photo tour

I had a lovely week enjoying a visit with my best friend Anna, who I haven't seen for a very long time (so long, in fact, that in the period since I last saw her my family has acquired 2 dogs, 1 child who is now 3 years old, and moved across the country--needless to say we had quite a bit of catching up to do). We enjoyed road tripping, swimming, movie-watching, and general girly chatting/dishing/giggling over fashion magazines, etc.

We also spent a fantastic afternoon here, wandering, people-watching, and smelling the roses, so to speak.

The textures and sculptures at the gardens were at least as fascinating as the flora. I was especially captivated by the Thai Pavilion, with its dragon-scaled roof and gold leaf ornamentation. I could have stayed there for hours, gazing into the fountains, watching the ducks, and dreaming about the pavilion's long voyage across the sea. So relaxing.

Where have you traveled this summer? Hopefully you have seen some lovely and new places, whether far away or close to home.

Happy exploring,
Kim

I suspect

That I may need to move someplace sunnier. I'm one of those folks who notices a distinct downturn in mood when it's cloudy outside, and we have had nothing but dreary, overcast days for the past week. You'll notice that I mention the weather quite frequently in my posts. It doesn't help that I sew in a basement room, and have but one window, that faces....northwestish? In any case, I don't get any direct sunlight down here, which is not only depressing but downright awful for taking pictures. Which is why I haven't yet shared my latest apron creation. (I will, soon...right Mother Nature?)

I needed a little bit of faux sunlight to perk me up this week, so I did what anyone else would do--I did some flickr-surfing. And I found this fantastic quilt. I think I gasped audibly when I first saw it. And I knew I had to make one. Had to as in I was going to be obsessed with this idea until I started making a string quilt of my own. And it had to have white center strings because that is completely brilliant.

After staring at my fabric stash for a moment or two, I started grabbing print after print. I think half my stash was on my ironing board at one point (it now lies in gloriously high piles on my cutting table). A little confession: I've always been terrified of scrappy projects. My brain has a serious problem with putting any old fabric next to any old fabric. Everything has to match, perfectly. I truly envy people who can throw a pile of random fabrics together and it ends up looking fantastic.

So this was also somewhat of attempt to just let go.

Except that I couldn't.

You have no idea how not-random these quilt blocks are.

But I'm okay with that. That's just the way my mind works I guess. In any case, I sure had fun creating a bit of sunshine on my own. And I have about 44 more quilt blocks worth of sunshine-making left to create!

Hope the weather is better wherever you are...
Kim

Sunny Day

In case you were curious about what my finished projects were in my last post, here they are: new clothespin aprons! They're fun as hostess aprons too. You can find all three of these aprons in my shop.

There's something so fresh and crisp about lemon-lime (Alexander Henry lemon print/American Jane polka dots)

I can't resist this combo of royal blue and orange (Denyse Schmidt daisy print/American Jane Pez print)

I love these cool oceany blue pressed flower and stripes prints by Amy Butler

This is quite possibly my favorite new print combo, a rose bouquet Pop Garden print by Heather Bailey paired with polka line by Anna Maria Horner. LOVE it.

I've got another Heather-Anna pairing in the works that is fab-u-lous. Can't wait to show you.

Have a lovely day!
Kim

Peonies & Popsicles

As the end of the school year approaches, our pace of life has been accelerating steadily with appointments, planning for summer visitors, sewing orders, and somehow not letting four dogs' worth of winter fur take over the house. I always seem to get more done the busier I am, and yet I was reaching a point where I needed a time-out. Fortunately I was in a cooking sort of mood the other day, and whipped up a batch of perfect aqua playdough. Jack and I spent a good hour playing with the warm dough and giggling nonstop. The photograph below is not representative of the fantastic mess we made of it.

After a much needed break, it was back to the grind. But last night I was awakened by a tremendous thunderstorm. I had to rush out of bed to close the windows and lay awake as lighting completely illuminated our bedroom. It was the kind of Midwestern thunderstorm that used to terrify me as a child, and in fact it didn't take long before we heard little feet padding down the stairs and climbing into bed with us. The storm finally subsided and we drifted back to sleep. This morning I ventured outside to see how the garden fared, and discovered some lovely and very waterlogged peonies that had begun to bloom.

The rain had completely rejuvenated the flowers and grass and our little bird feeding area was teeming with baby robins and rabbits. It reminded me how I've always been fascinated by the process of watching things grow. Flowers bloom from tiny buds, small kids grow into bigger kids even after consuming what seems like nothing but dirt and popsicles, piles of neatly folded fabric turn into something completely different.

Even after years of sewing, I still love watching this

turn into this

turn into this

I guess sometimes it just takes a good rain to make me slow down and enjoy life's little everyday magic. I hope you too can find the time to stop and smell the flowers today, or at least share a popsicle with a loved one.

Kim

Spring

I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend! I spent a good portion of mine shopping local nurseries for new perennial flowers, and then the remainder directing my husband where to dig all the holes for planting (I can be very good at delegating tasks, especially when it involves pickaxes and heavy shovels!). The landscaping around our house when we moved into it consisted primarily of hosta (mostly in sunny, dry spots...why??) and some non-descript shrubs that appear to be healthy breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which won't do at all. I adore birds and butterflies, so we put in some salvia, black-eyed susans, dianthus and lavender. I had no idea that dianthus smells so incredibly good, I could spend all day sitting in the garden smelling the plants. Next on my list is echinacea and shasta daisies.

