Sheesh, how many scissors do I need there, anyway? Apparently, one to cut paper, one to snip thread tails, one to cut fabric. Just out of frame, there's another longer snipping scissors and one or two rotary cutters. Right tool for the right job, I guess.
I'm using the old Singer Touch & Sew for piecing the strings onto phone book pages. I'll use the Juki (aka Jane) when I get to sewing the rest of the blue/red units. The Touch & Sew wants to eat the triangle corners. She gets a little grabby when she's hungry.
The Touch & Sew needs a name, by the way. I was thinking of Tammy. It's from the mid-1960s, and that seems like an era-appropriate name to me. Tammy, the Touch & Sew?
Viv is relegated to watching from afar. Hope she doesn't mind sitting this one out.
Yep, that is a boom box there in the corner. Does it qualify as vintage yet? Norm has it running through the stereo amp and bookshelf speakers above, and I just use it as a CD player. It may be old school and cobbled together, but it sounds much better than my mp3 player does. Besides, I still like the tactile nature of CDs...just not so much the clutter they make on my table.
A few finished units. My goodness, I am a piler. Underneath are, let's see, a couple of finished items (in a shopping bag) that need quilting, a vintage apron pattern I intend to sew (probably in 2013), and a stack of mending...which, since it's spring now, can probably wait another six months!
There's part of the fabric stash--the part that can't fit in the drawers. Hey, there are those cork squares I bought in September. Guess they're not going to stick themselves to the wall, are they?
And to think I started this post feeling like I had been productive. Oh well, how about a fun song?
Sometimes I'll find something I see as beautiful while others see it...quite differently.
This vintage fabric I found at Goodwill a few months ago? Some people only see grandma's muumuu.
I see the bright colors and bold 1960s graphics, which I have always loved.
In my early teens, I convinced my parents to let me paint my bedroom bright yellow and to buy matching mod flowered bedspreads from JC Penney. I adored that look. My sister, with whom I shared said bedroom, not so much.
Yesterday, while shopping at Target, I came across some lovely things by Liberty of London.
Oh. They get me.
And they got me good.
I had to get me some.
On the way home, my husband and I stopped at a huge antique mall. You could spend the day there and still not see everything. A few booths had 50% off. There were bargains to be hunted, almost yard sale prices on some things.
My niece Shaina and her two-month-old son, Chandler.
I finally got to give Chandler his quilt!
I think he liked it. I know his momma did.
Chandler is named after my mom (family name). My mother passed away in July of last year. She was the only one in the family at the time who knew Shaina was expecting.
(Mom holding Shaina in 1988)
I thought it fitting to use what I had left of Mom's calico fabric scraps to make Chandler's quilt. Everything in the pinwheels, except the plaids, came from her.
I like to think she got to cuddle him today in that way.
This little guy is a charmer, and just about the cutest baby I have ever seen. Of course, all proud great-aunts probably say the same thing.
Look at him working his magic on my husband, Norm.
The flannel backing was a remnant from the thrift store. It was just big enough. Isn't that print adorable?
I straight-line quilted it on my 1960's Singer Touch & Sew (which used to be Mom's machine). It worked out nicely.
So glad they came by, and you know I'm looking forward to many more snuggles with this little cutie-pie!
This week's edition of Vintage Thingie Thursday features the ever-so-patient Dolly, modeling a few vintage aprons and flower pots from my collection. Can she strike a pose, or what? Rock steady, that girl. My camera steadiness, on the other hand, is a different matter.
What can I tell you about the aprons? Well, they all appear to be handmade, except the purple one, which has a tag. Even that indicates it is a "Home Sewed Apron," which is interesting.
Stamped along the selvage edge on the apron tie is "E&W Quadriga Cloth." Apparently, this was a very fine percale that was touted as colorfast and was a major hit with the home sewers, back in the 1930s to '50s, from what I could gather about it. It was made by a company known as Ely & Walker of St. Louis, Missouri.
I think the bib apron is probably the oldest of the group, but I am no expert.
Likewise with the flower pots, I can't put a date on them, but I'm quite sure they all qualify as vintage. Most of the names are recognizable -- McCoy, Red Wing, Brush. Can't read the name on the pink one (USA something), but I seem to remember being told it may also be a McCoy.
