Choosing Fabric Using Illustrations from a Kids Book

There's nothing like getting a Halloween-related post published in early November, right? But although this is a post I've been planning for well over a month, the topic is applicable around the year.

So like many folks on Etsy, I sell there partly to support my habit. And lately my habit for secondhand books, something I've had for years, has grown. As a result, I've started selling books in my Etsy shop. But many of my finds go directly into our household library and some have become very popular with my kids. The Vanishing Pumpkin by Tony Johnston with illustrations by Tomie dePaola is one of those books.

A recent secondhand book find -- it was in much better shape before repeated readings over the past month or so.

This is a fun book to read aloud and kids seem to really enjoy it. After reading it a few times I started to notice dePaola's autumnal color palette.

I liked how well the soft shades of orange, green, brown, and yellow with added blue and purple stayed in a similar value range while varying from one another, sort of a like a great scrap quilt. Soon I had taken the book out of my kids' room and into my fabric room to use as a guide in pulling fabric. Matching my stash to the pictures sounded easier than it ended up being, giving me a whole new appreciation for dePaola's work.

Matching just the right shades was a challenge, and even then I rarely had exact matches. I quickly realized that even the "darker" olives and browns in the book were actually in a medium value range, and I had few fabrics that matched. Above are some fabrics that made it through the first round but that got cut when I reevaluated in better light.

The blue of the old woman's coat was particularly hard to match -- the blue swatch shown above is from Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps line.

In the end I found I mostly had orange and green fabrics that would work, with a few yellows/golds, some neutrals and only one purple. It certainly could work specifically for Halloween, especially with more emphasis on the purple with maybe some black mixed in. Or I could take out the purple and blue and still have a nice selection for an autumn quilt or table setting.

I also have a Kona Solid charm pack -- I think it's the Dusty collection -- that had fabrics that would work, particularly for the olive green range. Which should come as no surprise, really.

I think I might cut some charm squares from the fabrics I pulled from my stash so I have my own precut  set ready to go the next time I want something soft and lovely for fall. And now I'm already eyeing other books in my kids' room for possible quilt inspiration. I wonder what's next?

Happy Birthday to Me!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged about anything of substance in well over a year, and yet I think I can just waltz back in to talk about my Etsy shop?

Well, yes, actually, that's exactly what I'm doing.

I just want to put it out there that my little shop just celebrated its second anniversary, and to mark the occasion I decided to offer free shipping to the U.S. on any orders placed before midnight (Mountain time) on Sunday, August 11. However, I've been meaning to get this blog post up for the past day or so and am getting to it so late that I'll probably leave the $0 shipping charges in effect through Monday evening.

I've been adding items to my inventory lately knowing that this is the time of year when most people are starting to look for seasonal fabric. Hence, I have some Halloween fabric:

Halloween fabric Spellbound from Maywood Studio 4 fat quarters

Halloween fabric Trick or Treat from Northcott

Halloween fabric Harvest Moon border stripe from Northcott 1/3 yard

And some Christmas fabric:

Christmas fabric 6" charm squares w/gold metallic accents

Christmas fabric 5" charm squares w/snowmen & snowflakes

Christmas fabric Confectionary Stripe from Michael Miller 1/2 yard

And I'll be adding some more I expect.

I also have more vintage items -- to be specific, I have vintage illustrated children's books. I've been collecting kids books for years, and while I love bringing them home I don't always have room to keep them. Actually, at this point I have more vintage items in my shop than I have fabric for sale.

Here are some of the books:

Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip by Patrick F. McManus

Cat (hardcover book) by B. Kliban

Bernard of Scotland Yard by Berniece Freschet

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, adapted by Diana Stewart, illustrated by Charles Shaw

 I also have four volumes of the Best in Children's Books series from the late 1950s to 1960: volumes 22, 25 (including illustrations by Richard Scarry), 32, and 37 (also with illustrations by Richard Scarry). I love this series -- each volume offers a fantastic cross-section of mid-century illustration styles.

