i heart linen

Prairie Girl, Calendar Girl

Hope all you awesome Mom's had an awesome Mother's Day!  Being a mom has to be one of the greatest gifts in the world.  But I think the second greatest gift is being at home by yourself for a couple of hours.  Thanks honey, it was grand! Not exactly what we had planned for the day, but that's how it worked out. The silence was wonderful but almost deafening I must admit.  I spent much of the day watching old movies, finishing a project, and reading this lovely book that my hubby bought for me for Mother's Day.  "The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life" is the title and I absolutely love it!

Right up my alley I must say.  Such a sweet and charming book that I think should be in every crafter's library.  Learn to lay a fire, spin yarn, make candles, make rock candy, knit a shawl, bake a rhubarb pie, braid a rug, and heaps more!  What I love most about this book is that it almost gives me the feeling that I'm getting the chance to chat with my great-great-great grandma and learn all of the wonderful things she knew how to do.  It's a nice little read to say the least, my only problem with it is that there aren't any photos in this book.  I'm guessing the author is trying to stick to the old time charm of the simple pioneer life by doing that, which is wonderful.  But I'm a very visual learner and like to see how things are done.  So if you're like me and like to ooh and aah and pictures, then this book might not be for you.  I still find it so endearing and encourage you to swing by the bookstore and check it out!

So, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do some creating this weekend and managed to crank out this little pretty.  It's one of those ideas that's been in my head for a while and I just had to get it out of me before I popped!  It's a calendar! Weeeeeee!

I've had this idea in my head for quite some time now, so I went ahead and got all the supplies that I thought I would need........the stamps, the inkpad, the buttons, the velcro, the glue, etc.  I had everything I needed by Wednesday. 

I actually started making this at 2am Thursday morning!  I was tossing and turning and just couldn't sleep because I had this silly idea dancing in my head, so I got up and started picking fabrics, covering and stamping buttons, pulling the stems off the buttons and gluing velcro coins to the backs like a mad woman.  I finally went back to bed at about 5 am, satisfied that I started something worthwhile.

I finished it all up yesterday and here are the fruits of my crazed and frenzied late night labor!  I know! I'm a nut!  I'm telling you there was steam coming out of my ears from all of the wheels and gears turning in my head! Sometimes you just can't hold yourself back from creating when the notion really hits you!

I made enough buttons for 31 days + 7 blank ones for the "other days" of the calendar and for leap years. 

and then I stamped up some linen ribbon for the months!

I left the back very simple with some waffle fabric and some gentle embellishments.

I like my projects to be things that would be useful and not just sit around a collect dust.  Is this just fun to look at or would you actually use this?  You know I always welcome your feedback!   I love this so much, but I plan to pass it along to someone I know loves red and blue very much.  I hope she finds it useful! I think I'll make one in some colors that are a little more me next round.  I'm off to buy more buttons!! Ciao!

Planning

Hey there, happy Wednesday!  Two more days until the weekend! *does the robot*  I'll be sitting at my little workstation busy being a mad sewing scientist all weekend though. Fun when it's not work, but unfortunately it IS work.  I've got heaps going on right now and I can't talk about any of it!  Isn't that the worst?  I'm absolutely bursting right now, bursting I tell you! *kapow!*  But I'm going to be a good girl.   

I've been doing some planning for some upcoming projects and I think it'll be okay if I share some of that.
Picking fabrics and combining colors is my favorite part of the creative process.  I think I like it even more than the actual creating!

I always tend to combine the colors and such first, and decide on what to make with them after and start making sketches. Maybe it's a little backwards, but it works for me.  I'm usually pleased with the results.

The first two photos are for projects that need to be vibrant and bright.  The last two are needed to have a more "wintery" feel. I'd love to hear your feedback on my color choices. 

I'd also like to hear how everyone else's creative flow works.  Do you make sketches, do you make up a color palette, do you just sit down and start sewing and see what happens?  Tell me, tell me! How do you make your works come to be?

Mommy's day out

Happy Monday to ya! ^_^  How was your weekend?  Mine was just grand!  Saturday was one of those rare days that I got to go out and ramble around the city on my own without a giant double stroller and my two sidekicks.  It was my big day out and boy did I make the most of it! 

My first stop was to the new Books Kinokuniya at Bryant Park for my Japanese literature fix. The crafting section is so much larger than in the old store and I was just stunned when I came upon it.  I met a really cool woman by the name of Amy Lou there too....What up Amy Lou!!

We talked for what seems like forever as we browsed through all the yummy selections before us.  It was so hard to choose just a few, you want to take the entire stock home!  I ended up leaving with two books, a new sketch pad, and some recycled colored pencils.

