Stop staring and start sewing!

Friday Freeday!

We're trying to continue sprucing things up around here and since Joey has been working on a new storage system for the boys clothes (almost there!) we were able to take their dresser and give it to Sofia.  This dresser has been juggled between kids for 17 years and the inside still bears the sloppy paint ("whitewash", which was the fashion) job of my first toddler (now 18 year old).  I let her splash some paint around on the inside to keep her happy while I got it ready for the new baby (now 16 year old).  So it's belonged to each of my 5 kids at one time or another and now it's Sofia's turn again (her clothes are in a pile in her closet so this is going to be great!).



I let Sofia paint it herself since she had done such a great job painting her room.  3 bright coats and only a few bugs became a permanent part of the finish (she painted it outside).  The wall paint was my first choice for my kitchen but I didn't like it once I got it home.  Well I loved the color but not for the kitchen, if that makes sense.  Fortunately Sofia wanted a blue room so I didn't have to buy more paint.  I got the new dresser knobs at Hobby Lobby (50% off!).  The fabrics are going to go into her quilt and pillows.  I think it will be a fun and pretty room, just right for a 13 year old.

And here's a cute little give away!  This pretty pink pile has nearly 1.5 yards of fabric total (all 45" across) and is the last of the pink Whimsy fabric by Michael Miller's Pillow and Maxfield (plus the lace).  Just leave a comment and tell me what you're sewing this weekend. 

And speaking of Michael Miller fabric....all the 2009 prints are marked down to 5.50 a yard until they're gone (but they're going fast).  This includes fabrics from Patty Young, Sandi Henderson, Paula Prass, and Pillow & Maxfield (sorry but it doesn't include the new Spring prints).  Just click on the logo to take a look.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Brought to you by the letter F (for Fabric, Fun, and Friday)

Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement after my last post!  What a great community we all get to be part of!  A few of you sent me some really great notes pointing out areas where improvement can be made in the store and on the blog and a really appreciate those.  I'm not thin skinned so if anyone else would like to drop me a line I'd love it.  I'm in the process of sprucing up the look of the store and it's a lot of fun but my eyes are getting monitor weary.  Oh, and I'm loving these polls on the side bar!  Who knew??  Any more great poll ideas??

I've had some folks ask about the quilt pattern I used so I thought I'd get a better picture for you.  It's the Spring 2010 edition of BH&G's Quilts and More and it's still in the stores (I saw it at Barnes and Noble today).  It's loaded with lots more great stuff so it's a bargain at 6.99.  I wrote down a lot of notes in it while making this to help me out when I make it again (which I will!).

And while you're at it you need to get this one!!  I love it when you see a picture and know exactly who's work it is.  This bag is the creation of Beki Lambert (Artsy Crafty Babe) and I'm so glad I was able to track down a copy of this one (again Barnes and Noble, they should start sending me commission checks).  Beki's was one of the first craft blogs I started reading.  She finds inspiration in every day things and generously shares it.  Plus she has really cute kids (including a self-hair cutting toddler like mine)!  This magazine was on the end cap so I almost missed it, whew!

And I wanted to share an observation.  The small picture is one I downloaded straight from Moda's site (I added the name to it).  They do a great job providing stores with pictures but I've been told sometimes they only have the paper version of the design to work with (since the final fabric comes out after they post the pictures) so it's not always an accurate representation. 

Here's a picture of the same fabric I took today and it's spot on as far as the colors and crispness (at least on my monitor).  So if I can't get the little pictures spruced up to better represent the fabric then I'll be taking pictures of all of them so you can have a better idea of the fabrics true AWESOMENESS!  I'll be doing this with other prints too because I know it's really hard to plan projects and match things up on the internet (this collection goes great with the Ta Dot Apple print by the way).

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend planned!  Joey is building a great storage system for the boys bedroom and I can't wait to show it off.  Their room is a nightmare right now (and I'm waiting for Febreze to release a "Boys Room" neutralizer spray).  Stay tuned!

Back to the Future or Stayin' Alive?

Okay, I'll just start out by saying Fabritopia is not going anywhere.  I'm starting to make some changes because my goal is to be able to hand this store to my children in a few years but given the current recession we're going to need to seriously tighten our belts if we are going to ride this out.  I know the news often says we are coming out of it but to be honest I think they are full of crap.  Our friends are getting laid off right and left and many of them are not finding new jobs.  My heart hurts for them because we've been there more than once and know how stressful the uncertainty is.  3 of our good friends moved with their families from their homes into apartments or rentals just in the past week.

