seeing spots

You know how much I love polka dot fabrics, so I especially love when I find colorful and unusual variations on the theme in a vintage fabric—it doesn't happen all that often. And not often in purples and oranges either. A recent Ebay purchase—



I'm sad to report that my posts may be pictureless for a while. My trusty (and beloved) Canon Powershot A80 is on it's way to the factory for a fix. It's been acting up lately—with a smeary pink blog in the viewfinder instead of whatever is supposed to be there. It only happens occasionally but it's a known problem and they'll fix it for free so I packaged it up and shipped it off to Illinois this morning. Of course, I frantically photographed products all weekend to tide me over while it's gone. I probably should buy a backup camera but I'm holding out until I can afford a really good digital SLR.

I know I haven't been posting often and I can't believe how quickly January has gone but I've been working away at several projects that have been keeping me busy. I have added lots of new buttons to the website and will be listing more in the coming weeks. I've arranged to purchase a very large group of buttons from the estate of a seamstress in New Mexico and the photos of them look gorgeous. Can't wait for the package to arrive!

I'm also working on a custom embroidery job—the cottage I made a pattern of for Susan at T-Party. This is definitely not a beginner's project and is taking me much longer than I thought it would. I'm working it on a heavy cotton/linen and I'm getting a serious case of eye strain counting threads for the cross stitch parts. Almost done with that so I'll be able to move on to the embroidered details—lots of lazy daisy flowers and leaves. If my camera gets back in time I'll try to take some pictures to show you.

shopping trip

What do you do when you wake up on a Saturday morning and it's minus twelve degrees outside? Go shopping, of course! Hey, it was warmer in my car than in my house :)

Actually I had planned this trip earlier in the week. For some reason, since around Christmas, I've been selling tons of vintage buttons. And I do mean tons. I'd had an order that was so big it filled one of those flat-rate boxes and cleaned out about half the buttons on my website. So, I really needed to get some new inventory. Luckily, one of my favorite vendors at an antique mall about an hour away had lots of new stuff so I easily replenished my supply. That and the two auctions I won on Ebay should keep me in buttons for a while. At least I hope so. Now to get them sorted, photographed, priced, and listed. This is going to take a while so don't look for new listings until next week at the earliest.

I also found some cute aprons and linens, some of which have petit point embroidery like I talked about a few weeks ago. So, I'll leave you with some eye candy today. I have a custom embroidery job to get started on so I'm heading into my studio for the day.


A petit point rooster in bright colors from a set of six ivory linen cocktail napkins


A petit point clump of violets and matching border from a vintage handkerchief


A dresser scarf with designs on both ends—cross stitch girls in red bonnets with orange and red French knot flowers

good intentions

I've been following the many discussions about the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) regulations but haven't talked much about it here. It's overwhelming to say the least (just try reading the original documents and you'll see what I mean). It seems, from much of what you read in the media, that the regulations only apply to children's toys. Not true. It affects every product that is intended for children under 12, including the vintage children's items I sell on my website.

The intentions of this bill were good—who doesn't support protecting children from harmful substances—but did anyone actually read the bill before voting on it? It's so vaguely worded and overreaching that it's going to have devastating consequences for small businesses that make children's products. And ones who resell them, too. That means thrift stores, eBay sellers, and children's resale shops. I've heard some talk of exemptions for this but nothing has been settled.

Basically, I'm required to certify that my products don't contain lead or phalates. And the only way to do that is to send them to a lab to be tested. It's quite expensive and they do what's called destructive testing so the item is destroyed during the process. Obviously that puts me (and anyone who sells one-of-a-kind items) in an impossible situation. It's one thing for a manufacturer who makes thousands of the same thing to comply with this law; it's quite another for the small businesses, many of them sole proprietors working out of their homes, to be able to. Or afford to.

