Another New Fabric Alert!

MORE FAAABRIC!  I want you to know this isn't even all of it!  Yes, there is more!  I'll save the rest for next week.  I can feel the excitement!

This fabric is part of the new Lizzy House collection called Outfoxed.   It was almost too cute for me with all the foxes and hedgehogs.  I got a few of the prints without the animals.  The fabrics came in pink, green and orange colorways.  Guess what color I picked?

PS - The answer is green.

New Fabric Alert!

Remember this book?

Unlike Ann, I do not like red.

Nevertheless, I found myself strangely attracted to the new Ruby fabric line from Moda.  I purchased a set of the Ruby charm squares (pre-cut 5" squares) along with a set of plain white ones.

I think I'm going to use these to make something Christmassy for my in-laws.  

Am I starting to like red?  I'm not sure.  Do you like red?  Do you remember that book?  Explain in the comments!

Santa's Sweatshop UPDATE!

Remember the sweatshop?  To recap, I am making a bunch of aprons to sell at a holiday craft fair.  Yikes!

Let's check in on my progress:

1)  Purchase fabric  DONE!

2)  Cut fabric  DONE!  I have the components for 14 aprons.

3)  Sew aprons  Ugh.  Not done.  Not done at all!

Sad Santa:

Let's make another list.  Each apron takes four major steps to complete:

1)  Make and attach pocket

2)  Attach trim

3)  Make pleats and attach waistband

4)  Make and attach ties

So far I've completed the pockets on four of the aprons.  That means I'm only 7% done!!!!  DOUBLE YIKES!!!

Let's hope I've made a lot more progress by next Monday!

PS - This is what came up first when I googled "Sad Santa."   ENJOY!

New Fabric Alert!

I used to love new clothes and shoes.  Now I love looking at fabric and buying fabric and having fabric and thinking about projects to use the fabric.  FABRIC!!!  What is wrong with me?

Anyway, I recently fell in love with the new Amy Butler "Lark" fabric line.  Like, really in love.

I ordered the whole thing!  All 24 prints!

Now I just have to find a great project for it.  I think I have something in mind......  we'll see!

ALSO!  There is an ALL GREEN line of home decor Lark which is making me rethink all my life choices.  Wouldn't this make great drapes???!?!?!

Before and After

As you may or may not recall, a while ago I had an idea to line the back of my china cabinets with fancy paper.  Is this ringing any bells?  Here is a refresher.

Anyway, I tried it!  I'm not sure if I love it.  Can you take a look?

Here is the before photo.  As you can see, the cabinets are very WOOD and dark and crowded.

Step one was cleaning everything out and removing the shelves.  There was a lot of STUFF in there.  Some of the items I put in that small top cabinet.

Then I taped the paper onto the back of the cabinet (I used four sheets total) using Scotch reusable mounting strips.  I put the shelves back in, this time using one less shelf for a hopefully less-crowded look:

Do you like it?  I think it looks pretty cute.  If you have any advice on how I should rearrange the items or shelves, tell me in the comments!  I am not good at "styling" things.  Now I just need to get four more sheets of paper to do the other side.

Santa's Sweatshop

Not too long ago, I found out that the office building where I work is having an employee holiday craft fair in mid-December.  Guess who signed up?  That's right!  (Me.)

I decided to mass produce a bunch of my patented pleated aprons in a variety of holiday prints and see if anyone wants to buy them.  Perhaps they will?  Who knows?  If they don't sell, guess what everyone who reads this blog is getting for Christmas and/or Hanukkah?  (An apron.)

Each apron takes about an hour to make, and I want to have about 15 to sell, so I've got to get started!  So far, I've purchased the fabrics and started cutting.  Here are the different prints:


1.  Green and white floral with red ties and trim:

2.  Stars of David and dreidels with blue ties and trim:

3.  Nesting Nativity dolls with green ties and trim:

4.  Holiday Hats with red ties and trim:

The fabrics are from Rosie's Calico Cupboard (a happening place with a surprisingly large selection of Judaica fabric) and Joann's.

Time to start sewing!  Or as my son says, time to start needling!

Back Attack!

Remember the front of the Modern Meadows quilt?  Well, fasten your seat belts, because the back is done too and it is pretty darn cute.

Rather than make it solid white or mostly white, which I'm kind of getting sick of, I used two large print panels and a row of strips across the center.  Check it out:

Here is a close-up of the row of strips:

Nice!  I really like how this quilt is coming along, but I'm sort of dreading what's next: the quilting.   I think I'm going to quilt it in diagonal lines and see how it goes.  My goal is to finish by Thanksgiving, but we'll see how that goes.  I am very busy with my sweatshop!  Did you know I also operate a sweatshop?  More about that tomorrow!