Porch Sale – Part 2

First, a big thank you to Sharon of Liberty Rose for hosting the first annual Fall Porch sale at her house. I can’t even tell you how much work Sharon and Evette did to get everything arranged and set-up for Saturday. Everything was perfect, down to the last detail!! I am very honored that Sharon asked me to be a part of this show and I look forward to doing it again next year (yes, we are already planning another one!).

This is what Sharon’s back porch looked like before the sale. All the tables are loaded down with goodies and the tree is full of ornaments. By the end of the day, everything was bare (I wish I had some after pictures).

Ladies started lining up well before 10am, eager to look at all the beautiful items that were for sale. This display features a wool Hootie owl I made and some pot holders and candle mats made by Laura.

Here is the main corner where my wares were displayed. The stand is my grandmother’s spool tree – it’s perfect for hanging purses and other small things. The doll was made by Jennifer :).

Here is the Halloween corner. You can see Bartleby the Pumpkin with his sly grin, hanging out with the other witches and ghosts. Evette had some beautiful wool Halloween ornaments, Jennifer made some witches boots, and Sharon had a cute little embroidered witch.

Thank you to all the ladies (and gentlemen – I saw at least two) who came to the sale. It was wonderful meeting everyone and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!

Porch Sale!

OK, I have been talking about it for a few weeks, and the Porch Sale is this Saturday, Oct 23rd. Lots of ladies have been working hard to make some neat things for you to buy, including Jennifer and Sharon (check out their blogs for some sneak peeks). The porch sale is here (thanks to Jennifer for the idea to use a Google Maps link) from 10am – 3pm.

I am still working on a few more last minute items. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I wanted, but I had a lot of fun preparing for it. I will say it will be good to get this off my plate so I can focus on other things.

One more sneak peek – these are cute little Snap-it Bags (sorry the picture is a out of focus – I was in a hurry). They are about 3″ x 5″ and are the perfect size for carrying extra cash, sewing notions, coupons, etc.

They “snap” open when you open them with the prairie points. You use metal measuring tape to create the “snap” frame. It’s a pretty clever idea. You just cut off a length of tape and creating a casing to slide it in. The pattern I used is called “Snap Happy” and they are really fun to make. You can use all different combinations of fabric. These would make perfect little gifts for anyone!

Sneak Peek

I’ve been busy working on items for the Porch Sale. It’s hard to find time to generate a large quantity of items, but I am trying my best. Here’s a quick snapshot of some things that have been cut out and are ready to be sewn.

I’ve been trying to cut out a bunch of projects in an evening, and then spend the next evening sewing them. I haven’t made a much progress as I’d like, but I should have a good showing by this Thursday. More projects will be posted later this week :).

More Bargains!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been hitting up all the thrift stores for furniture and other accessories. Without fail, I usually find at least one bargain wherever I go. Here’s just a sample of what I’ve accumulated in the past week.

This is a cute little tin-punched cupboard I found at a church thrift store. It just needs a little TLC and it will look great!

I couldn’t resist these little strawberry canisters. My grandfather loved strawberries (and so do I) and seeing them always makes me think of him.

This is a sewing table from the “Standard” company. This one probably dates around the early 1900’s (Standard was eventually bought by Singer). I don’t need another sewing machine – but the cabinet makes a nice end table.

Here it is opened up. You can see that it has a test piece of fabric in it from at least 40 years ago (I know this because the woman I bought it from had it for 40 years and never used it as a sewing machine).

This is a wardrobe that is about 12 feet tall. My decorator said I needed some bigger/taller furniture for the bedroom to add variety. This is exactly the kind of piece I pictured in my head. It’s nice solid wood (oak or some other hardwood), and really just needs to be cleaned up a bit.

Here it is opened. My husband will get to use this for his clothes. Eventually, when I get more quilts, I will probably take this and use it for quilt displays (which means my husband will have to find something else for his clothes).

Speaking of quilts, here is an antique quilt I found at Goodwill for $10! It is in pretty sad condition – lots of holes, but there are several places where there are no tears. I haven’t yet decided what I will do with it.

I love the colors and the pattern. I was so excited when I saw this. As I paid for it, the cashier said – “I didn’t think anyone would buy this.” I said, “I can’t believe someone didn’t buy it already!”.

That’s all for now – thanks for looking! Meanwhile, back to sewing for me :).

Sewing Kit

This weekend I designed a travel sewing kit for carrying all the necessities you might want to tuck in your purse so you could do some handwork on the go, or be have a nice organizer for any supplies you might need to take to a class. This is version 1.0 and I plan to make a few tweaks/improvements as I use it and see how well it works.

When closed, it is approximately 9″ x 6″ and depending on how much you have in there, could be about 2 – 3″ thick. I used fusible fleece AND decor bond on the exterior to give make it nice and sturdy – and then the lining piece has decor bond. I opted not to interface the zipper pocket or interior pockets because I didn’t want it to be too bulky. I will probably use some light interfacing in version 2.0 as I can see already that the pockets will have a lot of wear and tear.

When it is open, it is about 9″ x 18″ and can hold quite a bit of stuff! There is a slip in pocket behind the zippered pocket that can hold a pattern and a small cutting mat. In the zippered pocket you can carry pins, measuring tape, seam ripper, etc. The pockets hold a pen, notepad, scissors, small rotary cutter, and seam gage. I will play around with the pocket sizes to get the optimal combination. I included some elastic to hold spools of thread, but will probably remove this in the next version. I figure it is easier to carry thread in the zipper pocket, and to use the space for a needle/pin holder instead. Once I get the design perfect, I will make a few and try to sell them on Etsy or at one of the local shops.

Any comments/suggestions on what to change? I would love to hear what you think!

Thankful Turkey

Here is another Fall item (started two years ago) that is finally finished. Last week it was plucked out of the UFO pile and given the finishing touches. This was another project from Create and Decorate that was a lot of fun to make. The feathers are cut out of wool, the veins are stitched on, and then they are treated with fabric stiffener (I used “Stiffy” – insert joke here 🙂 ). Once the feathers are dry, the directions called for you to glue them together and then glue onto the body. However, I had much better luck stitching everything with black perle cotten – it was much sturdier and you know it won’t come apart.

The whole thing is brushed with coffee to give it that “prim” luck. My husband keeps smelling coffee in the house although neither one of us drinks it (the coffee smell fades away after a few days). The original directions made one that was about 12 inches high (suitable for a table centerpiece). My is about half that size, since I thought a smaller one would be more versatile.