Notes from the Patch

Saturday Night Fever

I made this outfit in 1977 - out of hot pink something or other. Wore it dancing on  Saturday nights. I thought I was hot.

Encourage one another,

Playing with dolls

This weekend I

gave some of my doll dishes a new look.

Encourage one another,

 

Trick or Treat!

Some of you asked me to show you the other side of these and asked, what's up with the paper straws?

Since I made them to give to my team tonight during a staff meeting I didn't want to reveil to much, but now I can.

They are made from plain black and orange bags that I purchased at Michael's.

Although each is slightly different I made them all the same way.

Here's the schematic:

I just glued on some of the doodads that I'd been collecting (for years!). I especially love the dimension that the crepe paper gives. Love that I can gather yards and yards of the stuff in mere minutes on my sewing machine! The little round cardboard circles had sticky backs so the gathered crepe paper stuck really well without the need for messy glue.

I buy fun paper clips like these when I find them and then stick them in my little jars so I can find them when I need them. These black and white ones are perfect!

The fun flags are made from paper straws (very popular right now -  I'm pretty sure I have every color) and Washi tape. Have you used that? It's a great decorative masking tape from Japan. I just wrapped the ends of the straws and cut flag shapes. So cute and affordable when doing lots!

This is a great time of year to stock up on Halloween stickers and stuff because most places have them marked down 40% to 50%.

I filled the finished bags with mini candy bars and Halloween goodies. I just wanted to show my girls how much I love and appreciate all they do for me. Truth is, I always love an excuse to heat up the ol glue gun!

Happy haunting!

Encourage one another,

She's baack!

If you haven't met my new assistant Bianca, you may want to read this post first.

So Costco called. Seems they couldn't deal with Bianca's disruptive behavior. Something about food samples, the wine department and some Halloween costumes. I don't know. Bill immediately left to bring her home. (I think he secretly kinda missed her).

Anyway. She hadn't been back long before I found her in the pool. That water is bone chilling cold, but she didn't seem to mind one bit. I fear she may be anorexic or something because she spent most of the day swimming laps,

(I know it looks like she's sky diving with swim fins on but that's just the clouds reflexion in the water. She's such a graceful swimmer that she barely makes a ripple).

snorkeling,

kicking back

and just lounging around.

I even found her in my craft closet rifling through my stuff

and soaking her tired bones in my tub.

My assistant had become my nightmare. This just had to stop.

 

Parental discretion is advised 

The following image may be disturbing for sensitive types

Proceed with caution

 

I hope you won't find this too morbid but I think I have found the perfect solution to rid us of this annoying house guest once and for all.

Today I am linking up with my friend Beverly for Try Pinterest Tuesday. (I first saw this wreath idea there).

Talk about recycling!

Thank you Pinterest...for everything!

Encourage one another,

 

Fatal attraction

Part two on Tuesday with a somewhat disturbing ending!

Stay tuned.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this!

This morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of oh dark thirty and started thinking about the sewing I wanted to do before I went to work. So while Bill was in the bathroom I stuffed my pillow under the covers and snuck out in the dark to the sewing room.  He returned to bed and was completely oblivious to the fact that I was gone.

Sometimes a little innocent deception isn't such a bad thing - and saves a lot of splainin.

Have a restful weekend!

Encourage one another,

 

Kids say the darndest things...

My ten year old grandson, Michael is visiting from Kansas for a few days and in an attempt to keep him busy we spent the day visiting some of our local antique shops. In one particularly large store we went our separate ways, Michael looking for old coins and Coca Cola memorabilia while I was on a quest for some old glass shakers in which to store my beloved twine.

After nearly an hour Michael caught up with me and excitedly announced that he had something he wanted to show me. He lead me to the very back of the huge store while exclaiming that he had spent a long time trying to figure out this antique computer. He asked if I had any paper because he wanted to show me how it worked.

I had the hardest time convincing him that I knew what it really was. Not technically an antique computer but a typewriter! I'm still not sure he believes me.

Kids.

Gotta love 'em!

Happy Birthday toooo US!

Twenty seven years ago when I was trying to decide whether or not to open a quilt shop I remember thinking I didn't want to be sixty and regret that I'd never had a shop of my own. Oh, I'd started and managed a shop for someone else, but there is just nothing quite like having a store of your own, or so I imagined.

This is me in the early 80's (just before I opened Strawberry Patches) showing off my creations at a craft show. That's how I got started - sewing and selling things I made. Do you remember those decorated hats and hoop art? We thought they were lovely back then. We were making baby bedding way back then too!

I've been in this business for nearly half of my life and have been loving pretty fabrics and sewing since I was a little girl. Now that I'm over sixty I can't imagine my life without Strawberry Patches. I'm so glad I was naive enough to think I could do this. I've met the most wonderful people here; from the ladies I work with to the ladies and gentlemen who are our cherished customers and friends. Strawberry Patches has been and is a very important part of my life.

