Petticoats & Parasols I'm Ready

Well, as ready as I'll ever be!!!! WOW! I can't believe it's finally here. I have been waiting so long. I am really excited & tomorrow I'm leaving on a jet plane for Savannah, GA. "Hubby" will keep the home fires burning & I am off to play. I am super excited about getting to meet so many folks. Lisa & Sandy have told me sooooooooooooooo much about Jodie I feel like I already know her. And then I am excited about meeting my roommate Heidi for the first time. If you don't know about this event click on the button on my sidebar.

As you know we had the swap that I "stewed" over for the 24 gifts(already shipped a few weeks ago) that I did the post HERE. But, there was a Southern Belle Paper Doll Swap & I had to make 6. Thanks to sweet NAN all the way in Alaska (if you haven't seen her site the photos she takes are amazing) for sending me the image for my doll. The photos above are of the finished product. I added lace that looks like a petticoat & flowers. And I about "had kittens" over packaging her but, with the help of my friend's Susan & Lisa & with a lot of talking it through, this folder with the background of the Southern Mansion is how she is finished up. What do ya think girls? THANKS to all who had input. I'll be back Sunday night with lots of pictures & stories to share. Have a wonderful weekend. HUGS!

When Cotton Was King Part Two

In my previous post I showed you the Cotton Gin Festival & showed you the stuff the guys really would like about it. Interesting but..... this post interests me even MORE! As I shared in the last post, Texas is the number one cotton producer in the United States & has been for a LONG time. One of the by products of this is that back about 100 years ago that made parts of Texas VERY WEALTHY! When driving to the festival our legs got tired & we stopped in this LITTLE TINY TOWN. It almost looked dried up but, I knew there was an Antique Store & I talked "Honey" into stopping to stretch our legs. While talking to the owner we heard that Calvert, TX was known for having a large number of Cotton Mansions. We looked at each other each thinking "WHERE?" Because this place almost looked like a ghost town. She said "At the light turn & go east of town". We did & WE WERE AMAZED!!!!!! Block after Block of fabulous vintage homes. Beautiful Homes built when Cotton was King & they had a very prosperous Cotton Gin & the Rail Road in Calvert. The weather was grey & cloudy. Often it was raining so I did not get as many photos as I would have liked but, here are a few for you to enjoy.

This is the Parrish House. I LOVED the color & all the gingerbread trim on this beautiful mansion.

Wouldn't you love to sleep in the room under the turret? And walk onto that second floor balcony?

This is the back part of the house. Probably has the kitchen in the rear area.

Look at the beautiful lace curtains & the blue bottles sitting on the windowsill. They garage or carriage house to this property was cute too but, it poured buckets just as I snapped this last shot so... no carriage house shots today. SORRY!

This next house is the Robert Brown House. It is painted a strange shade of brick red & the house sits at an angle on the lot. It is a corner lot & the front door faces neither street but, the corner. You can see the railing there by the tree. I also LOVE the old metal fence. I would be happy as a clam if I could find a lot of these sections for myself.

Another view of the Brown House looking back at the garage that has been added to the property. Right now "Honey" & I are all about garages, storage building, & places for a shop & studio. Wouldn't this make a divine little studio?

This is the John Henry Gibson House. Again sorry for the low light but, the weather was not cooperating at all. You can see by this shot how BIG the lots are for these homes.

The photo below is directly across the street & I could not find the name in my book for this house. But, it is listed as The Calvert Inn. I assume a B&B. Ooooooooooooooh I can see a stay overnight here can't you?

Speaking of a stay overnight.... the lady at the Antique Store said that many of the residents open their homes for a Christmas Tour. I AM SOOOOOOOOOO GOING TO GO TO THIS! You know I LOVE Christmas Home Tours & I MUST see inside these jewels. OK, you local gals get ready looks like a ROAD TRIP!

I didn't get the name of this house but, it's a good one too. Love the white with black trim. And the garage..........

I can see us sitting on the porch rocking in those white rockers having a cup of coffee each morning. A glass of tea midday & a glass of wine in the evening.

This is a view of the beautiful rock wall that they put around the property & there was a beautiful garden on the other side of the wall.

This little cutie is not a MANSION but, I thought it was so sweet.

Love the fish scale work on the outside. And the stained glass window. Of course the gingerbread trim on the porch spoke to my heart.

This is a view from the side. Oh that porch!

This is the only shot of the Barton House. And it was taken from the back because I was so into the other sweet house I showed you & the garage/carriage house of the Barton House. By the time I finished stomping through the wet grass to get these photos & hopped back in the car the sky opened up again & POURED!

