Little Buds comments: 44

Fairy flowers and a manor house. Tree-root-laced paths, nodding buds, and a mossy cottage tucked into the dell. It had been three years since Amelia and I were here. The last time, she was in an umbrella stroller (this is not the place for an umbrella stroller), newly walking and I was afraid to let her out lest she fall into the creek. This time she flitted and flashed between the trees, racing down the paths, dancing under the arbor, quacking at the duck, building a nest for the wood sprites who were sure to come out after we left. It's an enchanted place, for sure. The river was high and green and foggy with spring run-off. The rickety, metal bridge was up, lofted high above the water for another month or two, I would expect, so we couldn't go across to the cottage or to the fireplace. It's been, apparently, the third-wettest March on record. They said that spring was getting a late start; everything was about a month behind. No matter. I sat on a bench by the creek and she whirled and twirled around me. She knocked on the pretend door to my pretend house and I invited her in for pretend tea. She gave me pretend cookies. I gave her real kisses. I hope the spirits of dearest John and Lilla Leach, creators of this magical glade, were smiling down on this little forest fairy and her fox from above.

Her sweater, Little Buds, made almost five years ago and fitting perfectly now is, once again, detailed here.

Time of Flowers comments: 49

This is my absolute favorite time of year. I do love winter, but this time, on the far edge of winter about to tip into spring, is my favorite. The daphne is blooming. The daffodils nod, heavy with a thousand rainstorms. The sky is gray and bright, the ground soaked, the rivers high and brown. I went to Starlight Knitting Society for the first time this afternoon to get some yarn to make a sweater for Amelia's Easter dress (cutest little Laura Ashley dress that I found, used but in perfect condition, on eBay). I had parked a couple of blocks away and walked through the neighborhood to the shop. The air was deeply, darkly fragrant with wood smoke and magnolia blossoms and mud and oh, spring, you are deeply enchanting.

Thank you to every one of you for your orders and your kind words and your patience about the quilt kits. As I said in my update on the last post, I will be making more. I've already found more fabric and it is on its way. And I don't think I was able to find more than three or four of the original prints I had, if that, so this next batch will be entirely new. Now that the pattern is done I will have more time to just focus on kits, so, never fear! I will definitely do at least one more round, and I will keep you posted on this. But more than that, I just do sincerely want to say thank you, and I really will do my very best to deliver as many as I can.

This past week Stacey and I untangled all of the orders and got them organized. She went on vacation and I am going to start shipping them all tomorrow. At night I've been working on my Beatrix Blanket, although I was trying really hard to make this Anya cardigan and it just proved to be beyond me right now. I'm going to pick it back up, but I needed something easier after this week, when I also got together all of the volumes of paperwork for the accountant to do the taxes, too, etc. Bah. I need a vacation. Alas, for the next two weeks, Amelia is on vacation from preschool for spring break, so rest will not be forthcoming. But that's okay. It's spring and that is exciting. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet. It's still pretty wet, and I believe there's still a lot of rain in the forecast, so, I don't know. Lots of play dates. I feel like watching Anne of Green Gables. And making another rhubarb pie. And some egg salad. Currently it's raining so hard we can hardly hear ourselves talk.

Calicozy ComfyQuilt Top Kits Now Available! SOLD OUT comments: 69

UPDATE: Thank you beyond words to everyone who ordered and tried to order today. We sold through 2,266 strips of fabric today in minutes. I am speechless and mildly catatonic right now, and am very sorry that not everyone was able to get a kit. I know that some people are very disappointed, and that is never, ever my intention. Please know that I do hear you and am so grateful for your efforts, and we will definitely be making some more. Thank you so, so much.

XOXOX, Alicia

Recently I decided to make myself a throw quilt out of my very favorite calicos from the 1980s and 1990s — tiny, charming floral prints from my childhood and early adulthood that remain, for me, the epitome of fabric sweetness. It turned out to be so pretty that I began collecting similar vintage fabrics so that I could offer quilt-top kits, along with a pattern, to make a quilt-comforter like mine.

