Stop staring and start sewing!

Please pardon our dust......

We are in the middle of our first major re-model here so it's a bit crazy (but fun) right now.  We knocked a hole in the loft (where the store is) leading into our master bedroom.  Our master bedroom is huge (28 feet long!) so we've walled it off into a more cozy room and the extra space is now going to be an office (!).  This way we can get all of our desks and school area out of the loft and re-arrange the shelves in the store to make room for....MORE FABRIC!!!! Woohoo!  Yip yip!  Here's the view from my desk now:

Here's the actual view. Asher and Skate can't resist a bed that's actually made. I'm loving Skate's get-up. He has a mask, boots, and a parka type coat on (it's over 80 degrees out). He calls himself "Super" when he's playing dress up. Not Superman, or Super spider, just Super (it kind of covers everything he might want to be super at). He loves wearing safety goggles to the dinner table too, and it's so funny to see him saying grace with them on (it's hard for the rest of us because we just want to watch him and giggle, which just feels wrong).

We knocked out the interior wall to make room for built in cabinets and shelves. We knew this space was here since we watched them build the house and it's always bugged me that this extra space was going to waste. I made sure to have my dad check for any dead bodies hidden in here before he completely knocked it down (with a little help from my home grown demolition crew). Fortunately there wasn't even a dead fly in there so that's good (you never know, it could happen).

I'm anticipating a very busy few days here between the office construction and the arrival of Flower Power (I'm actually going to have to re-order some on Monday since it's going so fast), so I thought I'd do a give-away to keep everybody giddy with anticipation. In order to clear some shelf space and tidy up the site I'm trying to get rid of some straggler fabrics so I thought I would just give-away the last of the Flirt fabric. I have two very big-boned stacks of fabric here (wrapped in 2 yards of sweet pink lace). The bottom two cuts are a yard each and the rest are all around 1/2 to 3/4 yard (except for a fat quarter thrown in there). More than 4 yards total! Just leave a comment telling us all how this fabric would completely alter your life and improve your existence in so many fabulous ways and I'll use that random thing to pick the two most worthy comments.

Have a very constructive weekend!!

Is this heaven? No, it's SAS (oh, and Flower Power just showed up!).

On Saturday Joey and I ran out to SAS to see if I could find any fun goodies for the store.  We bribed Sofia with food (terrific hot dogs and onion rings!) so she came along.  It's a lot of fun there in a musty, treasure hunting sort of way.  I brought my camera and snuck some pictures.

This is the wall of patches and appliques.  They have some seriously vintage stuff here and it's lots of fun.

Here are the ribbons, sequins, and other flowery, shiny things.

Get your shimmy on here.

My favorite wall!  Laces in every color, width, and style.  Look at those lavenders!  They have gold lace, lime green lace (got some!) and stunning ivory laces.  I make a lot of noise when shopping on this wall (lots of "ooooohhhs" and "aaaaahhhhhs" and "oh my gosh"es).

This is my favorite green lace ever.  I was getting low on it so I pulled it from the store and started hoarding it.  Well I found another 70 yards of it there!  So it's in the store at a great price and it looks great with half the fabrics out there (kind of like Amy Butler's Lotus Dots Lime fabric). 

Okay!!!!!! The UPS guy JUST left and look what I have!! 8 bolts of Flower Power (your patience has been rewarded)! I ran upstairs to call Westminster and the rest of it shipped Monday and Tuesday so I will have it ALL by Monday the 2nd (and lots more Darla)!! I'm so happy. Here's a peek (sorry for the blur but it's an action shot).

I'll put it all up for pre-orders on Saturday (make sure you're on my mailing list if you need a reminder). I'm off to play with it now (I'll try to save some for you)!

More scrappy therapy

I had time to sit down and put together 6 more scrappy cabin blocks.  I'm really happy with them.  I really like the fact that I can use my little scraps since all it takes a 1 x 2.5 inch piece of fabric to get started (that little piece is the first piece you sew onto the center square).  So don't throw anything away!!



So far I'm up to 19 blocks (!).  I bought enough batting to make a decent sized lap quilt so I may use my blocks for that (big enough to be useful but small enough to keep me from being intimidated).



I'm trying to keep a decent supply of 1" strips in a box so I can sit down whenever I want to sew something (anything!) but don't want to work on a big project. I bought a 2.5 x 2.5 inch plastic square to cut my center square with. It was kind of spendy (over 4 bucks for a piece of plastic!) so the verdict is still out as to whether it was worth it or not (I'll let you know when I reach a decision).



Joey and I are going to a friend's birthday party tonight (no kids allowed!). We'll be bowling so I'm hoping I don't embarrass myself since I spent a great deal of my childhood in the bowling alley (the nursery anyway) and I'm hoping some of my mother's skillz rubbed off on me (she's had the same bowling shoes for 40 years!). I'm assuming it will smell like cigarette smoke and chiklets when I walk in the door (ah, sweet memories of the 70's). The birthday girl is a great cook so I think she'll like the apron I'm giving her (she doesn't have to know it's one of my rejected proto-types!). Fun!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday blahg post

I've been feeling droopy and boring lately in spite of large quantities of coffee.  But I remembered today that I had forgotten to draw from all of the Evelyn skirt buyers (I was supposed to do it on Saturday, oops).  So without further ado, the winner of the $50.00 gift certificate for some ga-ga gorgeous fabric (I'm even throwing in shipping!) is Sherri Youngblood.  Fun stuff Sherri (and Flower Power is coming)!!   