You may know more about these things than I do. If so, feel free to enlighten me.
I just know that if I like it enough and the price is right, it comes home with me!
Inside this thrift store pattern was an unexpected treasure -- a little vintage apron pattern had been neatly folded and tucked inside by the previous owner!
I don't see a date on it, but judging by the style and unprinted pattern pieces, I'm guessing maybe 1950s or '60s? What do you think?
It calls for seven yards of rickrack!
While the pattern is not my size, I get the feeling Dolly thinks she deserves to be rewarded for all her hard work today. We'll see.
Thanks so much for visiting, and be sure to stop by Colorado Lady and all the VTT participants!
You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. ~ Irish Proverb
This is one of my favorite Irish sayings. I need reminding of this on a daily basis.
Hi, my name is P. and I am an over-thinker.
I have a lot of ideas -- some darn good ones that never get started because they both begin and end with me merely thinking about them. Others get started but then get bogged down for lack of action.
Awareness is the first step to recovery. I don't think it was the Irish who said that, but I could be wrong.
In my favor is that I do like to finish things. So, over the years, I have learned a few tricks that help sneak past my own barriers, such as, "I can do anything for 15 minutes." Sometimes I literally have to set a timer. Usually though, I am more than willing to continue beyond the 15 minutes.
Yesterday, for example, I felt largely unmotivated to work on anything currently in process. I had a lot of random ideas swirling around but no sense of focus. Then I reminded myself of the 15-minute maxim and worked on pinwheel string blocks. Ninety minutes later, I had a few done.
What also works for me is "baby steps." What is the next step? Do the next thing. It sounds simple, and it is, but if you tend to think too much, like I do, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. If you break a project down to its elements, which usually have a logical order, by simply taking the next step, you will get there eventually. And, like the 15-minute technique, taking the next step usually leads to taking a few more.
Anger can be a motivator. Piss me off, and I'll likely get things done that have been languishing for months, all the while steam virtually puffing out my ears. Although I have some Irish in me, I am not that easily riled up. Therefore, this technique cannot be counted as reliably effective. I do, however, get annoyed with myself such that sometimes the old Nike slogan works and I "just do it," already.
Sir Isaac Newton, who could have been Irish for all I know, claimed that a body in motion remains in motion. To break the physical inertia, sometimes a brisk walk can get things going. That is, if I continue to walk on down the stairs and into my sewing room once I get home.
Does any of this sound familiar? Is there anything you do to get out of your head and into action? Coffee, tea, Diet Coke? Do share.
The top picture is of my great-great-grandmother, Ellen Frances Curley, born c. 1849 in Ireland, according to the 1880 U.S. Census, as were her parents. Other sources say she was born in Rochester, NY. One day I will delve into her genealogy to clarify. Right now, I am just thinking about it.
The second two photos are of Ellen's sister, Maggie Curley. The one on the right is a tin-type taken when she was a child (although she looks a little boyish to me; possibly my great-aunt misidentified it). The one on the left was taken when she was a young woman in St. Louis, Missouri.
Good clean fun...
...that makes (more of) a mess of my sewing area.
I'm using the old Singer Touch & Sew for piecing the strings onto phone book pages. I'll use the Juki (aka Jane) when I get to sewing the rest of the blue/red units. The Touch & Sew wants to eat the triangle corners. She gets a little grabby when she's hungry.
Yep, that is a boom box there in the corner. Does it qualify as vintage yet? Norm has it running through the stereo amp and bookshelf speakers above, and I just use it as a CD player. It may be old school and cobbled together, but it sounds much better than my mp3 player does. Besides, I still like the tactile nature of CDs...just not so much the clutter they make on my table.
A few finished units. My goodness, I am a piler. Underneath are, let's see, a couple of finished items (in a shopping bag) that need quilting, a vintage apron pattern I intend to sew (probably in 2013), and a stack of mending...which, since it's spring now, can probably wait another six months!
There's part of the fabric stash--the part that can't fit in the drawers. Hey, there are those cork squares I bought in September. Guess they're not going to stick themselves to the wall, are they?
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