shop news

I'm running out of space, I want to get started on new designs, I'm just plain sick of looking at them. Time for a blowout pillow sale! All pillows are now 30% off. Including this floral one made from a gorgeous vintage Waverly print and vintage ball fringe.



Two new embroidery patterns have been added—a design of a bird with strawberries that would be really pretty embroidered on a tea towel (the picture shows just the top part) and a cute 1930s-40s baby bib design.


You've got to see the original that the baby bib design was traced from. Isn't this little guy cute? I love the tinted areas (hopefully they won't wash out when I clean this after finishing the embroidery) and the beets. Although the one hoisting himself out of the ground is kind of scary. I love that children's designs from the 30s and 40s often have a slightly sinister quality to them. A little sweetness goes a long way in my opinion :)





Don't forget that all patterns are Buy 1 Get 1 Free during the month of June.

And finally, I've been investigating ways to offer my patterns as pdf downloads. Selling to crafters in other countries has always been a problem because the shipping is so high. Heck, it's high here, too. Pdfs would solve that problem. More on this when I've figured out the details.

Happy summer! I totally missed the fact that Friday was the first day of summer. Probably because it was rainy and in the 60s and didn't feel much like summer :)

outsourced

I don't often talk about the rest of my life here on my blog. One, because I'm a pretty private person, and two, because you all come here to read about Primrose and crafty-related things. My worlds are colliding today.

I've been busy this week finishing up the July/August issue of the magazine I design. I've done this magazine for four years now on a freelance basis, along with another magazine for the same company, different division. Together they make up about three-quarters of my graphic design work (and annual income). And this will be my last issue. I knew this was going to happen eventually but I officially got the axe yesterday. My job has been outsourced to India where they make about $3 an hour. Never mind that a large part of designing a magazine is having a good command of the English language. And never mind that the people that will be working on it are not really designers. Doesn't matter—the parent company (who is not located in the US) thinks it will save money.

As a business person I understand the need to keep costs down, but I have a real problem with the whole outsourcing concept. There are plenty of people here in the US who need jobs. Next week, I'll be one of them. As will all the in-house people they've laid off in recent weeks. And then there's the whole issue of quality. "Good enough" just isn't part of my vocabulary.

So, I've been polishing up my resume and working on my design website. And I'm officially spreading the word that I'm available. Logos, catalogs, brochures, magazines, newsletters, books, and websites—I've done them all. I'd love to stay freelance just because a regular full-time job won't leave me enough time for Primrose. Or blogging. Not that I have a lot of options for full-time jobs where I live anyway.

So, if you hear of anything, are starting your own business and need some help, or know of someone who is, please let me know. I'll post a link to the new website when it's up and running.

If nothing else I'll have lots of free time this summer to work on projects. Like painting my kitchen table and chairs. Stripping the wallpaper in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Cleaning the garage. Keeping the garden weeded. You know, making headway on that running "to do" list we all keep.

happy father's day

A few pictures of me with my dad who, unfortunately, is no longer with us. Going through all the photos to chose one for today's post got me remembering how much fun we had together when I was a kid. And you can see where my early gray hair comes from. He was in his late 20s in these pictures and is already halfway there. I don't even know what color his mother's hair was—it was pure white the whole time I knew her!





Happy Father's Day!

botanical art tote bags

Remember those lovely seed packages I showed you a couple of months ago? I got an email from the company a few days ago announcing that they're using some of their botanical paintings on eco-friendly reusable canvas grocery bags. What a great idea!

They've started selling reusable bags at the grocery store where I shop but they're pretty ugly. So, I've been looking for an alternative. I usually don't buy huge amounts of food at one time so a bag like this would easily hold my purchases—they say they'll hold twice as much as a plastic grocery bag. And it will be perfect for the farmers market when it opens next month.

Now, how to choose from all the gorgeous artwork (everything from beets to oriental poppies). Maybe I'll have to get two :)

$23.95, from Botanical Interests

scenes from the garden

I don't know what it is this year—perfect weather, plenty of rain, the planets aligning—but the garden looks spectacular. Even the grass looks great. Of course, if it stays 90 degrees like it's going to be today, it will probably dry out and I'll be complaining about that. But for now...perfect.


