11 color me retro pincushion.

Just a quick post today with a cute little project!  I made this pincushion last week when I was in need of a finish.  You know how sometimes you just want to start something and finish it all in one day?  This was one of those projects.  I'm finding that if I add a few of these in among the bigger quilts and such, I feel more productive and therefore want to sew more!  Fast projects are just so satifsying.

I bought a stack of Color Me Retro (available at Pink Castle Fabrics and Stash Fabrics) as soon as it came out, and I've been having a hard time resisting cutting into it!  I just needed a tiny strip of most of the prints for this project, but those little strips make a lot of impact here.  I added a few coordinating solids here from my stash, all Michael Miller Cotton Couture (available at Pink Castle Fabrics and Stash Fabrics).

The pincushion pattern is another one from Alexia Abegg's Liberty Love book.  I know I keep raving about that book, but I just love it!  Making two projects from the same book is a record for me, and there are more that I want to try.  (Note: if you make this pincushion, there is a minor error in the cutting directions, so check the Liberty Love flickr group for the correction before starting!)

The pincushion is backed in Florette in Crystal, and I added some teal crochet trim around the edges.

I quilted the front in straight lines, which took all of two minutes on such a tiny project!  

This pincushion is headed off to its new home with a sweet friend.  Jeni should have her own Color Me Retro pincushion, don't you think? (Surprise, Jeni!)

8 washi + a winner!

Did you all have a nice weekend?  My husband and I went on a little shopping trip, it was nice to get away even though it was just for one night.  When we got home I found out my order from cutetape came in!

I had ordered quite a few sets of washi tape, some glassine envelopes and some divine twine.  Partly because I wanted to make valentines, and partly because I'm a sucker for rainbows.

These are going to look so pretty hanging on my pegboard once I finish that project!  I was constantly using the yellow and orange sets I already had, so it made sense to buy some other colors.  I find that the basic color sets are the best deal (three rolls of tape for $8.50) and they have cute patterns that are versatile, so I bought those to round out the color wheel.  I also bought a silver and a gold bundle, and a couple rolls of black and white stripes.

I was so excited when I opened the package, I got right to work on my valentines!  Only a few more left to finish before tomorrow, but they're fast since they're so small.

Also, I think it's time we pick a winner of the single girl mini, don't you think?

The winner is comment #191, Debra!

Congratulations Debra!  I hope you enjoy your mini!  Thanks to all of you who entered!

17 new horizon.

Something very special came home with me from our vacation.

I still love my little Kenmore, but it is currently broken and giving me all sorts of crazy tension issues.  My husband is going to try to fix it for me to use as a backup machine, but in the meantime I think I'll be happy to spend some time with my new Horizon!  I can already tell we're going to be great friends.  I see lots of sewing in my future!

0 lovely things: for the hexagon lover.

Just a little something to brighten your Friday.  This card is perfect for those people that can't stop making hexagons!  I've yet to hop on that bandwagon but it just might happen soon.

via How About Orange

The best part about this card (aside from the fact that its bright, colorful, and fun)?  It's free!  Compliments of Ginger & George.

Happy weekend!

6 lovely things: letterpress quilt cards.

How cute are these letterpress quilt cards from Krank Press?

I want to buy them and frame them to put in my sewing room!

That is, once we move to a place that actually has space for a sewing room.

The hexagons are perfect for all the hexie-lovers out there!

I think the pennants are my favorite.  I want to make a real quilt that looks like this with all my scraps!

via PaperCrave

Which one is your favorite?

7 button jars.

When I was little, my great grandma had a jar full of buttons that she would let us play with.  I remember sitting in her apartment on Lake Superior with the buttons dumped all over the floor, trying to find the prettiest button in the jar.  I'm not sure why the button jar was such a big deal, but my sister and I would race straight to the button jar every time we visited her.

I recently acquired my very own button jar from my mother-in-law.  We sorted through one of about five tins of buttons from her mother and picked out the prettiest ones, just like I did when I was a kid.  Only this time, I got to take them home with me.

As usual, I'm not quite sure what I'll make with these yet, but I'm sure they'll be put to good use eventually!

I was also given a blue mason jar to store my new-old buttons in, and another to for my vintage thread spools. The blue mason jars are so lovely, I can't wait to display them in my sewing room!  That is, once I get a sewing room that actually has shelves in it.

p.s. I can't believe this is my 100th post!  I've decided every 100th post I'll blog about my great grandmother, since she was the inspiration behind this blog in the first place.

3 vintage finds.

This past weekend my husband and I drove up to Lake Geneva, WI for a mini-vacation with my in-laws.  The boys golfed the entire weekend while my mother-in-law and I explored all the little shops and antique stores in the area.  I picked up a few yards of antique lace in mustard and lavender.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but they sure are pretty.

We also found a random barn sale while trying to find our way back to our resort.  I was a little hesitant to stop, but I'm glad we did!  There were a lot of things there I liked (including tons of milk glass vases and blue Bell jars...if only I had the room to store them) but I controlled myself for the most part.  I did find a roll of vintage fabric and some cute little buttons to add to my stash.

The one place I failed to control myself was when I found the huge basket full of wooden spools of thread.  We spent quite awhile digging through that basket for the prettiest colors and the oldest spools.  They'll look so lovely in a jar in my craft room (when I actually have a craft room with shelves to display things on...the jury's still out on when that will be).

Overall it was a nice and relaxing weekend.  I never thought I would love antique/thrift store shopping as much as I do now!  It's so fun to look for vintage fabrics and notions.  Now to decide what to do with them...any suggestions?

5 lovely things: orla kiely notebooks.

I recently purchased four Orla Kiely notebooks from Gilt Groupe, and I've been in love ever since they arrived.  

These notebooks just make me so happy with their beautiful linen texture and coordinating color scheme.  The lovely print on the front doesn't hurt either!  I have to admit that I didn't really need these notebooks but if something as simple as a notebook can make me as happy as these do, why not buy them?  Even if they stay blank forever (which they won't, hopefully!) they are still pretty to look at and they make me smile.

What's making you smile today?

1 i like ribbons.

I think I have a problem. I can't stop buying ribbon. These are the spools I picked up today. Aren't they pretty?

Does anyone else have a ribbon addiction?

1 beautiful bindings.

I've been wanting a little notebook lately to do some sketching and I would love to have one these adorable books from Windy Weather Bindery. The prints are so fun and modern! 

Windy Weather Bindery on Etsy.

And even better, they are made in my favorite state: Michigan!

1 hello weekend!

Happy Friday! Today the nerdy engineer in me is loving these Periodic Table of Sentiments greeting cards by Nicole at Pink Loves Brown.

And the girly side of me is in love with her Christmas tree. It's pink and perfect.

I'll be spending the weekend making the last of our Christmas gifts, visiting with friends, and attempting to make these macarons from Vanilla Bakeshop on Style Me Pretty.

I hope you all have a nice weekend!

0 resisting temptation.

I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people that wants to decorate for Christmas as soon as Halloween is over.  I'm trying to resist the temptation to actually be one of those people who decorates before Thanksgiving.  But today I just had to buy these beautiful glittery green trees at Target.  And now they are sitting on the floor just waiting for me to bust out the rest of the decorations and start spreading the holiday cheer in our apartment.  I'll keep resisting at least until tomorrow.

Glittery tabletop tree from Target.

1 pretty paper garlands.

I am a huge fan of Christmas. Even though it doesn't feel like winter yet outside, I have the holidays on my mind. How cute would these little garlands look wrapped around Christmas presents? Very cute I think.

Garlands from KristinaMarie's etsy shop via elephantine.