A Gift and a Haircut

The girl who cuts my hair just had a baby girl, and so when I recently went in to get my hair cut, I brought her a gift for little Avery (isn't that a great name?) ...

I'm into customizing things with names recently ...
Don't believe me? See Exhibits A, B, C & D.

Here is a full shot of it ... including the cutie shoes I had to take off to climb on the chair in order to take the photo. I know it's a bad photo, but I'm having trouble figuring out how best to take pictures of blankets. I'm thinking a clothesline might work well?
Suggestions are welcome ...

The back is full of cutie pink and yellow and blue birds.
It's all flannel, so it's soft and cozy!

What I didn't tell my hairdresser is that the gift was really a means of getting on her good side ... just before I asked her to cut 10 inches off and give me some sassy short hair.

What do you think?

By the way ... if you can, you should cut your hair (at least 8 inches) and donate
to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They make wigs for women with cancer.
Do it!

Comfy Camera Strap Cover

My friend Deb is a photographer. Well ... maybe not professionally, but she ALWAYS has her Canon Rebel xTi attached to her hip, and is constantly pulling it out to "capture the moment," as they say. She is actually the reason that I opted for the Rebel when I purchased my camera last year.

Anyway ... anyone who owns a Rebel knows that the strap it comes with is super-uncomfortable. Mine is constantly scratching the back of my neck ... so much so that I have stopped putting the strap over my head. One of these days I'm going to drop the thing because I refused to have the strap touching me!

For Deb's birthday recently, I decided to be kind to her neck and make her a camera strap cover. Here it is ...

The padded strap just wraps around the thick portion of the camera strap.
It's quilted and cushy.
I love this blue and green fabric ... I had to buy it and make something out of it!

It's completely reversible ... this side has Deb's name on it. (of course!)

A little close-up.
I love velcro ... makes things SO easy!

A New Spring Project

Last weekend, I took a short trip to Atlanta with the women of the family to celebrate my niece's 4th birthday at the American Girl Store. To conserve gas, I piled into the mom-mobile with my sister-in-law and her mom, along with my niece and a friend of hers. Of course, we had to leave one of the van's seats at home so that we could fit our luggage, complete with all three American Girl dolls (which turned into 5 dolls and a llama on the way home ...). It's a good thing we left room, too, because we also made a stop at the nicest Jo-Ann fabric store I've ever seen while we were in Atlanta. Needless to say, we did some shopping!

Anyway ... you need to know that I get horribly carsick on road-trips ... so much so that I really would much rather take a plane and suffer through connecting flights and layovers and the ears popping and such. I do not enjoy being in the car. But, most of all, I hate that I end up wasting so many hours of precious time just sitting there doing nothing! Reading makes me sick. Sewing makes me sick. Playing games makes me sick. Sometimes having in-depth conversations makes me sick. BUT ... there is ONE thing that I've found does NOT make me sick on road-trips (besides sleeping!) ... crocheting! It's weird, but it's actually kinda soothing for me, as long as the car is on cruise control and we're not in heavy traffic.

SO ... because Atlanta is a 6-hour car ride away, I decided to take along a new crochet project so that I could make the most of my time. I figured if I started it on the trip, I would be able to stretch it out over the whole course of the trip and have a finished product by the time we arrived home on Sunday night. Sure enough ... here are the fruits of my labor ...

Super-fun yarn!

I love the colors ... it's fun to see the mixture of all the different colors,
and how different parts take on different looks.

Here is my project hanging on a hook at home ... I can't wait to wear it!

So, do you know what it is yet?

I'll give you a clue ... even though I started it on the first day of Spring, think WINTER! :o)

(This is me doing my best to model it without getting in the way of the picture ... apparently, I had trouble getting it just right, but you get the idea!)

It's a fun ruffle scarf!
My friend Andrea got one of these for Christmas from a co-worker, and I asked her to hunt down the pattern for me. I love how girly it is.
And it's so stinkin' easy to make! Hmmm ... these would make great gifts!

My next project ... a fun jacket.
This might be a little ambitious, but I'm going to try it anyway.
Why not, right?

Ladybugs for the Little Lady

My oldest niece turns 4 today. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting outside the hospital room for her arrival! Time sure does fly right by, doesn't it?