My next stop was to the City Quilter in Chelsea, my favorite place to shop for fabric.  Huge selection as you can see and the people there are super nice.  Spent quite a bit of time there and left with several happy prints to add to my stash.

Next stop.....downtown to Purl Patchwork in Soho!  My other favorite place to shop for fabric.  What else do I need to say about it.  Everyone loves Purl.

I left with lots of yummy yardage from there as well. 

Next I was back uptown to meet a friend for some lunch in the Gramercy Park part of town.  I decided to take a little stroll around the park to kill some time before we met.

Does anyone one know what type of tree this is?  I was so amazed by the beautiful purple flowers blooming all over the branch.  How cool is that?

Only residents around the park have access to it with a special key, so it's a private park. 

So not fair!

Some of the buildings that are around the park.....

How grand it the entrance to this apartment building?

Hard to believe there are homes like this in Manhattan.

I need yellow windows like this! So lovely.

Next stop...L'Express for lunch.....nice little French Restaurant....

Okay I'm stuffed now.....off we go to the Farmer's Market in Union Square...

This dog was such a sweet girl.....she was at the market for adoption.  I hope she found a good home.

Oh look!  A street fair! Let's go!!

Let's see....where did I go next? Oh yes! The Apple Store in the super dee duper trendy Meatpacking District......and then up the street for some dinner.....5 Ninth sounded good...

but then we settled on  Pastis.....feeling kinda French on Saturday.

So that was my day....I ate, drank, shopped, and was merry and ended up throwing myself into a cab at then end of the day, exhausted.  I felt like I had walked all over the city.  It was sooooo nice to be out on my own for the day, but I missed my little ones and my hubby so much the entire day!  And almost felt guilty for not being with them.  But not that guilty though, I'll probably run away next Saturday too! ^_^

Some Spring Sewing

Been doing some sewing for my little Bella-boo.  She's such a girly girl and loves to wear dresses and skirts, so I just had to add some more to her wardrobe.  The spring has made me a sewing machine!
*sings to the tune of "Dancing Queen"*   "I am a sewing machiiiiiiiiiine, young and sweeeeeet only thirty ooooooooone!"

  Don't you wish you could take your machine outside and sew?  How can I do that?  How can I drag all of my fabric and my tools and notions outside and sew?  Can someone help me figure that out?  Anyhoo, I digress.........where were we oh yes.......Bella, clothes.

I have several Japanese craft books for sewing kids clothing and got some inspiration and a pattern or two from them.  This top, I used a lovely Tana Lawn print that I found on Ebay. I started out with a pattern from one of my books as a base. (Onna No Ko No Oyofuku - ISBN 9784529044370 see below)  I wanted it to have some smocking at the top, so I did that, then it seemed really plain to me so I decided to stitch over it with one of the fancy pants stitches on the machine.  After I did that I tried it on Bella and it was too big!  So I ended up tacking the front and back and made inverted pleats.....added two buttons and voila!  At least I can undo the tacking when she gets older and she can still wear it! Yay! *runnin' man*

Pics of my boo boo smocking and the back.........

A little skirt made with some of the left over Alexander Henry fabric from her dress.  I sorta winged it on this one too.

I used a pattern for this dress from The Clothes of Koharu (ISBN 4579109708)....and I'm sure we all know the fabric used for this. ^_^ (Amy*cough*Butler*cough*)

I love the back of this!  So cute!  You can see her tan line from Miami too...tee!

And this one.....no pattern .....just went for it....this one looks like it could be a nightie or a sun dress....hahaaa.....I can put her bed after she's been playing outside in it.  I know! eeeewwww! haha!   I know. I'm a dork.

If you like making clothes for little girls and you don't have these books in your library, you should. Some really easy to follow patterns and as usual the photos are just wonderful!

Happy Earth Day!

Am I the only one who is loving green lately?  I wonder what it is about this color that I love so much right now........Spring maybe? ^_^

Our little flower pot from Ikea...my tulips don't seem to want to sprout much more than that this year....a green thumb is something I don't have......

Some of my recent fabric purchases.......the polka dots make me happy! *dances the polka dot polka*

This tote from the Gap.....I bought it online...it's enormous!

These yummy Japanese melon flavored candies.....green candy has the best flavor in my humble opinion

Our five dollar Goodwill chair......can you beat 5 bucks! Come on! Nuts!

My raggedy old flip flops that I can't seem to part with....I love these old "slappers" ..(what my mom calls them)

I'm hooked! Can't get enough of the green! So happy spring is finally here in NY....now if we can just put those jackets away for good I'll be one happy Rashida. What colors are you loving right now?  I'd love to hear or see what everyone's diggin' these days!