Art Star Crafts Bazaar

For those of you in Philadelphia this coming weekend, be sure to check out the 3rd Annual ART STAR CRAFT BAZAAR on Saturday from 11-7 and Sunday from 11-5 pm. (Click on the poster for more info and to see who'll be there.)


©2004 Art Star

Hosted by Art Star Gallery & Boutique and held in conjunction with the Northern Liberties Music Festival, the event features more than 50 artists, crafters, and designers who will be selling their wares along the Liberties Walk (1030-1040 N. 2nd Street) & down Bodine Street, meeting up at the annual Northern Liberties Music Festival in Liberty Lands Park.

I won’t be exhibiting but you can find some of my things at the Blossom Boutique booth. I’ll be delivering a bunch of stuff to them tomorrow—so much that it's more cost effective to not mail them. Road trip - yay!!! Besides pillows (of course), there will be tissue cozies, credit card wallets, vintage fabric covered buttons and feedsack towels—many of which are not to be found on my website. The weather is supposed to be good and it should be a great time.

And we’re off!

Ah, Memorial Day weekend. The start of summer and never mind that it doesn’t officially start until the middle of June. It is the official start of junking season. Yard and garage sales, auctions, estate and tag sales, the local flea market—all are fertile ground for finding treasures.

Magazines often publish a list of junking tips this time of year, and they bear repeating.

• Wear comfortable clothes—things you don’t mind getting dirty—because they will. Comfortable shoes, too—you’ll be walking a lot.
• Get there early if you want the best stuff. But go later to get the real bargains. Vendors would rather you take items home than have to repack them up to take home themselves. They’ll make deals to get you to do that.
• Bring cash. Would you take checks and credit cards at a garage sale? I didn’t think so. Small bills are appreciated, too.
• Bring bottled water and something to eat, especially if you’re trying to eat healthy. Yes, they serve food at flea markets, but it’s more the fried corndog variety than anything you’d want to eat regularly.
• If something “speaks” to you, just buy it. As Mary Randolph Carter says “ Don’t ask yourself ‘Do I have a place for this?”’ Room in your heart means there’s room in your house.” Don’t think you can go back and get it later because chances are it won’t be there.
• It’s OK to haggle for higher ticket items but don’t nickel and dime the small stuff. It’s insulting to the seller and doesn’t make you look too good either. You can often get a deal if you buy several things from the same seller.

To which I would add:

• Be sure to look down. I’ve found some of the best things underneath tables in boxes.
• Carry a big bag. I have a barkcloth tote bag that, I swear, is bottomless. Great for all the small things I tend to buy—like bags of buttons and linens.
• Don’t take things too seriously. Just because something is supposed to be used for a certain purpose doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and use it for something completely different. It’s supposed to be fun!

Unfortunately I had too much to do in my garden this weekend after the rain last week, so I didn’t hit the garage sales. But I did stop at a church tag sale on Saturday and found some amazing things. A bag full of knitting and needlework books and magazines from the 30s, 40s and 50s – for (can you believe it?) $1. I also found two of these plates for $2 each.



I don’t know much about china and bought them because they’re pretty (and I'm sure those smaller flowers are primroses). So imagine my surprise when I did a little research online and discovered that they’re Grindley china from England and are worth about $18 each. In perfect condition, which these are not. My point is that you should trust your gut. Buy what you like—you’ll figure out a use for it later. And happy hunting this summer!

Weekend Finds

I made a quick stop at the antique mall on Saturday and found a bunch of cool stuff at the button booth. Notice the square and diamond theme I've got going. Funny how that seems to happen.



And I scored a bunch of cool handkerchiefs for $1 each!

I've been reading a book from the library by Pat Long Gardner called Handkerchief Quilts and I'm getting ideas for how I might use some of the handkerchiefs I've collected to make small quilts. I sometimes make pillows with them but I like the idea of having a slightly larger (18 to 24 inches square) size to work with. Pat uses printed hankies from the 30s to 60s, placing each in the center and building outward with coordinating colors and patterns. Like this one called Shall We Dance?:



And this one by Tom Lamb called Marching Bear that uses a 1930s children's hanky:



Aren't they cool? And, with my funkier stash of fabrics and color sense, I think I can do some fun things with this idea. Can't wait to get started!

