Shashiko

This summer when my granddaughter, Elly, came to visit, she wanted to do some patches on some of her shirts. While searching for ideas to cut and sew, I came upon this Japanese patching technique called Shashiko. The pattern I was looking at was very beautiful and precise. But the article continues on to say that there were simple ways to imitate this form of patching

and went on to give step-by-step instructions on embellishing a shirt with scraps of fabric.

Here are some of the pictures of how I went about putting patches on my denim shirt and making it a unique piece of

clothing. I am pretty happy with how it came out!

Happy New Year!

Open up

Lose that fear

Take a chance

Won't you, this year

For if there's just

One guarantee

It's that life is short

For you and me

Do tough things:

Look around

Take your head

Out of the ground

Shine truth and light

Give love away

To someone hurting

This is the day

--Esther Leclerc

Irish Pottery

On one of my many visits this past year, to the Goodwill Store here in town, I found these lovely dishes in amongst the other plates. I pulled out one and found that it was heavier than most dishes and seemed to be quite a bit thicker than most plates. The back had a Nicholas Mosse Irish Pottery stamp on it. When I did a Google Search, I found that they are quite rare and desirable...and worth about $60-$85 EACH!

Needless to say, I grabbed all five and they are now part of my collection!

Blue Tulip and Red Tulip Pattern

Blue Clematis and Purple Clematis Pattern

Wild Pink Rose Pattern