nostalgic daydreaming

I may have mentioned that I was doing a bit of spring cleaning in my last post. Actually, that is somewhat of an understatement, just ask my garage full of things I've set aside for a yard sale. A Clean House style yard sale. Well, almost. (You try cramming 2300 square feet of stuff into a 1400 square foot house, that's all I'm saying.)

In the course of sorting through my things, this sweet little doll appeared, who I believe was made in France, and given to me at the age of 8 or 9.

The name Elizabetta is penciled in on her bloomers and I think she is delightful.

I'm not a frilly sort of gal, and I'm definitely not a doll person (is it something about the way their eyes follow you??) but I think Elizabetta will be a nice companion in my sewing room.

Getting rid of lots of things sort of cleared out some space in the house, and...well, I might have brought in a few new/old things as well. I found myself in a thrift shop yesterday (don't ask me how these things happen, I swear I was only going to the fabric store for thread), and was strolling along the bedding aisle when my feet came to a sudden, involuntary stop. Apparently I had just stumbled upon where vintage sheets go to heaven. Well, I was in heaven, anyway.

I found this lovely number



And these



And then I let out a little schoolgirl squeal when I came across this one



For two reasons:

1. I immediately recognized this as my beloved bedsheet pattern from childhood. (Yes, Mom, you read that right, I was quite enamored of those flowers, for whatever reason)

2. Almost immediately after this, I did some mental math which told me that my childhood sheets were now considered vintage. Very vintage.

Now I just need to decide how I want to use the sheets. I daydream about this bunting, which might be just the project for my thrifty finds, and the perfect addition to our Spring decor.

Well. In that case, I'd best get sewing!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday,

Kim

spring cleaning

These granny squares have been lurking around my craft area for awhile, pretty much ever since Hope Valley arrived, so I figured I was past due in posting photos. Leave it to Denyse Schmidt to make me fall in love with purple + orange.

Visit this great granny squares tutorial if you're in the mood to try a little crochet yourself.



I've spent very little quality time with my sewing machine lately (boo), but I have managed to put together a little something that I think you'll enjoy. Soon. Even those of you who don't sew.



Check out my new tags, aren't they the cutest? That little blue bird makes me so happy. Oh yes, I still get excited about every little thing. And before I receive another slew of e-mails asking...I got the labels here.

Now, Easter is coming up and I know that many of you probably remember my fabric egg tutorial from last year, but I wanted to make sure to remind you that there is still have enough time to whip up something adorable (and easy) in time for the holiday! My kiddos played with those eggs long after the Easter Bunny's tail disappeared over the horizon and I'm sure yours will love them too. So many of you have posted your gorgeous egg photos in my flickr group, thank you so much, I love them all!

Now, back to whatever it is I should be doing right now. Oh yes, sleeping!

Hope you're having a wonderful week...
Kim

Tea-riffic

After my last post, I was excited to see that lots of you wanted to run straight to your sewing machine and make your own tea cozies, or tea cosies, as our friends across the pond might say.

Well, I'd like to introduce you to my Posy Cozies PDF sewing pattern, now available. I hope that plenty of teapots will be sporting brand new quilted jackets this season!



This sewing pattern is fun, quick, and as with all of my patterns, comes with full color photographs and tutorial style instructions, great for beginners and beyond.Your tea cozy will have an adorable hanging loop and the lining is fully attached.

In my instructions, I'll show you how to make two different patchwork designs, Layer Cake and Coin Sandwich. (You all know how much I love coins!)

Also, you can drool over my fantastic new vintage teapot. I never had strong feelings one way or the other about Fiestaware in the past, but once I laid eyes on this heavenly aqua tea set, well, you know the rest of the story. It just makes me want to tie on an apron and throw a tea party.





As usual, you can find this and all of my patterns at my shop or in the sidebar at right.

Bon Appe-tea! (sorry, I couldn't resist)

Kim

two for tea

I have a calculated and deliberate strategy for determining which project I will take on next. It goes something like this: A friend will say to me, "I decided that you should make tea cozies because I can't find any cute ones," and then I reply,

"Okay. Would you like one lump or two with that?"



And now I'm kind of obsessed with them. Patchwork and quilting on a small(er) scale is so much fun.

And it's way less commitment than making an entire quilt. Plus, I got to dig into my new Hope Valley stash, which is, um, gorgeous.

I never drank hot tea as a youngster. My mom is from the South and so I spent my youth drinking sweet tea. Which is, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, iced tea, with plenty of sugar. I didn't discover hot tea until I lived in New York and we'd go to a local grocer to pick up lovely hot teas, which we would leisurely sip on Sunday mornings, accompanied by fresh pastries and followed by a peaceful walk through Central Park. Sigh.





Which reminds me, that was the year we brought Humphrey home. When he was super tiny, before he had all his vaccinations, I would carry him around in a backpack so I could socialize him (hint: the best way to meet people in New York, or anywhere, probably, is to have a cute puppy).

Once an older gentleman approached me and asked if I was carrying a monkey. I still laugh when I think about it.

Humphrey was an adolescent in this photo, still growing into those ginormous paws and ears. He's about 60 pounds now, a gentle giant who doesn't realize that he's a big dog. He still tries to climb into the luggage if we're packing for a trip.

We would impress the crowds at the park because we would pack a carton of fruit and Humphrey would eat it right off the fork. We don't spoil our dogs, nope.

