Surprise in the mail

I won a giveaway I didn't even realize I'd entered! What a treat! All I meant to do was to comment on a great pair of pants Trish had made for her daughter, and I ended up winning a handmade lanyard and key chain. One of these is destined to become the strap for my new camera.

And you know you're really far gone into craft-land when you look at this:



(which was used as ribbon to wrap the gift) and think "ooh! I can use that for cards!"

Thanks, Trish! They're beautiful!

Something quick while I nurse this cold

Remember these scraps that I sent to 2Hippos for her quilts for the Miracle Foundation? Go here to see what they're becoming, and to vote for the version you like best.

Lucy's stool

Several years ago, I picked up a hideous stool at a tag sale. I sure hope it was free, because boy, was it ugly. Here's the sort-of "before:"



The actual "before" included filthy yellow-and-brown shag carpeting used as upholstery. I had to get that off of there fast--too fast for a photo shoot!

It's been sitting around, naked, for quite a while now. And then when spring rolled around and the weather warmed up, I took it outside and spray-painted those legs red to match her room. That's when the stall hit: I never upholstered it, because no fabric I tried was the "perfect" fabric for her room.

But a few weeks ago, Lucy began pulling to a stand on any available handhold. And this week, she discovered the naked stool, tucked under the bedside table in her room. Whenever we're in there (it's "her" room, but she doesn't actually live there yet; just stores her stuff in there), she crawls right over and pulls to a stand. So it was clearly time to get the job done. Last night, I decided "perfect" was never going to happen. I pulled out several choices of fabric, and finally settled on a worn-out piece of chenille bedspread--far from perfect, but lovely in its simplicity. And really, how hard is it to re-upholster a stool? When perfect comes along, I can just change it!

Lucy promptly fell over while testing it out, and was too sad to demonstrate her awesome standing skills for the "after" photo. She was willing to pose atop it, however. I think she likes it.

Home Sewer's Exchange

Ok, let's ignore the fact that we spent 6 hours in the ER last night and didn't get home until 2 in the morning with our poor, pitiful red and blotchy baby. (Allergic reaction? Virus? It's still unclear. But she's in good spirits, and we're in wait-and-observe mode.) We're going to move on to happier things, stopping every few seconds in the writing of it to watch her play and wonder in awe at her amazing disposition (she was still making friends with everyone in the ER at 1 in the morning...)

So, today, when Lucy seemed to have made it through the night ok and she and Andi were all set to spend the morning in bed, I left briefly to go to the annual "Home Sewer's Exchange" at a church around the corner. Why, oh why, have I never gone before? For some reason, I thought it would be cheesy sewing crafts for sale, or maybe for trade; I couldn't quite figure it out. But this time, they'd added a big new banner to the front of the church, shouting out "fabric! notions! patterns!" Oh, my gosh--2 full rooms; tables and tables; and church-rummage-sale prices! Look what I got:



I grabbed a bundle of sewing magazines, not sure what they were, but for 25 cents a bundle, how could I pass them up? (All the other sewing ones got snatched before I could get to the pile.) And I chose some bits of fabric, trying to be careful not to go wild grabbing everything. Do you see those prices? Some were a dime. Some were a quarter. One was a big "splurge" at $2.

I liked how these two looked together. Maybe a top and bloomers for Lucy? Or maybe two layers of a tiered skirt? 60 cents!



A pile of miscellaneous who-knows-what-for:



This one's heavy, and I envisioned it as pants for Lucy. Then later I thought maybe a jumper would be cute. Maybe I could squeeze out both?



And those embroidery patterns! Oh, what joy when I found those! The woman at that table said, apologetically, "I want a dollar for those; does that seem fair?" Fair? It feels like I'm ripping you off! I'm hoping I'll find some time to do some of these this winter.




I can hardly wait for next year's sale! In the meantime, I'm going to go rock my sick baby to sleep.

Brown birdie scarf

(Please excuse the horrible photo quality. My camera died a sad death this week, so this is my computer's attempt at acting like a camera. Thanks to my lovely wife for modeling.)

