I can blog all winter and spring, but the garden keeps me busy these days as well as spending time with my kiddos.
Yes, I do love nature and the earth and being frugal and everything good and innocent and sweet and all that.....I raise chickens...care for an organic garden...blah dee blah dee blah.....and I LOVE fabric.
Lately I've gotten back into sewing. I had forgotten how comforting it was to create.
When I was ill it was my therapy.
Unfortunately along with this sewing bug I've also found my addiction for fabric.
I think some of it delights me so much that I should frame it and slap it up on the wall or put it all in a glass case so I can sit for hours with my nose pressed against it drooling over my latest love.
Many of the fabrics I adore have special meanings.
For me the Heather Ross fabrics are all about memories. They reverse time and take me back to the very moment of delight and happy squeals of childhood.
They remind me of........this and that...
Some of you already know this story.
My childhood wasn't wonderful to begin with, yet who's is.
There was an incident with myself an older boy and the business end of a hammer when I was a little girl. To cover all of the stitches my mama put a kerchief on my head.
I remember going to the carnival and riding the carousel with that kerchief on.
Today one of my favorite fabrics is called kerchief girl.
There are also many Heather Ross fabrics that take me back... dream bikes, because I owned that bike, fish in bags, won them at the carnival, recess, the playground in elementary school,beach, going to the coast, mermaids, ponies, gnomes, etc......
Perhaps looking at the fabric brings me more joy than sewing with it.
Perhaps it's the time spent with myself reflecting.
Any way you look at it, fabric brings me joy and my husband can often hear me squeal with delight(did I say that was only done during childhood?) and excitement. Yes he rolls his eyes and thinks me a fruitloop at those times, but he's supportive :)
He doesn't mind that I have yards and yards and yards and yards of fabric taking up space in this already crowded house.
Shall I share?
I'm going to give away a nice little bundle of hard to find fabrics.
I can assure you there will be munki, heather ross, denise schmidt, japanese lovelies, and so on.
There is however...a catch.
Please leave a comment on this post telling me of your favorite childhood memory or your favorite fabric and why it is so special to you.
I will close comments saturday evening around the time when I am able to peel the kiddos off of me plop them into their beds so I can finally shower and feel sane before melting into a chair and zoning out and drooling over fabric on my favorite flickr group, Oh I mean around bedtime.
I would also love to see the fabric sewn up and would rather not see it sold or swapped.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Some of the following pics are pretty terrible, but I didn't feel the need to change lenses in the midst of my vacation enjoyment...shame on me ;)
random extra Fq's and pieces
Glorious fun time had by me ;)
Footloose and cancer free
Oh MY!!! Triple yolker.....my chickens love me
Happy Mail....hubby must love me too
some little man brought home a pig launcher, ouch
My fabric is in a room in the center of the house. It was convenient-first bedroom vacated when my girls left home for college. It is also stategic-I stop in on my way to the other ends just to look, touch and group fabrics out of my stash. Starts my daydream and then propels me throughout the day to revisit and get to the point where I can play. My favorite fabrics these days are reds and soft blues-together!!! Just ordered 10 yards of Kona white to contrast. Thank you for blogging!!!
ReplyDeleteI like Moda's Dandelion Girl. I plan to use it in my first quilt.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletemy current obsession right now are the Nani Iro's but unfortunately the ones I want are sold out. Denyse Schmidt Espresso Posie from her Flea Market Fancy line and Amy Butler Cream King's Fern are my favourite, sadly both are out of print and hard to find..
ReplyDeletemy favorite childhood memory is riding bikes all around the family farm. I long for the laid back summer days that a small town offered when I was young.
ReplyDeleteYou know I love all the fabric you love!
Amy your vacation pics are wonderful! I especially like the "footloose and cancer free" photo. You have a beautiful family!
ReplyDeleteMy new faves are Japanese canvases. They've got a terrific weight and are super cute! Quite often I repurpose clothing, and it's just been in the last year or so that I've been loving on the name brand fabrics. I try to use those sparingly, and have enjoyed using them to liven up a pair of capris (at the bottom edge), adding pockets to tote bags, and even piecing backs for quilts.
I also have some buttons from grandma's stash, and have been using those to compliment my creations...it's bittersweet though.