Now, is that perfect for a studio or what? The Barton House belongs to a lady in Houston. She has a high dollar condo in Houston, a large ranch somewhere in Texas & bought this house for weekends & parties. Only paid a mere 2.5 MILLION DOLLARS! Chump change I guess. From what the Antique Store owner said, many of the houses are just "weekend homes". Tough Life! Anyway, I for one just got my appetizer & am ready for the full Monty this December. How about you? And Jodie at Everything Vintage, the cemetery is "to DIE for". Sorry that was bad pun.... but, it was beautiful. So old with amazing marble markers. I also want to go spend some time there because I know it will be fascinating. Hope you enjoyed this little tour & a glimpse of life in Calvert, TX when COTTON WAS KING!

When Cotton Was KING

This past weekend was a trip to central Texas for The Cotton Gin Festival in Burton, TX. Above is a picture of the old Gin today. We originally found this last summer when our friends from France were with us. When Pierre requested a tour I inwardly groaned & thought "oh great". I planned to sit in the car & read a magazine. But, we were a tad late & the 10 AM tour had started so we went to eat lunch. At 2 PM it was too hot to sit in the car so I went on the tour. IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOO INTERESTING! We found out that there would be a festival on April 17th where they would actually bail ONE bail of cotton from this old gin. Hubby HAD to be there & we made our plans & off we went to enjoy all the fun.

This is an old wagon that is loaded with cotton straight from the field. The brown pipe is a vacuum that would suck the cotton up into the gin above to start being processed. Cotton grows in the HEAT of the Texas summer. It is a HARD way to make a living. Texas still is the biggest producer of cotton in the United States although this area of Texas no longer produces any (the land has become very valuable cattle farming land).

This was the BIG DRAW for my hubby. The Bessemer Engine that runs this whole operation. The Cotton Gin was a Co-Op Gin & everyone owned a share in the gin (no one could own any more than one share keeping it owned equally by all). When they bought this HUGE engine they used man & horse power to drag it into place (using huge pieces of wood to wedge & shim it into place). Now they only fire this beast up once a year... for The Festival.

The huge pulley that ran the power to the shaft above. HUGE & POWERFUL! You had to be impressed when you stop & think of the time this was made.

Here the guys are letting the engine warm up. See the two pipes with fire shooting out to warm the metal before "firing" it up. Once they got that big beast going it pumped & whirled those belts & pulleys. She sang the most beautiful purring song. Much like the sound of an old treadle sewing machine(louder of course but, for the size it really was not as loud as I thought it would be). And the exhaust was pumped UNDERGROUND about 25 yards outside of the building & bellowed out of these two pipes with the funniest POP POP POP sound.

Below is a 1936 truck that was driven by The Gin manager. They just refinished this little jewel. It had been stored in an old shed for years waiting for the money & to find someone that COULD do the work. After thousands of dollars a 1938 engine was installed & it has been overhauled into wonderful condition. This truck would haul the seed that was recovered from the mill into the closest large town which happened to be Brenham, TX (home of Bluebell Ice Cream).

You can see two big bales of cotton put into the back of the old wooden bed of this truck.

Below you can see another shot of The Gin with a lot of folks sitting on the side of the gentle hill waiting for the Tractor PULL to begin. That was a first for me. Actually, it was pretty interesting for awhile and then, it was time for a Burton Sausage on a Stick & a COLD beer.

Here is a couple of shots of what was below the hill side... some cars (some new but decorated & some vintage) that had been in the parade down Main Street.

And some of the vintage tractors. In the far distance you can see the track where they had the TRACTOR PULL & some of the tractors (or some similar to those in the pull).

Now, I know this is not very girly... but, it was interesting. And you know sometimes we girls have to go with our guys to things that interest them (remember I leave next week for YET ANOTHER ART EVENT while he stays here to keep the home fires burning so, it was time for an event he wanted) But, have faith... I took some photos of things that I think some of you girls will like from this Cotton Theme. Stay tuned & come back soon to see what I found interesting from this era for us. Until then... HUGS!

I am excited to say that NOW I am officially a Paper Cow Girl! I have heard about this Art Retreat hosted right here in Texas for the last couple of years. I didn't go last year but, I signed up for this year! It is being held in Waxahachie, Texas (just south of Dallas) on June 24-27. There are some great classes being taught by some great teachers (many of whom I am proud to call my friends/some of them are in my monthly Art Group) & there will be a vendor night that is open to the public. I hope you will click on the button on my sidebar to go to the site to get all the information & meet all the teachers. So sign up to join us or JUST COME SHOP! Get on your horse & ride girls! Now, I am trying to pack & get organized for Petticoats & Parasols. I can't believe my sweetie will be taking me to the airport in a week!!!!! Yikes! Better get busy. Have a great week.