Today was the birthday of a good friend, and in what's become my usual last-minute state, I found myself without a gift for her this morning. I had an idea working around in my head though, shifting and changing forms throughout the night. Emily is a big fan of scarves, so that's where I started. Then I thought of this fabric, my first use of this stashs. The little birds, and the color combo, and especially the pink made it perfect for her. I've been wanting to try reverse applique, and also wanted to incorporate some patchwork. I had this lovely brown linen-like fabric I'd gotten once from a tag sale. Then I noticed this polka-dot fabric with all the right colors, and it all came together.

I used measurements for the scarf in The Crafter's Companion, and winged the rest of it. I should have read some directions for reverse applique, though; the fabric shifted around so when I was finished, it bubbled out rather than lying flat and I had to rip it all out and try again. I definitely want to do more--I love the look--but I've got to work on that technique!

A Treasure Trove of Vintage Fabric

I've waited a few days to write about the wonderful gift I received this weekend, thinking I'd take some great photos. Of course, I never did. I couldn't wait any longer to share, so I went out (in my embarrassing nightgown, no less) to take photos in the dwindling light this evening. Oh, well. They're better than nothing. Anyway...

Our friend Melissa came over on Sunday and brought a trunkful of fabric she'd received from her "Ciocia" (aunt), who has sewn for everyone in their family for many years, and has the fabric to prove it. We had tons of fun going through the bags and bags, and Melissa let me take anything I wanted! I took only a small portion, as most of it was polyester (though some of that was in really cool prints!).

Here we are, asking Lucy to choose her favorite. She had a definite opinion!



Here's my big huge stack of possibility:



That purple and turquoise one is polyester, but I couldn't resist the print. Lucy's favorite was the blue and white stripe one with the red flowers, down near the bottom of the pile.

This one is my favorite:



I mean, seriously, how cute are these animals?





There's only a very small piece, so I'll have to think carefully about the perfect project for it. Oh, my gosh. Where will I start?

Thanks, Melissa! What a treat!

Learning not to think

I'm a thinker. I mull things over, obsess, worry. I spend so much time thinking about how best to do something, sometimes it keeps me from doing it. I am not spontaneous. In college, I quit the clarinet--which I'd played well for years--because the next stage would have been for me to play improvisationally, and I just didn't have the nerve to do it. I love ballroom dance (it has rules; I can follow), but am self-conscious just moving to music. I love to sing, and can learn and hold a second-soprano part with ease, but ask me to make up a harmony on my own? Forget it.

So it's interesting that my favorite quilts tend to be the improvised ones, rather than those that follow a pattern.

When I began my crazy log cabin quilt, I was thinking too much. Each block took me a very long time, because I'd cut a piece, search and search for the best piece to go next, think about which pieces should come after that, think about what size and shape I wanted the pieces, etc. Then one day I just cut a whole bunch of pieces randomly, so I'd have a bunch ready to just grab. They were in nice neat color-sorted piles, and I was still spending a lot of time looking for just the right piece.

Then last night, I took my color piles and jumbled them up into baskets. I liked it so much better already--I could see at a glance what I had, and the juxtaposition of pieces beside each other in the baskets suggested possibilities.



I knew I wanted to start a block using a small piece that featured a girl in bed with a rooster on the bedpost. That meant using a very wide piece against the center block, making it almost double-centered. But I didn't obsess about it. I glanced, made a quick choice, and sewed. (In fact, I was being so spontaneous, I messed up--you'll see it if you've made log cabin blocks before. Oh, well. I chose not to worry about it and kept on.)



And in the end, I love how it came out. I did another block using the same method, working too quickly to think it over too much. I generally knew which color I wanted next, and I sometimes chose and rejected one piece before settling on another, but that was about as much thought as I gave it. And it worked.

How wonderful. Sometimes, not thinking is exactly what I need. Now if only I could apply it in other areas of my life...

Sharing scraps

Ronit, at 2Hippos, made an absolutely gorgeous quilt for Craft Hope...so beautiful, in fact, that she was asked to make more to use as wall art in the orphanage. But she'd used up most of her red, orange, pink, and yellow fabrics in making that quilt, so she's asked for help replenishing. She says "I'm open to a range of fabrics, the pretty and the ugly, the excellent and the not-so-amazing, because in a scrap quilt, the diversity of fabrics helps make the quilt."

As I've said before, I don't have a very expansive stash, but I thought I could come up with some things to share. Here's the little pile I'm putting in the mail for her tomorrow. I'm eager to see the new quilts!

