Not Quite Vintage

colorful inspiration

I am working on a design project for a close friend of mine. It has been a long while since I worked on a purely design project. My professional life has moved from graphic design into project and production management that is closely tied to technology and online systems. While I am in a 'creative' atmosphere everyday, I don't get to actively design pretty things anymore (at least at work, crafting and blogging helps fill the void a little). I miss it.

And to be even more honest, while I miss it and deep down I know the skill set still exists, this new design project has me nervous. And scared. It has been so long since I had an opportunity like this and the non-confident side of me wonders if I can still do it. In these situations I sometime get paralyzed by the white paper in front of me. You know, the blank paper of possibilities just waiting for ideas to be sketched on it?

Well that paper has been blank for a while now. Long enough that my sweet friend gave me a needed nudge yesterday. The nudge came at the perfect time. On Tuesday while driving home I had a brainstorm. I tend to get the best ideas when I back burner something for a bit and this one light-bulbed in the car while music was blaring out of the radio. Even though I remember the excitement I felt when I got the idea, the fear put it on the back burner once again. If it hadn't been for the nudge, it may have taken me a while to take the next step. Yesterday I did a bit of online research and the brainstorm evolved into an idea I am really excited about. An idea I so hope I can get out of my head and onto paper in a way that meets (exceeds would be even better) my expectations.

Last night I got out the sketchbook of pretty blank white pages and dug the colored pencils out of my old ArtBin caddy and started working. Goodness I forgot how much I loved colored pencils. Their smell and the noise they make clicking together brings me back in the day. Now if I just had a set of
http://www.dickblick.com/products/prismacolor-premier-double-ended-art-markers/ Prismacolor markers like back in college. That would be a shade of heaven.

I am inspired and thinking positively about this project. And after it's complete I may just have to take a drawing class. And you know what that means? New supplies of course!

time for crochet again

Last night while driving home, the sun was shining, New Order was on the radio (Alt Nation on Sirius is like my college soundtrack relived) and even though the temp was in the low-eighties I could feel Fall approaching. Then my mind flicked to crochet. Something about Fall and Winter make me think of yarn crafts again. Not sure why, maybe it is the cozy factor. So when I got home and checked the mail I was quite happy to find the September/October issue of Crochet Today. I know it is really a big advertisement for Red Heart, but sometimes there are some good patterns. The cute alarm clock on the cover drew me in.

As I kept turning pages I kept saying to myself "that is so cute," "I should make that" and "I need to save that pattern for later." So what did I find?

An upcycled tee with a very cute crochet neckline. On my crafty to do list for sure.

I could really use some new cotton dish clothes to replenish my stock.

An earth-friendly grocery tote. This could make a great holiday gift.

For the person who has everything - a lacy river rock. I have seen some amazing crocheted rocks on Flickr here. This pattern is by Resurrection Fern.

A cute beret... not sure I would make it in raspberry : )

There are a few more patterns I have bookmarked, but I will end with this one for Halloween crafty disguises. I like the superhero mask.

So, does the coming of Fall change your crafty to do list? What are you working on?

2010 Sewing Calendar

Out of all the sewing projects I have included on this blog, one has garnered the most attention – my gram’s ice skate ornament. It started out as an effort to modernize one of my favorite childhood ornaments as a tribute to my gram. I thought it was fun and decided to share a tutorial because I guessed many of you would like it. I was right, my ice skate tutorial has been one of my most popular posts. It was posted on Craft, it was listed on Whip-Up’s mammoth list of holiday tutorials and more.

Then, early this year I even received an email from an editor named Megan Smith wondering if I might considering allowing my tutorial to be included in a 2010 Sewing Calendar... And of course I jumped at the chance. I only had to supply a few pictures, a link to my pattern and sign a form. So easy. In turn for all this I would receive a complimentary copy of the calendar.

This week the calendar arrived on at my door! I love it and think I may need to pick up another copy : )

The calendar is filled with more than 100 quick and easy sewing projects from many of your favorite crafters including The Long Thread, Skip to My Lou, Pink Chalk and Finny Knits. The list is way too long to include all of them in my list - can I just say I am honored to be included. There are so many names I recognize and many I don’t - I can’t wait to check their blogs for even more inspiration.