Heavenly Glow at THE CHURCH

Any time you have a chance to go see Debbie & Shea GO!!!!!!!!!!!! They put on the most amazing Art Events (all events go under the name A GILDED LIFE) in their home (go HERE for a a post about this special place & another event)which is a beautifully restored Church. This is what this heavenly place looks like at night when the lights from within GLOW. The table where we sit to craft sits directly behind those amazing window that Debbie redid herself. The balcony you see through the window on the far left is the same balcony you will see in photos on the inside of The Church. That balcony is actually where they have their amazing studio. Can you imagine being so BLESSED to live & work in this beautiful place? HEAVEN ON EARTH I'M SURE!

This event was a very spur of the moment, special invitation surprise. Kaari Meng of The French General was coming to town to work with MODA FABRICS (she designs for them) & Kaari had called Shea & said "Do you want to do a class" which of course Shea said "YES" There was less than two weeks notice & all was put together. Kaari taught one class & Shea another. Below you see both of these cuties as Kaari is discussing the different tools. See the balcony about their heads? That's the studio.

I had seen Kaari's blog & a number of articles on her in different magazines. But, I didn't know much about her or The French General Store. The store is located in Hollywood. It is only open on Mondays. On one side of the store are all of the fabrics that she has designed or bought in France & sells out of the store. On the other side of the store are containers of all sorts of goodies form making jewelry. Many of these items are vintage. I asked Kaari about buying things from her online & she said she really doesn't sell anything but her kits online. She said she really doesn't want to be a supply house. She LOVES designing necklaces & putting the kits together & she will stick to her true LOVE. She urges us to all come shop with her on a Monday while visiting Los Angeles if we want to purchase different items. She says it is a LOT of fun to see all the goodies she has on hand. Kaari has just written a new book called Treasured Notions.

This is what a Kaari Meng Kit would look like. I had just dumped mine out on my cutting matt. All the little bits & pieces complete with hardware to put it together.

A close up of Kaari. She was so sweet. Very kind & patient as a teacher. We were a lucky group of 12 girls all laughing & creating together with her kind guidance to see us through.

Here is my friend Dana's necklace with the center part put together.

And this is a close up shot of an apron made of some of Kaari's MODA Fabrics that one of the girls made. And the amazing CROWN PILLOW that Stacey made for Shea. Look at the hand work that went into this beauty.

This is a shot of my French General Necklace on my mannequin although it is not finished because I ran out of jump rings. Can you see the two tiny pink pearls on the bottom chain? Well there are about 20 more that need to be added. And there are many more bobbles to hang on the middle chain. In the photo below you can see close up of the top chain that was all put together learning the rosary bead method. Each section had a teal bead, a square pink bead & another teal colored bead all wrapped together & then the next section was assembled & linked to the first. Until we had 7 different sections of 3 separate set of the three beads. In between each set of 3 was a vintage Green Glass Ring. A bit time consuming.

I will try to get to the bead store & pick up some more brass jump rings to complete this next week.

And now for the class that Shea taught... I LOVED THIS CLASS! It is difficult to photograph because it is small, & it is beveled so the light wants to reflect off of it in a crazy glare. But the pendant is a one by one done on beautiful paper by Graphic 45 I had not seen this paper before & I fell in LOVE with it. Click on the name & go to their site. AMAZING STUFF! Anyway, they gave each of us an entire 8 x 8 pad to keep as a gift for the evening. Thank you Shea, Debbie, & Graphic 45!!!!

The pendant then had a TINY pair of wings we cut out followed by many other steps to make is a pearlized beauty. We took a strip of medal & punched our WORD in 2 mm letters. DO YOU KNOW HOW TINY 2mm really is??????? TINY!!!!!! So tiny that the shards of the fine German Glass Glitter stuck in my word. My word was GRACE. When finished it was all set & surrounded by the amazing rhinestone & pearl trim & the beautiful Swavorski Crystal smokey colored drop that Shea had set for each of us. STUNNING don't you think? NOW, THIS is my style of BLING! LOVE IT!

Remember the Twisted Sista necklace I have been working on from ADORN ME? Well, I wasn't happy with the bezel I had for it, I think it is too casual & also it is finished in silver (& nothing else in the necklace is silver) so, I put my new Gilded Life drop on the necklace. What do you think? Hubby doesn't like it. I kind of do & kind of don't. Click on the photo to enlarge it & give me your opinion.

