An autumn weekend, friends, fun and finds!

Autumn rolls gently on here and we have just had another lovely weekend, which included the visit of a great blogging friend Tish Jett.    Tish was keen to do some early Christmas shopping that would include some brocante pieces so we decided to shop ensemble!

Of course planning a pre-dawn brocante raid is one thing:  when it comes to hauling yourself out of bed at 5.30 and you've only been between said sheets since 3 is a whole other issue ( one day I may learn not to have big dinners the night before a brocante fair),  and  Sunday saw me - yet again - trying to choose treasure through a post- party/late night fog ....  hmmm.

Once that fog lifted however, the pickings proved better than I had expected and I returned here laden with engravings, old silver pieces, picture frames, books and a load more. 

I was particularly pleased to find several of these early 19th century brulots or coffee cups.  I adore their shape and their weight!  They were manufactured in very thick and heavy porcelain to keep the coffee warm as long as possible.

Tish I am glad to say, found the longed for chandeliers!  Great buy Tish!

By the time we returned home our respective families were enjoying a late breakfast in front of the fire and had fun reviewing our finds.

I would love to show you a full loot shoot but I very stupidly managed to drop my camera so I'm temporarily out of visual action - GRRRRRRRRRRR!

I hope that you too had an enjoyable weekend, be it in

Northern Hemisphere autumn, or Southern Spring.

Thank you as always  for reading my blog.

Butterfly Kisses Fabric ~ Sponsored Giveaway

 There's a new fabric shop online!  I am pleased to welcome a new sponsor to The Cottage Home blog ~  
Butterfly Kisses Fabric!

Butterfly Kisses Fabric is a brand new online store dedicated to all your fabric and sewing needs.  Their goal is to offer you a wide selection of beautiful and modern designer fabrics at competitive prices.  Their quality, 100% cotton fabrics are perfectly suited for creating quilts, clothing, home decor and more.  Additionally, they carry a variety of contemporary sewing and quilting patterns from today's most popular designers. 

Butterfly Kisses Fabric strives to provide you with a diverse collection of sewing and quilting supplies, personalized customer service, regularly updated inventory and helpful options to help stretch your sewing budget.

Here is a note about Butterfly Kisses Fabric from the owner, Tammy:

My name is Tammy and along with my husband, Chad, we turned my hobby into a family-friendly business by starting Butterfly Kisses Fabric. Three years ago, I became a stay-at-home mom. Now instead of managing employee benefit plans, I manage our two children: Brendan, 7 and Kinley 3. 

I made my first quilt at the age of 18 and since making that first quilt, I've developed a passion for all things fabric, sewing and quilting! I have been an avid quilter and sewer for 20 years and I sew as often as my schedule allows.   I love fabric and have a considerable stash. Almost all of my personal fabric stash was given to me by others and quite a bit of it is vintage. I also have a significant collection of vintage children's sewing patterns. 

Sharing my love of fabric and sewing is a great outlet for me and gives me a Mommy-break. I can't wait to sew many of the patterns we are currently offering and one of my guilty pleasures is browsing all the new fabric lines that we hope to offer.

Chad is an accounting professional so he keeps me on the right track business-wise. He also likes to use the long-arm quilting machine. He tagged along when I attended the complimentary class that came with the long arm machine and was hooked. He has used the quilter more than I have and has helped me finish up charity quilts. Now if I could just teach him to use the regular sewing machine!

We're really excited about Butterfly Kisses. We have a lot of ideas and can't wait to see what the future will bring.


I'm so excited for you all to go over and visit Butterfly Kisses Fabrics.  They are still working on building their inventory as they are a newer shop, but they have some things that I definitely have my eye on.  Here are some of my favorites from their shop:

Ruby Charm Pack by Bonnie and Camille

'In a Jiffy' quilt pattern by Thimble Blossoms

Grandma Mary's Five Patch by Sweet Jane

Today Butterfly Kisses Fabric is giving away a $50.00 gift certificate to their shop!

 You can spend it on anything you would like........patterns, fabric, pre-cuts, ect........

To enter the giveaway, please do one or all of the following.  Leave a separate comment for each entry (3 entries per person):

1)  Visit Butterfly Kisses Fabric and let us know what you might buy with your gift certificate. Click HERE.

2)  Become a fan of Butterfly Kisses Fabric on Facebook. Click HERE.

3)  Sign up for the Butterfly Kisses Fabric mailing list.  Click HERE.

Giveaway open until Thursday, November 10, 2011 at midnight (CST).

Even if you don't enter the giveaway, I hope you will stop by Butterfly Kisses Fabric and support this new and growing fabric shop.  Let's all take the time to support new businesses and besides, we can never have too many fabric shops in town!

