Stop staring and start sewing!

Scrappity scrap scrap

I'm pleased to say I finished my December block before December ended (just barely,but hey!). Kristena sent me some sweet, eclectic fabrics to make a scrappy log cabin with and I was doing fine until I saw that she had thrown some corduroy in. My brain started yelling "Danger! Does not compute! Does not compute!" but I think I worked it out. I don't know what the big deal was, it sews just like everything else. I guess the idea of mixing it with regular woven fabric was just something I hadn't stopped to consider. It was fun to use my last scrap of that Amy Butler fabric for the center and I added some Tracy Porter prints because they fit with the other colors so well.

I hope she likes it!  I think her quilt is going to end up looking like a brand new heirloom (that may be an oxymoron, but I think it fits).  Here's our Flickr group if you want to see what we've come up with so far.

Since I was already in the Scrappy Cabin Zone I decided to add a few more to my own little collection. I was able to get 5 done while watching Ice Age with my toddler who makes a nice sewing companion in spite of his occasional destructive tendencies ("Repeat after Mommy: We do not un-fold things. Un-folding is bad.  Folding is good")

I'm still trying to pick a favorite.  Maybe the one with the dog in the middle.

So I'm up to 13 now.  I need to pick some new fabrics to add to my strips since I'm starting to see some repetition.  But I'm happy so far.

And I think I've finally come to the sad realization that I need to take my machines in for tune-ups.  My serger is skipping stitches and I've tried everything to fix it.  Since my favorite shop closed I just don't trust anyone.  Will they take good care of my machines?  Do they realize I need them back tomorrow (preferably sooner)??  Ugh.  I've been thinking of ordering a bunch of Organ brand needles for my serger.  Has anyone tried these?  I'd love any help.

Oh and on the home front, we have new neighbors and they have......kids!  We live in a neighborhood with pretty big houses and we assumed there would be lots of kids here but most of the big houses just have two people in them.  What's with that?  Why dust and vacuum more than you absolutely have to?  Anyway, the new neighbors have kids in the same age range as mine and they're Italian too (I'm not, but my kids are) so maybe we can have them over for cannolis or something?  Fun!  Maybe we'll have some new friends this year.  :)

When life gives you lemons....be happy!

Sorry for the long absence.  As if getting ready for Christmas wasn't enough, we got hit with some sort of (flu?) bug and I was holding out okay until Skate had a night of barfing/fevers.  I was really happy that I got him into the bathroom as soon as I realized he was going to throw up.  It's so much easier to clean tile than carpet, isn't it?  After our bath (we both got splattered, ew) I stayed up all night with him (we got to watch Monsters, Inc. at 2:00 in the morning which was kind of fun) and that was the last straw for my immune system.  But finally we are all on the mend here if you don't count a couple of sniffly noses (sniffles I can handle).

I haven't done much sewing with everything going on and my sewing room is so messy right now that it's hard to be inspired.  But I have done a little Christmas cooking and it was so nice to be able to pick some ingredients straight from my backyard.

I've been trying to nurture and baby my lemon tree this year and I'm so pleased to finally have a nice little bumper crop. Here is a picture I took in July when I knew things were looking hopeful.

And here is a picture from today.  I have around 50 lemons. Last year I had only 16.  It's already starting to blossom for next years crop and when the blossoms open the smell is just heavenly.  Isn't this pretty with the yellow and purple together?  We're actually getting a freeze tonight so I need to go put a sheet over the tree before bed.

I have to share a picture of one of the gifts Olivia made.  She stitched this sweet little mouse with it's own sleeping bag for Sofia (and it was very well received).  So adorable.  I love his wacky whiskers.

I've had a lot of people ask if I will be getting more of Tanya Whelan's wonderful Darla at Fabritopia and yes, I will (and I'll re-stock David Walker's Robots too)! Darla's such a beautiful collection and it's been selling so fast I haven't had time to play with it. But I'm realizing that it blends beautifully with some of the prints from the Ava Rose line (especially the dots and damasks) so the possibilities are crazy. And it looks like I'll be getting Jennifer Paganelli's Flower Power in early January (I was hoping it would come this month but it's definitely the next one up at least). I'm also expecting Flights of Fancy (yay Paula!) and Good Folks (and I'm hoping I can squeeze some of Patty Young's beautiful Andalucia in too) in January.   So January is stacking up pretty good already!

My 15% off "shelfspace08" sale ends at the end of the month (or should I say "the end of the year"?) so don't wait too long (especially since Pop Garden and Bell Bottom are both marked down right now!). 

