Book Dreaming

I love clicking around on Flickr, looking at how people organize their sewing rooms and photos of their stashes. It's funny how we all have most of the same books. I spy copies of Sublime Stitching, Amy Butler's book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I bet not too many people have copies of this book Better Homes and Gardens Sewing. Or maybe you do. I know that the Reader's Digest Sewing book is very popular too.



I just like to look at the pictures.



My mom has a very different decorating style than I. She tends to layer more things and it is quite a bit more country looking. She does build some great vignettes though. I thought I would share some of them.



She has the mother sized hedgehog. I have a matching baby that I picked up at a different yard sale. Fitting.







Her baby mitten collection started one day when she got out of her car to discover a tiny little red mitten left behind by someone.



I really, really, really need to do a big clean out this weekend and I think I will.

Sick of Owls Yet?

Hope you all aren't completely sick of seeing me create owls and owls and owls. I made this pillow top using Moonstitches owls zakka style how to. Rather than putting mine on a string I sewed them onto an applique tree. Actually if you don't already frequent her blog, be sure to see the Tokyo Quilt Show photos that she has been posting. The quilts are just so amazing and it will really inspire you.




Looking back on what I had hoped I would accomplish in my little crafting world for the new year, I have been very on target. I went on such a quilt making spree at Christmas that I decided I should focus on smaller sewing projects in January. I figured I would accomplish more and learn to create different projects (I mainly quilt). In the end I have been trying new purses, making pillow covers and cutting pattern pieces for skirts. I have to say I am so ready to start a new quilt. I still have my mom's Christmas quilt as an UFO since I haven't quite figured out how to attach the two giant pieces I quilted into one.


On another note I love Domino magazine's Reader's Choice Contest photographs.




I really need to simplify and cull my collections.

Our cat was feeling blog neglect

So he thought he would say "Hi! Betty owns me too, or I own her, one or the other."



I was also a rescue animal from a shelter. I was one year old when I found my new home and no one had wanted me for that entire year that I was at the shelter!



Now I roll around on my back all day.



Attack of the killer hound mutt.



Is there some sort of theme going on here?

Feeling Crafty

I will be needing to make one my own travel journal as seen here. I don’t tend to get into the whole scrapbooking thing very much, but remembering your travels definitely calls for something special. I like the list element of the journals. I spotted a list of things I like, what we did today, what I am wearing. Listing things would be a fun and easy way to keep track of everything.

I need to make one of these journals because very soon Adam and I will be going on our second (in almost ten years) vacation together. Whoho! we have tickets to the opening game of the Oakland Athletics out in California. We are in heaven for this vacation. One of my brothers lives in San Fransisco so we may stay there a few nights and visit. I will also be checking out all the fabulous shops that I read about on this SF girls blog.

Heather Ross’s new fabric line that hasn’t been released yet is killing me. I will be in sewing heaven once I get my hands on this aquatic themed fabric. Did I mention I love swimming?

I’ve been running home from work everyday desperate for the aqua and peach colored yards of gauze I ordered from Denver Fabrics to make these quilts.

Last weekend we were on the hunt for sea glass. I've been looking to add pieces to my sea glass collection because I have been thinking about sewing seaglass into aqua gauze.









Oh yes, and if you are still reading with me at the bottom of this super big post I discovered something I didn’t realize about iron on fusible webbing and appliqués. This is probably nothing new for a lot of you crafters and maybe if I read directions more carefully I would have picked up on this months ago. So when I am about to do some crazy appliqué that requires fusible webbing I have been doing the following: cutting out the shape in the fabric, then using the fabric as a template to cut out the shape I need for the webbing, then ironing etc. I struggle insanely with trying to cut out the webbing as closely as possible to the fabric shape and it results in loose fabric and stickness on my iron. Soooooo…even though this is somewhat a waste of fabric and webbing, I started to: take the fabric I want to make a shape from and before I do any cutting- I iron it onto webbing ( I’ve been using the two sided Lite-bond kind), then I cut out the shape. This method keeps the shape perfectly covered in webbing. So cool. I hope my explanation makes sense.

This Dog's Life II

Close



Closer



Closer



Too close

I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer

So I happen to love vintage quilts. I can't pass up all that careful handcrafted goodness. I posted one square from this quilt before. It it one of my true favorites because although it looks like a really traditional style quilt, the fabrics within are to die for.



