Some Bargains Come Around Only Once

For some reason I have a little time tonight so I thought I would share with you what I picked up on a recent trip to the Dollar Tree Store. I enjoy this store because everything is still just a $1. My daughter, Moon, and I made a pact to go into the store and find some items that could possibly be used on a CQ and not spend more than $10 for the trip. We were to go in and out in just 15 minutes. One of the great things about the dollar stores is that their inventory changes all the time and you can always find something different. The drawback is that if you like it you had better buy it because it might not be there next time!

Because we had just passed the Easter holiday the store was still full of spring type merchandise. I picked up 2 rolls of good quality 1/2" wide satin ribbon to use for ruching, bows and folded flowers. I also found some narrow gold braid which will be great for laying on a seam and couching down with beads. One thing I have always had trouble finding at the dollar stores is beads. But, this time I hit the jackpot. The beads I found were already strung into something else. Eyeglass holders! They have some very uniform sized beads in great colors and some super little novelty beads on them. I just had to have them! I bought the 4 packages below for myself and then one of each for a friend. Of course, this put me over the $10 limit I had imposed but really, some of it was for my friend and my portion was below $10, LOL.



Aren't the little butterflies and flowers cute? They came in a variety of colors too! The metallic hearts are really great and I wish they had more of those! You have to think outside the box when you are looking in there for this stuff, that's for sure.

I'd also like to share a little blue bear that lives in my bedroom. I think I have mentioned my dear friend Nelle Stafford before. She was my CQ mentor and she was so creative! She could sew like nobodie's business too! She spent several years perfecting a teddy bear pattern that she could use for CQ purposes. It had to set up, not fall over, be large enough to show off her seams and embroidery. As she grew older she quit doing her CQ and started to give it away for the benefit of others. She would donate bears, of all sizes, that she had made to our EGA chapter's annual auction. Everyone wanted to have a Stafford Bear. If you didn't have one that she had made for you out of love or that you had paid her to make for you then this could be your last chance to get one of the few left in her personal collection. I am happy to say I have 3 Stafford bears! One that she made for me out of love and one small jointed one that I bought at the auction (paid a pretty penny for it too - everyone wanted it).

The third bear I own that Nelle did the work on is actually a TY bear that she made a vest and beret for. I named him Neil (as close as I could get to Nelle). Here he is in his finery.






I am very grateful that Nelle was a part of my life. She had the sweetest disposition. She taught me a lot about transferring patterns and interpreting how to do them in various embroidery stitches. Near the end of her stitching life she had trouble making the embroidery meet her own high standards so she quit. "While I am ahead of the CQ Gods" she laughed. I like to think of her now as being in heaven teaching some little angels to stitch those beautiful, perfectly spaced seam treatments and flower petals.

Where Am I Going To Put It All?

As I mentioned before, Connie, DD Amy and I went bead shopping at the skating costume shop. I had a hard time deciding what I could leave behind for some other lucky person - as you can see by the photos below. I didn't mean to be selfish...honest I didn't. I just saw such potential in everything I touched!

Here are some of the sequined appliques that they had. They are just a bit larger than a quarter but not as large as a half dollar. They can be cut apart to make separate motifs for CQ. There are actually two different patterns on these.


Aren't these leaves and flowers lovely? They can also be cut apart to make separate motifs for CQ. The baggies in the middle hold about 1/3 cup each of Swarovsky crystals and gemstone beads.


Couldn't untangle the sequins and trims quick enough to satisfy my photographer (lol) but you can get an idea of the pretty rhinestone encrusted ones I picked up for my future evening purse, the ones I got for CJ are in there (guess which ones CJ) and so many other beautiful colors. There are also some baggies of iridescent glass sequins type beads that get held down at the center top hole with a glass seed bead - had never seen these before!


