the newest pillows

I've had a hard time making myself sit in front of my computer and getting down to business... but sometime soon, I will be putting my newest pillows on my etsy site.  For the moment, here's a preview.

one of those days

painted lady with a battered wing tastes the asters

 Tuesday was still and warm.  It was the kind of day when it seems like you can tell the earth has changed its tilt and the sun puts a gilded kind of glow on everything it touches.  After spending so many hours in the car between Georgia and Virginia, I spent a lot of Tuesday outside, happily stunned by the beautiful weather.

The Country Living Fair

We had so much fun!  Imagine, a little section of woods in Stone Mountain Park was filled with treasures...camp-style shops sprinkled in between tall pines, lining curving dirt paths.  We wended our way over the paths - rusty orange pine needles all over the ground, smelling good and making the woods feel cozy... and I went into a trance walking from one delight to the next... antique boxes, nightgowns, slips, tablecloths, pillows, wildly upholstered chairs, old plates, tea towels, alarm clocks, coffee grinders, paintings... I just wish I'd been wearing a snow suit Saturday morning because it was a lot colder than I expected.  Sunday morning, I pitched my product.  My voice probably sounded like Mickey Mouse in fast-forward, but it was fun and the judges were kind and receptive.  I won't find out whether or not I'll make it into the magazine for a couple months, but I'm happy either way.

This chocolate Buddha sitting on my knee is from Matthew's Chocolate Shop in Hillsboro, NC.  We stopped along the way - just by accident - and are already looking forward to going back on purpose, as soon as we can.  It is a magical, old-fashioned shop - tiny, with a glass case of chocolates and a velvet curtain tied back behind the counter.  The chocolates are not just beautiful - they taste very, very good.

Georgia, Georgia

Last night, I stitched labels into several of my new pillows... It was such a happy feeling to be working on a chilly fall night to the light of Emma's sewing machine.  I wondered what she would think if she knew what her great-great granddaughter was doing with her old machine.  I'm almost all ready for the Country Living Fair in Atlanta.  Gretchen, Mom and I will be kicking up gravel on Gooch Lane at 8 o'clock sharp on Friday morning.... the beginning of a ten hour adventure in the mini van!  Whew, I have butterflies!!

new pillow, new plate!

my new $1 plate from the Wellsville China Co. in Wellsville, Ohio

 There's a shop off of Main Street in Madison called 'The Feed Store'.  It used to be a feed store.  And now instead of being home to bags of cracked corn and trail ration, it's full of antiques and old junk... baskets hanging from the ceiling, unruly piles of dusty paintings and photographs, teetering stacks of chairs, tins of buttons and wooden spools, and busted-up suitcases full of beautiful old flour sacking material.  This is where I've found some of the fabric I'm using on the backs of some of my pillows.  I could spend hours looking around in this shop... but the only down side is that it is rather expensive.  Most of the things aren't marked, you just ask the grandmotherly proprietress how much.  Sometimes you can get a great bargain, but a lot of the things, as Nora said as we were descending the stairs leaving the shop earlier this week, have New York City prices.  I did find a new plate though, to add to my collection.  And it was only a dollar!

Nora inquired about a weather vane that was $350 and an old feed sack that was $75.  Those prices are unbearable after you've gotten used to finding really good deals.  For example, I found the beautiful blue and white linen hand towel above rumpled up in the bottom of a cardboard box at another antique shop a few miles up the road.  It was only 50 cents!  And I got three antique chairs like the one above at the Goodwill for only $2.49 each!!  I covered the seat in one of my new fabrics - a pattern I made using one of the paintings I did of Madame Gaillais' roses in France.  And I made the pillow with another one of my new fabrics with my watercolor of an owl butterfly from South America.  Their defense mechanism is to open their wings, which look to predators like the intimidating face of an owl.  And then there are the little yellow and orange Cleopatra butterflies in between.

two scraps of news

I'm going to Atlanta, Georgia for the Country Living fair to present my fabrics and pillows.   My appointment with the judges is on the morning of October 23rd.  If I'm extremely lucky, I might get featured in the magazine!!  It's a long shot, but I'll do my best.

Also, I've entered one of my fabrics - 'french radish on red zigzag' - in the root vegetable themed contest through Spoonflower.  If anyone has time to visit the site http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters/new?contest_id=103 and vote for me, I would be very honored!

Here's the fabric so you can recognize it: