Around the House

Hello Friends...

Some pictures from around my house today:

Here is the 2009 TREE (yay!!!)























Ollie said we couldn't get a tree until December so Tuesday night I duh-ragged him all over the Midcoast looking for just the right tree.

I hate those fatty trees that are so fat you can't even hang an ornament on them.

I was very happy to finally find this tree at one of the local homes that becomes a tree lot at this time of year with the big round lights strung up at night and everything.

We threw it in the back of Ollie's truck and chugged our way home.

Then we decked the halls and made pizza and were quite pleased with ourselves.


I think this gal is my very favorite ornament...
























But I think this might be Ollie's favorite:
























I'm all about the wrapping this year:



















Ollie brought out some presents last night and I am the WORST. SNOOP. EVER.

Worse than a kid.

Worse than I was when I was a kid.

(Anyways...)


I have a big ol' pile of Christmas cards to do...
























Today is a good day to do them because it looks like this outside:
























Wouldn't it be cool if all that rain were SNOW???

(Aww, come on... you KNOW you want a White Christmas!!!)


Here are some leftover Thanksgiving flowers to brighten the place...
























Here are my mix-y match-y dishes on the wall...
























Here is my new old hutch that I am waaay more in love with than should be allowed between a person and an inanimate object...
























Here is that quilt I made and had promised to share with you...

























Doesn't it look perfect behind Ollie's table?

He made it from an old barn door.

Here's a close-up:
























Love that old, weathered wood.


And here's my breakfast which is calling to me like a siren:



















I'm doing Weight Watchers.

Did you know you can have two pieces of a certain type of toast, PLUS 2 teaspoons of jelly, PLUS 2 teaspoons of butter PLUS 1 mug of hot tea for just 6 points?

It can be done, so I am a happy camper.

In other news, I have taken a personal day off from the store.

I just needed a day to pull it all together.

It's probably the second time in five years that I've taken a personal day and it feels sooo good.

Jessie is over at the store by herself today so if you visit be nice and go easy on her, although I'm pretty sure she can handle whatever you throw at her.

That's all for now.

Mom is feeling much better but she is still at home resting.

Thanks for all your well-wishes!

I will see you again soon...

Have a good weekend!

XO,

Rhea

Nicey Jane has arrived!!!

Hello.

May I introduce you to Heather Bailey's new collection, Nicey Jane?
























In Heather's own words:

“Small-town girl, Nicey Jane, heads to the city on Friday nights to swing dance with her beau — but not before hanging the laundry to dry and enjoying an afternoon picnic on the farm. Every weekend should be so sweet.”

Isn't that nice(y)?

Some of these fabrics will also be available soon as laminates (those soft, lush, drapey oilcloths from Free Spirit), but for now they are available at the shop and online.

























I put together a coupla bundles and after my days off I have plans to put some more together.

One great thing about this line is that as far as I can tell, it coordinates reeeally, reeeally nicely with Heather's earlier collections, too.

Always a smart move on a designer's part, I think.

Makes my job as fabric consultant-ish type person that much easier.

Anyhoo, that is about all I got for now.

I will see you again soon.

Be Nicey Jane to each other!!!


XO,

Rhea

200th post and a giveaway!!!

How was your Turkey Day?

Ours went quite well and I shall never again be afraid of baking a turkey as it was really not that bad at all.

But, I do have some bad news.

I am sad to report that after our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (which saw everyone leaving our place at around 4 o'clock) that my poor little Mama came down with the swine flu at around 9 o'clock yesterday evening.

Have you ever been that sick when you could pinpoint the exact second you started feeling poorly?

I have.

And now my Mom has, too.

So I am sending lots and lots of get-well vibes her way, and perhaps you all will be so kind as to do the same.

Johanna's flu came and went so quickly that I can't help but hope for the same thing for my Mom this time.

In other news, our Anna Maria Horner flannels arrived the other day.

I only ordered three bolts, but I think they look sooo delicious together.
























What do you think?

