Sewing/Crafts
The Everyday Camp Shirt & The Which Way Out Jacket . . . In Big Kid Sizes!
Next on my list of new pattern releases: two of your favorites . . . now in sizes 5 to 14 for your big kids!
The Everyday Camp Shirt is such a great choice for boys of any age. My boys wear them for everything from days at the zoo to Sunday mornings at church.
Allen and Jamie are wearing samples sewn up in the plaid and floral fabrics from Deena Rutter’s Stars & Stripes fabric collection for Riley Blake. I love how you can get completely different looks with this pattern just by changing the fabric or the buttons and snaps. We think these shirts have a decidedly western flair to them. (Jamie plays the part well, doesn’t he?)
And, the Which Way Out Jacket in corduroy and flannel (or twill and quilting fabric, or PUL and minky, or . . .) is exactly what your big boys and big girls need to top off their fall wardrobes. (Yes, I know summer is barely here. That means you have plenty of sewing time before fall arrives!)
Allen’s Which Way Out Jacket has an outer layer of gray baby-wale corduroy, and the reverse layer is Michael Miller’s Gray Camouflage on cotton flannel. It’s a fairly lightweight jacket that is still nice and warm.
What fabrics do you think your big kids would love in an Everyday Camp Shirt or a Which Way Out Jacket?
All of my new patterns are set to be released next week! More previews to come!
Spring Market, Michael Miller PUL and the Green Beginnings Cloth Diaper
Those of you who sew cloth diapers are going to love this news! Michael Miller Fabrics is releasing PUL! Excellent quality PUL in adorable Michael Miller prints! How cool is that?! I think those of you who don’t sew cloth diapers are going to love this PUL, too, though. It’s the perfect fabric for anything that needs to be waterproof, it has a great soft drape and feel to it, and it’s so easy to work with.
Michael Miller Fabrics had the cutest booth at Spring Market. My booth was right across from them.
The circus theme was so much fun, and there were elephants! No, not real elephants, but huge, adorably dressed almost-lifelike elephants.
And inside their booth, there was a really cute brochure that looked something like this:
I told you, didn’t I? Such cute prints. Can you already see these on your little one’s bum? Oh, the patterns? Why, yes, they are Fishsticks Designs patterns. The Mama & Baby Bag and the Which Way Out Jacket, and one of my brand new patterns: The Green Beginnings Cloth Diaper!
I was so excited by how many people at Quilt Market wanted to hear all about cloth diapering! I am sure that I talked cloth diapering as much as I chatted about my patterns. (I’m a huge advocate of cloth-diapering, in case you didn’t already know that, and I’m thrilled to see it becoming so much more mainstream!)
My goal in creating this diaper pattern was a little out of the ordinary for me. Usually, when I create a pattern, I try to give you lots of options. This pattern, though, I geared towards moms who are sewing their first cloth diapers, and I kept it really simple. The instructions include a whole page of diaper sewing tips–many are things that I’ve learned through my years of experience sewing cloth diapers, and the rest are suggestions from my amazing team of testers.
The Green Beginnings Cloth Diaper is a pocket diaper in sizes newborn to large. It has a trim fit through the crotch and bum, and a slightly raised back with a scooped front. The uncased leg elastic coupled with an absorbent soaker that is slightly narrower than the width of the diaper also creates a faux gusset at the legs to make this diaper a star when it comes to leak protection. My testers have given me great feedback, and Morgan and I both love it on Katie and Charlie. I can’t wait to hear how you and your little ones like it, too!
A quick note: All of the new patterns that I’m going to be introducing over the next week or so will be released at the same time. I mentioned before that I have a few things to finish up, and I want to make sure that my retailers all have the patterns on hand (or on their sites, in the case of pdf patterns). I’m shooting for Tuesday, June 5th, but I’ll keep you updated through my blog and my Facebook page!