Rock Soapwort, a new favorite—kind of low-growing and creepy and looks really nice spilling over a stone wall.


A yellow Japanese tree peony. Like regular peonies but without the ants.


A mystery flower—I can't remember what this is called. (Thanks to Camilla and Patricia for identifying this as Verbascum chaxii and I believe it is the 'Bold Queen' variety. There's also one called 'Milkshake' with flowers that are pure white; mine are a bit yellower)


Flowering chives.


White rhododendrons—the wild kind—which are much prettier than the cultivated ones. This looks amazing when it's just starting to get dark—it glows.

the ducks are back

I was sold out of these cute duck diaper pins for a while but I now have them back in stock. And (shhh, don't tell anyone) but I've finally found a wholesale source after 3 years of searching. So, I should have them for the forseeable future and can offer them at a lower price. Available in packages of four pins in white, yellow, or blue. $3.50 per package.

a book you might like

Last summer I got an email from C. Dianne Zweig asking if I'd like to contribute to a book she was working on. You may be familiar with her previous book Hot Kitchen and Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, and 50s or visited her shop “Kitsch-n-Stuff” at The Plantsville General Store Antiques Center in Plantsville, Connecticut. She had seen some of the photos here on my blog and they (and my work) fit right in with her plans for the book. Of course, I said yes.

Almost a year has gone by while the book was being written, designed, proofed, and all those behind-the-scenes things that happen in publishing. And we finally received a release date of September 2008. Preorders are being taken at Amazon—just click on the picture.

It's being published by Collector Books and here's what they have to say about it:

"In Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes, author C. Dianne Zweig offers readers a new twist on kitchen, home, and garden collectibles, marrying different periods and styles in a look which is vintage chic, country kitsch, and retro-romantic. It's all about 'cottage style,' a trendy and enjoyable way to both collect and creatively use popular collectibles, antiques, odds and ends, and treasured furnishings. This book offers readers over 900 individual and vignette photographs submitted from the top collectors out there. This fresh and exciting look at vintage cottage collectibles contains kitchenware, romantic china, pottery, French enamelware, buffets, china cabinets, tables, chairs, beds, fabric, tablecloths, chenille quilts, pillows, linens, vintage sewing projects, lighting, mirrors, frames, wallpaper, wall decor, wicker, birdcages, cottage nursery, holiday items, whimsical and flea market salvage, objets d'art, garden ornaments, tools, and other 'hot' cottage, beach, and cabin collectibles."

Sounds pretty cool to me and I can't wait to see a copy! Dianne has a links page on her own website if you'd like to visit some of the shops of the other contributors.

working with what's on hand

Except for when I first started my business and had to supplement with an influx of my own cash, Primrose has been self-supporting. That's not the same thing as making a profit, although some months that happens, too. What it means is that I have enough to buy the materials I need without having to borrow money from other sources or from myself. So what happens when things slow down? It means that I buy less stuff and make do with what I have on hand. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Lately I've been going back through past purchases to get them ready to sell. Sometimes, in the case of the baby sheet that I purchased already embroidered with Bambi characters, that just involves hemming the sheet. More often, it's completing the stamped for embroidery projects that I have way too many of. This baby bib with a cat holding a balloon took about an hour to finish. Then I soaked it (it was pretty dirty) and hung it out in the sun to dry. It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

My current project is a set of four napkins with a flower (mums or dahlias?) in one corner of each. It's a nice mix of easy stitches—stem, lazy daisy (straight up for the flower petals and upside-down for the leaves), and French knots. I work a little bit on it each day and it's going fairly quickly. These will need a good soak, too, and then hemming.



I hope to get lots of embroidery done this summer so I'll be sharing more of my projects with you. And look for more patterns, including the balloon cat shown above, on my website soon.

What the heck—let's do another pattern sale for the month of June. Buy one pattern and get another (of equal or lesser value) for free. Just include a note in the comments section of the order form telling me which pattern you'd like.

speaking of gas prices

I've been seeing this graphic a lot lately on some of the political blogs I read. Funny but also not if you know what I mean.

