Mother's Influence and My Blog View



Mother's Day is today and I have been saving up until today to write about my mother. I have mentioned in previous posts that she is the source of my thimble collection and much of my enthusiasm for sewing. I have her sewing machine as a constant reminder of her devotion to me and her craft.

Brag Monday Viewers
Click here to see latest item created on this

 As my brother once stated  to a young friend, "My Mom can do anything".
My friends envied my clothes because she could replicate anything from the pages of Seventeen magazine. This picture of me with Mom and Dad is taken before my brother's wedding in 1964. Why we thought the driveway was an appropriate setting eludes me. Mom made my bridesmaid's dress and her dress. Dad had to go store bought.

Mom also made the bridal gown which must be a rare thing for a mother-in-law to be to create the bride's gown. I don't know if we kept it out of view of my brother. Two of the attendants can be seen in the background. We had brocade dresses in fall colors. My sister-in-laws dress had a lot of beautiful details that I do not have pictures of.

When I married in 1967 my self-designed dress was much simpler.
I can show you the details because I still have the dress although it was not well-preserved. The beautiful silk linen fabric has deteriorated to a crispy tan and the simple train is missing and I am a bit fuzzy on this but I think I am wearing the same veil and crown as my sister-in-law.

 

Here it is today. It doesn't fit this mannequin any better than it fits me!

The neckline is trimmed with tatting from a handkerchief made by a great aunt. Nice that it turned the same color as the fabric. I asked for all the pin-tucks. I always liked that detail which is repeated on the skirt. Mom covered every little button. I can't believe I EVER got into this.

Mom made dresses for numerous other bridesmaids and  even a wedding gown for a friend. She could also slip cover and upholster furniture and made draperies. She was completely self-taught until she took up smocking.  She did sign up for instructions on the process but turning the work into clothing was a breeze for her.



 This is my daughter who was a late in life child who came along when her brothers were in high school. Mom could really show her skills with a grand-daughter. All of the following dresses were made for her.

Here is my grand-daughter (child of eldest son) wearing one of her aunt's special dresses. She just turned two a month ago and it fit perfectly. I am saving them in case of a "direct descendant" from my daughter!

Computer to left of the tape dispenser. My serger sits on my drawing/cutting table.

 My Blog View

In response to my blogging British friend at Wolves In London I am posting a picture of the view from my sewing/blogging room. I like to refer to this messy space as the shop. I do not have a view of a gigantic cactus as "Wolves" had, but a mundane suburban view of the neighbor's house with all of it's vehicles. It is minus the net encased trampoline so far this year. It has a nice north light and lots of chances to see dog-walkers and kids on scooters and bikes. In place of a cactus I have a low-growing Japanese maple that I love to gaze at when it is in leaf. The curtains are gauzy so even if I want to have a bit of privacy, I can spy through them.

Amish Country Fabric Quest

 

Typical view of Amish farms

Living on the edge of Amish County in Ohio, I am not especially fascinated with it, but when it comes to fabrics on sale, I'm there. My sewing friend Susan suggested the excursion to the sale and since I got to ride while she drove it was even better. The day was absolutely gorgeous allowing from some nice photos as well.
When have you ever seen dandelions look so good?





Here is the final destination

Here is the reason

It had been a busy two days before we arrived

 

Cleverly displayed button sold by the scoop. These ladies were scrounging for certain colors. This is one of the fabrics to come home with me which will probably end up as an apron.

I also got some great toweling that I was quickly made up this morning using Graphics Fairy coffee pot images.

Check them out on my Etsy shop - click here

The Bargain Basement was also an extra 30% off
 

Just had to include this essence of spring in Ohio

This was taken from the car and severely cropped to take out a pole but if you have never been to Ohio Amish Country this is very typical. The baskets have become ubiqitous since they have been restricted from selling baked goods on the roadside. That's what I think, anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sailing, Sailing Over the Ocean Waves



 

Click here for details





 

Been away for awhile sailing the high seas. We went on our first cruise and so I am featuring two maritime inspired pillows. I made these long before the trip. Only been back a day and my sewing machine had a "spa treatment" while I was gone at Akron Sewing  Machine Center and I am picking her up this afternoon. Then it will be back to work.

