Wordless Wednesday - Zzzzzzz

Image by Michele Crawford of Flower Box Quilts:  www.flowerboxquilts.com.

Gift for Music Teacher

It's Shameless Commerce Tuesday (already!), and today I'm featuring this reversible music-themed table runner.  It would be a thoughtful yet inexpensive gift for a music teacher or choir director -- or any music lover on your Christmas or holiday gift list.

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Treasury Thanks

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving and a profitable Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.  I was happy to see my cousin Jeannie who stopped by for a big girls sleepover en route to Georgia to see her grandchildren.  And we were blessed to see seven of our nine grandchildren this weekend.  They grow up so fast!  And I am very grateful that Saturday was my best day ever on Etsy.

It is only fitting that I end this month of gratitude and week of giving thanks with another big THANK YOU to the curators who featured items from my Etsy shop in their treasuries over the past week.

Emily from MoxieMommas featured my purple cloth napkins in her treasury, 008.  Emily creates pretty and practical message and meal planning boards, like this dry erase menu board:

Amy Braswell of PaperFinchDesign featured my aqua chevron oven mitts in her pretty treasury, Aqua Gifts for Mom.  This New York map print reminds me of my daughter, Allison, who lives in Brooklyn.  I'm hoping to see Allison and my son, Jeff, who lives in D.C., at Christmas.   They are both superstorm Sandy survivors.

My Blogging Business Artisans teammate, Jamie Niebergall of Poppy Hill Creations, featured my "guy" tan and gray pillow cover in her treasury, Fun Gift Ideas.  Jamie's shop features wonderful scrapbooking papers and printables, like these cute and festive chilly bird gift tags.  Yes, it's time to start wrapping all those presents!

Randombubblegum from Erie Wood featured one of my oven mitts in her treasury, The Christmas Kitchen.
I've set a tentative date to get together with the three in-town grandsons for our annual cookie decorating and gingerbread house making day.  It's messy, but great fun.  I'll need to put up our little tree and get those presents wrapped before then!

Erie Wood has some wonderful vintage items in her shop, like these beautiful vintage Christmas bulbs;

Love the photo.  Love the memories.  We had bulbs like this when I was a kid growing up on the farm.  We always placed the tree in the north window, so people coming down our long country driveway would see the pretty lights.

Samantha Williamson of SamanthaJBridal featured my chevron oven mitts in her treasury, A Chevron Home.  I love Etsy's bridal registry.  Another happy young couple added two of my items to their registry this weekend.  Samantha creates luxury bridal accessories in London, England.  This beautiful crystal bow headband would be a lovely accessory for the bride-to-be:

Brittany of sideproject featured my green chevron oven mitts in her treasury, Jet Setting.  If you are looking for some awesome stocking stuffers, visit Brittany's shop.  She has over 200 items, including these oh so pretty marble magnets,  (With grandkids' art work to post on the frig and my own notes to self to post on metal filing cabinets, I can always use more magnets!)

Sofia from buttonlandia featured my red retro-inspired clutch in her treasury, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.  Sofia’s shop is full of “goodies for your raditude”  They will make you smile.  Promise.

Looking for a perfect stocking stuffer for a big or little girl?  How about this adorable little monogrammed pocket mirror?

Vickie Moore of Winged World featured my red retro-inspired clutch in her treasury, Something for her, something for the kids.  Vickie turns library cards (remember those?) into pieces of art.   My grandmother and great-grandmother were librarians, and my hubby is a retired librarian, so I just love seeing these old library cards transformed.  This clock card caught my eye.  This is the time of year we could use about 10 extra hours each day, it seems!

Lisa Conway from KnickKnackCorner featured my poppies on blue oven mitts in her treasury, Gifts for the Family.  Lisa's shop offers an eclectic mix of handmade goodies.  I just love these Keeping Time Coasters.  Wouldn't they be perfect for a New Year's Eve get-together?

Well, there you have it.  Back to the sewing room for me.  I have promises to keep and miles to sew before I sleep.  Miles to sew before I sleep.  (With apologies to Robert Frost.)

Have a wonderful Cyber Monday tomorrow.

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower

BBA November Challenge - An Attitude of Gratitude

As a member of the Blogging Business Artisans Team, I am challenged each month to create an item in response to a theme.   This month's challenge is about gratitude.  Our host says, "Living with gratitude is my goal, but certainly at Thanksgiving we all stop to think about what we're thankful for. How does gratitude play a part in your life? Create something that shows your gratitude."

