Bella Dia

Softies by Therese Laskey

I'm very excited about this book - one reason is that the author is my friend Terry who had an idea and took it all the way to fruition and it is so exciting to see that happen; another reason is that there are tons of great simple adorable projects that will appeal to a wide variety of people; and, my third reason is that the book features one of my pincushions!

Isn't the photography beautiful?! This is my Scattered Flowers pincushion. All patterns are included in the book too, I love that :)

It's available in all the bookstores as well as Amazon; I hope you'll check it out and give one of the projects a try. The projects, or even the book, would make a great gift too; yep, it's almost that time again ;)

Everyday Totes

I made a couple of new totes over the weekend.  I love the fabric on both of these - I think they are vintage decorator samples.  No pattern on these, just made it up as I went along.  The orange one is a little bigger.  I'm planning on making some more that I'll put in my shop.

This is the interior of the blue one; it has this large pocket on one side and a smaller pocket on the other.  Both bags are reversible.

The interior of the orange one; a large split pocket on one side and a smaller pocket on the other sized for a cell phone.  This bag is going to my sister.

I've got a busy week ahead of me and it is still hot, hot, hot!  Thank you to everyone for your Little House love.  I haven't been able to get back to everyone yet but your comments mean *so* much to me, thank you!

How To Throw Away A Needle

I hate putting broken needles or bent pins into the trash because I'm always afraid it will put a hole in the trash bag or poke one of the boys when they are taking out the trash. Can you tell I worry a lot? Anyway, this is how I throw away a broken needle: I tape it to a piece of cardboard with packing tape first then I toss it out. I've been a little hesitant to post this 'cause I was afraid I'd hear a resounding chorus of "duh!" from around the world, but I guess if it keeps even one person from being poked with a pin then it will be worth it!

My Reach vs. My Grasp

I love to wear simple skirts and tops in the summer but I can never seem to find clothes that are just right.  I know what I want, but buying ready-made means you're stuck with the current fashion and not necessarily what looks good on you or what you like.  I found these Brown Paper Patterns and I'm really excited to give them a try.  There is one pattern each for skirts, pants/shorts, and tops and each pattern has five variations.  They are simple on purpose so you can customize the design to suit your fancy.  I'm in the process of making a six-gored short skirt but got held up when I didn't have the right zipper.  I bought the patterns from here after I checked out the reviews here. 

I also bought two other patterns:  Simplicity 4632 that has a top, dress, and pants with variations and Simplicity 4589.  I love what Amber at Berlin's Whimsy did with #4589 so I'm attempting the same thing.  It's supposed to be an easy pattern so we'll see. 

I took advantage of Hancock's sale and bought some fabrics that I'm really excited about.  You can see the palette I've been drawn to for the summer.  There's also some natural colored linen that's in the wash. 

My reach usually exceeds my grasp on sewing projects but then what's the summer for? :)

Pillowcase Skirt

I've made myself a few skirts to take
on vacation - actually dipping my toe into the big pool of making my own clothes. I picked a very basic pattern that has only two pieces and an elastic waist, thinking that it can't get any easier than this... but then I found out that it actually can! I was going through my stash looking for fabric that my daughter might like for a skirt when I came across this vintage pillowcase I had found thrifting awhile back. I love the border print and thought it would make a cool looking skirt so this is what I did:

1- cut open the end of the pillowcase;
2 - try on and decide what length you want it; trim any excess from the end you just cut open but leave an extra 1" or so for the casing;
3 - fold over the raw edge to create
a casing for the elastic (I fold over ¼" first and then ¾" so you don't see the raw edge) and press, then stitch the casing closed leaving a 1" opening to insert the elastic;
4 - insert the elastic (I used ½") through
the casing and sew up the ends;
5 - stitch the opening in the
casing closed and you're done!

Super-de-duper easy :)
I'll be back in about a week, take care 'til then!

Another Trip, Another Bag

Well, we're going on vacation - what I call a real vacation, a holiday. Resort hotel, drinks by the pool, room service, and sandals! It's been at least six years since I've been on any sort of holiday that wasn't visiting family so this is quite a treat that the kids and I have been looking forward to. So, the last bag I made for a road trip was The Big Bag but this time I wanted something to carry with me, more of a tote, so this is what I came up with. I am absolutely in love with this fabric with all its shades of yellow and orange and big bold flowers. I also just happened to have the perfect limey green for the lining already in my stash.

