I sometimes I call myself a fabric snob. I don't like buying fabric from all one line to make a quilt and I like to have vintage fabric in every project I make. I don't want my quilts looking like everyone else's quilts, most of the time. I like vintage fabric so much that my fantasy is that I could time travel back to fabric shopping with my mom in the 60s and buy fabric that I remember or dream of having. I guess that is one reason
I know this is nothing creative or even mildly interesting to people but to us its monumental. Our kitchen has been without cabinet doors for 5 months now and they were finally delivered tonight!!! They are beautiful, smooth, shiny and brand new looking. And the aroma of the new stain and finish is nearly intoxicating. (But I love the smell of a Sharpie, too.) Now we have to match them up to what goes where and on what cabinet. No easy task, its a big kitchen. Its very
My sister Michelle told me she had a surprise coming for me in the mail. I love getting surprises. And I love giving surprises. She told me to save a spot on my sewing room shelves. Today in the mail I got the most darling gift. It is a toy sewing machine - VINTAGE! Its from the 40s or 50s. I absolutely love it. It is so me. Michelle said there was an article and pictures about vintage toy sewing machines in an issue of Mary Englebreit's magazine.
Don't you love it when you get things done on the weekend? It feels so great to work in my new sewing room feel productive and have results. I love it. I am feeling pretty spoiled.
First of all I was able to do finishing touches on the sewing room. I hung my bags on the wall, which is a splash of creative color and fun to have displayed. I moved this wicker chair into the room and I covered the cushion with the last piece of quilted
Lately, I've been on a real hat kick. My mom got me a book for my birthday, Last Minute Knitted Gifts, by Joelle Hoverson, owner of Purl Soho. I used her hat pattern as the base for the hats that I have been making and have created my own designs and patterns using 2 and 3 different yarns. I started using machine washable yarns from Knit Picks, but morphed into also using my current favorite yarn, Gems from Louet -- a beautiful yarn that is also machine washable!
Ever since I saw the quilt at My Aunt June I have been obsessivley hoarding solid fabrics. Rowan Shot Cotton, Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton, all different shades and hues. And all I could think was BENTO BOX BENTO BOX BENTO BOX. I didn't have a pattern; I just kind of made it my own. The quilt isn't quite done, but I am so excited I thought I would share some pictures. It is very 70's ish and I just LOVE IT! - natalie
Now that I'm settled (mostly) in the sewing room I can get some of the rest of my house back in order. I've had to move my sewing area around in the past months to accommodate painting and remodeling. The family room is now back in order and I can look at my favorite corner of my home unobstructed.
This is a painting created from several photographs of the 1890s row home where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I slept in the bedroom on the left side of the
I've been really excited with the response to my free valentine flag/banner pattern. Anyone that finishes the little quilt by Valentine's Day, I will send a free pattern for my umbrella April Showers/May Flowers flag. Just email me a photo of your finished valentine quilt by February 14, 2008 along with your address and I will mail you a pattern. I will send umbrella fabric for the border along with the pattern to the first person that sends me a finished picture of their valentine quilt. On Valentine's
I have to laugh at some of the comments saying how organized I am. Really I'm only a semi-organized person. With 8 children standards have had to be relaxed in certain areas. And I don't think when they were young I could have maintained a room like this. It just wouldn't have been possible. I have to also credit my best friend Laura with organization ideas and inspiration. She's so fabulous at cleaning out and organizing and she gave me many of the good ideas I used. I
Setting up the room:
1. sewing corner - check
Against this will will be the cutting out corner. That comes next. - nanette
This post is really to celebrate that I got new carpet today in the new soon-to-be sewing room and living room at my home. YAY! I have been waiting and waiting for it to come in and now the real work begins setting up my machine and moving tables and things into the room. I've been filling the shelves slowly and organizing fabric but thats not even done. (You wouldn't believe how much fabric I have donated to Deseret Industries, it kills me when I think of it).
So I made some additions/changes to my bird quilt block. I unpicked the claws/feet because I really didn't like them. T gave me a really good suggestion for the claws, using triangles instead of lines for the feet. I will explore that further. I did put some triangles on the branch for feet but I don't think I got the shape of the triangle right. So I will think about that some more. I like the feet better not even there at all, at this point. What do
I have been enjoying the bird themed fabric and appliqué I've seen in the fabric stores and in blogs lately. I think the birds are so happy and cute. I've been wanting to design my own bird quilt and I've been making sketches over the past weeks but nothing seems just right. The other day I went through my feed sack squares to sort and organize them in prep for a special place in my new sewing room. I came across this tiny inspiration feed sack scrap that
Upon seeing my red riding hood cape, my sister Chelsey exclaimed, "but I'M red riding hood!" "I want a red riding hood cape!"
When we were little my grandmother (Freda, of course) made a little doll as a visual aid to tell the story of Red Riding hood. When you flip Red Riding Hood's skirt, her grandmother is revealed, and flipping grandmother's cap reveals the big bad wolf. Chelsey used to love to sit on my grandmother's lap and make her tell the story over and over again.
When my
I couldn't help but admire this this pattern from Elizabeth when I saw it on several blogs but I was too busy before before Christmas to even consider getting it done. So during the holidays I kept thinking about how pretty it was and how great the fabric was that she used. I decided even if Christmas was over it was ok to start a project for next year. And, afterall, the fabric is so NOT Christmasy. So I went ahead and ordered the pattern from Elizabeth and
Santa sent me a bulletin board from the container store for my new sewing room. I covered it in a piece from a vintage table cloth (I used duct tape to attach it because I might want to change the fabric on the board sometimes, but it didn't stick very well, so I'm still working on that).
I have some covered button thumb tacks and vintage story book magnets to hold things on the bulletin board. The board is really great. It is both magnetic and perforated for
Nanette I'm a quilter, mother to 8, and Nanny to 3