More Mending

I've done a few more mending projects, the first being this darning job.  I found the perfect lightweight wool cardigan at the thrift store, but when I got it home I noticed that it had a hole in the shoulder.

I knew I had some darning wool somewhere.  I'm still getting oriented to where I put things away after our move.  If I hadn't found this mending yarn, I figured I could take a strand from some navy wool I had somewhere. 

 

 

Luckily I found what I was looking for, as well as a few other cards of mending wool I have in stash.  I don't even know where one would buy these things nowadays.  These are mostly vintage items.

I think my darning was a success.  It's not noticeable at all in real life.  If it were, I'd embroider or applique over it.

 

I'll have to be more observant at the thrift store.  I found this cute cotton blouse, but once I got it home I noticed someone had cut off it's original sleeves and roughly hemmed it by hand.  Not to worry, I repaired it with some bias tape in a similar color.  It would have also looked cute with a contrasting color.

I had a stash of bias binding that I got rid of when I moved, so I actually went out and bought this one retail.  Sure I've seen bundles of bias tape at the thrift store, but I'm avoiding the acquisition of things I won't use up in the near future, unless of course, it's buttons.

 

I've worn this top a few times already, it's very comfortable and light.

 Here's a random picture of my cats Boots and Smokey.  You can see Violet in the background of the first picture.  They love to hang out in the dog bed and make the dog sleep on the floor.  They're so bossy.

Vintage Buttons

I found a bag full of vintage buttons at the neighborhood thrift store recently.  I love finding buttons on the original cards, the graphics are so evocative.

This one seemed especially poignant to me with it's cheerful message and missing buttons.

Of course the buttons themselves are also appealing, with their distinctive designs and colors.

I'll use many of these for knitting projects.  For many sweaters I like to add not only visible buttons, but I use plain ones as anchors on the inside of the button band for stability.

These soft pink buttons are especially appealing.

I've never seen a card with a random collection of buttons before.  I wonder what would motivate someone to buy these?  

The prices, of course, tell their own historical story.  

 These might be my favorites in the bunch, and I can envision them on a cute little cardigan.  A sweater project might just evolve from buttons like these.

Baby Quilts Galore

  

I've been having fun making baby quilts.  Most of these will be donated, but I'm going to keep one for myself, and one will be a gift.

 

 

One of the beauties of these small projects is I can try patterns or use up materials that I've been saving without starting a quilt that will take many months to finish.  I had this children's panel in my stash for years.

 

 

 

I did go out and buy this bee fabric for the back, since I didn't have anything that seemed quite right.

 

 

This little spiderweb quilt will probably stay with me.  I started it years ago, thinking I'd make a bed-sized quilt, but I guess I lost enthusiasm.  I backed it with this special vintage fabric Debra passed on to me.  I love the print with the little girl eating donuts.

 

I used up some random fabrics for this little quilt.  The back is a from a large piece of vintage calico I thrifted many moons ago.  It's the perfect color for baby quilts.

I often see YouTube videos and want to try a pattern, the quilt below came out of one of those inspirations.

And I'd long wanted to sew an Irish Chain quilt, so this little quilt let me scratch that itch.  The back is from home dec fabric I also got from Debra.  Since the top didn't scream "baby," I thought it should have an appropriate backing.

So I've sewn up a nice tidy pile of quilts, and I used stash and played with patterns.  It's a win all the way around in my book.