a sundress.

My poor sundress was looking so wonky that my home ec teacher took pity on me and let me take it home so that I could fix it.  I think she knew that if I did take it home that my mother would likely take over and try and fix it.  She was a rather harsh teacher but based on how bad it was looking she was ok with a little parental intervention!

Though, with a little...ok a LOT of help from my mother, I was able to salvage it and I actually wore that dress for many years to come.  But that dress was the beginning and end of my sewing career for anything that required more than sewing a straight line.

I did lose my mind once when my children were little and I bought a sewing machine.  My thought process was that I could somehow channel my grandmother who could sew quite well and made many of our outfits when we were little.  I still remember the Alice in Wonderland shift dresses and matching triangle head scarves that my grandmother made for my older sister and me.  I loved that dress, but alas, I was never able to sew like she could.

So my love of old spools comes not from my own sewing memories, but from watching my mother and grandmother sew.  Pinning patterns onto pretty fabrics, cutting along the dotted lines, hunting for the perfect color thread to match, and then sewing pretty things for us to wear.

I wonder if anyone out there really still makes the majority of their clothing?  Somewhere along the line it became cheaper to buy clothes than to make them, or maybe it just became unfashionable to make them?!  Either way, sewing is a skill I admire and respect.  It takes a great deal of patience, an exacting nature, and a good deal of artistry.

What was the last thing you sewed?!  I truly can't even recall anything beyond reattaching a button...

Thinking of You

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments about my osprey pictures!  And for those of you who have not enabled your email please,please do so.  When I do have time to write back (which isn't often), I can't reach you because I have no way to do so...hint hint Leaf and Ink.  I loved your eagle shots but I can never reply to your comments or comment on your blog (you have comments disabled) to tell you how much I enjoy your photos!  And that makes me feel like this... :-(

We always know when a package arrives at our house, Mr. Quinn makes sure of that by barking loudly to let us know that we have an intruder, ie. the mailman at our door.

Yesterday he was barking like a madman and when Mr. Tide went to the door, he brought back a nice big box which was addressed to me!  I swear I'm just like a 5 year old when any package arrives for me, whether I'm expecting one or not.

This time it was a complete surprise, and not anything I had ordered, so I couldn't wait to tear it open.  It was from my friend and fellow blogger, Linda of the wonderful blog Itsy Bits and Pieces!  Don't you just love that name?!

Neatly packed inside the box was a treasure trove of goodies, including the beautiful beach inspired block with my initial on it!

Ephemera is Linda's middle name, and she puts together the most wonderful altered art pieces and even sells them, along with all kinds of other great vintage stuff at her 2 Etsy stores...Itsy Bits and Pieces and Romantic Farmhouse.

Just look at the darling sea shells she included in the piece she sent to me!

And I love the intricately carved K...for Kat of course...on this old wooden alphabet block.  It must date back to the Victorian era based on how beautiful and ornate it is.

I've named her "Beach Babe Kat" and she is now sitting in a bright sunny spot in my family room, because every beach babe deserves her day in the sun right?!

Now Kat the Beach Babe would have been thrilling enough, but of course Linda also sent me a few other things that made me smile from ear to ear.

She knows how I like to display old cards and ephemera using my antique flower frogs, so she sent me this wonderful vintage flash card with an oyster and lobster on it.  I come from oyster country, Linda knows this because I've pined after an old oyster tin she found, so this is perfect for me and looks wonderful displayed in my little flower frog.

And there was also an assortment of wonderful old bingo cards inside my package!  I love me some bingo cards!

The wonderful colors and fonts, and the simplicity of them is what I love most.

I can just imagine folks at the local church bingo years ago with these old cards and hoping to win the big jackpot!  Yes, our local churches still host bingo to help raise money!

The printing is beautiful on these vintage pieces, and this one even has my lucky number "8" in the bottom corner!

I created a nice vignette with my wonderful new treasures on the old chest in my living room.  Now every time I'm in there, I will be reminded of Linda's kindness and her sweet note which said, "Thinking of you Kat."

Thank you Linda, I'll be thinking of you too and treasuring these wonderful bits of history and my very own Beach Babe!!!

If you would like to visit Linda's blog and see more of her wonderful wares, go HERE!

I've decided that I might start a meme party called Spread the Love.  One day a week, other bloggers could link up their favorite blogs and help spread the love.  What do you all think?