Hunting and Gathering

I thought I would give you a sneak preview of some of goodies that I have been collecting for my new website. This is just a small sampling of the types of things that I will be offering.
Last week I brought moved an antique dresser up from our storage space to accomodate my "stock" and was able to move the boxes that have been lurking behind the living room sofa.
Yesterday I took a bag full of antique embroidery scissors to the hardware to be sharpened. I have been laundering boxes of vintage fabric and antique lace and searching for all types of special tools and accoutrement's.

I would love to know whats on your wish list and what might inspire you to be creative.

26 Small Knitting Projects One Skein at a Time

In the process of making room for new projects I am letting go of 28 skeins of novelty yarn and a wonderful book, One Skein by Leigh Radford.

Just like many of my passions, collecting being the biggest, knitting took over my life for the last 10 years. I am not saying that I don't knit any more, because I manage at least one or 2 projects a year.... but there was a time when I was turning out 1 or 2 projects in a month! During this time my other passion, collecting, kicked in and I was unable to pass an interesting skein of yarn with out snatching it up.

For at least 5 years this basket full of yarn has been a fixture under my worktable, quite honestly, I really liked looking at all those wonderful colors and textures. A couple of years ago I purchased this book to encourage me to work my way through the stash.
...alas no needles were put to yarn.
In case you have not been following my blog, a new passion has taken hold...embroidery and needlework...and I am off...collecting and filling baskets and there is no room for my feet under my work table!

You can find this wonderful array of projects just waiting to happen in my Whimrose Projects Ebay store

Check out this cute little drawstring pouch
How about a cute pair of fingerless gloves...its still cool enough to wear them in Chicago!
Love this pom-pom scarf!Darling little throw pillow
Frosting for a cupcake?Just add needles and knit!

J Crew Inspired Bib Necklace

When I received my Spring JCrew catalog a couple of weeks ago I fell in love with this necklace designed and modeled by the very talented Molly Carey. I immediately remembered a bag of vintage enameled flower brooches that I bought a few years ago and I was off on the search...trying to locate those brooches probably took me longer than it took me to make the necklace...When I finally uncovered the brooches tucked deep in the recesses of my stash, I literally dropped everything and began creating my own version.
I started by fusing a piece of felted wool with a piece of hand dyed silk to give sturdy service on which to place my jumble of goodies. I layered an antique linen collar on top of the wool and attached 2 ties made from 2X15" pieces of antique kimono silk that I had ripped, leaving the edges frayed. Next I gathered assorted pins, and buttons, attached the pins and hot glued the buttons in place. Then I, very carefully, cut around the edge of the bonded fabric and VOILA!...a JCrew Inspired Bib Necklace.

Liberty of London Fabric Bead Necklace Kit

When I began blogging two years ago, my third post was a "how to" entitled Louis Vuitton "Knock Off" Fabric Bead Necklace. Two years later I still get comments on this post. In fact that post has brought more comments than any post to date (I really would like to change that...I am envious of those bloggers that get tons of comments..I guess I am still trying to find my people and I am not giving up on that quest!)

A couple of days ago I received a convo from my Etsy shop asking "When are you going to put together those kits?"...you see I have been talking about "kits" for a couple of years. It has been one of many ideas brewing on the back burner of my mind for quite some time. I think the universe is calling my name on this one because in the last couple of weeks I have had more than one person talk to me about "kits".

If you have been following my blog recently you know that I have been hinting about my new website and "kits" are certainly going to be part of this creative project but in the mean time while I continue to build the site I would like to introduce my first DIY Whimrose Project!

Liberty of London Fabric Bead Necklace

The kit will include everything that you need to put together your own necklace.
11 wood beads
2 yards of Midori double face satin ribbon
13 pre-cut Liberty of London print fabric
blunt end stainless steel needle
glue stick
complete instructions

I don't think you will find these at Target when they premiere their line of Liberty of London print merchandise next week!

ps....I will personally select fabric and ribbon colors of your choice.
You can find the kits here

Coming Soon!

Whimrose Project's
A Design Source for Artisans of Stitchery