Living Room Corner

Just wanted to share a quick photo of a corner of the living room that I've been working on.  After selling the Tiny House, I was able to bring the few furniture pieces home that I had been using for staging.  The living room at this house has kind of an awkward L-shaped layout with a large off center fireplace.  This far corner wasn't working for the sofa, so I decided to hang a new light fixture (from Lowes) over a small round dining table.  It can serve as a game table, or intimate dining area for two.  :)

The artwork above the table was a HobbyLobby find and mimics the popular multi-print applique pillow from Anthropologie.
I'm on the hunt now for some items to decorate the mantle for spring. I'll share more photos of the living room when I get it together. 
Have a great week everyone! And I hope its looking more like spring where you are, because here in Ohio, we're still covered in snow!

Our First Home ~ Saying Goodbye

I know it has been forever since I've been here...but shortly after my last post, Hubby agreed to list the Tiny house with a realtor (his sister). She got it on MLS and within 10 days we had an offer just under our asking price.  YEA!  Then started the long process of home inspection, bank appraisal, buyer's loan approval, and underwriting.  But everything was finalized on March 2nd and we said goodbye to our first home.  We've owned this house for 21 years and have many wonderful memories and did countless home improvement projects.   Here's a few pictures of the house in it's minimally staged state.

 

 

 

I'm not sure that I've ever shared photos of the basement.  When we purchased the home in 1992, it had a typical cement, unfinished basement. We did most of the major work to finish the space about 18 years ago, but the bathroom had only made it to the drywall stage and the wet bar area had only been plumbed.  So those areas are newly finished and unfortunately, I never really got to enjoy them. :(

The flooring here in the lower level is a wood-look vinyl plank. We had had berber carpeting down while we lived there, but it needed to be replaced, so we thought this was an excellent choice and budget-friendly. (I'll share the installation process in a future post).

 

 

 

 

The doorway in the hallway leads to the work/storage room.

 



Opposite the storage room is the bathroom.  We didn't get the glass shower doors installed, but Hubby did an awesome job on the tile!

 

And at the end of the hall is the small laundry and utility room.

 

Well, that's the Tiny home tour. Its a little sad to say goodbye, but we live just down the street, so we do pass it everyday. lol  :)

 

 

 

 

Recent Sewing Projects

I have been sewing lately, but I've been terrible at photographing and documenting my projects. I blame my 10 year old camera...I can't take a decent photo to save my life!  Or maybe its this house...I haven't yet found a window with decent lighting. Or maybe its my complete lack of photography skills...yes, that's probably it.
Anyway, I made myself a new set of pot holders.  We had friends over for dinner last week, and as I was taking the pan out of the oven, I was so embarrassed by my ratty pot holders. It was time for new ones.

This is about as close to quilting as I get. None of my lines match up, so you quilters out there, don't look too close. :)   But these were just for me, and I love the colors with my kitchen, so I'm happy.
I also made a new zip clutch purse.

 Mainly just testing out a new pattern shape, so I haven't yet decided if this one will be mine, a gift, or offered on Etsy.  I used a home dec fabric I bought on sale from fabric.com.
And lastly, I made myself a laminated cotton travel bag before we left for our Florida trip.

Mine is the large blue one.  I wanted something that would hold all of my cosmetics and toiletries and still have room for a damp swimsuit.  Its about 14"x14" and seemed to be the perfect size.  My MIL liked it, so I made a slightly smaller one for her.
I also got the basement family room done. But decent pictures continue to elude me.  I think I need a new camera...any suggestions? Until then, I'll try to get a few shots with hubby's i-phone.
Have a great week, everyone! 

Vintage Corduroy Fabric

This week's post is about vintage corduroy fabrics.  Although corduroy is generally thought of as a winter clothing fabric, its a fabulous year-round textile for quilts, bags, and other accessories.
I find it very easy to sew and love to pair it with similar weight fabrics such as barkcloth, wool tweeds, and printed and cut velvets.

I remember corduroy being very popular in the 1970's, and had a well-loved pair of orange corduroy gauchos when I was a kid.  :)  This cute Penn-Dutch print was likely produced around that same time.

This next one is my favorite ( love the color combo of teal, navy, and olive) and is probably a little earlier, 1960's, I imagine.

It is a great match with the solid teal, as are several other fabrics.  The bright Fairy tale barkcloth is just begging to be paired up with it!

I also have a couple vintage linen towels that pair well with the solids.

Not sure yet what project these combos will be used for.  But what about you? Have you worked with this sturdy, versitile fabric?   Any other fans of corduroy out there? 
There's a lot of nasty weather across the country this week, stay safe everyone!

Back From the Beach

We took off and headed to sunny Florida for a couple of weeks.  We spent part of the time at my In-laws' near Lake Okeechobee, then ventured over to the gulf coast. 

We settled in on Marco Island and enjoyed perfect weather. The beaches are lovely and great for shell hunting (no live shelling, btw).

The sunsets were gorgeous...our i-phone photos don't do them justice.

 

We did go to a fairly large antique show in West Palm before we left, but not an inch of vintage quilt or upholstery fabric was found!  Lots of pretty embroidered linens, but no fabric yardage. :(

I didn't come home completely empty-handed, though. I did find a cute little apron and a funky vintage kitchen towel.  They are taking a bath right now, so I'll have to add their picture to the next post.

(sigh)  Its a very frosty morning in Ohio...back to reality.  lol



A Stack of Pretty Plisse

I love vintage plisse!  Plisse is a lightweight fabric with puckered texture. Although its similar to seersucker, the process for creating the puckers is completely different.  For seersucker, the texture is created by a slack-tension weaving process where alternating stripes of tight and bunched warp threads create a permanent crinkle texture.
 Plisse's bumpy texture is made by applying a chemical (sodium hydroxide) to parts of the fabric causing those areas to shrink and the untouched portions to pucker.  Its usually not necessary to iron plisse, (which is one of its many attributes) but should you feel the need, take care not to press hard or stretch the fabric, since you could flatten out the crinkles.  I've found that lightly steaming does the trick.

Often times the chemical is applied in a striped pattern to mimic seersucker, but others are done in a stippled pattern.

And the prints on the vintage stuff are utterly charming! Look at those sweet little birds. :)

My vintage catalogs often show these fabrics for use in summer dresses, children's wear, and baby accessories. So, I guess I probably should have written this post back at the beginning of summer. lol
Oh well, the recent purchase of a lovely 4 yard piece and the fact that its frosty outside and I'm already missing warm weather made me want to gather them for a photo shoot. :)

 

I suppose I should pull out some of my winter fabrics for the next post...corduroy and barkcloth, maybe?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Vintage 1940's Juvenile Print Fabrics

These are the cute vintage children's print fabrics that I recently found.  They are just small pieces (less than 1/2 yard) but all have their original 35/36" selvages in tact.  :)

The two larger pieces are the pink and yellow. The pink has cute pink bears and bunnies playing jump rope with a string of flowers. And the yellow is filled with happy ducks. This one has the remnants of writing on the selvage.

"...CLOTH" and at the other end of the selvage is the first letter "E..." . I've seen this dotted selvage stamp before and believe its the remnants of "EW QUADRIGA CLOTH".  The smaller blue piece also has part of this on the selvage.

This one features tiny bunnies and little toadstools or mushrooms.  And last is the kitties on pale yellow.

These are on the website here.  And you can see all of the recently added items here.
Have a great week everyone!