If I Had Unlimited Funds: January 28th

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Today I don’t really have a theme, just more of a “I just REALLY want these things”. A miss match of random things I find on the internet and add to my “Things I Want” list on Pinterest.

So here goes, If I had unlimited funds and NO theme, I’d buy…

1 – I’m So Tired T-Shirt by Hello Apparel (maybe if i wore this shirt, It would explain my zombie like state these days) /// 2 – Rainy Day orginal print/painting by Sara Harvey

3 - Conan O’Brien Quote Typography Poster by IScreenYouScreen (I own their world map print, and I love it! the entire thing is screen printed, even the background color!!)

4 – Cody by Jon Knox Studio /// 5 - Quilted Fox Print by Gingiber

6 – Geometric Leggings by Dream Nation (everything thing is the shop is amazing!) /// 7 – Geometric Quilt Print by Almost Sunday Inc

8 – Schoolboy Satchel on Shoemint (I just really like satchels)

9 – Wood Alphabet Wall Decor by Graphic Spaces /// 10 – Rude Little Black Book by 27th Street Press

So all I need to do now and either sell everything in my shop, or win the lottery and I’ll be able to get ALL OF THIS! I’d say either is a good plan!

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Orange Macarons

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This past weekend I made orange macarons for this months crafternoon. (I think they kinda look like breakfast sandwiches) I had this huge plan to make peach, lemon, orange and raspberry macarons, but I got a bit sidetracked with my quilt and only ended up making the orange.

The shells are flavored with orange extract, and the filling is just plain ole butter cream with orange juice instead of vanilla extract. They tasted awesome! I may make some kind of chocolate filling the next time.

Any suggestions for the next flavor I should try?

 

 

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Which Way Is Up Quilt

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About a week and a half ago, in the middle of the night, I had this idea for a paper pieced quilt. An outline of a house, in black with different tones of blue as the background. Luckily I’ve been finally keeping a habit of having notebooks all over the house, so I jotted it down real quick and went back to bed (you can see the original sketch in the above left photo).

The next morning I woke up before CT and went straight to my computer, I drafted a paper pieced pattern so I could test out my idea. I was very happy with the results, and as you can see from the photo on the right above, it worked!! I was so excited I set out to make 24 more!

Well, after searching through my fabric stash, I just couldn’t find 24 fabrics that matched the first one I did. So I narrowed it down to 12 total. I made each house block 10″ square, which meant I should end up with a quilt about 30″x40″ if I didn’t add a border, and a bit bigger if I did.

I spent a few days finishing up the other 11 blocks, doing four at a time (I feel like I get up to iron less and it takes less time, to me). I was on a roll and was set out to finish this quilt as soon as I could. So last Tuesday I finished all 12 blocks! I laid them out on the floor and didn’t quite like the set up as all house outlines. So I turned a few around, and a couple upside down, and ended up with a bunch of arrows pointing all different directions. Perfect!! I also decided at that point that I was going to add 2″ white strips in between all of the blocks and a 2″ white border around the entire edge. Now it was 40″x50″, a nice lap sized quilt. I needed one of those.

I pieced and quilted the entire thing Wednesday afternoon, and then added binding Friday Morning. I took photos Saturday, and here I am on Monday showing you all my finished quilt…

I’m calling it the “Which Way Is Up” quilt.

I LOVE the way it came out, and I love that each time I use the pattern it will be a totally different quilt! I can subtract the white and do all solids, so the arrows (or houses) will be subtle and surprise you! or I can switch the white and the patterned fabrics? Or I could be super crazy and actually have them all houses!! Ha.

Well, I’m so interested to see all of the different ways you could make this quilt too, so you can find the pattern in my shop!

I’m not including instructions on how to paper piece. I have no idea how to write it out in words… Yet.  If you’ve never tried it, I suggest searching for some videos on YouTube, that’s how I taught myself. Fresh Lemons Quilts blog also has a great tutorial if your not into watching videos.

If any of you do make a project using this pattern, I would love to see it (and maybe even share it on here).

I feel like I’m on a quilting kick now, so expect to see more sewing and a bit less of everything else…

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A Pink Couch?

