College, Family Music, Embroidery

My baby boy Keith left for college this past weekend.  He will have band camp for two weeks and then his classes will start the next week.  He took a lot of his stuff with him this past weekend and will be coming home for the rest this coming weekend.  I miss him already! 

This is a picture of Keith's best friend, Phillip, and Keith right before they left for college.  They have been best friends since 1st grade and will be roommates in college. 

Recently I got out my Daddy's old reel to reel recorder/player.  We have lots of tapes that have his and his brother's music on it and one special tape that my brother, George, recorded.  George died in 1967.  So it is great that we still have this tape.  The old reel to reel was not working, but I worked on it and got it to working.  It is only 40 years old!  It was fantastic to hear some of these old tapes.  I am working on getting a device to plug into it so I can record the reels to CD and share them with my family.  While working on this I did a search on the Internet on Tommy Spurlin (that's my uncle).  Back in the 50's my Daddy and Uncle's had a group called the Southern Boys.  They were known as Tommy Spurlin & The Southern Boys.  I found a web site that had a lot of information about them on it but only one picture of my Uncle and it was not even him!  What a hoot!  So I contacted the person who did the website and sent him pictures to put on the site.  Here is a link to it if you would like to see:

http://www.bopping.org/tommy-spurlin-the-southern-boys-from-average-hillbilly-to-superlative-rockabilly-louisiana-and-florida-1954-56/

Some of the information is not correct.  The part about my uncle being sacked by the band and my Daddy assuming his identity.  I have contacted the man again about correcting this and he has assured me he will as soon as he gets back from his vacation.  It has been fun looking at all this old stuff and discussing it all with my Daddy.  I took a couple cassettes of their music up to the nursing home and played them for Daddy.  He was so happy to hear himself and his brothers singing and playing again!

Below is a picture that my Daddy drew in the 50's to promote their songs.  I recently found it and it was in very poor condition.  I had it laminated to protect it.  I could not scan the whole thing at once on my scanner as it is too large so I did it in two pieces.

Here is a picture of my daddy and The Southern Boys:

That's my Daddy on the left in the white hat and playing the mandolin.  Uncle Tommy Spurlin is at the mic.  Uncle Goat (Jerry) Dumas is kinda behind Uncle Tom.  Uncle Junior (Ivy) Dumas is on the far right playing the guitar.  On most of their records my Daddy is playing the bass fiddle.  I don't know who the man is that is sitting close to Daddy playing the steel guitar.  It might be Bill Johnson as he played some with them.

I have still been working on some of my journal pages and  embroidering some other pieces that I hope to put together to make a purse.

Here are a few things I have made recently:

First is a journal page of my Daddy's hand and his picture.  I worked on this a good bit while sitting with him at the nursing home and he loved it!

The flip side of this page is a copy of a doodle picture my brother, Keith, drew when he was in high school over 40 years ago.  I traced it onto fabric and embroidered it.  If he were still alive he would love it!

Below are a few pieces I have done that I plan to make into a purse.  Just have to decide how! hahaha

Tara's silhouette (when she was young)

Keith's silhouette  (when he was young)

Amber's silhouette  (when she was young)

Cupcake ATC I made for a swap.

Hodge podge piece I made.

For a larger journal.

Emblem off of my brother's (Keith) car.  I have had it for years and finally decided to embroidery around it.  Don't know what I am going to do with it now.

Fabric Book in process

I have decided to make a fabric book.  When my Mama died she had several pieces of embroidery that she had started and never finished.  I am taking those pieces and cutting out what she did finish and using that to make a book.  I am also using some of the old embroidery that she and I did many, many years ago.  Some of the old pieces have been stained and have holes in them so I am cutting out the good parts and putting them in my book.  Below are pictures of what I have gotten done so far.

What I have been working on lately

It seems I go from one thing to the other lately.  I was tatting for quiet awhile.  Then I was crocheting for a long time.  Now I seem to have gone on to embroidery!  I just love it all!
Here is a nice little wrist bag I crocheted to hold my thread when crocheting.

I had then crocheted all kinds of little circles and flowers.  So I made this cute little postcard to send to my daughter who is at Navy Boot Camp.

I also made this little piece by sewing a crocheted circle in the middle and crocheted flowers and buttons and beads on it.  I am not sure yet what I am going to do with it. 

This is my first piece of free form embroidery.  I might make a pin cushion out of it.  Someone suggested that and it sounds like a good idea.

This is a brooch I am working on.  I want to add some more beads and such to it.  I just have to decide which ones and where.

This is another piece I am working on.  I have put several things on it that I like.  I have appliqued two small pieces of my Mama's embroidery onto it. 

This is a little bag that I made using a needle lace tecnique.  It is very tiny.  Maybe 1-1/2 inches  if even that big.

