Mother's Day

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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!

thinking about spring

Unfortunately, thinking is all I can do at this point. Yes, the robins are back and some of my perennials are starting to send up little hints of green but it's still pretty chilly and much too early to start planting. I do have my seeds though so I'm ready when the weather begins to cooperate.

Aren't these seeds packets pretty?



My local garden center carries this brand of seed (among others), and the packages are so beautiful that I'm tempted to buy all of them. Surely my garden will look as fantastic as these illustrations! Perhaps not but a girl can dream can't she?

I have three large planters with trellises in front of the garage and I'm going to try these nasturtiums instead of my usual morning glories. Peach Melba and Cherry Rose Jewel - sounds yummy enough to eat! Of course, I'm going to have to wait to plant these until after we get the garage siding done. When we bought our place, the house had already been done but not the garage and it just looks weird. Not that I like siding (I actually hate it on old houses) but it seems easier to add it to the garage than remove it from the house. Hopefully this will be happening in April or May. Waiting now for my accountant to finish the taxes to see whether I can afford it or not :)

So, here I am with my seed packets, still waiting for spring.

P.S. Yes, that's a real banner at the top of my blog. After many false starts I finally figured out how to add it to the template without screwing everything else up. It only took three years - LOL!

Updated to add a link to Botanical Interests. I bought my seeds at a smallish local garden center. Tammy spotted some in California, so they're out there but probably not at larger chain stores like Walmart. But, thanks to online ordering, you can get them wherever you live. And it's nice to see the entire line—I know my local store didn't have all of them.

a quiet Easter

I'm not doing anything special today to celebrate Easter. We ate dinner out with friends last night and it's kind of chilly so not a good day for working outside (although I'm just dying to get out to the garden—I know it's too early but there's so much to be done). So I've been spending a quiet day at home photographing products and updating my website. I've added a bunch of new pillows, including two made from linens I found on my New England trip last September.

This one uses the embroidered pillowcase I found at the Elephant's Trunk Flea Market in Connecticut. I'm looking forward to returning there this summer, too.



And this one uses an embroidered towel found at The Buggy Whip Factory in Southfield, Massachusetts. I didn't find a lot of linens there but I did find other cool things so I'd probably return there, too, if I was in the area.



Speaking of vacations I'm not sure where we're headed this year—maybe Maryland. I haven't been to Baltimore in forever and Havre de Grace is supposed to be good for antiques. Flying is so expensive and too much hassle these days so I'm happy to do a driving trip, especially if it's relatively close. Gas isn't cheap either!

Hope you're all having a nice holiday!

new embroidery patterns

I've listed some new patterns on my website—


For you cat lovers there's Kitten Capers based on a vintage nursery quilt. This pattern comes with a copy of the original directions for making the quilt although you certainly don't have to—the blocks would make really cute pillows, too!

And a fun pattern of animals in hats that I'm calling Party Animals, also based on a set of vintage quilt blocks—


Can you tell I like quilt blocks? A lot of my patterns are based on them, and I think I like them so much because they are the perfect size for pillows. That's certainly the reason I started buying them. And I always scanned and digitally-traced (my computer background helps with this part) each one to keep for my records anyway. Then I got the idea to share them.

I have lots more tracings in various stages of completion so look for more patterns soon. And I may at some point, start selling off some of the originals. It's getting so that, even if I embroider every day for the rest of my life, I'll never get to them all. Yes, it's an addiction :)

Special offer for blog readers during the month of March—Buy 1 embroidery pattern, get 1 embroidery pattern free! I don't think there's a way to set up a code for this in my shopping cart so, when you check out, write the word BOGO in the comments section and tell me which pattern (equal or lesser value) you want for your free one.

so fierce

Congratulations to Christian Siriano for his PR Season 4 win! I can't say that I loved his collection or thought his creations were very wearable (and even he admitted that they weren't), but it was creative in ways that the other designers collections were not. And he lives and works in a closet! I loved Rami's woven bodices but his color choices ...meh. Jillian's designs were nice and wearable but not so high-fashion.

