Jenaveve Love

EEEEk!!! I love these prints! http://quilthome.com is having a sale on all Valori Wells prints including her newest line called Jenaveve. I ordered all 3 bird prints & HAD to have that purple, and well the red might match my house . . . So glad I ordered it. I'm not sure what I will do with them yet. They are a cotton linen and have such a nice feel. They are super soft & flexible, not stiff like Far Far Away. They feel a little thicker than regular quilting cottons, but move the same. Get some!!

Sweet Dolls on Etsy

Holly has a knack for finding the cutest things on etsy! She spends more time than I do (sometimes!) searching. If you look at my 'etsy favs', most are from her. Especially those non fabric related! She found http://sweetdolls.etsy.com (btw, how do I just insert the shop name, but not the actual url for a link??) Holly fell in love with Jane and kept going back and looking and then the picture of Jane from the listing became my computer background. Okay, we'll buy her! When the little box arrived, we both loved how she was wrapped~ just how a little friend should be~ with matching tissue paper and a tulle ribbon. The next step is the photo session. Holly never wants to be in the picture, but her smile is so genuine when she really IS happy, that a momma has to capture that! So I got both photos. A sweet smile and childhood memory of a new friend named Jane who is so well made and will be loved for a long time. :)

Playing with Photos

I am often a frustrated photographer! One of my favorite things to do is take pictures, but I don't want to take the time to figure out my camera or the software (I use Corel Paint Shop Pro~ I am afraid of Photoshop from Adobe!) that edits them. Recently I discovered that if up up the 'saturation' level in editing a photo, the colors are so much richer! I always struggle to properly capture the beauty of all these amazing fabrics I get to work with. People have commented that their order is always better in person, so I hope with the saturation increased a little more of the true color is shown. The blanket above I just finished and it is so bright and cheerful and I am finally happy with the finished picture!!

My Fabric Closet

How do you store your fabric?? I'm taking a poll. I have reorganized my fabric closet several times. I started out by color, but as my stash grew and my orders increased, I needed to quickly identify if I have a certain fabric. Next, I grouped by designer, then color. Recently I have been going to designer, then print, then fabric line. For some designers I have many colors, same print. For example I have almost every color of Jennifer Paganelli's Casey Scroll. I put all of those together. For Amy Butler, I have it organized by fabric line. Sandi Henderson is more like Jennifer Paganelli. Tanya Whelan I have by fabric line, then color. I have almost every Darla fabric, a few of Ava Rose & Barefoot Roses and a few of her newest, Delilah. Then there's the orphans that don't have a bigger group or maybe I purchased them for their color. They have their own group by color. For my new sewing room, the local Borders bookstore closed up and my husband bought 6 of their shallow bookshelves. They are 6.5" deep. One whole wall in my new room will house these bookcases & hopefully I'll be able to spread out my fabrics better to see what I have. All this rearranging has lead to a hope of selling off my extra fabrics I don't need or use. I don't want to trade necessarily because I have most of what I need. I may just post my extras with a wish list and maybe I can get more of a certain fabric I need. What is your favorite source for fabric swaps?? I will also donate some to our sewing group at church. I think most of my fabrics are a little more wild than they normally use. :) Any helpful info to the above questions would be treasured!!

Parisville Altered Tshirt

Well, in my quest to fancy up my everyday tshirts, I saw this 6 1/2 " leftover strip from Tula Pink's Parisville fabric called French Lace in pomegranite. I forgot to measure the length! I think it was apx 22". I ironed the strip in half, then brought the raw edges to the center as shown above & ironed the ends towards that side, too. Originally I tried to do a large stitch length 6 on my machine on both sides about 1/4" from the center to pull the threads to gather both sides. The usual happened~ both strings broke. I really detested gathering until I bought a gathering foot. So, I just went over those stitch lines again & voila! Why didn't I do that first? Well, I was afraid the machine gather wouldn't keep the sides straight, so if I do it again, I would do the same, but call the 6 stitch length a basting stitch to hold it in place. It came out a little longer, so I cut a little off & then attached the bottom end on the inside of the tee. I went back and pinned fairly often and in different directions & sewed down the center & 1/4" from that on both sides. How will it wash, you may ask? Don't know, hopefully well. When I get a creative moment, I just go for it. If it washes well, then I can make them for others, if not, thats the end!! It is now my official Valentine's shirt. :)

