Stop staring and start sewing!

'scuse me while I sit a spell

I want to give a huge thank you for all the crazy shopping since my last post (like in the beer commercial, I love you man)!  I've been on my feet since Friday just cutting and shipping fabric (the swelling in my cankles is finally subsiding) and I'm so happy it's all going to good homes.  I was actually able to relax a little today.  I laid down on a sunny park bench while my 8 year old guy Asher played in the sand.  No computer, no book (and my phone only rang once).  Nice (vitamin D too!).

A few months back Kristen of Gock's Frocks (I've been a fan forever!) asked for a little advice combining fabrics from my store and I was so thrilled because Kristen uses uncommon fabric combos and I knew she didn't want the typical matching colors and patterns.  I didn't realize it was for flower girl dresses so when I finally saw the finished projects I almost cried!  Why don't more people use more of these awesome "quilting" fabrics for flower girls???!!  There are so many stunning girly prints out there and people just can't seem to get past white lace.  Anyway, look at these (and tennies too!!  Seriously people!).

Here's a view of the big girls dress (that's the Feliz dress pattern from Farbenmix).  Can you believe how gorgeous that is?!  Kristen has a beautiful gift for design.  Oh, and she might have a gift for you!  Run over to her blog and say hi because I happen to know she's having a give-away (and you seriously do not want to miss out).

Joey and I recently joined the Barnes and Noble book club since they're so close to us now and I've used that little discount to indulge in a couple of goodies recently.  I got the fabulous Weekend Sewing book (by the fabulous Heather Ross) that everybody has been raving about and I just can't wait to try the Summer Blouse pattern.  It looks perfect for Arizona, lightweight but good cover from the sun.  My girls and I are going to get a lot of use out of this book (patterns are included) this summer!

Then a couple of days ago I picked up Alicia Paulson's book Stitched in Time and what a treat it is!!  The picture are gorgeous, the projects are easy but amazing (she even includes instructions for the beautiful Nutcracker Doll on the cover).  If you've read Alicia's blog (and seriously, who hasn't?) you might remember the sad day she posted that her beloved corgi Audrey had died.  I think there was a collective sobbing in the craft blog world that week.  Well I opened this beautiful book in the bookstore and when I saw that she had dedicated it to Audrey I started crying again (I was in a corner so it was okay).  This one may go on my coffee table.  It's more than just a pretty book. 

Here is a peek at just one of the projects.  A sleepover pillowcase.  It's just a simple pillowcase (instructions are in there) but look at that rick rack phone number.  Give me a break!  That is so brilliant!!  The whole book is like this.

In other seriously creative news, Bari J. has a post on the strike-offs from her first fabric line, Full Bloom.  Run over to the Windham site to get a look at all of the prints.  I've order the whole line and it should be out in May.  And I was so happy to open an account with Windham that I ordered the whole Fiona line by Anna Griffin (here tomorrow!) too.  I love her designs and I have a few classics in my stash that I just can't part with because they are so incredibly soft (I bought them just so I could touch them and don't think I'm weird because I know you do it too!).  I'm hoping she'll be at Spring Quilt Market in May so I can chat with her.  She was in Houston for the Fall Market but I didn't want to go up and say "Hi!  I'm Jona!  I'm a huge fan but I don't carry your fabric in my store."  Tacky.  So I'm good to go now!

Also coming soon are patterns by Anna Maria Horner (yippy!) and Patty Young (you're going to love these!).  Any day now!

Oh and I grabbed some great Easter egg colored laces at SAS (I still don't know what it stands for so I've dubbed it "Seriously Awesome Stuff").   I paid by the pound (you can see I went overboard) so they are dirt cheap in my store and shipping is included in the dirt cheap price. Great for Easter projects!

Have you heard of Pandora Radio?  It's one of my favorite new things out there (or maybe it's not new and I'm just incredibly un-hip and just found something everybody already knows about)!  You type in the name of a favorite song or artist (I typed Andy Gibb, yes I did) and it creates a custom station for you with songs or artists of the same genre (Bee Gees, Yvonne Elliman, Chicago, and more).  My favorite stations that I've made are Go-Gos Radio (which includes artists like Joan Jett, the B-52's, and Cyndi Lauper) and Carpenters Radio (Bread, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Carole King).  It's really fun unless your kids get a hold of it and create an Enya station (seriously depressing).  Teenagers these days!

I hope you're having a wonderful week!  Thank you all for being so much fun and so inspiring too!  I love hearing what everyone is up to!

Take my fabric. Please.

I received 4 big boxes from Free Spirit yesterday (a 5th box is stuck somewhere and I'm hoping it gets here soon) so I've restocked a bunch of lines (and added some I didn't get the first time around).  Rather than go down the list I thought I'd just take a picture (yes, that's Jennifer's zebra print!) in case there was one you were waiting for.