I hope everybody enjoyed a wonderful Christmas (and Hanukkah!) with your loved ones.  Our families have been snowed in for days up in Oregon (I think the snow lost it's charm some time last week) so we are grateful for just a little chill and a little rain here in Arizona.

One step closer to Christmas

I'm so excited because I got some great gift ideas before Christmas this year!  Usually I get great gift inspiration after Christmas and it just drives me nuts. 

In our family we draw names just to keep it simpler.  My sisters and our spouses draw amongst each other and then the kids and grandkids (my sister has 4 grandsons) draw amongst each other.  So we have 3 little boys to get gifts for (well, officially speaking, my kids have 3 little boys to get gifts for but we know how that goes).  So I decided this would be a great time to play with David Walker's Robots Fabric (love it!) and I whipped up 3 little backpacks.

Here's where the inspiration part comes in...I thought it would be fun to attach a fob type thing so the boys could hang some fun stuff off of their packs. I went to Walmart and found some great little l.e.d. flashlights in lots of fun colors and some ring and clip things (in the craft aisle). As I was walking down the camping aisle after procuring my flashlights I looked up and saw something every little boy loves...a whistle! Oh yes, they must have whistles!

I'm going to score some big time Super Great Auntie points with these guys! I even got a whistle for my youngest great-nephew (who is 10 days younger than my son!) because the thought of his big brothers running all over my sister's house whistling at the top of their lungs while he sits there all sad and whistleless just about broke my heart (yes, I am sort of snickering as I type this).  One of my great-nephews lives in Alaska so I need to get these packaged and on their way.

I hope you're all a little closer to getting your gifts ready! I went to the post office today and waited in line (usually I just stuff things in the drop slots and run out). It was nice to chat with the gal next to me in line and talk with my post office people (they are the nicest). I'd like to bring some cookies up to them but I'm not sure if that's allowed (does anyone know?). Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season so far!

Your Christmas gift from me...an apron in an hour!

Apron in an Hour tutorial.

Editors addendum:  I've just converted the tutorial into a downloadable pdf file (and my pillowcase tutorial too)!  Print it out and have fun sewing!

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Well last year I gave my fabulous readers (that means you!) a cookie recipe as my gift (pretty picture of the cookies here at Heather's blog).  And since I've received so many requests for a pattern of the apron from my previous post, I've decided to make this tutorial my gift to you.  And you still have plenty of time to use it for some impressive gift giving!

This apron is great (if'n I do say so) because it only requires one fat quarter (the floral in this one) for the main apron piece and 1/2 yard of fabric (the stripes of course!) for the waistband and ties.  Pleeeeeeease remember, your apron is only going to be as pretty as the fabric you use so be sure to pick some fabrics that you love and you will love the apron you make!

Let's get started!
Remove the selvedges from your waistband fabric.  I just snip the end and rip it off so it stays on grain.

Lay your fabric down and make snips (about 1") at 6" and 12".  Now rip your fabric (yep, rip it!) into 3 equal strips.  You can cut your fabric, but ripping it keeps it on grain and makes it go a lot faster too.

So now you have 3 strips (6" x 44") and one fat quarter. 

Snip and rip the selvedge off your fat quarter piece now.

Take one of your 6" waistband strips and cut a piece off the same width as your fat quarter (22" or thereabouts, not the 18" side).  Save the remaining length of this waistband strip for later.

Fold your strip in half and press well. 

Now put your fat quarter and folded strip together (on the right side of your fat quarter) so the raw edges all match up.  Stitch in place using about a 1/3 inch seam allowance.

Press open (seam allowance pressed upward) and topstitch.

Now hem your sides by folding over twice (press each time) and stitching.

Now take the remaining piece of the waistband strip (the one you cut for the bottom of your apron) and pin the two long pieces to each side.

Stitch both seams and then press them open.

Now lay your main apron piece on the center piece of the waistband, right sides together (be sure to center it evenly) and stitch pieces together across the top of the apron piece using a 1/3" seam allowance.

Fold and press the unfinished edge of your waistband strip directly above the main apron piece (just fold the part above the apron, not the whole length of the waistband).

Fold the waistband strip right sides together, matching raw edges.  Pin both sides but leave the center above the main apron piece open.

At the end of each waistband strip make a mark 2 inches up from the bottom (I used blue disappearing ink).

Now stitch your waist ties starting at the main apron piece.

