PDX Gold Dust - Local Rustic Vintage Treasure

You know how it is when you discover a new and truly special gem of a shop, you just want tell everyone about it, or the flip side; you want to keep it a secret 'cause it's awesome and you kind of want to keep it all to yourself? Well, that just wouldn't be fair to y'all. You need to know, it's kind of my job really.

So, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the gorgeous and fascinating 

PDX Gold Dust! 

Located at 3012 NE Alberta, Portland, Oregon

It's a beautiful space filled with vintage and rustic pieces, as well as hand crafted items by local artists. Open just over a month, I've already been there a few times, and walked out with treasures each time.

This unique shop has been the long time dream of owners and professional treasure hunters, Sarah King and Blest Von Weter. (Full disclosure: I have known these two fabulous people for quite a few years and can attest to their ability to curate the most amazing array of beautiful objects!) Sarah and Blest have been best friends since school days and make a fantastic team.

Every time I walk into the shop, I see so many new things and I am hard pressed to leave them behind. Seriously!

From the vibrant Kantha Quilts hanging from a hundred year old barn ladder, to the beautiful patinas on antique hand tools, to the unique pieces of hardware... it's quite the wonder.

Blest creates fantastic electrical lights from vintage lanterns, heaters, and hand built pendant lights from reclaimed wood. All the vintage pieces in the shop are carefully chosen and artfully displayed.
PDX Gold Dust truly is a special place, if you are local, or visiting from out of town, you owe it to yourself to stop in. Tell them Lola sent you!

If you want to learn more and take a gander at their latest acquisitions and upcoming events, I suggest you like their Facebook Page HERE  and follow their Instagram account at pdxgolddust

Welcome to the neighborhood PDX Gold Dust!

xo

Little Dress

Oh hello there! Life has been busy just being life, days roll on, flowers bloom, and I get caught up in the nature of living. Every once in a while I take a moment and dust off the sewing machine and get reacquainted.

In this case, a little dress for one of my little friends. Made from a bit of vintage fabric I've been hording for quite some time. I was inspired by the riot of blooms popping up everywhere here in the PNW. Happy Spring!

I added a vintage doily for a pocket. This is one of my favorite little girl dress patterns. I have re-traced and adjusted it so many times that I can't remember the original pattern I started with when Pony girl was about 3 years old. I made it many times and it never disappoints. I love this version in this treasured fabric.

Of course one must add a vintage button to finish it off.

It really is one of my favorite things you know, sewing for littles. Makes me happy indeed. Not to mention that this dress is going to be worn by one of the sweetest littles around!

What is one of your favorites things to make?

The Accidental Collector - Well Tinned

No, I never set out to have a collection of tins. There have been a few folks peppered throughout my life that I have known who intentionally collect tins. Not me. I never even considered it. Yet, here I am with a decent little collection of vintage metal tins.

Once again, my grandmother is to blame for this. Oh that woman had a lot of things! Fortunately many of those things were lovely, or interesting at the very least.

You see when I was young my grandmother was quite a baker. Her cookies were heaven. She was well known for a few specialties in the cookie department. Unfortunately, some how most of those recipes have been misplaced and I have never been able to replicate the melt in your mouth sugar sandies that she used to make. She would make up batches of cookies at a time and send them to us in her metal tins (vintage even then). We would get a box with a couple of tins, we would open the old clanging lids to peel back layers of wax paper to reveal the goodness inside.

This one has become my well worn button tin

We always had to return the tins so that they could be re-used for future batches of cookies. When my grandmother passed, I elected to keep a couple of the tins to use for storage of buttons and other sewing accouterments.  Handy things those tins, though from time to time I find myself looking at them and being overcome with a mad craving for peanut butter chocolate bites.

One day I was at my local thrift shop looking for this and that and there was a funny old tin that caught my eye. Upon seeing the $.99 price tag it jumped into my hands and came home with me.

 Another day, many moons later, Pony Girl and I found ourselves at a garage sale. While PG was making me proud negotiating the price of a doll, I spied a couple of sweet vintage tins. I wasn't going to purchase them, you see I don't collect tins. I just thought I would casually ask the price and say oh well no thank you. However, when the woman had been talked down on the doll to a mere $3.50, she announced, you can throw in the tins for $.50 to round up to $4.00 as I'm running out of quarters for change.

And so now I seem to be fairly well tinned. Since there are more than 3 it makes for a collection. I truly never meant for this to happen.

The Accidental Collector

What makes a collection? How many of a certain type of thing must you have to call it a collection? If you have two of something? Or is it 3? 5?

