Vintage Linens....

I love vintage linens; hankies, dresser scarves, table cloths....so I have been putting my plans for a few of these into action. Sew Beautiful magazine recently did an article with Marsha Greenberg. Marsha is the author of Hankie Couture, Handcrafted Fashions from Vintage Handkerchiefs wherein she shares her story and her passion for creating wearables for 'Barbie' size dolls. Folks, I have never played with dolls in my whole life! Here I am, past the big 5-0 and this was just way too much fun! And really fast....I finished this dress in under 2 hours and then had fun with the hat and the purse. (BTW...JoAnn's has the book, I got mine with a coupon!)


 
This next pic is just a piece of a bedspread I found in an antique shop in Montana. It was huge, this is the section from the top that would have been over the pillows. The embroidery work was wonderful, but worn as this had actually been used as a bedspread, likely in a guest room, but had raw seam allowances and had been laundered. Did I say the embroidery work was wonderful?
I went around the embroidery work on both sides first. Then I drafted the feathers after studying feathers from several books. I only marked the spine and then free-handed the feathers. The background was 'mctavished' which I didn't really like as I was doing it but when I took it off the frame and can see the whole thing....I like it! Consistency throughout is always at issue when you are free-handing....digital camera is a wonderful thing. This is about 28" x 42".

I did this piece several months ago....the lavender center is a vintage hankie with just the tiny flowers with gold stems embroidered on. I added some white satin, some purple rayon, a heart, some feathers and it is about 36" sq.

I also recently started playing with hot fix crystals on the quilt from my previous post. There is something to post about later. Today I have an antique DWR loaded and won' get er done till I get er started!

from under the frame

Just Do It!

I have not abandoned my blog, just been so busy with life....not alotta quilting. My plan for the first part of the year was to really 'gear-up' for some serious production, since there are at least a dozen tops in waiting; and I don't know how many UFO's, kits, projects in mind..etc. But, the IRS wanted info and that little project took almost 8 weeks.....must discipline self to keep up with all that bookkeeping on a daily or weekly schedule. (DH is self employed & generates millions of receipts that someone has to record in order for that expensive business software to do it's magic!!!) Here it is May already and the routine has not worked out very well:( but, I did take 4 days this week to get it almost caught up - until the wrist and elbow are so cramped I had to stop).
Back to the business plan...so I started out by seriously organizing the studio, even went to The Container Store where a person with OCD could OD! I did not OD, thanks to the IRS! But, my brain is still processing all the possibilities.
 
I did manage to streamline; the studio is large by most standards but when you add a longarm frame, have weird floor issues (see photo) and are not the best at putting things away....well, you know!

• Prioritize my Projects and keep only fabrics for projects that I REALLY want to do...(I cannot in 4 lifetimes do them all so focus on the ones that are important and lead to where I want to specialize.) I did manage to let go of an assortment of flannels, about 10-12 yds total - donated to charity and a large box of various fabrics from burlap to heavy deco! Oh boy, I'm on a roll! 
• Organize fabrics - that's a mouth full! This is not something that can happen all at once in my world- it is way too big a project. I started by sorting my scraps of gorgeous decorator fabrics by color and texture. (my quilt cottons are already in process from plastic bins to shelves - either on a bolt or folded or in a scrap a bin: either by size, type or color. (i.e. special fabrics like hand dyed or designer collections don't go in the mix-they warrant a folded stack all their own) It is important that you remember I said this is all 'in-process'!
• I'm also letting go of 2 sewing machines - these are good old tried and true manual machines that I plan to sell for around $40-50 ea., unless someone who really shows an interest in sewing were to need a machine....it could be a gift!

 I have been invited to participate in a 'Christmas in July' Open House so so I must get busy working on crazy quilt Christmas decor items from the gorgeous decorator scraps provided by the ladies who are hosting the event. Oh yeah, my fabrics are all organized by color!
I also have a top on the longarm frame; the pattern is called 'fire escape' and another quilter would have likely just quilted allover flames (uggghhh) the thought makes me cringe since one of mine and DMIL's projects did burn just 2 wks after gifting to her brother and his wife. This one is for a nephew so I decided on meandering fall leaves, all freehand!

OK, I finally posted! Now I have to work on all this other stuff! If you're glad I'm back, please let me know! Comments are always exciting!