My oh my, we are loving our latest oilcloth print, Aqua Rosegale. We've enjoyed adding into our latest round of oilcloth party pennants and I cut out some pretty pillows to take to the Country Living Fair in Ohio.
Over at my Oilcloth Addict blog I a little Q & A segment. Here's my favorite Q & A post ever....
I found this question in my inbox today and I think that it's the best question ever. I do have some ideas on what to do with oilcloth, twenty ideas in fact!!
Q: What can you do with oilcloth?
A: I have an entire book coming out about a month that will answer that for you. Sewing with Oilcloth is a pretty little book filled with 20 patterns with lovely pictures by Meghan McSweeney Photography. There is an entire chapter filled with tips, tools and trims that will make sewing with oilcloth fun and easy! The other 3 chapters have projects for you, for your home and for your little ones. There are projects of oilcloth, laminated cotton and chalk cloth.
In the meantime please check out my Oilcloth Addict Blog for tutorials, basic tips, and loads of great ideas from the crafty community and my fellow oilcloth addicts!
I am happy to announce that Modern June will be coming to the Ohio Country Living Fair, September 16-17-18. This fair is A M A Z I N G!! We didn't think we could go to the Ohio show this year, but there was a change and plans and we'll be there with all our Modern June goodies, 40 bolts of Oilcloth, and a big stack of Sewing with Oilcloth books.
That's not all... (annoying announcer voice) I'll also be giving a little chat at the CLF at high noon on Saturday, September 17th, followed by a book signing. But wait, there's more... (again with the voice) I'll be doing a demo in our booth, I'll show you all how to make a fun project from Sewing with Oilcloth. More on all of that soon!
Want to see more photos from last year? Check out these great flickr photo albums filled with CLF photos from my friends Tasha McKelvey Pottery and The Boastful Baker. I've got a a bunch too, but theirs are better. (Gotta get a better camera!)
For those of you that reside south of the Mason-Dixon Line we'll be at the Country Living Fair South as well, where we will do all this fun stuff all over again. That show is at Stone Mountain/Atlanta GA in October.
September 16-18, 2011 – Ohio Village, Columbus, Ohio (ticket info)
October 21-23, 2011 – Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta, Georgia(ticket info) Save the dates and your dollars for some great shopping!!!
Isn't she just the cutest thing ever? I got her from Sew There NH on Etsy. We've named her Junie Cluck Cluck and she's our new mascot. Kathie (Junie shipping clerk of love) want's Faye of Sew There to make babies to go with her and yellow gingham eggs. She's even got names for the baby chicks, Click and Clack.
Check out this great new paneled oilcloth, it's called Big Apple Yellow. I can't wait to make some Modern June placemats out of it, in fact cutting it's Janet's (Junie cutter of love) next job!!
I started out sewing for myself at the age of 16 when I wanted to look just like Madonna, since no commercial patterns would do I grabbed a handful of paper bags and made my first pattern. Then I dusted off my 1980 Kenmore my father forced upon me in 8th grade and got to sewing.
Thank goodness I don't have to start from scratch this time around. I can't wait to put these three pretty patterns to work so I can create some pretty little outfits for my upcoming book promotions. (more on that soon)
Jennifer and I meet via twitter @SewFabShop through Karen @VenezieDesigns last year right before we descended on the spring Quilt Market. Did you follow all of that? Anyway the three of us meet for lunch at QM and then for Mojitos, needless to say good times were had and silliness occurred.
So here's the great part of this story!!! Jennifer has generously agreed togive away a pattern to you! The Sew Fabulous Quilt Shop has over 8 pages of patterns for quilts, accessories and garments. So here's the deal, just head over to her shop and have a look at the patterns and the fabric. Then come back here and tell us which pattern you like best and which fabric you would love to use.
(In my best TV announcer voice) But wait there's more, international readers can join in of the fun too.
Jennifer and I will pick a winner on Wednesday! Good luck and enjoy her wonderful selection of pattens and fabrics.
It's been a banner day here at Modern June studio. I've mailed out 10 just today, 4 of which are off to exotic countries. Thanks for inviting Modern June to you party, it's just made my day!! Didn't order your's yet? Don't worry, we've got plenty more where those came from! Choose from our reversible Chalkcloth™/Oilcloth buntings or our crazy Mexi-mix pennants that's all oilcloth. Party on people, party on!
I've been coveting these little Pyrex refrigerator containers for a few months now. I already had a few but after finding a great little shelf (for 99 cents) I knew I needed more. I got the lidless ones from a Richmond Etsy seller that wanted some oilcloth. Sweet trade, don't you think? That same day I went on Etsy and searched for the best deals -- there's a boatload to sort through, so it was not simple task. So here they are 7 more pretty little containers to help me stay organized in the studio!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Get free shipping this weekend while the Junies and I chill out and eat BBQ. Shop Oilcloth Addict and Modern June, fill up your shopping cart then use this coupon, 4FREESHIP at check out. Offer good through July 4th and I good for all US customers only.