So, what can I do? I can continue to sell the hundreds of dollars of children's inventory I have on hand and risk being prosecuted. I can throw it all out. Or hold onto it until some time in the future when the laws are amended. I'll definitely have to scrap my plans for the bibs, embroidered burp cloths, and children's aprons I was working on developing. Luckily, children's products are such a small percentage of my business that this won't put me out of business. Unfortunately, the thousands of artists and crafters whose entire line is children's product are going to be forced out of business.

What can you do? Read more about it (links below), spread the word around the crafting community, join some of the online groups, and sign the petition. It very well may be too late to do anything about this but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

A few links (there are hundreds—just google CPSIA):
Save Small Business from the CPSIA
Handmade Toy Alliance
National Bankruptcy Day
Fashion Incubator
Etsy-The Storque-Craftivism
New law could wipe out handcrafted toy makers
Pelosi's Toy Story
CPSIA-Central

customer service

I've recently had two frustrating experiences ordering from online companies and it's got me thinking about how important customer service is. I always go out of my way to package orders carefully, ship them quickly, and communicate by email with customers. Ordering online can be scary for some people and I want to make the process as easy as possible for them. I almost feel, as an online company, that I'm responsible in some way for their online shopping experience. So, it always disappoints me when companies larger than mine seem to care so little about it.

I ordered some pants for a Christmas gift for my husband on December 8th from a company that shall go unnamed. I'd been getting their catalogs for some time but hadn't ordered and I decided to take advantage of their free shipping offer. I received a confirmation email that my order was processed and then nothing. I waited a week and a half and called them. The item was in stock but they were busy and it hadn't shipped yet. The person I spoke to was nice enough but clearly didn't care. I waited some more. Finally, four days before Christmas I got an email that the order had shipped. And it arrived on Christmas Eve. I was steaming mad by this point and thought really hard about just refusing the package. I'm sorry but there's just no excuse for waiting three weeks to ship an order. If you're that busy, maybe you should hire some extra help for the holidays—it's not like there aren't people who need jobs. Lesson 1: Ship in a timely manner and, if you can't, let the customer know.

The second order was from a company that sells fabrics for cross stitch. I have a custom order scheduled and I wanted some nice linen to work with. Again, I got a confirmation e-mail but then no communication at all for a week. Last Friday I got the email that the package had shipped and it arrived today. But, when I opened it there was only one of the three items I ordered and that one was the wrong size (larger than I ordered so that worked in my favor). I called, they were very apologetic, but now it will be another week before I get my stuff. Lesson 2: Check and double check every order before it leaves your premises. I print out an extra copy of every invoice to include in the package and I check off every item as it goes into the box. And I pack one box at a time or keep them far enough apart that there's no confusion.

I seriously doubt if I'll ever shop with either of these companies again. There are other clothing companies and other shops that sell embroidery materials; shops that will ship orders on time and include the right things in the package. I have lots of choices. Lesson 3: (the old standard) You only get one chance to make a first impression. If you have a business you want people to shop with you again. It's much easier to get past customers to return than to attract new ones, so why screw that up. And, if you do make a mistake, make it right as quickly as you can.

Just some advice in case you're thinking of starting a business of your own.

Update: I received the second package from the embroidery supply company and guess what? It only contained one of the two missing items. So, I called again and was told that the third item was backordered. And how exactly was I supposed to know this? The person I spoke to didn't seem all that concerned when I told her I wouldn't be shopping with them in the future. Now, that's a poorly run business!

resolutions

First off, happy new year! I didn't do anything special to celebrate—in fact, I fell asleep before midnight so I missed the whole thing. You'll see as you get older—sleep is more important than staying up late partying :)

I'm not big on resolutions. It's easy to make them but much harder to actually keep them. Been there before.

Last year I resolved to do my bookkeeping at the end of every month and I actually followed through. This was an easy one to keep. I just thought back to the end of March last year and how many hours I spent trying to track down what I paid for something or how many miles I drove to that antique mall. Except for December's, which I'm in the process of doing now, every month is in a folder and done! And that's going to make my taxes so much easier to prepare for.