Truth be told, I am a hapless collector. When I was a young thing, way back when, I did attempt to collect with intent. I had quite a phase with candlesticks, cigar boxes, and postcards. The candlesticks were sold off piece meal over the years to lighten my load over the many moves I have made in my life. I still have a few cigar boxes that house small bits of nostalgia from my past, as well as the postcards. The only thing I seem to collect with intent these days are vinyl records, it is a joint collection though, shared with The Engineer.

When I look around my home, I can see various gatherings of things, small collections (and some not so small... please don't ask weather or not I have more kitchen bowls than I could ever have need of).
Many of these collections have found me, come to me through some strange bit of magic; they are accidental collections. A lot of these assemblages have come to me via my mother and grandmother. I do try to only keep the things that give me joy, that I really love... but you know how it goes sometimes, things can get out of hand if one is not careful.

I'm going to say 3, 3 items of like make for a collection. I have discussed this with my friend Jane, and I think I'm comfortable in saying 3.

I have three tiny antique pill boxes. I do believe I once had a 4th, but the memory is vague and I can't be certain. These beautiful and delicate little things are so lovely and they do give me joy. They don't take up much space at all really, in fact they could all fit in my pocket at the same time. They came to me from my grandmother by way of my mother. One of these is meant for my daughter, I'm just fostering it for awhile, I promise.

I think I may make this a regular feature here. Keep your eyes on this space and The Accidental Collector may strike again!

Oh, and I would love to know, are you a collector? Do tell!

Wordless Wednesday - Jumping through hoops

Stitched Journal Project - November

The Stitched Journal Project is: Makers from around the world creating one "page" or piece of work per month and sharing. It is a project to get the ideas flowing, to process the days in a creative way, to try new techniques and to push past fears that keep us from making something.  It isn't about perfection, or getting it "just right," it is about process and perspective.

November - fabric collage

I am so late in getting this post up! Apologies. We went out of town for the Holiday and I've just had the chance.

I've been stewing on an idea for a story piece, a fabric collage about my family; a small story of us. This month I worked up a little practice piece; to get a feel for what direction I'd like to go, to use some of my thoughts and see what might evolve.

You'll no doubt see an homage to "Pa's Shirts" that I have been messing with. Old lace, an antique mother of pearl buckle, a well worn bit of hankie and a copy of an old letter envelope.

The envelop is from 1947, sent via Air Mail from The Southern Pacific Railroad... addressed to my grandparents from "Granddady". The letter inside begins:

Dear Children, 

While mother is getting ready to venture out shopping I shall write a few lines so that she may drop it in the mail...

The handwriting is a lovely old-fashioned script that one just doesn't see anymore. Of course, we don't see many actual letters anymore either.

I'm pretty sure the bit of lace edging was made by one of my female family members.  

I think when I finally get to making the story piece that I have in my mind, I will be taking quite a journey into the past.

Below you will find links to the wonderful makers and their Stitched Journal Project pieces for November Please keep your eyes on this spot in the next couple of days as more add their links. Be sure to visit them and leave comments!

If you think you would like to join in as well, it's not too late!  We will be sharing our pieces the last Friday of every month at least until the end of the year. We'd love to have you.

All of you wonderful Stitched Journal Project participants please link up below! Remember to add your photos to The Stitched Journal Flickr Group! and be sure to share with Facebook, Twitter, etc!

3 Easy Pieces

Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it's done right. Even a pancake. - Julia Child

Recently, Pony Girl started attending a cooking class. Oh man, what a great thing! She loves it and comes home so excited to tell me all about what they have made that week. She tells me all the the ingredients they used and how they prepared the food. 

It has even sparked a new trend of her and I cooking together with me teaching her some of the classics. Our lesson on French Toast was a delicious success!

My girl told me she needed me to sew an apron for her, "something special," she said. "Of course," says I! I had just the inspiration, this little vintage apron needed recreating Pony Girl style. The apron is just 3 easy pieces, plus straps and handy dandy pockets.

Basically, I sort of simply traced the lines of the the original pieces along the seams. One center piece and one side piece that you cut twice from the fabric. Then I made adjustments in width and length to fit my girl and added seam allowances.

Since I was at it, why not make it reversible? 2 aprons in one is the best! So, happy retro polka dots on one side, and cheerful hibiscus and hula girls on the other.

Yes, an apron with plenty of drama... just like my girl! I love her new passion for cooking and I'm looking forward to many years of spending time together in the kitchen! 

Stitched Journal Project - May

The Stitched Journal Project is: Makers from around the world creating one "page" or piece of work per month and sharing. It is a project to get the ideas flowing, to process the days in a creative way, to try new techniques and to push past fears that keep us from making something.  It isn't about perfection, or getting it "just right," it is about process and perspective.

