More Makeup Bags

So, a certain blogger gave me a couple of yards of very cute Amy Butler green polka dots when I was out in San Francisco least month. It is perfect for makeup and to carry other little goodies. Although it is only July, I am already planning out what I want to make for the Bust Craftacular coming up in December, which is going to include little bags like this one.

To give the bag a little more structure, I used batting between the polka dots and yellow lining. I also added some adorable grosgrain ribbon to the little strap, just to make it sassy.

I offered Amy a little something in exchange for the fabric and all I could get her to agree to is a case for her sunglasses. It should be super cute. Hopefully I will have time next weekend to try making one.

A Dress For Brielle

I am in a countdown to meeting little Brielle, who turned three months old yesterday. In anticipation of our first meeting, I wanted to make her a little present. I used the Oliver + S party dress pattern. It is labeled easy and for the most part it was. My only trouble came attaching the bodice to the skirt. I managed to create matching puckers in the middle of the front and the back. Boo. I ironed them like crazy and am hoping no one will notice.

I also want to take this moment to give my sewing machine a big shout out. My Brother sewing machine is awesome. The pattern calls for buttons and due to some unfortunate buttonhole attempts with my old machine, I was very very very apprehensive to ever doing buttonholes again. And let's not even talk about the button setting. With gritted teeth, I tried the buttonhole setting and it worked like a charm. Feeling a little more confident, I went for the button feature and that was even easier. Who knew it could be like this? I am a changed woman. More confident, ready to face the world, one buttonhole at a time.

The Second Twin Quilt

So there are two little ladies in Los Angeles waiting for their quilts. I purposefully picked very different fabrics for each girl but I will leave it up to their mom to decide which one will get the seersucker quilt and which one will get this fun animal print. I quilted flowers and circles on the seersucker quilt but went for the simple stripes with this one. It was my first attempt using the quilting guide with my machine and did alright - if you look closely, the lines get a little wavy, but that can be chalked up to the charm of homemade, right?

Here You Go Mom!

Here is the finished quilt I made for my mom. I goofed on the math when I calculated my block pieces. Rather than take the time to fix each block piece by piece, I ended up going for a simpler pattern with the bigger pieces and then framing it with the smaller pieces. I backed with a light blue, used white binding and quilted in the ditch. It should look perfect as a throw in my mom's family room.

No More Streaking!

After way too many mad dashes from the bathroom to my bedroom in my fishbowl apartment, I finally made myself this wonderful robe. The picture doesn't do it justice since I have been wearing every day for the past week - if I was a good blogger, I would have ironed it first, but getting this post up seemed more important than a little ironing.

I used the pattern posted below with this adorable floral print I picked up fabric shopping in the Garment District with Charlotte. I made a couple of changes to the pattern to simplify it a bit. I skipped the decorative lace and skipped the pockets. Overall, I am incredibly pleased with how it fits and how it looks. Next up, a new nightgown from the same pattern.

Where Have I Been?

Busy sewing. Too busy to even blog about all of my projects. Fourth of July Weekend was a giant sewing fest in my apartment. By Sunday, I was delirious and ready for a quilting break. I also cranked out some more goodies today. So without further ado, here are my projects. I am going to break up the posts for easier uploading.

A New Twist

As I have mentioned once or twice before, it is raining babies in my life. Twin girls were born last week in Los Angeles who are patiently waiting for quilts. Fueled by ice coffee and the fear of drowning in fabric, I managed to knock out this little number this evening. There is a tuck on the seersucker side that needs to get reworked, but otherwise it is pretty much done.

The twins' mother made her feelings about pink pretty clear, so I picked up this awesome seersucker at Purl. It is made up of red, yellow and blue stripes. I backed it with a solid white and quilted it with the painted yellow thread.

As for the quilting design, I traced the center of the flower and drew the petals freehand. The flowers alone didn't provide enough quilting so I added partial circles to the border. Overall, I am thinking it is pretty cute. It should segue nicely from a crib to a toddler bed too.

Quilt Action Shots - Part V

Here is sweet Erol, napping with his new quilt. He is only a week old but already an accomplished model.

Tied Up With A Bow

I am sad to see this one go.

Something A Little Different

On this muggy, no rainy, now sunny Father's Day, I am off to visit with a very new father and his brandy new son. His son Erol is a week old today - he came just in time to make this Father's Day pretty special.

Erol's arrival gave me the perfect kick in the butt to try something I had been sitting on for a while. Ever since I bought the lovely painted yellow thread, I have wanted to try a really simple quilt using it for the quilting. And use it I did.

