Vintage Alphabet ~ Velvet, Whitework, X-Stitch

It's time again for the Vintage Alphabet link party. This month's letters are V, W, and X.

For V I'd love to show my collection of vintage vases, but they have already been packed and sent to the new house, so I have several vintage Velvet fabrics that I don't think I've posted about yet. The photo above shows a few cut or voided velvets.

I just love the yellow! Its from a vintage bedspread that had a bit of sun damage on one side...the perfect piece to cut for projects!And below is a trio of 70's nylon velvets in bright floral designs.

For W I have a small grouping of vintage Whitework embroidery.

And for X (wow, this one was hard!) I have a piece of vintage X-stitch and a vintage drapery fabric with a faux X-stitch design.

Be sure to stop by the Etsy Cottage Style blog to see more vintage Alphabet collections or add your own to the list!

Vintage Chenille Patterns

This week's Daily Swatch theme over on the True Up blog is Vintage Chenille. It prompted me to pull out my stash of pretty chenille pieces.

I love the patterns of the old bedspreads, and have purchased and used several on my bed over the years. I've also bought some that were cutters to use for projects.

Kitchen Towel & Potholder Gift sets

This project proved to be the perfect way to repurpose a hopelessly stained and faded vintage tablecloth. My sweet neighbor offered me a cloth that belonged to her mother. It was obviously too far gone to be used for its original purpose, but she thought I might like it for one of my projects. After cleaning, I could see that only one of the side borders escaped the damaging stains and holes, so I had to find some way to use these pretty tulips. When I found a multi-pak of these wonderful plain white huck towels at Bed Bath and Beyond, I knew that a kitchen set would be perfect. I used the longest piece of the salvaged border for the towel, and the smaller section for the hot pad. I hope it will be a sweet reminder of her mother as she's working in the kitchen. I also had enough left to make a small make-up bag for her sister. I was so pleased with how these turned out, I decided to take a cue from SewMamaSew's Scrap Buster month and make some more using up some of my small scrap pieces. These are on their way to one of my dearest friends. I think I need to stop by the store to pick up another pak of towels and make myself a pretty kitchen set, too. :-)

Oh! I almost forgot...I want to give a big THANK YOU to Rachel at Craftzine for featuring my Cherry Cream Cheese Danish post on their blog. Thanks Rachel!

Last Weekend's Flea Market Finds

Sorry for such a late post on these newest vintage fabric finds, but I was having a devil of a time with uploading pictures to blogger. I finally figured out the problem after a few days of searching help threads. :-)

Anyway...Last weekend Mom and I headed to Springfield, Ohio for the big Springfield Antique Show and FleaMarket Extravaganza. A big turn out of dealers and great weather for Friday and Saturday (Sunday was a bit rainy for them, I think). There were some great prices on furniture pieces, but sadly, my house is too full as it is, so I had to walk away from the lovely tables and cabinets.

I, of course, focused my attention on the fabrics. This cute 50's pink and grey leaf print was the first purchase of the day.Then, I spotted this awesome orange leaf feedsack. HAD to have this one!A couple of fun 35" width geo-floral prints from the 1950's...these always remind me of snowflakes.

I don't buy linens as often because I have so many already, but I couldn't pass up this pretty pink dogwood linen towel.A couple more 36" width fabrics; I think these both date to around the 1960-70's. One with with pink roses and the other shows off brown and tan leaves and apples. What a perfect fabric for fall projects!
And then this last piece was just too cute!Its a happy turtle border print and looks to be from the 1970's, but since one selvage is missing and there are so many retro prints in this same style, I can't say for sure.
Some of these are on the website and others may make their way on to Etsy in the coming week.

I hope everyone is enjoying the begining of fall!

Red and Pink Vintage Fabric Color Combo

Today, as a follow-up to the Pink and Orange post, I'm showing some of my vintage fabrics in one of my favorite color combos...Red and PINK.

Naturally with these colors, we're bound to see a lot of florals...and I have plenty of them! Let's start there with some large bouquets and columns of roses and hollyhocks.

The smaller prints are cute, too.
Next, on top we have a gorgeous 1930-40's fabric, predominantly red with pink roses. And on the bottom, a fun mod floral from a vintage 60's bedspread. You might recognize this one from the living room makeover photos. This next group shows the last of the florals along with a cute geometric print and two fruit related designs.
A funky midcentury modern barkcloth depicting trees and buildings is perfect in this red/pink colorway!

And now we come to the kitchen linens and prints. The first two are pairs of kitchen curtains from my grandma's house. They look homemade, but never used (yep, that was just like gram).

Check out the adorable diamond oven mit in the bottom fabric. :)

And these are kitchen towels. Perfect for a retro vintage-themed kitchen.

Well, I think that just about does it for the RED and PINK tour. Some of these are available on the website (click on the pics) or will be by the end of the weekend.

Oops, I just found one more. Here's a cute little border print...

Ok, now I think that's it. LOL Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sew Busy!

Well, I don't know that I've been any busier than normal, but I have been trying to get a bit more sewing done.

The first project is another one of my Sash Totes. I've made a number of these since last year, but most of them had been spoken for before they ever made it to Etsy or the website.

This one wears a sash made out of two fabrics by Heather Bailey; A small pink print on one side and a brown and blue "Pop Garden" fabric on the other.

Also made a few linen and vintage fabric pouches...

And finally, a vintage monogrammed towel gets a new lease on life as a fabric gift sack with matching tag. Paired with a denim ticking stripe, it has a rustic charm.

These are fabulous to use as a house-warming or hostess gift when filled with:

* a bottle of wine and a loaf of french bread

*a trio of tall pillar candles

*a pretty mug, flavored coffee, and biscotti

*fresh apples, favorite recipes, and glass jar filled with oatmeal crumble topping

The chances of finding vintage monograms that match our own are slim, so why not just make up a cute saying that fits the initials. This one is either "S H" or "S K". How about...Sweet Home or Suzy Homemaker...Super Kool or Special Kindness. (Hey, its late, I'm sure you could think up something more clever.) :)

Thanks for letting me share my latest projects! Have a great week, everyone!

A Day at the COUNTRY LIVING Fair

This post is waaaay overdue. An area blackout/power outage lasting several days and a fun road trip immediately following has put me behind on showing you these scenes from the fair. It was held at the beautiful Ohio Village in Columbus, Oh.

The vendor's booths were fantastic! Lots of creative displays, beautiful items, antiques, and just really cool old stuff. :) This booth had fun feedsack bags and pillows. (I just found out that these cute feedsack bags are made by Arlene of http://www.heartrockshome.com/)

This was one of my favorite booths (below). It was by Bloomsbury Loft and they had fun items at every turn. The booth was so crowded all day long that I had a really hard time getting a decent picture.

Another vendor had some lovely vintage linen towels with monograms...had to bring a few of those home with me. ;)All in all it was a great day at the fair.

Sweet Dreams ~ Pretty Pillowcases

Pull out those pretty pillowcases and bed linens and decorate your bed! Here are a few from the website.

Pretty Southern Belles...





Braided Rick Rack trim...

Lavender Polka Dots and Roses...

Sweet dreams...Zzzzzzzzz