I'm getting close to finishing my reversible apron pattern here.  I've been obsessing over the neckline.  I want it to be flattering without gaping and last night I was showing it to Joey and he made a comment about it that let me know I was on the right track.  Coming from another man the comment would have been considered a bit lecherous but since he's my husband he gets a pass (and a kiss).

Here are some pockets in the work.  This is my favorite fabric combo so far.  The ironing board is one of the kitty's favorite sunny spots.  Sometimes she'll open an eye when I'm ironing near her but she usually ignores all the goings on in this room. 

I think all this apron making has put me in a baking mood. My favorite coffee shop has wonderful cherry almond scones but they don't have them every day so it can be quite disappointing to go up there and leave empty handed. So this is my first attempt at trying to re-create their recipe. It turned out okay but not quite right (I think I need to grind some almonds to mix in with the flour). One of my kids labeled the sugar jar and as you can see she spelled it phonetically, yet wrong. I'm leaving it there to keep me humble (since I homeschool my kids and tend to take credit for their brilliance).

I just got my new business cards yesterday and I want to show them off. The green, the dots, the "stitches", the vintage scissors....I love it!! And I really love the back. If you look close you can see the pretty damask pattern.

When I was ready for a new look I knew I wanted Michelle Shirley to create it for me and I'm so glad she was available! A few years ago we were in a design group on ebay together and she was the group artist (she's part of the reason I wanted to be in that group!).  She graciously made my ebay logo in exchange for an outfit I made for her daughter.  I'm still crazy about that logo.  Here are two versions she worked up for me.  I love them both but  settled on the second one (I just adore the squiggly border).  Aren't they great?!

She has two beautiful sites, Little Dreams Art and Michelle Studio Art and sometimes I'll visit them just to look at all the eye candy she makes.

And speaking of eye candy!  Tanya Whelan has a peek at her new line, French Hat Box, over on her blog.  Yippy!  And Jennifer Paganelli has already designed two more lines (not counting Flower Power)!  I spoke with my Westminster gal today and she says Flower Power is starting to trickle in but most of it is still in the folding and bolting stage so it may be a couple of weeks before I have it all (but they usually send some once they have a good amount to get stores started).  I can't wait! 

Friday is fish day

Well Joey's getting close to finishing his first major knitting project and it's looking really cute! Here's the site where he got the idea (see, it's a fish!).  I think he's contemplating a sweater (for me!) next.

I'm trying hard to keep my hands off of the Sweet fabric because I know it's popular and I'm not supposed to hoard it for myself anyway but I had to play with a little (just to get it out of my system). I'm really obsessed with this reversible apron pattern (to the point that it's keeping me up at night). I might even make one to keep at some point (this one's going in the store)!  Be sure to run over to Happy Zombie and see what Monica is doing with this fabric! Cute times ten!!

And I was so excited to find the ingredients for my next quilt block assignment in the mailbox today. These are the fabrics from Melissa at WhatKnot. I love them!!  I think I'm going to add a little of Patty Young's Andalucia Jester fabric to it.

And there's a designer with a new collection coming real soon and you should run over and take a look! I've been a fan of Bari J. for a long time and when I was in Houston for Quilt Market I recognized her by her purse (she was in line in front of me and her purses are truly exquisite). I was thrilled to be able to spend some time chatting with her and found out she was going to meet with some of the manufacturers about creating a line of fabric. She went home with a contract and is finally giving a peek on her blog. I will confess she already let me see it and I've already ordered the whole line! It's being released by Windham and they make some of the softest fabric out there.

Did you notice my new blog colors? Joey told me about this great site called Kuler and you can "create" your own colors and then get the html number and use it on your blog or site or whatever (it will even save your color combos for you). Or you can just sit there for hours playing with it while your kids tear the house apart (like me!).  Super fun!

And here's a sample from my busy day today:  I was driving with all 5 kids in the car and from the backseat I hear Sofia, sounding quite irritated, say to her 8 year old brother, "Will you stop showing me your ear wax!".  His reply was "Look how big it is!".  Sigh.  I'm so glad I get to sit up front and drive.

♥♥♥Have a lovely Valentine's Day!!♥♥♥

I can't think of a title so I shall name this post "Fred"

We decided to play hookie this morning and run out to my parents for donuts and coffee and a chance to enjoy the rain in the desert.  They live at the base of Silly Mountain (yes, that's it's name!) which is part of the Superstition Mountain Range (just a small part on the outside of the mountains).  I could see the mountains clouded over from my house so we decided to make a run for it.  I figured the mess would still be here when I came back (and wouldn't you know it, I was right!).