My favourite childhood memory is sitting on a huge rock, with lots of nooks and hidey holes, that sat in the middle of the beach where we spent our summer holidays and making up stories about the little people who lived inside that rock.
ReplyDeleteI think that's why I go crazy for the little people in Heather Ross' fabrics. I swear they are the same ones who lived in that rock.
Amy -- what a great life you are living now. :) The picture of your son diving is beautiful!!! Your fabrics look so lovely ... stacked to perfection. I hope with your two new machines you will be doing a lot more sewing. One of my favorite fabrics is Munki Recess (huge HR fan) --- it brings back memories of 3rd grade and the innocence of childhood. The next year my parents got divorced and life changed. I also adore the color combinations!! Your kerchief story --- I haven't once looked at that fabric and not thought of you.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I'm so glad I found your blog through our little swappy-poo group. Your stories warm my heart because I'll bet we have a lot in common.
ReplyDeleteI have a very dear favorite fabric story here:
http://arieleldridge.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-to-do-with-vintage-fabric.html
Thank you for a meaningful giveaway. I would be honored to win :)
What a fun contest, I wondered over here from SM :) I was trying to think of my FAVORITE fabric, I really do have lots of favorites :) I think that my favorite to look at is HB "Groovy" in pink, but sooo HTF that I have almost had it twice but then I missed it. SO I've never had it in pink, but I do own it in both other colorways!
ReplyDeleteMy family went camping a lot as a kid, so I would say that swimming in streams, and camping out (in tents of course!), and of COURSE s'mores!
Thanks for hosting this contest-- how exciting!!!
Becci
Amy, beautiful post! I love the lake photos. My best childhood memories all happened at a lake. My grandfather dug a manmade lake on his California property in 1948...and now 3 generations of children have spent every summer there. My favorite memories are of the very tiny frogs swimming in the green water and dangling our toes as still as possible to get the fish to nibble them.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite childhood memory is actually a place. We lived on the outskirts of town near a tiny creek. Me and my older sister and neighbor kids would always play down by the creek. In the summer we loved trying to catch 'crawdads' with our hands and a bucket. We got a rope to swing over the creek for fun. We played 'cowboys and indians' out there (somehow I was always an indian being chased - I guess b/c I was the youngest! lol). And in the winter when it would finally get cold enough here in the south, that creek would freeze over and we'd pull out our roller skates and 'ice skate' on it! Such fantastic memories were made with that creek throughout those classic kid years. Thanks for hosting this and giving me the chance to enjoy while reflecting :)
ReplyDelete~Nissi
Hi again Amy! What an awesome giveaway - I am excited just for a chance to enter. :)
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite fabrics would have to be from Heather Ross. They make me smile, and they remind me to take pleasure in all the small things that so often get taken for granted. I have learned a lot in the last year about not taking things for granted.
One of my favorite childhood memories is of the pizza place that my family ate at every single Sunday. For me, routine has always been a comfort. I now go there with my sweet kids every Sunday. Thanks again for doing such a great giveaway!
Favorite fabric! That's a hard one because there are so many! I love all of Heather Ross's illustrations. They're so simple and lovely. I just love anything that pops out at me (which is A LOT of stuff.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great giveaway! I'd love to sew all those lovely fabrics into some quilts :)
Heather Ross' bikes are probably my all time favorite for the following reason. My sister and I have birthdays five days apart so growing up we always shared parties. One year, money must have been tight, because we couldn't have a party but our parents (probably Mom) devised this elaborate treasure hunt with all these crazy clues that in the end brought us to this small storage closet in our car shed (I know, some of you are thinking what in the world is a car shed- just think a garage with no enclosed side walls) anyhow my Dad unlocked the storage closet and inside were two brand new hot pink banana bikes! We cried, we were so excited. We spent hours upon hours riding those bikes pretending they were mustang cars or VW bugs. When I first saw HR's bike fabric I immediately thought of that very happy time with my sister, hot dry Montana summers and riding as fast as we could without a care in the world. I've never cut into the fabric but often thought I should frame a piece for my sister, I know she would love it.
ReplyDeletehi amy, radish from SM. i think we've bought/swapped before. lol. i just now GET the whole heather ross fabric thang...boy do i get it.
ReplyDeleteid say im a tad bit obsessed with her lines right now. also lovely japanese wovens and double gauze. just new fabrics in general...
thanks for a chance at a super giveaway.