Sleeping Beauty

I love a good upholstered headboard. Images 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Shortcake Reversible Knicker Shorts ~ Tutorial

Many of you have purchased my recently released 'Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress' pattern and I want to say a big, big thank you for all of your support.  I plan to offer several tutorials on the blog to help you get the most out of your pattern purchase and today is the first one.

Today we are going to use the 'Shortcake' pattern by The Cottage Mama to create a fall knicker short that can be worn over tights for the colder weather months that are upon us.  These knickers are a great way to add a little pop of color to your little ones wardrobe and are fully reversible ~ two looks in one!  I chose to use coordinating fabrics, but you could certainly make them out of totally different fabrics for two completely different looks.

So yes, in order to complete this tutorial you will need to get your own copy of the 'Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress' pattern, but once you have it there are many clothing possibilities.  Let's get started........

Find any pair of pants or shorts that fit your child.  We are going to use these to determine the proper rise for the knickers.  Line up the pants/shorts with the pattern size you are using.  Draw a line with a pencil 1" higher than the top of the waistline.

Fold the top of the romper pattern down (don't cut it or you will ruin the pattern).  Now you have your knicker pattern.  Cut the knickers out according to the romper cutting directions and also cut out the leg bands using the included pattern piece.  Sew the seams together for the lining of the knickers and the exterior fabric.  Stop before sewing the crotch seams.

Once you have your seams sewn, turn the lining inside out and place the exterior piece inside the lining.  This will make the knickers have their right sides together.  Line up the top edge of the knickers.  Sew around the entire top of the knickers with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Pull the exterior fabric out of the lining fabric and press the top seam open.  Turn the knickers right side out by tucking the lining fabric down into the outside (exterior fabric) of the knickers.

Edge Stitch around the top of the knickers in coordinating thread.

Measure your elastic.  I cut mine 1" smaller than my daughters waist.  Check the width of the elastic to know how wide to make the second row of stitching.  I used 3/4" wide elastic.

Sew a second row of stitching 1" (depending on elastic width) down from the top edge of the knickers.  Leave a 2" opening to thread elastic.  Thread elastic up through the bottom leg of the knickers through the opening.  Use a bodkin or safety pin to pull the elastic through the waistband.  Overlap the elastic 1" and sew with a zig-zag stitch to secure.  Close 2" waistband opening.

Now continue to sew the crotch seams and leg bands according to pattern directions.  Once leg bands are complete you will have your an adorable pair of Shortcake Reversible Knicker Shorts!

Matilda Jane wearing a fall version of the 'Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress' pattern.

I always have a fun time taking pictures of my girls and truth-be-told, I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get.  Some days Matilda is loving the camera and other days it's Savannah.  Here are a few more sweet pictures of my girls taken during the 'Shortcake Knicker' photoshoot.  They are growing up too fast and are just too cute........I'm their mama, so I can say that right?

If you would like to purchase the 'Shortcake Reversible Romper and Dress' pattern, you can do so here on the blog (below) or through my etsy shop, The Cottage Mama.

Size 6 Month - Girls Size 6

$12.50

To read more about The Cottage Mama Sewing Patterns, click here.

Patterns are available for wholesale purchase, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for order minimums and additional pricing information.

DIY Train Board

Oscar loves trains. When you go to places like MastermindToys they have an awesome train table by their Thomas section. As much as those tables rock, they are problematic for us. 1. A train table is expensive (A few hundred dollars for just the table) 2. It is also HUGE - It takes up a lot of room and 3. I don't like the look of the tables that they sell. They are really decorated and branded, and not really to my taste. Part of me thinks many times, simpler is, better.

Taking a trip back in time, when we were young, my Dad had actually made the nicest train board for us. It is still is around and Oscar plays on it every week when I visit my family. The minute he is in the door, he bolts to the living room, to where my brother has set it up for Oscars visit. It's SO cute.

The reason why this is awesome vs. a table is that you can slide it under a couch, or, store it somewhere easily compared to a table. Having a party? Pick that board up, and hide it in the furnace room. Aubrey and I spent the last few weeks constructing Oscar his very own board. The board itself is very inexpensive, the expense is all in the track + accessories. And, in terms of time - the most time you will also spend on it, is figuring out a train layout. (I think Aubrey spent a few hours trying to figure out exactly the pattern of the track) You can see the finished product below...

For full instructions, and to see the original that my Dad make, click to see more after the jump...

Read more »

mon bouquet du jour - in cider bottles!

At this time of year, bouquets that come from the garden are more about texture than colour.  So this weekend I bought myself some ivory roses and tall ornamental cabbages for my flower arrangement.

I've been loving using small antique glasses for grouping individual flowers, and thought to do the same with some antique cider bottles I found recently.

I love the palette of subtle colours, the way that the indidual stems come together as a bouquet by being cut at differing heights before popped into the bottles.

It's amazing how the colour of these bottles changes with the light, I'll definitely be using them outside in the summer.

Quiet Time- In Every Moment

Via, Thanks Jenn