A lot of the time here in the shop people will see a print and exclaim how much they love it and then upon closer inspection when they discover the print is on flannel they seem kind of disappointed.

I get it.

So, that is why I went easy on these flannels.

(I really do adore them, though).

Aaand, perhaps another reason why I went easy on the flannels was because I purchased a lot of the Anna Maria Horner voile prints.

Those should be coming in very soon and I will of course let you know when they do (I'll shout it from the hilltops!), but the voiles are going to be a little bit on the "dear" side.

They will retail for about $15 a yard, I believe, but I don't have my paperwork in front of me right now so don't quote me on it.

Also don't have sticker shock, because I warned you!

"Why are they going to be so expensive?", I hear you ask.

Because voile is a much finer fabric than a standard quilting weight cotton.

It is definitely geared towards garment-sewing, and is very drape-y and lovely, but it is also more expensive to produce.

"Can you use it for quilting?", I hear you ask.

The answer is "Yes."

Just like a lot of us are using quilting weight fabrics for garments, so too can you use garment weight fabric for quilting.

I'm a big fan of mixing fabric weights and textures in quilts, but you do need to be aware that they may stretch in different ways, so you will want to pin, pin, pin and perhaps bust out your walking foot to do your piecing.

But enough about the voile, this post is all about the flannel.

And more importantly, about the giving away of the flannel!

If you are still with me, I would like to offer 1/2 yard each of these three golden delicious flannels ( a total of 1.5 yards) to one lucky reader.

All you have to do is leave me a nice little comment and at the end of the day on Monday I will ask Ollie to pick a number at random.

Maybe you could tell me some of your tips and tricks for sewing: with or without different textures.

Or maybe you could just send a get-well wish to my Mom.

She will get a kick out of reading those.

Also, I am going to spend some time this morning putting up a "flannels" page on the website, as we have some other very, very nice flannels in stock already and more coming in.

"What nice flannels?," I hear you ask.

Well, we have Amy Butler flannels coming in very soon and some new Valori Wells to accompany the lovely Valori Wells we already have in stock.

So, if you don't win, perhaps you could check out the flannels page for a little consolation prize.

This is Maine, after all, and we do love our flannels in Maine.

See you again on Monday and good luck with the giveaway.

(And get well, soon, Mom!)

XO,

Rhea at Alewives

PS

Now that the Season is upon us, am I the only one looking forward to hearing the Bing Crosby/David Bowie "Little Drummer Boy" mash-up on the radio?

Love that song!!!

Comments closed: The winner (chosen by my personal random number generator Ollie) is lucky #36:

May said...

Hope your mom feels better soon!

November 30, 2009 7:41 AM

Congratulations, May!

I don't know who you are (unless you are Maylene Mitchell, in which case I know exactly who you are) so I will need a little more info...

Please send me an e-mail (rhea@alewivesfabrics.com) with your address and I will arrange to send you the flannels.

Thanks to everyone for entering and thanks so very much for all your well-wishes to my Mom.

She is feeling better but resting a LOT.

She has read all of the comments and was very, very touched by the global concern!!!

Giving Thanks

Hi all...
















I wanted to take a moment to share with you a few of the things I am thankful for this year:


• I am thankful for my favorite fiancé I have ever had and his wonderful dog (who is now OUR wonderful dog).

• I am thankful for my family who are all very close (both literally and figuratively).

• I am thankful for my friends (both my "real life" friends and my "online" friends).

• I am thankful for my house (after years of nomad-ing and apartment dwelling).

And lastly...

• I am thankful for my job at Alewives Fabrics and all of our wonderful customers.

I truly do not know what my life would be like if I weren't there and a big part of ME being there is YOU being there.

Does that make sense?

I guess what I am trying to say is...

I am thankful for YOU!!!

(That and we will be CLOSED tomorrow but open as usual on Friday... Sewing Lounge and all).

What are YOU thankful for???

See you after the big day and thanks for all the turkey advice!

XO,

Rhea

PS...

