the "Girls"

Here they are:

The Collection of Fridas

what fun....

Happy New Year!

Stitched Classes

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know about these online classes. I think there are 20 in all and some look very interesting.

Hopefully the link will work.

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

xopaula

Click here to view more details

Russian Nesting Dolls

I was in San Francisco last weekend visiting my niece and her family. She is an interior designer and has the most wonderful little gift shop next to her design office on Hayes St. I fell in love with this set of cloth dolls in Jeannie's shop and am enjoying them on the window panes as I lug bags of groceries thru that door every day! When you have a free moment, check out her web site.....it is very fun: Lotus Bleu Design. I am presently surrounded by sick family members and am keeping my fingers crossed that I do not succumb! I am making chicken noodle soup to ward off the germs and help them all feel better! What I really want to do is hide in a corner and papier mache a box with children's book illustrations, inspired by a lovely gift under my tree!!!!!!!!! Hope all you Violets out there are well! LOVE- Oolie

Merry Christmas

to ALL

May the Holidays be Merry and Bright!

I love and miss all of you Violets...

You are always close inside...

xo

Happy Holidays Violets!!!!!

Dear Violets-

It is Christmas Eve here in Colorado and my thoughts go out to all of my lovely "stitching friends" scattered around the world! I am home after 2 trips up to the Boulder area which just got 14.5 inches of snow which is now melting in 50 degree temperatures and sunny skies!!!!!! We barely got the lights and a few ornaments on our tree! We will be sleeping in tomorrow, and then out for a hike followed by a meal cooked by Hartley, Laurel and myself......very low key! Mark thankfully does all of the dishes!

When I came upon this fun vintage needle card lately, it made me think of one of our "Julie Arkell stitching workshops" in l'espace at Briancon!!!!!! So many fun creative times spent together in that lovely corner of our world! May your stockings be stuffed, and your hearts full of peace and love during this holiday season! LOVE to all- Oolie

Merry Merry Christmas!

Dearest Pantry Violets!

I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!

Love You All

Vintage Fairy Tales Rebecka

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Pantry Violets,

I imagine you're all very, very busy getting ready for the Festive Season and making lots of beautiful things to delight your friends and family.

Wishing you the happiest of days and looking forward to seeing some wonderful posts in the New Year.

This is a photograph from one of my artistic endeavours this year - we made a huge piece of knitting as a group, then all exhibited our individual (artistic) responses to the experience. The exhibition explored the connections, joy and comfort of making things together! (Guess you can all figure what inspired that thought!).

Much love to you all.

Jodie

XXXXX

Sorry for the unfinished post! well, it takes some time to get the hang of the technical side of things! I wanted to add Lea's site

http://www.leastansal.com/

a very unprofessional photo to give you a feeling of the place, and a sample of the project of the day ("bracken"), though this one is not mine - but I promise to show it to you once it's done...

Hi Becky et al,

Oh, how I wish I were in Sweden today! usually we have glögg (mulled wine) on Lucia morning at work, and sometimes a visit from Swedish school children singing, but this year there were no such nice things. Still, yesterday my buns were popular at Lea Stansal's embroidery workshop

Buns of Light

I'm afraid I have not been very productive since my return from Dordogne.. except making more of those flowers I got so hooked on!

But the other day I baked heaps of Lussekatter - Becky and Sam will know! These are saffron buns that are eaten in Sweden for the Santa Lucia day - 13th December. Santa Lucia comes with her crown of candles and brings the light into the winter darkness. So with these bright buns, I wish you all a cheerful holiday season!

Those were the days....in Paris!

Oolie and Sam!

Found these pics from Paris, we were visiting some really nice places,

that a good friend had recommended.

I found some kind of tea cozy that also worked well as a

"Little Red Riding Hood hat"!

XX

Vintage Fairy Tales Rebecka

my new birds

I guess you could call it a "Bird Totem"

I like the colors and that it has a little

thread of whimsy running through it.

I promise to show the finished product

when it really is done.

We did many birds in the Fireside Embroidery class.

Xmas Vintage Treasures

I enjoyed an afternoon of poking and digging thru lots of Xmas stuff at a bi-monthly antique show here in Colorado Springs! I found these little treasures which all started out in Europe and eventually made their way to Oolie's house, where they will feel very welcome and quite at home! This middle pinecone gentleman is holding a mushroom: YEAH!!!!!! LOVE- Oolie

JENNIFER COLLIER WORKSHOP

What a fabulous day it was at Jennifer Collier's Studio 12 workshop in November making paper clothes!

Above is a shot of Jennifer's kid glove collection.  Her work is so amazing.  Jennifer is deeply committed to  recycling - and most of her work is made up of materials that have been cast aside - she upcycles old elements into new and varied forms which always delight the eye.

Here is a pair of gauntlet type gloves which believe it or not are made from teabags - the empty teabags provide little pockets which when stuck together from the fabric of the glove and stitched together exactly as you would a fabric glove - this provides depth and a real 3D effect:

My favourites are  the long evening gloves are just glorious, most of which are a collage old documents and images - again stitched together, incorporating button holes and vintage buttons adds to the realistic effect - I love them!

As well as the gloves we put together the collaged elements for a dress and a bib which we could complete at home with the addition of haberdashery elements.  Below are two of Jennifer's map dresses.

We came away with several pieces of clothing, a worksheet of methods including using plastics bags and were all fired with enthusiasm to carry on at home.  All in all, it was a great day out, not too far from home and a really useful grounding in methods I will employ in all manner of ways in future.  I have one pair of gloves nearly complete and my other clothes on the 'to do' pile - currently post-christmas!  

