A Mix of Old and New

As I was getting fabrics together for my next sewing project, I discovered that several of my vintage fabrics go really well with my new pieces that I ordered from Sewmamasew.

In this first group, the daisy print on the left is a 36" width cotton fabric from the 1960's. I love it with my new Alexander Henry Birdseed and small orange flower print!

In the next group, both of the fabrics flanking the Flea Market Fancy stripe are 36" width cottons dating to the 1960-70's. The pink is a smooth cotton and the polka dot is a wonderful pique.

The last group again shows off that polka dot pique on one side of Heather Bailey's print, and a very organic 60's polka dot in lime, pink, and orange on the other side.
Hmmmm...what to make first....

A Fluff and Pictures Blog

...We interupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this introspective and "substantial" post...

As I was cruising through blogland the other day, I stumbled upon a post in which the author apologized for including several pictures that week. Then went on the assure the readers that it would not be turning into one of those fluff and picture blogs. (Huh???)

I must say, I took it a little personally.

Now, I realize that I will not be the recipient of a Thinking Blogger Award any time soon...and I'm OK with that. I think there is a place and purpose for both types and one is not more or less important than the other.

I admire those who are able to articulate their thoughts and put them in writing, adding a dash of wit and humor. All the while chronicaling their day, pondering the social ills, and debating parenting styles.

Sadly, I don't possess that talent. But that wasn't my intent when I started my blog. I wanted a place to share pictures of my garden, spark interest in lovely old fabrics, and perhaps, inspire creativity (my own and that of others) with a DIY project. Looking at beautiful photos or making something with my own two hands is mood altering, it makes me feel good. (And much less expensive than a therapist, I would imagine.) I LOVE seeing all the beautiful home and garden pictures, lovely paper collages, and sewing projects on other blogs, and I can only hope that when others visit my page they feel a little better, too. :)

So, my fluff and pictures blog will continue as is, unapologeticly. Here's some pictues, just so a newcomer won't be confused. LOL

Flowers, Garden, Tote. That about sums it up.

OK, so the Easy Weekend Project has been missing for the last 2 weeks. Chalk it up to a yard in desperate need of my attention and a friend's special request for a summer tote for her Hawiian vacation.

I will have a project to share with you next week. But for now, here are pictures of the yard and the tote.

My friend wanted a bag that was bright, cheery, and tropical made with vintage barkcloth. Looking though my stash, it was a hard decision. One tropical print is prettier than the next...but I chose this gorgeous 1940's yellow number. I paired it with a Laura Ashley stripe and cream twill. I hope she likes it!

And the winner is...

Paula of Pink Roses and a Pearl .

A name was picked from the bowl this morning, and Paula is the winner of the fabric package, Cottage Charm giveaway.
Let me know which fabric pack you would like.

Thanks to all who participated in our giveaway! It was so much fun to meet new people and visit new blogs. I'm sure we'll be doing this again!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Kimberly :)

Cottage Charm Giveaway - Sign up now!

Time is fast approaching for the much anticipated Cottage Charm Giveaway Day. I'm so excited to see so many signing up for my fabric package giveaway but, there is still room in my bowl for more names. You have until the end of the day on May 25 to sign up. You can see our offering here.

PLEASE make sure I have a way to contact you. You can send me your email address through the Contact link on the side bar, or have an active blog that I can post to, or display your email on your profile page.

You can see all the participants and their lovely and generous cottage giveaways at One Woman's Cottage Life.

THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS!!!

No, really...this post is for the birds in my collection.

If you have read a fabric related blog or have visited a fabric site in the past month, I'm sure you've noticed the abundance of fabrics featuring our cute feathered friends.

This trend is beautifully depicted by Erin Michael in Paint By Numbers, Moda's Little Bird-Summer in the City, Hooty Owls by Robert Kaufman, and Alexander Henry's Bird Seed.

I thought I would share some of the vintage bird print fabrics in my collection.

First, my barkcloth birds:

My "Mod" birds from the 1960-70's:

The sweet children's print birds:

And my favorite, the romantic birds:

I hope you have enjoyed this little aviary tour through my fabric stash. What birds do you have in your (pottery, paper, fabric, linen) collections?

Easy Weekend Project - Pretty Coal Bucket

This weeks project (a day late, sorry) is a pretty little painted coal bucket. This was from my grandma's attic and had been dragged (or is it drug?) out to 3 flea markets and many yard sales but no one wanted to buy the poor thing. I can't blame them...the "before" state wasn't pretty.I come across these all the time at flea markets but, an old pail or waste basket could benefit from the same kind of make-over. It was first cleaned well and given 2 coats of primer. Then it was spray painted, inside and out with an antique white. When that dried, I taped off around the top edge, and started on the inside color.To get the perfect shade of Robin's egg blue, I had to use a Celery Green and a Sky Blue and over sprayed the 2 until I had the color I wanted. Then 2 coats of spray on polyurethane.



