Glory

Many months ago, I drew up a lady picking berries. The plan was to have her along the Columbia River in Oregon- a place I have driven a few times and loved so much. As the months have passed, already drawn and ready, I have been stumped at her colors. A piece of linen has hung on it's board for months as I stare at it. I have loved it but been unable to visualize much of anything. My mother assured me that it would come- the colors would come. This past weekend, I decided to just start.

Off the shelves came colors from other rugs and some of my best pieces, my favorite sky, odds and ends, wool from a quilt shop that I dyed with the potential as a border, and I allowed my heart into the loops- one loop at a time.  As I worked, I was reminded of what I learned a while ago. To make something I love- I have to go into the quietest part of me, close out the whole world, turn off my mind and let my heart work.

At one point, I tore out the girl's left arm that was laying by her side- I raised it so she could feel the breeze as she looks toward 'purple mountain majesties' with her basket of freshly picked berries. I also gave her a walking stick for her little hike.

I learned a lesson from working on this rug. I was reminded to allow all the work to happen from within, instead of making it something only my eyes and hands work on. I slowed down and let my heart be my guide. Tonight, I was explaining all this to my husband. I told him that this rug has a lot of meaning to me because it provided a lesson as I went- to quiet myself, away from the noise of my own faults and worries and to be calm and to trust that it will all work out.

"Through thee alone the sky is arched,

Through thee the rose is red;

All things through thee take nobler form,

And look beyond the earth,

The mill-round of our fate appears

A sun-path in thy worth.

Me too thy nobleness has taught

To master my despair;

The fountains of my hidden life

Are through thy friendship fair."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Free Subscription to Primitive Quilts Magazine

So this is it! Vintage Heart, the very same Vintage Heart that my husband named just over a year ago will be in this issue you see. Yes, I am experiencing a wide range of emotions all at once. I am so honored- so very honored and only wish my father were alive so he could look it over and say, "Good job, Toots!"

So, for you- you can win a year's subscription by leaving me your name at my website e-mail :  yvonne@vintageheartprimitives. I will draw a name and send the winner into Primitive Quilts Magazine for a free year long subscription. I will be offering this to my blog followers, customers and all my friends on Facebook. This is a great opportunity if you love Primitive Quilts as I do! Some of my very, very favorite designers are often featured- Maggie Bonanomi, Tonya Robey, Lori Brechlin, and a personal friend and designer Melanie Pinney. What a great deal to find such great designs in one publication!

Wool kits for the design featured will be available in my shop early April. All wool will be done by Double M Sheep and Wool. I have been blessed to have worked with Christy Mason who provides beautiful hand dyed wool- many of her colors are recipes handed down through the generations of women in her family.

On another note, I want to remind everyone that if you would like me to put you down on an e-mail list that I will send out when I have a blog update- I surely will. If that is your preference, I will happily do that for you.

'A Lady' (pattern of three little dresses) is now available in my Etsy shop as both a pattern on linen or a full kit-pattern on linen, skirts, wool, lace, embroidery floss, a pocket and tiny scissors. Both options come with a booklet of instruction and photographs.

~Yvonne

Being A Girl At Heart

This afternoon my best friend, Louise, came by. I received the highest compliment from her when I showed her this finished rug.

She cried.

Between her tears, she told me that this brought out the lost little girl inside her. And THAT has been a goal of mine~ to reconnect women with that little girl that once was. Innocent. Free. Naive. Good. 

Then I told her to lift the skirts!

I got a laugh and lasting smile. 

Did you notice the scissors in her house-dress? She is ready to mend and sew after she tends to the garden and checks on her rising bread.

She needs a broach for her formal wear. This is for an evening that her hair is done carefully and she wears her satin shoes. An evening of music and candlelight with the man who adores her.

Then there are those times for a friend to come for tea. In the garden they sit and catch up. The garden is filled with sounds of birds and women laughing.

When I small, I often would think of what I imagined life would be when I grew to be 'a lady.' But now, I am a woman and I long inside to reach back in time, with little doll dresses and a vivid imagination to only dream of being a lady. 

'A Lady' and Lace

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the two days of the week that I am able to get the most work done and I look forward to them. They are work and play all mixed into one! Today, I have a grey wool shirt, cut up and soaking in a pan waiting for me to dye it up. I do not dye a whole lot. I buy almost everything from Double M Sheep and Wool and there are two other ladies I enjoy buying from as well on Etsy. One is Woolly Mammoth Woolens and the other is Michelle Mayfield Home. But today, I have my heart set on reviving this old shirt into a new color!!

So, these are my three dresses. From left to right- a going to town or tea dress, a formal dress and then a work dress. I want to add some brown embellishment of some sort to the dress on the left to make it tie into the work dress and the work dress is going to gain a pocket to carry little items she will need as she tends to housework or in a field.

My little pile of lace that I bought at an antique store and then tea-stained.
I am using little pieces to dress things up- including those bloomers!

See the little lace that I am choosing for the middle bloomers?