This quilt is set on-point, so the square patches actually display as diamonds. It is designed to be turned inside out instead of bound, tied at each patch intersection, and filled with a poufy, inexpensive comforter from Ikea (though you can use batting, if you like). The Ikea comforter can be purchased both at the Ikea store and on-line.

Please note that these sizes are smaller than standard quilts or comforters. Modeled after old-fashioned eiderdowns, this quilt is meant to sit mostly on top of your mattress, and doesn’t have a long overhang.

The approximate finished sizes are: Toddler 42" x 58" (107cm x 147cm); Throw 58" x 58" (147cm x 147cm); Twin 58" x 80" (147cm x 203cm); Full/Queen 80" x 80" (203cm x 203cm); King 101" x 80" (257cm x 203cm).

To make the Calicozy ComfyQuilt, you will need to purchase the Calicozy ComfyQuilt PDF pattern, available only as a digital download, HERE.

And then if you are interested, you can purchase a quilt-top kit (please note that the kits are for the TOP ONLY) in one of several colorways, shown below. Click on each image to be taken to my web shop where you may purchase a kit for one of five sizes.

 

MEADOWSWEET

 

WILD RHUBARB

 

MOONFLOWER

 

CHERRY BLOSSOM

 

PRAIRIE FLOWER

 

SUMMERNIGHT

 

VERBENA

 

ROSEWOOD

 

Please note that the virtual tops shown here are an approximation of the prints and solids you will receive with this quilt-top kit. The kit you receive will include vintage cotton calicos and non-vintage cotton solid fabrics already cut for you into 4.25" (11cm) strips. Because these print fabrics are vintage and available in limited supply, you may not receive every fabric pictured, but you will receive 15 unique fabrics that are consistent with the overall colorway presented. Each kit includes enough fabric to make the top for each quilt size as described. I believe that all of the print fabrics are vintage, and 100% cotton, but I can't absolutely guarantee it.

We do ship overseas! To place your order, you will be required to read this information, which contains details about international shipping and customs fees you may incur when ordering outside the U.S. (If you are overseas, the shipping cost charged by Posie does not include any further charges you may incur when importing goods.) To see the shipping-only costs for your order and location, just place the items in your cart and choose your location (or enter your zip code, if you are in the U.S.) and it will tell you how much the shipping is. As usual, I have a sincere request: Please check on and update your shipping address correctly in your Paypal preferences so that there is no confusion when we go to ship. If you do need to add things to your order or change your address after you've placed the order, just email me and we'll figure it out, no worries! I just like to remind people of this ahead of time, because it's a bit easier.

Also, because the inventory is a bit of a moving target this time -- how many kits in any size we can sell depends on how many kits in other sizes we sell, as there is a total number of prints available for each colorway, and I will be babysitting the numbers to adjust inventory offerings in real time — we will refund shipping overages (if there are any) on an individual basis, after everything has shipped.

Thank you, as always, for your enthusiasm for and interest in my work and in these kits. I have never done a kit quite like this before and I am very excited about this!

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I will get back to you here. Thank you!

Quilt-Top Kit PREVIEW ONLY -- On Sale Tomorrow, 3/21/17, at 9:30 a.m. PST comments: 32

Hello! A few people asked if they could have time to look at the virtual quilts before they go on sale tomorrow, and I thought that was a good idea. Here is a virtual parade of them, for your viewing pleasure. Tomorrow morning when I get home from dropping Amelia off at school I will delete this post and replace it with a new one add a new post with live links and all the information you need in order to shop. Do remember, too, that these are general representations of the fabrics included, and may not reflect exactly what your quilt will look like. Thank you!