We had a record drop in sales last month which leads me to believe it's not just people I know locally who are going through painful financial times.  The fabric industry is known for being "recession proof" because folks tend to do more things at home in tight times like sewing and repairing their own clothes and growing gardens.  But, honestly, we've never seen a recession like this and I believe people are having to cut back on a lot more than they've ever had to before, including their fabric purchases (which some might consider a luxury purchase, but we know better).

(the pictures are to keep from having a picture-less post, because that drives me nuts.)

We've decided to cut our prices back to what they were when we started Fabritopia just over 2 years ago.  This is not a sale, it is a price cut intended to stay low until we start moving out of this recession and folks start getting back on their feet.  Fabric will now be 8.20 a yard unless I get some close outs at a great deal.  If that happens I will pass the deal onto you, my wonderful customers.  In the next few weeks I will be paring things down in order to clean out the stragglers (the last few prints from collections that are mostly gone).  I will also mark down the slow movers just to punish them for sitting on the shelves so long.  This will be great for shoppers and will help us clean up our space and our books. 

We are not doing a major down-sizing because we're not a huge store so I think we're in a good position to just sit back and consider our options.  I have 5-6 great collections coming in the next month (Lizzy House, Bari J Ackerman, Jennifer Paganelli, and more!) so I want to have things ready to start fresh for the next rush.  We are increasing our basics like dots and solids because they're such great staples and people love them.

I've put two polls in the side bar (with more to come if I think of any good questions) and I would appreciate it if you'd share your opinion with me so we can make decisions that people like.  Feel free to email me or leave a comment with any other advice, help, or constructive criticism you have.  I really want to make well thought out decisions so everything helps.

Many people have asked if we intend to open a brick and mortar store and yes, that's on our long term list of goals.  We love our local community and really want to be around folks and have classes and stuff and set up a business that our family can share in as our children grow. But the webite is staying here because we love our online community too.

I want to express my appreciation to everyone who reads my blog and leaves such kind comments and all of you who have shopped at Fabritopia.  I really feel like so many of you have become my friends and I love hearing about your new babies, the things you are making for your grandkids, and your latest sewing victories (like invisible zippers!).  I also want to thank you for trusting me with your hardships since it's not uncommon for me to get notes from folks who are dealing with difficulties with jobs, families, etc. When I get those notes I pray for you.  I've been blessed with enough disappointments (yes, blessed) to know that things always work out.  They really do.  Maybe not in the way we would work them out if we had control (usually better actually), but they do work out.

Feel free to chat at me and keep on sewing!  Thank you!

A quilt finished and an addiction begun

Well here it is!!  I'm so happy with it and thrilled that it's mine!  I've been carrying it around the house like a baby with a woobie.  It's the perfect weight for Arizona and I see many more quilts in my future.  Thank you all so much for the great advice!  It's always nice when you can avoid the whole "learning by my own mistakes" thing.  I didn't want white sashing to begin with but I'm so glad it was the only decent choice available because I really think it's perfect with all these colors and the red binding.

Here's the back.  It's kind of weird but, oh well.  I had to add more fabric to it since I made it too small at first.  The only thing that keeps it pretty is Heather's amazing fabric.

The time in the dryer covered a multitude of sins so you can hardly see the wonky stuff.  I love all the bumps.

This project has really revived my love for hand-crafted things.  What is about something made by hand?  When I was outside stitching the binding Joey was next to me finishing another pair of socks for me and it made me feel so content (especially while looking at our garden).  I may just have to start grinding flour and baking bread again! 

Thanks so much for all the encouragement and advice!  I'm taking it all!

What do you think of the new blog layout?  I went to try a small change and ended up erasing all of my little details (colors, fonts, banner!) so I stayed up late working it and re-working it until I was happy with it (still re-working a few things).  But it's a good start for this week I guess!  

Have a wonderful week and don't forget to sew something!

In a bind (a beautiful bind!)