I know that historically we pay much less for gas than people in other countries do (Europe, for example) so they're sort of right when they don't have much sympathy for our situation. But it really is a whole different thing here in the US if you live out in the country like I do. I grew up in NYC and lived in Chicago for a while and took public transportation everywhere (and happily) but it's non-existent here. And the only store within walking distance sells ice cream and a steady diet of that is probably less appealing than it sounds :)

I've always bought cars with high gas mileage - no SUVs for me - and that helps. And I've started to limit my trips to town, combining grocery shopping, banking, and post office runs into single trips.

Most of you probably don't remember that gas was rationed back in the 70s during the oil crisis. I was pretty young and can't remember all the details but I do know that you could only buy gas on certain days of the week and the lines were really long (I used to take a book to read). I'm thankful we don't have to do that yet.

From Wikipedia—
In the U.S., drivers of vehicles with license plates having an odd number as the last digit (or a vanity license plate) were allowed to purchase gasoline for their cars only on odd-numbered days of the month, while drivers of vehicles with even-numbered license plates were allowed to purchase fuel only on even-numbered days. The rule did not apply on the 31st day of those months containing 31 days, or on February 29 in leap years — the latter never came into play, since the restrictions had been abolished by 1976.

So how are gas prices impacting your life? Are you driving less or making changes to your routine?

feels like summer

This holiday weekend was a flurry of activity—most of it taking place outside. I'll tell you about Saturday in a minute but Sunday and Monday were all about the garden. We planted fruit trees (another peach, a new pear), vegetable seeds (corn, beets, carrots, cucumbers, and green beans), vegetable plants (the baby cantaloupes and Greek tomatoes I started in February and some heirloom tomatoes, poblano peppers, and bell peppers from the garden center), and annual flowers in pots for the porch off the kitchen. We put netting over the strawberry plants, which are loaded with blossoms and teeny tiny future strawberries. I planted hostas in the shade garden and weeded flower beds. I even mowed the lawn. And yes, I collapsed into bed each night. But it felt good to get so much of the heavy work out of the way.

Saturday was equally exhausting but for different reasons. I got up early and drove to Stormville, NY for the Stormville Airport Antique Show & Flea Market. This was my first time attending the show and you'll find a full review (the good and the bad) over at Vintage Indie. I'll use this space to show some more of my purchases.

I thought most of the vintage linen/textile dealer's wares were very overpriced but I always manage to find a few bargains wherever I go. I got this embroidered pillowcase for $3 because of the weird stain running above the embroidery. An oxyclean soak got rid of 90% of it and I'll try a few tricks to get rid of the rest. The bluebird is super cute and I love the flowers (rhododendrons, I think).



I passed up the $4 hankies at one dealer's booth only to find a basket full of $1 ones at another's. This one with embroidered roses and daisies is very sweet.



I found some cool vintage 1920s needlework catalogs for $5 each. Catalogs are great for dating linens—they show what styles were in fashion during certain time periods. I think I'll show some of them in a blog post of their very own.

I talked the seller of this rose-print apron into a lower price ($3) because it was really dirty. It cleaned up just fine! I love the fabric this is made from and it has a stiff red netting (also used for the triangle pocket) underneath to give it shape.



This is the white beaded purse for $5 that I mention in the VI review. As it turns out it's not just a clutch—it has a chain handle that tucks inside, too.



I wish I could have gotten more than scraps of this fabric. It's a vintage DuBarry screen printed cotton with roses and bows and the colors are amazing.



I have a few more trips planned for later in the summer - shows that I go to every year. Other than that I'm not sure. With gas so expensive ($48 last time I filled the tank of my VW bug!) I think I may be sticking closer to home this year.

