I just can't stop...

I just can't stop making pumpkins! I know that I should move on to Christmas creations and I think about it... but I keep making more pumpkins :) I find myself still inspired...
by an overdyed velvet

or a vintage orange quilt top

or an interesting pumpkin stem.

Say, an idea is coming to me... a Christmas idea... I wonder if it might work...

Oh how I wish I had my camera with me on my way in to the office this morning...

It's the time of year when all the sailboats are coming in from the lake for winter storage. I've watched the bridges going up and down and the parade of sailboats for years. But always from the street level or our office windows. Today as I was taking the water taxi from the train station to the office we found ourselves right in the midst of the sailboat procession. Of course we were going in the opposite direction. we had to manuever and snake our way through all the boats. Wow! I didn't realize how big and beautiful the boats were...

I truly enjoyed the 12 minute trip :)

Blessings, Patti

A Wonderful Autumn Weekend

Where does the time go? It flies by so quickly and sometimes I just can't keep up! I spent last week preparing for an incredible weekend and this week I've been recuperating from it...

We spent a long Columbus Day weekend celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary in the scenic historic little town of Galena, Illinois. My parents, my sister's family of four and my family of four rented a five bedroom home in The Galena Territory of Eagle Ridge.

The leaves were starting to change and the countryside was just beautiful. The weather could have been better - we had a snowstorm on Saturday and we didn't really get past the 40's all weekend, but it didn't slow us down a bit. The boys cut the golf in the snowstorm to only 9 holes and we decided to pass on the outdoor craft fair, but otherwise we didn't miss a thing.

Here are my parents shopping on the bustling Main Street and trying not to shiver too much! Aren't they sweet together?

Chestnut Mountain Lodge is a ski resort along the Mississippi River. During the off season they have an alpine slide where you ride scooters down the ski hill and take the chair lift back up. The boys loved it, but I took a pass with my fear of heights :)

The view was beautiful from right where I stood.

We explored the back roads and did a little antiquing.

We even had a few visitors at the house...

Galena is very hilly and after breakfast on the last day the boys decided to climb the steps up to the next street.

They made it!

The best part was just spending time together - playing dominos and mancala, talking and reminiscing.

My incredible sister took all the family 8mm movies from 1958 to 1972 and converted them all to DVD! She even made a copy for each of us to take home! She also converted the VHS tape of me and my husband's wedding 24 years ago too! We spent each evening watching these movies remembering our loved ones who have passed on and laughing at ourselves. How special to see all of us in our younger days and to see movies of our parents dating, marrying and honeymooning. This was the very best part.

What a blessing to relive our memories and create new ones too.

My sister learned a new hobby on our trip - needle punch! And my sister and niece both took to it like a duck to water! (I on the other hand will stick to cross stitch and wool applique lol.)

I did a little hand sewing during our time and finished a Maggie Bonanomi kit that I have had for some time. Here's the outside of my new needle roll:

And here is the inside:

I just love the fabrics that Maggie chooses. And what a wonderful keepsake of a wonderful weekend.

We have a quiet weekend ahead, thank goodness. I hope to catch up with everything, but plan to keep the joy of last weekend in my heart...

Blessings, Patti

Velvety Baby Boo & Cinderella too!

Autumn inspires me so much and I just can't create fast enough! I was hoping to update my Etsy shop tonight, but that is not going to happen... I plan to finish a few more projects that I am working on and list everything on Etsy over the weekend. (These are in addition to my other creations that will be featured at my TDIPT Mercantile page later tonight.) In the meantime, I am posting pictures of the items that I have finished here on my blog. If anything tickles your fancy, feel free to email me at: pgagliardi9@hotmail.com

I just love velvet pumpkins and have created a few in Baby Boo (white) and Cinderella (orange).
The pumpkins feature genuine dried pumpkin stems.

These pumpkins are $10 each plus shipping.

Pumpkin and Acorn Pincushions

I had so much fun creating vintage style tomato pincushions with a strawberry emery earlier this year that I was inspired to create an autumn version. I am offering four different pincushions each featuring different fabrics. All include vintage pins. The acorn emery is attached to the pincushion with a faux suede ribbon.

The cream pumpkin is sold. Thank you!

It's hard to see in the photo, but this orange vine pincushion is pretty heavily aged.


I thought this plain orange cotton pumpkin needed a little sprucing up so I added a little cross stitched skeleton key.


These pincushions are $18 each plus shipping. I will be listing them on Etsy this weekend, but feel free to send me an email if you are interested to: pgagliardi9@hotmail.com

Autumn Leaves

This is my last finished project for now...

I was inspired by the changing leaves. I've aged these fabrics, added actual leaf stems and backed them with paper ~ now they have the texture and feel of real crinkly fall leaves ~ but these will last forever. I've created Silver Maple, Burr Oak and Northern Red Oak leaves. All oak leaves feature a realistic looking faux acorn.

These leaves are $5 each plus shipping. They will be listed on my Etsy shop this weekend, but feel free to email me now if you are interested at: pgagliardi9@hotmail.com

Don't forget to visit TDIPT Mercantile later tonight to see all the lovely new offerings.

Blessings, Patti

A sneak peek and a thief

Fall is my favorite season ~ I'm so inspired by the changing leaves, the growing pumpkins and gourds and the anticipation of cooler days. My mind is whirling with ideas that I just must create and I'm constantly finding patterns by other designers that just must be stitched now! I have about a dozen projects in various stages of completion right now. My hopes are to update both TDIPT and Etsy on October 1st with all of these creations...

These two photos are some sneak peeks at a few things that I've finished... Lots more to come... I hope :)

If you recall last year, we grew a little plot of Indian Corn only to have the squirrels celebrate with a party in our backyard while we were out of town. Not to be discouraged, I grew indian corn again this year. No out of town trips are planned and I diligently looked each morning and evening for any sign that the squirrels discovered it. A week ago I decided to pick an ear and see how it looked - It was regular old corn! I decided to dry it anyway and found that it changes colors as it dried. So I decided I would pick all of my corn this coming weekend and dry it inside so as to not take any chances.

I did my regular check this morning and there wasn't an ear out of place. Tonight I came home to this:

In the 12 hours that I was gone, one or more squirrels ate every ear of corn but one! How could they do that so quickly?!?! I do like squirrels, but I hope that the guilty squirrels are dealing with stomach aches right now! They were going to get the corn the day after Thanksgiving when I take all my autumn decorations down... Well, at least I have two ears of indian corn and some corn stalks to decorate with...

If you have any hints on detering the squirrels, please let me know. I will not be defeated and plan to do some research between now and spring planting...

Hope your autumn harvests are safe from bandits!

Blessings, Patti

p.s. While I was proofing, my oldest son just came in and said that there is an opposum eating what little leftovers he can scrounge *sigh*

Apples

Well, I never did make it to the apple orchard to go apple picking, but I did make it to our neighborhood farmer's market where I stocked up on apples, peaches, end of season watermelon and some cheese curds too.

I thought I'd share some of the apple inspired creations that I've decorated the house with this month...

This is a little painting on a wood plaque that I did some years back during my painting phase...

I didn't get to experience the pleasant delights of an orchard in person this year, but at least this finish helps to remind me of the joy of it.

A wool applique finish celebrating apple season and the harvest moon.

This is the piece that I was stitching on September 11, 2001. I finished it a few days later during one of my youngest son's many hospitalizations for asthma. I bring it out each September in remembrance.

Finally, one of my favorite finishes of all time - Johnny Appleseed by Prairie Schooler. I simply love this piece.

Hope you are enjoying some delicious apples as well.

Blessings, Patti