Sewing for Mr. Friday

I am in Retro Heaven. Just look at this fabulous fabric. Look! Look at it in all of it's 1950's glory! It's fabulous. It's perfect for Mr. Friday. It's printed on organic cotton, too. He will go nuts over that. Can I say it again? Organic. Cotton. *sigh*

I have been eyeing this fabric since I read about it months ago. It's designed by the very creative folks at Birch Fabrics. I am waiting for the collection to be available for sale as I want to make Mr. Friday a fabulous Hawaiian style shirt out of that groovy print above. Fabricworm will be carrying most of the collection and you can sign up to be notified by email when it's available for sale. Click here to see the full collection.

I would like to sew more for Mr. Friday, beyond the usual mending. He deserves cool handmade stuff, too, especially since he's a cool, retro-loving guy. Sewing for Mr. Friday intrigues me as the construction of garments for men is interesting, and I can feel my creativity humming at finding him cool fabrics. My fabric stash is currently full of girly prints. I'll need to be creative so I keep within my Thrifty365 Pledge.

Do you sew for the significant man in your life? What's your favourite thing to sew for them? Any tips and/or tricks you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them.

**Image credit

Cake a Difference: 8-14 February 2010

Every year, thousands of babies worldwide are born too early, too sick, and too small. Many of these babies are too ill or too fragile to be held or kissed by their own parents and are connected to machines to keep them alive. It's a harrowing journey in an experience that is supposed to be nothing buy joyous. Friends of mine experienced this when their beautiful son, Lawson, was born early and very ill. Happily, he is now thriving.

From February 8-14, Cake a Difference is asking bakers to get together and make and sell cupcakes to raise money to change the lives of these tiny babies. Professional and home bakers are all encouraged and it's easy to sign up.**

Click here for FAQ on the campaign. I think this is a great project to do at home with your children or at school as a classroom project.

Pumpkin Cupcake with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes are fabulous and have that unique ability to bring a smile to anyone's face. Bake up a batch of my Basic Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting and embellish to your heart's content. Fabulous cupcake papers, sprinkles, glitter, colouring, and much more can be found at my favourite cupcake source: Bake it Pretty; they ship worldwide.

You can also investigate your local grocery stores and bulk food stores, as they often carry a wide range of amazing inexpensive decorations. They don't have to be elaborate confections (although if you'd like to, please go nuts!), anything made from the heart is wonderful.

Polka Dot Baking Cups from Bake It Pretty

Once you've whipped up and decorated your batch of cupcakes, take them to work, to your school, or your local community group. If there is a premature or ill baby in your family, why not take a batch of cupcakes (bought or baked at home) to the baby's hospital and spread awareness about this great campaign? From my own experiences in volunteering in an NICU, I know that medical staff, on the whole, adore sweets!

If baking is something that you equate with a trip to the dentist, however, there are other ways you can support Cake a Difference. You can simply eat them! Click here and here to see who is involved.

Cupcake Hat by Shelle Hendrix Cain

For the crafty folks out there, knitting or crocheting preemie cupcake-themed hats would be fabulous. Maintaining body temperature is difficult for these little ones and handmade hats make a massive difference. Here are a few links to cupcake hat patterns:

Baby Crochet Cupcake Hat
Baby Knit Cupcake Hat
Crochet Cupcake Hat with Sprinkles
How to Crochet a Cupcake Hat
Knit Cupcake Hat
Newborn Knit Cupcake Hat

Instructions for resizing to fit preemies

You can donate the finished hats to your local NICU, where I know they will be much appreciated.

I think this is an inspired campaign and Miss Friday and I will be doing our part together. We'll be baking and selling our own cupcakes and mini cupcakes and all the proceeds will be donated to Cake A Difference. I've also changed my Twitter profile picture to show my support. Click here and change yours, too.

Please leave me a comment if you're going to join as I'd love to see what you make!

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**EDIT
Non-UK residents are more than welcome to join in the fundraising efforts. You can make a donation either by cash or online. Click here to download your copy of the fundraising pack and get started today!

Bargain Hunting: Destash

Oooh, I love a good bargain. I get all tingly and my heart beats a little faster when I see something fabulous and for a fabulous price.

I was e-window shopping on Etsy today and typed in one of my favourite bargain hunting search terms: destash. Many Etsy sellers use this term when they are clearing out their fabric, button, or book collections (plus many more). Destash = fabulous bargains!

Here are a few I found:

Six cotton shabby chic rose fabric fat eighths

50's vintage buttons grab bag (*swoon*)

This cute felt craft book.
It sells for $22.99 new. The seller is asking $8.

If you don't see your country listed, then just send a quick message to the seller to ask if they'll ship the item to you. I think every time I've asked, they have been more than happy.

Enjoy the links below. Let me know if you snap up a bargain. I'd love to hear about it.

Destash fabric listings.
Destash button listings.
Destash sewing book listings.
Destash sewing trim & notion listings.
Destash sewing pattern listings.
Destash yarn listings.
Destash bead listings.
Destash vintage listings.

The Beauty of Motherhood

I found The Beauty of Motherhood on Friday night's thrifty shop. I almost didn't see it, as it was practically hidden between two larger books. I'm really glad I found it.

It's a beautiful collection of writings about the pure joy of being a mother and it's inscribed: "To Marilyn. A wonderful little mother. Love, Aunt Maureen. Feb 1969." I love inscribed books.
I especially love this piece from the book:

What is a Mother?

