|
August 16, 2007
Hi all!
On the phone this
weekend,
my sister mentioned that she and her 6-year-old son, Alex, were going
to make felt "mascots" from a new "sewing" book
called THE CUTE BOOK. I love it! She sews for a living,
she's spending a week at the beach in Florida and still she's spending
quality time sewing with her son! Well, the book sounded
interesting, so this morning I started doing some on-line
research. Found I could order it from one of my distributors,
and offer it now to you:
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12847
 Influenced by Japanese
animation that seems to be inspiring many young adults, these little stuffed felt critters are really
quite fun and very "kawaii". They kind of remind me of stuff from my childhood
('50s & early '60s). Eleanor (younger than me) starts a new
job next week. Her new job will involve teaching college
students to sew costumes. THE CUTE BOOK may be her new text book
for a hand-sewing lesson! Great idea Eleanor!
Wondering what the
"youngsters" of the quilting industry have been up to lately,
I decided to revisit some of their blogs. My cumulative
reaction: "It's hard to feel/be hip/cool/kawaii(?) in Newton,
KS." Oh well, I'm not sure at 52 I'm going to be really
"hip" anywhere anymore. :)
OK, I do enjoy
buying and sewing with the new "hip" fabrics, and love the
"new" (actually, retro-re-visited) stuff that these
"youngsters" are (re-)introducing to the industry with their
own flair & excitement. Hey, back-up one paragraph, if I may
say so myself, I do have the best selection of hip/new/fresh/retro
fabrics I've ever seen in one store, right here at Charlotte's Sew
Natural! So, wait, don't write off a 52-year old in small town
mid-America so quickly! We might be COOL in our own way even if
we aren't sure what "kawaii" means!
Designer Heather Bailey
is young and at the moment very "hot" and cool!
I keep seeing Heather's FRESH CUT
fabrics
(from Free Spirit) being used by others in their new pattern designs
and in magazines too. She is
an excellent example of the new "young" energy happening in
the quilt/sewing world! Right here at Charlotte's Sew Natural
you can buy yardage, fat quarters.
Check out our entire
selection of Heather Bailey's fabrics here, 10% OFF for a limited
time:
http://www.sewnatural.com/nl.asp?p=0&c=111
 Further
perusing Heather's blog,
I couldn't help noticing that we share many of the same names in our
lives! Charlotte, Lily, elinor (close enough to Eleanor) and
Isaac! I'm not sure what this means! Oh well, enough with random ramblings!
More of Heather's work
(simple pattern for a great vintage pin cushion) can be found in the
BHG Summer 2007 QUILTS AND MORE magazine. See it in the lower
right-hand corner? Order a copy for yourself right here:
http://www.sewnatural.com/nl.asp?p=0&c=141
 This
issue has lots of good projects in it. Other projects I like in
particular include a great quilt using STRIPES. I just checked
my web store and it says we have 187 fabrics when you search
"stripe". According to our point-of-sale computer in
the store we have 287 different striped fabrics! So, come into
the store if you can, there are at least 100 more! I like
stripes! I also love this simple HOLLYHOCK wall hanging - sort
of an "art quilt". Both these pieces would look great
in my house. [I think I should mention that, unlike in the table in
the magazine photograph, I don't have a single uncluttered surface in
my house but I still think the quilt would look great on my wall!]
My daughter Lily was busy
last week
filling in at the store and preparing for a garage sale but still
managed to sew up two new store models. First she stitched the
new 2007 THANGLES CHRISTMAS TREE
SKIRT. This is done with 5"
THANGLES and about 2 yards of fabric. I changed the instructions
a bit (of course!) and have bound it with a third fabric, bringing the
total yardage to 2-1/8 yards! :)
You can order it
here: (Sorry, the pattern is not available without the Thangles
or a fabric kit.)
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12849
Then Lily brought home a
CHARM PACK from Moda's new SCAREDY
CAT line - thirty-three 5"
squares with fun "retro" patterns & colors from
designers Polly Minick & Lauri Simpson. When she finally
settled on a pattern from the book HOOKED ON CHARMS she did have to
get 2 more packs, but whipped up this cute wall-hanging in no time at
all! When I suggested she quilt it she replied "but mom,
you have stuff quilted by someone else!" Oh well, they do
learn from what we do, not what we say! I guess I might quilt it
for her. After all, it's not too big. :)
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12850
See the entire SCAREDY
CAT line here:
http://www.sewnatural.net/nl.asp?s=scaredy
LaVerna (remember, she
retired some time back. :) ) was working last week and was inspired to
finish off this new panel, also from Moda, HARVEST BOUQUET. It
is a beautiful sunflower in a vase. LaVerna used BROADWAY
BORDERS from Quiltsmart and pieced 4 small stars for the corners,
creating a delightful, seasonal wall quilt!
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12851
See all the HARVEST
BOUQUET fabrics here:
http://www.sewnatural.net/nl.asp?s=harvest+bouquet
I did the same thing
with the STAR OF WONDER panel from Benartex. You can order it
here:
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12852
Lily returns to school
at the end of this week. Her first days will be spent "team
building" with the other Cottey College Peer Listeners and
RAs. They are going to start with a "field trip" to
The Edge Challenge Course, near Lake of the Ozarks. According to
the email there are "two
towers, one with a rock wall and zip line and the other with “The
Screamer”, connected by several elements.
This unique course employs the use of climbing harnesses,
ropes, and other hardware to navigate elements as high as 40 feet off
the ground." She is very excited about this. I, who
get out of bed every morning doing stretching exercises attempting to
touch my toes, am glad it is her, and not me on this team! What
happened to getting to know each other over a cup of coffee? LOL
"Youth"
is wonderful, and "fresh" ideas, that may come from any age,
can be just the thing to break our inertia or create new bonds!
In homage to a woman who contributed fresh ideas for many,
many years before her death at age 98, check out this, one of our
newest arrivals from  ALEXANDER HENRY FABRICS - GEORGIA! Georgia
O'Keefe was nearly 40 (!) when she started looking at and painting
flowers differently. Her legacy is more than her
beautiful paintings - many have come to appreciate the beauty in
everyday things around us because she painted!
http://www.sewnatural.net/nli.asp?iid=12579
I'll leave you with this great
quote:
Nobody sees a flower,
really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time like
to have a friend takes time.
If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what
I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I
said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but
I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look
at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see
of flowers.
...Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took
time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations
with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think
and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't.
- Georgia O'Keeffe
May
you feel free to be yourself, do things your own way and feel great
doing it no matter your age!
Have a great week! Hope to see
or hear from you soon!
Sincerely,
Charlotte Wolfe
Charlotte's Sew Natural
710 N. Main St.
Newton, KS 67114
316-284-2547
|
Check out the
Our next 