This year I'm going to be smarter with purchasing supplies. Buying in bulk really does save, although you shouldn't buy more than you have room to store or be able to use up. Take packaging materials. I often run down to Staples when I need mailing envelopes but it's much cheaper to buy them in larger quantities from a company like Uline. I already buy lavender in 15.5 pound bags and last year I began cutting that with buckwheat hulls to keep costs down. All of which keeps me from having to raise my prices.

What else? I've felt kind of guilty about some of the comments from readers who say they stop here every day to read. Because I haven't been blogging every day and I haven't done a Stitch School post in months (in the blogging world that's forever). I'll try to do better.

And, I'll make the same resolution that everyone makes—to eat more healthfully and to exercise more. I used to say I was too busy but now that I work at home that excuse just doesn't cut it anymore :)

Now I'm off to my studio to continue with the big cleanup I started last week. I've thrown out two big bags of stuff so far and it's looking better already!

...and to all a good night.

Happy holidays dear friends!

a sigh of relief

Now that the Christmas orders have shipped and things have quieted down I finally have some time to catch my breath. The tree is decorated, gifts are wrapped, and grocery shopping is done for the holiday meals.

I spent most of the day yesterday in my studio where I'm cleaning and straightening up. I've been sorting fabric scraps into piles—larger pieces for tissue cozies and sachets, smaller ones for patchwork. And finishing up all those three-quarters done embroidery projects so I can list the end results on my web site.

And about that baby quilt I've been working on for the past two months. The layers are together, the binding is attached, and I'm just about ready to finish up. I thought I'd quilt it on my sewing machine but it turns out that my machine can't handle that. Then I thought about hand-tying it and even bought the perfect shade of brown yarn to do that. But the new mom called yesterday (everything went well and it's really a boy!) and she thinks she may hang the quilt rather than use it in the crib. So, I'm going to revert to my original plan of "quilting" it with buttons. I have a bag of brown buttons that I bought on Ebay years ago—part of a box full of old factory stock from a clothing manufacturer in NYC. They'll be perfect. And I should be able to get them sewn quickly.



I'll deliver this in a couple of weeks when she's feeling up to visitors and when weather permits. I'm pretty happy with the results and may add some quiltmaking to my repertoire in the future. It's so labor intensive and I'm not sure there's a way to make any profit but it was fun anyway.

really vintage embroidery

My sister-in-law sent me a link this morning to an article in the New York Times about embroidery. Seeing History in the Eye of a Needle is actually a review of an exhibition of embroidery at the Bard Graduate Center. The exhibit, English Embroidery From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: ’Twixt Art and Nature focuses on 17th century England (one of the golden ages of embroidery) and features 85 works. Items include clothing (a truly stunning jacket that can be seen in the accompanying slide show—link below), accessories (gloves, caps, and purses), silk and canvas panels, jewelry chests, cameo portraits of Charles 1, and beaded trays and baskets.


An English beadwork tray by an unknown designer and maker, 1662-70.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The closing paragraph from the article:
"Embroidery is a glorious byproduct of sewing, one of the world’s most essential crafts. Sewing began sometime in prehistory, probably when pieces of animal hide were lashed together into a crude garment. But humans never cease. The marvels of this exhibition testify to the human need to improve, refine and perfect, turning a means of survival into a sublime vehicle of expression."

A Golden Age for Embroidery (slide show of images from the collection)

The slides are great but I'm sure can't do justice to the original pieces. I think I'm going to make plans to go see this exhibit—how could I not :)

It runs through April 12 at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, 18 West 86th Street, Manhattan; (212) 501-3000

we have a winner

And the winner of the Bucilla towel set is Anna S. (annasoc) who wrote about doing embroidery on her way to work via public transportation. Kudos for helping the environment by not driving if that's possible where you live. Needlework can be a great portable project and, while my journey to work these days consists of walking downstairs to my computer, I always take a small project with me to doctor appointments, on car trips, or anywhere I know I'm going to be waiting.