Scenes from the Scrap Bag

If you do any sewing, and especially of you do a lot of it, you end up with a bag full of scrap fabric - pieces too small for pillows or clothes or full-size projects of whatever it is that you make. That's fine when you're crafting for fun but it's another thing altogether when it's your business. It's wasteful and goes against my thrifty nature. But, what to do with them all?

I've been trying some patchworky pillows based on an idea I saw in an old Country Living magazine (the British one, not the American - it's much cooler). There's nothing new about the idea but I never thought of using bits of embroidery in amongst the fabric. I often find linens that are too damaged to use whole but have wonderful perfect bits, so this will be a great way to use them. Here's a very pink, vaguely rose-themed one I completed yesterday:



The squares are about 4 inches across and I've added some small buttons where the seams meet. This ought to work with even smaller patches—just more of them. Or maybe a border of small patches around a central image?

With some slightly larger pieces I made a bunch of tissue cozies with tab and vintage button closures...




And, also with larger pieces, a batch of sachet stacks. Basically these are small lavender-filled pillows, each one a little larger than the last, stacked up and tied with grosgrain ribbon...



Yes, I've had a productive week. What can I say - it's been raining just about nonstop. The sun popped out briefly this morning and I managed to get a small part of the yard mowed in between the grass drying and the rain starting again. Now it's thundering and the sky is that funny shade of greenish-gray. Better head back to the studio. I've barely made a dent in that box of scraps—let's see what else I can come up with :)

Pretty Ribbons

I discovered this website recently and thought I’d share. I love the clean look of the site and the fun sketchy drawings of ribbon jars. And the page where you can shop for ribbon by color. The drawings are grayscale and turn color when you mouse over them. Fun idea!

And how cool are these special collections?



Each themed collection is packaged in a new or vintage jar and comes with a hand-crafted numbered tag that lists the collection name and the total yards of ribbon and trim inside. The one pictured here (the monthly theme jar for April) is a vintage Ball canning jar and is packed with 15 yards of ribbon (satin, grosgrain, ric-rac and woven) in one and two-yard pieces—all in shades of spring green. Honestly, these are so pretty that I probably wouldn’t use the ribbon. I’d sit the jar on a shelf and just look at it :)

You can sign up to receive their monthly newsletter. And maybe, if you do something crafty with ribbon, even become a guest designer. Makes me want to do things with ribbon!


The Ribbon Jar
http://www.ribbonjar.com

Violets

violets
Originally uploaded by primrose_design.

We planted these last summer and they're looking pretty spectacular for their first year in bloom. All the flowers seem to be early this year, even though it's still very cold in the mornings.

Just thought I'd post a pretty picture today. I'm in the studio finishing up a batch of vintage eyelet sachets and working on a patchworky pillow - kind of a new design. So, more pics coming soon.

Studio Friday: Sounds

“What are the sounds in your studio?” Sit quietly and listen. I am sure you’ll be surprised at what you hear!”

My studio is a pretty quiet place. There’s the whirrr of the sewing machine, of course. And the occasional hiss of steam from the iron that stays plugged in most of the time. My red clock ticks softly.



The room I work in (which used to be a spare bedroom) is at the back of the house so I can faintly hear cars going by. Even though I’m in a rural area my house is right on the road. That’s typical of homes built before cars and mine dates to 1862. I usually walk down the driveway to get the mail from the mailbox across the road, but, when I have packages, the mailperson drives up and honks her horn so I can run down and sign for them.

When I have the windows open I can hear birds singing. My studio faces the woods in the back and the yard on the side and both are home to many species of birds. One (and I’m not sure what it is) has the most amazing long trill that’s just beautiful.

My cats often hang out with me—mostly sleeping but sometimes knocking buttons or spools of thread off my work table just for the thrill of it. But, when it’s time for their noon treats, they let me know by meowing loudly. I talk to them sometimes, too.

I’m probably the only person on the planet who doesn’t listen to music when I work. I was one of those kids that couldn’t do homework to music either – if that explains anything. I like quiet when I work—it helps me to stay focused. When I’m in my car? Now that’s a different story :)

More sounds here,

New tea towel designs!

I've been slipping up on my blog updating this past week. And I had such good intentions, too. It's just that it's been so beautiful outside and there's so much to do in the garden. Pruning raspberry bushes, cleaning up the herbs, dragging out the big pots that I plant morning glories in. We have 4.5 acres - half woods and half not - and there's always something that needs to be done.