This is the postcard we sent out announcing our opening. A little worse for the wear (but then who isn't after hanging around for nearly thirty years?). My best friend Beverly started Strawberry Patches with me and then sold her interest to me three years later so she could spend more time with her boys. Beverly still makes most of our kids clothes that we display in the store and her husband Dennis is the craftsman who built all of our beautiful cabinets. Gosh, reading this postcard makes me realize that some things haven't changed. We still offer the best quality fabric and trim, the latest patterns, hard to find supplies and accessories and I think we still have impeccable models. That makes me smile to think we've stayed true to who we started out to be.

On April 6^th & 7^th we will be celebrating Strawberry Patches' 27^th birthday by having a party and sale with 27% off all purchases*. This is our way of saying thank you for your friendship and support. We hope you'll join us in the store or on line for this sale. For on line orders, just say "Happy Birthday" in the comment box and we'll take 27% off your order at the register.

We hope you can come to our party. After all, without all of you there would be no reason to celebrate !

Encourage one another,

*Sale excludes: Sewing machines, sewing machine service, sewing furniture, blocks of the month, custom work and classes. Limited to stock on hand - no special orders or presales please. 

Almond Milk Revisited

Hold on. It's not what it looks like...

No we haven't driven Becky to drink. She's just emptying her cute French lemonade bottle for my next batch of almond milk. (I have a feeling I'll be in trouble for this one).

I wanted to give you an update on my second batch of almond milk since it turned out so much better.

The trick was a nut bag.

 

You can google it and find lots on line for cheep. Word of warning though. It's nut bag, not sack. Google nut sack and you get something entirely different! 

I added more water to my almonds and poured the whole blender full into the sack and squeezed the milk out in minutes.No laboriously pushing it through the strainer then cheesecloth. The whole batch was done in about fifteen minutes!

Who new a nut bag could be so life changing?!

I'm just here to encourage you.

Now go out and milk some almonds.

Love you guys!

 

 

A little of this and some of that

One of the nice things about owning your own store is that you can order pretty much whatever you want. If you're really lucky someone else may want it too so you won't be stuck with a dozen or so of the same thing.

I found these adorable flowers from Bethany Lowe last month at the LA Gift show. Aren't the boxes fun? All vintagey and charming.

The flowers come in three different colors but what I really love about them is 

the soft green velvet leaves!

I use a lot of velvet leaves in my crafting but unfortunately can't always find them  when I need them. My stash was getting disturbing low as I'd hunt and dig through my big plastic bin of defoliated flowers. So you can imagine how happy I am now knowing there are twenty four precious velvet leaves in each box. I'm happy to share but will be just as happy to have them all to myself if no one else shares my passion.

I adore Bethany's hydrangea nosegays too. They are such exceptional quality - something that is hard to find anymore. I'd say they are the next best thing to true vintage.

Isn't this twine holder cool? It's really heavy and rotates so it stays put as you pull off just the right amount of twine and guess what? Those funky scissors really cut! Imagine that!

We go through a heck of a lot of twine at our weekend home when the kids come to visit since it makes THE. BEST. crab catching line. A few feet of twine with a bamboo pole at one end, a piece of bacon on the other, a whole lot of patience and you are almost assured of catching yourself a crab! The crabs grab onto the bacon and start munching away as the fishermen slowly starts pulling the pole up, up, up and over oh. so. slowly. to a big bucket of water. Caught one! is shouted as everyone comes running to see the catch. There is usually some screaming and hopping about since the thought of getting pinched is aways present. This is the Deadliest Catch - Ventura style! If the crab is smart he lets go and falls back safely into the water. But about half let greed get the best of them and they are ours for a while.

The kids collect them in buckets until they're ready to be returned to the ocean. We all are entertained for hours and the crabs get a yummy bacon morsel for just a few hours of inconvenience. It's a win - win for everyone.

These flour sack towels are by Mary Lake-Thompson. I "needed" them to go with our country french fabric

and Mary's new salad plates.

They come in a pretty round decorative box so if you know a chicken collector (and there are lots of you out there) these would make a great gift. If you really want to impress her with your styling talents you could make napkins or a table runner to match.

These bangle bracelets are from Chelsea Blue and come in several sizes and calico fabric like patterns. Very British!

Speaking of royalty, I'm totally into anything with crowns. You know, fabric, jewelry, trinkets and these

fun plant or candle holders with an old industrial vibe. I know my violet feels like a princess in her regal new home.

Well that's it for now. I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I'm off to the health food store for probiotics and fix'ns for making almond milk. Can you believe it? This green smoothie drinking has taken me to a whole new healthy eating place and I'm loving the adventure!

Encourage one another,