In celebration of Anneliese's birthday, I told her that I would take her to the fabric store so that she could pick out some fabric for a new dress for her and her American Girl doll. She eventually saw a purple fabric and said "Auntie Sara, that purple fabric is BEAUTIFUL!" I figured with that kind of enthusiasm, we had a winner!

So, yesterday, I set to work making her dresses, so that they would be ready for her birthday celebration tonight. (There's nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?)

Disclaimer : Please forgive my pictures ... I took them last night, and the lighting wasn't great in this corner of my studio. Also, I was having trouble coming up with a creative place to hang the dresses, and in the end the thread racks won out. Ugly, I know ... but I was tired and my head hurt. Sorry.

I got the pattern for the dress from Suzanne ... it's a completely reversible A-Line. Really simple to put together ... only took me a couple of hours (that is, if I don't count the 3 - yes THREE - times I had to sew the buttons on, because I kept doing them wrong! Don't ask.)

Don't you just love the matching doll dress? It's so cute!

I *had* to include a close-up of this adorable fabric ... LOVE the green ladybugs.

I added a little green ladybug to the hem of the purple side, just to give it more character.
Suzanne reminded me that I always draw ladybugs with Anneliese when we color together (probably because I stink at drawing, and they are one of the few things that are simple enough to be recognizable when I draw them!)

Happy Birthday, Anneliese! Yay for being 4!

Color Me Happy

My very best friend from college and her family were visiting from Philly, and I decided it would be nice to make her children a gift for when they arrive. (In reality, I was just trying to buy their affection ... I was afraid they wouldn't like me!!)

Anyway ... I went to the fabric store and picked out some happy Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett fabrics (and some others that I don't remember the name of), and set to work ...

Don't the colors in these fabrics just make you happy??

I decided to keep it simple and make the same thing for all three children.
Again ... I wanted them to like me. And, how could they like me if they were disapponted that their brother or sister got a cooler gift than they did?
(Of course, I didn't consider the possibility that they might all three dislike their gifts ...)

Have you guessed what they are yet??

Crayon Rolls!!!
Suzanne let me borrow a quilting magazine that had the directions,
and I tweaked them a little bit to fit what I was wanting to do.
Pay no attention to how sad my crayons look ... I didn't have time to run to the store and buy brand new pointy crayons for the photo shoot. Just consider them well-loved and much-used!
Mary's children love to draw in their nature books, so I thought they might each appreciate having their own portable crayon holder to carry with them.

This one reminds me of ice cream. Yum.



This is the one I made for their son ... I figured it was boyish enough.
(at least I hope it is!)


And, the best part of the whole project ...
I personalized them!
They each have their names appliqued on the back!
I always LOVED having things with my name on them when I was growing up, and I thought it would make for a more special gift.

I'll let you know how they liked them after their visit!

I Love Red!

This Wednesday ... on my day off ... while I was battling a cold ... I decided to try something new in my studio ...

I am a sucker for red ... and linen ... and cute polka dot fabric.

Have you guessed what it is, yet?

Yep ... a checkbook cover
... for my new checkbook
... for my new business!
More on that later.

I put a little pocket for business cards, too,
because you know I'll be handing them out! ;o)

This project really came together just exactly as I had envisioned it ...
and it wasn't too hard, either!
I am already thinking of a few variations,
and I could imagine it in all sorts of fun colors and fabrics
... and personalized with initials.

What do you think ... would YOU use one of these?

It's Official ... I am a Procrastinator

OK ... so remember way back in September, when I posted about this really fun fabric and the plans that I had for it? And remember also when I posted a sneak peek of the almost-finished final product like a month later?

Well ... I am here to tell you that today - 4 months later - I'm done. I would be lying if I told you that it took me every bit of those 4 months to put the finishing touches on ... in reality, it just took some searching for the right kind of clasps and about 5 minutes of sewing. I got the clasps well over a month ago, and I finally sat down for the 5-minute sewing session this weekend. I think it's safe to say that I have a procrastination problem ... that, or a time-management problem. Either one is disturbing.

Ann ... if you are reading this, I plan to put your laptop case in the mail this week! Finally! Hope you like it!!