Those pics are beautiful!! How relaxing!! I can't wait until my babies are a lil' bigger and we can take some trips that they'll remember.
ReplyDeleteMy fave fabric has to be the dandelions. It reminds me of when I used to sit in our backyard and just pick them, blow them, and just watch them fly away. I remember sitting there for hours....i guess trying to escape my world at that time. It worked well, too. Now, I don't see many dandelions where I live, but when I do get lucky I can't help but pick it, blow it, and watch it fly away. :)
Thanks for the givaway and the lil' trip down memory lane.
This is from Tammey (at SM):
ReplyDeleteI miss you, Amy! Looks and sounds like you all are enjoying a lovely summer.
I remembered your love of the kerchifs, but just learned why. Oh, Amy. What a horrific experience, and yet you hold onto such a sweet memory ofthat time. I forget if you have an embroidery machine, but there's an adorable Euro set I found with some sweet kerchief'd girls playing I think you would love. If you have not seen it and are interested Ill send you the link next time I'm on the computer with it saved.
My favorite is hard to choose. Probably an oldTemple Bliss deep pastel paisley print I don't know the name of. Since it's oop and quite rare I don't need to know the name - I don't want to spend whAt it would cost. I also adore the HR Campers (thanks again!) and hope to one day have a piece of blue to make a matchy set for my kids.
My best childhood memory was of long warm summer days that lasted long past sunset, playing in many different backyards all over the neighborhood with my brother and all the neighbor kids. At night we'd play "kick the can" on the golf course, catch fireflies and make "lanterns", play "light as a feather", tell ghost stories, and explore the stars. I remember thousands of fireflies lighting the sky, but we didn't bother with mosquito repellant, and no ones parents worried we weren't safe from predators. Would you believe we have no lightning bugs Here in New England?
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful family, and those are such great photos of your vacation. I love the one of your son diving into the water, and the "glorious fun time had by me" photo.
My favorite fabric print is yellow tadpoles by Heather Ross, and like so many others it brings back some childhood memories. When I was about 4 or 5 years old, my mom had this HUGE garden. When she'd be tending the garden, I'd be looking for frogs or toads. We lived near a swap- I would find at least one or two every day. The swamp flooded up to the garden fence in the spring and I would catch tadpoles. I put them in fish bowls, jars, my moms good bowls, and I would watch them change into frogs. Sweet nostalgia.
Hello Amy!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking at your pics~specially the one of your DS diving into the lake "footlose and cancer free!" AWESOME!! I sure envy your life style~so much SPACE!!
My favorite fabric would have to be Heather Ross:
Recess/Gnomes & bike! The first time I saw:
Recess line, it immediately brought me back to the 4th grade when this bully boy was always picking on me and one day I just decked him and that was the last I ever saw him! Mind you I was a skinny minnie girl~lol!
Gnomes line brought me back to 3rd grade, I won a short story contest about a little Gnome who lived under a tree and a little girl (me). They met each other and became friends etc.. ~so sad that my mother didn't keep the story! It was thrown away~but when I see this fabric, I always think of it!!
I also love PRR/sharks~I had this fascination with sharks when I was 9 and would read & draw them all the time! : ) I was a tomboy!
Last but not least the bike line, because I had one just like it and loved it to death!!!
Thank you Amy~for doing this! YOU just brought me back to my childhood days, which I haven't done in such a long time!! So busy running around with my own kids!! Big hugs to you mama!!
I too have developed an addiction to fabric. I was taken way back to a childhood memory and you made me realize why I love a certain shade of green in my quilts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I around 4 I slept on a be covered with a quilt my geat grandmother had made. It was appliqued flowers of every color, definately 1930's. The appliqued stems were a bright, medium green. I remember rubbing my fingers along those stems and that relaxing me.
I love that green and 1930's repos, they immediately relax me.
Of course now I also love all kinds of other fabrics, it all makes me happy.
Sue Cahill (sbonetsue at yahoo dot com)
I love that picture of you walking on the beach and the one of your son diving into the lake- great photography!