There is a rumor underfoot that there will be an ALL DAY Sewing Lounge on Friday to kick-off your Holiday sewing. Feel free to partake!!! (I know I will!!!)

Pre-Thanksgiving Shakedown

Hello.

Yes, it has been a week.

I won't bore you with the usual (Blah, blah, blah... I was sooo busy...blah, blah, blah)

But here is a quick recap of what I have been up to:

• Did the ol' 9:00-7:00 shift at the store yesterday. A shift of my own shifting. One of my Dad's friends owns a local business. When he found out Mom and I were buying Alewives he said (and I quote) "Working for yourself is great. You get to choose your own hours. You can work the first half of the day or the second half of the day." Truer words were never spoken.

• Stayed up until the wee hours during my time off to finish a quilt/wallhanging for my kitchen. I put the movie "Sense and Sensiblity" on the computer and went to town, if I do say so myself. I had the "Sex and the City" movie with me as a back-up, which would have made for an oddly appropriate double-feature, I think, but this was sadly unnecessary. (By the by, I made the quilt completely out of the fabrics from this post and I will take pictures soon.)

• Had a girl's night out that began literally Saturday at 5:00 (when I got out of work) and lasted until 12:00 noon the next day (when I had to go to work again).

During these 19 hours we:

A) Drove to Portland (with many bottles of wine in tow).

B) Stayed at a borrowed condo on the waterfront in Portland (which everyone should have, if they possibly can).

C) Ate at the Hibachi Grill (where they toss food into your mouth and I discovered I was pretty good at this game as I was able to provide a very large target).

D) Went to see "New Moon" (which was deliciously cheezy and filled with shirtless men and other moments of cinematic brilliance... in other words the perfect "Girl's Night" movie).

E) Decided we were going to start a blog called "HowToDefineOneselfOutsideOfParenting." (That would probably get a lot of hate-comments, but is a brilliant idea, none-the-less).

***Disclaimer: that is a huge joke: we LOVE parenting blogs!***

and finally

F) Had breakfast at a French Cafe (Tea and Chocolate Croissants!).


• Now with my first day off in a series of 3 (!) I am waiting to watch NieNie on the today show and getting ready for my very first Thanksgiving with the Fam at my place. Wish me luck with the turkey. The man at the Post Office (who is always full of good advice) says I should brine the turkey but my hip new neighbor says brining is "sooo last year."

Any advice???

Besides Chinese Food???

There... now that you know what I have been up to, what have YOU been up to???

See you again soon (I hope!).

XO,

Rhea

Monday Monday Monday

Knew it was going to be a long week when I

A) Told the man at the post office to "Have a nice weekend!"

B) Tried all day (unsuccessfully, I might add) to check my voice-mail. Consequently my phone is STILL beeping at me at a quarter past nine.

C) Completely forgot to cash in my paycheck. This is most unlike me, I assure you.


So I have compensated by

A) Taking a hot, hot bath.

B) Reading a fashion mag while in said bath.

C) Having a BIG glass of wine while Ollie did the cooking, STILL while in said bath. I only got out when water began to get cold and hands were prune-y and magazine was soaked and dinner was ready and Ollie knocked on the door and asked in a quiet voice if I was asleep.


Now I am

A) Ready for bed.

B) Ready for my days off.

C) Wondering what "17-year-old-Rhea" would have thought of this scenario.


See you again soon when I am a bit more "conscious."

XO,

Rhea

Mind your Manors...

"Aster Manors," that is.

The collection just arrived this week and all I can say is "Hubba Hubba."
















These are up in the shop, of course.

In other news, I have a new netflix obsession: True Blood, based on the Sookie Stackhouse books.

Just please don't watch it with your five year old.

It's pretty spicy.

In other other news I know the holidays are fast approaching because all the commercials on TV are making me cry.

And every weekend is filling up fast.

It's like some crazy Christmas Rubiks cube to fit everything in.

I know one thing, I am jonesin' to put up my tree, much to Ollie's horror.

Oh well!

See you again soon!

XO,

Rhea