"Sew Into Summer" swap gifts revealed

My two "Sew Into Summer Fat Quarter Swap" partners have received the fabric I sent, so I can show it freely here now.



Our local fabric shop is going out of business (pooh!). I went--with all the other vultures--to their sale. They had just this little bit of Amy Butler fabric left, and I bought it because I liked it, but didn't have particular plans for it. It turned out to be just enough for the two fat quarters needed for the swap. I hope Ronit and Karen will like it, too. I had fun pairing it with some vintage buttons from my stash. (Please excuse the wonky photo, taken while pacing with, rocking, and bouncing my baby girl.)

More "Sew Into Summer" fun in the mail

Another package arrived in the mail today, this time from Ronit, who organized the "Sew Into Summer Fat Quarter Swap." I waited until nap time to open it, so I could savor it. Here's what I found.








































Ronit remembered that I'd entered to win the hippo fabric from her in the Sew, Mama, Sew! May giveaway. So she sent me a fat quarter of that now. (Yay! It's like winning after all!)

She added some "Happy Birthday" fabric, thinking I might use it in a birthday garland for Lucy. (I do have plans to make one of those sometime before her first birthday...)

What a lovely surprise. Thanks so much, Ronit!

Treasure in the mail: "Sew Into Summer" fat quarter swap

What fun! Yesterday's mail brought a treat...a fat quarter from 2Hippos "Sew Into Summer" fat-quarter swap.

A package arrived from Karen at Venezie Bags. Inside, it looked like this (I loved the cute packaging.)

Inside that, I found this:

So cheerful! This is what I was hoping for in doing this swap--something I might not have bought myself, but which I could totally see myself using in a project. Thanks, Karen!!

Another woman's trash...

P1010001
Originally uploaded by mcghol

I went tag-sale-ing yesterday and found sewing treasure. A green linen table runner at one sale--what might it become? And then, at another sale so puny it almost didn't seem worth getting out of the car, I found three cute prints--maybe a quarter to a half yard each--for a grand total of $1. Yay! I love that blue floral print. And it's super cute with the red polka-dot. A dress for Lucy?

Another quilt block

Please excuse the terrible photo...when I work all day and then squeeze in some sewing, by the time I'm ready to take a picture, the light is nearly gone. This block is much prettier in person. (Unfortunately, I don't have a good excuse for the way-too-skinny outer "logs.") Despite the weird proportions, I'm very happy with this block because I incorporated three new fabrics I love:
--the yellow gardening girl fabric in the upper left, which is one of the ones I bought on vacation, and which I just love for its vintage-y charm.
--the green alphabet fabric, also bought on vacation. I didn't have enough green in this quilt yet, and I imagine Lucy will love finding Ls and other favorite letters at some point in the not-too-distant future.
--a teeny scrap of the vintage sheet that's been seen in so many of my projects this spring (Lucy's kimono, my skirt, my headband, my purse...). There will be so many fond memories attached to that fabric. Some day, after I've done much more sewing, I look forward to making a whole quilt of meaningful scraps like that one, with stories attached.

First swap!

Yay! I'm joining my first swap. It's a fat quarter swap, hosted by Two Hippos. Unfortunately, I'm such a newbie blogger, I can't figure out how to add the widget she created. Click on over to her blog to find out more.

Fabric hunting on vacation

Long time no post...because, thank goodness, we're on vacation! We're on our now-annual trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Will post more crafty goodness soon; I finished up my "Bend the Rules Sewing" "Pleated Beauty Handbag" in the car on the way up here, and am using it as my giant touristy purse/diaper bag/mom carry-all. It's been working great. I was thrilled today when the woman in the fabric shop noticed it and asked if I'd made it.

What? Fabric shop? Aren't I on the beach, or hiking up a mountain, or browsing the cute towns? No...I'm escaping for a few hours, given a break from my miserably crying baby by my wife. Let's talk about something more pleasant...

So I went to a tiny new in-town fabric store, a bigger just-over-the-bridge fabric store, and a huge surplus store which has fabric, and had a great time browsing all three. I saw fabrics and lines I'd only seen before on blogs, and got a few little bits to keep--a gorgeous Amy Butler print for me, the Alexander Henry cars one for a friend whose son will love it, and three great prints to add to Lucy's quilt. I wanted so much more! I can see how people amass crazy stashes.

Photos to come...