dear readers, i have spent the best part of the last forty eight hours holed up in my studio trying to sort the chaos. the little picture i showed you last week of the mess was actually taken on Tuesday, so by Friday it was beyond belief. now i realize that we do not live like the pictures in the magazines that we read (at least that is what i tell myself) however eventually you get to a point where you haven't a hope of creating anything because you physically can not move round your little space without fear of causing yourself an terrible injury...
i have achieved the results i was hoping for but it had to get a lot worse before i started to see improvement...tomorrow i will show my labor of love and in the meantime we will have a little looky at some fabrics etc that i picked up on Friday...
my intention on Friday, if you recall was to have a leisurely day out with my 'pretty sweet' wedges...it has become increasingly obvious to me in recent months that there are not enough hours in the day to include 'leisurely' time...so instead of enjoying browsing the fabric store and thrift place i was in a constant state of clock watching. but none the less i did come back with some rather lovely things..our local fabric store was having a sale (that really isn't anything new as they seem to be permanently celebrating something like 'John Smith Day', that will involve them declaring a 50% off sale...)
i managed to pick up some pretty cottons that required laundering and then a great deal of ironing, which is something i am very good at avoiding but as i was making my studio resemble a 'japanese craft' book i was required to do some, plus all the other linens i had neglected over the past few months...after four hours of straight ironing i declared to my man that a lump had appeared on the side of my lower right rib cage..."i think i have fractured a rib from ironing" i told him, so he had a little feel and then tells me "that's just your lower rib, it moves around"..."what" says i, "yes" says he "your lower ribs move they are not completely attached"...so i can only imagine the day they taught that in school i must have fallen asleep because it was news to me...
once again i have digressed. at the thrift store i found some bedsheets and pillowcases along with a lovely collection of slips...it really was a lucky score as they were totally vintage, i'll show you those later in the week..
now this little pile of fabrics i bought along with this tool for a reason, they were on clearance for a $1 a yard and i knew exactly what they would turn into...
some pages in my craft book showed me how to make bias binding, which i know a lot of people have been doing for ever and a day, but what i liked was it shows how to make patchwork bias binding...i immediately knew i wanted to own that bias binding. for what i had no idea i just knew it must be mine...
i'm not quite sure how i will fit this into my 'lack of hours' in a day this week, but i hope to attempt it before i leave for bonny England and show you the results (please note, you will hear a lot of "i'll show you later due to 'lack of hours' in the day this week")..."okay Tif, we get it"...
with her children hanging off her apron strings twenty four hours a day for the next ten weeks ~ Tif
17 comments:
I LOVE the binding tool and the gorgeous binding. I make binding and I so want to get me one of those. Can't wait to see the finished results.
I love binding now and those were the exact pages that inspired me to have a go and make my own (I used it to go around some children's jackets). I need patchwork bias binding now too - all neatly organised like those pictures! Can't wait to see what you do.
Oh yes, DO tell us all how the bias binder works. I am averse to most gadgets (having grown up on commercials for Ginsu Knives), but eventually I am able to recognize genius once all my friends have recognized it.
And I KNOW you're going to be busy, what with packing your sanity and bathing suit you don't have yet, but PLEASE don't forget to post pictures of the studio makeover. What if that's all I need for my own inspiration??
tif, your whole blog looks like a japanese craft book. all gorgeous, especially the pillow cases. i think 'japanese craft book' should become an adjective, e.g 'wow, that pile of fabric on the green stool is sooo jcb!'
I want to visit your fabric shop!
Patchwork binding...me too me too! Perhaps if I sleep less there would be time for all the projects I want to try?? I've already given up cleaning the house to try and make more time in my day!Please inspire with pictures of your finished studio, I'm half way through a major overhaul and have lost my mojo.
Hello Tif! I thought of you yesterday when I was in this 'Old Pine Shop' which sells lovely orignal pine furniture. In the window they had a duck egg blue wire mannequin which I could just imagine you photographing your slips on it for your shop...The colour was adorable!
LOVE all the slips you've just found...i've decided our English charity shops are sadly lacking in the slip department...If i found some i would have posted them over to you...but i have not seen ONE!
Can't wait to see what you do with your binding...
Rosaleen
Spooky - only yesterday I was stroking my bias binding gadget and planning some funky adventures....
However if I could buy all that gorgeous Japanese stuff I wouldn't bother!
Those fabrics are gorgeous! Why can't we get fabric like that hear in the UK! Love the idea of making your own pretty bias binding. I remember them showing us how to do that at School but we had the worst sewing teacher that she made it all terribly boring and I'd kind of forgotten about it. Seeing those pictures though it's kind of come back to me. I like the idea of having a stash of pretty binding waiting to be used.
I love binding, and most of all patterned binding!
I just discovered your blog through the Tree Fall blog, and I shall have to come back to see your archive. Everything looks so beautiful!
thank you for all the 'bias binding' love..it would seem i am not alone with wishing those pretty little items were mine..
rosaleen, thank you for thinking of me...my mum says the exact same thing when she looks for slips..isn't it strange! my friend Laura finds a multitude of them in North Carolina...obviously it must be the slip wearing state from days gone by...
ah, the "japanese craft book" rooms. I too have coveted these amazing rooms. They're so perfectly cozy looking with their crisp lines, pretty patterns and 'organized' chaos. That last one definitely eludes me.
And the sheets! You really do have a knack for finding fabulous things at the thrift store. I bet I've gone to the same stores as you (I think I actually saw you at Whole Foods on Saturday! no, I'm not a stalker...honest!) and I come out with nothing...I just don't have an eye for 'pretty'.
maggi!!!!! yes i was in whole foods with our #3 picking up his yoghurt drink and treating ourselves to fish and chips that was dried to a bone (having been on the heaters all day) and costing twice the price of every where else...oh my, was i dressed in one of my 'creative tops' looking tired and bedraggled...you should have said hello!
i often think people are looking at me and i then think do they know me from my blog or am i just strange looking!!! when the lady cutting the fabrics on friday asked me what i made, i told her and she went "you're not ummm, you know" and i said "yes, yes you are quite right, i am dottie angel"..it was like a moment out of Bridget Jones's Diary!!!
next time you must say hello!
tif, I saw you out of the corner of my eye just as I was leaving. Your blue floral dress/skirt(?) over faded jeans, that's all I saw and I thought 'gosh, that's a dottie angel look!', but I wasn't 100% sure it was you!
I'd abandoned hungry tot and husband at the Marymoor playground while I hunted and gathered, otherwise I would have stopped for sure.
A genuine dottie angel sighting! ;)
ok.. not only do i want my house to look like a japanese craft book i also want white furniture...this proves i'm insane...we have three dogs,two kids and a red dirt yard!
your pictures inspire me...i'll miss you!
:) laura
ps wish i could run into you at whole foods too ..
I fear the binding. I am usually willing to try anything, but using bias tape or *gasp* creating it makes me break out in hives.
Please share how it goes and if the tool you purchased is worth it!
Time will fly and you'll be off on your vacation- enjoy!
Wow! That bias looks amazing.
I got pone of those bias makers from Robson and Mason ( www.robsonandmason.co.uk ) and they also sell vintage floral bias too which is lovely. I think they make it themselves in a big machine.
Florence xxx
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