Julie's Keepsakes

My Mom recently gave me two folk art plates! I am very excited to have them. I put them with my 2 rooster plates that I have displayed on the wall above our french doors. The plates my mother gave me are set in winter, but I think I'll keep them up all year round. They are very pretty!

Below are my rooster plates.

Here they are joined with my rooster plates. I know they don't really mesh well with one another, but they are plates and I love them. I had a group of 4 rooster plates, but my Mom likes roosters too and I decided to give her the other two ~ she got to choose which plates she wanted.

I made a new discovery today. I was on PatternMart.com and was adding various designs to my 'wish list'. I've been going through the alphabet of designers all afternoon with periodic breaks for other things. I'm not even finished going through the list. I'm on letter "J" right now. So far, I love PatternMart. It's a great place to purchase those folk art, primitive pieces you just have to get your hands on ASAP. If you're anything like me sometimes having to wait for mail just doesn't suffice the stitching hunger and sometimes I don't feel like trekking out to the shop. PatternMart gives you the option of ordering by download. It's great!

I found another primitive designer. Some of you may have already heard of her, but I am new to this style of cross stitch and home decor. Her name is Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. I find her designs appealing and primitive, of course. lol

I also stumbled onto a ton of folk art-primitive-rustic-grungy type websites. It'll take me forever to go through every single one on the list, but I am enjoying myself. I am learning so much about textiles, differences in fabrics, and ways of "dirtying" up a piece. For instance:

The Rustic Rooster ~ this website has a great array of primitive, folk art, rustic pieces. I'm still sifting.
Simply Gianna Primitives ~ I love this site! It's very pretty and has lots to offer. I love the stitchery that could be made into cross stitch and embroidery pieces. Reasonably priced too.
The Pitchy Patch ~ this is a great little directory/market for anything primitive, folk art, grungy, patterns; you name it you'll probably find it here.
Prairie Creek Primitives ~ for the really grungy style.
Country Crow Stitches ~ this is just a great website. I found so much that I was looking for.

These are just several of the 50+ that I book marked in my Favorites. I still have many many to route through. I did get a little stitching done, but not as much as I should have. I traded from being mama, to stitching on my quick-stitch weekend piece (and it isn't done - boo hoo!), talking to my Aunt on the phone, to web searching for primitives and decor, to adding to my wish list on PatternMart.com.

I have so much I want do and I just can't seem to make room. I am usually very good at scheduling and sticking to a plan. Maybe I have too much on my plate. lol And I have plans to start working part time? Oh man, how am I ever going to get anything done?!?!

It's late! Talk to everyone Monday. Goodnight, sleep tight!