Stop staring and start sewing!

When you're hot... you're hot

2 blog posts in one evening!!  That's got to be a record for me.  The other one is over here at our Twelve by Twelve blog (which was previously updated in December!).  Our group is full of very busy women...kids, jobs, homes....so it's a little tricky for everyone to juggle another project.  Those gals all have terrific blogs though so be sure to check them all out (listed in the sidebar over there).

Here's my stack of fabric that I'm going to divide up and send out this week.  I'm almost 2 months behind (so hopefully they'll take me seriously when I say "no hurry, really")!  I've included some fabrics by Jennifer Paganelli, Heather Bailey, and Urban Chiks.  Everything looked kind of fun and circus-ish to me.  I think it will be fun when they all start rolling in (our Flickr group is here if you want to see what we've done so far).

My sweet Sofia (the youngest of my 3 girls) asked for a new tote this weekend and I took the opportunity to talk her into a matching skirt. She's a bit of a tomboy so it's not always easy to get her to dress up. But she loved this Summer Soiree fabric so much I just ran with it. I used McCall's 4783 but changed the bottom part of the skirt to be gathered instead of "loose fitting" (I'm not sure how to describe it...a-line? flared?).  It's out of print but I think I found a similar pattern in Butterick 4686.  Anyhoo... here it is and as you can see smiling is a difficult task for a 12 year old.  Seriously, would it kill you?  I had to settle for a smirk.

Here's a close up of the tote (which she loves best).  I just used a hair elastic stitched in the flap to pull over the button.  It worked great!

Oh!  Run over to Tanya Whelan's blog and look at the sneak peeks of her up-coming line!!  I think it will surprise you!  Yes, I'll get it all for the store but I'm playing with those orange prints first!! 

Have a wonderful week!  Get some sewing done (that's what I'm planning)!

Keeping on the sunny side

Thank you for all your root canal well wishes!  I'm still sore but everything went smoothly as far as root canals go so hopefully I'll be back up to full speed soon.  In the meantime I finished this swing re-cover just before running out the door to the dentist.  I'm so happy about it!

Here it is before.  My friend Kelly gave it to me when they were selling their house (it didn't add to the aesthetics of their otherwise beautiful yard!  Yay for me!).  So it's been sitting here looking like this for about 2 years.  It's super comfortable and has never collapsed when full of people so it's a great swing.  Just needed a little TLC.

So I put Joey to work again.  See that look of determination??  This color is Sea Foam Green from Rust-Oleum and it was only 2.50 a can at Walmart.  They actually have a better selection than Lowe's (but it's kept under lock and key).   I spray painted that trellis in the background too (nothing is safe).

I trimmed down a paper plate to make my scallops 8" across.  I really love the addition of the scallops!

I pinned the top and bottom cushions together and then bound them with some more fabric.  I did this part by hand because it was too tricky to get all those fat layers scooched in under my machine.

I used all new foam padding inside.  I got a roll of NU-Foam at JoAnn.  The roll is 24 inches by 5 yards and 1 inch thick.  I think it's kind of spendy at 45.00 but I had a 40% off coupon so that wasn't too bad.  I used one layer for the back cushion and two layers for the bottom (I had just enough!)

A couple of spunky pillows and I'm set!   If the temperatures drop below 100 this is where I'll be!

Don't tell Pixar

My daughter is a genius. Olivia (my oldest) was online looking for cute tutorials and she came upon a crochet pattern for the EVE robot from the the WALL-E movie. Well she showed it to her little brother Skate (we call the two of them "our bookends") and he yelled "No! Want WALL-E!". So she was forced to come up with a pattern and I'm proud to say she did this all on her own.  Isn't it great?  Dang!  Makes a mommy proud...*sniff*.

I'm going in tomorrow for a root canal which has me fairly bummed out because I just had one in November and I turn into a big baby at the dentist office.  When I was a child I had a dentist who did all my fillings without any anesthetic at all.  In fact I think I might just have to google him and if he's still alive I'll track him down and kick his walker out from under him.  On the up side, I'm hoping this takes care of all the sinus pain and fatigue I've been experiencing because I have a lot to get done around here!

