The Secret Garden

This is the view out of Jean's kitchen window, I'm not sure that I would get any stitching done.

These are just a few pictures of the gardens surrounding Jean's house.

Another view across the river of a picturesque farm.

Flower beds galore.

These lily of the valley smelled so wonderful.

The front gardens, it is a regular park. I don't know how she gets all the gardening and stitching done.

This small visitor as enjoying an upside down treat. What a relaxing place to be.

We enjoyed our visit with Jean and were so glad that she allowed us a look into her garden and home.

Antiques

This little fellow watches over Jean, while she stitches. He was a birthday gift from her son.

Here are more of the items that I found in Jeans house, her flair for display so apparent. Not only does she have a good eye for display, but a good eye for antiques also. Many of these pieces came from our friends at Ilona's Antiques in Maryville, TN

A dainty curio cabinet with small bent wood accents on the glass door.

But what does she have inside? Look close at all her stitching treasures.

A pretty old rocker.

This fine little table with its clean lines.

This small desk it a true gem my photo does not do it justice. For an antique this piece has had good homes as it is in pristine condition.

We must not forget her sewing cabinets. This one is an unusual shape, I think it is begging for a sampler to be mounted in its lid.

This is the outside of the sewing cabinet that was pictured yesterday.

Jean did not know that I was posting all of this and was most touched by your comments. I must say that I look forward to reading them also. Thank you.

May you all enjoy the treasures in your homes and lives.
It is easy to forget how many we do have.

Samplermaker Extraordinaire

We went on a road trip from Franklin to Kingston to meet up with Jean the other half of Cardan Antiques and Needlework. I never seem to be able to take in all of Jeans samplers, house and gardens. This trip I went prepared with camera only to sit down to blog and realize that it will take me at least three posts to let you see what I saw.

Jean has a way to display stitched pieces that makes me want to have her come to fix my house.
Every where you look there are stitched piece in bowls and cabinets on tables and walls. I just wish that my poor little photos could do it all justice.

She has stitched samplers in sewing chests.

And is well known for her love of tiny over one stitching. She loves it so much that she stitched both the Houses and the Village of Hawkrun Hollow over one! She calls it love, but it may be more like crazy, oops that's just jealousy speaking, because I'm still working on the Houses over two and I'm not telling how long its been.

Over the next few days I will show you more of Jean our stitcher extraordinaire.

Never Enough Boxes

I'm a firm believer that you can never have enough boxes! So here is one more. I found this cool paper mache box with six tiny boxes inside. I had to have it, but then what to do with it....

If your like me you have lots of piece of needlework in all stages, from barely started to almost finished. So I rummaged around in the almost finished pile and there it was the perfect fit, a little punchneedle piece that Lori from Notforgotten Farm designed. It was just meant to be, so out come the paints, and this is what happened.

Don't despair if you don't have the perfect place or finish for a project, keep your eyes open, for it always seems to just fall in place.

This piece is listed on the website http://www.cardanenterprises.com/, because my husband noticed just how many boxes I already have around the house.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

Hope everyone had a productive weekend, or at least a restful one.
The weather here in TN was cooler, but that made planting the garden a pleasure. Now if we can just keep the deer out!

After planting the garden it was time to get some items ready for the website. This weekend needle felting sounded like the thing to do. I made three pin cushions that sit in different bases. Bugs were the theme.













I got the WEBMASTER to start posting patterns on the "patterns" page of http://www.cardanenterprises.com/
If your not familiar with Little by Little designs take a look as she puts a new twist on the classic sampler.

Be sure to check back regularly because our next big push will be lots of Carriage House Samplings patterns.

And the Winner Is

This well trained cat known to all as KAT KOO has picked a winner from our small bowl of entries.

CONGRATULATIONS TAMI!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone that participated in the drawing. Keep watching for specials and more chances to win.

Danny will be adding more patterns in the days to come. Thanks for being patient.

The Perfect Weather

The Perfect Weather for the Tennessee State Flower to bloom.

The Perfect Weather for the Red Buds to flower.

The Perfect Red Bud crazy yet contained!

The Perfect Berry!
This new Pattern from Notforgotten Farm is a joy to punch
I changed up the colors just a bit to look like those giant berries fresh from the field, my funnel was a bit to large so I put it on an oil can.
This juicy berry didn't last a minuet on the finished items page on the website, others will be growing so if your in the market for some fresh ripe berries watch the website or contact me!

We do have one pattern left at http://www.cardanenterprises.com/ come by and take a look. While your visiting be sure to sign up for the Give Away its coming up on April 15th, don't miss out!!!

Addiction

I must confess I have an addiction, well maybe two. The first is to furniture, with a smaller house this can become a problem, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to face this fact. I probably should not even have written this much as my husband may use it to sell some. Here is the newest piece to make it in the house. Great for displaying all of those collections of STUFF. Any stuff, old, new, bought, handmade, salvaged it all works!

See all the STUFF.

A close up of handmade and old stuff.

Do you recognize this little sampler of The Goode Huswife? The original was made into a cute little shadow box which I thought was to much work for me, so I changed it a bit. I found a paper mach box that it fit on perfectly. I painted it with milk paint and distressed it some, you know to make the new look old. Then I thought the inside needed some thing, a pincushion. I used wool and mimicked the lambs tongues that were on the stitched piece using wool in similar colors. The little fish button finished it off he is swimming in the pond under the swan.

I guess I have revealed a lot so what may you ask is the other addiction, oh that's just to Dr Pepper

New Items on Cardan Antiques and Needlework

There are new items posted on www.cardanenterprises.com, go for a visit and be sure to sign up for the free drawing. More details on the contact page!

ENTER FREE DRAWING

You could win this stitched Stacy Nash design.
Enter the drawing on our website www.cardanenterprises.com go to the contact page for directions. The drawing will be held on April 15th just a little some thing to help ease the pain!

Spring is here in Tennessee

I always drive down the roads here in TN and look at the beautiful spring flowers and trees and wish I had a camera, so today I did it. I remembered to take out the camera in order to share some of the blooms with you all for Easter!

May your Easter be filled with joy, family, friends and lots of spring blooms.