Thrifty find / Vintage textiles

I haven't posted about my thrifty shopping for long time. I love to shop at thrifty stores, recycling stores, yard sales, estate sales and even at auctions sometimes. There I want to share what I got lately from those places. Today I focus on vintage textiles like blankets and fabrics. My color theme of this Winter was warm color family. Yellow, red and orange. I am trying to brighten up our family room which faces to North. It is a beautiful room but a bit dark. I think These crocheted blankets do their duty.

The pillow above and the granny square blanket are from my favorite local vintage store "Junk Evolution". And this beautifully made herringbone blanket above is from one of the thrift stores in town. I was so excited when I found these. They are in perfect condition and just what I wanted for the room!

This one below is the gauzy blanket I just got a couple days ago from St. Paul de Vincent. The color and "patchwork" look caught my eye as soon as I reached to the house ware section. It actually is not a piece-worked quilt. The patchwork pattern is printed on a very soft fabric (I think it is a cotton double gauze) but the patterns of each squares are so cute. I actually don't have a purpose for this. But I think it is worth to take a space of my linen closet.

There are some photos of detail.

I found more vintage fabrics at the same store. Some are from pillow cases, some are from sheets. I love the slightly faded color of the prints. And the design of the patterns are so pretty and nostalgic as well.

These are from an estate sale I have been many months ago. The former owner of the house must have liked sewing once. I guess these are from around 1960's.

Well, I guess I made another pile of textiles I need to maintain and organize. I really need to clean my messy studio. It is so easy to get a pile bigger, but its horribly hard to reduce it (you know?). Because these are all so pretty!

I bought four big plastic containers for these after all. I promise! I will REALLY start cleaning my studio TOMORROW!!! (Now, I think it has to happen since I declared it here to you all d-; )

This Weekend

Last Saturday was my Birthday. We had a delicious Birthday brunch at Sorin's Restaurant in Notre Dame. It was the first time for us to eat there and we were so happy we picked the restaurant for the special meal. I had a bowl of clam chowder soup and a smoked salmon sandwich. It was delicious. Everyone was satisfied with great food and service. This Thursday is my husband's Birthday. I am looking forward to having a dinner at the best Sushi restaurant in the town. In the evening we went skating at Haward Park outdoor rink. It was fun and a good exercise for me especially after a big meal!

 

I worked on this smocking project this weekend. Smocking is one of my favorite categories. Especially for Spring and Summer, I like to use this technique on my creations. However, smocking can be used for all season project. It would work very well with wool fabric too. Makes cozy texture and the finished products could be chic or cute.

The flowers Nina and I were given for the Valentine's day were in full bloom this weekend. It smells wonderful in my Kitchen.

Yesterday on the President day, Nina and I baked Meringue. Nina calls that "a Science project" since the recipe is from this book. It was way too sweet but formed very well. Making Meringue is pretty simple and I think it is perfect for Mom and Kids baking project.

There was one unfortunate thing happened on Friday. Our refrigerator went off. The freezer is still working. But we just can't keep it without the half of it not working. The fridge is more than twenty years old. I guess it is the time. So we had to spend unexpected expense. Fortunately I can keep contents of the fridge outside until the new refrigerator comes. This Winter it is very mild for this area so foods didn't get frozen so far. The new one is coming on Wednesday. Otherwise, it was a very good long weekend. I hope you had a great one too.

Minute work of Embroidery Pendants

I would like to introduce you my new designs for my Etsy shop today! The pendants with minute work of  embroidery! The pendant tops are only 1" diameter. I stitched tiny flowers, bugs and some Japanese traditional patterns in it.

This is Japanese Camellia. Camellia is very popular theme of Kimono.

I think you can tell how small it is comparing to my fingers.

I don't know why, but I have always loved minute work.

I made many of them.

You can see the detail pics of the pendants in my Etsy shop.

 I love this project. I will make more. And rings too!

I hope you have a good Tuesday!

Spottie the Colorful Kitten

I finished making a little kitty right after this post. The pattern is from this book. As I work on assembling the parts together I realized the pattern misses some marks. It confused me a little bit, but once I figured it out it was quite fast to finish. It's made of Nina's old sweater and baby cloth.

Stuffing was Nina's job. She is a big stuffed animal lover. I think she enjoyed this work pretty much. (I guess we put a little too much filling in the cat :o )

Nina named the cat Spottie. It seems she already loves Spottie a lot.

I added a little eye makeup and pink whiskers on her (I am not sure if its a girl.....). We are planning to make another kitten and send it to Japan for Nina's lovely cousin Momo.

By the way, last Tuesday there was a community event called "Daddy and Daughter Dance". My Husband and Nina attended this for their first time this year. (I could have quiet time by myself to work on my new items for the shop!) He says it was one of his dream to attend D&D Dance with his sweetest daughter. They were arrayed in their finest clothes.

Nina and I already got pretty bouquets from our best guy and I gave Nina a makeup item for the Valentine's day. I hope you all have a good Valentine's day. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Featured on PRUDENT BABY!

My "Easy Origami Valentine Heart Card Tutorial" is featured on PRUDENT BABY blog! Their site is filled with a lot of useful tutorials, videos and information. I hope many of PRUDENT BABY readers like my post and enjoy making origami hearts! Thank you for having me on your site PRUDENT BABY!

I posted new pictures of more colorful hearts for the PRUDENT BABY post. Please check it out over there. Happy origami making!

Things I am working on

Hello February! This month we have two birthdays in my family. Mine and my husband's. February is the darkest, coldest month here (and in Japan too). But also it is the time to be thankful for us that we have been living well for forty-some years :b

By the way, I have some projects going on at once as usual. I would like to show you peeks of it. As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I am working on pattern making right now. I am starting with a couple of embroidery patterns. The first theme is roses. It is taking long time as I expected. because I am also learning to use drawing and photo editing software as well. It is hard but pretty much fun. I always like to learn something new.

From here, these are my private projects. This knitting below is going to be Nina's vest. I picked a neutral color from my yarn stash because this should be suitable as a school uniform, too. I am so enjoying to work on cable stitches. Hope I can finish this before spring's here.

I hope you can see what's going on in this picture. Yes! I am making a stuffed kitten. The materials are Nina's old fleece shirt and her baby clothes. Nina is a quite stuffed animal collector. Cats are one of her most favorite animals. The pattern is from this book.

I am hoping I could bring the patterns out in my Etsy shop soon. I will announce here when it is ready to be published. And I am thinking of new free tutorials in my mind. Please stay tuned!

Thank you for reading and have a happy crafty week!