Stop staring and start sewing!

A winner! (and stuff)

Okay, the winner of the Busy Girl's Guide to Sewing give away from my last post is Michelle who said (and I think you may need to insert sarcasm when you read this) "Please...I have Christmas gifts from a year ago that I haven't started (I gave IOUs)..." Congratulations Michelle!

The comments really cracked me up because they ranged from... "Are you kidding??  Christmas sewing?...it's not even Halloween you moron!" (at least that was the gist of some of them) to..."Oh goodness!...I started in January you moron, and only have one pot holder to bind before I'm completely done, teehee!"  Actually the whole purpose of my asking about Christmas sewing was so I could steal your ideas.  Thank you.

In our family we draw names so we don't have to buy a bazillion gifts.  I'm still waiting to find out who I got so in the meantime I'm trying to finish up some stuff for myself.  I started this blouse months ago and I'm actually close to finishing it.  I realized after applying the ruffles that I really should have cut them on the bias but, oh well.  I applied fray check and then let it sit for 2 months before revisiting it.   Anway, I think it will be cute and maybe good for Christmas with a cardigan.

Joey has been ordering lots of iPads at work as part of his job and I grabbed the opportunity to make some accessories for him and his co-workers.  Here's the girls version.  The ruffles are cut on the bias (see?  I'm learning...).  I'm selling them in my Hipster Haberdasher store but the real goal here is to finish my pattern for them because I've realized I get tired of making the same thing all the time but if I get a pattern out before I burn out on them, I can make money even after I've moved on to the next thing. 




Joey's latest kick has been home made yogurt.  He makes a big crock of it every couple of days and the kids can't get enough.  I'll have him share his recipe soon because it's really easy and cheap and makes such a nice breakfast with a batch of homemade granola.  We've been using Alton Brown's recipe (Joey has a man-crush I think) but using dried mangoes and pineapple instead of raisins.

I've got a couple spruce ups to share but the problem is I finish the job and then the room gets used and messy so I can't take pictures (well, I could but you know what I mean).  I'll get on that this weekend because I really have been a busy bee and the results have really made me happy and more functional.  And that's a good thing.  Have a wonderful weekend and stay busy sewing!

Late blogversary post (with a book review and give-away!)

Okay, so I know I was supposed to do this last Friday but I was hit by a raging case of PMS and if you had visited my blog it surely would have hissed at you under the weather for a few days.  But it all worked out because now I have some very cute pictures of Carrie McLennan's (and team) book The Busy Girl's Guide to Sewing to show you!  I love doing book reviews because I'm very opinionated and have the over-inflated idea that everyone wants to know what I think so here goes....

This is a darling and clever book and everything about it is nifty!  I found a copy at Barnes & Noble and was flipping through it (I'd already gone through the whole book in pdf format but there's something so nice about holding it in your hands).  I told Joey to hold it up so I could take a picture of it (I really like the dimensions of the book, easy to hold on your lap) and he smiled so nicely but was wondering why I was giggling.  Once he saw the cover he struck this pose (never mind he's a dude with a knitting book tucked under his arm).  Anyway, cute cover!

The premise of this book is very practical...you can make super cute and useful things even when you are a busy girl (I don't think they'd get angry if a guy used this book either...) without a lot of time to play.  She even tackles the "not enough space" issue complete with pictures of smart little sewing spaces.  The projects are divided into "under 30 minutes" (some cute gift ideas!), "under 1 hour", and "under 4 hours" so you're bound to find something for those snippets of time when you have a crafty itch.

I love love love the pictures in this book and I would love to have it on my coffee table or even in the bathroom (for when I take a bath, really people....!!).  It's got oodles of retro goodness in it's 127 pages and even the pages with the more mundane sewing illustrations are fun to look at.  The instructions are meticulous and the authors are very generous in giving the reader other project ideas to "stitch it up a notch".


One of the best parts of this book is the chapter on making things to sell.  The discussion on pricing your items is very helpful and she even includes smart advice on setting up a booth for craft fairs. 

I can easily recommend this book!  It's pretty, practical, and inspiring.  The team that worked on it looks like a fun bunch of gals and they did a meticulous job with the book.



I was asked to recommend some shopping resources with my blog post and that makes me happy because I know a lot of great ones!  Some of my favorite fabric stores are Above All Fabric, Sew Fabulous Quilt Shop, and Pink Chalk Fabrics, and for embroidery supplies you should check out Bari J. Ackerman's new embroidery supply store.  These gals all have wonderfully stocked stores but, most importantly, they have great service and work ethic.

Okay, if you want a chance to win this terrific book just answer my question in the comments....the question is....have you started any Christmas/Hanukkah sewing?  If yes, then what?  If no, do you have any sewing plans for the holidays (please share!).  Good luck (I'll draw the winner this weekend and send an email)!

The dog days are over

It's not just a song but the way we are feeling here in Arizona.  We've finally dipped under 100 degrees and have even ventured outside a few times.  August broke the record for heat this year (the daily average was 109!!) and it was exhausting.  But on the fun side, we started a bunch of new journeys here....schooling at home with my boys....my 17 year old riding the bus everyday to a baking program (yum indeed!)....my 14 year old starting high school....add to that my determination to turn over a new leaf and run a tighter ship around here.  So far, so good.

But sadly, every day is a dog day for our little chiweenie Cupcake.  She lies here looking forlorn every day while Peety is at her baking class.  Actually, she's usually sleeping undisturbed so she's probably not sad at all.  I'd like a piece of that action.

And I decided this week to start sprinkling bird seed out on my window sill so I could have some visitors while I'm in here.  Well, I got one new visitor right away.  Diamond sits here chattering at the birds and has even jumped at the window a few times.  It's such great entertainment that the kids have come in to watch the cat watching the bird.  Too many visitors now.

And I've been satisfying my embroidery urge with some simple, colorful flowers on silk.  I've had this fabric for a few years (I bought some stacks of fat quarters from Della Q at Quilt Market and have been hoarding them ever since).  I'll probably make a pillow out of it when I'm done.  It's a great little project to be able to grab when I have the time.  I'm trying to build my embroidery skills back up because I've got some fun things planned and I want them to looks amazing (practice, practice!).

This Friday is my 4th blogversary and I've got a really neat give away planned (with the support of the great folks at Krause Publishing)!  Did you know it's pronounced "krow-see" (rhymes with ouchie)?  There's today's trivia for you!  Come back Friday!

A few spruce ups

I've been busy this Labor Day weekend and hope to finish more things.  But here are a couple of accomplishments so far...

I found a couple of grey lamp shades for 7.00 at Walmart and grabbed another can of my favorite color spray paint (Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze at $3.24 a can).  2 coats later I'm that much closer to finishing my bedroom.  I'm transitioning from the red to the grey/yellow/aqua color scheme and hope to finish before it's gone out of fashion.  Next up:  drapes and bedspread (saving the most intimidating until last of course, ugh).

And I finally created some valances for my family room (almost 2 years after making the matching valance in the adjoining kitchen).  This one was a lot simpler and it only took a couple of hours to do both.  Yay! 

Okay, back to work!  We're having guests over (now you know why I'm sprucing up the house!) so I have a bit more to do.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!