Making

The kids are in school, so now it's my turn to play work play (isn't it the best when work and play are the same thing?).

Can't wait until you guys can come along for the fun! Loads of fun stuff to share with you in the coming weeks!

Happy Stitching,
Kim

Feathering my nest

Having a happy morning, drafting patterns and stacking fabric, when I discovered that I had created a little fabric nest for myself.

Found myself obsessed with this fabric combo. Will make something lovely with it, soon, I hope.

Fabric stacking soundtrack. The music also serves to distract me from the neighbor’s noisy pool, which is mere feet away from my window. Ah, suburbia.

Realized that I had the perfect spot to store/display my colanders. Happy kitchen colors! Now, I just need a rug to match…

It’s the middle of July, 90 degrees outside, and I’m drinking homemade hot cocoa. Life is good. (Gorgeous quilted placemat by Jolene, from the SUTK swap)

And speaking of feathers…look who decided our hanging fern was a nice spot for a nest. Sweet mama dove is really braving it out in that nest, it gets so hot there in the afternoons.

Happy nest feathering to you!
Kim

Settling In

It's hard to believe, but here I am, already moved into my new house in Indiana. My mom drove up from Florida to help us get settled in (thanks, Mom!) so we are now about halfway out of boxes. Indiana is gorgeous, the weather is hot (yay, a real summer!), and I love my new house. I was excited that the space we decided on for my sewing room is a nice size, but not so much that it was the color of a watermelon--bright green on two walls, hot pink on the others.

Yeah. Good thing Mom brought her painting gear.

It took what seemed like forever to decide what color to paint my room. Blue is one of my favorite colors, and there are so many gorgeous blue craft rooms these days, like this one and this one. But my new room doesn't get great light, and I was worried that it would look a bit like an aquarium in there.

After putting up a couple of swatches, I decided on a pretty peachy pink, called Ballet Slipper Pink by Martha Stewart, mixed at 50% strength. It looked a little dingy at full strength, but brightened right up with a bit of white in it (the photo to the left compares the two).

I think it will be a great background color and it is so relaxing and retro. Peach + turquoise might be my new favorite color combo (see below). Added bonus: my room no longer glows kryptonite green.

After a couple of days of unpacking boxes, I got a fun surprise. My sweet old teddy bear, Apricot, said Hello after her long voyage from Wisconsin. I've had her since I was a wee tot of 5 or 6, but I had forgotten that she was tucked away somewhere in my belongings as I hadn't seen her for some time.

And when I picked her up to give her a little squeeze, I realized that she is exactly the same color as my new walls. No wonder I feel a little twinge of nostalgia whenever I go into my sewing room.

There is still tons of work to do to put my space together, but I'm enjoying the process. I hope to show you my sewing spot once I find a new chair (Pink Thrifty Chair that I found for $9.00--I know!--pictured below is a bit too short). I've been searching since we came here and I have had no luck finding a sturdy enough chair whilst lurking about in local antique shops. Ah, well. I suppose I'll just have to keep shopping...

More to come very soon!

Happy stitching,
Kim

P.S. Thanks so much for everyone's kind e-mails and to those who left suggestions of things to do in Indiana. I’m lucky to have moved to such a fun state and I cannot wait to hit the road and really get to know the place!

On the road...again

You know you've been away from blogging too long when folks start to inquire whether you're OK. Thank you so much for the concern, I'm doing fine! I've just been (mostly) offline lately, very busy with life stuff. I'll try to be better!

Last month, we went to this place:

Many of you will recognize this as being the view of Cinderella's Castle at Disney World as seen from the ferry. The blurriness is a result of using the zoom on a boat with my point-and-shoot camera (I decided to leave my Nikon at home; I may rethink that choice next time, as most of my vacation photos met or exceeded this level of awfulness).