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite childhood memories involve visting my grandparents house - my grandfather loved to birdwatch, and his bird feeder was set up front and center in the backyard so he could enjoy his feathered friends while he was relaxing at home. He passed on a few years ago, and every time I see goldfinches I think of him- he had been trying to get one to come to his home, luring them with special food, but when he visited our home across the state, he was surprised to find that they simply flocked there naturally! I love the paint by number birds and the alexander henry birdseed fabrics because the remind me of him. Great idea for comments for a contest!
Ginger
maumauisginger(at)gmail(dot)com
Hi Amy - am so glad I found your blog! Playing with fabric brings back happy childhood memories for me and the fabric (which I have yet to own) that reminds me most of my wonderful granny is the paint-by-number fabric (birds or deers).Her and I used to spend many hours doing paint-by-number pics. So wish I had kept some.I think it is a sign of the times that my own children find this activity boring and I wonder if one day they will hanker after fabric with Nintendo or PSP games on?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity to win some beautiful fabric
Your vacation pictures are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite favorite childhood fabric memory without a doubt is from going to my grandma & grandpas they both loved to do tie quilting, and when we would go over they had a chest at the bottom of the basement stairs that was always filled to the rim with fabric, we loved to go down and pick out our fabrics and sew our dolls baby quilts. My grandpa had even mad a special little quilt stand for our doll quilts so we could tie them just like them. That is where I got my love of sewing and fabric
This is an awesome giveaway, thanks for the opportunity. I got into sewing etc recently and so heard about the Heather Ross and Munki Munki fabrics after the prices had gone way up and out of my price range.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite summer memory is going to the beach with my dad and cousin Jeff. My parents divorced when I was little and I didn't see my dad much but we went to the beach most summers. I loved chasing the waves and building sand castles. After being completely worn out he would take us out for burgers and somehow they always tasted like the best thing I had ever eaten.
I thought if I won I might use a coin quilt design for curtains in my sewing room so I could always enjoy the prints and then maybe some bits and pieces would go into various quilts so I could stretch the fabric out as far as it can go.
What a great idea and giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI love the Heather Ross- Bikes. My step-sister and I had to share a bike like that so we'd race to see who reached the bike first, loser had to ride an ugly old bike. I have a lot of fun memories riding up and down hills, hair blowing in the wind on that purple banana seat bike!
Amy, I am so glad to see you have a blog! I've missed you at SM. My favorite fabric right now is some Shabby Chic by R. Ashwell. The prints are so lovely and delicate. It reminds me of little floral print dresses that I wore as a child. I have finally washed it and am trying to figure out the perfect dresses/tops to make for my girls before they grow too big.
ReplyDeleteCinnamama
One of my favorite childhood memories is snapper fishing off the dock with my dad, so fun & carefree!!!
ReplyDeletemy email in case I win:
ghartshark@optonline.net
Hi Amy, Thanks for the great giveaway and wonderful photos! I too really enjoy the footloose and cancer free photo. My mom very recently died of an untreatable cancer and it has left my mind shuffling through so many childhood memories. My mom always worked when I was growing up so tried her best to make our time together (however short) memorable. Some of the memories I enjoy most, especially now that I am sewing so much, are of her taking me to the fabric shop to pick out a dress pattern. It would happen a few times a year but was always so special. We would flip through the books for what seemed like hours and once we had the perfect dress picked out I would get to go and pick out the fabric from which it would be made. I enjoyed sitting at her feet while she sewed, watching my new object of affection come together. I think she enjoyed it...especially since I always put myself in charge of pin collection. I also have fond memories of bike rides around the local ponds before school, and how she would wake me up early just so she could do my hair and we could have breakfast together before she went to work.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your heartfelt blog. Thanks so much for sharing and allowing others to do the same.
