katey's trees

katey at onegoodbumblebee and i have started conspiring...and these are the preliminary results. sewn up in linen with pink linings. katey's trees are oh-so-cute, but my screenprinting made these lil' trees more like birch trees than i would have suspected. well- i'm off to mail them to her and see what she thinks.

etsy contest winner - confections!

so here was the contest:
tell me your fave vintage/thrift store find. simple right. i had a lot of posts, a ton about finding something amazing on ebay and being able to sell it for a ton of money, and one guy who bought a jacket at his local thrift and found 100 bucks in the pocket. but the one that stole my heart from the minute i started reading was this story.

in cheryls own words:

"My 5-year-old niece and I found this forlorn-looking vintage Effanbee doll last month at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. We had been to tea earlier in the day, and Grace had brought her American Girl doll, Elizabeth, along to the festivities. When we entered the thrift shop, she made a beeline to a group of dolls which included this well-loved charmer."
read all about "helene elyse's" new dress made from cherlys own vintage calico stash and all about the tea parties she's been attending here and here.

be sure to check out cheryl of confections amazing fiberarts etsy shop too! thanks to all who posted and thanks to cheryl and her niece for rescuing such a prize!

button bags

when i was a kid i had one of these. it was all my own. it came with 3 different "outside purses". one was pink corduroy, one was tiny green whales and the other was my initials in navy-blue on white. we moved when i was about seven and my purse(s) did not make the cross country trip. i was devastated. ever since then when i was thrifting i would always pick them up. i now have a decent sized collection.
BUT what i really wanna do is make them, so that all the loveliest girls of the world can skip around with one of these on there elbow.
does anyone know the real name of these cuties?

because everybody loves gnomes! young & with it

littledear

project grab bag

and tiny airplanes

whale of a tale

i have always been in love with sea creatures. starfish, stingrays, sea urchins.
but these lil' guys were inspired by a story that one of my kindergarteners told me. it involved her great grandfather being swallowed by a whale. audrey said he was a sailor who got thrown off of his boat, swallowed by a whale and lived inside of the whale for months. think gepettos workshop in pinocchio. and anyway when he was finally rescued all of his hair had turned white. i know this is the kind of story for which phrase "whale of a tale" was made and since she was only five at the time i figured she was really working on her story telling skills. at the end of the year i mentioned the story to her mother who then brought in an article from a 1940's newspaper about this very whaling disaster/triumph.
woa!

etsy owls forever

i LOVE owls. especially brown felt ones! i'm the kinda girl who when thrifting with her dear friend on her birthday (also a huge owl lover), and upon spying a pair of owl salt and pepper shakers had to keep myself from grabbing them and holding them tight to my chest and exclaiming their mine their mine!
so having said all that, elizabeth got the owl shakers, hey- it was HER birthday and i went on a search for the perfect brown owl or owlette.
if you know anything about the crafty site etsy you know it's chalk full of wonderfully handmade do-it-yrself items, so it wasn't slim pickins' but here are my favorites. enjoy!

fig.1 mr.owly owl by marmee craft
fig.2 the owl and the pussycat from the beloved little birds,
fig.1 woodruff brown owl from chet and dot,

for alise.

because i happen to be in the throes of making her wedding dress. raw silk and grosgrain ribbon and lots and lots of tulle. i'm comforted by the fact that i could make her a silk pillow case and she would look splendid in it.

and because i made the quilted scarf and tee for her as a birthday present and she wore them to her first show.

a strong knitter

i help teach kindergarten and so, i get some of my inspiration from my 4-6 years olds. they can knit, sew and some can even play the fiddle. talk about motivation...to keep up at least!

peace meal

this past winter i made a go of quilting. my friend megan and her mom opened a quilt shop here in town and i put up a note: will work 4 fabric and so i did.
my own mother is quite a quilter and in fact she and my sister made the blue calico quilt thats tucked into this pile. i'm a big fan of quilting in the winter, quilting together and just plain getting ready to quilt. it's a great way to use up fabric scraps or make a really fancy gift. to check out some real serious quilting take a peek at gabi d'italia's quilts and totes at spring st. co.
this gal lives in a converted one room school house and her quilts are like waves...of buttercream.

trying to get organized

my mom arrived on her month long voyage to the deep east coast (she and i hail from california). she is on a mission to get me organized as she has been my whole life.
think melamine bins for barrets, ponytail holders and seawees.
nearing 30 makes me unashamed to say that she probably always will be.
i can organize the heck out of anyonelses things but rarely devote the time to getting my own ducks in a row.
being an art busybody this can cause many a problem. like buying the same tool or ribbon or yardage of fabric...twice, three times even? since her arrival i have discovered i now have 3 sets of pinking sheers...ah, but one can never have too many of those!
i would love some ideas on getting fabric organized in a polite way. a way that makes you wanna dive right in.
any suggestions, mom?!

will you take a check?

a thing to love about these parts of maine are the incredible flea markets! i ran into an old guy who said he found a stack of these old feedsacks under his wifes bed. i guess she must have known what he did not, she was pretty much putting her money under her mattress. he let these sail into my arms for 4 bucks a piece. i was like "are you sure?"and he was said "well as long as you'll use them"...got to love that new england pragmatism.

puzzle pieces

felting 101, mosey style

This is the thing about felting: it's sloppy. and a bit harsh on the skin! i mean soapy hands and wool to the point past detergent clean and onto ocd. the first time i felted i thought hands cannot possibly just chap like this - oh but they can!
so use a detergent soap that's strong but not too harsh. here at mosey we love ivory but we love dr. bronners even better (check out peppermint and lavender for a somewhat aroma therapeutic romp with wet felting).
then again it is very satisfying going from a soapy mess to a tidy little package.
it's the ultimate tying up of loose ends.
so get a good sized metal bin, some hot soapy water, some wool roving (love whorledpeas etsy shop) and get to work!

this girl makes the world go round

So my oldest and dearest friend karen,is here on my coast for a visit. a fourth of july trip about 3 yrs. in the making! look for nice pictures of us strolling on the beach and buying up vintage goodies!

day one

what say you to a spool of ric rac? esp. when it came all the way from creve coeur, mo?
i said of course, yes i'd be delighted to take that off you hands. in celebration of her 82nd birthday my dear grandma sorted through her old sewing box and let me take as needed. this was one of my fave finds. it will have to belong to a very special project, one day.