Happy Mother's Day

A photo from a long time ago. This is my grandma Elizabeth in one of her perfect sweater sets, my mom with her ponytail and bobby-pinned curl and me looking a bit overwhelmed with the attention. Somebody let me out of here :)

And I couldn't resist including another picture, of my mom and me on my second birthday. I can't figure out why I'm focused so intently on that birthday gift. Just look at that gorgeous barkcloth pillow above my head and I'm sure it was the genuine article, too! The curtains aren't bad either. Silly me :)



Happy Mother's Day!

feedsacks

A couple of years ago I started a group (Feedsacks) on Flickr to catalog some of the 15,000 existing patterns of feedsacks. This was a project I started on my website (you can see it here) beginning with swatches from my growing collection of feedsack cottons. Then I got busy with other things and the whole thing got set aside. There's really no way I could ever get all of them anyway.



Lately, a few people have discovered the group and asked to join. And I've decided to try to inject a little life into the project again. I invited a few people who already had pictures of feedsacks in their own pools (Flickr-speak for a group of photos). And thanks to those new members who accepted, joined, and shared their photos this week! Stop over and check out the photos and feel free to join us if you're so inclined.



Some of you are probably asking "What the heck is a feedsack?" I'm not going to attempt to explain in detail because several others have done so already, and much better than I could have done. You can read all about them here:
Feedbags: From Rags to Riches by Joan Kiplinger
Feedsacks: A Tradition of Recycling and Repurposing by Kayte Terry
Feedsacks! by Kris Driessen
Feedsacks, Frugal and Fun by Judy Anne Johnson Breneman
Collectible Feedsack Cloth and Quilts: the Past Revisited by Patricia Cummings



The feedsack examples shown here are some of my personal favorites. I love the large scale florals in bright colors, but there are plenty of patterns for everyone whether you like small-scale florals, stripes, polkadots, geometrics, or novelties. And about that 15,000 number—according to one member of the group it's actually grown to 20,000! Oh well, what's another 5,000?

violets are blue

The modest, lowly violet
In leaves of tender green is set;
So rich she cannot hide from view,
But covers all the bank with blue.
—Dora Read Goodale

I've been thinking of violets lately because we have thousands of wild ones in our lawn and they really are a sea of blue this time of year. We also have some of the cultivated variety (the one shown above has white edges and a purple center) in the flower beds. They spread like crazy so they'll soon take over there, too. Not complaining because I love them.

I didn't realize quite how much until a few days ago when I was going through my box of vintage hankies. I need to make some new sachets so I was trying to work up some combinations—hankies with fabric and buttons that all work together visually (not always as easy as it sounds). I have a lot of hankies with violets and I thought I'd share some pictures. The embroidered ones are especially pretty!













Did you know that violets have more than 200 common names, many of them relating to love and sex. Names like Hearts Ease, Bird's Eye, Bullweed, Pink-eyed John, Pink-of-my-Joan, Godfathers, Godmothers, Wild Pansy, Love-lies-bleeding, Love-in idleness, Love Idol, Cuddle Me, Call-me-to-you, Meet-me-in-the-entry, Kit-run-in-the-fields, Three-faces-under-a-hood, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate, and Kiss-her-in-the-buttery. Too funny!

And speaking of those sachets, I wasn't able to cut up these hankies up after all! Sometimes I just can't bring myself to do it so back in the box they went.

Stitch School: Beads.3

Stitch School has moved to it's very own space on the web! You'll now find the Beads post here. Comments are now closed on this post; if you'd like to leave a comment please do so on the new one.

Mother's Day

Buy something for Mom; buy something for yourself! Free shipping* on all orders placed between now and May 11. Enter coupon code "MOM" when you check out.



*U.S. and Canadian orders only.

socially-responsible

It's primary voting day today in Pennsylvania and I'm heading out in a few minutes to cast my ballot. I'm really happy that my county changed their minds and went with paper ballots that are optically-scanned rather than the all-computer method they had originally decided on. The lack of a paper trail didn't sit well with the people who live here and the reversal is a direct result of the power of citizen activism. Yes we can (and that's a hint if you're wondering who I'm voting for).