Joey's outside spray painting again (so far he shows no signs of brain damage) and he found some great chairs in the neighbors bulk garbage pile yesterday while out jogging (in the 100 degree morning heat!).  He's great!  A little more spray paint and fabric and they're going to look pretty darn snappy!  We're furnishing our whole patio out of our dumpster diving treasures.  I'm starting to have nightmares about having a backyard neighbor party and all the neighbors get upset and take all their (now beautiful) furniture back.

So if all goes well with my root canal ("Please Sir?  May I have some vicodin?") I'll be back here Thursday with some great pictures of our current project.  Yay!

Weekend re-cap

Well it's officially Monday morning here (just barely) and we had a somewhat productive weekend I guess.  I woke up to this cute scene on the breakfast table so I had to take a picture. If you look close you can see a bug flying by the chimney at the moment I snapped this (weird).  I love that lime green table runner (Paula's Flights of Fancy line) because it looks great with everything.

Had a chance to sew something for a little friend who recently had a birthday (I made this little skirt for her sister so I knew I had to come up with something similar). I've been wanting to play with the Whimsy fabric since it arrived because I just love it!  I'm hoping to dig into the blue colorway some time this week.  And I'm going to get some more skirt kits in the store since I've kind of slacked off in that department.  It's been awhile since I've made one of these Evelyn Apron skirts and I'd forgotten how fast it is to sew (this whole outfit went together in 1.5 hours once I had everything cut out).

And I had a chance to water my 3 youngest sprouts. Our garden is kind of petering out with the heat but the sunflowers (in the foreground) are doing great. The squash (on the left) is producing tons of flowers but no squash. A bunch of seeds never even sprouted (and they weren't cheap!)  We'll just call this our practice run and really get it going when things cool down in a couple of months.

And I received some great news from my Westminster rep this week!  They are reprinting Amy Butler's Lotus Dots (and some other Lotus prints) in all the popular colors (the lime too, of course!!!) and those will be available in November.  See!  It pays to speak up (so keep doing it)!

I bought some more spray paint today and will be working on another project this week (with the help of my handy dandy spray paint guy!).  This one's kind of a biggie but it's going to be great (sewing and spray painting together in one fantastic event).

And I want to thank everyone who gave me such great ideas for the sewing class I'll be teaching.  It was SO helpful!  Really!  I'll let you all know when I've got everything sort of figured out (I'm sure I'll be asking for more help).  Oh, and if anyone wants to try some great fabrics for your boys, Oh Boy! and Be A Man are on sale (15% off through July 26th).  Dena Fishbein's Christmas collection too.  Have a great week!  Be sure to sew something!

Happiness in a spray can

I'm really loving this whole spray painting thing.  After my last project I started looking around for other things to spray paint (the cats have been looking very worried) and decided on this little magazine table (I think that's what it is.  Am I right?).  It's bare wood and I think this is another item we got out of someone's bulk garbage pile (I love those piles!).

I love this part the best...watching while Joey does the painting!  I love being the "idea person" (as opposed to the person who actually works).  I really think this is a great color.  It's Blue Ocean Breeze by Krylon and I got it at Walmart for 2.97 a can (I ended up getting two cans for this).  It says it dries in 10 minutes but this is Arizona and it's been over 110 lately so we have it down to about 2 minutes here.

I think it turned out great!  I'm not sure what I'm going to put on it (any ideas?) but the candy is good for now.

Here's another one of my sample banners (for the now defunct Sew Simple magazine).  I'll have to get a better picture because it has sparkly buttons on it but they don't show very well here.  I'm going to be painting a lot more things now (we've been in our house for 6 years and I'm getting the itch to change things).  But I'm off to a good start (baby steps!).

I've decided to teach a sewing class at my kids homeschool co-op and I could use some project ideas.  I'm thinking a small zippered pouch would be good (straight lines but with a little zipper skill building there), and maybe a simple a-line skirt.  The girls will all be around 12 - 17 years old so I think they can handle some challenges like button holes.  Please share any ideas you have because I feel kind of clueless on this one!

Oh, and run over to Bari's blog because she's having a Full Bloom fat quarter stack give away!  She's giving away 3 stacks so you have a good chance of winning.  And check out this great interview Paula Prass did with the folks at The Sewing Examiner.  Also be sure to visit Heather's blog all week because it's all Harry Potter all week long (the Baileys are the biggest HP fans I know)!

