feedsack cloud

i like to think of these 25 feedsack pillows as one big feedsack cloud :-) each one is a different vintage feedsack print, and is stuffed with a heaping handful or so of pure lambswool and two tablespoons of organic dried lavender. my kids love to cuddle with theirs, and so i thought that others might like to as well.

one print, 3 ways

i wasn't organized enough to make several coordinating collections like this for next week's holiday craft fair, though in hindsight i wish that i had been. (next time!) these three pieces just happen to be separately conceived things — a mouse stuffie, a doll blanket, and a kid tote — that i made from one of my favorite vintage fabrics, a mushroom-and-cherry print from rondo that i have in several colorways. (and i actually even have it in a fourth colorway, though as part of a vintage quilt block and not as yardage.)



speaking of rondo prints, since i chanced upon this article on fabrics.net, which happens to be an amazing and very insightful ode to vintage textiles and notions, i've been on a quest to locate still more rondo prints. this certainly adds another element of intrigue to the vintage fabric hunt! thus far, i've managed to find this blue wreath print, below.

cranking out the goods

trio of doll quilts

for the upcoming craft show. there's this trio of doll quilts, plus another unpictured trio. plus others in progress.

i really enjoy making these, and i'm getting better and faster at binding them ... each and every time.

i particularly love using vintage feedsack (see: top + bottom) to make them. and the gingham binding, i think, adds that extra-special touch.

to sell or not to sell?

cowboy blanket detail

with the upcoming craft fair, everything i make right now really needs to be saved for sales inventory. yet i can't help but want to save this little vintage cowboy-print quilt top for my sweet durham, whose face lit up like a christmas tree when i showed it to him.

granted, he's all of 9.5 months old, and wouldn't know the difference if he should never see it again, not to mention that a piece of scratched up tupperware is enough to make his happy lil face light up ... but when your child shows appreciation for something you've made — that is, when someone you've created likes something else that you've created — you really want them to have it. at least, that's how i feel.

i still need to bind it with some vintage red bias tape. so if it comes out well, and is up to my selling standards, then it will go to the craft fair. and then, if it should make it back home with me, it's his.

'tis the season...

to start cranking 'em out! in just one month, i'm taking part in my very first craft fair. i'm just dipping my toe in the water, as it's a small, half-day event at a popular, local indoor playspace, but i need to shore up a lot more inventory. so right now i'm working on adding about 10 more stuffies, 10 more doll blankets, many more appliqued notebooks, and perhaps a few more kid totes, most of which will use vintage fabric and trims, the rest of which will have some kind of japanese cuteness. oh, and some felted wool scarves like the one i made for my niece (who sweetly called me on thursday to thank me + tell me that she wore it that day).

i'm keeping my expectations low, and focusing more on the learning opportunity and the fun in making all of this goodness. the last thing that i want is for it to add stress to my life, because that will in turn create stress for my family. and where's the fun in that?

here's a peek at some stuffies-in-progress...


and a look at a custom doll bed set that i made earlier this week for a 4-year-old's birthday, one of the styles that i'll be making for the show...

upcoming upcycling

below are snapshots of some articles of late 60s/early70s clothing whose fabric — which seems to have a theme of patchwork and strawberries, who'd have guessed?!? — awaits repurposing.

the first piece is a cotton-rayon blend blouse that's likely to turn into my first zippy pouch, among various other things. the second and third pieces are some ankle-length, handmade patchwork skirts that i'll be shortening, and so there will (eventually) be some new vintage clothing to add to my closet as well as some leftover fabric to add to the vintage stash. now that's what i call a win-win :-)

better late than never...

is the saying, but i still feel awful delivering a birthday present late. even if it was handmade. these finally made it to the post office today.



the hairkerchief was in-progress when photographed, but completed, of course, when mailed to my lovely, now 9-year-old niece :-)

i used reclaimed, felted wool and some vintage trim to make the scarf, and vintage fabrics and vintage rick rack for the hairkerchief and notebook. i also used her favorite colors, pink, blue, and purple. i hope that she likes them.