2012 Spring Quilt Market Booth Start to Finish
Now that I’m home and have had a day to recover a bit, I can’t wait to share details of my second Quilt Market! I took way more pictures this time than last, so I have a few posts that I’ll share over the next week or so. I’ll mix some new pattern reveals in, too! Ray and I drove up from North Dallas on Wednesday and arrived in the early evening. The first step for booth set-up was putting down the floor and hanging the drapes (after a quick pressing in our hotel room!). We used a laminate floor from IKEA which added just the right touch for our vintage kitchen theme. I must add a huge “Thank-you!” to my amazing husband here for all the work that he did–most of the first few hours of set-up, I just stood by and watched while he made sure the floor looked perfect!
On Thursday morning, my wonderful friends, Andrea of 3girlday and Ginny of GingerLuvs arrived to help get the rest of the booth assembled. (Andrea, by the way, was an huge part of planning the booth ahead of time, too. She took my basic ideas and turned them into an absolutely beautiful booth!)
We worked all morning, took a break for a late lunch (at The Bluebird Bistro-yum!) and stepped back to look at our finished creation well before dinner time.
What do you think? (You can click on the above picture for a larger one.)
Here are a few closeup images of everything in my booth. Can you pick out a few new patterns? More details are coming! (I actually have a few patterns that aren’t quite finished yet . . . I just ran out of time!)
Quilt Market Time and a Fun Little Giveaway!
The last few weeks (months, really) at my house have been full of a whole lot of this:
a little of this:
and perhaps a bit too much of this:
All of that was in preparation for Quilt Market this weekend! Ray and I arrived in Kansas City late in the afternoon yesterday. Booth setup has started and will continue (with the help of a few wonderful local friends–more about them later) through today.
We have a fun little theme going on with the booth, and it fits my personality very nicely. The centerpiece of the whole thing started out this way:
Have any idea what we might have turned those random pieces into? Why don’t we have a little contest? I have seven new patterns that I’ve been working furiously to finish for Market. I’ll be revealing them over the next couple of weeks. Would you like to get a set of them for free? Just leave a comment on this post telling me what your guess is to the very cool project we created with this set of pieces. I’ll check back in before bedtime tonight and pick a random winner from those who guess correctly, and I’ll reveal the answer with a picture (as long as things go as planned).
Oh, and for the record, yes, I do eat chocolate chips out of the bag for a chocolate fix whenever necessary.
Have you sewn a dress yet?
Have you sewn a dress for Dress a Girl with Hopeful Threads yet? You still have 5 1/2 days to add a dress to the over 100 already sewn and donated!
Kristy has set a goal of 200 dresses total, and I know she’s going to far surpass that! I took one hour out of my crazy schedule this morning and whipped up this sweet little sleeveless dress. An hour of my time and a little fabric is hardly even a sacrifice to me, and to know that it will bring a smile to a little girl’s face and a little fun to her wardrobe makes it well worth it.
This is a simple modification of my free tank pattern. Just add a little length–I added 7 1/2″ to the 5T–and angle the body of the dress out to give some hip room.
I added a couple of pockets by cutting rectangles of cotton jersey, folding them in half and stitching them in place. After a quick wash and dry, the edges roll up nicely and add a little fun!
I sewed a quick line of stitches about 1/2″ from the bottom edge and let the jersey in the body of the dress roll up at the hem, too. Finally, a pretty “handmade” tag (from Night Owl’s Menagerie), and it’s ready to go!
Texas Babies in the Texas Bluebonnets 52 (Family) Projects in 2012: #8, 9 & 10
I was up until midnight the night before Easter finishing up Easter outfits for Charlie, Jamie and Katie. (Seersucker, again, this year! It’s such a classic spring fabric. I love it!) I was so excited to get pictures of the little ones all together the next day. Sadly, though, storms rolled in during the Easter Sunday church service, and the rain continued all afternoon. In spite of that, though, it was a beautiful day, and it was so nice to spend it with all of my children since times are changing, and it may be the last Easter we get to celebrate together for awhile.