The other day I was sitting in my favorite spot in the kitchen looking out the window and it was like a scene from a Disney movie, with all sorts of furry and befeathered critters frolicking outside: chipping sparrows and goldfinches at the birdfeeder, a chipmunk chirping on the rocks, and a couple of rabbits hopping through the grass. One of these days I'll have my camera outfitted with a zoom lens with me to capture it. In the meantime you can enjoy the flowers which stay nice and still when I crouch next to them to take pictures.

It was so energizing to spend time in the garden, I'm feeling very inspired for Spring. Hopefully that will translate into some fun new creations in the sewing room. That is, if my kids will take a break from being such night owls! Ever since the days started getting longer, my littlest guy can't seem to figure out when it is that he's supposed to sleep.

I've also noticed the clotheslines starting to come out, which means it's officially clothespin apron weather!

What's your favorite sign of Spring?

Out of Town

For anyone who is planning to purchase a sewing pattern this weekend, please know that I will be out of town and will send all patterns purchased Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (May 15-16-17) on Monday, May 18. Thank you for being patient and have a great weekend!

Kim

Shop update

Thanks for such a warm response to my new pattern! It's always a little scary to embark on something new but you all are making it completely painless.

However, it sounds as though some of you are having trouble checking out with the pattern in my shop. I'm thinking that there has been an occasional issue with the pattern disappearing out of a cart because it sold or I've taken it offline momentarily to update a listing. If this happens to you please go back to the main page of my shop and try again--I'm now making sure that there are always at least one or two listings with several copies of the pattern available at any given time.

You may also purchase the pattern right here from my blog by clicking the "Buy Now" button in the sidebar on the right side of the screen. Let me know if you have any issues with it, though I believe it should work okay.

Have a lovely rest of the day!
Kim

A New Leaf

I love spring, but who doesn't? I'm appreciating it even more this year since moving away from Georgia, where the just about the only thing that differentiates the seasons is what kind of songbirds you see in your backyard. Don't get me wrong, I do love those songbirds, but this year after being buried in the snow for a solid 5 months (holy cow!), I am good and ready for flowers and leaving my mittens indoors.

It's also a season of new beginnings, and this year that is especially true of my business. You may have noticed a hint or two that I've been working on something new, well I finally get to share it with you and I'm beyond excited! Ever since I started offering pear pincushions in my shop, I've been receiving requests for the pattern. And then I began making ornaments and pillows and I heard from even more of you. So, without further ado...Say hello to the first of my Retro Mama Sewing Patterns, Plush Pear Trio: Pincushion, Ornament, and Pillow!

If you have seen my tutorial, you will already be familiar with my instructional style. However, this pattern is even better. Not only is the layout prettier, but you’ll find a glossary of terms and techniques found in the pattern and also hints for construction that will help you be successful. The pattern is in PDF format, which lets you save paper by only printing the pattern pieces if you wish, and bonus! The pattern pieces are to scale so there's no need to enlarge, just print and sew. Orders will be e-mailed to you within a couple of hours of purchase so you can start sewing today!

You can purchase this pattern at my Etsy shop. Look for more patterns in the future, and I'm certainly taking suggestions if you have a favorite project of mine that you'd like to see as a pattern.

Now, I know some of you will have questions about the pattern, and I love that you contact me so I can help you out, but this time I'd like to ask that you post your questions in my flickr group, Retro Mama Pattern Projects, so everyone can benefit from any advice I give. Also, I would love to see your creations so please post those project photos in the group as well!

So let's get sewing!

Kim

Published!

I was asked awhile back to contribute to an e-book of tips for Etsy sellers by Julie of On the Dot Creations. She has the cutest blog featuring fabulous finds from Etsy sellers (finds that are almost too good, my wallet doth protest) and so I was happy to help out. Well the e-book is now available, so for anyone out there who might be looking for some great tips to improve their shop, or for those of you considering starting your own crafty business on Etsy, check out Julie's great--and free--e-book, Hints of Savvy Etsy Sellers! Lots of super talented sellers/artists have contributed some excellent ideas and I've learned a few new things, too.

Now, this is not the big project that I was referring to in my last post, so stay tuned for more about that very soon! Are you on tenterhooks yet? (Don't you just love that saying? And I have no idea why, but it reminds me of Harry Potter, perhaps because I'm on tenterhooks waiting for the next movie? I don't get terribly excited about most new movies, but for that one I'll make an exception. Okay, maybe also this one, too. Did I just reveal a bit of my inner nerd-child? I believe I did!)

Although, someone, somewhere, has already guessed it (too obvious, right? Oh well, I've already told you how I am with secrets. And have I mentioned that I like parenthetical phrases?).

Until next time...
Kim

New project

I know I've been quiet lately. I've been rather busy putting together a new project that I think you'll like. But I can't tell you what it is. Yet.

But soon.

Promise!

(My little helper, raiding the photo shoot.)

Although, it's not as though I'm a very good secret keeper, not for my own secrets anyway. I'll bet you know what it is already.

But now, I'm off to enjoy 78 degrees and sunny skies, and try to stretch out some stiff shoulders from hunching over in front of a computer for days. I never had such poor posture until the internet. Must work on that. Also, I think there might be some Oreos in the kitchen with my name on them. Yep.

Have a lovely day!
Kim