i heart linen

100th Post!!

Yup, it's my 100th post!  *does the electric slide* Woot!
So yeah, I can't believe I've sat in front of my computer 100 times and blogged about little morsels of my life for you all to read about! Pretty cool!

I was actually going to hold off and save this post for the 31st, which is my 1 year "bloggiversary", and do like a super mega post.  But I couldn't even stand to wait that long and not share my newest creation with you all!  *moonwalks* (I know! I have no patience when it comes to secrets or surprises.....I'm the absolute worst!  I get so excited and want to tell so bad!  It's almost like when you have to pee really bad and.......okaaay...I'll shut up now.) Moving on....^_^

So, I haven't made a quilt since the Doll Quilt Swap last year.  I started to get the urge to do another recently, especially since February is Quilting Month over at Sew, Mama, Sew.  You ever have an idea and need to get it out of your head right away? Well, that's basically what happened to me on Saturday.  I wanted to do a another small quilt but had an idea to make this special little quilt a little more fun!

I'll show you the back first....tee hee.....

I was having my breakfast of homemade Honey Banana Bread and a glass of OJ and decided to stick them in the shot! haha Yeah, I'm a dork. 

I've been seeing all of the cutie pie hexagons around blogland and decided to give it a whirl....then I got lazy and decided I need more instant gratification!  Here's what I did with the front.......

Checkers anyone? Yellow polka dots vs. Linen!

I made a mini quilt measuring about 10 inches by 10 inches and used covered buttons for the checker pieces. Easy peasy, lemon checkers.....uhm....eesy. ^_^ Checkers is a fun game ....why can't the board be fun too?

I wanted the quilting on top to be invisible so I used nylon thread in the needle of the machine and put matching yellow thread in the bobbin so the color would show up underneath. (You can see the yellow quilting in the first photo.)

Who's going to win I wonder? Yellow Polka dots or Linen?

Customizing

My mother-in-law Mom-The Sequel (mother-in-law just sounds so awful doesn't it?) paid us a little visit.  Really awesome lady! It was nice to get to know her better and learn more about my husband's family and his childhood and such. 

Mom-The Sequel and Elijah

We're very much alike, which I sort of already knew. (His Grandmother, his mother's mother, was born on December 28th, my birthday is December 29th, and his mother's birthday is December 30th.  He still manages to forget one of them somehow.  Luckily mine isn't one of them. *huge grin*)   It was funny to have someone in the house who would say what I was thinking of saying before I could say it.  Mel's always saying how I'm just like his mom and I never knew if that was a good or bad thing because I really didn't know her very well.  After spending some time though, I'm confident that  he's paying me a compliment when he says it. Mom-The Sequel rocks!

Her visit also allowed me some "catch-up-on-my-sewing" time.  I was happy to finish up some custom orders. I was quite apprehensive about doing custom orders in the first place. They can be quite difficult custom orders sometimes.  You never know if your vision will turn out the way you'd like or if the customer will even like it.  One in particular:

Heidi of Pinksparrow loved the design of one of my previous bags, but wanted different fabric.  So she chose the Alexander Henry "Bird Seed" in yellow, asked for a pocket and said to surprise her with the lining.  Well, you know I can be quite indecisive so........

..I used a yellow polka-dot for the top half, more of the "birdseed" for the bottom and.......

...black damask for the pocket!  She received it and loves it.  I was a little worried that it would be too much, so I'm happy it worked out.  Thanks Heidi!  So happy that you are pleased!  I guess this custom order thing isn't so bad after all. I really enjoyed doing this one. 

Heidi makes these really super cute felt pins by the way!  I'm so amazed by all the cutie-pies she makes. 

These two are my favorite! *swoons*
She has many other lovelies in her beautiful Etsy shop.  So run over and check them out before they're all gone! ^_^

I Heart......

Gamaguchis!

Gamaguchi means "a frog's mouth" in Japanese, which I guess is just what these little pouches look like. This is my first one and I love them!  I've been putting off making them because the frame always intimidated me.  But it turns out to be super easy!  Well not super easy, but a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Since this was my first try, I tried to keep it a little simple and not go all patchwork crazy on it.  But now that I know how to do it I'll definitely be making more! 

I just might throw a couple into the shop on my next update in a couple of weeks.  Haven't decided yet. (I know.  I'm always so indecisive.) 

Look!  It fits everything a girl would need.  Keys, phone, tunes, Mac Lipglass.......if you don't have Lipglass you're missing out, so go get some! ^_^

Splat!

He sneezed..........

and it flew everywhere.......

and I just HAD to take pictures.......

.....love it!! He also snatched the spoon out of Mel's hand!  I guess he felt like he could do a better job at feeding himself! ^_^

ihl v4.0

Needed a little "pick-me up". 
So I figured I'd make my bloggywog look a little more cheery. 
What do you think? 
*turns and poses like a supermodel*
Now what to do when Spring arrives.....hmmm.

***edited to say - I didn't design this background myself.  I was being lazy and got it here off of istockphoto.com.  So please don't give me credit for it!! ^_^ ***

I Heart......and I Don't Heart......