But, I'm certainly no fashionista (I live in jeans) so what do I know? I actually spent yesterday at King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia and didn't buy a single article of clothing. Not that I didn't look but nothing spoke to me loud enough that I had to buy it. I had a nice lunch and bought some pretty poppy print stationery at Papyrus and a wren house at Smith & Hawken. How pathetic is that?

calling all southpaws

Someone left a comment today on my French Knot tutorial asking whether a left-handed embroiderer (like herself) can just flop my directions. Of course, I'm right-handed so have done the instructions and photos from that perspective. I don't know the answer to her question. I did find in a quick Google search that there are lots of books that have left-hand instructions, which leaves me with the suspicion that it's not quite as simple as flipping my pictures.

I'm sure this problem applies to knitting and crocheting, too. So, can anyone help me out? Wikipedia says that 7-10% of the population are southpaws so surely a few of my readers are too!

Updated to add the names of a few books I found: A Primer of Left-Handed Embroidery by Carole R. Myers and Left-Handed Stitchery by Sally Cowan. Sounds like people are managing just fine by flopping my pics and instructions, but a book might be helpful as a reference.

get your Indie Fixx

One of my embroidery tutorials is featured today on Indie Fixx! Jewelry designer Jenn Wallace of Tilting Swiftly fame runs this blog that features the best in indie style and design. And every Tuesday there's a tutorial from one of those designers. Worth checking out for that alone. But there's also a shop and special holiday and seasonal-themed gift guides, too!

you can never have too many strawberries

Seeing all those pillows again in my last post got me reminiscing about some of the linens I used to make them. The two pillows on the top shelf at the far right were made from a set of embroidered tea towels that I bought on Ebay. And they had some of the prettiest examples of cross stitch embroidery I've seen. The colors were bright and the stitching was perfectly done—and tiny, too. The finished pillows were only 14 inches square so that gives you an idea of the size. The towels had some stains that I couldn't get out so I didn't feel too bad about cutting them up.



I love anything with fruit—fabric, embroidery, buttons (and to eat, of course!) and anything I make with them (especially cherries and strawberries) seems to fly off my website. So, I guess I'm not the only one feels the way I do about them.



I wish I'd kept a closeup picture of the raspberries so you could see the stitch that was used. It's sort of an interlocked chain stitch that makes little round loops—the perfect thing for a berry. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in my embroidery books.

I did make a pattern of the strawberry design right before I sold the pillows. And you can download your very own copy here. (You'll need Acrobat Reader to open the file and be patient—it may take a while to open.) The pattern sheet also includes the border design of strawberries and leaves that ran along the bottom of the towel. I used that section across the back of the pillow. For some reason I didn't make a pattern from the raspberries (maybe because of that weird stitch that was used). I'll see what I can do using my photo as reference.

Have fun with this pattern, which is perfect for tea towels but makes a pretty cool pillow, too!

in good company

In a very roundabout way I found out that a picture of my pillows appeared in the December issue of Romantic Homes magazine. I only occasionally buy this magazine and, with the holiday bustle, I guess I never picked up an issue that month. But I did buy the March issue and the picture appeared on the Letters to the Editor page. I did a double take when I saw it because it seemed to go with a letter from someone who makes pillows and I couldn't figure out why hers looked exactly like mine.

So I called the magazine and had a nice chat with one of their editors and found out that they had done a feature on the shop that I had sold the pillows to. The photo first appeared with that feature and was reproduced at a smaller size to fill space at the end of the letters column. None of which makes me famous or anything since my company wasn't mentioned. But hey, I'll take what I can get.



Romantic Homes has been evolving over the past few years and has a younger, fresher vibe—something that the older, long-time readers don't always like but that's a good strategy for attracting new readers and future subscribers. And they've featured several of my fellow bloggers in the past year—Susan (The T-Cozy) in January 2007 and Alicia (Posie Gets Cozy) in both the February 2007 and March 2007 issues.

Maybe someday I'll get the chance to join them. With a credit, of course :)

goodies

Some goodies from my trip to Weil Antiques Center in Allentown last Saturday:

Aren't these just the best buttons? In all my years of collecting and selling buttons I've never seen these before. And, no (don't even ask), I won't be selling these! I'm not even sure I can bear to use them myself.


A vintage Vogart embroidered runner/dresser scarf. Sure hope he's not going to tomahawk that cute little doggie. He does look a little worried, doesn't he?