What a fun time we had & a huge THANK YOU to Shea & Debbie for inviting me. Also, for Kaari giving us the opportunity to get to meet her. Check out her book & her site to see more of her goodies. Have a great week.

Up for Air!

I have missed all of you so much! I did a short post wishing you a Happy Easter & sharing a sweet card on Sunday. In that post I told you about the Swap I was busy working on. I am going to Savannah, GA at the end of the month for the Petticoats & Parasol Plantation Art Event. I am very excited & when I first signed up they started the Yahoo Group for this event. There was MUCH talk about swaps & what all we were going to be doing. So, when Rosalyn-Sue said she was going to do a Dessert Bar & Swap Get Together in her suite I signed up thinking "Oh Boy That Sounds Like Fun". And I'm sure it will be. You had to do a gift for each of the girls that signed up. I HAD NO CLUE HOW MANY WOULD SIGN UP! Well, she cut it off at 18 but, there were two late arrivals that you could include (heck you don't want any one excluded right?) AND then how about one for the teachers? Add 3 more.... And one for the key note speaker (none other than Jo Packham editor of Where Women Create Magazine) OF COURSE!!!!! Now that's 24(I did have the count wrong Sunday I said 26). YIKES! Well, today I shipped them. I am sorry my photos are AWFUL but, you can get a little bit of an idea of what I have been up to. Below is three of them laying next to a sweet nest sitting on my kitchen table.

And a close up of one of them. Here is the process that was entailed... I bought 2 & 1/2 yards of white muslin. Washed & dried it to remove the sizing. I read & was going to use Dawn's tutorial (HERE) for this but, in emailing her she sent me a link (HERE) from Rebbecca for printing on muslin so you might check both of these excellent tutorials from these sweet gals (I think my friend Lisa had also done a tutorial on this subject). Thank you to all who had the tutorials. You are so sweet to share. In the long run I went with Rebecca's method of using the freezer paper & it worked well. I did not set my image (she gave directions) & I can tell you that if there is a chance your item might get wet you might take the time to do so because, one of mine did have a drop of water get on it & the ink bled. Doing the printing yourself will save you A LOT of Money! Those packets you buy at the store cost about $12 each & don't go very far. This process gives you the softest prettiest fabric transfer. The only other suggestion I would give is to trim with pinking sheers when you cut the freezer paper so the edges don't fray as badly (unless that is the look you want).

After peeling the back off of the freezer paper you stitch the linen to your item (ITEMS!) This was no small feat I can assure you. I added the beautiful cotton lace I bought from my sweet friend Pat at this step. Things really wanted to slide around on that blackberry velor I used. I wanted it to be soft & velvety feeling without the use of velvet. Then you sew the two pieces together to make the pin cushion. I filled a small zip lock bag with rice to put in the bottom of each one so that it would be weighted & not want to "JUMP" off the table when you use it. Next stuff the cushion. Yep all 24 of them. That was a treat. :0

And then let's not forget getting them all sealed up! I tried stitching it closed & was not happy with the way it looked. So, I tried Fabric Tack by Beacons & it worked GREAT! Then there were the seed beads, the buttons, the flowers... are you getting the picture? And when that was all done I made pins to go in the pin cushion. I dipped pearl headed pins into glue & then into 3 different colors of glitter for these pretty sparkly pins. A GIRL'S GOTTA HAVE HER BLING!!!!!

And then it was time to wrap them up. Originally I was going to wrap them in purple tulle but, by this time I was in a time crunch & I was OVER MAKING THESE! so I placed them in cello bags, put a card I made that had the same image(small in size). Under the image I wrote "The Real Gift Is NOT the Item Received But, The Friendship Made" my name, blog address & Petticoats & Parasols Art Event 2010 & placed these on the back of the bag. On the top I folded over a pretty white doily & stapled it all closed. My last finishing touch was to do each bag a beautiful glass bubble with the image of a dainty Southern Belle. The one above belongs to the Event hostess Jennifer so it had her name & the Belle Bubble on it. Below is a regular one. Sorry the cello bag has such a glare. I tried to fix it but, that didn't work too well. You can get the idea.

For the Teachers & Jo's bags I used HEART shaped doilies & as I said they got their names on their bags. I think the bubbles turned out really cute.

Here is the PILE all ready for the shipping box. I told you the glare was bad but, I had to show the PILE!

I'm so GLAD to be done & up for air. Now, I'm going to visit all of you & see what you have been up to. By the way, I NOW have to do 6 Paper Dolls for a different swap for this same event! WHAT WAS I THINKING? See ya soon!