Of course it has to have pockets - two small ones on one side....

and a large one on the other.

I had two of these glitter lucite buttons that I've been wanting to use and I think they look pretty good with the fabric. I like boxing up the bottom this way because it creates another spot to add a fun detail.

I think I also have the blog lethargy that's been going around; even though I'm really busy with projects, a new job, house spring cleaning and stuff like that, when I sit down at the computer my brain goes into sleep mode. I'm hoping after I get back from our trip that I'll feel more motivated for blogging. I really appreciate all the comments and apologize for not getting back to everyone - I love keeping up that correspondence but I've been so squeezed for time lately that I haven't been able to, but I do read all the comments and they are very special to me. Being a part of this community has been such an awakening for me and taken me down paths I never even thought to explore - thank you to each and every one of you who read my blog and are so supportive of my work, I am blessed, truly blessed.

Japanese Craft Book Library

I have finally put together my library of Japanese craft books. I made a set of them on Flickr and you can see them here. I included one page excerpt from each book and I also tried to pick a page that someone else with the same book hadn't already featured. You'll find the ISBNs in the description.

**Update** I've had several people ask where I get my Japanese craft books. Some were gifts from my sister and the others I ordered from YesAsia and Amazon Japan. Amazon Japan usually quotes about 4-6 weeks for delivery but I have always received them in about 2 weeks or less and I have found them to be faster than YesAsia, so they are my preference. Some tips for ordering from Amazon Japan: be familiar with the Amazon (U.S.) interface, view the page in English on Amazon Japan and also in a language translator like Alta Vista's Babelfish, and use a currency converter. Items in your cart are calculated in yen but the charge to your credit card is in American dollars. Hope this helps!

Sewing Cabinet

This old green hoosier is just one of the places that I store my crafting goodies, well, to me they're goodies, other people know it as junk. Starting at the top and left to right: pussywillow cannisters hold stuff like elastic and cording and the yellow flower cookie jar is filled with zippers. The card basket is overflowing with bias tape and rickrack, the green flower pot has some finished objects like fabric flowers, the enamel dishes hold ribbons on spools, and the wire paper tray has old calendar dishcloths on top and a few hankies on the bottom.

Here she is in all her open-drawer glory: drawers at the top are stuffed with a variety of ribbon, lower drawer on the left has a miscellaneous mix of crafting and sewing items and the drawer on the right holds thread and bobbins. The big fat rounded drawers on the bottom hold different kinds of interfacing.

I've been keeping a photo log of my vintage fabric in a set on Flickr and this has really helped me keep track of it. The vintage pieces are typically smaller than my other new fabric and they tend to get lost in the pile so now when I want to see what I have I just look through my Flickr set.

A Little Organization Goes A Long Way

I'm so envious of people that have rooms specifically for crafting. Our extra room is used for our classroom (we homeschool) so my crafting paraphrenalia is delegated to the kitchen/dining room. I thought I'd share a picture of my sewing cart organized with my most used stuff. My sewing machine is on the kitchen counter (I prefer to stand when I sew) and I pull my cart up next to me for easy access. When I move into the living room to sit by the fire and watch TV, I drag my cart in there and have all the necessities that I need. The top has several trays that hold the smaller tools, the middle holds stacks of felt, and the bottom holds stuffing, my box of embroidery thread, and baskets of wool felt scraps. The orange floral feedsack bag on the floor holds my fabric scraps.

Here's a close-up of the top level. Left to right: an assortment of glues and fusible webbing, pincushions, rulers and right angle, marking pens and pencils, various tubes and sticks for turning fabric tubes, tape, small patterns, oversized rulers, scissors and other sharp implements. Under the trays are folders of ephemera that I use in making my tags, and another tray that holds my glasses and misc.

The green cabinet behind the cart is full of more sewing/crafting stuff. I'll share a picture of that tomorrow.

Quilt Cards

I've been dipping my toe in the quilting waters lately. I bought the new book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and these cards are the result of my first efforts. They are fun, fast, and easy - in other words, my kind of project! The floral images in the corners are copies from the book Funny Town that I posted about here, the rest is fabric.

Do you recognize the fabric? I told you I love it ;)

Something a little different here. I've been building a stash of Japanese inspired fabrics for a project I have in mind so I used a few of them for this card. The vase is cut from a Japanese newspaper. I'm participating in the Denyse Schmidt Quilt Along so go check out what others are doing too!