But I managed to spend some time in the studio, too, and cranked out a dozen tea towels. These are a new style and have borders of authentic (1930s to 1960s) feedsack cotton and jumbo rickrack, which I've been able to find in cool colors like marigold, nile green, and geranium. I just love these old feedsack prints - and the originals are so much prettier than the reproductions. So colorful and modern in spite of their age.



The other style, which I'm still offering, have fruit print borders and embroidered anthropomorphic fruit motifs from vintage transfer patterns. Because of the embroidery (done by hand, of course) this style takes a lot longer. I have two more Sugar Plums in the works and just found more of the blueberry and strawberry fabrics on Ebay (yay!) so will be able to make more of those designs. Special order for now until I get caught up.





I also made two with a feedsack print of tiny tomatoes and green rickrack. The embroidery will be from another transfer pattern in the same style (same artist probably) of a tomato dancing with a green pepper. So fun! I promise to post pictures when it's done.

Happy May Day!

Wildlife

One of the very best things about working at home is that I can stop working when something really interesting happens. Like today when one of our broad-winged hawks was hanging around our yard and woods. I heard him a couple of days ago, and he has a very distinctive cry, so I knew he was back from his winter travels. The female will arrive in a week or so. Maybe his cries are to help her find the way back. They've been coming here for the past three years so they must have some kind of sense-memory. I really should read up on their habits.

I saw him briefly this morning out on the lawn and then after he flew up into the apple tree. Just now he was perched on a dead branch up in the woods. I watched him for 15 minutes or so with binoculars while he cleaned and fluffed his feathers. Maybe they'll come closer this year and I'll be lucky enough to get a photo. I feel lucky to be able to see them at all.

It's also the time of year for wildflowers in the woods. I found a bunch of dutchman's breeches this morning, and the trilliums and trout lilies will soon follow. Aren't they cool? Like little white pants :)

Studio Friday: Sparkle/Shine

I was saving this picture to go with a future post about vintage buttons. But, when I heard the Studio Friday theme this week was Sparkle/Shine, I couldn’t think of a more perfect picture to use for it.



I bought these vintage rhinestone buttons at an antique mall near where I live around Christmastime. It was snowy outside and they looked just like sparkly snowflakes. I sent some to a friend who uses them in her work and tucked the rest away in a drawer. I‘ll use them some day but, for now, I’m content to just look at them every once in a while. And now you can, too!

Shades of White

I’ve been selling at a wonderful little shop in Stevensville (Bradford County, Pennsylvania) called Shades of White. Owned by Monika Kennedy, it’s located in a cute space attached to her home. You walk along a path of lavender and flowers to reach the front door and you can hear the bells tied around the necks of the goats that her husband raises. (And there are 18 new babies this spring!) There’s often a line of vintage linens on the clothesline drying in the sun. Inside it’s filled to the brim with beautiful things—mostly vintage linens but some clothing, sachets, soaps, and china, too. It’s not a large space (just one big room), but she manages to fill every space perfectly.

When she called me a couple of weeks ago to place an order for sachets, she said I could ship them if I wanted to. But, the weather is nicer now, and I was up for a road trip, so I said that I’d deliver them in person. My ulterior motive in this is that she always has wonderful surprises for me – some bits of lace, a few pretty buttons, some vintage fabric that she picked up in her travels. I bought that small bluebird plate – the one I used to announce my spring collection – there last fall.

So, I thought I’d post some pictures of the shop. Don’t you just love everything and the way she’s arranged it?




That's one of my pillows at the top.



I think many of us have dreams of opening a shop of our own – I know I do. Of course, we’re thinking of the romantic side of things – how we would decorate the space and arrange products, what kinds of things we’d buy to sell. Not the bookkeeping and taxes and all the behind-the-scenes stuff. But, if I did have a shop, this is how I’d want it to look – a happy mix of pretty things!

Shades of White, RR1 Box 20A (Route 706), Stevensville, PA 18845. Hours: Wednesday 11-3, Friday & Saturday 11-6

Pussywillows

A pretty picture for a pretty day. Our pussywillows have been out for a while but, now that it's getting warmer, they've started to burst into bloom. And I see that the daffodils I planted last fall (all 200 bulbs!) are starting to bloom, too. Time to grab the camera and get outside!


pussywillows
Originally uploaded by primrose design.

Embroidery

OK, I’m going to confess. I have an addiction to unfinished embroidery projects. You know, the ones with stamped designs and instructions for finishing them. Sometimes they come in kits with the embroidery floss but often they’ve been opened or the instructions are lost. No problem. I don’t mind choosing my own colors and often finish them to match a particular fabric if I'm making a pillow.