MEADOWSWEET

 

WILD RHUBARB

 

MOONFLOWER

 

CHERRY BLOSSOM

 

PRAIRIE FLOWER

 

SUMMERNIGHT

 

VERBENA

 

ROSEWOOD

Quilt Kits Coming on Tuesday, March 21st comments: 37

Hello, loves. I hope all is well where you are. It's dark and warm and rainy here this morning, and these are the only blossoms I could find, so far, on our plum tree. It's about three weeks late in blooming, and I feel about three weeks late with these kits, so, there you go — my plum and I are finally coming around. Andy finally has several days off in a row, starting tomorrow, and I'm planning to wrap up the details on these during that time. We will have eight different colorways of quilt-top kits in every size, from toddler to king. I've made "virtual" quilts for you to see approximately what fabrics you will be getting; these are meant to be a general display of the fifteen different prints and three solids included in any given colorway. You may not get every fabric pictured, but you will get a few others consistent with my overall vision for each one — I've tried mightily to build individual kits that align with the basic integrity of the virtual quilt pictured.

We've cut all of the fabric into 4.25" strips for you. (You'll cut the strips into squares yourself.) Since every size kit has a different total number of print fabric strips and a different total number of solids included, I've worked out an algorithm that will apply to every size as far as pricing goes. I plan to babysit the inventory, so that, no matter what sells, we will make all of the sizes available until we run out of the total number of prints that we have for any particular colorway.

The pattern itself will be available as a digital download only, so even if you are purchasing a quilt-top kit you will also have to purchase the PDF pattern. We are not printing these. You don't have to purchase a kit to make use of the pattern, either. The pattern is very detailed in telling you exactly what you need to make one of these quilts, so you can use fabric from your own stash. As with almost all of the kinds of quilts I make, the fabric placement is completely random, so this is a good project for beginners.

Okay! Any questions, please ask and I'll address them in my post about these kits on Tuesday. Have a good weekend, dear friends! XOXO

Signs of Spring comments: 64

I'm mildly aghast at how much knitting I've done this winter.

The lavender vest was actually finished in November. The lavender cardigan-in-progress I just started last week. It's called Gilipeysa and will be a steeked lopapeysa cardigan, made not with lopi wool but with the Summer Wool. Yoke colors in olive green and cream. Ribbon to trim inside of button band to be chosen from the above, but will likely be the third from the right (and those were from here). For those who asked about how I added the ribbon to my Cricket sweater, I actually used a piece of purchased bias tape (I think it was from Fabric Depot, ages ago) and followed dear Mrs. Cleaver's tutorial, which is very good. Her sweet Little Buds sweater (the greenish-blue) was actually made (I just looked it up) right before she was born, when I knew she was coming but still didn't really believe she would be ours. Oh, knitting. You do help with everything, dear knitting.

Today is the first day that it hasn't been pouring cold rain in as long as I can remember. Spring is just starting to make herself known here, especially now that there isn't cold, pouring-down rain falling on my head every minute. Buckling a kid who won't sit down into a car seat twelve times a day basically sucks when cold water is pouring down on your head every minute of every day. I know I shouldn't complain about rain since I spend every minute from July through September longing hopelessly for it. But honestly, Portland, you have been trying my patience in a million ways lately so thank you, I say petulantly, for the one non-pouring, almost-sunny day out of about the past fifty thousand. Or so.

Quilt kits are in the homestretch, you guys. I'm hoping for next week? I have a few more things to do. You see, I have ZERO concentration at night. All I ever do after Amelia goes to bed is knit and surf Etsy for old patterns and eBay for used kid's clothes (because Amelia now has almost nothing that will fit her this spring) and watch Rosemary and Thyme episodes on YouTube. That's it. I've tried to change this but I'm so fried at the end of the day. I've been trying to stay up a little later, past 9:00 p.m. (seeeeeeeriously), but we get up so early around here that it is almost impossible. Ah, well. I've never been a night owl. But it is hard to only ever have about two hours a day, other than when the kiddo's at pre-school, to myself. When Andy's home I have a little more time. But a lot of the time the three of us do stuff together, then. Well, it's all good. It's just hard to balance everything. I don't know how people do it. I don't seem to do it very well. I get tired. There's really a lot to do. I really need to start the taxes, too. Ugh.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you might have heard me mention cherry soap, specifically Crabtree and Evelyn cherry soap. This was my favorite soap back in the 'eighties, when I was a young lass. This soap was discontinued sometime in the early 'nineties and I've never stopped longing for it. Occasionally, through the years I would surf eBay looking for some and could never find any. Well, I finally found some a few weeks ago and was practically sputtering with excitement. I've never hit that "buy now" button so fast in my life. ALAS, the soap came and the scent is completely gone. SOB!!! This is what you get when you buy twenty-five-year-old soap, I guess. But was there ever a prettier box in the history of the world???

