Heirloom heart

Welcome back to yet another fabric covered heart. This charming rendition is very simply adorned, this way the stitching speaks out more clearly. The technique used is shaped lace. Sounds hard, looks hard but it's really very, very easy. You'll need some background fabric, linen works best, a bit of cotton flat lace (both ends are straight), a lace flower (this one cut from a large panel of Guipur lace), 3 tiny blossoms from the bridal dept, an exquisite button, ribbons as wide as your sides, adhesive of choice, size 90 or 100 needle, cotton sewing thread, machine with a pin stitch (could substitute a blanket stitch if pin stitch is not available).
Trace your heart shaped box onto your background fabric with a water soluble pen. I like these better than the air soluble ones only because I've had a less than desirable experience with the air soluble (purple) ones.
You should see a blue line around the outline.
Follow the drawn shape with the lace, pinning as necessary. Your lace will almost stand up on the line. I pin on a lace shaping board. A lace shaping board is padded and will allow the pins to stick in but not through the board. In a pinch the ironing board will work too.
This step is pure magic. Enlarge the picture so you can see the header thread. It's the outer most thread on the lace edge that is not pinned down. If you have a hard time selecting the outer most thread in the lace, use a pin or a pair of tweezers. Pull on the thread, pulling up the lace to lay flat. The lace should have gathers around the inside of the upper heart curves and at the bottom in the v.
See how I have overlapped the lace and placed one pin in the corner. I trim both ends of the lace so that it follows the straight edge of the lace and created a nice v shape. Take your piece on the lace shaping board to the iron, spray with a bit of spray starch and iron dry. Please make sure your iron sole plate is spotless less you get some dirt on your work. Once the starch is dry, remove one pin at a time and reinsert so that the pin is holding the lace edge in place.
Use a very large needle. This will create the 'holes' in the linen fabric. I don't like to use wing needles because although they also create the holes in fabric, they have a tendency to cut starched fabric. The red stitching is a small sample of the pin stitch. it goes once to the side and then the long side is made up of a stitch that travels over itself, hence pulling up the fibers in the background fabric creating holes in the fabric. I also like to use an open toe embroidery foot. For me, it has a great open area in which to see where you are stitching. Another option is to use an edgestitch foot that has a guide that will travel directly along the edge of the lace.
Sew around the outside first. The straight portion of the stitch travels along the outer edge of the lace and the pin or the sideways portion of the stitch sews into the lace.
You can see the lovely stitch already sewn. Remove the pins as you come to them.

Sew along the inside also. Tip: use needle down, and around the curves inside and out, please set your pattern or stitch repeat to 2. This will sew two complete stitches after which it's best to pivot the fabric.
I stamped a sentiment with brown archival ink inside the heart. Another option is to embroider a monogram or design inside the shaped lace.
Trace your hear onto some flannel or chamois cloth. Trim this a bit larger than the drawn line.
Trim the shaped piece about 1/4" larger than the shaped lace. adhere to the underside of the top with your favorite adhesive. I used a double sided "orange" tape. Fabric Tac is another albeit liquid glue option. Attach the rose buds, the cut out lace. Finally attach a special button to the top with a glue dot or removable adhesive. This will allow the recipient to use the button later.
I covered the side with a piece of lace.
And for that special sewing buddy, you can fill the inside with some special lace, a set of buttons and maybe some sewing needles. What a wonderful treasure to make and to receive!

February Calendar

These calendars just have a way of being more and more fun to create! So I ventured away from the Valentine red and found some more soothing colors, it's really ok. Gather 1 piece of brown cardstock, 5 coordinating (can be front and backs) designer papers, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls, Coffee Ice Stickles, VersaMark watermark stamp pad, copper embossing powder, Versafine pigment ink pad in Vintage Sepia, brown/beige mini check ribbon, pearl swoosh, stamps of your choice, QuicKutz Calendar set 2, QK Calendar set 1, QK envelope, heart tag & ribbon slot heart die, Spellbinders scalloped hearts, QuicKutz Santa's Workshop spine, Chestnut Roan cat's eye ink pad, brown felt tip brush marker for outlining letters, QuicKutz Love Shapes., and QuicKutz pop up windows. You will also need some adhesive, t!m Holtz's tiny attacher, and a metallic copper marker.

• All stamps are stamped with the Watermark stamp pad and then embossed with the copper embossing powder.
• The centers to the numbers are embossed with an embossing pen and embossed with copper embossing powder.
• The Santa's Workshop spine is cut down to just one side and outlined with the Petal Pink Liquid Pearls.
• The word February is "stickled" with the Coffee Ice stickles.
• The Calendar strips are die cut as desired (1 with header and 4 without) and adhered only along the top and bottom side so that you can still insert tags into the pages.
• Special dates have the numbers colored with the copper marker.