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This past weekend, I was taking a very short break from sewing to look at this years Ikea catalog. Normally I sit down and look through the entire thing the second I get it, but this year I just didn’t care as much. Maybe because I know exactly what I need for my house? (for once) I don’t know, but I’ll get back to my story now…

While flipping through I saw that the couch we currently have has new cover options. I absolutely LOVE the current cover, it’s the perfect gray and it goes with everything we have. However it IS NOT toddler friendly, enough. It’s a bit heather-ed, so it hides the small stains, but it does not hide the big “I spilled an entire cup of chocolate milk on the couch” stains. Also, I just like to change things around a bit, and two covers means I could switch back in forth!!

The exact cover that caught my attention was the one above, a bright, solid pink-red cover! PINK! I’m not normally a pink furniture person. I was reluctant to even put it in CT’s room before she was born, until I realized I was being a huge jerk. Now I want it in my main room, the room I see all day, everyday? Maybe I have a brain tumor that’s making me have weird color cravings?

My husband, knowing I normally don’t steer us wrong, said “sure, why not?” So of course I made sure to first go look at all my color options, do a mock-up and even lay some fabric on our current couch to see how I felt. I could have just been mesmerized by the Ikea catalog? We don’t know.

None of it helped. It actually made it worse! Now I have three colors I can’t decide on!!

Above is a photo of the current color couch cover (say that 5 times fast!!). Below are the three, very quick, mock-ups I did…

Ok, so the Plum and Dark Teal are not made by Ikea, but instead by a furniture cover company that specializes in Ikea covers called Bemz. Their a teeny bit more money, but you have hundreds of solid, and patterned, choices!!!

It looks like I’m mostly leaning towards the plum, which happens to be my favorite color, but those Teal and Pink covers are still interesting to me! Grrr. Were in no rush to decide, luckily (unless CT spills something way worse than chocolate milk… ) So I have time to just stare at the mock-ups and figure it all out.

I will ask you though, If this were your home, what color would you go with?

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Blythe Dress Kits

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I really want to spend my days, and what I should be focusing my time on. I feel like I’ve taken on too many projects and I’m not 100% happy doing all of them anymore.

So this week I have finally decided that I will not be making Blythe clothes and accessories to sell anymore. I’ll still make a few here and there as gifts or for myself, but I just can’t do it full time, I don’t have enough time in the day. It took me a long time to finally say that out loud, and then write it here.

So to help fund equipment repairs, and possibly replacements, I’m going to sell off all my pre printed, unfinished Blythe dresses as kits. They will come with One or Three fabric pieces pre printed with a random design, and instructions on how to assemble them.

You’ll be able to find these kits (plus future skirt, top and bag kits) in my Etsy Shop. I’m also thinking of adding some grab bag listings for already finished pieces. Is that something anyone would be interested in?

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Mini Fabric Bolts: The Best Idea EVER!

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This past weekend we finally started working on my new sewing room. We spent Saturday at Ikea buying new shelves, and Sunday at home prepping the room for all my supplies and equipment. It was exhausting, and we are nowhere near done, but I’m beyond excited that it’s finally started. I want to share it so bad, but I feel like I should wait until it’s finished (which may be a few weeks since I forgot to buy another desk section while at Ikea)

One of the new features of the room will be awesome fabric storage. I’m a visual person, I need to see all my supplies, otherwise I forget what I have. I’m leaning more towards sewing lately, so knowing what I have is really really important. I’m covered when it comes to fat quarters, those are all in wire baskets. But yardage was starting to get hard to see, it’s so big and bulky, and I had nowhere to put it.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I found Sew Fantastic’s post about making mini fabric bolts. The supplies are easy to find and the results are great. Now I can just place the full yard, and half yard, bolts on a Billy bookcase and see exactly what I have. Also, because of the different sizes I can tell if I have enough for a project just by looking at the shelf! Super perfect for everything I have planned this year.

Do any of you have some ideas on supply storage? I’d love to hear them, because I’m still trying to figure out a way to make my beads, and jewelry supplies visible.

 

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