jane's apron

vintage sheet fat quarters - free to good home

I sewed a pair of wide-leg lounge pants for my daughter last weekend.  She is a little too big now to use a single pillowcase so I used a pattern (McCall's M5491) to get the size right and made the pants with a vintage top sheet.  I still used the top of the sheet as the hem of the pants (this is a really easy way to have an automatic hem on the pants...just be sure to line the bottoms up before you sew them together). 

Are you thinking "eew...vintage sheets"?  Let me assure you that I am the pickiest shopper of vintage items.  With sheets, they have to be perfect, bright, clean, fresh...like new but vintage. And most important?...they have to be super soft.  

I had a few scraps from the sheet and decided to make them into fat quarters.  I've seen vintage sheet fat quarters on etsy and thought it might be fun to put a few sets together for my esty shop.  I was wrong.  It was not fun at all.  And no amount of money would make it worth it for me.   I did, however, get really good at using my rotary cutter. 

I put together 3 sets of fat quarters; a pink set, a blue/gold set, and a bright blue/red set (my favorite). Each set has 2 fat quarters of 2 designs....for a total of 12.   I'd love to send the stack to a blog friend...just leave a comment before Friday, Aug. 7 (sorry to drag it on a little too long but we'll be away next week and I'm taking a small blog break).  

Have a good week!

ummm...the fact that this giveaway had 98 takers is wacky...wacky in a totally happy, worthy of a whole separate blog post way.  But to get right to the point, the winner is Sarah (#65) from A Flower for You who said:

    Oh please, oh please, oh please pick me. I'm in the 

    process of adding to my vintage sheet collection. It's 

    slowly, but surely growing and it will be even better 

    with these fat quarters! :)

Thanks everyone for taking the time to leave a comment...a few more days off here but I'll be back on Monday.

mad men yourself

The lunch dishes are stacked on the breakfast dishes but I'm ignoring them and instead chose to Man Men myself. That's me with the red purse and the martini at the office. Sunday, August 16 in case you've been wondering.  

missing aprons

I didn't write down the date or anything but I'm pretty sure it has been over a year since I thrifted a vintage apron.  Where have they gone?  Are the thrift store people tossing them in the trash?  Is it just my thrift store?  

This is why I was really happy when I found a set of handmade aprons recently...not vintage but still cute (and possibly made with vintage fabric + muslin).   The sea shell fabric on one of them is extra soft and summer-like so I added it to my kitchen shelf.

 

Now that I'm more comfortable with my sewing machine, I've started thinking more about something I'd like to try...some simple "art" aprons.  I believe there is a call for submissions to the next issue of Arpon-ology (but I'm not seeing it at stampington.com) and I hope to give it a try.

We are finishing the last of our scheduled activities here and I'm looking forward to a little less driving all. around. town.   I caught up on some sewing projects this weekend and saved a few vintage sheet fat quarters that I'll be giving away this week...still getting used to using my rotary cutter.  

something from nothing

My daughter asked me to take a walk around the neighborhood with her....one of those things where you have to stop the stupid stuff you're doing and join her. She found a crabapple tree and thought the tiny apples looked like cherries.  I helped her pick some, she brought them home, got out her paints, and went to work.  She painted a bunch of them and even made a witch with a paper hat and a black cat with the smallest paper ears and the stem as a tail...a classic "something from nothing" craft that made her happy for hours.  

I love that she had an idea and just did it.  No thoughts of how she has so many other things to do, that she needs something else to complete her project, that she really needs to organize her craft area before starting anything new.  Oops...those are my thoughts.  I believe there is lesson here.  

