Fresh&Vintage

On my knees for 'NieNie

If you're much of a crafting blog-surfer like I am, you may have already had the pleasure of landing in the sweet spot of cyberspace known as The NieNie Dialogues.  If not, I'd like you to take a minute to get know this sweet gal, her dashingly handsome husband, and their 4 sweet darling children (seriously, go spend at least 30 minutes reading her wittily written, beautifully real blog--tissues required for this task!). Miss Stepha'NIE (AKA NieNie) is adored by many bloggers, crafters, decorators, mommies, hot mommies, and women across bloggersville who embrace the simple sweetness of life's domestic pleasures.

As fate would have it, tragedy recently struck NieNie Nielson's dear family and now, dear readers--our collective prayers, well-wishes, and donations are needed to pull this family through their unimaginable recovery. NieNie and her loving Mr. Nielson (as she refers to her husband on her blog) were the victims of a small private plane crash just 12 days ago. They are currently both fighting the battles of their lives in the Maricopa Burn Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Family is at their side--to pray, to love, to support, and to care for their 4 beautiful babes while Mommy and Daddy get better during what is sure to be months of recovery.  To keep updated on their progress, you can visit Nie's sister CJane right here.

I consider Nie a "friend" of mine--as I've read her blog on many occasions, have shared with her an unspoken kinship for the love of things vintage,  of beautiful family moments,  of simple elegance, and of our common faith.  Although it's small, I wanted to help this sweet family by offering a silent auction here on my blog. All proceeds will be donated directly to an account that has been created in their name. The winning bidder will receive a custom 2 piece set (you choose  ANY 2 pieces whether top and skirt, top and hat, jeans and top, or 2 tops for that matter--in any size from 12 months -8 years) and I will design you an original freshandvintage design with "Nie's impeccable taste in mind. I chose my little green newsboy number in green to picture above just b/c it just reminds me of her little cherubs but you can choose any 2 pieces for me to create :) You can also take a peek at my fabrics pictured in this post, and choose one of them for me to build your design around OR just leave the entire designing process up to me and enjoy the beauty of surprise. All of this while helping a family in their aching time of need. I will start the bidding at $50. Simply leave a comment on this blog post and bid in full $1 increments. The commenter with the highest bid will receive this 2 pc freshandvintage "Designing 'Nie" creation. Bidding will end at Midnight (EST) on Saturday September 6th  (late Friday night).

Please bid generously and know that my creative spark is being fueled by my 3 kids being in school all day as of 4 days ago. Freedom to create, baby! And--create with a fashionable spirit and
a solemn prayer in my heart, I will do.

Love and prayerful thoughts
~e

Ps. To donate directly to the Nielson family, please click this logo below:

Nature AND Nurture...

both seem to be big part of why I have learned to love fabric and sewing. At the beginning of this summer, I started to notice that my love for being at the machine so much was starting to wane. I began getting nervous that I was falling out of love. Would sewing become like a jr. high school romance for me? Become something I was utterly and completely devoted to 24/7 for months until that one day I just woke up and started noticing its flaws (in the case of past romances--a big zit on his cheek or a new haircut that looked like his mom put a bowl on his head as a stylizing template were the types of flaws that would turn any jr high girl's head elsewhere...right?!) With sewing, the flaws never came from the art form itself though but rather from me burning myself out with a classic case of "doing too much of a good thing" over the fall, winter, and spring.

Like everyone we love or everything we love to do, moderation always helps to ensure that we don't make the tragic Greek flaw of "hamartia"...or  missing the mark...making ourselves nutty by going overboard so to speak. And so I found myself deciding to put my sewing away (not for good  by any means because I LOVE FABRIC AND SEWING WAY TO MUCH FOR THAT) to the back burner to simmer for the summer while I pulled another stockpot (i.e. my love for cooking) to the front of the stove---literally in this case :)

It's been a nice reprieve.  I love to cook as much as I love to sew--in that way you can call me a two-timing romancer of these homemaking arts without a doubt! I've been organizing the house this week in anticipation of the kiddos going back to school and while moving my fabrics and redesigning some of my workspaces...it happened again. I've been waiting patiently for it...not wanting to force the romance. It needed to be an Edward and Bella type mutually undeniable attraction. And there sat this newly reorganized stack of my fabrics...and it all came gushing back. How could it not...don't you just love colors and textures like these?

