nose to the grindstone

color theory bunting in my new shop based on some that i made for our wedding reception this past summer

my apologies for being absent from the blog this week, i decided i needed to step away for a few days to really focus on some special things for my shop and the blog! we've recovered from the 4th (or is it 5th?) major blizzard in these parts, i've been able to work through a fun tutorial featuring some anna maria horner fabric that i'm going to share here on monday, AND i've got the new shop opened up (!!) with several items posted, including my color theory draft stoppers and some new color theory bunting which turned out wonderfully. i am feeling so good about the aesthetic and cohesiveness of the new shop which is what i've been thinking about and working towards for so long so it's great to be able to finally share some of that progress here too. i do have several new items up my sleeve which are still in the planning stages though so i hope you will bear with me as i continue to roll them out!

one of those is my line of embroidery patterns and i have just finished up the first one titled, "farmer's market." i've had the file ready but wanted to stitch it up to have an example to show and i have to say that it is something i am really very proud of. tomorrow i am going to list it in the shop and will also share a bit more about it here—can't wait to show you!

Blog Carnival: on the matter of materials

my fellow blogger dirksen dabbles invited me to be a part of the blog carnival that she is hosting and i'm excited

to be a part of it! the chosen topic is: the quality of artistic materials. how it works is that each participant makes
a post on their own blog with their individual insights on the chosen topic. the host then gathers
together the best of each as an overview and introduction to everyone participating.
dirksen dabble's main post can be found here—ENJOY and
please feel free to explore and comment on as many of the different posts as you like!

i use a lot of old materials. it's true, i can't lie. i like old stuff better because it already has its own built in history, a story if you will. we also call these materials "vintage" of course and i'd like to take a moment to tell you a story about why i prefer that old stuff:

my grandmother made wedding ring quilts for each of her four children when they were married. the quilts were useful because they kept us warm when we needed to bundle up, safe when our parents were out on a date, and comforted when we needed to cry and snuggle. but they were also beautiful because of the wide variety of colors and textures she used. granny never went out and just bought material for quilts—each child's blanket included scraps of up-cycled fabric from pants, dresses, housecoats, shirts, and coats that she had made for them as they grew up. they were quite poor but she was a talented seamstress and saved all the garments as the kids grew out of them to use in these amazing blankets.
because of this, each quilt is much like a historic record of the life of the individual that they were made for. i loved having my mom's blanket on my bed because it meant a very special kind of bedtime story. i would point to a particular piece of fabric and she would tell me all about her memories of granny making it for her and all the places she remembered going to in that outfit. every quilt piece was a new story, another fragment of their lives and therefore my own too.

as i got older i came back to sewing because it relaxed me, it was better therapy than i could ever pay for! the problem was that i didn't always have the money to go out and buy pretty and new fabric so i needed to be thrifty just like my granny and all the women who came before her in our family...pioneering immigrants from denmark and germany, mid-century housewives, victorian seamstresses taking in darning work to help their families get by. they used what they had to make beautiful and useful objects because that was survival and i am able to honor them and their talent by creating items of similar practicality with materials that would otherwise go to waste in our all too fast-paced world. choosing these fabrics allows me to tell my own story in a much more personal and rich way and then share that valuable story with you, the customer. that is the heritage of handmade items and i cherish it and try to incorporate it into all my pieces. i have cut up everything from sheets and curtains to prom dresses to make the items for my shop but perhaps the gvk draft stopper best exemplifies my method:

(for example: that striped black fabric on the end is actually up-cycled from a skirt i wore in high school and is paired with quilting scraps that would otherwise go to waste.)

the fabrics i use for the draft stoppers are ever-changing since you can only cut up an old shirt so many times! this makes them unique unto themselves though and you just can't find that in stores...something special that is so practical and old-fashioned for survival, but also beautiful in a way that cannot be replicated in large numbers. and that folks, is the story of kat!

goings on

just a quiet day here full of lots of sewing and embroidery for the shop as well as wedding research (will share some photos of the sites we found tomorrow!).

i spent part of my morning sending out a couple draft stopper orders; one a custom order that i've gotten a few of lately with a double velcro closure and then sent empty to save on shipping. it definitely makes a lot of sense to do it this way and i'm currently preparing a few in other colorways to put in the shop for direct purchase.

must put the kettle on to boil and then back to work it is i go!

cheese and crackers vern!

just wanted to share a sneak peek from my day. what is that saying? some days you are the windshield and other days the bug...

i had a few orders to send out this morning so i got right to work. i was so on target...still pajama clad (a most wonderful benefit of working at home), had my mint tea with brown sugar just the way i like it, some gillian welch cranking out of itunes, sunshine pouring in my window, and i just needed to fill up this custom draft stopper and slip stitch the inner bag closed before posting it. well, i had it just about filled up when i leaned over to get one last cup full ever so gracefully...yeah, that was when all of the rice in it went all over the floor of my workroom, about 48x2 inches worth of rice. "CHEESE AND CRACKERS VERN!," as my great grandmother, gert, often said to keep from swearing. ok, well maybe i did let a few swears drop that gert would not approve of..or several..just maybe, haha. i did indeed pick up every last piece, ever the thrifty crafter! it's just been one of those days...

my work day is about done though now. i know, it's what about 11pm? time for some coco with a shot of baileys..i think i deserve it today!

french door draft stoppers

This past weekend i switched on an audiobook (The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin...so far, so good) and got to work on a stack of sewing projects in my queue. I prepped several new hand-printed linen dishcloths as well as some aromatherapy compress'. A few of the compress' I backed with some different shades of polka dot flannel which matches so well and which will provide a nice bit of soft coziness for aches and pains in these colder months! I hope to be posting the dishtowels and compress' by the end of the week so keep an eye out.

One of the big projects that I put the finishing touches to were two of my double stuffed color theory draft stoppers, only these were a much bigger order than usual! Both were to be doubled in length for a custom order so that they would fit a set of french doors. These also feature a tie at one end so that the decorative outer bag can be removed for easy cleaning. Alas, no french doors in my house so I got this photo of them before packaging them up and am quite happy with how they turned out. I always enjoy the satisfaction of putting a new twist on one of my own patterns so that it fits someone's needs just right!