I am having more fun with these dresses! Of course, as I have said, I have been looking for months at historical attire and admiring the detail and femininity of those days. There are details that I only wish I could make. I guess that is for something else maybe.

On a much different note, I have a customer who has kindly and patiently come to me frustrated because she cannot seem to subscribe to my blog- being as low tech as I am, it's something I have to have my daughter look at. So, I am going to try to remedy it. However, I realize that if she is having problems, than possibly someone else might be as well. So, in the meantime, I have offered to send her a personal email with the latest update attached. If you would like to be on a e-mail list that I send out myself, please contact me at yvonne@vintageheartprimitives.com  I would be more than happy to add you on as we figure this out!!

'A Lady'

I have a 'secret' board on Pinterest that I collect my favorite things- vintage images that inspire me. Many of them come from boards of historical attire or old vintage dolls. I love seeing the detail that those dresses had to them- and the beautiful colors- creams, pinks, deep maroons, blues of every shade, greens and golds. Dresses embellished with lace, ribbon and even flowers!

This is going to be a small rug made of three dresses. I imagine these dresses could all belong to the same woman. At least, right now, I see one dress being for everyday- working in the field, possibly tending to her animals or gathering lavender! This dress that you see might be for a tea or going to town- maybe shopping. And the third dress, I see her wearing to a formal event- hoping for a dance with the man dear to her heart.

This is so fun! What possibilities might there be
to 'dress up' the one who wears these dresses?

'Bonnets'

I just came back from a weekend with my best friend. It is starting to become a yearly trip we take together- visiting her mother and family. I enjoy very much visiting with her 82 year old mother- "Mother Hensheid" as I have nick-named her. I love to hear her tell me stories about raising her children and it is so encouraging to me to hear the stories of her children's lives through her eyes. My best friend is her youngest at 50 years of age and so it is very enjoyable to hear of times of sorrow that turned to joy for her over the years.

As we worked- her with her embroidered pillowcase of roses and me with my hooking, I listened and soaked in every word. I treasure 'Mother Hensheid's' life, her family and her story. If there is anything that I have gleaned from her, it is that 'the story is not over until the story is over' told in her gentle and sweet way.

'Bonnets' is a pattern I designed that I hope you can make a fun adventure- a bit of playing 'dress up' for the girl in your heart. I have drawn out the pattern so that you can hook the ruffles or create pleats that you sew on as I did. What colors would you choose? Do you have some old buttons you want to add?

I started hooking this pattern in salmons and browns but changed my mind midway through and decided to go with colors that are tried and true loved! Blues and browns. Please do no not hesitate to contact me with any questions at all.

Fancy Needlework and Vintage Heart Hand Spun Wool

Used with the permission of Wendy Piersall of Vintage Fan Girl. She has both a blog and an Etsy shop that I adore!!

"She watched and taught the girls that sang at their embroidery frames while the great silk flowers grew from their needles." - Louise Jordon Miln, The Feast of Lanterns

Months ago, I saved this image to a private board I have on Pinterest. I fell in love the moment I saw it. Many nights I have sat with my lap-top open to this image as I play with my pencil and paper. I just absolutely love the whole idea of a sweet little girl- and the flowers!! put onto the side of this spool. 

As I have shared, I have a design that will be in the very next issue of Primitive Quilts. Daily, I have to pinch myself. I am nervous, exited, worried, happy- all at once. I keep remembering how I would get before a high school dance many years ago. I would be so exited but sooooo nervous. My mother would be so glad when it was all over because pre-dance, I would get the silly giggles and accidentally  break things in my sheer anticipation. Well, I don't have the giggles but I admit I am nervous. It has been in my mind to create a design with quilters and stitchers and embroiderers in mind as I know that that is what Primitive Quilts is made up of. So when I saw this little spool........

my mind started moving

and wondering how to make it special for ladies that love to stitch.

'Fancy Needlework'

I am admitting right now that I don't sew. I admire women that do. If I could, I would make dolls. I would give them personalities and little dresses. I would create each one individually but I cannot. So, I think that is why I enjoy giving life to the 'girls' in my rugs- there are dresses to think about and bonnets or hair- where is she? What is she doing? This girl with needle in hand is in her garden and she is inspired by the beautiful blooms and buzzing bees as she takes them captive with her needle and thread!

I also want to share with you photographs that my spinner, Deb Taylor, sent me a couple weeks ago. I understand that some of you may be spinners yourself and these photographs may be 'nothing new' but to me, someone who admires women who can and do spin, these pictures were great!! This is an order I placed with Deb- 10 50 yard skeins of what she and I call 'Vintage Heart Hand Spun.' She has dyed it, and created the variation that I LOVE using for my sheep and now am offering in my Etsy store. I admit, I am pretty picky and Deb is awesome!! 

Vintage Heart Primitives

https://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageHeartPrims?ref=si_shop

If you are interested in seeing what else Deb has to offer, here is the link to her Etsy store.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NapaValleyFiber

This will create more sheep!