I love this part.  I really do.  I know a lot of folks hate sewing binding on things but I really love the tedium and the quiet.  I set up shop outside and sipped some ice tea while stitching.  I started sewing the binding on last night and was getting very frustrated.  The thread is 100% polyester and got twisted on every stitch so it was taking awhile to unwind it every time (is there a better thread to use?).  I finally decided to go with a single thread instead of doubling it and that was soooo much better.  Things quickly sped up after that.

I really enjoyed doing the stippling too (again, that tedium thing).  This is the one area that really puckered up on the back.  I don't think anyone will notice but me and I'm not concerned because I'm just too busy being happy with it!  A few folks recommended spray basting so I bought some to use next time and I think that will keep the puckering under control.

I took everyone's advice and went with a bold binding.  I chose this fabric from Tula Pink's Plume because it's the same shade as the fabric I used between the blocks but a different print (so it matches without matching too much, because I don't like matching too much, it bores me).  So this was me all day.

And here are 3 more blocks from my fellow virtual quilting bee partners!  The one on the left is from Tracy and I love that she put so much white in there.  It makes it look really fresh but a little fun and funky too.  The middle is from Chris and thrilled with the fabrics she added from her collection and the way she put them together.  It's funny how some of the gals just happen to be thinking alike and using the same fabrics.  If you look at the two from Tracy and Chris you'll see that they both added the same prints from the Pop Garden and Urban Chiks Sweet collections yet they both look completely different!  So they match, but they don't!  The third one is from Kathryn and I'm thrilled that she added a white eyelet type of fabric because it adds a fun texture and ties in nicely with the block on the left (and it's got Pop Garden in it too!).  Fun!

I just got a shipment of Freebird by MoMo in the store and if you loved Wonderland, you will love this (and if you have any Wonderland fabric stashed away this collection will go beautifully with it)!  And I've decided to do something fun to thank so many of you who mention Fabritopia on your blogs...if you blog about something you've made using supplies from Fabritopia and link to the store you will get a coupon of 10% off your next order (good for 3 months from the date you get it).  I'm sorry I didn't think to do this before since so many people have been so nice about mentioning the store. 

I've got some more cool stuff planned that I'll share as soon as it's ready!  I hope you're having a great weekend!

Hey! Look at me! I'm quilting!

I finally got all my pieces in order and am ready to put this quilt together.  I'm using bamboo batting and I don't have any complaints (because I've never gotten this far before so I have nothing to compare it with).  I'm going to try some other battings though and I'm wondering about just using a layer of flannel for my boys quilts (which I plan on making soon) since they really don't need heavy blankets here.  Has anyone out there tried using flannel instead of batting?  I'm curious.

Anyway, here is my practice piece for stippling.  I wanted to make sure I could see the white thread so I grabbed a couple of red fat quarters.  It's very un-pretty but I was mostly checking the machine tension and stuff.

I decided to stand at my cutting table to work just so I could have room to maneuver.  It worked out good but man, my legs are tired.  The quilt back is pretty wacky since I made it too small and had to add to it (and make another run to Joann's for more Kona) but to be honest I really didn't care if the back was perfect.  I know I'll love it no matter what.

I pinned the whole thing together with basting pins and then rolled it up, took a deep breath, and hit the pedal.

You know how men look in the mirror and say "Looking good!" even though they're balding and have a paunch?  That's how I feel when I look at this.  I know the stitches are goofy and wobbly, and inconsistent (with a few puckers) but I can't stop myself saying "Looking good!"

I'm already more than 1/3 way through now and hope to finish tomorrow.  Now I need to start thinking about the binding.  Bold or subtle?  Red?  Aqua?  I can't wait to curl up under this quilt!

Gardens, friends, and cheesecake (they complete me)

This is where I sit every morning and drink my coffee.  I love these roses and probably go out to look at them 5 times a day.  Roses love the heat so they do beautifully here in Arizona.  I'm going to fill this back wall with them and grow old watching them.

This is the view from the far left side of our yard.  Our 3 "square foot" gardens (actually 18" squares) are going bonkers since we've had record rain this year and now it's starting to warm up.  Each of the garden boxes cost around 8.00 in supplies (for the lumber) and are 6' x 6'.  Joey made them and they went together really quickly.  Peety, my 16 year old, does most of the gardening so we just pick up some seeds or plants every time we're at Home Depot or a nursery.  It's growing fast but we're not spending a fortune on it (at least not all at once!).

