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.

 

Fall Quilt Market 2012

Our annual trek to Houston took place this weekend.  Cindy and I have this down to an art:  get up WAY before sunrise, make it to Houston when the doors open, see EVERY booth, then get out of town in time for dinner and home in time to see the kids before they’re asleep.  Lots of fun as always and a few shots to post here.

Two thumbs up to Moda for their fun and playful displays.  Lots to see there.  First up, colorful paint stirrers and

paint cans!

and of course, fabric,

fabric,

and more fabric.

(Clicking on the pictures should take you to some links.)

Dinner, of course, was yummy.  But no surprises here.  After a delicious meal, gains are definitely expected!

Wallpaper

Normally I’m not a big fan of wallpaper.  I like the colors and prints of wallpaper, almost in the same way I like the colors and designs of fabric but I had a bad experience once, trying to remove it from our bathroom walls after moving in.  I ultimately failed and we had to hire professionals to finish the job because it was just not coming off.    But when the giant blank wall behind our kitchen table was begging to have something put on it I decided to give wallpaper another chance – in a small dose.

I got a large board (3′ x 5′) which just barely squeezed into the van, painted the edges white and wallpapered it.  It sounds easy, but this job took hours – getting the wallpaper to hang straight on the board, then trying to get the board to hang straight on the wall.  I like to think I’m handy with tools, but sometimes it’s still a challenge.  The wood is actually anchored to some pieces of wood behind it so it isn’t flush on the wall – sorta like art.

Since the table was clean, I took a few extra pictures.

I happy with how it turned out.  I originally wanted to hang pictures on and around the board, but I’ve decided I like the simplicity of it.

M. Couture

What I do when I find mushrooms in the yard…

Cloth Baby Shoes

My sister’s tutorial for Cloth Baby Shoes has been around forever, but I only just recently had the perfect reason to make them.

Let me just say that it is a fabuloo tutoriloo!  Remember when you just started sewing and every little project made you feel so good?  This is what these shoes did for me.

It’s a feeling that I miss since when I’m designing my own stuff there are so many failures before a success.

The ruffle gives them a little bit of a house slipper look.

And I sewed lines across the bottom so they look like treads.

Hope they make a baby happy!