Tea towels

It's been a busy few days, with a salesman today with loads of samples to look through.  Christmas fabrics for next year to order already?!! There was a lot of nice stuff though, and it's always a bit nerve-wracking to choose what to stock in the next few months, and to co-ordinate with what I've already ordered from another company.
However, I thought I'd post a couple of photos of a project I did a couple of days ago. 
We had in stock some packages of old-fashioned tea towels with a woven red stripe down each side.  I decided we needed some samples of what to do with them to personalize them a bit.  And, I remembered that I still had one miniature dresden plate left over from a couple of weeks ago.  So.....

I appliqued the block, centered near the bottom of the towel, and did some simple cross-stitch to add my initials.

The second towel I made a red dresden plate with 12 petals, and for the third, chose a heart shape.  Again, did some pretty simple stitching in a dark beige floss, mostly cross-stitch and stem stitch.  They've been washed and I liked how they turned out.

I think in the next couple weeks we're getting in some other packets of towels that have multi-colored woven strips down the sides, and think they'd be perfect with some 1930's reproduction fabrics. (Of which I ordered a bunch today, not coming until Feb and March i think)

Michelle

Today I took another trip to visit my web-site expert. We're continuing to update the site for Periwinkle to make it better. There are a lot of little details involved. I hope to add in some more photos of the shop so that it feels more like you're visiting a real place when you browse the site.
Speaking of the real place, this weekend we had the floors redone. See how shiny they are now!

On Saturday we pushed everything to one side of the shop and they stripped, buffed and put 5 coats of wax on the cleared half of the floor. On Sunday, we moved everything to the waxed side and they did the other side; then we had to start putting things back where they belonged.
The photo above is taken from the back of the store. On the left side is the cutting island piled with stuff.

The photo below shows the front corner of the shop, with shelves pushed to the side.


Of course it was a good opportunity to rearrange things a bit. Be sure to stop by and see what is different!

michelle

Mini Dresden Plates: Galloping Pony Style

I spent some time over the last part of December delving into some other blogs, and have 2 or 3 favorites. ( I have added links to them near the end of the page).
One I'll mention now is written by Virginia Cole, a quilt-artist from Washington, I think.  She has a great web-site as well, http://www.gallopingpony.com/ .  I first came upon her and her quilt-collages in Houston, at the International Quilt Festival in October, 2008.  I loved her style, and she was selling patterns and books which I snagged to sell at the shop.  So, it was great to find she had this blog, and to scroll through old posts looking at all the beautiful little collages she had pictured.  It made my fingers itch to try this style again; I had made one of the projects from her book to display next to her books and patterns at the shop and had enjoyed doing it then. 

I started by piecing some of the tiny dresden plate blocks that appear frequently in her work.  The first has 16 petals, or spokes, and the others have 12. 

I used two on a table runner that I built around a piece of silk I had started some embroidery on quite a while ago, intending to make a small purse.  I just added some fabrics to the ends, appliqued the dresden plates on, turned under the edges, and sewed everything down onto a piece of maroon felted wool.  I used my tiny scallop blade to trim the edges of the runner.  The trim on the two long edges is a vintage piece that I had exactly the right length!

The next piece is to be framed, I photographed it without the frame because the glass was unable to be removed, and it made a reflection.  I don't think it's quite finished, but I have to ponder for a while to think of what need to be done.
I hope you take time to check out Virginia's web-site and blog, it's well worth it!  Also if you are interested in the techniques, she has lots of patterns and books available from her website.

Closeup of Embroidered Monogram #1

This is the closeup of the monogram in progress which i embroidered, because it was quite small in the last post.

I have been working on a couple of projects in the last day or two, which I will add here, but it brings me to a bit of a decision point.  I must decide on photos taken in my sewing room.  Will I always need to make sure it's neat and tidy before taking a photo?  The blogs I've been reading have such gorgeous photos, and some of them are just so beautifully styled.  I suppose that's a bit unreasonable to hope for in my way of doing things.  So, I'll compromise.  I won't take photos when the place is an absolute mess, or if I do I will crop them mercilessly.  As a result, you'll see my workspace as it really is....  It actually isn't that much of a big deal, as there are no followers of this blog except me.  ha ha 

this is where I work at the sewing machine.  It is nice because I have lots of light from the window, and also I just set up an Ott light there. 

this is my table by the other window, where I have the laptop set up, and to the right of it, there is a collage in progress.
Now, to work on that collage!
michelle

Monogrammed pillowcase

My first monogrammed pillowcase wasn't too hard.

I have been trying out pillowcases lately, and also have had a thing for letters for the last year or so. I love monograms! So, today I decided to just try one.
First, I used a word-processing program to print out several "m"s in various fonts, at about a 200 point size.
Then I found a little piece of linen, and redrew the M i liked to a size that would fit on the linen.
I traced the M in pencil, and then used 2 strands of green embroidery floss to outline the letter in a simple backstitch. There were some largish open areas inside the M that I filled in with some french knots.
I started a pillowcase with some compatible fabrics, and appliqued the linen to the end flap during the sewing of the pillowcase. The background fabric was shadowing through the linen, so I just slipped in a rectangular piece of cotton behind the linen.
I finished the pillowcase and was very pleased with myself!!
michelle