There’s something about the process of doing embroidery that’s very soothing and stress-relieving. Kind of like how petting a cat lowers your blood pressure. I’ve heard several people talk about how it’s gotten them through recovery from an accident or illness and that’s certainly true in my case as well. After my thyroid surgery two years ago, I barely had enough energy to get out of bed most days. I love to read but even that got boring after a while. So embroidery helped my recovery time pass more quickly.

My energy is back to normal, or at least as normal as it will ever be again, but it's still nice to have a stress reliever. Who doesn't need one of those? So, I always have a project or two in the hoops. Lately (since I have several friends who are pregnant), it’s one of the quilt blocks with birds that I make into baby pillows. I won a bunch of these on Ebay a couple of years ago and have been steadily working my way through the pile. Here’s one I’m just finishing up:



And here are a couple more in their original state:





This set was made by Vogart in the 1950s. I love the Vogart designs best, although I've bought a couple of Paragon kits for little girl aprons lately that are going to be really cute when finished. Vogart has the sweetest baby bibs, too, but I'll save them for another post. These bird blocks were sold together to be made into a quilt and I suppose I could do that. But I think they make really cute pillows, too. This is a finished version of the first block above:



With a little hunting you should be able to find original to-be-embroidered linens, too. There's always Ebay, but expect to pay a lot for the cutest designs and get into bidding wars with collectors. Or you can design your own project. Sublime Stitching has cool embroidery patterns (and starter kits, too). Pattern Bee sells iron-on embroidery transfers of vintage patterns. Needlecrafter.com has a library of downloadable vintage patterns that you can transfer yourself. And you can always make your own patterns from embroidered things you already own. Embroidery is simple to do (except maybe for French knots) and fun, and once you get started you'll see how easy it is to get hooked.

Yes, we have bananas

Here's my apron for this month's Tie One On apron challenge. Our mission was to create an apron for a doll or stuffed animal.



First, some background. This little guy is a Mac Monkey. Originally purchased at the dollar store as decorations for an animal-themed party, he and his siblings were later distributed to all the Macintosh computer operators on staff (art and production people). I should explain the joke. One of our boss' favorite sayings was that "any monkey off the street could do our jobs", meaning that we were expendable. At least he thought so—we knew better. So, after the party we all became official Mac monkeys with our own personal mascots. When I left that job he came with me and now sits perched on the shelf above my computer. Reminding me of what I left behind. I'm still a part-time Mac monkey but I get more bananas now :)

Since he's also the only doll or stuffed animal in my house, he became my muse for this project. My friend Jennifer at Textile Fetish pointed me to some great (and very appropriate) fabric - Funky Monkey by Max&Nobie for Moda, which I was able to find on Ebay. I used the red with yellow bananas for the apron base and the coordinating red and brown polkadot on white for the top and bottom bands and ties.



A very simple style that ties at the neck and waist (actually I miscalculated slightly and it ties around his butt—but you can't see that in the pictures)



I photographed him at work with his new apron, which he's liking very much. I suppose he doesn't really need an apron for this kind of work, but I told him I'd kill him if he got any more banana on the keyboard.



Now, if I can only get him to stop downloading banana recipes ;)



More fun aprons here!

Rickrack!

You know you’re a sewing geek when you get excited by unusual uses of rickrack (alternately called rick rack, ric rac, waved braid, zigzag braid, snake braid or corrugated braid depending on the time period). You may remember the lemonade apron I did last summer where I braided two colors together. I had seen that technique, wanted to try it, and loved the result.

I’ve been seeing another rickrack technique lately that I find fascinating - the combination of rickrack and crochet. Apparently this was very popular in the late 1800s to early 1900s when it was used to trim handkerchiefs, lingerie, pillowcases, towel ends, and clothing.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:


variegated pink, blue, and white crochet encasing white rick rack used to trim a baby pillowcase


golden yellow braid with white crochet - I purchased this as is and I assume it was meant to be sewn onto fabric as a trim.

Unfortunately, I never learned how to crochet so will have to wait until I learn to try this out for myself. When my grandmother offered to teach me I thought crochet and knitting were too “old-lady”. If I’d only known how hip they would be now! I hear there’s a new yarn shop in town, and I’m going to check out their class schedule. Maybe it’s not too late after all!