All this reminiscing and tea talk makes me want to brew some tea and watch some of my favorite Britcoms. Yes, I could really go for a waterside supper and riparian entertainment right about now...



And to make more tea cozies, of course.

UPDATE: you can now find these tea cozies in my shop!

Revealed

Remember how I cryptically mentioned a Top Secret project a little while ago? Well, as you may have guessed, that project was a gift for a good friend, and now that posting photos won't spoil the surprise, I get to share it with you.



I rarely have the time to make quilts, I don't sell them in my shop so it's really a matter of making the time. I don't know how some people manage to whip out a quilt in a day or two but I need more time to plan things out (a.k.a. play with fabric) and work on fabric placement (a.k.a. play with fabric some more). And, you know, find stuff I've mislaid along the way.

I knew I wanted to start with some lovely Pop Garden prints, and to use the Stacked Coin pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.

But, in typical Kim fashion, I managed to misplace my copy of the book so I had to wing it when it came time to working out all the measurements. I'm pretty sure my coins are a little thinner than the pattern calls for but at least I got to squeeze in all my favorites. And speaking of squeezed, I think I'll call this quilt Cherry Lime-Aid. The colors are so summery and fresh.

I used plain old straight line quilting from top to bottom, except I didn't mark the lines as I wanted some natural looking waviness. The quilting lines are about one quarter inch apart and I'm completely in love with the texture the quilt took on. I also used a thin cotton batting so it would get nicely crinkled in the wash. Yummy.

It was really hard to fold this quilt up and send it off in the mail.

A little quilt I-Spy: you'll notice some Farmer's Market, Summer Soiree, American Jane (of course, I can hardly put together a special sewing project without my favorite ruler print), Amy Butler's Lotus, some Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy...pretty much a little of everything.

And don't you just get a kick out of quilt binding? I think it may be my favorite part of quilt-making. I just love spending quality time with favorite movies while I hand sew the binding. Okay, I know that one of those "movies" is technically a mini-series, but they both contain Colin Firth so who cares.

The sneak peek I showed earlier was a photo of the quilt back, you can see it's mostly just a solid natural cotton (yards and yards of it--I'm used to making smaller items so it was a little different juggling such a huge amount of fabric at once), with extra coin edges tucked in there.

Sigh...I really need to find the time to make more quilts.

Happy Christmas!

Something wonderful

Can you imagine my excitement when I opened up this month's issue of Ready Made and saw this:

Yep. That is an entire page. Serious hand clasping and glee ensued.

Those are my pear ornaments and fabulous Michael Miller fabrics (including a couple hints of Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson).

And, on a related side note, it looks like you can still get my favorite new MM Christmas print, Yule Critters, at a few places. Anyone thinking last minute throw pillow or reusable gift bags?

On a semi-unrelated note, I thought I should mention that I finally set up my Retro Mama fan page on Facebook, so I hope to see you there!

Now, I have just dug up my wintery cookie cutters and I am raring to bake! Anybody have suggestions for favorite cookie recipes?

Snow White

We had a gorgeous snow day today, at least a foot and a half of snow fell overnight and I was a little more excited about it than my husband, who spent two hours digging out the driveway and shoveling puppy trails in the backyard so our Chihuahua mix could do his business.

We had a little bit of snow inside, too, sort of.

Okay, it's not really snow, and I can't show you more of this project yet because it is Top Secret. Shhhh!

I should be sleeping right now, but I have a bit of snow-induced insomnia: Will schools be closed tomorrow? Do I really want to slide around on the roads driving the kids to school even if it isn't canceled? Why again did we move to the Midwest? But the snow sure is pretty... A white Christmas! It's almost Christmas! Holy smoke....I really need to start mailing out those gifts, where did the time go?? Boy, that gingerbread latte I had this evening was tasty--and that's probably the real reason I'm still awake.

I really am going to bed now, soon to be dreaming of sugarplums, or possibly lattes, or maybe even gingerbread cookies. Drat, now I'm hungry.

Stay warm, wherever you are, and sweet dreams!
Kim

Meet Stella & Stewart

The newest addition(s) to my Retro Mama PDF sewing patterns! These sweet owl softies are sure to make your little ones smile. With easy, tutorial-style instructions and color photos illustrating each step, you'll soon have a flock of new friends in time for holiday gift-giving.

You can purchase the pattern in my Etsy shop here or from the sidebar to the right.

The pattern also includes my tutorial for a semi-random patchwork back (no more piecing hundreds of teensy squares together one-by-one!) and plenty of options for personalizing your owl's face. So what are you waiting for, let's get sewing! And please do post your owl photos in my flickr group, I love seeing your creations!

Also, most of the owls you see in the photos are available for purchase; I will try to list them in the shop within the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Kim

12 Pears of Christmas

Have you begun your holiday sewing yet? I tell you, I have been doing so much hand sewing lately, what with making partridges and pears, that I have actually sprained one of my fingers. And unfortunately, with Last Minute Holiday Panic Sewing about to commence, there is no way I can slow down for at least a couple of weeks.

Sorry, these pears are spoken for!

But if you want to make your own, you know where to find the pattern.

Doesn't Michael Miller have such wonderful retro holiday prints? I love the bold, bright colors. There is no way these will hide in the Christmas tree!

Oh, and in case you didn't have enough on your To Sew list, you will have one more thing to add very soon...

You just knew it had to be coming, right?

Well, it's that time again. It's back to the sewing machine for me (although I may need a Thin Mint break, first, mmmmm). What are your holiday sewing plans?

Kim