This pile looks like a mess of tags but there are over 150 little bead bags here full of tiny iridescent seed beads, sequins, bugle beads, rondelles, briolette and rocaille beads in 3-4 sizes of each color, pearls in all sizes, crystal/glass beads of all shapes and sizes and some odd sequin shapes that we were assured aren't even made anymore. Just imagine sifting and tossing through these baggies for the afternoon.


Then there were the laces.....we know how I love the lace! I was so happy to get the roses which turned both directions so they were sold as a pair...the butterflies are great and the hearts were the last they had. Even the large lace motifs can be cut apart and used bit by bit if necessary. Yes, you guessed it....I bought all the lace the lady had left and plan to dye a lot of it. Connie tells me that the roses have dyed beautifully for her and she will be posting some on her blog soon.


I did give Connie a cut of each bolt of lace before we left the shop. The lady could not believe we stood there and did that! Hey, when you are getting it at cut rate prices on cut rate retail prices from the 1980's you can share!

Speaking of sharing, I want to thank Lyn Gaskill for having a monthly give-away on her blog. It is a little quiz that requires a bit of research but it is always fun! For prizes she offers a silkie of an old time actress and a second place prize of some sort. Sometimes she throws in a bonus prize. I won the bonus prize this month for knowing that Ricky Nelson sang a song in the Jack Lemon movie Wackiest Ship in the Army. I was a big Ricky fan as a teen! Thank you again, Lyn, for the wonderful silk CQ pinkeep with silk ribbon roses! I have begun to stick pins in it already as you can see. Here are front and back views of the dramatic pinkeep I won.



Have a great day and keep on stitching a more beautiful world!

Stash Enhancements & More

You would think that it is springtime in the Rockies. The sun was shining yesterday, the kids were outside playing in their shorts. Today it is a steady gentle snowfall with cool temps. That's Colorado for you.

I promised photos of the other items mentioned in yesterday's post. So, here they are:

This is the 6" heart I have pieced for a swap on CQ For Newbies. Right now it is 'nekkid". I am supposed to stitch at least 2 seams and embellish at least 1 patch. If I want I can do the whole thing. It must be in the mail by the 30th of the month. Will post another picture after I have done the work. I am allowed to finish all the stitching if I have time or desire to do so. In return I will receive a 6" heart that someone else has done. I wonder what they all do with these hearts? They exchange them every other month with different themes. After awhile wouldn't you run out of need for hearts? I guess I will learn more as I go along.


This unfinished 6" heart was sent to me by Vera Ellen, who is a member of CQI. It was attached to the fabric around the Christmas cracker she sent to me for the holiday swap. She included a lot of wonderful fabrics and embellishments too. I will have fun stitching on it and thinking of VE. Hmm......I am getting an idea as to what could be done with these small hearts. Let me ponder the subject a bit longer. I want to thank her again for taking time to make this heart in some of my favorite colors. Most people might think that rust, purple and cream wouldn't go together well but I think VE did a fabulous job showing that they can!


Now I want to share photos of what I dyed while at my friend Connie's. We both brought what we had in the way of dyes to the party. We shared our dyes, we mixed different colors, we even mixed products. We experimented with different methods for hand dyeing lace, silk leaves and ribbons. In short, we had a blast!

The white silk florist's leaves, which we dyed for various projects. were one of Connie's contributions. I had the small flower motifs and the larger motif. I forget now which one of us shared this particular flat lace. I am very happy with how it all turned out. I didn't work as fast or as long into the day as Connie did so she got a lot more done than I did. She even tried immersion dyeing over the next few days with great results. See her blog at cwkalina.blogspot.com.


Now for the really tactile and fun part of the day! Connie had LACE! Lots of LACE! She shared it with me! Just look at the pictures below and you won't find any two pieces alike. There are slight differences in the edge perhaps or the color in a few, but they are not the same! Connie has said she may offer these for sale in the future. Some are sooooo vintage looking that they are irresistible!










Don't you love the sea shells in the last picture? I can hardly wait to dye some for an Under The Water themed CQ. Thanks for stopping by.....