If you think you might enjoy one of these, they are already available for order on Amazon.

the power of crochet

Last night before I went to crochet class my Pops told me about a news story he just heard. It was about a 98 year old woman who had been burried in the rubble of the Italian earthquake for more than 30 hours. Do you know how she passed the time? She crocheted!

Isn't that just amazing? I can totally see how she was able to focus on her crochet instead of the reality of her situation and how it helped her pass the time. I use crafting for similar reasons sometimes - to redirect my mind, to keep me busy, to feel like I am accomplishing something.

I've mentioned before that my crochet teacher Erna is in her late 80s. I know her love of crochet and knitting and her passion for passing along the crafts to others (she has been teaching for over 30 years) has kept her life moving forward. How many of would feel so incredibly blessed to be so healthy, so mobile, so patient and so sharp in our 80s.

Both stories are inspirational.

Goodbye Country Home

So many magazines are closing shop: ME Home Companion, Cottage Living (one of my very favorite magazines, I have been a subscriber from the start... and no, Southern Living is NOT a good substitute), Domino and Cottage Living. As a professed magazine-aholic, I am getting really sad. What am I going to do every month as my mailbox gets emptier and emptier?

 
A couple weeks ago I got the final issue of Country Home and am happy to say they went out with a really nice issue. I pulled some inspiration from the pages yesterday while sitting in the late afternoon sun. Here is what I found:

I have painted stairs (really steep painted stairs) going down into my basement, but the stencil and pattern are a bit more old fashioned and the paint is much darker. They are looking a bit worn, maybe I need to update them.

Something about this room makes me want to relax on the sofa and read a book. Plus I love the pear fabric pillow on the sofa.

I am in love with the budget kitchen makeover... even if it is still out of my budget. Someday. Oh, the whiteware and yellowware bowls, the subway tile, the ball jars, the sink, the vintage scale...

Not only do the dishes look yummy, but I love the packaging.

And lastly, I think this recipe is going into my spring rotation. MMMM ginger.

Anyone else finding inspiration from the magazines and catalogs in your mailbox? Any suggestions on magazines worth taking a look at... I think I am going to go through withdrawal.

crafting identity crisis

For a while now, well pretty much the entire past year, I feel like I have been having a crafting identity crisis. There are so many things I want to do (you can tell from my ever growing Crafty To Do List), feel like I can do, start to do, but totally lack the motivation for.

Here is an example: For weeks I have been turning the pages of Seams To Me and looking at the pin cushion project. And yesterday, when I finally got myself into the basement sewing, it was just a total mess. I did fine picking fabrics and cutting them out. I really liked the mixture of green and blue scraps I chose and was actually excited to get sewing. The sewing, it was icky. I think it was a combination of my rushing/excitement/anxiousness and some issues with the pattern (after sewing the 8 pieces together and making the tube, the outside was an entire piece too wide and I watched my seam allowances, something just wasn't right) that made this project destined to be part of the trash pile.

My Sunday afternoon sewing left me wondering if I have been kidding myself about this sewing stuff. Maybe I am not as capable as I thought. Maybe my lack of motivation just has me feeling blah. Maybe I was forcing myself to create something because I feel it has been weeks since I had something good to share with all of you.

So I turned out the basement lights, went upstairs and planted myself on the sofa with a soda and a lifetime movie on the tv. I know, pretty sad. After a while I decided a little pampering was in order and painted my nails bright Little Red Wagon red (actually, it was needed, the pinning and stuffing I did while sewing totally tore up my nails). I guess that was as creative as I was meant to be yesterday because the only other fulfillment I got was seeing a piled high basket of nicely folded laundry ready to be put away. I am not sure what that says about me right now.

I promise that I am not giving up! But, I am going to honor this struggle and give myslef the freedom to not feel like I have to force myself to create. I have to remember that create doesn't have to be defined as sewing - last week I did create a logo, knit 3/4 of a fuzzy red scarf, cook a big pot of soup and loads of twice-baked potatoes (I was trying to recreate 2 of Mom’s signature dishes that there isn’t a recipe for), and motivated my Pops to start exercising again. That has to count for  something, right?

hi... and some links

Wow, I have been quiet lately – sorry for the unintentional break! Honestly, things have been crazy busy at work and by the time I get home I am just plain worn out. Hey, I guess I should be thankful for being busy... Maybe being busy means I am useful and therefore needed. Since our layoffs I haven’t been able to squelch the fear, the insecure feeling in my stomach. So, at work I am trying to give 200% and at home I am trying to recover.

