My Fair Loot

I only bought a few things... that you can see! Can you tell that the oilcloth bag there is a bit fuller than it was in the morning? The inside is loaded up with presents for my hubby and my kids. I found them all great things in the first 30 minutes. There might be a present for myself in there too.

If your at the Country Living Fair this weekend I hope you come and see what I do these pretties and with all the fabric that I shared on the Modern June blog yesterday. (gotta combine these two blogs) I'll be sure to share the finished projects with you all real soon.

See ya at the fair...

Coming in Mid-May!! Parson Grey Laminated Cotton

We asked for it and we got it!! David Butler introduced his first fabric line, Parson Grey, at the Fall Quilt Market and we begged for laminated cotton. Finally "dude" laminated cotton that's as a handsome as the designer. We should be getting all four of these by May 15th!!

Here's a photo of David and his wife, Amy Butler at Quilt Market showing off his new line. Notice Amy's scarf, totally cute.

Nice nod from Do It Yourself Magazine!

I am so excited to be source for oilcloth in my most favorite magazine!! I love this magazine so much that I have every single one I've ever bought. Some of you might call it hording but I call it inspiration.

The editors of Do It Yourself took some of our oilcloth and made a fun bucket apron.

If you have a copy of Sewing with Oilcloth you can use the garden apron pattern to make something very similar, just make two and tie them on.

Country Living Austin Dets!

I am so excited to be attending the first Texas Style Country Living this weekend. You know it'll be big if it's in Texas!! 

Speaking of big, I have big news... I am going to do a presentation on Saturday at 11:00 and signing books at 12:00. Your coming, right?

So here's what I'm going to do this year, since I won't have a booth I'll spend Friday combing the fair for vintage goodies to rehab with oilcloth, laminated cotton, and chalk cloth. I'll TWEET my way through the fair, so please follow me on Friday and hep me decide what I should buy up.@modernjune and follow #CLFair.

Then on Saturday I'll fix up my finds on the stage, it'll be my own little trash to treasure show. But wait, there's more, I'll even be raffling away a two of the projects to some lucky winners.

It'll be very strange to just go to shop and do a demo, I feel like a princess crafter or something a little less silly. How can I just go and enjoy myself and not be a vendor? We, (Junies and family) thought long and hard about attending the show with all our wares like we've done for the Ohio and Georgia CLFairs. Unfortunately, I just had to say no for this year, 7 months of home reno and life with a teen and a tween just took too much out of me this winter. Basically, my family would have mutinied.

Check out the whole fair event schedule here! 

Discount advance tickets are on sale on-line until Tuesday 4/24!

Visit countryliving.com/fair for fair videos, photos, & more

Truly incredible shopping is the hallmark of the fair and it's better than ever this time -- an amazing, huge amount of antiques furniture, industrial and primitives, lots of artists and artisans, and the absolutely biggest selection of the cutest handcrafted jewelry you've ever seen. Trust us you won't find a better fair for mother's day gifts OR furnishing a home or apartment. AND there's lots to do in between shopping too!

See you at the fair or on Twitter this weekend, 

Kelly

 

New Laminated Cotton: Starlet

How great is this graphic print? It's Starlet from the Silent Cinema collection. 

 Here are some possible combinations that I put together for one of our Modern June customers. She's using the next two in the dining room. The Moorish Tile chartreuse for a tablecloth and the grey Starlet for seat covers. 

Then she's going to use the Treasure Box print for a splat mat. I love the funky mix of prints. I want to use these to make myself a handbag!! Cool right?

Embroirdering Oilcloth

Photo Credit: Forshee Designs

My Twitter friend, April Forshee, got hooked on oilcloth when we asked her to be a tester for my book Sewing with Oilcloth. When we meet in Atlanta last October we got to talking about embroidering oilcloth, and now she's got the 411 for us. Be sure to go over to her blog and read more.

While your there check out her new beach bags!!

Before you try it, there are some things you need to know, though:

1) DO NOT hoop the oilcloth. Hoop the stabilizer and stick the oilcloth to it. Sticky stabilizer or temporary spray adhesive can be used.

2) The embroidery needles will wear out more quickly when stitching on oilcloth, so be mindful of that.

3) Since oilcloth should not be pinned down, I usually babysit the machine while stitching oilcloth due to the chance the oilcloth can come off the stabilizer from the movement of the embroidery arm.

When I embroidered my beach / pool tote, I used:
~ A fill stitch. Since this bag will get a lot of use and the lettering was large, I opted to not use a satin stitch.
~ Medium weight cutaway stabilizer
~ Temporary spray adhesive to stick the oilcloth down
~ Titanium Organ sharp embroidery needle

~ Gunold polyester embroidery thread. I would stay away from the rayon on oilcloth. It tends to break easily.