I took two yards of Alexander Henry's "Fishies" and two yards of white, and quilted them together with a nice thin batting. I sewed all three layers together, with the rights sides of the fabrics facing each other (good thing the white is right on both sides so there was no real way to mess up) and left a good size gap on one end. I turned the layers right side out, smoothed out the wrinkles, and then used a good sized tupperware lid to trace circles all over the quilt.

Update: I should explain the circles a little better. After sewing the three layers together and turning them right side out, I secured the layers together with quilting pins. Once everything was nice and flat, I took a tupperware lid and traced it with a disappearing ink marker. I traced about 5 circles, then just followed the lines on my machine with my walking foot very slowly. I then traced more circles and repeated the process until I thought there were enough. After I was finished with the circles, I top stitched the border to help hold everything down.

After quilting the circles, or bubbles, I quilted a yellow border around the edge and hand sewed the gap left for turning. I love the yellow on the white - it stands out but the colors are still subtle. I like it but would also love to see what it would look like with a higher contrast - maybe a painted red thread next time...

The quilting on the Fishie side is very subtle. I am a little disappointed that is hardly visible, but that might be because the pattern is soooooo busy that most quilting couldn't compete with that full stretch of fish. I like it though - and I am already picturing it on a toddler bed for when Erol is a little older.

When I bought the Fishies, I also picked up a fun peachy colored seersucker. I am going to try something similar with that one to see if the textured seersucker will show off the quilting better. Wish me luck. Good thing there are twins waiting for quilts in Californina to keep me motivated.

Weekend Update

This is just a quick post to show off some of my weekend projects. Friday night I put together the baby quilt. All it needs is a little binding. I am really happy with how it looks.

And after way too long, I finally sewed new bedroom curtains. I had my eye on the Notari pale blue print for a long while and was able to purchase it last week. I simply hemmed the sides, top and bottom and then picked up some ring clips for the top. Now I just need some cute tie backs and I will be all set.

Quilt Action Shots - Part IV

Allow me to introduce Miss Brielle, who is growing so fast and is clearly enjoying her quilt. I am counting the days until I get to meet her in July.

And if you ever wondered why I sewed baby quilts, action shots like these pretty much sum it up. Are you checking out those little chicken legs?

Charm Quilts Are In The Air Tonight

I mention this because there are at least two other quilters working on and dreaming about charm quilts as I write this.

I was recently commissioned by a lovely friend to make her two baby quilts. We did a little online shopping on Reprodepot and then finished things up on Sunday at Purl Soho for some wonderful collaboration.

Since my to-do list is taller than Empire State Building and is starting to keep me up at night, I decided to start applying more week night energies to crafting. Last night I worked in a load of fabric laundry in between a run and tonight was all about cutting.

I absolutely love these prints together. The colors are so bright and vibrant. I cut out the 4.5" squares in the colorful prints and 3 x 4.5" sashing in white. The large Moda dots is also the backing for this baby.

Adding Furniture Reupholsterer To My Resume

After going two weekends without doing any crafting or sewing, I have been making up for lost time like a maniac this week. It is pretty exhilarating to be checking off projects from my to-do list. This evening's adventure involved recovering my chairs with some new fabric from Anna Maria Horner's new Drawing Room line of fabric.

The chairs turned out better than I could have hoped and the recovering process wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I left David in charge of removing the staples while I ran over to my neighbor's place to borrow his staple gun (Hi Harry!). It took about two hours from start to finish, which included a lot of fussing in the beginning - I blame the nerves.

Here are the Before pictures. As you can see, the seat fabric is pretty tired. The cream fabric started out pretty cute, but the light color couldn't hold up to all the tushies sitting on it but it was able to hold on long enough for me to find the right replacement.

And here are the After pictures!

And now I must finish the second bedroom/office. The new fabric is just too cute for the ugly rug and bad paint job. How did I just add two more things to my to-do list?

My First Common Threads Quilt Block

I did it. I finally did it. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I should do for Rebekah's quilt block. There was so much pressure and I am going to admit right here that I was/am freakin' nervous. But I swallowed my nerves and made the first cut into the fabric.

My original design idea got tossed out the window this afternoon when I saw some lovely quiltspiration on a blog. I changed the design up and went with this hourglass design instead. Hopefully, Rebekah considers diamonds squares and if she doesn't mind that my seams don't quite match, then we have ourselves something a little wonky as well.

Craft-free Memorial Day Weekend

I took the weekend off from crafting and sewing and went out to Montauk to spend some time with friends, beach, sand and fresh air. It was really lovely. Here are a couple of pictures of the beach to make up for my lack of productivity.

