Purfled Clothespins by My Sister

Purfled Clothespins by My Sister, originally uploaded by confections.

My two sisters are crafty as well, and my sister Linda's latest creations are shown here: "All Washed Up" Decorative Scrappy ♥Purfled♥ Clothespins.

She hand-decorates them with premium scrap paper in delightful pastels and they are charming as well as utilitarian. The paper is not coated, so its beauty and tactile quality can be appreciated with use.

♥Purfle: to finish or decorate the border or edge of ♥

A few ideas:

to clip cards and tags to gifts

to use when drying delicates

to clip notes together on your desktop

to use in baby & bridal shower games and as favors

to use as placecard holders at the table for parties


You will find many uses for these old-fashioned everyday beauties.

Please watch for my sister's new Etsy shop "tagsale" opening soon.

Ragamuffin Handspun Yarn, Gauge Swatch

Ragamuffin Handspun Yarn, Gauge Swatch, originally uploaded by confections.

I spent some time yesterday working up a gauge swatch with my Ragamuffin cotton rag yarn for a rug project. This is knit in garter stitch on size 15 (US) knitting needles. I may tweak it up to a size 17, because the garter stitch is so dense. This would make a great bath mat or small rug near the kitchen sink.

I decided to use the golden ratio to determine a pleasing rectangular size rug. I'm no mathematician, but the fiberarts often encourage me to branch out and apply all that stuff learned in school.

I'll alternate colorful yarn skeins every two rows or so for a stripey effect. I gravitate toward the scrappy look in quilts, too.

My Maternal Grandfather as a Baby (Restored Tintype) [two]

My Maternal Grandfather as a Baby (Restored Tintype) [two], originally uploaded by confections.

My maternal grandfather was born 130 years ago today on July 25th, 1878. I never knew this grandfather except through photos of him as an adult and my Mother's stories. I had never seen this small tintype photo of him as a baby until I visited my Aunt Margaret on her farm in Muncie, Indiana, at Thanksgiving 2001.

She generously let us scan some family photos, including this image. The original tintype was a bit faded and damaged. When I posted the scan on flickr, one of my long-lost Galbraith cousins saw it and restored it to the state you see here. Thanks, Al! The original photo is shown below and a sepia version is included as well.

The Slugmobile in Her Early Days

The Slugmobile in Her Early Days, originally uploaded by confections.

More nostalgia from the archives: our 1978 Ford E-150 van, the Slugmobile, parked outside our new house in 1981. The blue in the far background is San Diego Bay.

The Slugmobile served us well for over twenty-five years--through one flood, many surf trips, one cross-country move of our own (and several local moves for friends). At the end, in September of 2004, she went to a local charity. Who knows, she could still be cruising the highways.

My Wedding Day, December 1981

My Wedding Day, December 1981, originally uploaded by confections.

I've been scanning family photos this week and came upon this one taken just before I got married on the beach in a cove near the Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, California.

I handmade my wedding dress from a vintage fine lawn eyelet bedspread that I had bought at a garage sale in Houston, where we had lived before moving to California.

We've celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary (plus one and a half) and are still going strong.

Vintage Handpainted Porcelain Salt & Pepper Shakers

Vintage Handpainted Porcelain Salt & Pepper Shakers, originally uploaded by confections.

I have a passion for handpainted porcelain, and these signed thrift-store salt and pepper shakers are bona fide treasures to add to my collection. The gentleman who waited on my sister and me had known the painter, Debbie Shattuck, who passed away a few years ago. These are dated 1952.

Other items painted by her had been donated to the shop, but these were the last of the lot. My sister got a set, too, and we feel lucky to have found them.

Sweet Niece

Sweet Niece, originally uploaded by confections.

This is one of my four nieces; she was three at the time and just turned nineteen this month. Happy Birthday, Liebling!

She's wearing a handpainted silk crepe-de-chine scarf that I made for her--it featured ripe pumpkins on the vine and the alphabet and numbers. This was taken by me in October 1992 in Pennsylvania with my husband's Nikon camera.