This  sudden rekindling in my desire to sew ASAP got me thinking about the fact that creating with fabrics is something that's a part of me on a visceral level. "WHY????"  I started to wonder to myself. And as I looked around my sewing studio and other rooms in my house,  it hit me that both nature AND nurture are to blame for this one.  It suddenly donned on me that four of the sewing machines that I have owned have been given to me by the women who have meant the most in my life. And so... my learning to sew and loving it were inevitable. Grandma and Mom both natured and nurtured me with their creative genes and their insistence on teaching me the finer points of homemaking. My mother-in-law gave me my first Bernina after I got married,  Mom bought me an amazing Janome to help me get my business moving forward, and Grandma Laura willed me her Singer after she passed away. This Singer Grandma left me means the world to me; I never sew with it because I want to preserve its beauty but I remember countless hours of watching grandma work her magic with its foot pedal. In so many ways, Grandma Laura is responsible for my love of both sewing and cooking. She taught me the finer points of making delicious gravies, pies, jellies...you name it... while also showing me how to pin pattern pieces onto fabric & teaching me what it means to do so "with the grain."  I remember feeling as proud as any kid could feel when Grandma brought me a blouse she'd sewn me (with this Singer) out of some darling Beatrix Potter fabric. I loved my new shirt so much I even sported it for this first grade school picture--I remember hating my short hair but boy how I LOVED my shirt ;) When I was looking at my/Grandma's Singer while taking these pictures earlier today,  introspective thoughts flooded my mind. When we stop to peruse into the past of those whom we came from, we get a better glimpse into the people we are today.  Call me sentimental and you'll be calling it dead on.  I can't help it..it's in my genes (look at the one word description I chose for my dad in this blog post.) I immediately became enamored with the idea that Grandma didn't just leave me with this sewing machine AND its manual AND its accessories AND its cabinet--all in nearly cherried condition--she also left me with a story to unfold about the person that she was and in turn the person I've become today as well.  On the surface, it's just a dang sewing machine I know... but its being in such mint condition and  still having its manual, accessory box, needles, etc etc also in such beautiful shape...offer some insight into who Laura was. Her Singer and its goodies aren't all in great shape and still together because she rarely used them (my siblings and I received years worth of Christmas pjs to prove otherwise). This inheritance proves many things to me. Its being in great shape tells me how much my Grandmother appreciated her belongings. The simplicity of the machine shows me that Grandma worked much harder than I do. Look at this thing-- no bells, whistles, or multi-stitches to compare to today's machines.
 

The manual and  accessory box tell me that Grandma was either fastidious, persnickety, anal, OCD and type A   (the pejoratives) or she was simply elegant, meticulous, and caring (the euphemisms).
I'm  preferring to be euphemistic in this case.

 

Finally, and most importantly, the Singer tells me how much Grandma loved me.  I loved her too--I still do. Nearly every time I am sewing, I feel like she drops in for one of those inexplainable moments just to say "I love you" or "make sure you keep your thread tension correct." You see..these are  just some of the reasons why I'll probably be designing, sewing, and drooling over fabric until the day  I die...perhaps longer. Even though grandma has passed on,  maybe her love for fabric and sewing are still alive and well enough today that she continues to nudge me along the way, making sure that my love affair with all of  it remains a part of who I am forever.  I guess the nature part is in my genes but Grandma Laura must see fit to keep on nurturing me for she continues to send whisperings inside my heart from the other side.
Thanks Granny Goose!

~~eva

Ps. To celebrate my rekindled romance,  I've put a few of my designs up for auction on e-bay. These ones are sure to get you in the mood for fall and winter. You can click here or on the pictures to find my current items for sale.

And I have to say...I do love that the green button graphics and the needle package graphic on the "scrapped" picture of  Grandma Laura (above) were all part of her actual sewing collection. With a little help from modern technology,  I was able to PhotoShop them into some digi-embellishments--now how cool is that!