Here it is!
It has two short handles and a detachable shoulder strap (thus my need to find clasps!).
Besides the big, roomy zipper-compartment for the laptop, it also has a pocket for papers on the outside and another zip pocket for cords, etc...
Oh, and the little ribbon bow is detachable. Just a fun little girly addition.

A close-up of the inside. Polka dots everywhere!
You can't really tell, but I definitely finished ALL the seams, so that there are no raw edges showing. It took a LOT of sewing to do this, but I think it was worth it.

Here's a close-up of the outside pocket and zip pouch.
Don't you just LOVE this fabric?

Brett's House

For Brett's birthday, I decided to try something new ... I found a tutorial for this fun little portable doll house made out of fabric. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found the tutorial ... no doubt on one of the blogs I read regularly ... I just printed out the instructions and forgot to list where I found it! aargh. If I figure it out, I'll update this post with the link to the tutorial.

*** updated ... here is a link to the tutorial online ... http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html THANKS Jen! ***

Anyway ... here it is :

Do you think I'm trying to subtly nudge Brett to love black & red as much as I do???

The house measures about 6 inches wide by 4 inches deep and maybe 7 inches high ... it's I guess about the size of a small lunchbox? Perfect for a little kiddo.

Button closures to hold it together ... I'm sure mommy will have to help with that at first, but it shouldn't be too hard.

Here's the button at the top, just below the handles ... a vintage button from my mom's collection. Love it.

And - of course - when you open it up, you can see the fun red "wallpaper" on the walls and the blue "tile" floor. I also used a green striped fabric to simulate the lawn, in case Brett wanted to pretend her dolls were playing outside. I'm sure I could have gone crazy with embellishments and stuff, but I prefer to leave all that to Brett's imagination. :o)

It wouldn't be complete without a label on it!

This was a whole lot easier to make than I thought it would be, and I'm happy with the way it came out. Now I just have to figure out how to make dolls small enough to fit in there, so that Brett can play with it!

Quilt Books

If you are not a quilter, I apologize in advance for this post ... because it's really quilt-y. ha!

My sister in law and her mom are quilters. I love that about them. I especially love that it makes them easy to make gifts for. ;o) I always know that they will appreciate anything that I sew for them, but especially if it has to do with quilting! So ... this year, for Christmas (and for mama's birthday), I made them each a quilt book. My mom had one of these for when she started her Southern Album Quilt, and I have used it often when assembling my own quilts. It's basically a big (like 18inch square) "book" with fabric pages, so that you can lay out the pieces of your quilt blocks and keep them from being strewn all over the place while you are working on them. It's also a great way to store your quilt blocks until you are ready to sew them together ... it keeps them flat and wrinkle-free, and doesn't take up much space at all.

Anyway ... here are some pictures.

This is Suzanne's quilt book. I saw this fabric at Hancocks and *had* to have it. It's so much fun.
My dad cut 1/4 inch plywood squares to slip in the front & back covers, so the books wouldn't be floppy. What a nice guy!

See the pages ... I made them out of quilter's flannel, so that the cotton quilt block pieces would "stick" on them. I think there are about 12 pages in each book.

I love personalizing things with initials.

Here's Mama's book ... that's an "M" for Mary Anne, not Mama. ;o)

A close-up of the button closure. I used one of my mom's vintage buttons.

I put a little 1/8 inch strip of red fabric in all the seams on the front, just to set off the patchwork. Is there a name for this? I don't know ... but it made it look more fun to me.

So, now I'm debating if I should make another quilt book for myself ...

Curtains for Sarah Jane

My friend Sarah Jane asked me to make curtains for her. It was super-fun going and picking out fabric with her. I love the brown & blue combo in her bedroom, and I think these curtains tie the room together. Most especially, I love that she picked out a pattern that isn't super feminine, so that her husband can really enjoy the room just as much as she does. yay!


Now ... on to the pillows!

A Doll for Faith

My friend Emily's niece, Faith, needed a new doll for her birthday, and I was happy to make one for her. Emily picked out the fabric ... a happy blue with little white daisies. Lovely. I love how bright and cheery she turned out. Here are some pictures ...

I used a vintage button from my mom's stash to embellish her collar.

She has soft flannel skin and hair, and a cotton dress. Her face is hand-stitched.

I admit I'm a little jealous of her yellow shoes ... too much fun.