You may not know this about me, but years ago (actually decades now), I was a collector of all things mid-century modern.  Starburst clocks, a ridiculous amount of anodized aluminum everything, a sleek vintage black sofa, at one point we even had 4 six-feet tall aluminum Christmas trees. Now we live in a 1920's Tudor cottage so I find myself drawn to older designs when decorating.  That's not to say there aren't plenty of bits of Fire King and Pyrex around the kitchen.

Some stuff you just can't let go of.

I think that's why Jeni's Color Me Retro line pulled at my heart.  It's filled with all those vibrant colors that are all over my dishes so I wanted to come up with a project that I could use in the dining room to really play off my collections.

My second inspiration came from this version, Katy made from her Spring Carnival pattern.  I love the pieces that are floating away or maybe back into their proper place.

I used Katy's templates for all the cutting and along with paper shapes from Paper Pieces.  I appliqued the pieces by hand to a couple of yards of linen.

To help the corners to look pretty and polished, I did a 1" hem on opposite sides and then added a second row of top stitching 1/8" away from the first.  Then I turned up the corner 1 1/2" before I hemmed the remaining two sides.

Once hemmed, I added the second row of top stitching just 1/8" away and I was left with a great looking hem.

(this shot was before I trimmed up the strings - after I did that, trust me it's a great looking hem)

I love having these bursts of color at the table everyday.  To me it's the perfect way to bring a little mid-century fun into my Tudor cottage world.

I went on a little fabric expedition with Jeni and Megan last month to Olive Juice.  I grabbed this Melody Miller fabric within seconds of walking in the door. The little stars have that 50's feel that I adore and the little white dishes reminded me of my favorite fire king refrigerator dishes.  I didn't really know what I would do with it, but while standing at the cutting table I knew I came up with a plan for kitchen curtains so I could see the fabric every day.

I love the ease of curtain clips, but don't like the  look of the clips so I stitched a band to the back of the header so the clips aren't as visible.

I also slipped some header tape in the top so the top holds it's shape.

On these curtains the header tape was just stitched and the bottom.  It should have been tucked into the sides, but I forgot.  oops...don't tell my mom.

Here's the thing... I've never had much luck with dishwashers.  They etch my glasses, they permanently bond any left over food  on to my plates, they are rough on my vintage dishes, and they are noisy.  I'm told that new ones are better about all of those things but when I have enough extra money lying around to buy one, I'm going to use that money to buy something fun like fabric or a new water heater.  I also adore my galley kitchen.  Everything is right there where I need it, when I need it, but baking can be a bit pan intensive.  I was keeping all my baking pans on a shelf in the basement.

but then, the dishwasher was removed -

shelves were made and rigorously tested -

once the paint cured, I loaded them with serving pieces -

I was able to hide all my cake and bread pans in the cupboard where the serving pieces used to sit.  My favorite part though is the muffin papers in the jar (that part was lulu's job).