I am so lucky!

My dogs are asleep on my desk next to me while I work on my pink computer that you can barely see in the right corner.

Christmas Stockings & Mittens - Thank you Cristyn Powell for the amazing photography!

Doesn't everybody make Christmas Stockings in May?

Vintage Chandelier Necklace Drop

Thanks to my son Stopher, we finally have the crystal chandelier necklace drops on the website without a a huge light reflecting off the surface.

 

http://www.wingsoflace.com/crystal_necklace_drops.html

Sewing Room

 My dear friend Tara came over and took about a million pictures of me and my workroom.  I finally choose one with me in it that I could live with. Isn't vanity a Bi#*#.

My story about using law of attraction to create my Wings of Lace business was chosen for their  very first issue of a new magazine  Law of Attraction: Happy Healthy Wealthy, that I believe comes out in June.  It will be sold through major retailers nationwide, including Barnes and Noble, Costco and the grocery store and drug store chains.

Here are some shots of the workroom. I will figure out how to do a photo album and get more pics up.  

Pillow Day

Today I tried to see how many pillows I could make. I used pillow forms for the embroidered pillowcase pillows and sewed doilies to finished pillows I had picked up here and there. They are photographed on the porch swing in my sewing room. My second favorite piece of furniture - my bed - of course, is number one! (especially when my hubby is sleeping beside me). (I typed in especially when my husband is in bed with me, but that did not read so good....)

Behind The Picket Fence - This Saturday April 30th -Come See Me

http://behindthepicketfencemarketplace.blogspot.com/

My Brain on Create Mode

Welcome to my brain on create mode. I wake up at 6:00 a.m. after going to bed at 1:00 a.m. I think this is not enough sleep. I try to go back to sleep but I have an idea to make a banner type thing to put on my pop up tent when I go to shows. This is a rare Saturday with nothing that I have to do and my husband is out of town. 

This is how my brain goes: (It is thinking way to fast)

It should have stripes like a beach canopy. It should be pink and cream stripes with brown letters sewn on that say, Wings of Lace. Go back to sleep. How wide should the strips be? Is the tent really ten by ten? I should open it up. In the front yard maybe. No, no the living room, then I can have it right there to work on it! Go to sleep. I Can’t. I get up. I let the dogs out to use the bathroom. I make their breakfast and while they eat I go to the garage and get the pop up tent. I bring it back to the living room. I push the couch out of the way. Open the tent. 

Back to the garage for a tape measure. Yep, it really is ten feet. I raise the tent all the way up to see how long the banner should hang across the front. Can’t decide. I go dive into my nicely organized bag of pink fabrics. I start digging, they are now scattered everywhere. 

 

I find the perfect one. I see pink lace on a shelf, yes that should be the other stripe.  I try to hang the pieces of lace and fabric on the tent. Too tall. I shorten it. I gotta pee. Where is my drink? I am still in my jammies and a pair of my husband socks. I get another drink, surely I will run across the one I opened earlier while it is still drinkable. I pin the fabrics up. Yes, yes, they are perfect. I decide 14 inches wide plus a couple of inches of lace. I think ten inches for each strip would be nice. This requires math. I figure I need 12 strips total. I cut a few pieces and pin them up. YUCK. The strips in the fabric are glaring at me, crap. Back to the pile of fabric. NOTHING big enough. Crud, I have to go to the fabric store. I have a quick shower, oh there is my drink, yep still cold.   I grab a bag and put the stuff I want to match in it. Don’t see any brown scraps I really like, better get some brown.  I try not to speed. I hit the parking lot and run for it. Forgot my bag, back to the car. To the quilting section. How could they possibly have this few pink calico. |CRAP, CRAP, CRAP. Fine I will get something I can dye dusty pink. I pick a cream with small pink roses. I find a brown with circles, not my usual style but a nice color of brown. I only have to wait for 6 people at the cutting table. I try to do math in my head to figure out how much to fabric to get. My brain turns to mush. I decide 6 yards total. I only have to wait for 4 people at the register. I have a coupon that I actually stuck in my purse, it brings my total to down half. NICE. Back towards home, where is my soda, oh yeah at home. I stop at McDonald and can’t decide if I want Dr. Pepper or a coffee drink.  I get both.

