And the winners are...

As selected by the random number generator:

#4 Lynne

Lynne said...
I love that Retro Ruler print. So cute! Thanks for the great giveaway!


#81 Alette
Alette said...
I love the retro ruler print. And I would so love to win the give away of the pear ( ofcourse who wouldn't LOL) it is my birthday the 20th :)

Alette


Congratulations Lynne and Alette! I’ll be in touch shortly to send your pear patterns and sewing kits. Thanks to everyone who entered!

And just so you know...Aqua and red kits are now available (sorry, the finished pears are already gone!)

Have a great week!
Kim

Patchwork project for your unpaper products

Say that 5 times fast.

You don't still get plastic bags from the grocery store do you? Yeah, me neither. Well usually not. Occasionally the pups make a mess in the house and it's handy to have a bag for clean up that I can take straight to the garbage can. Why do they eat grass, anyway? It always ends up on the rug.

I came across this great tutorial for making a plastic bag holder (I'm actually thinking it will be awesome for dispensing washcloths or unpaper towels, a few at a time so I'm not always digging in the linen closet for them) and had to try it out.

My version:

The 50s kitcheny fabrics are from Anna Griffin's long discontinued Elsie's Kitchen line, American Jane polka dots and florals, and Alexander Henry's birdseed in yellow. Also some Michael Miller dumb dots in black mixed in. It didn't come out as photogenic as I'd hoped, but I still like it.

I did make some alterations to the pattern measurements which I'll share here in case you want to make one too, especially those of you in the US.

The changes:

1. First I had to convert and round the measurements up from the pesky metric system that nearly the entire planet uses but we Americans still view as incomprehensible. Silly logical rest of the world. Then I made it slightly longer: The measurements of the pieced fabric/muslin are 20"H x 18"W. My patchwork strips started out 6" long, and were trimmed down to the proper size while squaring.

2. Instead of using a long piece of fabric for the hanger, I just used a wide piece of grosgrain ribbon (3/4"W), about 10" in length. And instead of attaching it to the bag after the elastic was sewn in, I sewed the ribbon ends to the inside of the bag, right along the casing seam before inserting the elastic. One end I sewed to the center of the pieced fabric, the other end near the edge, next to where the edges of the bag are sewn together, but with enough room for about a 1/2" seam allowance.

3. I changed the elastic measurements to 6-1/2" for the bottom elastic, and 7-1/2" for the top.

4. Apparently I like to sew lots and lots of narrow little strips together. If you want to save some time, make sure your narrower strips are at least 2" to 2-1/2" wide, but use plenty of wider strips, in the 3-4" range.

That sounds more confusing than it is when I see it all written out. Would you prefer photos to illustrate?

I also wanted to mention that there are still a few days left to enter my sewing kit and pear pattern giveaway. So please enter. Right now!

Have a happy weekend!
Kim

Pick a pear

I was spending some quality time with my fabric stash the other day and lamenting how there just isn't enough time in the day (or week or year) for me to sew through it all. The time had come for me to share some of those favorite prints that I've been storing, so that others (you) can enjoy them too.

So, today I am announcing the arrival of Retro Mama pattern kits! Available now:

Hope Valley in Orange and Orchid (thank you, Denyse, for making me love this color combination)

Retro Ruler (this was my number one best selling pincushion, and I love these fabrics as much today as I did when I first discovered them)

I am also selling the sample pincushions from these photos. I don't have immediate plans to make more pears, so if you want a pincushion, now is the time to grab it!

Included in each kit is

*6 designer 100% cotton fabrics to make one pear
*Wool blend felt for leaf and stem
*3 colors of embroidery floss

Remember, the pattern is sold separately!

All the fabrics and materials are hand cut by me, and to minimize waste they are not shipped with extra packaging materials. The kits will arrive in the cute bundle pictured above, with some baker's twine wrapped around it that you can use for crafting or packages. I also ship these kits internationally. More kit prints will be available soon.

I'd love to hear from you--if you have a request for specific fabrics please leave a comment!

AND to make things interesting, as well as reward those of you who made it to the end of this post...If you leave a comment or vote for a new fabric kit, you will be entered to win your choice of one of the pincushion kits above. I'll randomly choose TWO winners on Monday, July 19 to receive a kit so please make sure there is a way to contact you by entering an e-mail address with your name when you leave a comment. One entry per person please.

P.S. The winners will also receive a copy of my Plush Pear Trio PDF sewing pattern :)

Good luck!
Kim

Tilly & Tommy

Everyone's response to these elephants has been wonderful--I'm excited that you're excited about them! My kiddos love these big huggable softies too, and have absconded with several of my samples. So I am more than pleased to share this brand new pattern with you, at last.

The pattern specs: The finished elephants are about 9" tall and 12" long, with giant floppy ears, embroidered eyes and sweet knotted tails. You can now purchase the PDF sewing pattern in my shop, or the sidebar of my blog. As usual, the tutorial-style instructions are accompanied by color photographs and the pattern pieces are full sized. I'll e-mail the pattern to you as soon as I receive payment, so you will be sewing up a herd of these plush pals in no time. With only four pattern pieces, this is a quick, fun, and easy project, recommended for all sewing levels. Pair one of these softies with a favorite elephant or zoo board book for the perfect baby shower gift!

And speaking of elephants, have you seen all the fabulous circus-y and elephant themed fabrics out there lately? I know you all are going to come up with some amazingly adorable fabric combos and I can’t wait to see them! As always, you are invited to post your Retro Mama creations in my flickr group.

Happy sewing!
Kim

P.S. The apple pictured is not included in the pattern, but stay tuned for that one in the future. I just thought it looked cute with the elephants!

The Umbrella Incident

It's possible that by now some of you have wondered what has become of me. I can assure you that I haven't run away with the circus, nor have I embarked on a glamorous cruise around the world, nor even, more likely, become really lost in a fabric store. The truth is, I've been on a rather long blogging/sewing hiatus due to an unfortunate run-in with a market umbrella. You know, the kind with that clever bendy pinchy part that tilts the shade? I don't want to overshare the gory details, so let's just say it started with my own clumsiness and ended with a very bandaged finger and a tetanus shot.

After a few weeks I have finally regained use of my hand enough for sewing and camera wielding. I sat down one afternoon and drafted up this fun scrappy apple, the pattern for which may or may not still need a little tweaking. And to keep myself from endlessly staring at my fabric stash wondering where to begin, I forced myself to use only fabric from my ridiculously crammed scrap drawer.

Before you ask...Every time I post a photo with this tape measure fabric, I get tons of emails inquiring about it, so I'll just go ahead and tell you the details here: the fabric is by American Jane, manufactured by Moda, and is currently out of print. Try searching eBay and you might get lucky! (The print to the left is also by American Jane, and the one on the right is a lemon print from Alexander Henry.)

Or, I have another option for you. If you happen to have Flea Market Fancy prints that you could be convinced to part with, I would love to work out a trade with you for some of this retro ruler fabric. I also have several coordinating prints, so if you're interested, please send me a note! You can find my email address in my Blogger profile.

Speaking of sewing, I sort of left you hanging awhile back, for an unintentionally long time. So, here is another glimpse of my next project, which will hopefully soon be your next project!










I love these squeezy soft elephants and I can't wait to share the pattern with you!

Things may remain quiet here in Blogland as summer rolls around (though I hope not). The boys have just a couple of weeks of school left, and then I will be keeping them educated and entertained full time over the next few months. I'll try to pop in and at least post photos of whatever projects I'm able to squeeze in during the hours that I'm supposed to be sleeping.

Have a safe weekend, everybody!

Kim

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.