Fabric in Unexpected Places

I found some great fabric the last two weeks in unexpected places. The bottom two came from an antique store in Galesville, MD. I always mean to stop there after lunch at my uncles restaurant but never seem to. Shameless plug here: my uncles restaurant has the most wonderful view, the restaurant is on a pier and the food is terrific. Stop by for crabs if you are ever in Maryland. Anyway my niece was in town and the antique store happened to be open after we had lunch. I found this funky pink and green floral upholstery fabric and a vintage cotton with a kitchen herb print. That upholstery fabric is just calling out to be a foot stool in Lenora's room. The other fabric is this amazing cotton/silk blend I found at Joann fabrics. I am usually not a fan of their apparel fabrics as they are mostly synthetic but this stuff is great. It's buttery soft and drapes nicely. I can't wait to make a breezy summer shirt from it.

Just for kicks here is a shot of my hot mess of a backyard. We live in a town home so there is not much space for gardening, especially since our entire yard is a deck. This year we planted tons of herbs in planter boxes. That is my basil in the back after I made the mother load of pesto last night to freeze for the winter. There are peppers hiding behind the bench and in the front is mint. The dill did not fare so well but I think that is partly due to the heat and my friends dog peed on it. Burnt right up. Note to self, do not leave large dogs on deck unattended.

Sew Deer To Me

This time next week I will be back at work, sitting at a desk, wishing I was home with baby Lenora. I am trying not to have a major mental breakdown. To keep those nasty work thoughts at bay I made this little dress. The fabrics are Jay Mccarroll prints for Free Spirit. I love the little pink dear and mushrooms.

On a side note Jay critiqued my senior fashion collection at Phila U. Maybe one day I will share those pictures (not of Jay, but of the collection).

The pattern is Butterick 3846 bought at Joann's at the recent pattern sale. I liked it so much I purchased both sizes. I wanted the dress to be reversible so instead of hand-stitching the openings closed I top stitched the entire dress.

I swear there is an easier way to stitch and flip this baby right side out. Its not complicated at all to make but sewing the side seams is weird to me. Maybe if you left the opening at the bottom hem, instead of the side seams it might be easier. I am going to play around with it on the next dress. I have a feeling there are many more of these to come for Lenora.

Sewing Pitfalls

I have always said my sewing room is off limits to imposed cleaning requirements. When the mood strikes I may tidy, sweep, or de-fuzz. Creativity must be allowed to happen regardless of the mess. It is no pigsty but I have been known to throw my threads and bits of fabric on the floor when I am in a sewing groove. It just happens. Lets not talk about the quilting pins scattered throughout the house and pushed into the arms of the couch. There is a needle in there somewhere I have not been able to find yet. However when you let creativity just happen, this happens....

This is the wheel to my rolly chair. I slide all over the basement, from the computer to the iron to the sewing machine, picking up all those threads I have been known to throw on the floor.

And this is my husband picking the thread out of the wheels cursing my no imposed cleaning rule. What can you do?

Practical Sewing

Not a whole lot of "fun" sewing going on lately. I have been working on practical things, like sewing buttons back on pants and making burp rags from dishcloths. Nothing even remotely interesting enough to share a picture of.

I thought I would share a project I completed a while back. This is a t-shirt quilt I made for my uncle. I was cranking these out at a steady pace for a while there. They are relatively easy to make and create quite and impact if there is a theme or all the shirts are similar colors. My uncles is made out of his Harley t-shirts and this quilt barely made a dent in his stash. Since they were all black I use the traditional Harley orange to frame them with a flame fabric for the corner blocks. The key to these quilts in interfacing. You need a lot of it but if you don't back each of the squares that knit jersey will go buck wild on you.

A close up of the quilting. I send my quilts out to Michele Mueller in Fremont, Nebraska for quilting when they are too big to fit in my machine. She is amazing and it helps to have a long haul truck driving father in law to do all my shipping.

Here is a shot of the back. I found the best black and white motorcycle fabric and used it in panels for the back. On a side note you can see the legs of the ladder in the left of the picture. Robert is hiding behind the tree so I could get a good shot. What a nice husband was he to climb up there and hang my larger quilts so I could get some pictures outside.

Another hand embroidered quilt label. I love doing these. Its nice to have a small project to work on while you are waiting somewhere or watching TV in the evenings.

Hope you enjoyed this little past project.

Score

I am not a particularly lucky gal. Well, let me clarify. I am super lucky in that I have a wonderful family, healthy 3 month old, swell sidekick dog, food, shelter, hugs, kisses, fairy dust and all that jazz. I am not so lucky in that I win raffles, contests or find huge wads of money laying on the side of the road, but I did get lucky this past weekend. I found a Maya Sling at the Goodwill. I can hardly believe it myself. I also snagged these super swell Pyrex bowls at a yard sale. I love the green and white flower Pyrex. I have a couple in my kitchen, but I am always on the lookout for the red rooster pattern. How about you, score any good deals recently?

Sew Not a Sewing Project

Sew I have been working on a project of the non sewing kind. In an effort to reclaim some of my living room from the massive piles of baby stuff accumulation I came up with this. I picked this little dresser up on Craigslist for a little more than a song. At first I thought I would just clean her up and use her as is but when I got it home she turned out looking a little more orangy than I would have liked, and the top needed refinishing anyway. She also needed a little TLC, so Robert performed some minor surgery on her undercarriage to get her in good working order.


A few coats of paint and some new knobs later and here is she, in all her glory in my living room. I admit at first I was kinda skeptical about a purple dresser in the living room but it works. She sits in a corner that just collected dust tumbleweeds anyway and is small enough to look like she belongs. Plus I can change the baby right on top without bending over and all the crap is hidden in the drawers.

She also matches this super awesome rug I just picked up on Overstock. Its a psychedelic explosion in my living room and it hides all the dog hair. Is it strange I just called a dresser a she this whole post? Happy home improvements to you all.

Little Lovlies

Check out this beautiful stack of fabric I just picked up for my "secret" project. I am falling in love with all of these reproduction fabrics. They are just so bright and cheery.

I just had to share this picture. This is my dog Lilly helping me sew. She loves blankets, fabrics, clothes and pretty much anything that smells like a person. I turned my back for one second and she had buried herself underneath this pile of fabric. It's nice to always have a helper.