A vintage border print fabric with bright red daisies was made into a curtain panel. I'll probably use it for something diffferent—maybe an apron.



It was good to get out and do some hunting—antique malls are great for that this time of year. Except for a few Ebay purchases I really haven't been buying much this winter. That's OK—my cash flow is better and I'm getting the chance to use what I have on hand.

happy valentines day

A vintage valentine from my collection. And this is unusual for me in that I usually go for the colorful 1940s and 50s kitschy ones—like these. But I love the 1930s black line artwork and the little touches of color brushed in on this one. And the fact that it seems more adult and serious—the kind you'd give to your spouse rather than your classmates.

If you'd like to see more vintage valentines, check out the almost 700 of them posted to the Flickr Vintage Valentine group.

and we have a winner

A quick thank you to the 31 readers who commented and it's nice to see some new names among them. There's nothing like a contest to bring out the lurkers - hee!

When I got up this morning I put all the names on little scraps of paper and threw them into a hat (a vintage one of my great grandfathers actually). And we now have a winner! Congratulations to Danielle.

So, girl, email me your address (janet@primrosedesign.com) and I'll get your towel packaged up and on it's way.

And speaking of contests I'm thinking of doing one that's a little more complicated and one that involves the chance to show off all those embroidery skills you've picked up from my Stitch School posts. You'll actually have to send me a finished product but it will be something small and easy - like a bookmark perhaps. There would be three winners (chosen for quality of the work and creativity not randomly as I did today) and better embroidery-related prizes. I haven't worked out the details yet but it's been on my mind for a while. What do you all think? Would you be up to something like that?

sharing the love

As I mentioned in my post last Friday I made a couple of embroidered tea towels especially for Valentine's Day. Well, it's been a week and they haven't sold yet so ... lucky you ... let's do a giveaway for one of them!



Same deal as last time I did this. Leave a comment on this post. I'm going antiquing tomorrow so will pick a winner on Sunday morning and post their name here. And if I get the winners shipping address by Monday morning, I'll mail the package that day and the towel should arrive in time for the holiday on Thursday. Unfortunately, because of the high costs of shipping to foreign countries, I can only make this offer to readers in the U.S. and Canada.

The second towel will remain for sale on my website so, if you fall in love with it and don't win, you'll still have a chance to own one. And the 20% off discount (code HEARTS) is good until 2.15.08.

Good luck!

so many books, so little time

I'm heading to the library this afternoon to return my last batch of books and to see what new things I can find. I've been reading a lot this winter. Maybe it's the writer's strike and the fact that none of the shows I watch are on regularly. And the ones that are on are getting kind of weird (costumes for the WWE on Project Runway - what's up with that!) I find that I'm not missing much. I had some really good books this time so I thought I'd share my list:

These Granite Islands by Sarah Stonich

Chocolat by Joanne Harris. This was so much better than the movie which I saw when it first came out and loved but didn't like as much on second watching after I'd finished the book. Not even Johnny Depp as a gypsy could save this one for me. Too many things were changed for no good reason, the ending included. I should know better than to compare but it was an interesting experiment.

The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

The Dressmaker by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck

The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer (her first novel—I read her second Songs Without Words first)

I'm not going to do book reviews except to say that I liked them all. You can check out the descriptions on Amazon for more info if you're interested. I'm a big library supporter and don't usually buy books (except for craft books that I keep for reference!) but I do a lot of research on Amazon.

And if anyone has suggestions for good books you're reading this winter, please share in the comments. Don't worry, I like just about everything!

valentine goodies

Look for a writeup about my valentine specials today at Vintage Indie, including a discount code for 20% off your order. You can click on the cute kitty valentine to go directly to the page on my website.



There you'll find heart-shaped buttons, valentine hanky pillows and sachets, a couple of tissue cozies, and just about everything on my site that's red and white and has hearts on it! I've also created two tea towels trimmed with a valentine-themed fabric, hot pink rickrack, and an embroidered kitty from my Year of Cats vintage embroidery pattern. Isn't he cute?



Since I haven't been blogging much these past few weeks you may think I'm just sitting around goofing off. Not! I have five new pillows for spring on my work table and the paperwork for my taxes is just about done. Yay! It's also been really cold here and I do have a tendency to burrow in for the winter. I've been reading a lot, too!