This is the first of a series of stuffed animals based on Urban critters. They are 100% recycled and vintage wool felt and machine sewn. I love working with in this medium because its so forgiving and doesn't fray. I almost feel like I'm sketching with a sewing machine.
As for a name, Midge the Pigeon. Be on the lookout for Merl the Squirrel very soon.
I love good mail. And I got some this week. It actually surprised me to open the mail box and see this HUGE envelope with tons of stamps from Australia! I've never had an overseas package before. AND I'd completely forgotten that I'd won a drawing at Whizzme's blog for a bundle of fabric.
I ripped open that envelope and was immediately in love with every piece of fabric in the pile, the cute stickers, and the handmade card. Samantha was more than generous with the pile too. I didn't expect quite so much!
It was a beautiful pile (that I've already ripped into) and very much appreciated! Thank you so much Samantha - that was a great piece of mail that really brightened my day!
Just popping in to show you my latest quilt. Its about18"x24". The Pigs scene is an applique I made from some vintage fabric I blogged about earlier. More pictures on flickr...
I started to take a few shots of some Cherry fabric that turned out to be a flour sack (picture at flickr to be blogged later) when my little girl, Livy came into the shot. She is 21 months old and a spitfire - every bit the redhead.
And her hair really is that red - really I think you'd call it orange. Its gorgeous. She is gorgeous. She's one of the two best things (along with her brother Liam) I've ever made, and one of the most rewarding.
Now that the weekend is over (and my friend's wedding), I can display the quilt I gave a sneak peek at last week.
This is it! I used all vintage or repurposed fabrics except for the larget grey stripe and the grey honeycomb backing. Some is silk, some polyester, most is cotton.
I actually bound the quilt in less than two hours which is an absolute record for me. It once took me 10 to bind a doll quilt. I guess I'm a little better at it (that and I HAD to get it done if I was going to gift it).
Anyway, this is my latest work. It hurt to part with, but it is in a much better home where kids won't drool on it (yet) and kittens will cuddle with it.
I read This Vintage Chica's blog yesterday (www.thisvintagechica.typepad.com) about finding the amazing stash of feedsacks at a Texas fleamarket. Believe me, its a truly astonishing number of gorgeous feedsacks for an unbelievable price. It reminded me of my oh-so-thrilling find last weekend...
Last Saturday morning, at my first thrift shop stop, I noticed several "pillowcases" thrown into the fabric bin. They looked old and handmade, with some puckering at the seams. The material looked strong and patterns interesting, so I bought them along with a zip lock full of scraps.
I got to the car and looked at my "pillowcases" a little more closely with this monologue in my head:
"thick cotton cording. thats weird. Its kind of twisted as its sewn. You would have to have some big ass pillows to fill these cases. Hmmm. This fabric looks pretty old and it feels kind of nubby. Maybe this is a sack of some... "
And I said to myself out loud "Oh my god, this is an unopened feedsack." I called my husband to tell him what I'd found, but he didn't seem to understand the significance.
The rest of Saturday Morning Thrifting was spent basking in the soft glow of my feedsack finds and feeling like a first class idiot for not figuring out what they were more quickly. I take solice only in the fact that I was still smart enough to buy them thinking they were pillowcases.
I don't know exactly why vintage fabric, especially of the feedsack variety, excites me so much. It may have to do with the history behind them. Feedsacks remind me how very lucky I am to be living during this era and in this place. The reasons they were saved reminds me that some people during the 20s and 30s were desperately poor. And yet, their cheerful prints and patterns tell me people still had hope thier luck would change.
Plus they are really pretty.