Enjoy and

Santa Fe - deuxieme partie

So these are the stores in the corner. What fun stores. We literally spent hours back here browsing and touching and learning. One fun reason to come to Santa Fe in the midst of January is that the crowd has gone home, the locals are chatty and you learn so much and find that the entire trip is geared down a notch. Much more restful. Montez art gallery. They had some really fun stuff and some really grand stuff, so things for each budget and I'm positive that there is something there for everyone. I purchased a small shrine. I have an idea for a fabric piece to go inside. I plan on making it happen, I do, I do, I do.
And this lovely place is called Poem. The wares were like words in a poem, each dependent on one another to tell a story, to show a picture and to make you want to stay there forever. They had mica flakes, children's toys, glasswares, tablewares, the whimsical, the serious. I think I spent an hour in that little place just discovering all the words of the Poem.
Yet another alley full of things to buy.
One of the thousands of art galleries in this town.
Last breakfast. Had to have green chile on the eggs too. La Fonda. We missed eating dinner there, so we thought we'd try breakfast for a change.. it was excellent.
Aren't those Marc Roberts fairies simply inviting in the store window?
Oh I would just love to get one of these cuties on valentine's day. Guess I'll have to get busy and make one... Love the vintage photo, the trims and all the red glitter.
The toile paper adds just the perfect bit of contrast to the heart.
Great chair, great sale, we brought my vehicle and not the big truck :-(!!
Love the crosses.. all of them.
Don't you just love the trims on these little purses. I can see a sweater being repurposed into one of these.
Once again the Lensik Theater. Love all the intricate work on this building.
Vigas and corbels. I could take pictures of each and every one because they are all so different.


I believe this is the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The church is located on South Guadalupe street.
The workmanship on the statuario is amazing. That face will take you under her wing and comfort you for sure.
Venessie..... a first class piano bar. We had so much fun after dinner the evening before this shot was taken. Note to self, get a pocket camera!
More gables..
And a real favorite place to shop. Do you have a feeling this trip was all about shopping and eating. It was. No bones about it. Jackalope. Needed another pot. This one for inside the house. I find that their prices are so much better than I can find around here. Also had to pick up pinion coffee. We are hooked.
The ski run was running full blast. Aren't the white peaks amazing?
So we shut the door on another fun weekend. As much as we did it was very restful. However I came home with my head filled with ideas and the brain in overload. So many fun things to make, to take in and now I'm redecorating. Again.

Santa Fe again...

We left Lubbock last Friday morning for a weekend in our favorite spot on the globe - Santa Fe, New Mexico. When I win the HGTV giveaway house and/or the lottery, count me moved! We left in warm temperatures, but this is what greeted us from before Clines Corners on I-20 and then along a good portion of NM-285. Snow. Blowing snow and cold. We even encountered a TV crew from Albuquerque on NM-285. And I-20 was closed at the New Mexico-Arizona border. But it didn't dampen our spirits.
See those heavy snow clouds and the mountains getting snow?
We stopped at a new place for us before we got to Santa Fe. This darling little (and I mean little) place is on the Old Las Vegas Highway - it runs right along I-25 as you head west into Santa Fe from NM-285. This view was remarkable.. the little birds kept going to the feeder the entire time we were there. Not one pesky dove or crackle or crow to shoo them away!
The place is called Bobcat Bites and we filled our bellies with the best 10oz green chile burger ever! And the best part - we didn't have to wait.
So we check in, and all is well. Of course it's time to see what the stores have stocked and we head out. Well, just before this surge of snow hit, we had found the bar at La Fonda, looked out and I couldn't resist showing you how heavily the snow was coming down....
And you thought the weather changed frequently in Lubbock! Look at the sun shining on the beautiful Saint Francis Cathedral.
And on the Palace of the Governors...
This could really be next year's Christmas cards! They still had the Christmas tree up in the square, surrounded by mounds of snow.
We are almost back at the Hilton. It's our preferred choice because we just park the car when we get there and don't see it again until it's time to leave. Very convenient to all of our activities.
The view out of our window... see all those clouds.. some are still getting snow. We sashayed to the bar, got hung up on the fireplace and the view down the stree to the cathedral and just vegged out and had dinner right there.
Next morning.. Cafe Paris! Those croissants are about the best I've had on this side of the Atlantic. I really recommend this darling place.

It's in Burro alley, not far from the Hilton.

The Palace of the Governors where the Native Americans set up to sell their wares each and every day. It was quite cold and the merchants were sparse.
The Museum of Art is even artful from the outside.
You have to make sure you check out the alleys between the stores because you'll find vendors with some fun stuff.
We didn't eat here this time but The Shed is a wonderful place to eat. Make reservations even in the slow times of the year.
Venturing into this courtyard, we came upon two shops that were recommended to us. The courtyard is swell enough. What could those stores possibly offer?

Stay tuned on Wednesday to find out what we found in those little shops in the corner!