Yesterday I noticed that our "to sew" pile looked like eye candy. It's not a burden to make laminated cotton tablecloths when they look so darn pretty!!!
About a million years ago, you know last February, I got an email from a lovely staffer from the Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine asking me if I had any tropical styled aprons. Yikes! There I was as knee deep in book edits and photo shoots for Sewing with Oilcloth.
I had just finished a day of styling photos with Meghan when I got the email. Exhausted, I headed out in search for tropical fabric that same night. When a magazine of such coolness calls you hop to it. Right? Right!
Things got complicated, they changed their minds a few times. They weren't sure if they were really going to shoot it anyway. So I never did send in an apron. But, I was asked to comment (for real). "Can you tell me why a party hostess wants to wear a cute apron?" My response, "I love dressing the part of party hostess! For me wearing a cute little hostess apron is a fun little nod to the glamorous parties featured in my mom's 1960's cookbooks. Who doesn't like playing dress up and pleasing her guests? It's just good fun!"
So the months went by and I nearly forgot all about these emails, it felt like a missed opportunity. Then on Monday I was standing in the check out lane and there was the most gorgeous hamburger on the cover of Everyday with Rachel Ray and I had to bring it home. You know that girl can cook on heck of a burger!!
Today, I finally found a few minutes to spend with Ms. Ray and here staff of talented magazine people. I remembered the Luau Party article as soon as I got to the table of contents. I was bummed, there was a very cute apron on a very pretty girl. The one that got away, right? But there was our little shops name in print. I squealed and ran around the house looking for my kids. I shoved the magazine in front of them and announced that Modern June got a mention. They were all like, "Cool. Whatever. What's for lunch." Mah, what do they know, right? I am totally honored and surprised for the nod!!! You just never know where life will take you.
By the way, we had ham and cheese bagels. Rachel wouldn't have approved.
I've been hording these salvages for months. Every time we make a new laminated cotton tablecloth I stuff the trimmings off into this little box. This weekend the box was overflowing so I took a personal sewing break. I am going to transform these into a fun and unique roman shade for my weird back window.
I had to do the first two rows over again, they looked more like ruffles than strips of salvage edges.
It's still a bit puckery, I am hoping a high temp ironing from the back side helps smooth it all out. You never want to iron the shiny side of laminate cotton!!!
I've just set my machine to a rather large zig-zag stitch and I used the pattern in each print as a guide to line it up each new strip. My panel is less than straight but I don't care, it's going to make a fun window treatment. Sometimes perfection is overrated on personal projects, right? When I sew for myself quick and dirty is the name of the game. I save my super-duper sewing for you all.
I told you that this window was weird. Originally this room was our homes (English) basement, but now that the boiler and water heater has been professionally walled off and the new and level floor has been laid it's my studio. When we did the work, some 6 years ago, we had planned to add French doors but money ran out and it never happened. While I am glad there aren't doors along this wall, I do look forward to the day when we have two windows to replace this ugly old thing.
I can't wait till Tuesday when I cut the next round of laminated cotton tablecloths so I have a much of new prints to add to my panel.
One of the really great things about living in the Bellevue neighborhood is being able to walk to Once Upon a Vines parking lot every Friday to enjoy a Friday Night Movie. This week we watched Happy Feet. (love the music mash-ups in that super cute movie)
Everyone gets a sweet snack and a bubbly drink from Bob's array of non-alcoholic offerings and we all sit out under the stars and watch a movie that is projected upon the wall. It's really fantastic. I just wish I could take better pictures in the dark! ; )
Next weeks movie is ELF, a little Christmas in July!
Look at what I spotted at the Ashland Farmers Market, Modern June's oilcloth bunting. I get so darn giddy when I see MJ goodies out and about. This pink and green batch was made for Featernesters last year. I think they still have a few left, if you looking for some give them a call. For our regular Mexi-Madness pennants head on over to our shop.
We are just loving our laminated cotton splat mats. Laminated cotton is BPA and PVC free which makes them CPSIA compliant and good for baby! Check out all the pretty colors you can get them made up in! We trim them off with coordinating cotton bias to make them nice and pretty! They come in two standard sizes 44" and 56" squares, but we're more than happy to make one to your specifications.
You've been missing these, haven't you? I've been getting loads of emails wondering where our oilcloth party banners went! Well there are back and they are even better! They are now longer and have more flags per pennant, 14 to be exact. You can now write out Happy Birthday on just one of our Chalkcloth™ and Oilcloth banners.