It's also Earth Day today and I thought I'd share something I read yesterday. On Saturday I went to our local library's annual book sale—and what better way to recycle and to save money at the same time than to buy used books. I actually didn't buy any books but I did get a stack of twenty House & Garden and Martha Stewart Living magazines from last year—for 10 cents apiece! I don't usually buy either of these magazines but I figured I'd find 10 cents of information or photos to clip.

House & Garden is a little too upscale for my tastes but I love their monthly column called Domestic Bliss: At Home With ___ that features a famous person in the design world talking about their personal style. With cool photos, of course. The one featuring Paulette Cole, who has reinvented ABC Home (part of her family's ABC Carpet & Home store in NYC) as a socially-responsible business but who also lives "green" at home fits perfectly into today's "green" theme. The article mentioned her organic food and cleaning products buying habits, but what stood out to me were her comments about collecting antiques—"Antiques are the greenest choice you can make." How true. When we're hauling home our finds from the flea market we're probably thinking about how cool they are and how little we paid for them, not that we're recycling. But that's exactly what we're doing. Not that we really need another reason to buy antiques—but that's certainly a good one.

She admitted that many people are daunted by the idea of committing to living green but sees it as a journey—"My mantra is 'continual improvement'. Our goal should be getting a little better every year."

With that in mind, I'm going to be conscious of my carbon footprint today. I plan to hang my laundry outside on the clothesline (and sleep on wonderful-smelling sheets tonight) and plant some of the early cold-hardy things (lettuces, radishes, spinach) in the vegetable garden. Hmmm, the polling place is right down the road—maybe I'll dust off my bicycle, too!

How are you living "green" today?

Stitch School: Beads.2

Stitch School has moved to it's very own space on the web! You'll now find the Beads post here. Comments are now closed on this post; if you'd like to leave a comment please do so on the new one.

Stitch School: Beads.1

Stitch School has moved to it's very own space on the web! You'll now find the Beads post here. Comments are now closed on this post; if you'd like to leave a comment please do so on the new one.

signs of life

It's warm here today and I took a short walk around the property. The daffodils are just about ready to pop open, but not pretty enough yet for a picture. But I found this hellebore (also called Lenten rose) half-buried in leaves.



I forgot that we planted these last year so it was a nice surprise. I hope to get out later (if it doesn't rain) to do some raking and weeding - there's so much to be done out there!

a cottage of your very own

A couple of weeks ago, Susan showed some very cool embroidered pictures of cottages on her T-Cozy blog. Knowing that I sell copies of vintage patterns on my website, she emailed to ask if I knew anyone who could take her original picture and make a pattern from it. It was a challenging picture to trace (lots of tiny leaves and flowers) but I told her I'd do it. Yes, it's possible to digitally trace original embroidery but it's not magic—you still have to do all the tracing. It's just done with a mouse instead of a writing instrument and a steady hand and graphic design background doesn't hurt either.

The pattern is now for sale and you can head over to her latest blog post for ordering information. It's a really a cool pattern, and not just because I had a hand in it's creation. Everyone loves a sweet little cottage surrounded by flowers, even if they don't really live in one themselves.

A beginning embroiderer may want to practice up on their stitches—about half of the design is cross stitch (that's easy) but the rest uses a variety of other stitches—like chain, outline, French knot, and lazy daisy. If you need help with those, check out my Stitch School posts listed to the right in the sidebar. And, like my patterns, you'll need to transfer the design to your own fabric.

Someone emailed me recently asking if I'd do a tutorial on transfering patterns. I didn't think it was that complicated as I just lay the pattern on a lightbox with the fabric on top and trace over the lines with an air-soluable marker. But, that only works if your fabric can be seen through. I recently bought some flannel-backed baby burp cloths that I thought would be cute with a bit of embroidery in the corners. I set up the lightbox and (oh, no!), you can't see through the layers of fabric. There is another way to do it involving a transfer pencil, so maybe a tutorial would be a good idea after all.

I'll add it to the list. Next up for Stitch School is a post about attaching beads and sequins (or other small objects) because sometimes you just need a little extra bling! I'll try to get that posted next week if the weather cooperates for picture-taking. They weren't kidding about those April showers—it's rained every day since the beginning of the month!