Now comes the time when I wish I could hand paint lovely roses and vines...but sadly, I have NO artistic painting abilities :( . So, my bucket has water slide decals. Still pretty, but hand painted flowers would be better. Finish with another 2 coats of polyurethane and its done!
I'll probably use mine as a magazine holder or in the bathroom to hold extra towels or toilet paper. Now, go find something to paint!!!

I've Been Tagged!!!

I've been tagged by Marie at Marie Chantal to list 7 weird things about me.
If understand this right, I list my weird things then tag seven other bloggers. Well, I have only been in blogland for a few weeks and most of the bloggers I "know" have already been tagged this week. So, can't promise I'll be tagging 7, but I'll try to find a few.
Anyway, on with my weirdnesses:
(1). I can cross my toes. I know there are several out there who are completely freaked by feet, so I won't go into details. :)
(2). I have three CD players (in house and cars) but, I don't own even one music CD. Have never purchased one. Its not that I don't like music, I just have always listened to the radio.
(3). I say "Please" and "Thank You" to my dog.
(4). I will rarely eat the last bite of my sandwich. Don't know why...been that way since I was a kid.
(5). I hate flying. Ok, that's not really weird, but it has kept me from going places I would have liked to have seen.
(6). I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.
(7). Sometimes when I leave my house, I get so worried that I've left my curling iron plugged in and the house will burn down, that I call my house because I figure if the answering machine comes on, then it hasn't melted in a fire.

Now, I tag Darcy at Minnasota Mama
Trudi at Trinkets and Treasures
Sweet Roses and Vintage Chic
and Jen at The Cottage Nest

Really! Everyone else has been tagged already this week!

Flea Market Finds

Well, the website is still down (Grrrrr...) so, I am not a happy camper.

My mom knows how anxious I get over this type of thing, so she suggested an improptu flea market outing. It was a beautiful day Sunday and we made it to just the tail end of the Lawrenceburg Antique market. Its a pretty large show, but we made the rounds in about 2 hours. Here's what I got: 3 pretty feedsacks,3 yards of vintage border print fabric,

Peach floral barkcloth drape panels (all 4 panels for 30.00!!!) ,

And my favorite, a children's counting book from 1942. Look at these adorable graphics!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend! :)

They're Here! They're Here! and Web Woes

I'm so excited! My pretty fabrics have arrived. I ordered this lovely group from Sew Mama Sew. A wonderful website...easy to navigate, quick shipping, generous cuts, and she even included a pretty "extra" piece of fabric. How great is that?!

There's some "Freshcut" by Heather Bailey, Flea Market Fancy, Building Blocks, and that fabulous bird print from Alexandery Henry. I'm so happy with the colors: they all go together well. I can't wait to start sewing. :)

Its a good thing I have pretty fabrics to play with, because I am completely fed up with my web-server. Now, I readily admit to knowing little or nothing about how all this internet stuff works, but I expect the people I'm paying to be able to keep my website viewable for at least a majority of the time. "Server Errors" are a daily occurance lately and now even my emails don't want to work. :(

So, if you have attempted to contact me and have your email returned, I apologize. I wish I knew how to fix it. I have issued a support ticket to my hosting site, so hopefully they will find the problem soon. Grrrr.

Easy Weekend Project - Fabric Tabletop

Today's project is a tabletop that has been decopaged with vintage fabric.
The top of this little telephone table had seen better days. There is a large split in the wood, several nicks, and one corner even looked chewed on? Even though a coat of white paint was an improvement, I thought I would take it one step farther.
I absolutely LOVE this vintage voile, but because it is sheer and lightweight, I was never quite sure how to use it in my home. I decided to try my hand at decopage. Here are the supplies I used for this project: Fabric, scissors, decopage glue, bowl and sponge brush, and a mist sprayer.

The table was painted several days earlier to allow it to fully "cure" or set. The fabric was cut slightly larger than the table and dampened with the mister. After applying the decopage medium the the table surface, I worked the fabric into place. I damped and smoothed the fabric until I was happy. I actually left some wrinkles because I wanted it to still look like fabric.


I then covered the surface again with decopage medium making sure all the edges were secure. After it was dry, I trimmed any excess fabric and applied 3 coats of a spray-on polyurethane (sorry, forgot that in the supplies pic). I haven't decided which room I'll use it in, yet, but I like it. :)

Patio Moss

I finally managed to get some work done outside this week.

Oh, I've had the time, I just wasn't motivated. Its been a strange spring. First we had 70-80 degree temps at the beginning of April. The plants were happy...hostas poking through, cherry and crabapple trees blooming, bleeding hearts, wisteria, and lilac all just starting to open their buds. Then, the very next day, a cold snap. We're talking lows in the 20's for a week staight. :(

Hostas were mush, wisteria brown and limp. I was too depressed to even look at the bleeding heart. But this week I had to ready the patio for flower planting. During the clean-up I noticed the moss on the bricks. I mean REALLY noticed the moss. Its beautiful! I had to take its picture.

The picture above is the patio at the beginning of last summer. I love that chartreuse sweet potato vine. I hope I can find it again this year. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I decide on a color scheme for this years baskets.

Happy planting!