Feeling quasi-human again

Okay, so I thought I was in a "semi-funk" when it turns out I was actually sick. What I thought was a case of the "blahs" was actually a sinus infection creeping up on me. It irritates me that instead of taking care of myself I just assumed I was lazy and was kicking myself for it. Anyway, I went to get a tooth filled and it turns out I need a root canal and since I just had one last fall I'm not happy about it. But I think that's part of the reason my sinuses got all messed up (that happened last fall too). I think the antibiotics (which I try to avoid) are finally starting to make a difference.

I was feeling like crap and had 4 brand new collections show up and tons of orders and I think I'll be caught up by the end of the weekend and then I'll catch my breath (and I didn't cry once). Sigh.

So here's a pretty picture of some fat quarter stacks we are putting together (Full Bloom and Summer Soiree so far). These colors were all so fun and happy.  I haven't been able to work on any projects but I didn't want to do a post without a pretty picture.

And this guy just had his 3rd birthday on Friday.  It seems he just turned 2 but here we are already.  Our temperatures have been around 110 so this is pretty much all he wears these days (lucky!).  I made a new pillowcase for him with David Walkers Oh Boy! fabric and he's very happy with it.  I made a pillowcase for his big brother, Asher, using the Be A Man fabric and he's tickled with it (I'm so grateful for these boy fabrics!).

Wink!

I'll have a better post later (I have some fun projects planned) but for now be sure to run over to True Up because I'm teaming up with Jenna on a give away.  Jenna has a new pdf pattern for a gorgeous bag and I'm providing 25.00 worth of fabric so you can pick your favorite and put together your own bag.  Cool!

Here's the Mabel Messenger bag!  Now I don't have this fabric in stock (dangit!) but I have tons of others right now (seriously bursting at the seams here) so I'm sure you can come up with something. :)

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm going to try to find a friend with a pool and maybe a drink with an umbrella in it.

Is this a great country or what??!

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!! 

I love this video!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Beautiful words. I'm going to pursue some happiness today. I hope you will do the same!

Today the office...tomorrow the world

Well I'm happy to say the folks at Sew Simple sent my samples back right away and not a moment too soon because tomorrow is my birthday (Thurs) and this banner was exactly what I needed to lift me out of the mini-funk I've been in.   When they asked me to make a birthday banner I instantly thought of red, white and blue because my birthday is so close to Independence Day so those are the colors I always associate with my birthday (and I wanted to make it about me somehow!  Ha!).  So there you have it.

Joey moved out of the office last week.  I'm not sure why.  He just picked up his computer and stuff and moved it all into the bedroom.  I was a bit perplexed but then it dawned on me....in May I removed all of Asher's school stuff, and now Joey is gone so that means.....the whole room is mine!!!  Time to decorate!!

First the cabinet.

Here's what it looked like before....

Here is my slave man painting it.  Faster slave man!  (That huge cardboard box is the kids new "house" that Joey brought home from work. They love him for it!).

Here's my lovely cherry red cabinet!  I liked it before but I love it now!  And only 3.00 for that can of paint!

And here is my sewing space now.  For the table we just used a door and last night I covered it with this laminated fabric I got at the Daisy Kingdom store in Portland years ago.  It's a little too cutesy for my taste but a far cry from the plain door (I have a super sad Daisy Kingdom story I will share at a later date).  I got to use the electric staple gun and the boys really thought that was exiting.  I need to make some curtains for the window next.

I wanted to share some great links because there's a lot going on out there in Blogland.  Paula is having a terrific give away so go join in (her new line will be here Monday!).  Angel has a wonderful tutorial for a nursing cover (with boning! but don't let that scare you! great gift idea!).  Tracy has a great tutorial for a seatbelt cover (I want one!).  And Shara used my idea for the t-shirt re-fashion in a totally original way and I love it!

I hope you're having a great week.  Try to make something new this week even if it's something small!  Two really great sites with more tutorial links are Craftzine and Craft Gossip.  I follow them on Twitter and love their updates!  Happy July!!!