Here's what we've fit in just this part of our yard!  I've got the ingredients for a salsa garden (tomatoes, chili peppers, cilantro, and onions) and now all I need is a lime tree to finish my mojito garden (I've got the mint, and the rum's in the pantry!).  We've been eating salads from the lettuce and I'm really amazed at the flavor in the lettuce.  I didn't realize how bland store bought lettuce really was until now.

The lemon tree buzzes all day long and look at this bee with full pollen baskets.  Joey loves studying about bees and he smartly informed me that the golden ball there is called a pollen basket (there's one on the other side of her too).  I appreciate their help in the garden.

Here are some baby lemons (the little green parts).  They are usually ripe enough to harvest around late December.  I think we're going to have a record breaking crop this year if all goes well.  The smell of these blossoms is simply heavenly.

This is the other side of the yard and you can see why we haven't done anything with it.  We don't want to ruin the boys fun.  The mud pit is created every time we leave the sprinklers on and they can't help themselves.  They are irresistibly drawn to it.  Girls don't do this.  It's a strange male phenomenon.  Someone should look into that.

Oh, and lucky me!  We had the Ackerman's over for dinner Thursday night!!  As in Bari J Ackerman and family!  We had a great time with them and their adorable girls are absolutely a blast (my kids told me so)!  Bari's family lives down here and they were visiting.   Here we are enjoying our cheesecake and here's the cheesecake recipe.  It's amazing, try it!  Bari's next collection is shipping later this month and I'm getting it all in the store (and I got a peek of the next collection after that, eeeeek!).

Good times!  Have a great weekend!  Yes, I'm still working on my quilt.  Hopefully I'll have some progress to share real soon!

I wasn't sewing on Easter Sunday this year

I finished before 11:00 the night before!  That's some sort of record for me and I was actually able to stay awake in church this time (no reflection on our pastors usual oratory skills!).   I snapped this Simplicity 3515 pattern up at Joann's because they were having a 99 cent special on patterns and I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to add to my collection.  If they had a show called Pattern Hoarders we would all be famous wouldn't we?!

I'm surprised at how much I like the Disney girl patterns.  From Hillary Duff, to That's So Raven, to Hannah Montana, they are always so cute and age appropriate.  Now if Miley Cyrus would just stick to clothes like this I'd be happy (someone put a sweater on that child please!).

I let Sofia chose her fabrics and was actually pleasantly surprised that she picked such a feminine print.  I have a hard time getting her to wear dresses but she sort of knew she didn't have a choice about that on Easter.  I thought I was over the whole pink/brown color scheme but I'm really loving it in this dress.  It's from Tanya Whelan's Dolce collection and I've fallen in love with it all over again.  Oh, and I added 3 inches to the length since Sofia likes her dresses beneath the knees.

I picked through my drawer of homemade bias tape (I have quite a collection since I started using this method) and found this cute dotted print for the arm holes.  I think it adds a bit of spunk to the dress.  The dress came together pretty quickly and the fit was good except for a little bit of gapping at the sides.  I just made a quick dart in each side and problem fixed!  I think this is definitely a good project for beginning sewists.

Her brother wanted in on the picture taking action and really, he's the one that needs a big paddle to his backside after what he did to his hair.  I had just cut it and left enough for some cute little spikes or a tiny swirl on his forehead.  So much for that idea.

Oh, go look at Cassie's crochet tutorial!!  I'm going to have to learn this because I can't stop looking at these beautiful pillowcases!  Oh and run over to this new Quilting Bee Blocks (link now fixed!) blog and join a quilting bee (prizes all week too!). 

Have a wonderful week!!

Easter eggs?

What a treat (or should I say "What a tweet"?)!!  I ordered Bari J's patterns for the store and look at the little gift she sent me!  Where's the pattern for this you ask??  Well that's exactly what my brain asked me when I saw it (after the squealing had died down).  And since she's heading to Phoenix for a visit I will ask her (in person!).

And Olivia's been at it again.  Look at this darling little felt matryoshka.  Isn't she cute??  And our garden is in it's second year and going bonkers already.  We've been eating fresh picked lettuce and it really had a great flavor.  We are going to expand it a little bit this year.  I'd like to have a complete salsa garden (yum!).

Oh, and everything in the store is 20% off through the weekend with the coupon code "aprilfools10"!

Have a beautiful Easter!!  I'm off to make cheesecake and carrot cake now (cream cheese overload!).