sweatshop mode

No interesting sewing has been going on around here these last couple of weeks. I've been sweatshopping up a storm, though. My MIL asked for a few more reusable grocery bags (see my tutorial here), so I whipped up a couple using a vintage sheet. I love this print, but that dark gray doesn't really go with most other sheet prints, so it was perfect to use for a bigger project.

Unfortunately, after I was done, I loved them so much that I didn't want to give them away! I had a duvet cover that I'd bought specifically to make bags (my favorite way to go, because the front and back fabrics coordinate), so I cut that one up and made 6 more. I'll probably give 3 to my MIL, and keep the other 3 for a future gift.

And why not go crazy? I had this other sheet that I loved, but it wasn't really vintage enough for other projects, so I backed it with a solid peach sheet and made 6 more bags!

While I was making these, I walked my friend Quynh through the process, and she made a few bags of her own. Then she put her own creative twist on it, and turned a bunch of vintage sheet charm squares (that I'd given her for xmas!) into patchwork bags. They are so awesome!! She let me pick my favorite one to keep, and I chose this beautiful blue one. How sweet is that? I think it might be my favorite bag ever!

And my latest sweatshop project - going through the sheet stash, and cutting out yardage to send to my best addict/customer, Amanda. We have such a great thing going - I get to keep collecting prints, but my bins no longer overflow quite so much, and Amanda gets a steady supply of raw materials for her shop. Perfect!

loot!

I had some great scores at the thrift store last weekend! Wouldn't these three sheets make a pretty something together? I think I can hear Amanda's sharp intake of breath - I know that one on the right is one of her favorites. :-)

And how about some more butterflies? I really debated about the one on the right - It's a Vera print, and I have it in purple (and love it, of course), but brown and orange aren't the most popular colors. Oh well, I always err on the side of buying!

I seriously almost squealed out loud when I saw these pillowcases! I love this print, and have it in orange and pink. It pained me a little to fork over $2 each for them, but wow, I just love them!

I also found a bag of new FQs from Joann, 7 of them for only $1! Very timely too - I just used the one on top for one of my bee blocks!

And last, but not least, some vintage fabric that had been sewn into a duvet cover. I love the orange and pink combination!

No thrifting for me this weekend - I'll be too busy sewing instead! Yay!

retreat - project #2

After all those triangles, I was ready to slip back into my comfort zone! I was inspired by this quilt on Jeni's blog In Color Order (another vintage sheet fan!), and knew this would be a fun and simple retreat project. I went through my stack of pre-cut sheets (6" squares), and grabbed any that I liked that I had at least 5 of. I brought about 80 prints, when all I needed was about 30! Oh well, it gave me plenty to choose from at the retreat!

I really love the simplicity of it. I didn't think too hard about the layout - I just narrowed it down to my favorite prints (anything 'colorful'), and then I slapped them up on the design wall. I did some minimal rearranging as I went, but I really tried not to over-think it.

(I stole this picture from Karen's blog post). The purple square really jumps out, doesn't it? I probably won't get this quilted until next year. In the meantime, it will languish in 'quilt purgatory' (draped over the stair railing upstairs), where I'll get enjoy petting it whenever I walk by!

you never know!

You know that rush you get when you're at a garage sale, and you find something really awesome that you've been looking for forever? I love that feeling! And you know what's even better than that - finding a treasure for someone else! It totally makes my day when I can do that....

You might remember last year, when I showed off this set of Topsy-Turvy books:



Beth (of Needles, Threads & Crafts) commented that she'd had a set of these when she was a kid, and that she'd love to have a set for her daughters. And guess what I found at a garage sale! I paid $20 for my set last year, and I got this one for about $3 - sweet!

I thought it was another complete set, but it turned out that it had two repeats - "Audubon's Animals/Audubon's Birds" and "The Tailor of Gloucester/How the Leopard Got His Spots". Oddly enough, I didn't have either of those two books in my original set - maybe they were from a 'bonus' set or something? Anyway, I'll be keeping the two extra ones to add to my set, and passing the rest on to Beth. Yay! I just love it when that happens!

So - what strange and rare object are you lusting after? Let me know, and I'll keep an eye out for you. You just never know!! :-)

sharing the loot

Do you love to sew with vintage sheets? Have I got a sweet deal for you!

A while back, I posted about the Seattle Fabric Stash Purge Party, and my plans to put together some sets of vintage sheet FQs to sell there. The sale is coming up in just a couple weeks, and I've been diligently chopping up my stash and getting prepared to package them up. But then I had a thought - what if my wonderful blog readers would like a chance to buy these before the sale? I don't really want to make a load of cash - I just want to share the loot and decrease my stash. And then keep on buying more cool sheets! :-)

So, here's the deal: $15 for a flat rate envelope stuffed with FQs (that's including postage - what a deal!). My FQs are extra chubby, and I can fit about 18 of them in one envelope. You can pick a theme, like "pinks" or "blues and greens" or "multi-colored" or "stripes and geometrics" or "anything with flowers" or "anything except flowers" or "as little white as possible", etc. I'll try to match it as best as I can. At last count, I had about 80 different prints, so I'm sure I can come up with a set for pretty much any theme! Well, except purple - there's not much of that in vintage sheet land for some reason!