Some of the Bell Bottom I bought were at discounted prices because it's out of production (but don't worry, Jennifer has 2 more lines coming!!) so I've knocked the whole line down to 7.00 except for the black and white which haven't been discounted yet (which is good news because it means they are still making it).

There are a couple of lines that just aren't moving for me (see that messy little stack in the bottom left hand corner?) and I really want to clear them out because, to be honest, I get crabby looking at them sitting there gathering dust.  They're beautiful but I think they might be a little bit outside of what people expect to find at my store.  Anyway, I've marked them down to a crazy 5.00 a yard and I'm telling all my fun and fabulous blog readers (you know who you are) before I send out a notice to everybody on my mailing list (Saturday).  So you get first dibs! 

Oh I guess it would help if I told you which ones, huh?  Okay, Recipe for Friendship and Oh Cherry Oh (including jelly rolls for less than I paid and super cheap charm packs).  Oh, and don't forget...you can use the 15% off coupon code (marchmadness09) on these and get them super duper cheap (just through the 27th)!

There are some great lines coming out soon and I'm so happy that David Walker has created another line for boys!  Dinosaurs, sailboats, bears, airplanes!  If you love his Robots line you're going to be thrilled!  Also, go check out the artwork of Douglas Day because he has a great line for the guys coming out fittingly called "Be a Man".  Lugnuts, tires, tools, and beer (perfect for a little burp rag!!)!

Tanya Whelan has a couple on the horizon (yippy!) including Darla Too! and I've finally ordered some from Anna Griffin (her fabric is sooo soft) which should be here within a week.  It never ends!!  Aren't you glad??

Two blocks in one day!

I'm finally catching up my my quilt blocks for our virtual quilting bee (I need to run over there and post something too since I've been such a slacker).  I've had Melissa's fabrics sitting here for over a month.  Fortunately she was very loosy-goosy in her request (log cabin, feel free to add from stash) so I didn't sweat too badly while sewing it.  I went a little crazy with the pink stripes so I pulled some out and scaled them back because I realized I was adding too much from my stash and I didn't want to overtake Melissa's fabric (I still think I went a little to pink crazy but I hope she likes it).  I really wanted those scissors from MoMo in there (I think they look nice with the solid aqua she sent).  I hope she likes it, I had a lot of fun with her fabrics!

I received a package from Tracy almost 2 weeks ago. I just love the anticipation of opening the package to see what's in there. Tracy's fabrics are heavy on texture (a couple of linens and the wood-print in there) and she asked that texture be added in the form of smocking, pleats, pintucks....along those lines.

I thought of smocking something but when I saw that Autum had already done one with smocking I decided to do something else (and secretly breathed a sign of relief!).  I used my blind hem foot and made pintucks 3/4" apart.  It went very smoothly, just stitch, iron, stitch, iron.  Although it reinforced my desire to get a little ironing board to have right next to my sewing machine so I'm not up and down all the time.

I have to confess Tracy's square was much more challenging.  She gave a couple of squares of vibrant colors (the blue, and burgundy) and requested that I pick just one fabric from my stash to add to it.  I really had to put a lot of thought into how I cut the fabric so that each one would be represented.  I added the last scrap of my Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy grey fabric because it seemed to fit in with the others.

This was definitely different that any of the others I have done.  It really required a lot more thinking and planning so I got a little brain stretch in there (so I'm good for awhile in the thinking deparment!).  It was fun and I hope she likes it!

So here they are together!

Fun!  Here's our flickr group if you want to see what we've all done so far!

Oh, and thank you so much for all the sweet notes about my office!  It's not clean anymore but I'm still loving it!

Now all I need is a red Swingline Stapler

Here it is!

I'm finally moved in and I've found my happy place!  This, then this was the view from my desk before.  Now this is a view taken from the same spot.  Dreamy.

Here is the before view of the wall space we opened up.

Now look!  I was moving my sewing books onto the shelves and started crying.  I know it's kind of silly but after being told for so many years "You have a hobby.  Isn't that cute?" I feel like this office says "This is no hobby.  I am dead serious about fabric and I have the office to prove it. (Grrrrr)"   Those tall jars are stuffed with zippers.

I'm still settling in but I knew I couldn't put my old chair cover in this room. It was so gross (when you realize you're wiping your messy hands off on your chair cover that should be the first sign you don't like it anymore). So I pulled it apart and used it for a pattern and made this chair cover (which I LOVE!). Paula's fabric was the perfect choice since it's so bold but cute (I trimmed it with Patty Young's Andalucia)!  I shortened it since the old one hung down too far and was always getting caught under the wheels. This should work fine.

I'm going to try to get back into the groove here.  I have the rest of my Andalucia order on it's way (yippy!) and over 50 bolts from Free Spirit coming (I'll be passing on some great prices!).  I hope you're having a great week!  Don't change that dial!