I loved reading about how some of you learned embroidery from your mothers and grandmothers (as I did) and how you're passing it on to your daughters. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I'd hate to see skills like these disappear.

And I think I may have embroidered a few peace signs on my jeans, too, back in the day :)

Remember that tomorrow is the last day to order on my website for guaranteed holiday delivery. I'll be upgrading all shipping to Priority to make sure packages get there in time for Christmas. But, even if you run out of time, you can still use your discount code (HOLIDAY) for 20% off until the end of the month. Buy a present for yourself! Shipping is free at my Etsy shop and I still have some tissue cozies and mixed bags of buttons available—both are great stocking stuffers!

needlepoint birds

I found these two framed needlepoint birds this past weekend while I was looking for a piece of furniture. I didn't find that, of course, but you know me - it's the rare antique shop where I can't find something interesting.



These are actually not needlepoint but a technique called petit point. Worked in wool just like needlepoint but on a much smaller scale—these are 16 stitches to the inch. Working so small allows you to get lots of detail—nice for birds and also for people's faces.

I used to do a lot of needlepoint, as did my grandmother who made covers for all eight of her dining room chairs (that's an ambitious project). I'm starting to like it again and I've picked up a few unfinished ones here and there (they're often sold with the central motif already complete and you just have to fill in the background with the color of your choice). Working needlepoint may be even more relaxing than embroidery because it requires a minimum of attention. Each stitch is done exactly the same and once you get into the rhythm of it, you just go. I've heard that knitting is like that, too.

If you click through the next two photos to my Flickr page, then click on "all sizes", you can see the really large original scans. The better to see the detail up close.


A Baltimore Oriole (we had lots of these in our yard this past spring)

I may need some help with this one. The closest thing I could find in my bird identification guide is a Western Tanager. The head and wings look right but their bodies are usually more yellow.



At some point I'll show you how to do needlepoint. It's not embroidery but I think the technique falls under the Stitch School umbrella.

I'm planning to hang these in the dining area off the kitchen—near the big window that looks out to the bird feeders. I think that's an appropriate place, don't you?

a recipe, and a winner

I already gave you my tried-and-true, make-every-year ginger cookie recipe a couple of years ago, so I'll give you my grandmother's raisin cookie recipe this time around. She died many years ago and wouldn't mind that I'm sharing it.

Kathleen Moir's Raisin Cookies

2 cups golden raisins, cooked in 1 cup water for 5 minutes
1 cup vegetable shortening (you can substitute butter but they won't be as good)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream shortening and sugar. Add raisins with their cooking liquid, eggs, and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients and chopped walnuts and mix everything well. Drop 1-1/2 inches apart (they'll spread out) on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes. My recipe doesn't have a quantity— it kind of depends on how big you make them—but I remember it being about 4 dozen or so. And, they're really good when they're still warm :)

holiday aprons

As you know I've been busy stocking my web site with goodies for holiday shopping. This morning I added twelve vintage aprons including three with holiday themes. One features a jazzy print with trees and colored dots on a black background:



Another is white with a border print of holly and poinsettias:



Just a quick interruption to direct you to Georgia Peachez's blog for some photos of her gorgeous holiday fabric collection. I'm loving the use of pink with the reds and greens.

My embroidery fans are going to love the third apron. It's heavy white linen with a cross stitch tree, bells, and holly. And there are several cool details. At the top of the tree and bottom of the bells, a rhinestone "jewel" was added. And there's nice use of gold metallic thread—actually it's more like very skinny ribbon. I haven't really talked about ribbon embroidery but you can embroider with anything that fits through the hole of your needle. Wide ribbon makes for some great three-dimensional effects!