oops...I'm on my boyfriends computer...I'm not Dustin, I'm Linnea (craftyconfusion in our little swappy poo group). That might be a weird comment coming from a boy :)
ReplyDeleteOoh - good question! I always rember the summer ritual of hay making. I grew up on a small farm in the Yorkshire Dales (UK) during the 70's and 80's. July was all about making hay - from the cutting to the turning to the exciting day when we made the bales. The whole family were involved. My job was to follow the tractor and move bales out of the way so that on the next row round the bales would not get in the way of the tractor. ( They were the small rectangle bales btw - not the huge round ones made nowadays!) So anyway, we would be out all day in the sunshine. We would have a picnic lunch in the shade of the trees and ice creams in the afternoon. The field had panoramic views of Swaledale to one side and Wenslydale on the other. There was a stream at the bottom of the field for paddling. Once the work of the day was done my dad would always make me and my sister a house out of hay and we would have our supper in it before going home exhausted but happy. Great memories - thanks for the chance to reminisce! Love the holiday snaps - you all look very relaxed and happy! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, my family didn’t have a lot of money, so my Mom made all of my clothes. It was more out of neccessity than anything else, so my Mom didn’t splurge. She used the same pattern that she made up using different fabrics. I remember we were given old clothes, that my mom would cut up and use to make my garments. There was no choosing, it was just whatever we had. Looking back now, I’m so appreciative of the time my Mom spent creating something for me, on top of working and taking care of a household. But at the time, I was just a bratty little kid who hated being made fun at school. In a way, that ties into my love of fabric these days. Now I’m fortunate enough to be able to pick and choose my fabrics…and sometimes, I can splurge a bit on a beautiful fabric. I mostly quilt, but with each gorgeous fabric that I cut into, I think of my Mom cutting apart a secondhand dress to sew into something I could wear. I think about how lucky I am to be able to sew for pure enjoyment. I love so many different prints, a lot of them are ones that are popular with a lot of other people as well. I can’t always quantify it, I just recognize when a fabric makes me squeal with delight. My favorite right now are American Jane rulers…because they make me think of school and how much I will miss my kids over the summer. But I know my favorites will constantly change as I discover new prints, and how they tie into my life.
ReplyDeleteAmy:)
ReplyDeleteSo nice that hubby took you & the kiddos away for a wonderful treat AND he has great taste in machines..lol..(you'll love the BLCS. I can't seem to sew without mine now). My most recent favorite memory stems from my grandma passing recently and reflecting all that she was to me. SHe used to babysit me often when my folks were first married & newly parents. We developed quite the bond almost like mom & daughter. She & I loved to make cookies together. Before she passed this story always made her laugh. I was about 7-8 and we were making cookies with all the ingredients on the table. Grandma left the room and when she came back, I was covered head to toe in flour. She started laughing because I told her "I just needed a little more flour, grandma"...The little more flour ended being a 10lb bag. ROFL.
SHe loved to sew too and I recently acquired a bunch of her clothing I remember her wearing and will make a memory quilt with those scraps.
Hugs,
Renee (mamato7)
I also wandered over here from Sewing Mamas. Hello from a fellow Oregonian. I'm only about 40 minutes NW from Eugene :) My favorite fabric I have is from the 80s. It's white with little green flowers and when we lived in our first house (as a child) it was the curtains my Nana made for my sister's bedroom. It's bittersweet to me to see that fabric (now a dress for my DD) because shortly after moving to the house my dad died and my mom couldn't afford to keep the house single with 3 little kids under 5...so that fabric reminds me of our very short time as a family. Neat contest I've loved reading everyone else's comments.
ReplyDeleteTera
mommytomaddyharley on SM :)
Hmm? Favorite childhood memory? Well, every summer we would go visit my Grandparents. My grandfather farmed and would sell the fruits (and veggies) of his labors in the back of an old rusty white ford pickup. My grandparents house sits quite far off the ground on pillars. Probably 4 feet or so. My GF would have tons of watermelons sitting on the porch (or as my Grandmother called it, "The Garrett"). Anyway, we would get to eat watermelon in the afternoon but one day was quite impatient waiting for one to be cut. So we (me and my brother), just rolled that sucker off the porch. And of course it broke open when hit the ground! Yum!!! Sitting on the porch of my grandparents eating fresh slice watermelon sprinked with salt. I remember spitting out the seeds and being quite sticky. Oh, but we couldn't just spit out the seeds any old place. My GF was quite resourceful and we were forced to keep the seeds so they could be planted again the next year!
ReplyDeleteI miss that house. Old wooden frame house on piers with a squeaky screen door, house badly needing a paint job. Also a wonderful porch screen in the front. No AC or Central Heat. Large window fans inside the bedroom windows. The spell of garlic in the kitchen and home grown cucumbers sliced and sitting in a bowl of vinegar and salt to eat at your leisure. Fresh eggs from the chickens in the morning. Also a jar of lemon drops candy on the table all stuck together in one big lump because of the humidity level and no central AC.