May 2014 - Cotton, fabric paint, cotton batting

The word of the month seems to have been "Home." We've been working on our home (Thank you for all of the lovely comments you left on my last post. I was blown away by all of your positive remarks!), I have been taking a lot of photographs of my home, I've talked about it in interviews, I've recently been asked by a couple of old friends how I feel about where I live, and I've had some great conversations with folks I know lately about what "Home" means to them.

I consider myself truly lucky to love where I live, to live with those I love, and to really have a place in this world that I know as "Home." It isn't all about the geography - though it sure is a pretty place that I live in. It isn't about the house that I live in - though I am so amazed that this is my beautiful house. No. It has much more to do with the people, the friends and the family; the deep sigh of "coming home" to a safe place, a joyful refuge, a remarkable life. 

When life gets hard, gets nasty (and sometimes it gets really nasty), shatters your heart, falls apart - again, when the hurt and mess of it all starts to break you down... there's just no place like home.

For this piece I finally got around to trying my hand at image transfer to fabric! I found an image of a vintage Oregon map and used my computer to print the image onto white cotton. I then dyed the fabric in a strong black tea infusion. I used fabric paint and rubber stamps to print on the map. I then used cotton batting and a muslin backing fabric and machine quilted the county lines.  This was a great introduction to the process and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the medium. Plus it seems that my duty as a crafty Oregonian, is to emblazon at least one of my works with the nondescript outline of my home state. 

I haven't forgotten that I still owe you April. I started April, I did. However, the piece is calling to become a larger work. So, April this is what I have for you...

Below you will find links to the wonderful makers and their Stitched Journal Project pieces for May. Please keep your eyes on this spot in the next couple of days as more add their links. Be sure to visit them and leave comments!

If you think you would like to join in as well, it's not too late!  We will be sharing our pieces the last Friday of every month at least until the end of the year. We'd love to have you.

All of you wonderful Stitched Journal Project participants please link up below! Remember to add your photos to The Stitched Journal Flickr Group! and be sure to share with Facebook, Twitter, etc!

A gathering of sorts - accidental collections

Yes, there are still unpacked boxes at the new house. I wonder when I will stop calling it the new house, when will it stop feeling so new? I do not know. So, every now and then I unpack a box or two and try to find a place to put the stuff. How did we get so much stuff?

As I unpack, I find gatherings of like things that bloom into accidental collections. Things I never set out to collect, things inherited from grandparents, parents, friends...

I never intended to collect Ye Olde Kitchen stuff and yet, the box labeled "Papa" never opened or gone through since it arrived nearly two years ago now from California, held (among other things) a gathering of just that.

My grandmother collected these things. I like them, but then, you all know by now that I like old stuff. I like to think about the lives of old things, the people who touched and used them and the stories of dinners, jars of canned goods, the food that was made. 

I also like the look of them hanging on my kitchen wall. Just a little gathering, an accidental collection...

Now, I'm off to arrange my accidental collection of decorative tins! 

Do you have any accidental collections?

Rags of Wu

The traditional Japanese clothing known as kimono, also has another name, gofuku (literally translated as, "clothes of Wu." It was somewhere during the Edo period (1603–1867 AD), that the style of kimono we have come to commonly know, came into full fashion. Though their beginnings can be traced back as early as the 8th century, as Chinese fashions came into style among the Japanese.

Today I had a grand plan, which was part of a Master Plan, that in truth seems a bit lofty at the moment. Today was the day I was going to unpack the rest of my sewing stuff, fabric and boxes of whosits and whatnots, etc.  I set right in with a great deal of enthusiasm and fortitude, I did.  You know how it is though, don't you? As you unpack you find treasures and treasures are far more interesting than folding and sorting and figuring out where the heck it's all suppose to go. 

I did indeed find treasure.

I found my rags of Wu.

Several years ago my mother sent me a bag full of scraps from vintage kimono. I believe she found them at an estate sale. These are all from what seem to have been well worn garments, dating from maybe the 40s - 60s. Some silk, rayon, linen... Many have stains and holes. I find each piece fascinating. Each one has the remnants of hand stitching, every one of the kimonos they came from had been hand pieced. I love looking at the fine stitching, imagining other makers from the past in other lands.

I begin wondering about the lives of those who made and wore these garments. I may make up little stories about them in my head.

Once I start imagining, I get ideas, and that's when the trouble starts. 

I did manage to get most of the boxes unpacked before I ran off again to look at my rags and read up on Japanese clothing history.

Well, back to the Master Plan... oh maybe I'll start again on Monday.

Rules for Misfits

A little over a week ago, on a most unprecedented whim, I decided to make a quilt.  It's been ages, years even since I've gone down that particular path. I do believe I was inspired by my little misfit quilt that I picked up recently. To keep things simple (meaning: giving myself a real chance of actually ever finishing the quilt) I set up a few rules for myself.