A few days after Easter, Morgan and I dressed our youngest three little ones back up in their handmade Easter clothes and headed out to find a patch of Texas bluebonnets for a photo session. We thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of our three Texas babies in the bluebonnets since this is likely the last time we’ll be able to! Why is that? Because we’re moving back to Florida early this summer!
I’ll share more next week about our move and how crazy it is to be preparing for Quilt Market while you’re trying to sell your house and prepare to move halfway across the country. For now, I’ll leave you with some beautiful pictures of the blessings that we’ve been given in our five and a half years in Texas.
Embroidery Hoop Wall Pocket Fun!
Remember my Embroidery Hoop Wall Pockets pattern from Stitch Fall 2011? You can download it for free by clicking right here.
We’ve been doing a little spring cleaning and reorganizing around here which has included my sewing area (pics to come soon), and I finally got around to hanging the samples that I made for the Stitch photo shoot. The one above hangs right behind my sewing machines, and I absolutely love how convenient it makes grabbing my little thread scissors, my handy tweezers, or even my trusty seam ripper.
Here’s the third hoop hung over my ironing table:
And the original prototype over my work table:
If you don’t hang your hoop the right way, it can be more of a pain than a helpful tool. Tara asked on the Fabric.com Facebook Page a couple of days ago for suggestions on hanging decorative embroidery hoops because hers keep blowing off the wall when her windows are open, so I thought I’d share a few quick pictures to show how I hang these pockets so that they don’t go flying across the room when you want to enjoy spring breezes or just grab your scissors! Here’s a picture of what the wall looks like behind the hoop over my machines:
Hopefully, you can see that fairly well. You can click on the picture for a larger version. I start out by measuring across the hoop about a third of the way down from the top, then I measure from the center point of that line down to the bottom of the hoop. Like this:
Using my level, I measure out and make a mark on the wall at each of those three points, then I place a small screw at each mark. You want the hoop to be pretty snug on the screws when you slide it on. These three screws hold the hoop nicely if you’re hanging simply for decoration. If you have pockets on your hoop, though, I suggest adding a nail just under the little tension-tightening screw. That nail will keep your hoop nice and straight. Of course, even with all these measures, if you lose your temper and yank that seam ripper out of the pocket hard enough, your hoop will end up in your lap, so no yanking!
It’s been really fun to watch other people take this simple little idea of mine and add their personal touch to it! Need some inspiration for making a few? Check out these:
Amy from During Quiet Time organized a Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket Swap last fall, and there were some beautiful hoops created. The stamped “Sew Happy” and the measuring tape twill trim make Amy’s hoop just perfect:
I love the patchwork that Krista at Spotted Stones pieced together for this one. What a great way to use up some of your scrap collection!
Wendy from Mama&CO embellished this hoop with lace and fabric-covered buttons, and she added a pin cushion!
Sew Peachey’s Karen used one of my favorite color combinations of aqua and red for her pieced hoop:
Finally, the painted black hoop is the perfect frame for the Kokeshi pockets that Tiffany at A Fabric Affair made for her sewing studio:
Need more ideas? Check out the Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket Swap Flickr Group! Now, what are you waiting for? The free instructions are right here: Embroidery Hoop Wall Pockets. Go make one and be sure to share!
Samantha’s Room Re-do 52 (Family) Projects in 2012: #5, 6 & 7
Samantha’s room was badly in need of some updating. The last time we decorated, she was 9, and while this room is cute at 9,
it’s not so hot when you’re 14! A birthday room re-do was definitely in order! The wall mural had to go, but we left the paint color so that the whole room didn’t have to be painted.
Once the walls were done, I planned a new quilt for the bed around Alexander Henry’s “Starling” fabric which Samantha picked out years ago. Samantha is a lot of fun and has a passion for things that are creative and a little out-of-the-ordinary. This wonky log-cabin quilt (Project #5) suits her perfectly!