A few years ago, I was truly inspired by Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book, SIMPLE ABUNDANCE: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy (Warner Books: 1995).   There’s a newer edition out now, published in 2009:  http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Abundance-Daybook-Comfort-Joy/dp/0446563595/ref.   One of my 2013 resolutions will be to reread it again, as a daybook, one day at a time.   

One takeaway from the book was this:  Write down each day at least three things for which you are grateful.    

I’ve been using a cheap little spiral notebook for my daily gratitude lists.

As I began to run out of pages (determined to get to the end of 2012 before switching books), my writing got smaller and  smaller.

So this challenge was the perfect excuse to upgrade to a REAL gratitude journal for myself for 2013.

I covered a composition book with fabric loosely quilted to a layer of flannel.  The wide inner flaps create storage pockets.    The teal tone-on-tone fabric has inspiring phrases, such as “peace surrounds” and “built with love and dreams” and “home is where the heart is.”   The fabric is from the Tucsadelphia collection by Lizzie B. Cre8tive for Henry Glass & Co. 

The small-scale print in brown, cream and teal has small leaves, signifying growth.  It will be a subtle reminder to spend some time with Nature every week.  The print was designed by Nebraskan, Jo Morton, for Andover Fabrics, and it was inspired by a quilt from the International Quilt Study Center & Museum here in Lincoln, NE. 

The plaid fabric was needed as “filler” because I only had a fat quarter (18” x 22”) of Jo Morton’s print.  The plaid reminds me of country roads and fields on the farm where I grew up.  The Midwest is full of right angles. The plaid is from the Bread & Butter collection designed by Kaye England for Wilimington Prints.

The applique starburst design was fussy cut from an organic cotton print to resemble a compass.  It reminds me that as I navigate through life, God is and must remain my True North.

TTFN

LeAnn aka pasqueflower

http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower

http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Thanksgiving!

Blue Tuesday

It's Shameless Commerce Tuesday, and today I'm featuring my Poppies on Blue Oven Mitt, made with Gallery Fiori fabric designed by Karen Tusinski. This is one of the new oven mitt offerings in the Kitschy Kitchen Stuff section of my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations. A fun, functional and affordable gift.

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Treasury Thanks

Today I'm giving a big THANK YOU shout out to the awesome curators who featured my items in Treasuries during the past week.

Elle Farrell from Bluebirds Cove featured my chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Jingle Bells.  Elle's shop specializes in vintage books.  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was one I enjoyed as a kid:

Sharla from Beaded Tail featured my retro-inspired red clutch in her Christmas-themed treasury, Tis the Season for Red, Green, Friends and Furkids.  Sharla uses the proceeds from her beaded jewelry to support animal charities.  I just love this beaded bracelet:

Whitney Allison from ThatsSHARP featured my chevron oven mitt in her treasury, chevvvron. Whitney designs bright and bold jewelry, like this fantastic faux pearl and green jade necklace.  Now THAT'S a statement necklace!

Ms. Vintage of StoryTellersVintage featured my red retro-inspired clutch in her treasury, Let's Get This Party Started!  She's offering 10% off using code EVETEAM.  Her shop includes a delightfully eclectic mix of vintage items – clothing and accessories to housewares and “oddities."  Here’s a fun Barley is Life poster – for the beer lover in your life.  I live in a college town. I don’t even want to know how many kegs of beer are consumed each weekend!

Svitlana of boorashka is from the Ukraine.  She featured my aqua chevron oven mitts in her ice blue treasury, It's so cold.  Svitlana makes beautiful crocheted jewelry and sensory toys.  I just love this mint blue linen crochet necklace:

Rachel S. of OhKnots Designs featured my navy chevron oven mitt in her Christmas gift idea treasury, What do you want?.   I just love this thank you in yarn greeting card from Rachel's shop:

 
Nicole Kathryn featured my oven mitts in her treasury, Thank You, Thank You Very Much!  Ah, Elvis, we miss you! Nicole is a buyer only from Coconut Creek, Florida, but she creates wonderful treasuries.

Svitlana of boorashka featured my roses on gray oven mitts in her treasury, Shabby Winter,  This crochet necklace in beige and tan is another one of my favorites from her shop:

And last, but not least, Dawn Wilcox of New Brunswick, Canada (buyer only), featured my chevron oven mitts in her high energy treasury, I Zig, You Zag,

And there you have it -- another week of inspiring treasuries curated by talented Etsians.  As Elvis would say, "Thank you!  Thank you very much!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower

Wordless Wednesday - Band on Bike

Baby Elephant Walk

It's Shameless Commerce Tuesday, and today I'm featuring a new listing -- a cute little baby elephant bib.  The high quality 100% cotton fabric was designed by Tim and Beck for Moda Fabrics as part of their Bungle Jungle collection.  The reversible bib has a capped metal snap closure, and the reverse side features white squiggles on red -- also from the Bungle Jungle collection.  A cute and affordable baby gift.