Rule 1. I must not buy anything other than thread, only using supplies I have on hand.
Rule 2. Choose one pile of scraps from my hoard and use only the fabrics from that pile for quilt top.
Rule 3. Choose a very simple quilt block pattern.
Rule 4. (In 4 parts) I must not fret and worry so. I must not spend hours painstakingly rearranging blocks, then rearranging them again until it is perfect. I must let go of perfectionism. Just let it happen; a little random is good for me.

I must admit Rule 4 has been the most difficult to adhere to, but I managed somehow.

I made my first quilt when I was only 13 in Mrs. Bloomquist's sewing class. It was a miracle of early 80's dirty blues, tans, and maroons.  While piecing the thick polyester batting one day, my finger got in the way and the heavy duty Kenmore sewing machine sewed right through my finger tip! It was a very exciting and painful day in sewing class, ah memories! Though my quilt may not have been the prettiest thing going, I was so proud. I'll have you know too, that quilt was in regular use until 2 years ago when it was left behind at a music festival.

Later, when I was just a young 20-something, I fell hard for quilting.  Well, at least the piecing part of it all. I dreamed of one day owning my own giant quilting machine, Oh the quilts I would make!  Ah, but time marches on and while I did make some full size quilts, over the years I would whip up a few baby gift quilts of the small and manageable size.  And now it's been a long time since I've even done that.

I had forgotten the obsessive nature of making a quilt. It has been all consuming on some days. "What do you mean, what's for dinner? Can't you see I'm sewing a quilt?!"
Though I have been plagued by doubts and occasionally thought the whole thing looked a little bonkers, I have carried on.

Oh, I forgot to mention another rule I made for myself...
Rule 5. Break a few quilting rules!
Check!

For instance; sew a pieced quilt backing that does not actually match the quilt top. (I do so enjoy two looks in one you know.) Also, after sewing said backing, put it up as a curtain for a few days, why not?

 
As I have been sewing along, Pony Girl has made the request that this quilt be hers, "So that I can pass it on to my children and then they can pass it on to their children and on and on." Clearly, we are a family who loves misfits.

So that is my story of the making of a misfit quilt.

"What?" you say, "No fair, you haven't shown us the actual quilt!"

That my dears is because the quilt is not yet finished.  All the elements are in place, but things have got a bit busy 'round here and the final Ta Da! must wait. I assure you when I have a chance to get to the intimidating quilting part, and the last thread is snipped, all will be revealed!

Cool Things for Kids - of all ages

We have a birthday coming up in the Little Green Cottage. A Very Big Deal of a birthday, Pony Girl is turning 8!  So I've been doing some research on cool things for kids on the interwebs. I thought I might share some of my favorite finds with you.

First up we have Flaming Nora's Sewing Kits. I know these are awesome because Pony Girl and I had a chance to collaborate on the Happy Brown Owl together.

These kits come with absolutely everything you need to sew up a new friend.  And just in time for Easter I spied some sweet little chick kits! There is also a Panda! My personal favorite though, has to be the "Make a Mo" moustache making kit! I think that kits like these make great presents for kids because they provide the chance to work on a really fun project together, help your kids learn new skills and they are pretty darn cute!  You can find all of Flaming Nora's Kits HERE.

Ok, these are more for a younger child, but I love them so much I had to include them. Handcrafted wooden toy pixie cameras! These come from team Twig Creative Etsy Shop, man they make some great stuff!

I love paper dolls and these are so sweet! They come to you via Gingermelon as a PDF you can print yourself.  The dolls then can be colored in by the recipient, cut out and articulated, so cool! She also has some really fab doll patterns in her shop.

And then I kind of fell in love with this vintage kid's bicycle basket from Oh Vintage Deer.  Which should give you a hint of what our girl might find on her big day!

Happy day everyone!

Think Spring

As the dark clouds gather overhead with the promise of rain for days, I am thinking Spring.  The Daphne bush outside my bedroom window is laden with dark pink buds and I look forward to the heady perfume they will give once the flowers bloom.  Tulips are popping up in the neighborhood, the magic of Crocus Pokus are carpeting the roots of old trees and little green shoots are making their way up through the soil.

As soon as this rain clears up I have big plans for getting dirt under my fingernails and getting the garden ready for planting time.  Of course it could still be awhile, but it's nice to dream.

Is it looking like Spring in your neck of the woods?  Are you someplace getting ready for an entirely different season?

Pocket full of Posies - Fabric Wall Vases Pattern from my book Simple Sewing with Lola Nova. Signed copies available in my etsy shop.