The whole tree


French knots, lazy daisy leaves, and a rhinestone jewel.


The ribbon has been fastened down with couching.

All are for sale on my website. And don't forget your discount code "HOLIDAY" if you do decide to buy.

a holiday memory

This is easy. All through my childhood my father would stay up late on Christmas Eve arranging an entire landscape under the tree. It started with something called the In-A-Barn Farm that my grandfather made himself. At least I think he did. Maybe it was a kit or project from a woodworking magazine. All the farm buildings and the farmhouse fit down inside the barn for storage (the roof was the lid) and there were outbuildings, a well, and fences (both metal to look like stone and wooden ones)—literally everything you'd find on a farm.



Dad would lay out white batting for snow and sprinkle brown dust for the pathways and animal enclosures. There were tiny people positioned on the walkway up to the house and farm animals in their pens and the barnyard. The animals and people were made of metal and were painted very realistically. In the back near the wall behind the tree he'd form hills from crumpled brown paper and position those little green bottle brush trees. There were even a few Indians hiding back there. Watch out farm family!

These pictures are scanned from the original slides which are about 40 years old, so not so great. But you can click on this one and go to my Flickr page for a larger version. If you look closely on the path outside the barnyard there's a farm hand chasing three geese.



In the evenings we'd turn off the room lights and plug in the tiny lights inside the house and barn and it was like magic. Sometimes, after we'd gone to bed, Dad would move the people and animals around, and we were convinced that they moved by themselves during the night. We also had these really creepy-looking elves that would move during the night, too but that's a story for another time :)

That's my memory, and thank you all for sharing yours. I couldn't really choose a winner based on how good your memories are (they're all good), so I threw all the names in a hat and the winner is Amy (the Christmas Eve pizza-eating one). Send me an email at janet@primrosedesign.com and let me know how to get your sachet to you.

black friday

I'm really not into the whole concept of Black Friday—wake up way too early to drive to the mall to fight for a parking space to fight crowds inside to wait in line at the checkout to get bargains that probably will get better as it gets closer to the holiday. Not my idea of a good time. I sometimes get claustrophobic in crowds and I definitely get impatient waiting in lines. Unless it's antiquing I'm not even that into shopping. So, today you'll find me at home working—and eating turkey sandwiches ;)

random thoughts

Boy, it's snowing like crazy here today! Luckily I ran all my errands yesterday. I needed to mail a bunch of orders so I had to go out anyway and I decided to get all my grocery shopping done on the same trip. The grocery stores were jammed with people shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and that panic shopping for when a lot of snow is predicted. Personally, four inches isn't enough snow to panic over but whatever. So I braved the crowds and got all my ingredients. We're having a small (just us), quiet Thanksgiving dinner and I bought the smallest turkey I could find but we're going to have tons of leftovers anyway. Turkey soup will be on the menu next week for sure.

What else? I won this very sweet stamped-for-embroidery child's play bib a few weeks ago on Ebay and just had to do the embroidery right away.



The seller said in the listing that this was a rabbit but I don't think so. Possibly a bear cub (my husband's opinion) but more likely a puppy (look at the ears). But, I've had trouble telling puppies and bears apart before. Whatever animal it is, it's super cute!

In other news, I did some antiquing this past Saturday down near Allentown, PA, and found some really great stuff. Will post some pictures later this week if I can get good light for photographing (that won't happen today obviously). I hit the mother lode on buttons—one of my favorite sellers is going out of business and I got some really good deals. Which I'll be passing on soon (again, need to photograph them). I also found lots of hankies (one of the reasons I went out hunting) and some very cool aprons and baby things.

I'm actually feeling kind of stressed about all the things I have left to do, but it's a good day to stay inside and work. That's where I'll be.

baby quilt progress

I spoke to the recipient of this quilt yesterday and she checks here frequently on my progress, so this post is partly for her and partly for the readers who are also checking up on me. Yes, I've been slacking but I'm back on it now :)

The due date has been updated to three weeks from now so I'm not going to make it in time anyway. That's OK. I'll deliver it in person as planned (only a bit later) but will actually get to meet the real recipient—the baby!