I have done 4 post since yesterday so maybe now I am caught up.  I will try not to go so long inbetween post.  It's just hard sometimes.

I've been told it has been a while since I last posted. My best friend mentioned yesterday that I had not posted in a while and wanted to know what was up with that! It's nice to know she reads my blog.

We did have a big event happen this past week. My son, Keith, who turned 15 in February, got his learners permit! So now everywhere I go Keith wants to drive me! Friday after I got off work he drove me to Wal-Mart. He had a little problem with the parking. He pulled into a space just fine, but he wanted to go straight on through into the next space so that he would have to back up when we went to leave. The problem was there was a shopping cart in the way so he pulled over to the next space. Well, they left the car totally crooked. I was trying to instruct him on how to back up and get the car straight, but it wasn't working very good. So he finally turned off the motor and said this would do! Can you tell from the photos that he is in 4 different parking spaces?! I just died laughing! We just left it that way since we weren't going to be in the store but a few minutes. Other then the parking he seems to be doing pretty good.
Keith did tell me that he likes driving with me in the passenger seat better then his dad or Amber because I don't yell at him! This made me feel good. I told him that I keep reminding myself that he is just learning to drive and to stay calm. There are times when I am pushing on my imaginary brake harder then he is on his real one!
This morning Amber and I went to a few yard sales. I found this really cute little girl vase. Isn't she just adorable? I only paid 50 cents for her and she is in excellent condition.
Here is a side view where you can see the vase part. I want to make a pincushion out of her. When I showed her to Tara, she asked me how I could make a pincushion out of something hard! I had to explain to her that I would put some batting and fabric in the pot part!
This is the piece of embroidery I have been working on. I know it looks kinda strange right now, but it will all come together once I finish it.
This is the original drawing that my brother, Keith, did with a pencil. I plan to do black in the lighter colored parts. I want to use it in a panel for the side of a purse. Well, that is my plans now. But who knows, that could change!
I sure hope it turns out like I want it to. Well, I have to go back out and check my laundry. It seems that's all I do on Saturday afternoons!

Green Fairy Wall Hanging

Yeah! It's Friday! Don't know if this is a good thing or not because tomorrow I get to take my two kids to go school shopping! We have to drive 70 miles to the nearest large town as they really do not have what the kids need here in our small town. When the kids were really little I could get most everything here. But now that Keith is 6 foot and has to have khaki pants and wears such a big shoe we have to go somewhere else to find them. And of course Tara cannot just wear regular school pants she has to have name brand ones! So off we will go. I always feel sorry for Keith as he hates going into the girly stores with Tara and me looking for Tara's clothes. I think we will hit the book store first and he can get the books he wants and sit on a bench in the mall and read while we shop! Or he could probably stay in the book store while we shop. Now I know this may sound crazy, after all the boy is 6 foot and about 200 pounds, but I worry about leaving him alone in a store! He is after all still only 14. Of course he does have his cell phone to call me should he need me. I have always been a very over protective mother. My kids have told me this on more than one occasion. I can't help it. It's in my blood!
The good thing about going school shopping is I get to go to the fabric store while I am there!!! That's my favorite part. Of course my kids don't care for going there. Oh well, they will have to endure since I have to endure all the other shopping. I hate shopping for clothes.
Below are two pictures of my Green Fairy Wall Hanging. One of the whole thing and one of a close up of just the fairy. If you remember from a few posts back I made a hussif with a photo of myself in the Green Fairy costume. I was in a play about Rumplestiltskin when I was 7 years old.
Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Memory Embroidery

Check out this cool website! This is an embroidery done by Jenny Hart of Dolly Parton. I just love her work! http://www.jennyhart.net/

I love to do a lot of different kind of embroidery. Not just pre-printed or the normal stuff. I like to do memory things. Like things that represent people or events in my life. On the inside of this book cover is a silly picture of a Road Runner bird that my brother, Keith, had drawn on his binder when he was a senior in high school back in 1970. The first car he had was a Plymouth Road Runner. It was red and he loved that car! I made a copy of the picture he drew and traced it on white cotton fabric to embroidery. I also put my children's names on the inside of the book cover.
On the front I put a butterfly because, as you can probably tell by all my butterfly quilts, I love butterflies. I put my initial and a Red Bird and rose button in tribute to my mother who loved both. The back is just a design that I saw in a book and liked.
I can hardly wait to try embroidering a portrait myself! I think I will do one of my mama first.

More close ups of Memory Wall Hanging

Close up of our house.
Close up of pine trees.
Close up of store that was 5 miles down the road that we went to.
Close up of wisteria bush. I love wisteria bushes. They smell great!

Close up of rose bush. My mama loved roses, especially red roses. So my piece would not be complete without a rose bush!