When you reach the mark you made (2" up from the bottom) lower your needle, pivot, and stitch a straight line ending just above the corner where the fold meets the raw edge.

Trim the extra fabric away below your stitch line.

Turn your ties right side out (I use my Turn-it-all tool, which I love).

Now press your ties nice and flat (take your time so you get a nice crisp edge).  Fold the unsewn part of the waistband over so that the folded edge covers the stitch line.  Pin in place on right side (use lots of pins).

Now use a small zigzag stitch on the right side of your apron and stitch all the way across the top where the main apron piece meets the waistband piece. 

Trim all your loose strings and iron your apron.  Now you have a lovely gift for a very special person and they don't need to know that it only took you an hour.  Or you can keep it for yourself and look oh-so-sassy while doing your Christmas baking!

If you make this apron I'd love it if you added it to my Flickr group!  I really want to see what everyone comes up with!  Thank you!

Quilt block number two

Well I'm trying to play catch up here, so today I was finally able to put together a quilt block for Jessica.  November was her month for a quilt block in our Twelve Square group so I'm a little behind.  Her theme was "autumn" and I think I pulled it off.  Here is the block I came up with.

I added some of Sandi's Farmers Market prints (on sale now!) to the fabrics Jessica sent because the colors are just perfect for autumn.  Here is a close up of the little appliques I added (it looked a little plain before).  I used bits from my Pottery Barn pillowcase (a very fun print and I'm getting a lot of mileage out of it!).

For December I'm doing a block for Kristena, who's theme is "scrappy log cabins".  Fun! Here's what she sent.  Some of the other gals already have this one done so you can check them out at our Flickr group.

And I had a chance to play with some of Kaffe Fassett's new fabric. I made this fun hostess apron for a dear friend and I think it turned out great with the Sis Boom print accenting it (and it took less than an hour from start to finish!).  Snappy! 

**apron tutorial here**

Oh, and I am sad to report that my wonderful cheap plastic invisible zipper foot lived up to it's description (the "cheap plastic" part) and broke on the 3rd zipper I used it for. I was able to finish the zipper okay but the foot is toast. On the bright side, I now realize I really do need to get an official metal invisible zipper foot because it makes the job so easy (it makes me "want" to put zippers in things and that's huge).  So it wasn't a complete waste of 2 bucks.

3 dresses in 3 days

Well I finished the girls dresses and still had time to get ready.  Usually I'm snipping threads as we're running out the door so I'm patting myself on the back for pulling it together a little better this time (and for teaching the girls how to snip their own threads!).

Here is Olivia's dress (Simplicity 3867).  She was very happy with the outcome and I think it's festive enough for Christmas (in Arizona you don't need sleeves on your Christmas dress!) but versatile enough for other times of the year.  This dress went together surprisingly fast especially since I'd never used the pattern before.  The fabric is from Mary Engelbreit's Isn't Christmas Jolly? line (on sale for 5.50 yd) and I think the dots make it sweet but spunky.  Do you love her shoes?!

I made Peety's (Simplicity 2886) last (only because I made her's first the last time and I'm trying to be fair) and it was pretty fast too. Joey took the kids out of the house so I could have some peace and quiet while sewing so I popped in Grease and went to work. I saw that movie countless times when it first came out and never realized how saucy some of the lyrics are. Anyway, this dress was fun because it zips up the side and I've never done a side zip before. Very nice detail. Oh, and this dress is made from taffeta (50% off!!) which wasn't awful but a little bit trickier than cotton. I needed to adjust my tension more and it was still a little puckery. I think this dress would have been very boring if I hadn't added the upwards ruffle under the bodice (an idea I hijacked from Kay Whitt's amazing Juliet tunic).

For Sofia's dress I used New Look 6749 which is the same on I used for the junior bridesmaids dresses I did last month. I figured it would go together fast since I had already done this pattern and I was right. Once I got the bodice fitted the rest was done in a flash. I used Tanya Whelan's Ava Rose fabric and I'm very happy with the finished look (and the $4.00 shoes!). I think Sofia was happy too even though she would rather wear blue jeans and a plaid flannel shirt.

So here they are together. Too old to wear matching dresses (I miss those days!) but pretty girls nonetheless.

And in store news, David Walker's Robots fabric will be here tomorrow with some of Tanya Whelan's Darla. I'm going to start shipping the Robots out tomorrow and the Darla on Wednesday (when the rest of it arrives). It's already in the store for pre-orders (and already selling so don't wait too long!). And everything is still 15% off with the coupon code "shelfspace08".

Happy Monday everyone!