A cup of inspiration

I feel like I've been so scarce, but it looks like I'll be able to move into my new office (oh my gosh! oh my gosh! oh my gosh!) this weekend.  It's been a lot of work in a short amount of time but I don't want this to drag on so that's where my focus has been.  We had the walls textured yesterday and I sanded them last night (I sure felt it in my shoulder this morning).  This morning I took my new little cup (29 cents at IKEA!) into Sherwin Williams and said "I want this color".  And here it is!  Do you love it?!  (Joey doesn't)

Joey's putting the shelving unit together right now so I should have some pretty pictures to show you all by Monday!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, and run over to Blue Nickel Studios where Scott has a great interview with Jennifer Paganelli (such hilarious interview questions!), and a wonderful give-away!  Fun!!

Peeved Mommy Syndrome (that's right...PMS)

Okay, so photobucket pulled my cutie toddler photo in the last post (still waiting for an answer to my "what the heck?" email) and so I figure I'll just use flickr.  The next day I see that flickr has pulled it too.  Dangit!  So I finally got smart and hosted it myself.  What am I missing here?  Is a toddler without a shirt on considered offensive (because that's how we roll here!)?  Is it the zebra print (no animals were harmed in the making of that fabric, honest)?

Moving on now.

I finally had a chance to play with the Flower Power fabric.  I haven't had much sewing time lately so it was a nice treat.  Here's a cute little outfit using my Evelyn Apron Skirt pattern.  I shortened the apron a little to accommodate the eyelet lace at the bottom.

I tried something new on the sleeve ruffles and added a layer of the eyelet lace to it.  I think it's cute but makes it a little top-heavy so I think I'll try it with a much lighter lace if I do it again.

I finally got a birthday present together for my niece who turned 15 this past Saturday.  I think the Andalucia fabric by Patty Young is the perfect fabric (not baby-ish but definitely feminine and hip).  Actually, this is how lame I am (although I refuse to take all the blame because she does have an uncle here too and he knows the way to the store)...the banner is for her birthday, the apron is a late Christmas present, and (it gets worse) I'm including the gift card I bought in December for her birthday last year.  I always get around to it, it's just a matter of when.

If you want instructions on how to make the banner you'll have to get the Sew Simple magazine next month. I think it's supposed to hit the stands on April 21st and it has my banner tutorial in it. I'm trying to stay cool about it but to be honest I'm totally thrilled and I'll admit it...if my project is on the cover I'm going to freak out in the middle of Barnes and Noble. It's true.  But either way, I'm cool.  Cool as a cucumber. A sad, sniffly cucumber who didn't make the cover.

Oh, and here's the office view from my desk (before picture here).  All we have to do now is the taping and texturing and then I get to paint.  Woohoo!   I'm thinking a golden yellow color since it's not a big space and I want it to glow.  I can't wait to move in!  Right now it's serving as a t.v. room for two sick boys (I'll probably need to Lysol it first, eh?).

Have a great week!!  Oh and run over to The Fabric Shopper blog because I'm joining Melanie in having a great give-away!

Fabric...it cures whatever is ailing you

The two lucky winners of the Flirt fabric stacks are Laura, who left a comment on 3/01/09 at 8:03 am, and Amber, who left a comment on 3/03/09 at 11:33 am.  Congratulations ladies!!!

I loooooved reading everybody's plans for the fabric and all the wonderful ways it could change your life!  I was really enjoying the claims that this fabric would cause an improvement in personal hygiene, family harmony, dramatic weight loss, and best of all, bring about world peace.  Fabric is truly amazing, isn't it?  Some commenters were like "well, it's not going to really rock my world or anything like that but I like free stuff so whatever...and besides, I never win anything any way".  ("can you pin my tail back on now please?") Hehe.  I love reading about how many people are working on quilts for soldiers, and orphans, and other beautiful causes.  I swear, people who love fabric are the nicest people in the world!

We are making really good progress in our re-model here.  Joey got the drywall up on each side of the new wall after he totally wired the room for electric outlets and cat 5 wire (that's nerd lingo for computer cables).  He's trying to finish his fish cap because he really wants some blog attention but I've kept him too busy with our project (somebody's got to crack the whip here.  Snap!).

But here's some cute stuff to look at for now:

Olivia made this adorable softie out of felt using this free pattern.  Super sweet!  And I love the heart.

And yes, unfortunately I'm out of the Zebra prints from Jennifer Paganelli's Flower Power line (but I'm getting more!).   So if that makes you angry, you can take it out on the culprit who took the last of it. "Dude, Woodstock was like 40 years ago. Get past it.  And put a shirt on."

And the kids have discovered a new favorite past time. They draw little Hercule Poirot mustaches on their fingers and share them. We went out to dinner after church with friends and this kept the kid's table so quiet (except for the giggling). Try it next time you have to wait somewhere with the kids but don't have anything to distract them with (you just need a pen, oh and a finger).  Snazzy!!