Show and Tell Friday: Paula Vaughn collection

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

I mentioned before that Paula Vaughn is one of my favorite artists. I first became aware of her books maybe 20 or more years ago when I first saw her cross stitch patterns. I bough several, but with beginning a young family I didn’t have time to do them then. However, my sister made a couple for me which I have shown before:

Then somehow I discovered that her cross stitch patterns were based on her water color paintings. When we moved to a new home several years ago, we had a separate family room and living room, which was new to us — we had just had a living room before. So we had a whole new room to furnish. In the course of looking for ways to decorate it, I discovered some Paula Vaughn prints in a local shop, but I felt they were too expensive. But my next birthday my dear husband bought them for me.

Unfortunately, that’s not the greatest picture. Trying to get adequate lighting while not reflecting off the glass was a problem. Here is a close-up of the middle one:

Then over the last few years my family has given me a couple of Paula Vaughn books as gifts. One is The Best of Paula Vaughn. I don’t know if it is in print any more: I didn’t find it on Amazon.

It’s mainly pictures of her cross stitch designs with the patterns and a little background information.

The other, The Romance of Paula Vaughn, has cross stitch projects but also several other kinds of projects. Here are a few samples from the book:

I love her style (obviously!) Though I hope to eventually make a few projects from the book, even if I never do, I love perusing the books when I need a boost of inspiration. There is something about beautiful art and handiwork that just does something for my soul. I used to struggle with that: I used to think maybe I should just be functional. But then I was reminded that God could have made the world just functional, but He also made it beautiful. Beauty and creativity are a part of His character, and it’s ok if we reflect and enjoy those traits within the means and time He has given us at different seasons of life.

I finally did start a Paula Vaughn cross stitch project of my own! I’ve had the pattern for a while, though it is newer than some of the ones I bought when my kids were small. I started it a couple of weeks ago, and the pattern seemed really complicated to me, but it is coming together more quickly and easily than I would have thought. Here is what I have so far:

I hope you have enjoyed looking through Paula’s art as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you! You can find more Show and Tells or join in on the fun at Kelli’s.

Show and Tell Friday: Grandma’s albums

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Barbara Harper

My mother-in-law, at the age of 80, has tons of pictures, but there are three albums that are exceptionally special.

One is a scrapbook my nieces made when my in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary several years ago. I didn’t take a picture of the outside of it, as it is just a plain blue scrapbook on the outside. But on the inside there are multitudes of pictures of the various family members and a few close friends who gathered together for that special occasion.

This is my husband, his parents, and his siblings then:

They also passed out a piece of decorative paper to everyone who attended and asked them to write a little something about what Jim’s parents meant to them or congratulating them, etc. My children were — I think ages 3, 9, and 12 — and here are their entries:

The second album is one my husband put together after his dad’s funeral. His dad had an added-on room at the back of the house that they called his “smoke room.” He never was able to kick his smoking habit, but he took it outside, which, of course, can be quite cold in the winter in ID. So this room had a small wood-burning stove, big flannel jackets on nails, a TV, his tools, and various odds and ends. A lot of times early in the mornings or later in the evenings, he could be found out there, and a lot of times the family members gathered out there. My husband took pictures of that room while he was there for the funeral, knowing that someday it would probably be cleaned out or rearranged or just otherwise different, and he wanted to remember it just as it was. He also took pictures of the various family members who were able to come and a few discreet pictures at the funeral (not the part in the church, but at the graveside). All of that seemed too personal to share here, but I did want to share one picture from the funeral that shows two veterans saluting the coffin:

That almost brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.

The final album is another one our nieces made, this time for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday just before she moved here in July. It was the first time since the funeral in 2002, I think, that all four kids were together.

Her birthday cards were inserted in the back pages.

These albums have become her treasures, and it is special to go back and look through them.

Some of the other things her daughter has sent here from ID are several pictures. We’ll have to figure out which to hang up in her room and which to take out of frames and put into albums, but I’ve enjoyed discovering some of the older ones, like this one of Jim’s Mom — I’m guessing maybe in her 20s.

And this one of his parents I think during their dating days.

Don’t they look like they’re right out of a 40s movie?

Thanks for having a look at these special albums and scrapbooks with me. I’m sorry the pictures aren’t the best quality — I was having trouble with the lighting in the room and the flash with the lights off being too bright, but the pictures without them aren’t terribly clear.

You can find or share more treasures at the site of our hostess, Kelli, at There’s No Place Like Home.

Show and Tell Friday: Grandma’s Things

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Barbara Harper

As many of you know, my mother-in-law just moved here to SC from ID and now lives in an assisted living facility just a few minutes from us. Since Mom was limited in how much could be carried on the plane, my sister-in-law has been sending us a few boxes at a time of Mom’s things.

One of the first boxes to arrive contained one of my all-time favorite pictures of my father-in-law, the flag from his funeral, and his VFW hat with several pins. My husband and youngest son put them together in my mother-in-law’s room like this:

I thought that made such a nice little vignette and added a touch of home to her room. It was her idea to put the cap on the picture frame like that — a nice touch!

