Wednesday, October 15, 2008

New and new to me

Being an inherently lazy housekeeper I often stack things at the base of the steps with the intent of putting them in their proper place,"next time I go upstairs". Now if I were to determine how often I ascend the stairs by the frequency with which these items are put away, I'd have to assume that I never go upstairs. Well, last night I did go upstairs and, this time, with an armload of things. Abi accompanied me and asked me what I was putting away.
There were...


new-to-me vintage buttons from my favorite junk store (I can't even count the number of times I dumped these buttons out of the bag to get this shot) . The lady at the store bagged them for me in what she described as a "vintage popcorn bag".


Another new item that ascended to the second floor and therefore closer to my sewing machine was new fabric.


I bought these from Purl Patchwork and spent more per yard then I think I've ever spent. But these are so worth it. They are Japanese imports and are so amazingly beautiful that I worry I won't be able to go back to $8/yard fabric let alone buy from the remnant section.


I'm even in love with the selvedges.
The black and white print is slated for another Amy Butler Anna Tunic/Dress for myself and the fabric with the fabulously delicate drawings printed on it is a future dress for Abi.
The third item I hauled up the stairs last night was a bag of vintage patterns from the same junk store. No "fancy" packaging for these patterns, but no matter.


This is the pattern for Abi's dress. She's very excited about it and I'm so grateful for that. She's my youngest and the only one who'll even go to the junk store with me let alone want a vintage dress sewn from Japanese fabric. And she's also the only one that would even notice that I actually made a dent in the various piles at the base of the stairs.

7 comments:

Melanie O said...

I know all about "pile on the stairs"... Gorgeous fabric and I love the sewing pattern, too!

Kristin L said...

Love the fabric! Abi's dress is going to be adorable.

My cousins used to call that spot on the stairs the "azjou." Because you'll pick up the stuff AS YOU go up the stairs (or down as it was at their house).

Amanda Jean said...

what beautiful old and new treasures. that fabric is really something special. wow!

Michelle said...

The fabric and buttons are wonderful, and I love the pattern. You must show us what the final products look like!

Anonymous said...

Your Abi sounds like a great kid.
And, I thought the $8 fabric WAS the expensive stuff!
Anna

jacquie said...

i do the pile on the stairs thing too...walk by it often too. i grew up where each of us had our own stair. my mom would pick up and pile our things on our stair for us to take upstairs. i was trained early how to walk by stair piles.
lovely buttons and fabric. hard to pay so much, but worth it!

Anonymous said...

i've recently started the stair habit too. fortunately they aren't too wide to accommodate too big of a collection before i get scared of someone falling (myself most likely) and bring it up.
that's really cute- charming customers with vintage popcorn bags to take their goodies home! gosh, last time my counter lady sent all of my goodies home with someone else!