I have plenty of ideas...I just need to adopt a what-would-Ellen-do attitude, ignore at least a little of the daily stuff, and just make something.  

not so thrifty

It's pretty simple...I'm thrifty and my husband is not...never has been.  So when he recently asked me if I could "Get him some shirts for work at the thrift store",  I acted calm but inside I was jumping up and down and screaming "I win!  I win!" (and it only took 20 years).  I've gone to half-off day at my thrift store for a couple of months now and my husband is dressed better than ever in all of the brands that I would never buy retail.   He was especially happy that most of the shirts were pressed with they dry-cleaning tags still on...but I don't iron.  This led to him buying a crazy-expensive steam press thing so he could iron all of his new shirts.  So much for thrifty.  

Do you thrift for practical stuff like shirts, soccer shorts, or shoes?  I really don't but I'm learning...I've even started picking up shirts for my son for high school (you know, to go with the $129 Birkenstocks).  I don't usually go to garage sales because I can't really make it with our weekend schedules but I'd like to.  I recently found out about a garage sale tracker that looks promising.  I might check it out to see if any good sales are near the soccer games.

 

all-star

We are sports fans...if we are all watching TV, it's usually a game.  Ellen tolerates this only to a point but we are working on her.  This is why it was so cute when she purchased a photo of Albert Pujols at her school auction (using her "good behavior" tickets).  She is really trying to fit in. 

I use clothespins to keep stuff handy in my kitchen window and, when Ellen brought home this picture, I slid it into a pin with a new notecard (which I'll get in my shop later today).  They looked so good together that they've been there all summer...a bit of a "red" inspiration board.

Tonight is the All-Star Game and we'll be watching (as soon as we get back from baseball camp and soccer practice).  Everybody knows that St. Louis is a baseball town but today the city gets to show off a little...hope you get a chance to watch!

midsummer

My daughter asked me last week if it was midsummer. Kind of a funny question but when I thought about it, the answer was yes.  Target has replaced their outdoor section with the back-to-school section and I ordered uniform shorts from Old Navy so I don't get caught without any when they sell out...I'm finally learning not to wait until the week before school starts.  Our swim team season finished yesterday so we'll enjoy the days of not getting up and out by 6:30.  I'm liking midsummer.

The summer collage is from my Year of Color swap partner Becky.  It's a classic red, white, and blue and it looks perfect hanging on the hooks with my favorite aprons. Thanks Becky!

not skittish

Sometimes, when the cat has been out all night and he's really tired, he doesn't mind when Ellen slips a doll pillow under his head and covers him in a doll blanket.  He also doesn't even move when I stand on the bed and take several pictures of him.   

color love

Just one look at my swap partner Becky's blog banner (miesmama) and I knew what to do...definitely a flower.  A flower using the bright heather-bailey-ish colors she loves.  

I wanted to make the flower petals out of patchwork and tried something new...

  

I cut lots of 1.5 in. squares of paper and glued them to cardstock.  I then traced petal shapes on the back and cut them out...pretty easy and full of color.  I wanted to put faux stitching around the flower petals using a needle to punch the holes and a white pen but it didn't work...so I stitched the petals for real.  

I added one final touch to make it just for Becky...

art journal aversion

The final week of June at A Year of Color was about inspiration and journaling.  This made me slightly panicky. Picture me sitting in a classroom and the teacher calling for someone to create an art journal.  It's not that I'd run from the room but more that I would sit there with my eyes down, maybe pretending to be busy on something else, hoping that I wouldn't be called on.  That kind of panic. But I was called on anyway...

So, with very little time and an aversion to journaling, I created a digital collage.  I don't love this collage at all. But I did it anyway and it got me thinking about a few things.   Why don't I like journaling or making art journals? The answer to that question turns out to be pretty simple.

1. By nature, I'm kind of sarcastic and that doesn't mix so well with inspirational phrases.  2.  I'm not all that reflective...more of a "just the facts" girl...love the graphics of symbols, numbers, and letters...just not the words.   I have to ask...is this just me?

I was still thinking of this last week (maybe I am a little reflective) while walking with my ipod and heard one of the song lyrics in a whole new way.  Maybe I could use that. Maybe I'll try it before the inspiration goes away.  Maybe I'll still not like it.  Either way, I'll share it here.