I'm In The Mood For Provence

I hope these aren't considered fighting words, but I have the best mother in the whole world. She is an amazing and inspiring woman and incredibly creative and talented. My only complaint is that she lives just far enough away that weekend sewing dates just aren't that practical.

So this is a surprise present for her, and because I can't keep a craft secret, I am now racing against time. I had to post about it but I do want it to be a surprise for her. So now, it really comes down to how often my mom checks this blog. It is up to fate and my mom's internet surfing habits.

I picked five different Provence style fabrics and am going to follow this simple quilt pattern from a lovely book that Lisa's mom gave me when I went to visit her in Ohio. I think it is going to be perfect for her family room.

And Mom, if you are reading this, you better act surprised ; )

Fabric Shopping In Buenos Aires - Part II

Although the garment district in BA was not quite what I expected and I sadly didn't have that much luck, the adventure was not in vain. This lovely stretch jersey was hiding in the corner and caught my eye right when I was about to leave the store. It is perfect for a summer dress. I haven't decided on what style I am going to go with but I am leaning towards designing something on my own. I'm so Project Runway.

Blogging My To-Do List

Last year, David and I had ourselves a good "Small Bedroom Weekend Challenge" where we redid our tiny second bedroom, making it into a functional office and tv room plus storage for all of my sewing materials. It was an amazing feat worthy of any design show on HGTV. We even scored an awesome desk, two gorgeous chairs and two bookshelves from a local vintage furniture store.

The chairs are great but the material covering the seat has seen better days. I have been patiently searching for the right material and thanks to Anna Maria Horner, my search is over. The fabric arrived last week and I can't wait for a free moment to recover these lovelies. I have never recovered a chair before so it should be a fun challenge.

So here are some "before" pictures of the chair and the new fabric. Nimbus the cat sold separately.

The Common Threads Virtual Quilting Bee

I alluded to an exciting development in my "Good Bye, I am leaving for Argentina and you can't stop me" post but didn't want to get into too much detail since it was still in the planning stages. But now that we are in full force, I am going to spill the beans.

On one of my many online craft/quilt/sewing surfing adventures, I came across of group of women that started an online quilting bee. I couldn't believe what a brilliant idea it was, and then I saw the blocks getting made, I had to physically restrain my heart from beating out of my chest. They were gorgeous, original and inspiring. Of course, my first reaction once I got a hold of myself was "how can I get myself invited into this quilting bee?"

Since it had already started and these women didn't know me, I realized that my getting asked into that specific bee wasn't likely, but I also realized that maybe, just maybe, I could start my own. I started asking around to my crafty friends, was turned down by a bunch of you (you know who you are) and was so excited when two awesome ladies agreed wholeheartedly.

A three person quilting bee just wouldn't do so I pulled out my ace in the whole. I tried to be cool when I emailed my online crafting buddy but I was so nervous. What if she thought the idea was stupid? What if she didn't think my quilting was up to her level (because her stuff is so dang good)? I hit send and waited. Thankfully she was interested and went on to mention that she had a couple of friends that she wanted to invite.

The next thing I know, I am part of a thirteen person online quilting bee called Common Threads. We are going to do one quilt a month for 13 months. I now get to know, work with, and learn from these amazing, talented women.

You can follow the button on the right side of the page to the Common Threads blog. We also have a flickr group for even more pictures documenting all of the blocks and quilts as they develop.

This is so exciting! Dreams really do come true.

Here Comes the Bride

's maid purses...

It is funny that no matter how long I have been sewing and how many purses I have made, I still get a little nervous when I make a custom purse order, especially for a wedding. But as usual, all that worrying was a waste of time. Theses seven clutches turned out so cute. AND I finally figured out a stabilizer for the clutches besides purse frames.


After a little online sleuthing, I found something called plastic canvas. It is plastic meshy/griddy material that is used for needlepoint. It turns out that it is also perfect for stabilizing a fabric purse. It is flexible and can be easily cut with scissors but really gives the bag some much needed structure. I still used fusible interface on both the exterior and lining fabric but the plastic canvas really did the trick. Just check out the posture on these beauties.

I experimented on a sample bag to work out the kinks and lucky for me, since now I have a new clutch too.

Argentinian Adventures

Hello again! I am back from an amazing trip to Argentina. It was really better than I imagined. And true to my word, I went immediately to the Once, the garment district in Buenos Aires. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, although deep down, I was hoping it was something like New York's garment district. It was in the fact that once you are in it, there is shop after shop of fabric stores. The presentation was very different though, with giant rolls of fabric. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least, but the adventure was a lot of fun.