Modern Vintage

I think this is the coolest story of two Moms (mother and daughter) who share the love of sewing and the look and feel of fabric. 

 My mom taught me how to sew when I was a young girl. 

This photo was taken of my mom and I, about six weeks ago :)

 For a very small amount of money (fabric used to be inexpensive), I could make a beautiful pants suit.  Yes, they used to be in style!

I remember one particular pants suit....the fabric was thin for the hot, humid Montreal summer.  Pink with small flowers, similar to a Liberty of London print.  I made the pants with wide legs (elephant pants in the 70's) and sewed a simple elastic waistband.  The matching top was a mini dress length with a scoop neck and big puffy sleeves.  I loved that outfit, it made me feel very fancy! lol..... I was 13 years old.

Forty years ago, my mom made my youngest brother Paul, who was four years old, a quiet book.  She only finished 2 l/2 pages.

Here they are....

A hippopotamus with a lot of personality....unbutton his mouth,

An elephant wearing rollerskates that unbutton with an elastic loop.

Do these calico prints from the 70's bring back any memories for anybody?

The yarn was sewn on a strip of fabric for the lion's mane, and the body and head were cut out and embroidered.  I had a terrible time trying to turn the fabric tail inside out, so I just bought some cord and braided it.  I sewed the body pieces to the fabric and stitched down the ribbon. I used the blanket stitch on my machine.  ROAR!!!

I made the turtle myself, I love the way he turned out.  The fabric is very thick and soft, just like a real turtle!  lol  The flowers were made out of craft foam and his eye is a "googly eye" button.

Don't you just love his "puffy" little heart?  

I sewed the snaps on with a double thread, but the thread kept breaking.  I used quilting thread, and it still broke!  Finally, I tried buttonhole thread and it was the strongest, it didn't break.  The large  snaps are really easy to open and close.

I thought that purchasing trim was much easier than trying to make the giraffe's mane out of yarn.  I used grosgrain ribbon for the ties because it is stronger and doesn't fray if cut on the bias.

Out of all the pages in the book, this turquoise polka dot fabric is the only one that is modern, and not vintage.

I used decor weight (heavy) iron on pellon for the backing of each page.  The letters are backed in the interfacing, and I just stitched around each letter with a raw edge.  I sewed on teeny little buttons for the dots on the "i"s.

I made the book for my grand daughter Maisie's birthday.  She just turned two.  

I just think it is so cool that this quiet book is Modern Vintage.

It was started 40 years ago and finished for my grand daughter.

I hope she will appreciate it when she gets older and can pass it down to one of her children.

Maisie makes the funniest faces, she is a character!  She is also a parrot, she repeats everything you say.  Her mom says she has to be very careful what she says......lol 

I think Maisie may be thinking, "Grammy, are you serious?"

"You chose me to give the modern vintage book to?"

Here is the finished book, grommets and all.

I hope she likes it ♥ dirty face and all!

THE END

Girl's Night, the results!

We had our girl's night at Rebecca's house.

Rebecca has a 2 year old daughter named Maisie, and a baby boy  due at the end of October ♥.

Lindsay came.....

.....she has three children, Bridger is 7, going into first grade, Kennedy is almost 5, going into Kindergarten, and Charlotte is 2.

....and Kimalee came,

Kim has a 20 month old daughter named Reagan.

Unfortunately, Mabulane and Vanessa weren't able to make it.

Everyone chose their color combos that I had precut, and I showed them the project.  We made the lunch bag tutorial by Ayumi, from the Pink Penguin blog. This was one of the first projects that I pinned ("random tutorial" board) when I first started Pinterest.  I have wanted to make this bag for a long time!  Ayumi did an excellent job with her photographs and directions.

We did a lot of sewing......

And a lot of pressing......

After about 3 hours, we were finished!

I bought this Amy Butler fabric at the last minute, because I thought I was minus one kit.  Aren't the colors beautiful?  Unfortunately I forgot to take a closeup.  I liked the fabric so much that I bought more to take home and make another bag :)

Lindsay chose the cute pink gingham elephants, with yellow fabric and pink polka dots.  Reminds me of bubble gum!  (I don't know why!!!)  It is so cute.

I love Kim's too!  She chose the yellow Japanese print, with an alphabet cover.  I always like red fabric with white polka dots.  It is adorable.

I love this bright pink fabric with flowers, and I have the same cover as Lindsay's, the yellow with pink polka dots.

We had a great time and it was fun to complete a project in one evening.

I took some pictures of my bag during the day, with better light.

Notice the word "hope" on the handle?

The inside of the bag itself is completely lined.

The bag opens up nice and wide at the top.  You can use the bag to carry your embroidery with you, your hexagons that you are handstitching during children's soccer practices (ha ha!), and Lindsaymy suggested using it as a makeup bag. There are so many things you could use the bag for.

I hope I have inspired you to make one of these bags, they were a lot of fun to make.  It would make a great gift too!

Girl's Night

My daughters and I are going to have a girl's night.  I chose a sewing project for us to work on.  Here are the fabrics I cut for everyone from my fabric stash :)  It is so much fun to go to my shelves and pick out fabric for a project.

They don't know what we'll be doing, it is a surprise!

It is something I pinned on pinterest and have wanted to sew for a long time!

I have three of this color combination :)

I will post about our girl's night and finished projects on Monday.

Stay tuned.....

Happy Birthday America!

I love this country, Happy Birthday America!

Quilt Along

We are going to have a quilt along.  Do you want to join?  
I hope you do :)

The quilt along will be from the "Victory Garden"quilt pattern, by Busy Bee Quilt Designs.

Our version of this quilt, is "Baby Brit", sewing six union jack blocks.  The finished quilt will measure 56" X 62", big enough for a lap quilt or generous baby quilt or great wall hanging.

We are going to start on Monday, August 6.  That will give you plenty of time to choose your fabric.  

Here is the schedule:

August 6:  block #1

August 13:  block #2

August 20:  block #3

August 27:  block #4

September 3:  block #5

September 10:  block #6

September 17:  sashing and border

September 24:  machine quilt

October 1:  bind the quilt

My daughters Rebecca and Lindsay will be joining the quilt along.

I started a Flickr group where you can upload the photos of your blocks so we can all share and comment on each other's lovelies!!

The name of the Flickr group is Baby Brit, and my username is cynthiahorst.

Fabric requirements:

Blocks:  5/8 yd. each of six different fabrics.

Sashing:  1 yd.

Border:  l l/4 yd.

Backing:  3 l/2 yds.

Binding:  l/2 yd.

You will also need to purchase the pattern.

Here are the fabrics I have chosen for my quilt.

On August 6, I will post a full tutorial for the first Union Jack block, so that you will easily be able to follow along.  It is important that you purchase the pattern, because I won't be giving measurements in my tutorial.  

I sure hope you join my "Baby Brit" quilt along, it will be a lot of fun. 

It can be your way of celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee:)

You don't even have to use reds and blues.  Be creative in your color combination, think outside of the box!

Let me know if you want to join, I can hardly wait!