The Dudley Farm, a historic Florida homestead and working farm, hosted a quilt show this weekend. Ladies in period costume–prairie bonnets!–showed off some antique quilts. There were some quilts for sale and “quilted apparel”–questionable at best. Still, these quilts looked so pretty hanging on the line, and we had a good time visiting the animals, pumping water, and playing catch with horse chestnuts.
I am now living in Florida, where it is very hot and very steamy. So, Sweden is extremely appealing. In the Truman Show-like village near my house–think very cute clapboard houses and little village green strung with lights–there is lovely shop that carries European housewares, mostly from Sweden. Marimeko and felted gnomes–hooray! Before we moved here (did I mention that my parents’ house is less than a mile from our new house?) I always made a point to visit Marianne Coveney, European Essentials. All my favorite dishes come from here. So does my favorite ornamental chicken (totally essential). I am delighted that the store is now within walking distance. I adore my new house and it deserves some Swedish knick knacks.
Some other Swedish things I love? Jessica Jones, How About Orange blogger and textile designer, has a new fabric collection, Outside Oslo. Surely something in my house needs sprucing up with this delightful fabric. I think some laundry bags will make the task of doing laundry–in my own house!–even more pleasant. Although, these pillows from the blog look pretty awesome.
Scadanavian Needlecraft. I got this book for Christmas, and have yet to make anything. It has some lovely embroidery designs and somthing in my house will soon be sporting one of them.
Painted Swedish furniture. This “hunt table,” as my parents call it, is sitting in my garage (thanks Mum and Dad!) waiting to be painted pale gray-blue. I am tempted, really tempted, to paint some sort of folksy motif on there, but I don’t think anyone else will sign off on that. Maybe just on the inside of the doors? Don’t you think that would excellent?
The clouds are cumulus. The sky is robin’s egg blue. The kids are at home asking about what to do next. Must be summer.
I, for one, am dreaming of lake days at my cottage. Did I say my? I meant at your cottage. Feel free to invite me.
This patchwork tablecloth made out of colorful bandannas is a fun project from Aesthetic Nest. The AN version looks like perfection, wafting in the breeze. Mine less so. As AN points out in the instructions, not all bandannas are made to the same size. I found that the white ones are the runts–an inch smaller all around, making things a little more irregular.
But the imperfection is what I like about the project–it doesn’t require seamless seams to look breezy, whimsical, and summery.
I made a square of 4 bandannas to cover the little table on my back porch.
And a larger square (3 by 3) for my mom’s table at–you guessed it–her summer cottage. Not that I’m hinting, Ma, but my bags are packed.
P.S. I bought the bandannas at Play Time Crafts in Arlington Center–a place intimately known to any Arlingtonian who has shepherded a kid’s school project. But if you’re from close by and haven’t been, you should check it out. If the teetering aisles of crazy inventory don’t charm you, the sweet-and-sour staff will win your loyalty.)
This is what I’ve been up to this week: folding paper! Specifically, cranes–for a “1,000 crane” fundraiser at my son Zeke’s preschool for those affected by the recent earthquake in Japan.
Maybe you are making origami strawberries (like this one we bought at another Japan fundraiser at Abe’s elementary school)
or contributing in another way, but if you are a quilter, Gather Here, the fabric store/stitch lounge at 370 Broadway in Cambridge is offering a couple of novel ways to join the effort for Japan:
Virginia also posted about an effort by Quilter’s Newsletter to gather quilts from Amerian quilters for those in need in Japan. If you have a quilt (any size, baby to adult) you’d like to send, the information is here. The deadline is April 30.
I curbed my craftiest ambitions this week after one of the fabric-painted robot tees that I made last week emerged from the washer: a smudged, sorry schmatte. What happened? I swear I followed directions (I think). And still here is this mottled t-shirt-now-dust rag. Tragedy. Or at least, very minor disappointment.
Moving on: I’ve been meaning to make a pillow cover with some of this flower print I bought at a yard sale. I had a 22 x 22″ pillow insert, low goals, and about one hour, so I stuck with an envelope-style enclosure. I (more or less) followed the instructions at Cottage Magpie, which I thought were very good with excellent, helpful photos. I’m actually really proud of the piping (which I bought pre-made–so why the pride?). But the piping was fun to sew (zipper foot!) and it gives the pillow its essential pillowness, I think.
My other small adventure: sewing covers for the ugly blue mattress and pillow that came with the IKEA doll bed I bought for my neice and nephew. (Why does IKEA favor retina-searing shades of blue?) I also sewed a doll blanket to go on top. (For Boston locals: I bought the big polka-dot print from Fabric Corner, a sewing shop on the corner of Mass Ave. & Mill Street in Arlington, which has a lovely fabric selection & kind, friendly staff.) Following Brigit’s doll quilt post, I just sewed regular seams and turned inside out (although I added a layer of quilt batting and didn’t do the quilter’s knots).
But my biggest–and tiniest–achievement of the week? Figuring out how to do that tricky little stitch to close up seams. The stitch is sometimes called an invisible stitch, which makes it impossible to visualize, right? Whereas when the stitch is called a ladder stitch (visual here), it loses all its terrible mystery and becomes possible, and really not that hard.
homemadecity.com 