And some of you will understand what a huge undertaking that trip was when your kiddos are both autistic. But I am a Disney junkie (a result of having lived just a few minutes from Disneyland during my formative years--thanks Mom and Dad!) and this was the first time I was able to share this magical place with my husband and boys. It was hard work, exhausting, and wonderful. Disney is so accommodating to the needs of special guests, and it made all the difference for my family. If you're planning a Disney vacation, I highly recommend this book; it helped us think of every little detail for a perfect trip.

While we were in Orlando, we found out that we're moving! Again! And this time it's to Indiana!

postcard from Jassy 50

This will be the 11th state I've lived in (see #7 for the others). I've been racing around getting our house ready to put on the market and packing as we are moving later this month (actually, it's more like two weeks from now, ack!). My lovely fabrics are all stashed away so there won't be any sewing for a while *sniffle, deep breaths*, but my patterns will be available throughout my move.

Fortunately, I will again be able to have my own room for sewing, but it will take some work to settle in and get things just so. I'll share that process with you as I go along.

So tell me...what do you know about Indiana? Favorite quilt shops? Fun places to go with kids? I hear there's a place called Santa Claus that we simply must visit. Or have you been to Disney lately? You know I want to hear about it.

TTFN, (did I really just type that?)
Kim

April showers

I certainly hope you're having nicer Spring weather than we are (sleet, wind, it's generally brrrrrrrr)!

If April showers are getting you down (or maybe even if they aren't), you might like to try out my Cloudy Day Applique Tote tutorial over at Craft Snob. The colorful clouds and raindrops will remind you of the gorgeous May flowers to come.

Happy Sewing!
Kim

Two things

1. Make sure you catch my tissue holder tutorial over at Craft Snob. And when you print the pattern, make sure that the print settings under "Page Scaling" is set to "None" so your pattern piece prints at the right size (it will print too small if the setting is set to "shrink to printable area", don't ask me why).

2. Be sure to take advantage of my sale, tomorrow is the last day! Enter coupon code SPRINGSALE20 at checkout in my shop. The patterns in the sidebar are already discounted.

Have a great week!
Kim

Fair and Square

Just stopping in to let you know about my guest blogging appearance this week at Craft Snob. I've got a cute patchwork coaster tutorial for you (and those coasters will go along perfectly with my tea cozy pattern!).



Don't forget that I'm running a sale this week, 20% all patterns and finished items at Retro Mama with the coupon code: SPRINGSALE20. Patterns in my sidebar are already discounted!

Happy Sewing,
Kim

Spring sewing

The snow is melting, the sun is shining, the unmistakable sound of sewing machines revving up for Spring sewing...and a Sale at Retro Mama!

Everything is on sale in my shop, all patterns, kits, and finished dolls.

Use the code SPRINGSALE20 when you check out at my Etsy shop for 20% off your entire order. Patterns purchased through my sidebar are automatically discounted, no code necessary. The sale will run through Tuesday, April 12.

See you there!
Kim

Under the weather

I'm in bed sick with the flu this week...but I've briefly crawled out of my cocoon of covers to direct your attention to the lovely blog Craft Snob where I'm a guest blogger this week and for the next 3 weeks with a series of introductory sewing lessons.

So if you're interested in learning to sew, or maybe you'd like a little refresher, clicky click on over there and check it out. And while you're there take a look around--Sara has got so many cute ideas for you to try out!

See you there!

And now, back to my regularly scheduled nap...
Kim

signed, sealed, delivered

Well, this post is long overdue. Remember way back when I was working on this? Those bits and pieces did eventually transform themselves into a table runner (double sided):

and a mug rug...

Then perhaps I found a sweet little vintage Pyrex bowl that might have stowed away in the box to my swap partner

Such a fun swap, from beginning to end.

And what did I receive?

Just this fabulous bunch of goodies from Jolene of BlueElephantStitches

I know. Wow. Thank you Jolene for thoroughly spoiling me! I love every detail on every item. Be sure to check out her gorgeous photostream, she is such a talented gal.

If you'd like to join in the fun, swing by the Spicing Up The Kitchen swap group to check for updates on the next round.

Until next time!

Kim