Here are a few close-ups of some of the items:

I don’t know who put the medals in the case with the flag, but I thought it was a good idea.

Also in the package, among other things, was this little cross-stitched piece I did for Jim’s mom several years ago:

And this is my work-in-progress for her room, almost done. All that is left is a little border.

I wanted to persevere and finish it tonight, but it was after 11 p.m. when I got to this stage and I felt I’d better lay it aside — when I work on things like this too late I tend to make more mistakes. Yellow is her favorite color. I am thinking of making one for myself in shades of pink. 🙂 It’s small — maybe 4 x 5 inches — so I thought I’d have it whipped up in a week or so, but it’s talking longer. The shape is a little warped from being stretched in the hoop. but it will straighten out when it is washed and pressed.

You can go to Kelli’s to see more Show and Tell partcipants.

Show and Tell Friday: Cross stitched gifts for Dad

Posted on June 27, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I meant to “show” these around Father’s Day, but forgot. But I thought I would go ahead and show them now while I was thinking about it instead of waiting til next Father’s Day.

These are a couple of gifts I cross-stitched for my husband years ago.

Show and Tell Friday: Finished cross stitch and recent finds

Posted on June 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I finished the cross stitch piece I was working on!

Now I just have to get it framed.

I also wanted to share a couple of things I found online recently. Somehow I don’t seem to find much when I go thrift store shopping, but I was happy to “score” some good deals online.

I had been looking for a pink tablecloth and napkins for I don’t know how long and couldn’t find any: then last week I stumbled upon them unexpectedly. Every Friday the Make Mine Pink group of shops have special sales based around a common theme. Last week’s theme focused on kitchen items, and I found these pretty pink damask napkins and tablecloth at Sweet Necessi-teas.

My pictures aren’t doing them justice, but they’re gorgeous! The tablecloth is smaller than my table, but I think I can turn it diagonally and use it that way, maybe over a white tablecloth. I should have tried that for this picture…maybe tomorrow!

Speckled Egg is one of my favorite craft and decorating blogs. I love to go there just to feast my eyes and be inspired. Every now and then she mentions some things for sale at her shop, often little things that can be used on cards or collages. A while back I bought from her a packet of metal pieces that looked like they came from old jewelry. I had looked at it when I first got it, but got to looking at it again this morning while decluttering a couple of rooms in the house. I found what looks like a broken pin that I thought was just beautiful.

Those of you who have been reading here for a while know I love hearts, and I also love old-fashioned-looking jewelry. I think I can ask my husband to cut off the metal pin on the back and I can glue a new one on, and, voila! A vintage-looking brooch! If I remember correctly Anne wore a pin sort of similar to this in the Anne Of Green Gables film sequel in which she was a teacher, only hers was a locket-type thing with a clock in it. I do think it had a bow on top, and the clock was in a dangly heart. Now I am going to have to go back and look!!

You can click on the button above to find more Show And Tells or to join in. And if you do drop by and have read this far, I hope you’ll leave a comment letting me know. Last week’s Show and Tell showed over a hundred views — but 17 comments. I am grateful for any comments and don’t mean to sound like I am begging for more (though I guess it does sound that way…), but I’d just love to have my visitors say hello every now and then. 🙂

Show and Tell Friday: Gifts from other countries

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Barbara Harper

My husband and oldest son were in Brazil last week: my husband had a business conference and invited our oldest to go along. Jim doesn’t usually bring souvenirs home from trips — he travels too much for that to be feasible. But since this was a foreign country he thought it would be nice to get something for everyone.

The trouble was finding something distinctly Brazilian. He was in Sao Paulo, and most of the markets and street vendors had things that looked like they came from America or China. But he did find a few nice things. He got everyone else t-shirts, but I got these:

This is a hair clip, but I want to try to either remove the clip part or somehow add a pin onto it so I can wear it like a pin rather than in my hair. I think it’s cute!

This was from a street vendor.

This is a cute little box. He knows my tastes well, doesn’t he?

While I was showing international gifts, I thought I would show these, too. I’ve shown before things my middle son brought home from Africa and my Venezuelan basket, a gift from a missionary friend.

This little windmill was from my husband’s one other international trip: he had gone to Austria but I think he may have gotten this during a layover in Holland.

This is from another mission trip my middle son took with his youth group to Mexico. It’s supposed to hold tortillas to keep them warm, but I haven’t used it for that purpose: the tortillas we get are larger plus I don’t want to mess it up.

My middle son’s girlfriend is an American of Indian descent, and her mother took a trip to India last fall and sent this back for me. I think these kinds of elephants are a big deal over there: she also sent a couple of keychains for the boys with elephants like this on them.

I think this came from one of my husband’s coworkers who was from the Philippines or had taken a trip there. It has some pretty detailed carving but was ridiculously inexpensive. I smudged out our last name. 🙂

And I think that’s just about everything I have from other countries.