And there are more. There are some interesting, unique books in there: Bernard of Scotland Yard is wonderfully illustrated throughout but the story and text are involved enough to make it a great book for an early reader to tackle on her/his own. And the illustrations in Tales of Edgar Allan Poe are not for the little ones; in fact, that book would be a great addition to any horror fan's collection. Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip is a fun guide to what a kid might expect to find while camping, covering silly topics (like the "crouch hop" one does after hammering one's thumb setting up a tent) as well as important ones (like, for instance, bears in the wilderness). And the illustrations by Roy Doty bring me right back to my Judy-Blume-reading youth -- I half-expect Fudge to appear every time I turn the page. You can see examples of the illustrations in the Etsy listings.

OK, I'll stop now. Thanks for reading.

What can you make with 6" charm squares?

Autumn fabric 6" charm squares

It's been interesting to get into my stash and try to pare it down by cutting 6" charm squares to sell on Etsy. I've decided to cut a set of squares for myself alongside the sets I'm cutting for potential sale. I want to challenge myself to make something out of a charm square set.

In addition to just using them as is, here are some things you can do with 6" squares that have come to mind while cutting:

1. You can get two half-square triangles that will finish at 5" from two 6" squares. You could either trim the squares to 5 7/8" first, or sew the HSTs first and then trim them to 5 1/2".
2. Cut two 6" squares into four equal 3" squares each. Pair the squares up and sew eight HSTs that will finish at 2". (Same as with #1, either trim the squares to 2 7/8" or trim the HSTs to 2 1/2".)
3. Cut two 6" squares into nine equal 2" squares each. Pair the squares up and sew eighteen HSTs that will finish at 1". (Again, trim squares to 1 7/8" or HSTs to 1 1/2".)
4. Cut one 6" square into two 3" x 6" strips. Cut another 6" square into four 3" squares. Use quick piecing methods to make two flying geese units.
5. Cut 6" squares into 2" or 3" strips for use in a roman coins quilt, rail fence quilt, or piano key border.
6. Cut two 6" squares across both diagonals into 4 triangles each. Sew two triangles of each print to make an hourglass block that finishes at 4 3/4".
7. Cut a 6" square into four 3" squares, and then cut one of the 3" squares into four 1 1/2" squares. Cut two 3" squares from a neutral or solid fabric. Use quick corner piecing to sew a 1 1/2" square to one corner of the neutral or solid squares. Sew two of the 3" charm squares to the two neutral/solid squares to make a bow tie block.

The ideas... they just keep coming! I need to stop cutting and start sewing...

Blue 6" charm squares

Food and drink novelty 6" charm squares

OK, this time it's serious!

By most quilters' standards, my stash is not big. But considering how slowly I move through it, it's too big for me. So I need to get serious about paring it down and doing some destashing. I know, I've said that before, but this time I mean business! There's just too much new stuff I want. Speaking of which, you know how hard it is to find yardage of the latest Paris map fabric from Moda? I waited so long to get any it's practically sold out everywhere I looked, even on eBay and Etsy. I'm glad I found a couple of yards online, but let that be a lesson to me -- if I really know I want something, there's no point in waiting!

So that's where my renewed determination to destash comes in. I decided to try doing some precuts to sell through my little Etsy shop, and I have more in mind. In addition to the baby quilt and I Spy-friendly items shown below, I still have some Moda and FreeSpirit fat quarter bundles for sale. And there will probably be more of those to come, too. Like I said, it's time to be honest with myself about what I think I'll use vs. what I like to collect (not always the same thing)!

Flitter Flannel 12" squares

Zoo Menagerie fat 1/8s

Food & Drink novelty 6" charm squares

New additions

I'm taking advantage of that precious and all-too-fleeting window when the toddler's and baby's naps overlap to put some time into the blog and my Etsy shop. Thanks to some tough decisions about de-stashing I added a couple of items to the shop, including some fat eighths from the new Little Apples collection from Moda. (I told you that I made some tough decisions -- it's not easy to part with such cuteness!). I also reduced the prices on a few other items that have been in my shop for a few months and will be adding some vintage items soon.

And as far as the more important new addition to the household, we welcomed our second daughter a few weeks ago. She is, of course, precious, and thankfully doing an OK job of napping in her bassinet. It sure is different going from one child to two, but in a very, very good way.