Tammy For All Seasons - My Day! + Giveaway!

 The winner of the earrings is Rhonda D of Ozark Country Stitchin! Congratulations Rhonda!  

I will send you an email for your mailing info.

I still have 3 pair of Readers in each power if you would like for me to send you a pair.  Just scroll down to read the info at the bottom of the post and then comment if you would like a pair. 

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Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt and Sew We Stitch teamed up with Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Books Publishing and Cori Blunt of Chitter Chatter Designs to bring us yet again, another fabulous blog hop!  Enlisting the help of Mary of I Piece 2 Mary, she quickly got us all signed up and organized the hop to a tee!  

We have quite the host of sponsors to thank for this hop! We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for what you do for the quilting community as a whole!

MsAppleHeart
Brooke Nolan
Corrie Blunt
DMC
Yarn Tree
H.A. Kidd
Readers.com
Harry Barnett
Beam and Read
Snap Source

Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Book Publishing designed 4 Vintage Fashion patterns for the hop and Cori Blunt of Chitter Chatter Designs designed 4 Pinny patterns for us as well.  Both designers designed these to be seasonable, -  spring, summer, fall and winter.  We all were to use Madame Samm's Tammy Bag pattern and incorporate our choice of one of the Vintage Fashion cross stitch patterns on the front.  We also were able to choose one of the Pinny patterns and create it to be complimentary to our Tammy Bag design.

Spring is my favorite season of all with the rebirth of everything... flowers blooming, birds singing... the whole earth comes awake in all it's glory once again! I just love Springtime!  I have my cereal on the front porch swing and the birds sing a melody for me every single morning!  So it was no doubt the Spring Vintage Fashion cross stitch pattern that I wanted to create my Tammy Bag with.  I chose the Summer Pinny as it had the cutest little bluebird on the front!  Without further adieu, here is my Tammy and the Pinny.

I used Monaco 14 ct Aida for the front of my Tammy Bag and stayed within Brooke's original color scheme.  I am not too savy when it comes to making too many changes.  I actually enjoyed this color scheme and thought the bag turned out very well.  The sides and back are a drapery fabric in just the right polka dot colors!

The inside lining is a 100% cotton fabric that has words on it that were perfect for the vintage feel of this bag.  Words like authentic, natural, timeless, fresh, true and pure... all relate back to vintage times to me.... slower paced times... times when we stopped to smell the roses more... maybe we should make that a priority in our lives more often. 

 For the Pinny I decided to go "rogue" as another hopper put it.. but I am not as rogue as she was by a long shot. lol...I wanted to bring a little bit of the "crazy quilter" side of me in to this design.   I had this beautiful piece of lace that had been hand dyed by my friend Nicki Seavey.....2 lovebirds in the perfect colors.  I stitched down a piece of tatting first and beaded around the outer edge of it and then stitched down the birds.  I also beaded a hanger for my Pinny so it would be easily attachable to the Tammy Bag.

 On the back I made some changes as well.  I could not get the little bag to come out right and after 3 tries and my fat fingers not cooperating, I chose to add a pocket all the way across the Pinny.  I sewed a line about 3/4 of the way over so I would have 2 sections in the pocket.  You can keep your scissors or extra needles in the larger area and the smaller area is perfect for your thimble. I did all of my sewing on the Pinny by hand so the front is blind stitched to the box pleated ruffle and so is the back.  It makes for a clean seamless finish.

 The beaded hanger makes it easy to take your Pinny along with you.  You can see the polka dot fabric very well in this photo. :)

I have something else to show you but first I want to show you the tools that I use when I cross stitch.  My Sparco stand, Q-Snap frames, cross stitch needles, DMC floss, a Mighty Bright Light that I found at Staples,  DMC 14 count Aida cloth, Stick With Me Magnet, thimble and readers.  The readers would have been very nice but I found out very quick that my astigmatism will not allow me to wear them.  So you will see my prescription glasses that I wear when I do close up work.... they are a MUST or I would do nothing at all.  I was hoping to be able to use the readers because they are SO hip looking! The sweet lady at Readers.com sent me more readers in different powers to try just on the off chance I would be able to use them but nothing worked.  So if you can use 2.50 power or 2.75 power, and would like for me to send the ones I have to you, please leave me a note in your comment.  I would hate for these to lay here and not be used.  Please only speak for them if you know for certain you can wear these powers. 2.50 and 2.75.