Crafting hasn’t completely gone by the wayside, I have been working on a couple secret crafty projects/proposals. I wish I could share them right now, but can’t... I’ll know if I can in a couple weeks. But, honestly I want the answer to be “nope, can’t share them” because that means the book people liked them. If they didn’t, look forward to some tutorials.

 
A few other themes running through my life these days are budgeting, reading and cooking – I’ll be working on some posts on these soon. To hold you over till then, here are a few interesting links:

The authors of the book I just finished have an amazing site: Carrie and Danielle

I made these yummy oatmeal breakfast squares last week. Way yummy, but when I added up the calories, I went in search of some ways to cut them. Pretty successful switching out the brown sugar for Splenda brown sugar blend and the butter for light butter... but not perfect.

Went in search of some other oatmeal options (without the not so natural Splenda and light butter) and found Kath Eats Real Food. If Kath can eat right, exercise, work and go back to school, I should be able to reach my health and fitness goals too. Maybe the key is setting such a pretty place setting at every meal?

I found two great, quick and easy bag tutorials while searching for Christmas present ideas for my sisters: Sew Bunny Bum’s Market Tote and Label-Free’s My Tote Bag. Both these bloggers were very creative in how they presented their tutorials.

This lunch bag tutorial by Katie is great too. l

And because everyone needs a little nice in their life: Operation Nice 

I'll be back soon with more, promise!

loving the buttons

When I got the latest Anthropologie email in my inbox, I saw an ok cardigan laying on some pretty buttons. Not remarkable, but I thought, why not click, Anthro always has something good. And when I clicked through to the site, I gasped for air a bit. Such pretty buttons:

And if you click on the buttons, they link you to the clothing adorned with the buttons. You should check it out, here. I really like the bracelet and the ski lift cardi. A red sweater for fall, yum.

I am feeling like I need to pull out an old cardigan and my vintage button stash and whip something up. Ugh, another thing for my crafty to do list.

goodies from an old sewing book

When I posted some of the lessons learned from an old sewing book earlier this week, many of you commented on how the drawings would make good embroidery patterns. I totally agree. 

Further along in the book, in the Techniques section, there is a nice chapter on sewing equipment. When I paged through this chapter, my first thought was "these drawings would make great embroidery patterns - I should scan them in and share them with my blog friends" Seriously, I did. And I love the handwriting. All the illustrations in the Techniques section are accompanied by this airy, legible script.

So what equipment do we need to sew a well thought out, well constructed wardrobe that matches our personalities? Well, according to Clothing Construction and Wardrobe Planning, in addition to a sewing machine, you will need:

I have a lot of these tools, but not all... the bodkin? Even though this was a mystery object at a trivia night I attended, I am still not sure what it is used for. Anyway, I think these would be fun to embroider.

You can find these individual drawings (cleaned up in PhotoShop, but not perfect) over at Flickr or you can download a pdf of all of them, here. Please share if you end up crafting with them - I would love to see what you create.

lessons learned from an old sewing textbook

While my blog went quiet for a little bit, I officially became closer to 40 than 30. Not a whole lot of fun, but I did get some good presents! Even at 36, I love presents (heheheh).

One of my favorite gifts (from my good friend Renee) was a "Clothing Construction and Wardrobe Planning" textbook from 1960. Not sure what it has to do with sewing, but the first chapter us entitled "Personal Grooming." It covers everything from good posture, beauty, bathing, make-up, hair styles to personality. The drawings in this book are great, but some if the text is, well, interesting and no longer quite politically correct.

A few thing I learned from the first section:

• The girl with a smiling face stands out in a crowd.
• Your family will appreciate it if you groom your room as well as yourself. Good grooming has much in common with good housekeeping.
• Charm, like charity, begins at home.
• The essential "E's" of beauty include: early to bed, eat for beauty, elimination and exercise.

 
I am sure I will learn much more as I keep reading :)  Be back soon with some clothing and wardrobe goodies...