 

I will be showing more about the trip on my travel blog Adventures with C&S soon. Stop by and take a look after April 30. Click on the pillow pictures to see them in my Etsy shop. They are available for you to buy for your yacht!!

Thank you to Karen the Graphics Fairy for the nautical images. Visit her at
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Click here for details

"You, asked for it. You got it, Toyota",

Yes, I got one! My husband has maintained that he will only buy American but I got a Toyota....serger.

In a way I did "ask for it". I was at my exercise class explaining why I would miss an upcoming  class because of going to the Sewing Expo (see blog entry HERE). They are a caring group and worry if you are not there and it does help to motivate me to get there, as well. When I said I was going to be taking a beginner serger class because I was interested in buying one, a fellow exerciser asked if I would like to buy hers since she hadn't used it in ten years. She told me she couldn't remember the make, model and had no idea how much she wanted for it. She brought the information and came up with a $30 price. How could I go wrong? I got it home and fired it up and this is what it did.

I knew this wasn't good, but having no experience and fiddling with all these tension dials frightened me. After trying out a $4K model at the expo I knew it would be worth it to have it looked at by a professional. For $95 I got it all cleaned up and adjusted and received some good advice including "ditch the old thread". It was original to the machine when it was bought in 1991.

After adjustment

               

90% off is good

 

I used it in making the towels and potholders. You just can't see anything because the seams are hidden but it does a great job in keeping this rather loose weave fabric from fraying. The fan image is one of my favorites from THE GRAPHICS FAIRY and I added the text which I find amusing.
These are at my Etsy Shop, CherylThimbleFingers.
Thanks for visiting and stop by again in May when I will be posting once more.

Spring Break

Due to a bad cold that drained my energy and kept me from accomplishing any new projects this week, I will be putting about the same amount of energy into this week's blog enty. This beautiful young woman will have to do. She is the cover girl on a 1914 women's magazine. April is looking to be a busy month in non-sewing areas so the whole month is looking to be slow-blogging.

Off to the Expo!

Francine is helping me out here by holding onto just one day's load of goodies acquired at Sewing & Quilt Expo I attended for two days this week.

She stayed home wearing my tablecloth apron adorned with sewing images from
THE GRAPHICS FAIRY .

The fabric choices were phenominal. Of course, this show is angled toward quilters, most of whom have fancy machines that do all the actual stitching but I found loads of inspirational fabrics to create my kind of creations.

Are you familiar with those fabric strips called Jelly Rolls? Here is a huge one.

My sewing buddy, Susan, stands by.

Well, it is pretending to be one. But really is a big piece of foam covered in a jelly roll costume! This is Pam demonstrating how to relax. The pattern is from Carol at Aunties Two. Check it out.

 

This is a better view of the stack at the rear left in the pic below

 

Found lots of dots...my current passion

This rick-rack is huge and the colors are great

This was abargain find. It is so unusual and I have some fun ideas for it. Keep up with me each week to see what happens to it.

 

an then there is this. I bought it in a red/blue combination last year and haven't sewn it up yet. Now I will two!

The check is on one side and the plaid is on the reverse and is it very light and airy.  Perfect for a summer tunic, maybe. I better get this all used up before next year's Expo.

 

 

This Week in Sewing and Selling

The highlight of the week was THIS! The Graphics Fairy chose my little zippered bag I posted the week before as her featured hand made craft. This means gobs of people click to go to either this blog or my Etsy shop. But, even before it was featured it was SOLD!

