mousey getting tired!

This image tracks my mouse movements. This is what I am doing instead of sewing and canning and lifting weights and digging and writing letters and wiping butts and kitchen tables and bathtubs and toilets and tears. Period. The vertical bar of density is the photoshop layers toolbar in case you're wondering.

Pick, pit and put-up.

Small batch of cherry jam. No need to can this one. We'll eat it in a week!

Hat in action!

This hat got a little funky as I mentioned earlier, but it still fits ok so Finn is rocking it! And, sort of like in that last post, Finn's not super pumped about panda-ing for me and showing sweet, natural smile right now. It's either a really huge fakey grin accompanied with a roar or some other flippant gesture/sound, or I just have to take a picture of from the back. Here is a rare, somewhat genuine smile for the camera + one that shows what most of the pics from this real looked like. The hat fabric and the bandana are all from ClothWORKs and are designed by this awesome gal, Alyssa Thomas.

Great outfit!

Me: hey Finn! Turn around and show me your cool outfit!
Finn: (turns and walks into shrubs)

Bleach mistake turned arty!

Wanna make these soon! thinking about trying this with quilting cotton. tye-dye quilt, anyone?

Messy floor?!

No worries. I hate to admit it but we are reaching our 1 year anniversary in this house and I have NEVeR once vacuumed the sewing room floor. I'm sorry mom! You'll be so ashamed when you see it. Part of the reason is that I figured out that all you need is a decent magnet to find all the stray pins, needles and other tiny metal things that fall to the floor amongst all the scraps, thread and what not. After securing the space of sharp, dangerous objects, I am totally over the idea if vacuuming. But the scraps havent stopped me from busting out another little messenger hat for Finn. Full disclosure--this one is for an ad at work. Stay tuned on that! This pattern needs some serious honing. I keep making a lot of the same mistakes. Annie sent me a cool pattern for a welders hat. Maybe I'll scrap my homemade pattern and try that one next time.

Quilt city!

F is for ...

Got this darling pattern at #quiltmarket from Penguin + Fish. I think it's going on an underwear andct-shirt set for a guy whose name starts w F!

Feeling...

Last post before I collapse.

Somebody's birthday is coming. And, that special someone has made it very clear that he wants a party AND he wants, and I quote, "ribbons in the house air." So the workshop has gone into action. Garlands, ribbons, you name it. We are gonna fill that house air with color!

Another Friday thought

There's this Australian group called Umbrella Prints that does gorgeous screen printed (I think) fabric and they are having a scraps contest-- or ad they say, a Trimmings contest. Basically, it's make something out of their scraps. I'm doin' it! Wish me luck!! The prize is a pretty sizable batch of material from them (drool, pant, sigh). I'll need your help to win. You'll HAVE to vote for my project on pinterest! I'll share the details when it comes along and seriously, I will need your help. For real.

Friday night sew-off!

I haven't really talked about my new job here. I'm having a great time. It's really an excellent fit for me and far less stressful than my last job! And, at Clothorks, there are enormous bins of fabric scraps (little pieces with flaws and snags) that I can dig through!! Being mostly a scraps quilter, this is a dream come true! So, on this pillow there are here fabrics from the scrap bin: the bright orange is this really nice organic, light poplin, the bright blue is a Japanese ambre (?) and the brown on the backing with the Japanese writing on it is a yarn dye from a collection called European taupe. You probably also recognize scraps from the tank top i just made, stripes from a dress circa 2009, stripes from Jacob's tie and seersucker from Nate and Amy's quilt. By the way, I only have 3 yards left of the 10 yards of charcoal seersucker that I impulsively bought over the phone from Bolt in Portland...knowing that my supply is dwindling has made me really make use of every scrap from that project! Oh, and of course, this pillow features a vintage metal zipper from the Edmonds Senior Center Thrift Store.

Done!

Just like that. My coworker(hi Angela!) took a good one of me wearing this shirt to work today but it's trapped on the camera so l have to wait till tomorrow to give you the full effect. All things considered, I highly recommend the Sorbetto tank pattern by Colette. Good cut; good instructions; pretty easy job all around. This fabric is vintage Wamsutta and vintage shott cotton ( or something similar) for the binding.

2 summer tops!

Thanks again to the dead seamstress-- these vintage fabrics are all from her stash! I wish I knew her name. But whoever she was, I am sure she is watching over and enjoying all of the beautiful things in which they are taking part. This weekend I am jump starting summer and sewing the Wiksten tank dress and the Colette Sorbetto tank. Stay tuned.

http://blog.shopwiksten.com/?m=1
And
http://www.coletterie.com/colette-patterns-news/free-pattern-to-download-the-sorbetto-top

Kids hanky!

Finn has been quite resistant to getting his nose blown--no thanks to my overbearing, possibly too rough, micromanagement of his every sniffle. So, I decided to take a different tack and I wondered, how can I get Finn pumped up about staying clean? Well, it's basically a threat these days if you offer to do anything for Finn that he feels qualified to do so I thought I would capitalize on the, I-do-it-myself phase. I told him what a hanky is and I asked him if he wanted a "kids hanky". Yes! He was begging for it! So I made him one and he promptly lost it. This one here is number 2--just as cute and almost identical to the first.

Kids hanky: flannel on one side, regular cotton on the other. The blue and white is from Anthology.