Beatrix Blanket comments: 52

Well, hello! Apparently, it's March. The days just go so fast. . . .

Thank you for all of the sweet words and reminiscences on my last post. That was so much fun. It took forever to put together but it was really fun to do. I wish I could do cool stuff like that more often but I don't because my brain is not that organized. I made a to-do list the other day and it looked like the dog's breakfast, as they say. I'm kind of all over the place. Volleying at the net, as I say. Thwack, tennis ball. Thwack at you, another tennis ball. Backhand, forehand, through the legs. Missed that one. We all went for a long walk last weekend and got lost, and wound up wandering around randomly, eventually working (ugh, it was a slog, uphill) our way back to a favorite cafe and a club sandwich for mama, after which I felt much better about everything. Everything feels mildly reckless and scattered. My projects are coming together, but I need to keep my racket up. I feel flat-footed. Quilt kits are 75% of the way there but they're not there yet.

I love age four. I love it. She's so sweet and so dramatic and so imaginative and so, so, so sweet. Aaaaaaagh. I love her so much. Girl doesn't stand still. The only clear picture I could get of her in her new sweater was when she was trying to balance a yardstick on her head. She never stands still, or sits still, or lays still until the minute that last note is sung (I sing her to sleep every night) and we get under our covers together and I wrap my arm around her, and she literally falls asleep in less than a minute. I lay there in bed with her, luxuriating (finally stopping for a minute) in between the pale pink flannel sheets before slipping out of bed. I leave her in the big bed until Andy gets home at 9:00 p.m., and then he transfers her to her own bed long after she's fallen asleep. When I open the bedroom door, Bridget and Clover Meadow are always just on the other side of it, waiting for me. The minute Amelia is asleep the pets always come out, and seem to relax. We all go downstairs and clamber onto the couch to wait for Andy to get home. I pull out my yarn basket. I'd made a new Cricket sweater for Mimi much earlier this winter but just got around to blocking it. The Thousand Tiny Tulips sweater came out quite cute, and she loves it, and I needed that. I saw Amanda's blanket and, at almost the exact same moment, a little vintage copy of Tale of Two Bad Mice that Andy had bought me as a surprise arrived in the mail, so I decided to start a sport-weight stash blanket for Mimi inspired by its colors. The blanket is crocheted, in moss stitch, with an E hook, wide enough to fit across her toddler bed, done is horizontal stripes, each one as wide as whatever amount of yarn I have left in that partial skein. No thinking, other than choosing the next color. This is the start of my Beatrix Blanket (it's folded in half, here):

I think this is right:

Chain an odd number of stitches the width of the blanket you'd like.

Foundation Row: Sc in the 3rd ch from the hook, *ch 1, skip next ch, sc in the next ch; repeat from * to end, turn.

Row 2: Ch 2, sc in the next ch-1 sp, *ch 1, sc in the next ch-1 sp; repeat from * to end, ending with a sc in the ch-2 sp at the start of Row 1, turn.

Repeat Row 2, changing color at the end of a row when you run out of yarn for each color, until your blanket is the desired length.

 

It feels good to make a stash blanket and use up some of this stash that has been, literally, in some cases, almost two decades in the making. I think Beatrix and I have almost the same palette, so, colorwise, this is no stretch, and immensely satisfying for that, as well.

 

***Oh, and: Mimi is wearing her Bunny Rabbit sweater, above, too, which is here.