A mother can be almost any size or any age, but she won't admit to anything over thirty. A mother has soft hands and smells good. A mother likes new dresses, music, a clean house, her children's kisses, an automatic washer and Daddy.

A mother doesn't like having her children sick, muddy feet, temper tantrums, loud noise or bad report cards. A mother can read a thermometer (much to the amazement of Daddy) and like magic, can kiss a hurt away.

A mother can baked good cakes and pies but likes to see her children eat vegetables. A mother can stuff a fat baby into a snow suit in seconds and can kiss sad little faces and make them smile.

A mother is underpaid, has long hours and gets very little rest. She worries too much about her children but she says she doesn't mid at all. And no matter how old her children are, she still likes to think of them as her little babies.

She is the guardian angel of the family, the queen, the tender hand of love. A mother is the best friend anyone ever has. A mother is love.

-Author Unknown

Thrifty365 Pledge Review: January

What I Liked
I love being inspired by the pledge. I love sewing from my fabric stash, instead of relying on buying new fabric. The pledge has also reinforced why I chose to live and shop this way and why I started this pledge for myself. I love thrifting with my friends and finding something fabulous!

Random Act of Kindness

This month a wonderful random act of kindness came my way. I was on Twitter, chatting away about my love of retro, vintage, and Cath Kidston, when @Franchesskkaa offered me her spare copy of Cath Kidston's Sew. It had been on my wish list and I had been coveting it for some time. The lovely Francesca packaged it up and sent it to me. How wonderful! How thoughtful! I am still on Cloud 9 from such kindness and generosity.

I've also had a lot of new followers and commenters here. Thank you so much!

What I Did Well

This will eventually be made in to a Play Kitchen for Miss Friday.
Don't you love how she's decorated it?

One day, my neighbour was cleaning out his storage and my beady eye spotted several pieces of furniture that we could use. I plucked up my courage and went out to ask if I could have them. He was delighted and offered me anything I wanted to take. So, I took a lovely end table for the living room, a solid wood table base (more on that later), and a great vintage shelf to use for Miss Friday's Play Kitchen. All for free!

Our new end table. Our old one will become the base for Miss Friday's Play Kitchen.

I joined Sew Retro this month. What a wonderful community of retro devotees and talented people! I'm very honoured to be a part of this community.

I started sewing for The June, June, & Junie Project.

What Needs Improvement
I did buy 5 yards of Patty Young's Hummingbirds in Turquoise to recover a chair as part of my dining room plan. The wing chair has been given to me by my mum (Thanks, Mum!), so that fits with the pledge. I didn't have the yardage in my stash to cover the chair, so it was necessary to purchase the fabric. I did buy from an independent supplier; however, I can't help but feel like a cheated a bit.

Discovered in January
Atomic Mum
Boo Dog and Me
Knock Off Wood
Vintage Jubilee

Plans for February

• Incorporate Veronica Darling's vintage sewing practices into my own sewing and The Pledge. Veronica depends completely on thrift shops (or op shops, as she says) for all of her sewing needs, including notions. Amazing!
• Product review videos for the Paraben Free products and sellers I've discovered.
• Practice smart shopping: necessity, quality, and value.
  

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Want to join me in my Thrifty365 Pledge? Click here to read about it and grab the code below for your blog or website. Please leave me a comment if you've decided to join me as I'd love to follow your progress. :)




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Dancing on Wheels: 11 February 2010

Dancing on Wheels premiers on February 11th at 9:00 p.m. on BBC3. Don't miss out on this incredible, groundbreaking new show.


Kristina Rihanoff speaks about her experiences on Dancing on Wheels.


Brian Fortuna on Dancing on Wheels

A special thank you to Angela for uploading these!

Happiness is.....good thrifting

Our new lime green bowls underneath our 'sunshine' bowls (also thrifted)

We had really fabulous Thrifty JuJu when we went to the new Value Village near us the other day. I love thrifty days like that. It seems like everything you've been looking for it right there and for a fabulous price, too. I've already talked about the books we found here.

Here's what else we found:

• DVDs for Miss Friday~
• Trivial Pursuit, 80s version, plus extra cards (Silver Screen questions)*
• 4 lime green cereal bowls
• A bed skirt for Miss Friday
• A new winter coat for Miss Friday
• Columbia Sports snow pants for Miss Friday
• A green Queen's University sweatshirt for Mr. Friday^
• A 100% cotton green zip cardie for me
• A nightie for Miss Friday
• 2 winter skirts for Miss Friday
  
• 2 winter dresses for Miss Friday

Not including the books, all of the above items were less than $100. Money well spent, I say, and we're all set for quite a while with books and movies. Not to mention impromptu game nights.

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I know I do write a lot about thrifting and how it's really a part of our lifestyle. I have also written about my Handmade Pledge (when I joined there were just over 11000 people) and how it's changed us for the better. I hope by living by my Thrifty365 Pledge and my Handmade Pledge you can see the positive impact it can have on your life, too.


~We'd been looking for these particular DVDs for a while and the price was right! Thrifting trick: buy it when you see it as, odds are, it won't be there if you go back for it.

*Mr. Friday is a Trivia Wizard. If you ever play with him, you want to be on his team.

^This was the biggest find of the night for Mr. Friday. He has one sweatshirt in red and it's slowly disintegrating. When he showed me his find, it was like Christmas had come early for him! Hee hee!