The print reminded me of Baby Elephant Walk, a catchy little tune from my youth.  It was the theme song of the not-so-famous John Wayne film, Hatari!  The Henry Mancini version is wonderful. You can find it on You Tube or purchase for your mp3 or iPod.  Warning:  If you listen, you may not be able to get this tune out of your head for days.

Hubby and I have been hit hard by a flu virus.  We were wiped out all weekend and are still suffering some of the miserable symptoms.  Hubby had his flu shot, so it must be one of the strains outside the protective reach of the vaccine.  We've ruled out food poisoning after I learned a colleague from the tax office has the same nasty bug.  With all that down time,  I'm backlogged on Etsy custom orders and behind on new listings.  But sometimes the brain says "Go" but the old body says "You've GOT to be kidding me!!"

Be well.
TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower

Treasury Thanks

This is my weekly THANK YOU post, to thank all the curators who included items from my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations, in their treasuries during the preceding week.

Kim Ables from stylinstuff included my navy chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Happy Christmas.  Kim makes beautiful jewelry.  I just love this turquoise and silver necklace.

Lala of laladangerous also featured my navy and white chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Chevron.
Lala makes ornaments for any occasion.  I just love this ornament in sapphire blue.

Melissa of ElegantRoseBoutique featured my green and white chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Winter on Etsy.  Melissa's shea butter body scrub will help keep your skin soft and moist during the cold, dry winter.

Roxanne of dollarjewelry from Shanghai, China, featured my pink pig oven mitts in her fun treasury, Pink.
This Harry Potter keychain caught my eye.  My oldest grandkids are all serious Harry Potter fans, and now old enough to drive. Yikes!

Antiquity Travelers featured my red accent pillow in a beautiful treasury, Holiday Reds.  Antiquity Travelers is known for its adventurous styles in jewelry, like these gorgeous pearl and citrine earrings, perfect for New Year's Eve.

Margaret of Splendid Little Stars featured my oven mitts in her treasury, Autumn Beauty.  This hand-dyed silk velvet scrunchie would be a perfect granddaughter stocking stuffer:

Linda from topc (a Baby Boomer teammate) featured my oven mitt in her treasury, Pink Is a Holiday Color, Isn't It?.  Linda makes adorable mini-dolls, each with a unique personality.  I just love this Alluring Smile Mini-Doll.

Kathy R of vanishingpts featured my green chevron oven mitt in her treasury, A Green Thanksgiving.
Kathy's shop features both drawings and sewn items.  I just love this cute kid's pillow.

Summer of SummerWilson8 featured my green and white chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Green and White to GO, Please.  I just love these cute jingle bell elf earrings from Summer's shop.

Brooke Shambley of Designing Life also featured my green chevron oven mitt in her treasury, My Christmas Wish List.  Brooke is an organization maven.  This menu planning set might be something I need.  I tend to get in a rut when it comes to cooking.  My hubby could vouch for that!

Bonnie Sernesky of BonniesSewCrazy featured my poppies on blue oven mitt in her treasury, Gift Ideas.  This cute snowman apron would be perfect for baking Christmas cookies or making gingerbread houses with the grandkids.

Wanda from saffronfields featured my oven mitts in her treasury, Getting Ready for Thanksgiving.  This beautiful Fall holiday wreath would be a perfect Thanksgiving door decoration.

Neuralia of neuralia paris (yes, Paris, France!) featured my green chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Pistachio.  I just love these beautiful amethyst dangle earrings, available in Neuralia's shop:

And, that's a wrap!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday - Bookcycle

Holiday Baking Season

It's Shameless Commerce Tuesday, and today I'm featuring new oven mitt listings from my Etsy shop, Pasque Flower Creations.  Holiday baking season will be here before we know it.  Time to dust off the recipe box to find those traditional family holiday favorites.

The oven mitts shown above would brighten the kitchen this Thanksgiving. Bright fall leaves with a whimsical touch of blue dance on a creamy white background.  An orange tone on tone print was used for the lining, binding and hanging tab.  The fabric is from the On A Whim collection by Robert Kaufman.  Did you know that a complimentary color scheme (like the blue and orange in this print, or purple and yellow, or red and green) creates a sense of energy?