Get a closer look. Each square has the best color choices ever. It makes me want to search out these same colors in newer fabrics that I may be able to find and make entire quilts from these color combos. Very cute cowboy fabric here.



Simple, but lovely blues here.



Football players on of all things aqua.



Buttery yellow paired with light blues.



Striking red and black combo on light gray.



I love these colors a lot. Bright green and white check backed by what I call Martha Stewart green.





Don't forget about V-day

Miscellaneous

Have you been to Doe-c-doe's blog? She very cleverly has a blogging schedule. So for example Tuesdays she blogs fabric, Wednesdays she blogs books, Fridays misc. I love that system. So today, in tribute of her schedule we will have miscellaneous. A little bit of vintage books a little bit of tag.

Super book that I scooped up at a rummage. Cecile C. and the Monkeys. The colors throughout are so bright and vivid. I love all the images of her doing things with her long lanky giraffe legs.









My skunk kicked my hedgehog off it's pedestal.






I’ve been tagged by http://www.lealoulemonade.blogspot.com/

Okay so it is supposed to seven random things and then tag seven people, but I think I will shorten mine down to five.

1. I used to be a clothing stylist in LA. You would never know that about me now, since my wardrobe needs a serious brush up.
2. I have a half dozen nicknames. I’m not sure if it is just that my name has too many syllables or that I just have that type of personality. My real name is Janine. My boyfriend calls me Betty and I go by that most times. Of course I then have these nicknames: Bean, Neen, Nini, Nine, and lastly my roller derby name She Hate Me.
3. Oh yeah, I am a roller derby girl
4. When I was a kid I attended boy scout camp.
5. I’ve been to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival many times. Often accompanied by two small children, a Doberman, and a Chihuahua.

Sorry for those who don't like to play tag!

Who I have tagged:
http://achallengingyear.blogspot.com/
http://cattycatspeaks.blogspot.com/
http://limeandaquastudio.blogspot.com/
http://doecdoe.blogspot.com/
http://redheadedsnipit.typepad.com/

Rules for tagging:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I've had this plan

I've had this plan in my head that I want to bake cupcakes for a while now. I hardly ever cook in the kitchen, because, gasp, my boyfriend- the baseball loving, hard rock liking, boyfriend of mine actually cooks. Yup, he is pretty good at it to, making his own creations all the time. But he doesn't bake. I always see the most fabulous cupcakes in Country Living, Martha Stewart, my favorite cupcake blog. So I whipped these up--and surprisingly they were fairly easy to make.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart and they are called carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I set them up on my favorite thrift store/ rummage dishes.





This whole post is turning out sort of pink, check out this other creation of mine. I saw it in Country Living several years ago and it was sort of in the background of a photo. I loved the pink thermos canister so much that I went and bought one from ebay for $14. Wouldn't you know not one month later I scored one for a $1 at a yard sale. Craziness.





Basically I took the thermos top (this one is plastic) drilled a small threaded hole and then screwed the hasp setup (purchased in the electrical section of a hardware store) into the hole. It provides charming light.

Clutch and Purse

Yeah! My first handmade clutch and purse! Actually I guess I technically made one in high school, but I've been trying to forget about it. I made it from faux cheetah fur fabric on one side and then the other side (so it was reversible) was faux cow fabric. Arg! Now doesn't that sound hideous.

The purse idea I found on www.weewonderfuls.com right here. I had been holding on to my small stash of Heather Ross fabric, which I love so much, waiting for just the right project to showcase how fabulous they are. I can't get enough of the Heather Ross fabric by the way, bicycles, gnomes, frogs, tadpoles-- all my favorite things from childhood.



I am quite pleased with how this came out. I sewed the grid onto pieces of corduroy, then backed the 2 inch squares of fabric with flannel, then zigzagged them onto the grid. I hope to next make a lapsized quilt like this with the rest of the fabric, since I am so rough on my purses I guess that this one won't last long.



Then I made this clutch from Amy Karol's book Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I read this book constantly and love all the photos. This was actually the first thing I made from the book.







I once again used my discount corduroy and embroidered Sublime Stitching designs onto it. I then embroidered my friend's name- Ms. Shelby- as this will be a gift to her. The inside is a lightweight yellow polka-dot and the button is a large navy blue one. I give the project an A+ for being easy and the directions were excellent.



These are the things for Shelby if I ever get a chance to send them to her.