Kindle Case

Our first guild challenge was issued a month or so ago. We were each given 3 prints of Echo by Lotta Jansdotter to make something for ourselves. You could add more fabric if you wanted, but you had to use the fabric given. My wonderful hubby got us matching kindles for Christmas, so I made a case for mine. 

Kindle Case

I really love the spring buds in grey and the small spring buds in mustard. I knew these two would be my focus fabrics. I also wanted to add a little more something-something to the front, so I quilted around the buds. I quilted the top first before assembling the cover. This way the stitching doesn't show on the inside. I LOVE how it turned out.

Inside of Case

I used the scattered pods to make the kindle pocket. There's also room for a pen or stylus. I used some fabric I had for the binding and put a nice button on the front for the closure. It's a very fun case and I like carrying my kindle in style :)

Have you made any accessories for your toys? I'd love to see them.

flower hair pins

Have you heard of Pick Your Plum? It's a site that sells a different crafty item daily for super cheap. The only catch is you have to get to it before it's sold out. A few months ago I came across a listing for hair pins with flowers. All I had to do was glue the flowers on to the hair pin. Perfect! These are super cute and were super cheap. I gave some of them to "my" YW for helping with a service activity. They were thrilled. I have a few left and am just needing an occasion to hand them out.

Flower Hair Pins

These beauties arrived in the mail after winning a giveaway. Yes, I enter giveaways all the time. You should too. I win some and it's sooo much fun getting stuff in the mail.

These are Circa 52 in organic cotton by Birch Fabrics. Super cute. Any ideas what to do with them?

And here's my son with a little craftiness of his own. He had to make a poster or display using 100 items for the celebration of being in school 100 days. He made a temple using legos and I used my new Silhouette to make the sign in the back. He picked the font, but I glued and cut. He was very proud of his project.

New Goodies

I recently bought a few things for my sewing room that I love!  I saw these fabric organizers months ago and have had my eye on them since. I had some Christmas money to spend and jumped on the Internet to order them. I love them! I can see my fabric and don't have to pull out bins to look through each pile.

Fabric Organizers

I also pulled all of my fat quarters and precuts out of the boxes and set them on the other side of the shelf.

I highly recommend these fabric organizers. I couldn't afford to buy too many so I doubled and tripled the fabric I put on them.

A few patterns came in the mail recently. You'll see one is Swoon by Camille Roskelley. I just need to figure out which fabrics I want to use and I'll be on my way.  The other patterns are from Allison Harris of Cluck, Cluck, Sew.

I recently found a post on Elizabeth Hartman's blog Oh, Frannson! about how to make a design board. I loved how simple this was and took the hubby to Home Depot to get the supplies. He cut the board down so I would have a small one and a larger one. The small one is propped on the dresser and the larger one is currently behind the door. We just need to hang them up and we'll be done.

On the small design board is a quilt top for a baby doll quilt and two blocks for a charity quilt I made for the guild I'm a member of.

I hope you enjoyed a look at my new goodies. Did you get anything fun for Christmas?

The Intrepid Thread

I've always wanted to join a quilting guild and finally told myself, now is the time to find one and do it! I found a great guild, Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild that meets about 30 minutes away from where I live. (You may think that this is too far to drive for a meeting, but I grew up in the country and this is the usual time for getting anywhere you want to go.) The meeting was so much fun and all of the ladies were fantastic. One of the ladies, Julie, even went to the international quilt market in Salt Lake City, UT and told us all about it. Julie was able to attend because she owns a fabric store, The Intrepid Thread. I knew I had to check out her fabric store, because she's a local (and I love supporting local businesses) and she was totally cool, so I knew she would have great fabric. My instincts were right! The Intrepid Thread has great fabric and it's at great prices. (Seriously, the cheapest I've seen online or in a brick & mortar.) And if that doesn't make you want to head right over and browse her selection, hearing about her customer service will. I had a few questions about some of the pieces I was interested in and Julie replied quickly and offered suggestions. She quickly made a special listing for me and even offered to bring me the fabric (since we live close to each other). I had it the next day! The package was beautifully wrapped with a little thank you note. It's really nice when someone takes the effort to make you feel appreciated. So, if you are looking for a new store with great prices and customer service head over to The Intrepid Thread and tell Julie, Jessica sent you :) Oh, she has a blog too.

This is not a paid advertisement, I just wanted to share a great store with y'all.

Decisions, Decisions

I'm getting ready for the Oliver + S family reunion dress sew-along hosted by Above All Fabric. I thought I had some fabric in my stash I was going to use, but then I found this really fun fabric store (more about this later) and got some great new pieces. I need y'all to help me decide which fabric to choose for the dress. Do you like Front Row, Shadow Play (both in the Silent Cinema line), or Bugs (Happier Cottons line).

Sewing starts Monday, so get your vote in soon. Thanks for your help!

Giveaway Day!

UPDATE: This giveaway is closed. Thanks for playing along!

If this is your first time here, Welcome! I hope you enjoy my blog and decide to stick around. If you've been here before, Welcome back!

Sew, Mama, Sew! is a fantastic blog/shop/forum that has gathered bloggers from all over the world to host giveaways on their sites. Last year I found tons of new sites and entered too many giveaways ;). This year I have a blog of my own and am super excited to be among the list of bloggers. And since I believe in Go Big or Go Home (or at least that's what I tell myself), I'm having 3 giveaways.