The quilt top is just big enough now that it's getting hard to photograph. I tacked it up on the doors of the armoire in my studio but I still couldn't show the bottom row. You'll have to imagine that.



All I have left to finish the top is an outer border of the stripe all around. The back will be entirely the brown polkadot fabric (at least I think so) and will either form a self-binding with a bit of the back brought to the front or the binding being a separate piece. Probably the latter as that will give me a few more inches of width. I'm trying to use the width of the fabric (45") without piecing.

My first picture is a little blurry. Here's a clearer closeup that shows all of the fabrics and the fawn block.



Still thinking about options for the quilting of the layers, although I bought some brown thread that I'll probably use. That's getting ahead of myself. First step is getting the top done!

how I spent my weekend

Cleaned my studio...check
Cut out more sachet stacks (a customer bought out my supply)...check
Worked on the baby quilt (getting there)...check
Finished the custom baby pillow...check

And here's a photo of the finished pillow.



Sorry for the darkish picture. It was sunny for like 5 minutes this morning and I missed my window of opportunity. For the week probably. It's going to be really cold with the possibility of snow flurries. No matter—I have so much indoor stuff to do!

baby pillow

Here are some pictures of the custom baby pillow I'm working on. The person who commissioned it sent me fabrics that she had leftover from sewing the bedding for the nursery...



Then she chose one of my birdie embroidery patterns for the center panel. I've made so many of these designs (see more here, here, and here) that the embroidery goes really fast.



I picked my floss colors from the fabrics, except for the ladybug, which really had to be red. But I did pick a softer, more coral-colored red so it wouldn't clash with the other softer tones. Even the black isn't really black—it's actually a dark brown with a purplish cast.



I finished the pillow top last night and now I just have to do the back.

And, in case you were wondering, yes, I do custom work. That's how I got started and I still do a fair amount of it. Some examples are baby pillows like this one. I've also turned handkerchiefs, pillowcases, and embroidered towels into pillows—the same way I do my own creations but with the materials supplied by the customer. It's a great way to preserve linens you may have inherited from family members but don't want to actually use (and get stained or ruined). I also complete stamped embroidery projects for people who don't have the skills or time to do so themselves. Feel free to email me if you'd like to schedule a project.

production line

The new batch of tissue cozies I've been working on this week is almost done. Yesterday I chose button combinations to match the fabrics. Today I'm sewing them on.



I love this diamond feedsack fabric and, while the brown button isn't quite a perfect match, it's pretty close.



I'm doing a triple stack for this one—the tiny green button echoes the flower centers in the fabric. Not sure why it looks turquoise in the photo—it really does match.



Still freezing here so no melting of snow in spite of the sun. Perfect weather for staying indoors and working!

october surprise

And no, not the political pre-election kind :)

Snow! Very early-in-the-season snow!


An icy leaf

I woke up early (like 4-ish) this morning because I heard something crash outside and realized that it was snowing. Still too dark to see what the crash was and, with that bear still around, I wasn't going outside to investigate. I'm not crazy. But now that it's light enough to see I figured out what it was. Half of one of the old apple trees in the yard is lying on the ground. Between the apples and the snow, the weight was just too much for it. And while I was out checking the damage I saw part of a tree go down up in the woods. I shook snow off the lilac because the branches were dragging on the ground but no real damage there. Not sure what else we'll lose today - it's the really heavy wet kind of snow.


The fallen apple tree

I was trying to remember the last time we had snow this early and it was a long time ago. We do get flurries sometimes in October but not a several-inches kind of snow and we're due for 3 to 5 inches today. Good thing I did all those errands yesterday and can stay home today. I have two dozen tissue cozies on my work table that need to be done this week!