That started off my most active selling week so far. Now, I am not making a killing here. As I stated previously, the selling is mainly in order to support the sewing habit. An interesting feature of Etsy selling is knowing all the places your items are going. I have already sold coast-to-coast and in the heartland.  My favorite town name is Waccabuc! Click on the link to see the Wikipedia entry for it and some of its interesting residents. I did not sell to any of them.

I also had a repeat customer. The lovely person that bought the pictured bag came back and bought two more similar ones before I had barely listed them. I owe EVERYTHING to my inspirational Graphics Fairy and she provided the sweet image on this apron that will be listed on Etsy today.

Another little project was the cup tree I bought and showed in pieces last week. I did get it painted and put back together.

Before  and unassembled

After painted the wood with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (old white with a dash of Duck Egg)

I already know next week's blog topic. The ORIGINAL SEWING AND QUILT EXPO will be at the Cleveland I-X Center and my sewing buddy, Susan and I will be attending for two whole days. I will have a report on our experiences. Hope you'll stop by again

 

We're All Business

My new business card using a GRAPHICS FAIRY thimble

Yesterday we felt a slight stirring of spring in the air AND the sun was shining. No one who has been huddling inside for months wanted to spend another day indoors so out we went exploring some new arrivals.  The little town of Seville, Ohio has recently been developing into a real destination for antiques and shabby chic aficianados. They have been gathering for the last couple of years and now this last few months have added two brand new spots.


Seville's main intersection from inside The White Elephant Bazaar

 Like many little towns, Seville no longer has some of businesses that thrived in the town years ago, but the storefronts are filling up with names like:

Along Memory Lane

Funky Junk Boutique

The Rusty Bucket

Seville Flower and Gift

Seville Antiques

White Elephant Bazaar

Velvet's W. Main Framing

Vintage Corner

I was on the lookout for anything sewing related, thimbles, great graphics like old postcards and ephemera but the first thing I seized on in the first place we entered was a piece of Fiesta Ware. It is a cup tree in a discontinued light blue ( a color I can't resist) and I snapped it up.

I am keeping the picture small because I took it apart before taking the "before" photo and now I can't get it back together. When I get it the way I want it I will bring it back for you to see.

Check the Facebook page HERE

Annie Sloan fabric at Funky Junk Boutique. ASCP also availabel




New and old inside Seville Flower and Gifts...and it smelled great in here!

The most famous residents of Seville visit Velvet's W. Main Framing which is more than JUST a framing service
Click HERE to learn more about the Giants of Seville.



Sewing items at Along Memory Lane

 

The colors in this chair at Vintage Corner almost  made me buy it. The price was great if I only had somewhere to put it!
 

I did buy these and actually will use them in projects

Something for the guys at White Elephant Bazaar
in what was Hartman Pharmacy a long time ago

If you live anywhere in the area or will be visiting or passing through Beautiful Ohio be sure to stop by. I only mention the antques but you will also find something to eat while you are here.

AND every June the town hosts a huge yard sale. Learn more HERE. You will also find directions on how to get to Seville.


Now it's time to get back to sewing.

Sources and ReSources

Last week I stated how much fun it was to have this blog and post something every week. WELL, this week I have not found it so much fun because I just ran out of ideas.



Click on image to see more

I start pondering about Wednesday and think I might have a germ, but then  forget what that germ was.  Production fell off considerably as well. Nothing was coming out right. Fabric puckered, seams misaligned, not enough fabric in the right color!

Then this morning in the shower, an idea fell on me with the water hitting my head. I always get my best ideas in the shower. Sources!  The Graphics Fairy has been my muse from the beginning and always will be, but recently I have started to acquire my own graphics.  I will in no way be real competition to the lovely Karen at Graphics Fairy, but acquisition costs and so I am going to start offering images for sale in my Etsy shop as well as finished goodies.


Sample offerings like old luggage labels



Old Photos



Retro Kitchen

The idea to sell images was already formed. I had researched how to do it with CraftHub and then it became my topic for this week's blog. Next week should be my launch so drop back and we'll see how it's going.