A busy week....

I love a busy week, don't you? Busy doing my passion, that is! I was commissioned to make two Rosary Keepers and one Sacred Bag.... so here they are. (Remember too, you can still leave comments on this posting to be entered in the giveaway on Feb. 1st.)

The first one is on a linen base, covered with Wedding dress lace....
The front shows the lovely Dior roses I learned from Lila!

 A piece of a Christening dress, holy medal, and some of the beautiful vintage silk organza.

 The second one is on a base of velvet...

 You can't quite see the pocket on the solid velvet. It felt like the tiny Mother Mary medal stood out on its own, without ribbons, or trims.

And, here is the front of the Sacred Bag. The Angel picture is one I painted, then printed on silk.

 A peek at the little pocket tucked inside, made from a 4" wide vintage ribbon.

 I'm ALWAYS happy to do commissioned work! (hint, hint, wink, wink)

SCORE!!

If you're participating in the Blog Hop Giveaway, you can leave a comment here too. And remember, there's a little bonus if your name is drawn and you are a Follower as well!

Sew, to the point.... (sew, get it?) I struck gold yesterday! totally ran out of thread, and my favorite fabric shop -HARTS- was getting rid of these four sample books!  WhooHoo! What would you do with them?

WELCOME! Do you love EYE CANDY?

Well, grab a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy! Welcome. If you are a lover of lace, you're in for a treat.... miles and miles of lacy books, bags, and prayer keepers!

Thank you Vicki for hosting this fun Blog Party! I think we're all set for a fun journey.

And who doesn't love a little Give-Away Gift? Especially if it's a LACY BUNDLE!  All you need to do is leave a comment and your name will be in the drawing for my second LACY BUNDLE give-away this year! A lucky winner will be chosen on February 1st. AND... if you also become a 'Follower'... there will be an extra little treat added to your gift!

Enjoy!
Sweet Blessings,
Chris

This is the life....

Yesterday was our Irish cousins lunch in San Francisco. Of course I chose to drive the scenic coast route. What an amazingly beautiful, clear, crisp, sunny day!

Stacks of lacy Prayer Keepers.....

I couldn't resist stacking my lacy Prayer Keepers. They look so luscious! I'm creating an inventory so I can join our local Art Collective. I don't know if I'll be able to let them go! Oh... I'm also so excited to have three commissions to work on this week!

Eye candy....

We downsized and moved to our little cottage in the Redwoods three years ago. I still have maybe 15 tubs of fabrics I haven't seen in three years. Well.. I started systematically opening the tubs and plan on selling my vintage fabrics and quilts on Ebay. BUT!!! There are goodies I am not going to part with! I remember finding these treasures at a San Jose estate sale over six years ago. I bought a whole bag of vintage,100% silk organza, some remnants, some still on a roll. Beautiful stuff!

 And here are a few of my latest Prayer Keepers....

 These two Rosary Prayer Keepers I made for my Cousins, Catherine and Janet. These are a little different, in that they are a triptych style. You see the Rosary pocket when you open the front page...

 Rosary pocket.... made with a vintage Wedding Hankie (YES! it was VERY difficult to cut into!lol)

 Botticelli's Madonna and Child on silk is the center page. Saint Catherine is on the left and Saint Joan (patron saint name for Janet) is on the right. It was fun specializing Prayer Pockets for people I love.

 Sweet blessings, Chris

And the winner is....

SHARI! of Lady J Spice's Cache!  

Shari was the 22nd person comment since December 21, picked by the random number counter. Thanks for commenting to everyone who took the time. This was lots of fun! Shari, you'll have to post what you create from this fun, lacy bundle!
Sweet Blessings, Chris

Giveaway reminder!

Don't forget, today is the last day to make a comment to be entered in my Birthday Bundle Giveaway! Leave as many comments as you want, (dated from December 21st). I'll count up the comments, then draw the number of the lucky lacy winner!
xoxo Chris

Winter's Lace Wonders....

I've been snuggled away in my little sewing studio and loving it. It's an escape to a relaxing, fun, inspiring, and lovely retreat, right on my own property!

I thank Lila for her wonderful video on making Dior Roses! Mine aren't near as beautiful as hers, but I do like the way they turned out. In the center of mine I'm using some of the tiny, little flowers from my 1919-dressmaker stash. I must have at least 50 of these tiny flowers. I can't imagine how long it took the dressmaker to form all these tiny rosettes! I think they look great in the middle of the Dior roses.  Check our Lila's YouTube videos! She is a very generous woman!

I used one of the roses on the cover of my latest Prayer Keeper..... You can see the hem of a Christening dress. I love using fabrics that had a reverent purpose at one time.

 In this book, I used colorful silk images of Mother Mary against the creams and ecru colors. I'm not sure which style I like best.

Thanks for looking, Sweet Blessings, Chris

You'll find beautiful whites, creams, and sepia tones accented with peach in this lace book dedicated to our precious Mother Mary. Several pockets are perfect to tuck in prayers or Rosary Beads. The foundation for this prayer book is vintage linen, covered with a vintage lace Mantilla (like the one I wore to church in the 1960's), fabric from a Christening Dress, as well as other vintage laces, trims, and dress fabrics.  Measures about 5x8", with 7 decorated pages.

(Etsy)

 You can see the hem of the Antique Christening dress here.

 Here you can see parts of the 1960's lace mantilla that we used to cover our heads for Mass.

 A little scrap from a wedding dress....

A Birthday message worth remembering.....

 A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it,'' he replied.
"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do."
"Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.. Just for this time in my life.
Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.
So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!
Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing.
'Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Newest Prayer Keeper

Happy New Year! You'll notice this prayer keeper is colorful. Felt like a change. I love the deep, saturated colors of the velvets, even the tulle. Sweet book measures approximately 4x6" and has two pockets for your Rosary Beads, Holy objects, or Sweet Prayers.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my 

Birthday Bundle New Moon Giveaway!

First.... here is the chaos I create in. What a mess! But you can see my Sacred Redwood trees right outside my windows.

 I decided to go with colorful velvets and brocades on this one. Mother Mary is often said to be accompanied by the scent of roses, so I created a wire ribbon cabbage rose for the cover and the image of her with roses.  In Catholic school we would make baby rose crowns for her on May Day. Does anyone remember making those crowns?

For sale in my Etsy shop....

Cover... wire ribbon rose and 1918 ribbon, vintage wedding dress lace and crochet trim.

 First pocket on the right.... a deep pocket made from the trim from a decorative pillow.

 Second pocket, on the right. Lined with some fine tulle so beads wont get stuck in the lace. Lace on the right is from a 1920's dress.

 Last spread... purple lace from a 1960's dress.

 Back cover....

Thanks for looking. Sweet blessings to you. Chris