Many more pictures of Jennifer's paper objects - cameras, typewriters, shoes and teasets etc will be on tinkeringbythesea.blogspot.com next week!

I was back at Studio 12 the week before last for a pocket making workshop with Ellie Evans

- more on that soon!  

Love to all

xxDI

just a peek...

at what I have been working on this weekend. I will show more later, but thought you might like to see this photo to peak your curiosity...

xoxo

Di's gift to Oolie

When Oolie came to visit last week, she brought the book that Di made for her for her birthday

What a masterpiece! It is filled with wonderful papers and pockets and pictures..

Really delightful! I took a few photos and promised Oolie I would post them - here they are:

Isn't it cool? Nice job, Di - really nice!

Love to you and everyone..

...and Happy Birthday to Joanna and Sue, too.

xo

Di's Beautiful Handmade Book!

Dear Violets-

This is my first attempt at posting more than one photo on this blog! I won't really know if it worked until I publish it, but I think I have figured it out!!!!!!

Anyway........here is a lovely handmade book from Di that I just love! Many things used to create it were gathered at Ali Baba, which makes it all the more special!!!!!

I was all inspired to take Rachel Hazel's bookbinding workshop after seeing Di's photos of the workshop, and then this very fun book inspired from that workshop at Briancon! But that will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, I will look at this one often and dream about books I would love to make! Thank you dear Di! Keep binding books!! LOVE- Oolie

INCHIES!

Just a heads up Clare! Please check your "eclare" email as Katie is in need of the project before she starts her big travels, etc. Jone and I are not sure we have your most current email address.

Please let us know which one to use. As Joanna has said in the past......."make a noise" dear Clare so we can keep in touch! LOVE- Oolie and the Pantry Violets

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday today, all day....to Joanna AND tomorrow, all day to Sue!!!!!!! I have completely lost track of the month of November, but just know that I carry you both deep in my heart pocket! LOVE- Oolie

polka dot heart charm pin

I am on a bit of a roll with the charms I made in Santa Fe last week. Now I am having great fun decorating them and deciding whether to make pins, bracelets or necklaces! It is like putting the frosting and sprinkles on a cupcake....one of my other passions! So....these 2 little pins are heading to Malmoe, Sweden for my 2 little girlfriends who happen to be sisters! There is a surprise picture on the back of the hearts which I hope will evoke a smile from Charlie!!!!!!

With love to the sisters- Oolie

Sammy's Vintage Fabric Bag

I am the luckiest Bday girl on the planet! The packages arriving on my doorstep this past month have been so full of love, friendship and creativity.....it is truly heartwarming to count all of you wonderful Pantry Violets as my friends! Merci Beaucoup!!!!!! This darling little bag was waiting for me when I returned from my busy and fun week in Santa Fe at Jone's. Sammy used the "daisy" technique that we learned from Julie Arkell this summer and made these darling flowers out of 3 layers of different vintage fabrics......so beautiful! And the quilt fabrics adorning the bottom of the bag are to die for!!!!!!!! And lastly, the little hand embroidered "Oolie" name tag is just the piece de resistance!!!!!!!! I am receiving loads of compliments, and everyone wants to hold it and give it a very close inspection!!!!!! Sammy- many heartfelt thanks for this lovely, treasured gift! I feel a workshop coming on with this inspired gift!

LOVE- Oolie

Charm Pin with Photo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started working on these charms at Jone's recently and she suggested that I try making a broach type pin with them dangling off. Easier said then done, especially when I seem to have 10 thumbs whenever I try a new craft!!!!!! The hardest part was sewing the polka dot bow onto the pin with the charms bouncing all around and getting caught in the thread! And then I discovered I sewed the pin backwards as far as pinning it on easily! Lots of first mistakes, but I think I am on a roll with this idea! I hope to have photos of a precious sewn bag from Sammy soon, but they are stuck in my camera....really, I am hopeless with this blog business if I don't do it often....please bear with me! LOVE to all- Oolie

Charm Pin

so inspired

When Oolie left last Wednesday, I couldn't wait to start

making more of the little "jar gardens"

I cut up LOTS of flowers and leaves in lots of colors

and popped 'em into little empty jars

forget-me-nots

I just love them all together! So fresh and colorful.

I can hardly wait to finish these up so I can make MORE!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Miss Oolie!

PROCESS

Here are a few photos of the process I have been going through the last few days....

Here are a couple of the nests almost finished.......

They are about 6 1/2 inches across and I am pretty happy with the result.

I'll share more tomorrow....

xo

First Place

"There's a Rabbit in the Flowerbed"

by Samantha Nixon

Could not have been prouder, showing off Sam's masterpiece

Which Won First Place (!!!!!)

Isn't it magnificent?!

My friends were blown away...

The flowers are just over one inch in diameter

which completely baffles me

(how DID she DO it?)

CONGRATULATIONS, Sam!

Thought you might like to see some of the others in the competition:

This one is pretty nice, I must say..

Runner Up in the Traditional Category

And a Fairy Bed (!)

very traditional

This one is beautiful. The bed was also painted.

The work in this quilt is exquisite...

2nd Place in the Traditional Category

...but not like our Sam....

These two are cute - above (2nd Place Handmade)

and below (Runner Up Handmade)

The entire Quilt Show was overwhelming. I will post some photos of the larger quilts as time goes on. It astounds me the work that goes into these pieces of art... and the thought and attention to detail that goes into each one.

Sam, You Are Awesome! Congratulations again, for your beautiful WIN!!!!