The house sat right in front of a levy with the Mississippi River behind it. So you could see ships pass by. Sadly my grandparents have passed many years ago and the house was taken out by Katrina in 2005.
Oh, my name is Mirza and I found you through SM. (Grandparents house and watermelon memory above)
ReplyDeleteA favorite childhood memory of mine is one of me and my little girlfriend who lived just down the road from me. Gosh, we were probably 8 or 9 years old and we would sit in her backyard on a blanket with a box of scrap fabric. She supplied scissors, needles and thread, and we would sit there for hours sewing up tiny little clothes for our Barbie dolls. Twenty-something years later and she's still one of my best friends. My mom surprised me about a year ago when she dug out all of my childhood Barbies for my daughters to play with at her house. And sure enough in that box were some tiny hand-made clothes. :) Looking at them now as an adult, I'm pretty proud of what we came up with!
ReplyDeleteI have too many favorite fabrics to list, but Heather Ross is in the top. Along with the cutesie Japanese fairytale fabric. I just got some Japanes Wizard of Oz fabric and I adore it! That happens to be one of my fave movies since childhood! :)Love it!
hi amy - such a nice post and some very wonderful photos - especially those beach shots... looks like you were out there making memories! i also drooled a bit over your fabric photos - i love many of the very same prints. i often try, but mostly am unable, to put into words why certain fabrics make me so happy. i still haven't really figured it out. i've been drawn to the FMF line since I first started sewing a year ago (it's partly what got me into sewing, in fact), and i'm also in love with almost everything heather ross has ever drawn. so many of them really do bring back childhood memories - seemingly endless days spent at the beach... doing all the wonderful childish things depicted in her fabrics - riding bikes, catching fireflies, picking dandelions, making forts and treehouses, camping out...
ReplyDeletethanks for such an awesome, not to mention totally generous, giveaway! i hope that whoever wins really appreciates these fabrics! :) (oh, and if i happen to win, these fabrics would most certainly make their way into several quilts, that's for sure!)
I too have fond memories of childhood fabrics. My great grandmother was a proper tailor. She also made millinery flowers and wool hats (from hat forms). For 3 years (from ages 3 to 6 for me) my family lived in part of her apartment, we had one great room that had kitchen nook, sharing a bathroom in the hallway. But my great grandmother had several rooms and one of them was a sewing room, the one and only proper sewing room I have seen irl. She had two treadle machines and several 2-3 foot stacks of Burda fashion magazines on the floor. Now at this time my home country was part of Soviet Union (this was early 1980s) so having a foreign magazine was very special (as I heard years later, she did have to go and talk to "the organs" about getting foreign magazines once, the organs being some division of kgb). I remember leafing through them and admiring pictures, in fact I am going to visit my family in Estonia and was hoping to go and see my great aunt who inherited all these magazines). I have the fondest memories of playing with pins. And in later years, when she did not sew any more due to old age, the sewing room was still there and the machines still forbidden to touch even though the kids were in late teens. I remember at various ages secretly running my hand along the ironwork near the treadle.
ReplyDeleteAll the dresses from her wardrobes go divided up between her daughters. At a family reunion couple years ago they brought many of them out and shared stories of their mother's, my great grandmothers life.
For my kindergarten graduation my great grandma sewed me a dress of gauzy cotton fabric that had tiny blue flowers on it, they were raised, almost like gummy. Two years ago I came across a piece of that fabric in my grandparents attic. It was so special. I think it is the only item my great grandmother, the soul of the family on my father's side, ever made for me. Though my mother sewed as well I don´t remember the things she made so well. Every now and then a scrap surfaces and I get another glimpse of those days.
I remember a project for Girl Scouts. I had to sew something. My mom took me to a fabric store, i was in awe of all the bolts of fabric and choices. I picked a navy nautical theme print. We made a skirt and i remember wearing it so proudly. I wish i knew what happened to it. I think that was what first made me love sewing. I must have been maybe 10? I can honestly say i get the same excited feeling often when picking a fabric for a special project.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of great memories as a child! My sis and I spent our summers on vacation with our parents and with our mom's parents in their motorhome. We would drive across the country, stop at all the historic points on the way, and take in as much as we could. Both my grandparents are gone now, and I know they would have gotten such a kick out of all their great-grandkids! This grandmother was the one who taught me how to sew, and we often did small projects going down the road. My sis and I still have some of that embroidery work today! Thanks for helping me remember!
