Traveling with a couple of cushions

Happy summer everyone!  We are in Taiwan again, trying to conquer jet lag and failing miserably.  It was quite the ordeal getting here.  One of my boys chipped off a good bit of his front tooth just minutes before we were supposed to leave for the airport.  My first thought was that we might have to cancel our trip, but thanks to our fabulous dentist, who agreed to meet us at his office on a Saturday we made it.  My son was rather dramatic – crying, sputtering and coughing in the chair – such a sad sight.  The dentist’s office wasn’t fully staffed so I found myself  holding the suction tube while the assistant took care of something else.  The suction tube is an impossible tool for an amateur to use.  I was aiming for the spit but kept accidentally suctioning the inside of his cheek.  Over and over again.  After a bit the dentist kindly took it from me.  Some laughing gas, lidocaine, and an overhead movie calmed my son down and the tooth was repaired in record time.  Ibuprofen every few hours and we made it to the other side of the world!  I miss our dogs and I miss my hubby, but I also love it here.  Hubby will join us in a couple of weeks.

I made a couple of quilted cushions as gifts for friends here.  One for a friend’s daughter,

and one for a newborn’s nursery.

What makes these cushions special for me is that I screen printed the main panels with my Yudu.  After yuduing, you are supposed to set the ink by ironing it for a really long time (3-5 minutes).  That worked fine for the little birdie because it was small enough to fit under the iron, but the alphabet print took a while because it was so much larger.  Standing at the ironing board with an iron that automatically shuts off every 30 seconds and trying to heat set the ink in 6 different places – I got bored, I lost track of what I had done, and I was wishing I had one of these heat presses.  I have to admit that I was scared that when I threw the cushion covers in the wash the ink would wash all off.  But all is well and I’m hoping the recipients like them!  And now I have extra room in my suitcase to pack in some craft magazines for the trip home.

For Baby Hill

I really should quilt more.  I’ve been gradually giving away my pile of baby quilts and when I got an invitation to a baby shower realized that I didn’t have one on hand. I’m not a big fan of sewing under pressure, but sometimes being forced to sew is good for me.  I took a quick trip to the fabric store and had this quilt finished the night before the shower.

It was washed and wrinkled just hours before before gifting,

& wrapped with a little teddy bear.

It was a lot bigger than I anticipated – 52″ x 52″.

Have you ever given away a quilt only to have the recipient say that they were going to to keep it in a drawer because it was too nice?  I made sure mom knew it was fully washable and intended for burps and spit up.  Hopefully it will be doing it’s job well in the coming months!

Nice Job, CME!

I really enjoy seeing what people make out of my patterns.  Love it even more when I look at a picture and think, “Wow – that’s my design?”

Photography by Brent Ward.

Love what they’ve done to the Tailored Bag in Creative Machine Embroidery magazine!  Isn’t it purdy?  Beautiful silk, beautiful model, beautiful photography.  They did a super nice job.

Thank You Notes

Call me old-fashioned, but I make my kids write thank you notes for their Christmas gifts.  And since we are off from school for a couple of weeks, they have the time and I get a chance to make some cards.  I appreciate a thoughtfully written note and know that those who took the time to purchase gifts for our family will appreciate the small thank you in return.
Fabric + Paper

Happy New Year to you all!

Fabric Storage Found!

I’ve been looking for a while for the perfect solution to store my fabric. It had to have open-front shelving so I could see my fabric.  The shelves had to be short, because fabric doesn’t stack very high and any extra space would just be wasted.  And finally, it had to be CUTE.  I wasn’t going to spend $ on something that wasn’t cute.  Then I found it (see photo).  It was the right color, right height, right size and exactly the right level of cuteness.  It was a splurge, but I will splurge for cuteness & perfection.

When the shelves finally came, I opened the box and the first thing I noticed was how cute they were.  The second thing I noticed was how smelly they were!  But not to worry – I opened the windows and aired them out for a couple of days.  Then when I thought it was safe,  I started getting my fabric folded into perfect little piles to fit in those perfect little cubbies.  That’s when it hit me.  Not only did the smell seem stronger, I was getting a headache from it.  I can’t sew with a headache.  :(   A little online research told me exactly what I needed to know – the MDF used in this furniture releases formaldehyde, polluting the air in my house not for a few days but continuing to release it for several years.  I think the paint is also partially to blame.  The sad thing is that this furniture is marketed for use by children. *sigh*  Needless to say, I called, complained and got it all returned.

It was around that time that we got a new handyman.  He does it all, including building furniture from scratch (so jealous). So after going over the dimensions, paint color, and wood, he brought me the finished product: my early Christmas present.

The only adaptation I made was cutting one set of shelves into 2 shorter shelves.  These shelves hold WAY more fabric than the shelves I had before.  And the old shelves took up more space.  So happy with these.  They cost $100 more than the ones I returned – definitely worth the cost of no headaches!  Wishing I knew about cabinet makers before – am now a huge fan of custom furniture.

Simple Cushion Tie Closure

Last year when I made a bunch of cushions around Christmastime I started making the closures a bit differently.  I don’t mind long ties, but I find it hard to make them look nice when they inevitably get untied.  What I like about my new way is that I get a nice, secure knot every time.

One one side is a little fabric tab and on the other are two short ties.  One tie goes through the tab and with one half knot you’re good to go.

The added bonus is that a little kid could easily tie this one up herself.

Nice.  Simple.

for Baby Samantha {and her sisters, because I couldn’t help myself}

When Baby Samantha was born I naturally wanted to make her a little something for her room.

But then, being the overly generous person that I am, (haha) I thought it would be nice to make her older sisters something, too.

Ignoring for a second that when I do this to myself I create a psychological black hole in my mind where all my sewing motivation gets sucked into, where I have a hard time even starting because the project has taken on gigantic proportions in my head, and instead of  3 cushions taking 3 times as long as 1 cushion, they take 6 times as long to actually complete – ignoring all that, when I actually get sewing I enjoy it.

I can’t help myself, really.  I’m hoping the girls like their pink cushions.  And yes, I double checked the spelling on the names.  :)

Love the font – all the letters except the capital “S” are from Candy Inc. available for free here.