First come, first served, until I run out. Please comment here, or email me directly, and let me know what your theme is. I'll mail you back to confirm. As far as payment goes, I'm hoping we can just do direct PayPal payments. This will be my first time trying to do an online stash sale, and I don't really want to bother setting up a "shop". So, we'll see how this goes. If anyone has done something similar like this before and has any advice for me, let me know!

If you'd like a closer peek at what's in my stash, here are some images I grabbed from my past loot reports. Not all of these are available, but it's a good representation of what I've got.

If you're in the Seattle area, we can arrange a local pickup, and your set will be $10. If you're international, I think it will be $23 (assuming it doesn't weigh more than 4 pounds - I haven't checked!). And if you're totally nuts and want more than one set, we can talk about combined shipping!

new WIP

I swore I wasn't going to start any new projects until I'd finished all my existing WIPs, but Mandy has led me astray! She has hosted a sewing afternoon at her house the last two Fridays, and it's just easier to bring a new project to piece, you know? So, here is last week's project - another vintage linen patchwork quilt! I know, I'm so boring. But this one is different - it's pink! It will be for a friend of mine who is battling breast cancer. I'm actually a little torn about the pink thing - I can't help but wonder if people who are dealing with breast cancer don't get totally sick of pink, pink, pink....

The "solid" squares are actually gingham, from a Pottery Barn sheet. I love those PB gingham sheets! I snap them up whenever I see them. They are so fine, and there's just something about woven gingham (as opposed to the printed stuff) that I absolutely adore!!

loot, swaps, and someone else's giveaway

Just because it's been the holidays doesn't mean I haven't been hitting the thrift stores! Here are some of the pretty linens I've scored over the last few weeks...

Man, I'm really looking forward to garage sale season! If you're looking for a vintage linen fix, I've started several more Swap-bot swaps - one each for January, February and March. For each swap, you'll send (and receive) two packages containing 2 FQs each (for a total of 4 FQs). If you're new to Swap-bot and have any questions, let me know.

And speaking of vintage linens, you should hurry on over to Brown Paper Packages, to enter to win this lovely set of FQs. Better hurry - the giveaway ends sometime tomorrow!

happy new year!

I wonder if January 1 is the most popular day for blog posting? It does seem right up there with writing down resolutions in a journal! I wasn't blogging last January, but if I had been, my goals for 2009 would have been:

• Make an effort to reconnect with old friends
• Teach myself how to quilt by making one Project Linus quilt each month

I did pretty good on the first goal. I took two trips (Nashville, TN and Ames, IA) with my daughter to visit two very dear old friends, and it was so wonderful. I'm hoping to continue with that this year. I'll definitely make the time to visit a couple friends in Texas when I'm back for the family reunion in October, and maybe a trip to visit another friend in Chicago. I'm really appreciating that it's getting easier to travel with my daughter as she gets older. Yay for potty training!

I did AWESOME on the second goal, if I do say so myself! I didn't technically complete it, but I'm still declaring victory in the form of:

9 completely finished Project Linus quilts...



6 swaddling blankets, and 2 "quiltlets" (everything but batting)...



4 more quilts basted and ready for quilting (just this past week - oh my aching back!)...



and 2 tops, 2 backs, and binding for Margaret's Hope Chest and 3 quilt tops for Give a Kid a Quilt...



Meanwhile, I did some quilting of my own! One doll quilt for my daughter, one quiltie for a swap, a quiltlet for my daughter, 5 thrifted/vintage linen quilts (3 given away!), and two quilt tops.



Add to that - starting a blog, doing some other crafty projects, a couple tutorials, a few fun giveaways, AND making some really awesome bloggy friends!! Whew - I'm glad I took the time to write that all up, because now I feel GREAT about all I accomplished last year. Sweet!!!

Here are my goals for next year:

• Continue making Project Linus quilts, and attend as many monthly meetings as possible.
• Lose the extra 15 (okay fine, 20!) pounds of "baby" weight I've been lugging around for the last 3 years. I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring since I was 6 months pregnant, and I miss it!!
• Lose the frump. Working from home has made me so careless about my appearance. Time to update the wardrobe, get a haircut, get back to wearing a little makeup (at least on the weekends!).
  
• Do better about replying to blog comments. I do appreciate every single one of them, I just generally suck at email!
  

Happy new year to everyone! Here's to a fabulous 2010!!

felted sweater tree decorations

I haven't been getting too much sewing done, but I've been keeping my hands busing doing some crafty decorating. First up - remember this teeny tiny felted sweater?

It did indeed supply enough material to try this project. The trees were strangely addictive! I made the biggest two first, and then just kept at it until I had absolutely nothing left but a pile of tiny scraps. I didn't have any beads, so I used pompoms for the tops. I think they turned out pretty cute! They range in size from 7" to 2" high.