They have a couple of acres so the kids just sort of run loose and work off some energy. Here they all are riding the chariot. Farmers actually used these for races (they attach them to tractors) and my dad picked this one up at an auction.

Yep, this is how we roll in Arizona. Check out the look on this little face. Born to be wild!

I thought this was really cool. Joey removed a bee hive from some friends house over the weekend and brought this home for us all to see. A couple of years ago when he was laid off he worked as a pest control guy while he was waiting to get on his current job. So he does bees, termites, you name it, on the side but he really likes bees the best. In fact, last night he rented The Secret Life of Bees (he'd read the book when he started his bee kick). I cried and cried (extremely hormonal right now) and woke up with puffy eyes this morning.

And I have a new hobby! I've been spending hours and hours.....watching Joey knit! Yes, he's working hard at knitting a hat for the baby our toddler and has even joined the SMACK group on Ravelry. SMACK stands for: Straight Men Also Crochet and Knit! I love it! He may make a convert out of me yet.  I had to be very sly about taking this picture so it's not so great because I was in a hurry.  Nice, huh?

I found a fun new magazine at Joann's and although it seemed a little pricey (7.99), when I realized it included a pattern for the skirt on the cover (and some other versions) it was a bargain all of a sudden! This is their premier issue and if they're all this good I will definitely collect them. I'm sure the next issue will be great because it includes a gorgeous pillow pattern by Kay Whitt made from Paula Prass's fabric. Hubba hubba!  Worth checking out!

When I saw that the current issue of Sew News had an interview on Paula I had to have that too. And yes, she's working on a new fabric collection! There are some picture of her studio makeover in it but you need to go here to really see how stunning it all is.

The magazine also has some great mini-articles on some of our favorite designers and then includes this pretty pillow pattern made with all of their fabrics together. Well now that I look at it, I don't see Tanya's fabric on it but maybe it's on the back?  Yes, let's just say it's on the back!  I think this would look great as a handbag too.

Please take a look at the store and tell me what you think! I have my new banner up and have done some other sprucing up (all the designers are listed on one page now). I just loaded over 80 new fabrics last week and Sweet by Urban Chiks will be here Wednesday (and you can take a look at all the Wonderland I ordered for next month!). I'll set Sweet up for pre-orders today. Have a great week! I'll try to be better at posting this week (lots of good stuff going on)!  :)

Oh, and run over to You Go Girl!  Cassie has a great tutorial up!

CPSIA reprieve and other good things

You may have heard the news but in case you didn't: Congress has decided to allow a one year stay on that nasty, ill-thought-out, did anybody actually read this thing? piece of legislation called the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). All over the country small business owners breathed a huge sigh of relief and re-girded their loins to take this battle to the finish. Sen. Jim DeMint (whom I love more than my UPS guy right now) is working on legislation to reform the CPSIA in order to take out some of the crazy requirements that would cripple small businesses (in this economy!). What a good feeling it is to be part of a grassroots effort that made a big impact (I made countless phone calls and I know a lot of you did too)! Onward and upward!

Thank you for all the apron love from my last post! Yes, I'm working on a pattern so stay tuned (please). In other aprony news, my friend Marie made a darling apron using my Apron in an Hour tutorial and she's giving it away! So run over there and leave a nice comment and then cross your fingers and wait for the announcement.  Fun!

I had a lot of fun yesterday making a little apron for a little friend who recently had a birthday.  I found some cute kid-sized kitchen utensils at IKEA to finish it off.  I think this Mary Engelbreit fabric is the perfect scale for this size of apron.  I love it!

I added some mini rick rack to the bias trim on the pocket and I think it added a little spunkiness to it.  I just lined the rick rack up on the fold line and stitched the edge of it.

This is what it looks like when folded over the pocket.  Cute!  I think this idea works well on something this small but I would definitely use bigger rick rack on a bigger apron.

And speaking of Heather Bailey and Mary Engelbreit (two of my favoritest people ever!)...remember this magazine?  Well Heather recently gave me the book totes I sewed for the magazine so I could sell them for Christmas money.  Umm...anyway, I'm a little slow but actually I'm selling them now since my dishwasher is on it's last leg and I'm hoping to put the money towards a new one (with a food chopper at the bottom!).  So if you've been wanting one of these, go take a look!  And if you want the pattern, fear not.  Heather has every intention of releasing one!

And tomorrow I'm finally receiving Andalucia and Flights of Fancy from the fabulous folks at Michael Miller. They are both on sale for 7.50 yd until Monday (my apology for taking so long to get them here!).  Two beautiful collections by two wonderful designers!!  What more could a girl ask for??  Oh, I know...Flower Power by Jennifer Paganelli!  Okay, it's not here yet (sorry to tease) but I went back and ordered the whole line.  I had just selected some of them the first time around because of "the economy" but I've had so many emails about it I realized we all want fabric no matter what!  Yippy!  I'll keep you updated on that one (I can't wait!).

Have a great week and keep on sewing!!