I just found this hat in an old hat box, while cleaning out my studio.The hat, from the forties received a bit of an update with an embroidered ribbon. The motif, in the woven ribbon, was duplicated in silk ribbon, onto the brim, then a "pouf" of tulle netting and an ivory wire-edge ribbon bow, with loops of pearls, were added. The hat box and hat were featured in a magazine. What a sweet hat body.
The dumpster is parked just outside the barn doors and the studio is going through a ruthless purging. How ruthless can one be, when walking through nine rooms of treasures collected over a lifetime? Bags filled with fabric and trims have been making week-end journeys to my favorite thrift store. Each room is filled with remnants from past lives.
One room still holds huge cartons of boxes, created for a popular chain store, that announced it had gone bankrupt; after the first shipment of infant clothing from the studio, winged its way to Chicago. Memories of waking up in the middle of the night, in the studio, draped over one of my machines, in the throes of whipping up bibs and burp pads, goes out the door, with those cartons.
Leftover wreaths, painted mailboxes and flower pots, stacked on production tables; all used for products sold in a New York showroom, make me recall my first trip to New York. A few supplies left over, after numerous trips made to nursing homes, still sit in the corner.
Supplies used for booklets and videos created for Plaid Enterprises and JoAnn Fabrics sit in old bedroom dressers. An Emporium, filled with stitching supplies, designed and decorated with tulle and chintz-covered walls for Victoria Magazine and a taping for The Discovery Channel, still makes me smile. A packing room filled with shelves holding threads, spools and spools of silk ribbon and shelves of silk fabrics, begs to be "fluffed up".
A sitting room with a china and silver-ladened buffet, working fireplace, crystal chandelier and old wicker lounges; that hosted wonderful days filled with women enjoying time in the country, while learning to create their very first Spider Web Rose.
A kitchen table, always lined with bottles of dye from my most recent dyeing excursion, lets me dye ribbons while I look out the window into the back pasture. Any undyed ribbon or piece of silk fabric, holds promise of that sought-after color combination.
I am the luckiest broad on this planet and overwhelmed with Gratitude. And now the gift of reconfiguring the studio with the goal of enjoying all that clean, open space!
As a Thrift Store Junkie, I seem to, weekly take bags of items, to my favorite thrift store which I proudly deposit in the back of the store, only to circle to the front of the store, and load up with someone else's "stuff". I know I am not alone! The other day I found a pretty verdigris brass container filled with dried fruits and berries for $5. I deconstructed the arrangement, which was built to last, and added wire to small pears, apples, artichokes, and berries with twigs. Then I wired them to the tree. And the tree will live in that spot through the winter. I found the owl in the back of a truck, with an assortment of chainsaw art, parked next to me, at a store. I waited for the owner of the truck to return and the female chainsaw artist, was on her way to a craft show. She was delighted that the owl had a new home. The owl was a Christmas gift for my husband. We have barn owls and we never tire of hearing them at night. The little lantern is an inexpensive piece filled with a flameless candle. The inside of the lantern base is filled with walnuts. When we toured the Christmas markets in Germany and Austria, there was nothing more inviting than to see lanterns with flickering candles, that graced the stoops and porches in the villages. 
This is a Ringbearer pillow that I designed for my book "The New Ribbon Embroidery". I have the full-size pattern in the book. The pillow was designed to be used after the wedding. The satin streamers are tacked on each corner and they were meant to be removed. I display several silk ribbon pillows in a guest bedroom to be enjoyed every day.
This is a doll bed that I found at a thrift store. I've placed it in a garden that was named "Moonlight Garden" by a friend that put in the garden. The garden is beneath old trees. Maureen added plants that would offer white flowers. When I'm working in that garden, I think of her. When she finished the garden, she added a poem written on a large flat rock, about moonlight, and placed a small crystal moon-shape piece on the rock. The old buckets are filled with vinca. Coming from West Texas, where nothing grows, due to lack of rain; there will always be much to learn about gardening. I am grateful when our plants thrive.
Summer in the Northeast is never long enough. Wish that season could "steal" several months of winter. I am grateful for each day I can be outdoors. There is so much work to be done. This is a little area in my vegetable garden. We took apart an old ladder and built a trellis. I have a wine bottle and spoon windchime hanging beneath the trellis. There is a small metal armadillo, I found in Texas, "sunning" on the rocks. The old milk pails come from local dairies.
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