 When I cross stitched in the 80's and 980's, I had a book stand that I bought at a Bible store. It had a line identifier on it and made it so easy to keep up with your place.  I used it so much that the movable side arm broke off and I had not replaced it as I had quit cross stitching.  My eyes would not allow me to stitch as much as I wanted so I devoted my time to other things.  Fast forward 15 years and Madame Samm's way of getting us to learn new things or re-acquaint ourselves with things we used to enjoy, and I am simply loving cross stitching again.  These smaller projects are perfect for eyes like mine. Thank you Samm!

I found a new stand on Amazon made by Sparco that is almost identical to the one I had 20 years ago! Here is a close up of it.. along with Madame Samm's Stick With Me Magnet.  I use the magnet  for holding my needle when I take breaks or need to get more thread ready.  I am always losing my needle and this is perfect to help me keep it where it needs to be!

I said I had something else to show you... yes, I did.. I made another Tammy bag and cross stitched another one of Brooke Nolan's designs on the front.  She has a freebie area on her site and right now you can download her Advent Animals.  I may have changed the name of my blog but a little piece of Pig Tales and Quilts will find its way in to the new blog every once in a while.  And why not in the first hop of 2015!

I cross stitched the August Advent Design, Pearly Pig!!!  I could NOT resist!  I also made a matching Coin Purse, another of Madame Samm's designs! I had the perfect fabrics to compliment the colors in Pearly Pig! I love how this one came out and may have to tote it to town a few times. ha!

 The inside lining is from a fabric that was sent to me at the end of 2014 as a thank you from a friend for building a quilter's forum for the HGTV ladies. HGTV.com shut down their message forums so I took it upon myself to build us one on another server.  If you love to hang out with quilters come pay us a visit! Circle Of Friends Quilting and Needlework Forum.

I have also made another Pinny and was going to show it today but I have decided to wait.  As you can see on the photos above of my tools, I have started a new project.   I am now working on the Winter Vintage Fashion cross stitch pattern and the Pinny goes with it.  I will show them both when the Tammy bag is finished.  See, I told you I was hooked again!  :)

If you have stayed with me this long, as long winded as I was today, I have a giveaway for you.  I received these hand crcoheted earrings as a gift but I do not wear earrings.  I do not have holes in my ears for one thing. So one of you will be the lucky recipient to wear these this Spring!

I have to tell you a funny story... I had never had pierced ears...ever in my life.  In 2001 when I turned 31, my best friend Regina decided it was high time I had holes in my ears so she promptly took me to Walmart to have earrings put in my ears for my birthday.  As soon as the tech blasted that gun and made the first hole, I screamed and turned white as a ghost (Regina told me how white I became).  She thought I was about to faint and most likely I was!  The tech got the other hole put in the opposite ear but within 3 weeks time, I yanked those starter earrings out and let the holes grow back up.  They were getting on my nerves! ha!  I am too old fashioned! oh well, sue me. lol

Please leave me a comment if you would like your name in the pot for the earrings and remember to leave me a comment if you  need a pair of these readers.  There are 5 pair in the 2.50 strength and 5 pair in the 2.75 strength.  I did not ask for these,  she just wanted to try her best to get me in a pair but to no avail.  I will ask you to pay the actual small flat rate shipping of 5.95 to get them to you since there are so many. (International friends shipping will be higher)   They need to come in a box so they do not get broke.  These readers range from 16.95 to 22.95  so even with you paying the shipping, you are getting a great deal.  I just want someone to be able to put them to use.   I will pay the postage on the earrings since it is my blog giveaway item for the hop.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and taking part in the blog hop!  Now please go visit the other bloggers who share the day with me.  Please leave them some comment love!

January 20, 2015

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