We have a winner.....

Okay, out of the 276 comments I received (wow!) the random number picker (random.org) picked comment number 173 which belongs to Lina who said "I'd love this! :)" at 10:32 am on Dec 4th.  Congratulations Lina!  I'm sending you this fabulous pile of scraps (actually about 2.5 yards judging by the weight) and a cute Reading Pillow pattern by Sew Liberated.  Fun stuff!

I just finished Sofia's dress and it turned out great. Very lady-like but age appropriate (she's 12 next week). And I found some shoes for her for 4.00!! So I have one dress left to make (taffeta!) before tomorrow evening. I promise to share pictures when everything is done and everybody is shiny and pretty.

I found a really great and cheap plastic invisible zipper foot while out shopping yesterday and I'm in love with it! It was $2.10 (plus tax) and the cheapest I've seen the metal ones is around $20.00 on ebay. I found a great tutorial on this blog and it was really easy to use. Here's what it looks like (with a small peek of Sofia's fabric and trim).

Here's what it looks like in action. Nice.

I also bought some new serger needles (my serger's been skipping stitches so I'm hoping it's just the needles) but it turns out they're entirely the wrong kind.  They are completely round instead of a half shanked so they are useless to me (the 5.49 I spent on them kind of ruined the deal I got on the invisible zipper foot but, oh well).  So if anyone can use some Schmetz DCx1 serger needles you can have them for free (just pay 1.00 for shipping and they're yours).  First come first serve.  :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pleats are from the devil

I hate pleats the way Indiana Jones hates snakes (I hate those too). I hope I'm never thrown into a pit of pleats (especially if there was an iron and ironing board in there). I'm making dresses for all 3 of my girls to wear to the youth banquet at church this Saturday (yes, I know it's 3 days away but thanks for mentioning it). Wouldn't you know 2 of the girls picked dresses with pleats, many pleats. I'm almost done with Olivia's and I have to admit begrudgingly, the pleats make it look nice (but they are soooo tedious).

I'm using Simplicity 3867 with the fabric underneath (from Mary Engelbreit's Isn't Christmas Jolly? collection).  It was surprisingly fast to make but I don't like the fact that I couldn't try the bodice on by itself because you have to adjust the bodice gathers while fitting it to the skirt.  So I just used really big stitches so I could remove it easily to make adjustments.  I only had to shorten the shoulder straps so there wasn't a lot of seam ripping to do fortunately.

Peety picked Simplicity 2886 which is very similar (but different!). We haven't settled on a fabric yet.  I think the modeled picture makes it look very boring (it seems like that happens a lot) but I think we can make it look snazzy with a little imagination.  Or maybe no imagination...maybe it just needs a solid fabric?

I recently decided I needed a new purse since my current bag is getting old (but I still love it!). So I picked out some favorite fabrics to start with. I really love this brown Tiled Primrose from Heather's Bijoux collection. I got a lot of sneak peeks while Heather was creating this line and this one always caught my eye.  I think it's my favorite.  I thought it would be fun to soften it up with some of the Wallpaper Roses.

Then I thought hey! I've got all these scraps, why don't I add to it?

I'm really liking this.

I wasn't sure how I was going to stitch it all in place then I remembered my machine has a free-style quilting option (which I've never attempted). I tried it and I like it! It allows me to go backward, forward, sideways, whatever. It took awhile to get the hang of it but I think I have it sort of figured out.  Kind of fun and funky, don't you think?

I've decided to turn it into a pillow instead. I think it needs to be part of my home decor.

And I'm thrilled because I just received another huge shipment from Free Spirit about 2 hours ago! I'm sorry to say it's not the Robots fabric (that's coming in a few days though...with Darla!), but it's lots more Ava Rose, Bell Bottom and Pop Garden. And the best part (for me anyway) is I'm finally carrying Kaffe Fassett's fabrics and they are stunning! Everything is still 15% off for the rest of the month too!

And I'm joining many other blogs and taking part in Give-Away Day (such a great idea)! I have copious quantities of scraps around here so I thought I would just give away a big assortment (it will equal at least 2 yards) of different sizes of scraps and this darling Reading Pillow pattern from Sew Liberated! That could keep a person busy for quite awhile.  Just leave a comment.

(This picture in no way represents the true magnitude of the scrappage from my store I have around here)

I hope everyone is having a great December so far. Don't get too stressed and if you do get stressed just grab a nice cup of tea and put on some soft music...nice. That's my therapy anyway.  Oh, and sew!