Autumn Leaves, Catching Dreams & A Winner

 Autumn was blazing beautifully here in Michigan the past couple weeks.

Because of the drought we had this summer, the colors were simply amazing this year.

 Rich reds, bright yellows, and "phajent"

(pronounced "fa-jent" in case you were wondering)~

a color that The Husband made up.

(Don't ask.  I haven't a clue where he came up with it.)

He insists that it's the brilliant, almost neon, orangey pink hue that you are lucky to see once in a while on sugar maples.

So, between plowing MONSTROUS piles

(I'm talking thigh deep at times, people)

of golden and phajent leaves...

[Yes, The Husband actually plowed them for me with our vintage tractor (a sweet 1947 International Harvester) because I was not making any headway by blowing them with my super duper Stihl backpack blower.  He hooked up the snowblade and pushed those ginormous piles into the woods surrounding the house. Saved me a ton of work. 
I married such a smart man.]

and putting my flower gardens to bed for the season,

dumping the pots of annuals,

putting away the wicker on the back porch,

and storing the multitude of pillows on the front porch,

I needed to do something creative.

I was feeling all brawn and no brain.

:)

I've been swooning over and coveting Tausha's gorgeous dream catchers ever since she first started making them.  "Romantic Homes" magazine even featured them when they did a spread on her beautiful Florida home.
When Sandy shared a wonderful tutorial on how she made one,

I knew what I wanted to try my hand at next.

There have been so many different crafts that I've had fun making ever since I started blogging.  You all inspire me so much!  Clay tags, Mod Podge transfers, stenciling, sewing vintage handkerchief buntings, painting furniture, making topiaries, stringing large wooden rosaries...
You've encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and try new things, and I've loved every minute of it.

But making dream catchers has caught my heart and soul in a way that no other project has.

In the Native American Ojibwa culture, the hoop of the dream catcher signifies strength and unity. The circle of life.

Dream catchers were created to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams while letting the positive dreams through.

The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center.

The negative dreams would get caught up in the web and disappear when the first rays of morning sunshine struck them.

A feather tucked into the dream catcher symbolized a breath of air that is essential for life.

I found the supplies I needed at NocBay Trading Company and at Michael's.  After scrounging around in my linen closet and baskets of fabric for some vintage floral sheets,

I assembled everything in my studioffice and began creating.

It was calming. 

Zen-like.

Wrapping the strips of soft, faded floral cotton around the hoop.

Weaving the waxy sinew into a delicate web.

Tying on rustic leather cording strung with sparkling glass beads.

Tucking a white feather into a small, wooden sphere,

and adding a final decidedly signature piece ~

a small cross made from either a genuine turquoise stone

or balsam wood. 

It's a way of adding a bit of my own heart and soul to the dream catchers.

A simple way of passing on God's love.

 
 A hoop of beachy turquoise.

A circle of vintage plum.

A quiet ring of soft pinks and blues.

I will spend my winter quietly making these intricate webs of romantic beauty.

They will be sold in my booth next spring.

I will weave each one with a calm breath,

a satisfied soul...

and a whispered prayer.

I want to thank ALL of you, near and far, so much for entering my THROUGH THE FRENCH DOOR book giveaway and leaving your sweet comments. I wish with all my heart that I could have given each and every one of you a copy of this beautiful book.


~ ♥ ~

The winner was picked the old fashioned way.
The Husband pulled a name out of a vase for me
(before I refilled it with some fresh pink roses).

 

The winner is.....

Dore from Burlap Luxe.

Congratulations, Dore!

I'll be contacting you.



♥

~  Blessings ~

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Vintage Handkerchief Buntings

Let me start off by saying

I am NOT a seamstress.

Not by any means or margin.

In fact, the last time I ever sewed anything on a real live sewing machine

was way back in junior high school.

Yeah....THAT long ago.

But when I saw some of these charming vintage handkerchief buntings on Etsy,

I thought that maybe...

just maybe

a simple project like this could be my reintroduction into Sewing 101. 

 ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

 

Let's begin, shall we?

Assignment #1: Read the sewing machine handbook. This is an important step since you haven't a clue as to what you're doing.There are nice big pictures and very few words in it, so if you're in Pre-K Reading class, this will be a cake-walk.

Assignment #2:  Familiarize yourself with the machine. Talk to it and ask for it to play nice.

Assignment #3: Plug it in. This is the easiest part of this whole assignment.

Assignment #4:  Learn how to thread the needle. Have your Reader glasses ready.  That hole in the needle seems to be extremely small for some odd reason...

Assignment #5:  Go back to Assignment #4 and change it to "Learn how to wind the bobbin first".

Assignment #6:  Learn how to thread the needle (through that teeny weeny hole).

Assignment #7:  Practice, practice, practice on a piece of old fabric first because when you try to do it on the project you're making,

the machine suddenly makes a weird sound and stops working.

Assignment #8: Go back to Assignments #4 & 5 and change to "Learn how to wind the bobbin AND install it correctly".

Assignment #9:  Rip out tangled mess on back of project.

Assignment #10:  Proceed merrily - but cautiously - on your way.

** ♥ **

Ok ~ so for this project you're going to need:

1 package of double-wide seam binding,

some dressmaker pins,

and   

4 or 5 vintage handkerchiefs

Ready?

Cut each hankie in half on the diagonal.

No need to be really neat about it,

but try to cut in a straight line.

(Remember ~ this IS Sewing 101.)

Open up the binding and lay the cut edge of the hankie in the center of it.

Fold it over the hankie and pin.

Yup.  Just like this ~

all the way down the binding,

pinning whatever colored and patterned hankies that tickle your fancy in place

end to end (point to point).

With the 3 yards of binding that comes in a package,

I could get about 5 hankie halves pinned in a row

leaving about 3" at each end for ties.
(This will all depend on the size of your hankies.)

Now, here comes the scary part.

Sit down at your machine, 

say a short prayer

(this is a very important step),

lay your binding beneath the foot of the machine,

clamp it down,

(say another short prayer)

and 

s l o w l y

press your foot on the "gas pedal".

(You're not driving a dragster here, ya know...

That comes with Sewing 901.)

Sew along the edge of the binding

plucking out the pins as you go
because you don't want to break the needle with the teeny weeny hole.

Now...

 I know that some of you Sewing 901 brainiac students are thinking,

"Why didn't she iron the binding down?"

Well, I didn't think of that until I got going.

Besides, my palms were too clammy.

Anyway, keep sewing right to the end of the binding.

I actually reversed the sewing at the end

to make sure the stitches were good and secure

with a little doohicky-switch-thingy above the needle.

(You read how to do that in Assignment #1...remember?)

Next,

say a thank you prayer that all went well

and that the bobbin didn't choke up and spit out knots of thread

(Failure to do Assignment #4 & 5)

even though you had to fill the tiny little bobbin a minimum of four different times which meant that you really learned to do it correctly

and probably won't need to read the handbook ever again in your life.

Drape your pretty vintage bunting on your frantel,

stand across the kitchen from it

and try to reach in back of you to pat yourself on the back.

Congratulations.

You have now graduated to 

Sewing 201.

(Insert music to "Pomp & Circumstance" here)

These sweet vintage buntings will be for sale at the Allegan Antique Market this spring!

[ Blessings ]

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