More Red and Blue

Here's the family room with touches of red and a dash of blue.

 Another vintage quilt square pillow. The white fringe was reused from an old tablecloth.

Used my cottage bunting on the fireplace.

 Found these tiny cowboy boots at a garage sale years ago.I love how worn the toes are. The little milk bottle coasters are from Moda.

 I saw this idea at Carol's at Art and Sand. I already had the tool box tray and little glass vases so I just added some flowers to it. Sitting on an old red, white and blue quilt remnant.

 This pillow was made from an old feed sack.  I looked and looked until I finally found the one in the right colors. Best of all it had a rooster!

 Brought out my old red key.

 Here's the kitchen hutch all done up in red and blue. Almost everything you see in the hutch was gotten at the thrift store or garage sales. I can't tell you how much fun it is to go on the hunt.

 Here's view from kitchen nook into the family room. You can see how open it is. that's why I have to tie the colors in together.

 Some red handled flatware in my old toolbox.

 View into the kitchen. I haven't shown this in awhile. I don't do much in here-just the towels and Aunt Ruth's rooster on the fridge.

 Older son painted the Fresh Eggs sign years ago. Little slip covers brought out for the chairs.

It took awhile to take pictures. It has been raining and raining here on Dallas. And more to come this week. I hope you all are enjoying a start to your summer.
Leslie

Make Room for Red!

It's that time of year again. Time to change colors. I like to go back to my reds, but decided to add a little blue this year. Thinkin' about, Memorial Day, Flag Day, which is also my Mom's birthday and of course the Fourth of July. Most dishes and that cute red casserole picked up at the thrift store.

Pillows made from vintage linens and an old quilt square. This is just a little preview-I'm still working on it. I'll share my family room and kitchen next time.

 My Gardenia is blooming like crazy. We've gotten so much rain.

 What a pretty pure white blossom. The scent is unbelievable.

Still trying to catch up. Son has moved home for the summer and there is stuff everywhere. I forgot how much boys like to eat. Back to the grocery store. Have a good week.
Leslie

Patriotic Embroidery

I know this is kind of late-but I thought I'd post this anyway. I thought I'd share with you how I turn an image into a pattern. I didn;t have a Patriotic pillow, so I looked through my stash and found this vintage magazine.Very old and faded. I will only use the main part of the image.
I put it through the printer and make a color copy. This is where you can make it the size you want it to be.I trace the out line of all the stuff I want in my finished embroidery with a thin sharpie to make the lines stand out.
I trace it onto my fabric with a light box and disappearing ink fabric marker.You can put it up to a sunny window, if you don't have a light box.
You could start embroidering it right now, or you can add color. I chose to color in with Prang crayons. You can use any kind of crayon, but the Prang are a little softer. You don't have to do the same colors as the image, you can get creative here.

Don't worry about being too neat. Just have fun. Then iron the color in with a paper towel over it, so it doesn't melt onto your iron.
Start embroidering-no rules here. I did the entire thing with a straight stitch, except for the stars on the flag. I used french knots. You could get creative again, by adding beads, small buttons, different stitches, colors etc. I did mine very simply.
When I stitch, Max sits on my lap. It's a tight fit!
After embroidering, rinse it under water if you used a water dissolving pen. It looks a little weird, until you rinse away the blue ink pen.
Let it dry and press it flat. I added strips of fabric that I had to make a pillow cover, but you could do anything you want with this.
Here's the image I traced off for you to use. You could do it all one color-like redwork, or go crazy with coloring.It's really fun to use some of those vintage images in new ways.
Here's one I did for Valentines day-same steps. You can use vintage cards, magazine ads,old book pictures. Have fun and let me know if you decide to try this.Joining It all started with paint Pillowpalloza for a fun pillow party.

Leslie

Red, White and Blue

I've been decorating for the Fourth as you can see.
I finally repainted my vintage chalk board with Martha Stewart chalkboard paint. The old surface was messed up and you couldn't write on it. So happy I took the time to do this.
The little banner is a freebie from Jenny Harris at her wonderful blog- Allsorts. You can download these freebies and cut them out then string them on bakers twine.
It's hard to take pic's through glass, but my dear friend Donna gave this to me and I used my vintage Uncle Sam and a cute Liberty tag I picked up. Can't remember where-sorry.
On the new mantle- a flag bouquet.
A little bit of Texas. I made the little Tx flag at a rug hooking workshop years ago.
Close-up of the embroidery-primitive style is always fun to do-no straight lines.
My big clock and patriotic horns in my entryway. I'm getting into the patriotic spirit! How about you? Dropping son off at the airport this afternoon-he's going backpacking in Europe for a few weeks. Lucky him! Wish I could do that. Have a great day!!

Leslie

Reds and Blues and Silvers

I am in Flag Day spirit and also getting ready for the 4th of July. Most of the things you see were thrifted. Please join Sue at A Very Cherry World to see many other Reds for Rednesday!
I teach piano and always like to add vintage sheet music for the seasons. There is my little Texas Teddy Bear.
I used to have my boys room decorated in a Patriotic theme. Some of this is stuff from that. I love red, white and blue.
Here is a little table top vignette using an old school box and my patriotic horns. You've seen those before.
I know this stuff is Blue, but I wanted to share a little of my Sons graduation from last Saturday. I made these cupcakes and thought the liners looked a little graduation gowns. I added silver sugar(you can't really see it in the photo) and the little pics I made.
Last is a place setting from our Graduation breakfast. I got the placemats from Marshalls and had everything else. I tried to make the napkins look like diplomas and added a little navy tassle. We had a wonderful weekend in Blue and Silver. Come join me on Friday for Where Bloggers Create. I'm excited already. See you soon!
Leslie

Happy Memorial Day!

It's been a crazy week, with the tile being installed and then putting the house back together again. Bathroom and laundry room still aren't done. It will get there this week end-or else I can't do laundry. Oh- maybe that would be a good thing.
Remember a few posts ago I showed these plates and assorted stuff I got from thrift stores? Well, here is my first attempt at a tablescape. The only thing I bought new was the flowers and the candy in the dish. It was really fun putting this together .
I've got to find out how to put the silverware-I can't believe the fork is tilted! Anyway, my BFF came over yesterday and we had fun, pulling out different dishes and thinking about more tablescapes. My rule to myself will be, use what I've got or buy at a thrift store. Anyway hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Leslie