First up are 3 patterns. Colorwash Heart by Chase-Adams Designs is a beautiful pattern for creating a watercolor look using strip piecing. Fall Baskets by Joe Wood for Piece by Piece Quilts is a fun quilt with appliqué baskets. (Joe is a local who owns a quilt shop in Concord, CA.) And, Fiesta Bag by Poor House Quilt Designs is a fun pattern for a large quilted tote with 6 outside pockets

Next I have fabric! The group on the left is fall/Halloween prints, a half yard each, 100% cotton. The next two are some yummy fabrics I picked up last year in Hawaii. The maroon is a poly/cotton blend and the blue feels like a rayon.

 

Last, but not least, I have fabulous book. Leisure Arts Presents Big Book of Best-Loved Quilt Patterns.  This book contains 82 classic patterns and is filled with beautiful color pictures. Even if you prefer contemporary patterns, this is a book that would be coffee table perfect!

To win one of the prizes just leave a comment answering the following question. If you had a super crafting power, what would it be? Always perfect seams? Even stitches even at midnight? or Perhaps free motion quilting with your eyes closed?  Also let me know which giveaway you'd prefer. New and old followers get an extra entry. Be sure to add another comment for your second entry.

Don't forget to leave your email address so I have a way of contacting you. This giveaway is open until May 25th 11:59 pm PST. Entries open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be chosen with the help of random.org. I'll post the winners on May 26th. Thanks! I hope you enjoy your time looking around.  Come back soon.

Dots, Dots, and more Dots

Remember last post when I said late night shopping can get you in trouble? Here's proof.  I was looking through Fabric.com when I came across their clearance section.  I found tons of great polka dot fabric that was less than $3.00 a yard, plus a coupon I found online for another 15% off, plus free shipping over $35.00! What a score. And the best part, if I didn't like the fabric I could send it back free of charge. Now that is what I call great Internet shopping. I also found two gorgeous Minky fabrics by Robert Kaufman for around $5.00 a yard. This stuff usually retails for $15.00 and up.  So now that I have all of this great fabric. I just need to figure out what to do with it. Any ideas????

Starting from left: Jersey knit for Katie, beautiful voile for me, two cotton/poly blends, and 100% cotton.

I think Katie and I will have a lot of polka dots in our wardrobe soon. Matching outfits? Matching ties for the boys?

I'm a sucker for paisley and the roses seem so cuddly.

I love this too! If you've never found Minky you need to find some! It's a VERY soft polyester that makes a great backing for baby blankets and quilts. I hope you enjoyed looking at these fabrics. Do you ever get sucked in to late night shopping? I'd love to hear your story!

An ongoing project

I finished my last project and was super excited to start the Birdie Sling by Amy Butler. I HAD to go to the fabric store the weekend I finished because I needed to get started. (Do you ever feel like that? You have to do something right away and it's all you can think about until you've done it?) I found some fantastic fabric and got it washed and ironed that night. Then it just sat there on the back of my couch for weeks. This past Friday I finally opened up the pattern to get started. I cut out the pattern pieces, simple enough. Then I started on cutting out the fabric. I spent Friday's nap time just cutting out fabric. This doesn't include all of the interfacing that goes with each piece! I finished cutting today. You might think, "Yeah! she can start sewing now!" I wish. Now I have to adhere the interfacing to the fabric, which means ironing.  Maybe by the end of this week I can actually start sewing!

So what does this long explanation have to do with anything? Just know that I'm still here. This project is just taking longer than expected to be completed.

I will share the fabric with you. Looking at beautiful fabric always brightens my day.

Pieces from The Nest by Valori Wells

When shopping for fabric for a particular project, I never leave the store without stopping by the clearance section. Here I found Robert Kaufman for $2.97 a yard. I think it will make my daughter a cute dress.  The other fabric is Lollipops by Moda. I think this will make a cute jumper for the fall.

I hope to be done with the purse sometime next week. Until then, I'll post some more fabric I purchased late one night while my little one was up wanting to play. (Doesn't late night shopping always get you in trouble?)

New Fabric

Have you ever heard that whatever you're doing on New Year's Day is what you'll be doing for the rest of the year? Well, this year I was shopping for fabric on New Year's Day! It's going to be a good year. I didn't necessarily go to find something specific, but found a couple of pieces I was drawn to. The first one is a green corduroy.

 

I love corduroy and this green really pops to me. I think it will be really cute as a pencil skirt with slanted pockets, perhaps with button accents. I have two possible patterns. One I bought the same day, thinking I'd use it, but then I found a more straight pencil skirt on ebay.  Which pattern do you like?

Pattern I bought with fabric. I'd choose option C.

Pattern I found on ebay. I'd choose option A.

The other piece of fabric I found is a type of suede, I think. (Perhaps when I buy fabric I need to take note on what kind of fabric it is and how to care for it!) I bought enough to make a dress, but now think it will be too much as a dress. Now I'm thinking a flowing skirt or a nice jacket. Any other ideas of what type of garment this fabric would make fabulous?

I was going to give you a peek on what I'm currently working on, but forgot to take a picture while the camera was out. You'll just have to check back soon.