How excited can a girl get over a little lace anyway? Plenty!

I went to an estate sale in Denver recently because they had a big bin marked "Lace". When I went they had several $3 bags of which I picked up "several".  (-; But, my favorite bag was marked 50 cents. Here is the contents. Do you think they mispriced it? I LOVE the Irish crocheted lace, especially the narrow ones in the 2nd photo since I didn't have any before I picked up this baggie.

I am wondering about the top piece of lace above. Is it handmade? What kind of lace is it? The second piece is a nice filet lace. The third is hand crocheted. The 4th and 5th are both handmade Irish lace. I just love Irish lace. The bottom piece is attached to some hand embroidered netting lace. The photo doesn't show it, but these are healthy lengths of lace.

The first 3 on the left are machine made laces. My favorites here are the hand made Irish lace pieces, 5th and 6th from the left. The two hand crocheted pieces are very nice also (7th and 9th from the left). There are 4 laces that are on netting (4th, 8th, 10th and last). I'm fairly sure the last one is hand done and probably the one before it, but am not sure about the other two - they are possibly machine made. Whenever I see laces like these they are labeled french lace. A lovely group of laces to add to my collection to be sure. I am ecstatic! If you know something about the laces here, please leave a comment. I always like to know more about lace.

Fans DYB - My work on Lisa A's block

This is my work on Lisa A's block and the progress of her entire block with Gerry K's center work and Lisa B, Judy and my work on the seam treatments for the fans. I love how it is turning out!

Fans Round Robin

This is my work on Judy's block in the CQI Fans Round Robin I am in.

Fans DYB - Gerry K.'s Block

Here is Gerry K.'s block from the Fans DYB in CQI. She made the block and I got to embellish it. Lisa B. had previously stitched a block magnificently and I was under a considerable amount of pressure to keep up! I'm not sure I made it to Lisa's skills, but I did my best! I tried several new to me seam treatments that I will definitely be using again.

Recent Estate Sale Finds!

I recently came by some nice crocheted motifs, cut work, lace and a fantastic footstool; all which I can see making into some fabulous created items. I am not sure how I will use the crocheted items as they are larger than something I would put into a crazy quilt. They might be nice as a center of a white on white crazy quilt if I build up and embellish the flowers or as a similar project all unto itself. The cut work angels would be nice as a quilt border or I could use the angels individually. The lace will come in handy for just about anything. The footstool I have fantasies about covering with a wonderful forested crazy quilt with mushrooms and snails and who knows what else. Putting a CQ on the stool will pretty much ruin it for any real use, but it can sit around and look pretty. I got some other fantastic things too, but I am not going to keep them all to myself. I will put the rest into my Etsy shop - there are some fabulous lace scarves/shawls, a victorian nightgown, and two pairs of Victorian bloomers!

My sweet helper

Yesterday I spent part of the day sewing on my second Barbara Krenshaw Italian drawn thread work piece - an EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) correspondence course. I made a little spot for Oreo to lay - the table was completely covered with sewing goodies, and Oreo was content to lay on top of them all, but I wasn't happy with that situation.  (-; Oreo follows me around like a little dog when he's not napping.

The pin cushion is done by a friend, Bev, in Utah -- it was her very first crazy quilted project. I won it in a white elephant type game at the last CQI retreat. I really love it and the cat.

I am so blessed

I went kitchen table shopping with my grandgirls the other day and I happened to spy a 1970's style multi-drawered metal filing cabinet. Judging from the paperwork I found in it, it once belonged to an insurance company. So I asked the owner how much he wanted for it and he said $39 with a tone that said "Please take it away.".  (-; So I told him I'd take it not really sure where I was going to put it or what I was going to store in it. I knew my husband would just be delighted I was bringing home another storage cabinet - NOT! - so I didn't tell him. Ha ha. I had to wait to pick it up until the next day and I called him on the way home to ask him a question. His phone went dead and so he had to return my call to my cell and realized I wasn't home. So he asks where I was. I said "I don't want to tell you." He says "Yes you do." So I told him. He started to say we didn't need any more junk around the house, and I say "This is why I didn't want to tell you.", and he went silent.  (-; I did find a place to put it - in the loft where my computer and Etsy shop things are - and I decided to store shop items in it. My shop items are in disarray - small items on a shelf isn't the best use of space. But, they are wonderfully sorted and space efficient in my new cabinet. It is slightly ugly, but apparently I got a great deal on it. Beat up ones are selling for $150 online and nice ones for $325. I can always sell it when I no longer need it. What crafter doesn't need a great storage tool like this!! I kind of wanted to paint it a nice acqua green to go with the rest of my loft colors, but I can't see a good way to remove the label holders - which are fantastic for organizing by the way! I suppose I could paint them right along with the cabinet. It's not a bad color as far as metal cabinets go.