I get home. The dogs go crazy. I love them so much. They all get kisses. So do I. Buttercup licks straight up my nose. I feel so special and grossed out at the same time.I need my music. Turn on Pandora, Shania Twain is singing Any Man of Mine. I get out the pink and tan dye. Fill the sink with water and dye and throw in the fabric. I should get my rubber gloves, never mind, it will be faster if I just stick my hands in. It is too light, pull out the fabric and add more dye. Too pink, add tan. Good. Put in washing machine. It comes out to orange. I bleach it. It looks awful. I know I can’t use it. WHAT A STINKING WASTE of time, energy and money. Maybe I can use a variety of my pink scraps. I go back to the scraps, yep, I will try these three. They work. Good thing I like the brown for the letters or I would be mad about the trip to the fabric store. 

Where is my drink? Still in the car. I let the dogs go with me to get it. BAD IDEA. They run down the street and bark at the neighbors. I go round them up. Maveric poops in the neighbor’s yard as they stand and watch me try to get them all home. Real nice. 

                                    (the pooper, Mav, all 2.5 pounds of him)

The dogs are in, the poop is cleaned up and my drink is still in the car. This time the dogs stay inside. Oh yeah, two drinks, soda and coffee. NICE. I start cutting my strips. More math. I figure it out. I cut a few pieces and pin it to the tent. I LOVE IT. I sew the strips together.  I print the words Wings of Lace and blow it up in poster mode for the letters. It takes three prints and three adjustments to get it to the size I want. I iron on bonding stuff to the brown, pin the printed letters to the fabric and cut away. THIS IS FUN! 

I decide where to put it on the banner and iron it on. I am starving, I eat chips and salsa really quickly, there is salsa on my shirt now. I stitch around the brown letters in white thread. This is a little tedious, I have my shoulders scrunched up and my neck is starting to hurt. I let my shoulders drop. What a difference. Dierks Bentley sings Little White Tank Top. I hop up and turn it up. I scoop up Buttercup and Reiki and we dance around the room. I finish stitching. I pin it to the tent. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT. Now for the lace the bottom. I head to the beautifully organized lace cabinet and find just what I want. 

A couple of yards of lace fabric I picked up at a thrift store The lace cabinet is a disaster now.  

I cut it four inch strips and ruffle it. Sew it to the bottom. Re-pin it to the tent. It is AWESOME. The dogs are hungry. Only two more to make for the other sides of the tent…. Where is my Dr. Pepper? Oh well, I’ll get a new one. 

                                  Finished Banner

                                   Wings and Flowers added to Banner

Here I go...

Yep, I figured out blogger (enough to get by) and it is time for the kick off post. The clothing line Wings Of Lace was not something I had been planning to do. My dear friend Brenda got off the airplane in a vest she had made out of vintage doilies and I was hooked. As soon as we got home, we opened my trunk with all my vintage linens and got to work. One vest was not enough. I needed MORE! Pants, bloomers, skirts, jackets, sweaters ... I could not stop. I was getting up at 5 a.m. to create something new and going to bed after midnight, (not my style, I like my nine hours of sleep). Then it happened... No matter where I went with my new clothes on, people chased me down to tell they were wonderful and find out where they could get some of their own. They tried to buy the clothes of my body. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I gave in, sold a few outfits that I was wearing and started taking orders. I now have a little better balance with sleep and creating, and I have the explosion of doilies somewhat orderly and under control - - if you call under control taking up a good 1/3 of our home. I hope what you see here will inspire you to get in touch with your inner "Romantic Hippy Chick. "

 

My Friend Brenda Stewart  

Doily Table