Friday, July 24, 2020

Vintage Nursery Rhyme Fabric & A Finish!

Many thanks to all of you who shared ideas for what to do with my vintage nursery rhyme fabric that I found!  I really loved reading all of the ideas.  I have decided to keep the fabric intact as is and use it for a back of a baby quilt.   It is very soft feeling, not quite as soft as flannel but close!

One of the things that helped me make that decision was when I started looking in my stash to see what I had that would go well with it and could not believe my eyes when I found the PERFECT jelly roll to use in making this quilt.  What do you think?
It is a line of fabric called Charlotte designed by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit.  Very pastel greens, pinks, aquas and grays.   with lots of polka dots and gingham.   So sweet.  I am determined to use up fabric that I already own and there is no sense in keeping things laying around here.

I have a plan and hopefully it will go together fairly quickly.  I can't wait to show you!  I need to buy a little bit of background fabric first to complement the jelly roll.

I can't remember if I ever mentioned this on my blog before, but I used to be an avid antique perfume bottle collector.  I still have many of them but am slowly selling them off and only keeping the ones I really love or that were meaningful gifts from loved ones.  So whenever I am out and about looking for vintage treasures, I ALWAYS look for them even though I'm not really buying them for myself anymore.  This week, I scored!  I found this!  



This atomizer (rubber bulb is missing) is over 100 years old and most likely comes from Bohemia or Czechosovakia.  It was made in the early 1900's and is hand painted in enamel and gold.   I'll be adding it to my Etsy store.  I sell mostly vintage and out of print fabric there and I just can't keep up!  All the best prints get snatched up almost as soon as I list them.  It has been fun.

Here's a tidbit for those of you who enjoy learning a bit of history.  When you unscrew an atomizer so you can actually see the drawtube that the perfume comes up through, there are three main materials used on those tubes.  The most recent being plastic (1950's to present), earlier models used glass (20's to 40's) , and pre-1920's used metal.  This one is metal.  So it is definitely 100 years old or more.

If any of you have old perfume bottles that you'd love to know more about, please feel free to ask me!  I have lots of reference material and old auction books to help in identification.  I love talking vintage perfume bottles so don't feel like it would be an imposition.   I have heard the most lovely stories about a cherished perfume bottle that a mom or grandmother or aunt had owned and how any time they smell a certain scent it immediately brings back memories of that person.

OH!  I did get my cowboy quilt done!  
One of my friends bought this for her first grandson.  We are trying to decide whether we should bring it to them or they are going to come get it.  We live about 9 hours apart.  Maybe we should meet halfway somewhere!  😉

What are YOU making this weekend?  I've love to hear!
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Monday, July 20, 2020

Finishes, Instagram and Auctions!

Look Monica!  I'm almost done with your quilt! 
 Just binding and only half left to do!  

Here is the full length picture of just the flimsy.  I found some vintage cowboy fabric to put on the back of it.


I had to go look back in the archives of my blog to find out how long ago I started this quilt.  It was 2016!  Here are a few closeups of the fabrics.  So cute for a little buckaroo!  I just quilted it with loop de loops similar to what a rope might look like



Monica, a friend of mine who has the cutest little grandson asked if she could buy it from me even though it was just a flimsy.  OF COURSE!  I only have granddaughters right now and I can always make another one if I need to.  So that kind of gives me some incentive to finish!

I want to tell you about something fun.  My daughter, the entrepreneur.  She loves to thrift shop!  She buys all her clothes at thrift stores and you would never know it.  She always looks so put together and cute.  I'm jealous.  Anyway, since she loves thrifting so much, she decided to start a little part time business on Instagram selling cute things she has found at thrift stores.  She uses herself and her friends as models and she's doing pretty well for just starting out! You can view her little shop on Instagram at hellohappythrifts.  She also threw in a little bit of crafting into the mix by hand embroidering  these cutoff's.  Cute!

Although this item isn't for sale I had to show you.  She hand embroidered the flowers above the pocket of a $2 denim jacket to give it a little pizzaz.


In other news, I have volunteered to organize an online auction fundraiser.  Our church has partnered with a church in the Philippines to help buy food for their hunger relief program.  Ever since Covid struck, the people hardest hit are the poorest families who have no way to provide for themselves when their country is locked down.  This church has been feeding hundreds of people and we want to continue helping them.  One of the first items donated for our auction is a quilt made by Eula Dunn.  Eula is a quilting machine!  She is wheelchair bound but does not let that stop her! She has made more quilts than I can even count!   Here is the quilt she made for our auction and  I hope it gets lots of bids.
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The auction will take place on Saturday, August 15 on our church Facebook page.  I wish I could finish things as fast as Eula but there is no way I can get one done by the 15th.  So instead, I will be gathering donations.  So far, we have a quilt, a kayak and a table and chairs. Yikes!   I need smaller stuff!  Those larger items will have to sell to local people only but I'm hoping to get more donations of things that are shippable.  We'll see!  Wish me luck!  

Oh, I almost forgot to share my latest chicken block!  She is one fancy chicken!


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