Swapped a pencil for a needle.

Getting some long-languishing projects much closer to completion...
feels good to use a slow, grey day this way.

holiday christmas cheer

holiday illustration style, via the ever wonderful print and pattern.



top to bottom:
ashley le querre, lollipop, piu lee, dan stiles, woodland, dutch door, hello lucky, and darling clementine

Confidential to Kerri.

Sneak peek for Kerri. (Wow, so many people misspell it as "sneak peak", that I just did and had to fix it. A pet peeve for sure!)

Anyhow, twin, this is for you. Just a beginning, and I'm sooo slow, and now I have to stop, but at least it's getting started. Finally!

Lovely Illustrator

She has done it again. I love Heather Ross's illustrations, and whatever she's working on now promises to be as adorable as all her other fabric designs. Some of them are so hard to find that anything on etsy or ebay skyrockets up into the "save up to buy, then hoard" category. Anytime you see her name, check it out. It'll be worth your time. Plus she's a fun read on her blog. She wrote a really fun beginning sewing book. And she's a twin! More images below...

My Hen Friend

My friend the Urban Hen is having a giveaway! I love her and have said so here before, multiple times. Not only is Sharon a talented seamstress but a loyal friend and one of the most genuinely friendly people I have ever known. And she will be a fantastic mom!

Check out her etsy shop too. Support handmade!

FYI.

Just so you know... this is a wonderful way to mend! From the fantastic Craftzine.com!

Everything MOON!

and of course...

Spoonflower

Someday I would love to try out this Spoonflower business... Have any of you tried it?

Here's an interview with the founder on npr.com.

Sari if I'm hoarding...

I have won the lottery. Look what came in the mail.
Thank you, Melinda. And you too, Kat! You are incredibly thoughtful. I am drooling over this magnificent stash!

Earlier this week I got my own stash, today this comes in the mail, and I've heard from a little bird that some Ikea textiley treasures are heading my way via Sharon. Oh joy.
Sure makes me wish I could actually SEW. :(
Thank you dear friends! What a fun fabric-y birthday!

Who can resist a sale?

Just in time for my birthday. What a good husband I have, who gives me a gift certificate to Textile Fabric, and on a sale week. It was insanity incarnate, even on the third day of the sale, but oh what fun! Had to call and gloat to my sewing sister... who was thrilled for me because she is just a sweet person. And doesn't it take the fun out of gloating when someone responds with joy for you? Ah well. Anyhow, it brought our total phone calls (to and fro this birthday week so far) up to 26. And that's not counting gmail chats and webcam conversations. I tell you, it's the next best thing to being together. When I first moved away from her, Texas, and all of my family, we relied on stamped, mailed, hand-written letters. I know, it's unbelievable. But we were too broke for long distance, and cell phones of that era were high dollar and as big as a briefcase. For Emergency Use Only, Dad said. It stayed under the seat of my car. In it's giant bag.
Between Textile and Hancock's of Paducah, I'm developing an addiction I can neither afford nor store. But it's all on sale, and who can resist that?
Thanks, husband. Remember, your birthday's coming up.

If.

If I won this it would go to Urban Hen.

The Fabric Shopper.

I would so love to win this giveaway!

Looking forward to reading this one.

I'm not worthy!

Wow, I'm flattered. But I'm tagging her back. The Urban Hen can do anything, including raise chickens, in the city! And she's so adorable...and sweet...and talented. I'm surprised I can even like her. :)

Photo hers.

A million little projects.

Just because she's caught my eye, here are some fantastic images from amazingly talented illustrator Susy Pilgrim Waters. You can find her here. I was browsing through her agent's site and her work practically leapt off the screen. Her variety of styles and color palette are inspirational. Enjoy...

A million little projects (or dreams of projects), part whatever. I know I've made lists like this before...and haven't completed them. But there are so many little sites that have caught my interest lately, that I just have to leave this semi-permanent reminder of all the things I want to someday do. So here goes.

A Gocco or a Yudu? And how to choose?
Make your own buttons. Or badges, if you like.
Unbelievable teeny handmade books.
Brilliant repurposed sewing. And a tutorial.
Martha Martha Martha.
A must have book.

Sari Bari and springtime

Still a few items left after the good folks at Sari Bari reloaded their online store this past Wednesday. Such a great organization, nice people, and wonderful product. I've been the lucky recipient and buyer of a number of bags and blankets... so much so, that I was told "no more" (you know who you are, Melinda)... yet, what goes around comes around and I was given a beautiful new one during a recent bout with the flu. Hee.

If you've gotten one of these items before, let me know what you think, and felt, after seeing their story. I'd love to hear it. And the fact that there is presently sunshine enough in which to photograph them is beyond words. Hallelujah. Happy first day of Spring!

Spring begins with the vernal equinox on March 20 at exactly 7:44 A.M. EDT. The word equinox is derived from the Latin for “equal night” and is used now because the days and nights are of nearly equal length.

The vernal, or spring, equinox is the point at which the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from south to north, signaling the beginning of nature's renewal in the Northern Hemisphere.

After the equinox, the Sun will appear higher and higher in the sky, and the days will grow longer. The tilt of Earth’s axis as it travels around the Sun causes the change of seasons.
— www.almanac.com

On the first day of spring,
I dig my fingers deep into
the soft earth.
I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.
–Helen Hayes (1900–93)

the gateway drug

Etsy is the gateway to all sorts of compulsions and obsessions. I swear I'm developing one (or two, or three) with fabric. But it's not to sew with it; I just want to hoard it, and organize it, and color code it, and never use it! What is the problem with that?
This little pile came in the mail today, from an etsy seller. I was so overjoyed at the cheerful bright color and the screaming sunshine and the green grass that I went out to take a shot of it. Maybe that is my new plan... photograph it, then I'll always "have" it, thereby freeing me up to actually sew with it.
I wonder what is internally set up in me that makes me this way? Greedy, hoard-y, obsessive, possessive, acquisitive, and selfish. Unfortunately it's not just with fabric. Wish I could give up myself for Lent.

Amazing Awesomeness.

Direct from the delightful Print & Pattern blog. This Fiona Lewis is amazing! Fabric design, what a perfect job that must be.

Almost done.

About to wrap up my little project due this month, and thanks to anyone who helped out by donating fabric and paper! I have lots left over for another project or two, and hopefully the "client", my church, will want to fill up some new building wallspace with something else by me, someday in the future. So if you had items for me held back, I will still happily take them for future use.

Anyhow, here's a bit more of it along the way. It reeks of glue smells and has stringy bits all over it, but it's almost done and ready for delivery and framing. The goal is to have it hanging before next Sunday, when the new building will be ready for inhabitation. Forgive the photo quality, they're from my phone.

Thanks for your comments and help, it's been fun.

Maybe cuz it's FIVE degrees and falling.

Started another little quilt. Making it the length of the couch, so's I can be warm all the way to my feet. Even making these is a very warming activity, which is a good thing in a house that is about 59° no matter what the thermostat is set on.

Time for more wood on the fire.