Next was an update to the valance on the window (Project #6).
We ran across this naked chair in the “As Is” section at IKEA for a measly $29, and since lack of a cover shouldn’t slow down anyone who can use a sewing machine, it came home with us!
I sewed up really simple pillow shams for the cushions on the back and covered the seat cushion with an elasticized fitted “sheet” that I made following a couple of tutorials for crib sheets (Project #7). We threw on a few toss pillows, and Samantha has the perfect place to curl up and read or knit to her heart’s content.
Samantha loves to draw, and since this is her room, we framed a few of her favorite pieces of artwork to display.
A few days before Samantha’s birthday, we loaded in the car and drove around town snapping pictures of the letters in SAMANTHA. (Yes, we did get some odd looks, and I was a little nervous snapping pictures from my car window of the bank around the corner.) We used this really cool Christmas Card holder that we grabbed back in December–another IKEA find–to spell out her name with letters that we photographed.
Samantha’s bulletin board got a quick re-do with some Mod-Podged fabric, trim and new paint. (The perfect spot to display a collection of Texas State Fair ribbons for her knitting work!)
This quote cracks me up!
A few accessories wrapped up the project, and now Samantha has a room that will hopefully last until she’s ready to move on to a college dorm! (Ack! Let’s hope that time doesn’t come too soon!)
One more look at the finished room. (Well, sort of finished–there is a purple desk on the other side of the room that needs replacing, and now that Samantha is big enough not to fall out of bed, a boxspring under that mattress would be nice. For now, though, I’m calling it good!) What do you think? Any rooms in your house in need of updating?
Still Alive & Kickin’
I’m still here! See! Here’s a picture to prove it. Although, I swear I don’t have that many chins in real life! I think I have some kind of rare (or maybe not-so-rare) blog/email-induced attention disorder. It seems that whenever I sit down to type a blog post or answer emails, I’m quickly distracted by Facebook, Pinterest, other blogs . . . , and before I’ve blinked an eye my computer time is up with nothing constructive to show for my time. Hmmmm . . . that doesn’t happen to other people, does it?
So, I think it’s time to challenge myself to blog regularly. I’m doing great on the 365 Photo Challenge! In case you haven’t seen, I’ve posted a new photo everyday for 60 days! 60 DAYS! And, each photo was taken the day that I posted it. I don’t think I’m going to challenge myself to blog everyday, though, I do have work and family to take care of. I think this challenge will be to blog something at least once a week, on Wednesday, if I haven’t posted before. You may hold me to it!
As far as what’s been going on here: We’ve had multiple colds run through our whole family and start over again. (Bleh! I’m so thankful that, at least for today, no one has a runny nose or nasty cough.) My spring pattern line is coming along. (I have some exciting new things in store, along with big kid sizes of a couple of your favorites.) I’ll have my second Quilt Market booth at Spring Market in Kansas City in May. (Whew! Lots of work to do in the next couple of months.) And, I have some more exciting news to share with you soon!
For now, though, I’d love to hear any advice you have for staying focused! Especially, staying focused when you sit down at the computer. Surely, I’m not really the only one with that weird attention disorder.
52 (Family) Projects in 2012: #4
My baby is two years old! We celebrated Charlie’s second birthday yesterday with cake and a few little presents and, of course, a new mama-made outfit!
I sewed up my Buttons & Buckles Overalls using Ann Kelle Cool Cords in Whale Print and Argyle. I just love the weight and feel of these corduroys! They’re so soft, and they’re not overly heavy or thick. That makes them easy to sew and great for layering in the winter or wearing alone in the spring. I even have a few more yards set aside for summer shortalls.
I can’t believe how fast my little guy is growing! I thought I’d make the 3T so he’d have room to grow, and it almost fits him perfectly. Sigh. They don’t stay tiny for long, do they?
Pictures of Samantha’s birthday room re-do are coming soon! I just have a few little things to finish up.