Another new listing, shown above, is more subdued.  The Garden Dardik print designed by Lilla Rogers for P&B Textiles has little leaf shapes in shades of orange, olive, brown and gray.  I chose a gray tone-on-tone print for the lining, binding and hanging tab. This mitt would be right at home on a new granite counter top (hint to Santa).

My goal is to sew at least two oven mitts per day through December 21.  So far, so good.  While some will be old favorites made to restock inventory, I will also have many new items in the Kitschy Kitchen Stuff section of my shop in time for the holidays.

Do you have a favorite traditional holiday food?

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

Treasury Thanks - Fantastic Fourteen

What a busy week on the Treasury scene!  Sit back and enjoy some of the great offerings from the shops of those who curated treasuries featuring items from my shop, Pasque Flower Creations, over the past week.

First was Sarah of Magnolia Surprise, who curated a delightful Halloween-themed treasury, No Tricks! Just Treats!  Sarah featured my Halloween bunting.
Sarah is looking ahead to another big holiday with this delightful infant crocheted Santa hat.  Wouldn't that be fun for a baby's first Christmas photo!

My poppies on teal oven mitts were featured in a Thanksgiving-themed treasury, Gather. Eat. Give thanks.
Stephanie Burciaga was the curator. Stephanie's shop features unique stained glass decor.  I just love this dove of peace suncatcher:

Natalie from Nat.oapparel featured my navy chevron oven mitt in her foodie treasury, Gifts for the Chef.
Natalie's shop features tanks, tees and other cool apparel.  I immediately thought of my son Jeff in DC
when I saw this great DC-themed t-shirt. He's single and 30 and works at the Congressional Budget Office. Wonder if he'd look as good as the model in that shirt?

Linda Pruitt of PruittDesigns included one of my boutique baby bibs in her fun treasury, Waiting for the Sales Fairy.  Linda makes "pretty things for lovely ladies."  I love this lilac on black evening clutch.  Wouldn't that be festive, paired with a little black dress perhaps, for a holiday party!

Kaili Williams from GoodnightOwlArt featured my Halloween bunting in her Halloween treasury, Spooktacular.  Kaili's lovely little red-haired girl ACEO reminds me of my daugher, Allison.  Her auburn hair has lightened over the years, but she still has her feisty freckles and hazel eyes.

Margaret of Splendid Little Stars created a Pumpkin Inspired treasury which included my Halloween table runner.  I just love this silk scarf from Margaret's shop:

DEMET featured my navy chevron oven mitt in her treasury, Denim Blue.  DEMET's shop is a veritable treasure trove of all things knit and crochet.  I love this pretty lace collar:

Rose of RandomCreative featured my yellow chevron baby bib in her treasury, Rock Fall with Yellow.  Rose creates beautiful jewelry, like this sunshine yellow gold cuff bracelet:

BumbleandCilla featured my navy chevron oven mitt in a delightful treasury, Squig.  I love this winter slouch hat from the BumbleandCilla shop!

Brooke Shambley from DesigningLife featured my poppies on teal oven mitts in her treasury, Products I Posted on Wanelo.  Brooke designs an impressive array of organizational tools.  (Couldn't we all use a little more organization as the holidays approach?!)   This Computer Time Organizer caught my eye.  One of my blogging buddies referred to the computer as a "time suck" - and it certainly can be!

Amanda Barlow of Apanda73 included my navy chevron oven mitt in her chevron treasury, Chevron -- do we really love it this much?  Her answer was a resounding "Yes."   Amanda is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and she will be opening her new Etsy shop soon.  Stay tuned, and show her new shop some love!

TamaraThirteenThirteen featured one of my boutique baby bibs in her delightful treasury, Baby Boy.  Tamara is a buyer only from Buffalo, NY, who loves curating treasuries.  This Male Identified treasury offers several gift suggestions for the guys on your gift list.

Debbie of VintageTrunk (letsallsing) featured my patriotic bunting in her timely treasury, Vote.  Debbie has wonderful vintage items in her shop.  I just loved these vintage dinner plates:

Kathy from Tapestry316 is getting into the holiday spirit with her treasury, It's not too early to look for some fun gifts!  She included my holiday table runner among her other great finds.  Although Kathy is known for her beautiful artwork featuring horses, this whimsical ACEO caught my eye. It's called Mr. Random Dude Drives a Bus.  My New Hampshire grandkids would love this one:

And there you have it!  A HUGE Thank You to all these talented curators!

TTFN
LeAnn aka pasqueflower
http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower
http://www.facebook.com/pasqueflower