You can click on the button above to find more Show And Tells or to join in.

Show and Tell Friday: Sewing Decorations

Posted on June 6, 2008 by Barbara Harper

This week I wanted to show some of my decorations and other things related to sewing. Some day I hope to have a combination sewing/craft/guest room where these will go, but for now they are scattered throughout the house.

I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but this has kind of a 3-D effect with the spools, buttons, and machine being raised.

My mom gave me this. It’s supposed to hold spools of thread but I didn’t want them to get dusty. I think it is cute, though.

This is a little miniature from Boyd’s Bears that my husband gave me.

This is a little removable tray inside the box.

This is what it says inside the lid of the box. 🙂

This is another little Boyd’s Bear box, also from my husband.

This is not a decoration in itself, though some day I may prop this on a shelf in said sewing room.

It holds stationery:

These are some little tins I got very cheaply at Wal-Mart. They open like old-fashioned lunch boxes used to.

I showed this in an earlier S&T about cross-stitched gifts. My sister made this for me. It is a Paula Vaughn design. The calligraphy is from Doorposts.

You can see more Show and Tells at Kelli’s.

Happy Friday!

Show and Tell Friday

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I’ve made some progress on my cross stitch project. The last time I showed it it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

I still have to do a mop and bucket to the left along with the caption underneath, but the end is in sight!

I found this lamp in a catalog a few years ago and I really liked its uniqueness. I don’t remember how much it was, but I do remember it was very reasonable.

It really aggravates my family, though, that if you touch it in just the right way, the little pieces fall out. We’ve been talking about securing them with plasti-tak but haven’t yet.

I know, I know, there is red there, and I have said I don’t like red — but it looks like kind of a dark pinkish red to me. 😀

The lamp is in the family room, which also has a mantle. Here are a few of the things there:

These are the only Willow Tree figurines I have, which is fine, because I don’t have the space for another collection. But I love these because of the father, mother and boys, since I have boys. There was another one of just a boy holding a heart which I also thought of getting since we have three boys. My guys think these look really weird. 🙄 I love the graceful beauty of these pieces. The little plaque in the middle was given to me by a secret sister from our ladies group at church a few years ago.

For more Show and Tells or to join in click n the button above.

Show and Tell: Handmade edition

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Last week Kelli suggested that this week we “show and tell” about things we have made. I was going to show this when I was done, but I thought I would go ahead and show you my latest work in progress.

This is the first cross stitch I have done in at least…15 years or more, I think. Many of you know that I have been having to keep my foot elevated off and on since January due to cellulitis, so I decided to do something productive with that time (though sometimes I sleep, watch TV, or read during that time). There are multitudes of mistakes in this, mainly due to miscounting, but I don’t think they’re noticeable unless you were comparing it with the pattern. The ol’ eyes aren’t what they used to be!! But I am enjoying it immensely and kicking myself for letting so much time pass without getting back into this.

The title of this pattern is “Take Tine To Be Holy” — a good reminder!

I think I’ve already shown most other things I have on hand that I have made, but here is a quick “rerun.”

Someone asked how I made this button wreath. I told more about it here, but basically I just cut the shape out of cardboard and glued the button on with a hot glue gun, using the flat, plain buttons as a base and then the decorative buttons on top.

This was made some 23 years ago when my first baby was expected or maybe after he was born. It’s put away now since all my babies are taller than I am. 😦 But it was one of my favorite pieces.

I made the lampshade here, not the cross stitch — that was a gift from a niece. Someone asked in the comments how I made it. I wrote more about it here, but it was in a class. At the time there were patterns for how to cut out the shade plus a pattern for the decorative part available at craft stores, then an Exacto knife was used around the edges of the leaves and they were bent in a little so the light would shine through. Then the shade was glued to the top and bottom rings. I saw lampshade-making paraphernalia at Michaels’ a while back, but it was more designed for gluing fabric onto it. I googled “pierced lampshade” just now to see if patterns were still sold and got mainly places where you could buy already-made ones, but then I Googled “pattern for pierced lampshade” and found a few sources, so they’re still out there. This particular pattern was from an instruction booklet titled “Shades of Yesteryear” by Marion Pond, and I did find a copy of it just now on eBay.

And lastly:

Well, God made them…I just carried them 😀

(This post was updated to answer questions from the comments section.)

Show and Tell Friday

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I’ve been eying several things in the Cottage Accents line at Michael’s. When I found out they were discontinuing the line and had marked it all half-price, I snagged these:

Our family room is basic tans and beiges, and I wanted to bring in those colors as well as some blues in accessories, so these fit the bill.

My middle son’s girlfriend often came over on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evenings from college, and since school was out, she traveled back to her home state for the next several weeks til they meet up again at the camp they will be working at this summer. We have enjoyed getting to know her this year. I am so glad they have done most of their dating at home. Before she left she gave us these and a sweet note thanking us for letting her come over and do laundry and spend time away from school here.