This is another cool use of rickrack—to simulate ruffles on a dancer’s skirt. These are from a square dance-themed tablecloth with motifs in each corner.








And another easy idea - sewing one braid atop another:

Studio

It's always interesting to see where artists work and what inspires them, so I thought I'd share some photos of my workspace. I'm lucky to have a spare bedroom upstairs in my house so I can have space that's all mine. I can be as messy as I like (and I am) and just close the door at the end of the day. The room is about 15 feet square and has a nice-sized closet where I keep finished pillows and storage bins filled with buttons, trims, and patterns.

I bought some funky window shades with stripes and polkadots (what a surprise that I'd choose that design!) and painted the walls a bright cantaloupy-orange to match. The room can be kind of dark when it's not sunny so this brightened it up a lot. When the sun does shine, it really glows. It's one of those colors that just makes you happy when you look at it.

My sewing table is next to a window that looks out on the back yard. I have my funny Anne Taintor calender on the wall and a cool picture of my Mom (who, back in the day, was no slouch at sewing herself). On the right you can just glimpse a section of the quilt top that I bought last fall at a nearby antique mall (full of incredible 1940s fabrics). It's really huge and takes up the whole wall!



I have a drawing table in the corner that I use as a desk of sorts. My computer space is downstairs off the living room, so this area is more for doing paperwork, designing, and updating the notebooks I keep for inspiration.



I store fabric on shelves along one wall and in an old armoire, mostly grouped by color. I really try to stay organized but my careful system gets messed up when I'm busy. When it gets bad enough that I can't find things any more, I spend a day cleaning and reorganizing. This may look neat at the moment but you're not seeing the pile of fabric on the floor!



When I'm working, my two cats love to hang out with me. I sometimes call them my studio assistants, but they really do no work at all. When they're not busy knocking buttons off my work table or playing with spools of thread they're asleep in the vintage crib I bought to display baby things at craft shows. Maybe someday I'll get it away from them so I can do just that :)

Holiday Apron

When I heard that the November/December Tie One On apron challenge was a holiday-themed one, I got my idea right away. And I even started it, completing the base apron over the next couple of days. Then I got busy with holiday orders and custom jobs and the holidays themselves. Christmas came and went. I finally finished yesterday, just under the wire. Here's the completed apron:



The base is a very simple waist-tie apron from a vintage 1966 McCall's pattern done in red and white striped vintage cotton. I sewed a yellow felt star onto the waistband using a blanket stitch and embroidery thread:



Then I placed rows and rows of vintage green brush fringe in slightly longer lengths as I moved down the front. Voila - a tree! I had bought a bag of this fringe last summer at a barn sale for $2. I had no idea what I'd use it for - just that it was cool looking. At first I tried sewing these directly onto the apron but the fringe kept slipping and I couldn't get them straight. I got the idea to "baste" them with fabric glue and that held them in place perfectly until I could sew them down.

And what's a Christmas tree without embellishment? So, I added some red ribbon-tied jingle bells and vintage button "ornaments". A bit gaudy perhaps (at least for my taste) but, as with most Christmas trees, the more the merrier!





I was worried that all of this wouldn't lie flat when worn and you wouldn't get the full effect of a tree, but the whole thing is surprisingly heavy and the weight seems to pull it down and hold it flat. And the best part is that it jingles when you walk! My cats, who love interesting noises, came running into the room to see what I was up to :)

Next challenge is to make an apron from an item of clothing. Since I'm not working a full-time job anymore and can (gasp!) work in my pjs, I have all sorts of dresses and skirts that aren't being used. Time to check the closets. Organizing them isn't a bad idea for a New Year's resolution either.

Edited to add a link to the gallery, which wasn't up when I posted earlier today. As usual, great designs!

Vintage French Soap Labels

Checking Ebay is one of my morning rituals. I keep tabs on the auctions I'm bidding on and see what's new from my favorite sellers. One of whom is paris-zakka. She's the one who had those great buttons I got last month. With free shipping, which was nice since she's in Belgium. (My package did take a few weeks to arrive - you should know that if you decide to bid). This month she has free shipping on vintage French soap labels. Now, I had no idea about these and how very cool they are. I'm afraid they may become a new addiction. Like I need another one. She has about 50 labels listed and the following are my favorites (it was really hard to chose just four).









Most of you may not know that I'm also a graphic designer, so I love things that are beautiful and well-designed. And I'm definitely loving these labels!