WIP Gray, Chartreuse & Blue

In between orders I'm working on this new color combo. I started with Anna Maria's Lovesme Lovesmenot in leaf and Amy Butler's English Garden in bluestone. I really liked them together, so then I pulled out some coordinates from my closet from Jennifer Paganelli, Patty Young, Denyse Schmidt as well as AMH & Amy. Oh, yes! The Coriander in pine looks lovely with it! I was kind of excited about that, and Patty Young's Hive and Hummingbirds in lime~ gorgeous!! Then, I got some of the Ty Pennington's Impressions line and was super excited to add those. Its really coming along and I really do love it. I'm not a huge gray fan~ its the smallest section in my fabric closet~ but I love this color combo. Not sure how long it will take to complete, but I work on it a little each day! Sewing room update~ slooooooowly coming along. Hope to start the stucco part Saturday. Maybe 1 more month of no heat?? I'm really tired of being cold!

A Bright Spot on a Grey Day

I got to finally work with Soul Blossoms! I really like that fabric line, but find that I enjoy using one of those prints to pull prints from other lines. Each fabric is a work of art and looks good supported. I made a single fabric blanket using the Pillow & Maxfield Pretty Bird fabric & saw how great it looked with Disco Flower. P&M's new Gypsy Bandana has great saturated colors~ love the reddish fuschia print with this. Kaffe goes with everyone, and Paperweight is one of my favs~ need it in every color! Jennifer Paganelli prints are in almost everything I do, the Queen of Color herself!! BTW, go to her blog to preview Honey Child~ amazing color combos~ can't wait! I was worried about the pics because its sooooooo grey here. I'm already ready for spring, I guess thats why I picked the bright colors!

Sewing Machine Cover

When my blogging friend, Jenny Fish told me she was turning 40, I really wanted to make her something. Its fun making something for someone who sews as much as I do! I decided on a sewing machine cover~ BTW, I don't have one for my machine yet, so this was an experiment of sorts. I opted for all Jennifer Paganelli fabrics since we share a love of all things Sis Boom. I used 8" strips of as many different fabrics as I could find and sewed white Kona cotton to each side. Then I quilted across each strip then free motion quilted the white part (I tried to put her name on it if you look closely at the top~ J's are hard to quilt!). For the back I used Nancy in aqua from the So St Croix line because I know Jenny is partial to Jennifer's blues! One end is finished with a striped ruffle and the other I experimented with using a selvedge edge & it seemed to work! Ribbon ties complete the cover~ which Jenny calls her sewing machine 'blanket'. I wanted it to 'puddle' so I made it a little longer. It looks more feminine, don't you think? Can't wait to make one for me!

Crib Bedding

Oh, how I love Tina Given's Opal Owl! I have enjoyed sewing this set while this cute owl looks at me. :) It seems like I just ordered this line and now she has a new line called Haven's Edge. Its got wonderful purples & pinks in it and can't wait to see what it plays well with! I have quite a few orders for crib bedding to sew this month, so this is the first one finished. I love how Bubble Burst from AMH coordinates so well with the owls. I can forsee boy bedding with that one!

UFO Finished!

I have slowly but surely been getting better from the flu/sinus infection. We are still under construction, no heat, so we are more bundled and snuggly here. Its hard to sew with all those layers on!! A few days after Christmas I took a trip down to Manhattan Beach to visit my 94 year old Busia, a family friend and my brothers family. Pictured are my Busia, niece & Holly. She gave me a quilt her BFF made her a few years ago. Its in need of repair, but I know its a wonderful momento for her. I was honored to receive it! My Busia used to sew and I'm sure has passed the sewing gene to me, although she was more of a clothing sewer. There are no quilts made by her, unfortunately!! Pam, our dear friend/family was the recipient of the patchwork clock & I think she liked it! She made all the girls (& Dylan!) flannel pj bottoms and appliqued their initial to a tshirt, as pictured. Finally, I was able to finish a UFO that I started last spring using a Mail Bag pattern from Pink Chalk fabrics: http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=39_75_78&products_id=3 I have really needed a roomy bag, so I'm so glad to take that off my list and put it to use! Inside I used Jennifer Paganelli's Marie in aqua with Amy Butler's Full Moon Dot in slate. Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley in New Day was a great match for Sketchbook. Now to make a coordinating scarf! Looking forward to a productive and creative new year & can't wait until my sewing room is finished!!!!!