ReplyDeleteMel
I'm actually a fairly new sewer, but I'm finding the fabric love in all the right places!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, one of my absolute favorites was a piece that I picked up in a sale box of girly fabrics, and when I saw it, it just felt oh-so right for my darling little girl. It's a crinkle-knit with a little sprigged flower pattern on it, done in mocha brown & soft soft pinks, and it's just so dainty & soft for my hardy little survivor of a girl.
Here's a link to her wearing it made into a top- and I can tell you now, it almost *hurt* me cutting into it, but it feels so good to see her wearing it... just like it should with a favorite fabric :)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3573240369_633b97a7b9_b.jpg
Ooo, pretty blog and pretty stash!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite childhood memories have merged into my whole memory of summer. We spent our days at a little beach house on the CT coast with an outdoor shower and our nights in sandy beds. After dinner each night we would sit on the beach under the boat savoring the ice cream from the Good Humor truck.
Three years ago, my husband and I started bringing our three to that same stretch of beach and they love it just as much as I do.
Such beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite memory would be taking care of my siblings. They are 8 and 10 years younger than me, and I enjoyed playing mommy endlessly.
A close second would be reading late at night with a flashlight. I often find my 7 year old doing this with his nightlight and it makes me smile.
One of my favorite childhood memories is remembering when my parents would buy a big box of popsicles and tell us kids to eat up quick before they melted. Of course, we were thrilled to be able to be told, "please, eat all the popcicles!". Now they are doing it with my kids. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that my favorite fabric at the moment is raindrop stripe from Alexander Henry. I love the colors, and the feel of summer rain running down windows.
ReplyDeleteI have a memory of my mothers glass beads and pearls, she used to make traditional Greenlandic jewelry with. She had them in a big kerchief that was tied up in a special way, and I remember that when it was opened it was like looking at a true treasure in all the colors of the rainbow, and they feelt so cool and tickly when you grabbed a handfull and ran them through your fingers.
Thank you for the give away!
since you held it over, thought i'd get in on it too. i came across your blog quite by accident one day. and have enjoyed it ever since.
ReplyDeletemy favorite fabric memory is so simple. my grandmother was a sewer, as was my mom and now occasionally me. my grandmother made each of her 25 grandkids a quilt. Mine was blue and red paisleys so that it gave the impression of purple. i loved that blanket to death and still have the scraps of it sitting in my sewing basket.
happy summer!
ps since i'm in Canada, i would be more than willing to pay the postage should i be so lucky to win :-)
I think the FMF fabrics are what got me into sewing about 6 months ago. The fabrics reminded me of growing up spending the summers on my grandparents farm and the quilt I slept with those summers, simple prints. I also love Heather Ross and I think all her drawings just remind me of growing up and especially the summers. Riding bikes, the strawberry festival and bringing home a fish in a bag, that never seemed to last very long, camping in a vw van very similar to scenes from the fabric and working hard and having fun doing it. Sewing was something my grandmother did because she enjoyed it, but also having 8 kids and living on a teacher's salary, sewing was necessary. Those summers my grandmother spent her evenings teaching me how to sew, something I was very sad to have kept up. I have been feeling closer to her now that I have started to sew and am enjoying it. Her 90th birthday is around the corner and I am making her a simple coin quilt like the one she and I made for a doll over 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your giveaway, letting us fawn over your stash and also putting a tear in my eye as I remember those carefree summers working on the farm, farm stand and sewing at night!
I just had to say...A TRIPLE yolker! They sure do lurve you!
ReplyDeleteI know your giveaway is closed but my favorite childhood memory was the year my entire extended family chipped in to buy me a unicycle for christmas. Many, many, many hours and scrapes later I was hopping curbs and spinning circles. My one wheeled schwinn is hanging in our garage waiting for my eldest. ;-)
What a wonderful and generous giveaway. I love fabrics that have a simple childhood theme. So of course like so many others Heather Ross is my favorite. When I was little my Grandma helped me make a few small things but sewing has really been something I have gotten into over the last year. I made all 4 of my daughters dresses for easter and blankets for Christmas. I love how much they appreciate handmade things and hope I can always inspire them to always appreciate handmade things that take time and love not just money. Thanks again your stash is beautiful
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