....getting cool stuff I bought online in the mail! 

The first cool thing I got today.......

Knit? Knitted? Handmade sushi from my friend Alice!  Yay! So kawaii!  She just opened her shop over at Etsy with super cute sushi, precious children's aprons and lot's of other fun stuff to be had.  Run over and check it out.  She'll be adding a lot more items soon, so stay tuned for more goodies from her.

The second cool thing I got today......

Deco tape that looks like a tape measure!  I looooove this!  You can find it here.  The shop is located in the UK but they do ship overseas.  Shipping isn't that expensive either. 

I'm a little grumpy at my mailman though.  The mailboxes in my building are pretty small, so they always leave one of those pink slips in the box so that you can go pick up your packages.  Well, I got one of those slips in the box yesterday saying that it was a Final Notice and that they would send my package back!  I never got the first two notices!!  My package had been sitting in the post office since December 20th! Jigga what?! *grumbling "wirty dords" under my breath*  I didn't even bother having the tantrum I had planned when I went to pick it up.  I figured why bother. Freaking out on them wasn't going to help me get my package any sooner.  And since the USPS is THE WORST SERVICE ON THE PLANET, they would probably do it again anyway.  *shrugs*  So the what else do I have to say about that? "Boooooo....postoffice.....booooooo....I don't heart you."

These little cuties in my package made up for the delay anyway.  (Yours are coming soon Charlene! ^_^)

*Update*

I've gotten a few inquiries about the fabric I used in the previous post.

It's a Japanese fabric by the company Kokka. I love, looove, LOVE, L-O-V-E this fabric. I fell in love with it when I saw a bag made with it by Luii Accessories on Flickr.  Which lead me on a crazed, obsessed, fabric addicted manhunt for it.  (I couldn't just ask the designer where she got it, I had to do it the hard way.  It's more fun! ^_^)  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it in this colorway anywhere stateside. So, I ended up ordering it from Australia and bought the last half yard in the shop!  I do know that Purl does have some left in different colorways here.  If anyone finds other places to buy it please let me know, I'll spread the word! ^_^ That's if I don't buy it all for myself....*wicked laughter*   >=)

Gone fishin'.......

.......for giveaway winners! Yay!  *does the runnin' man*  (That was just for you Jennifer ^_^)

So here we go!! 

Mixin', mixin', mixin' them up...........

and the first name I pick is...............

.......

Yay! Mette!!  Woot! You win a custom made Oblong Pouch!  Yay!! 

and the second name I pick is..........

Yay! Muralimanohar!  Woot woot! You win one of these tote bags of your choice! Yay!!

and the third and final name I pick is....................drumroll please.....

Yay! Norththreads! Woot woot woooooooooooooot!  You win any one item I've made this year, completely custom made to suit you!  Yay!!  *runnin' man*

Winners please e-mail me so we can talk about your winings.  You'll see the link to my email address on the upper right corner of the blog.

Everyone be nice and congratulate the winners.  There will be some other chances to win stuff later on this month, so all is not lost! ^_^

Huge, huge, huge thank you for those of you who left comments on the giveaway post and actually all of the posts I've made this week.  I appreciate everyone's well wishes and all of your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Everyone enjoy your weekend!!

Chocolate chip for the soul

A huge thank you to all of you for your kind and loving words during this difficult time. Mel and I appreciate every drop of thoughtfulness from each and everyone of you.  Thank you. *Big Hugs*

I'm not good at dealing with these types of things and I usually end up taking on some type of project to distract me from my sorrow.  Baking cookies was a nice way for me to distract myself from....well......myself, my mind, my sadness.  Mmmm.....Ghiradelli chocolate......mmmmmm....chocolate makes everything better sorta.  Their chocolate chips are some of the best and I love baking cookies with them. Perfect for taming that crazy chocolate craving that rears it's ugly little head once a month.  I know, what you're thinking...."Shame on you, you little indulgent chocolate chip cookie baking minx...rowr."   Okay....maybe you're not thinking that. But I bet I was close!  ^_^

I was preparing to take photos of my cookies for this post and they suddenly took a back seat to this:

I found this oh so sweet little tea set at Ikea this week!  Child size. 17 pieces. $7.99  I bought a set for Bella even though I know she is far too little to play with it now.  But I couldn't resist buying it!  I never had a tea set as a girl and totally wanted one.  Now I have one!

It's just......well......a tad too small for me.   

They have a 24-piece dinnerware set, a 7-piece baking set, AND a 6 piece cookware set.  I'm going back to stock up and put them away for her for when she's older.  I can't wait to play with them!!  I mean for her to play with them...yeah that's what I meant.  It's just screaming for a little linen and patchwork tea cozy and accessories! 

I also found a pattern for a cardboard play kitchen on Etsy for $7.00.  This pattern is incredible!  I haven't built it yet, but when I do I'll be sure to post pictures of it.  It's on my list of projects for 2008.   Has anyone built this already?  How did it turn out?!

Wondering why......

...such things have to happen.  Life throws you these terrible, terrible curve balls. Dammit.
My mother-in-law called us a couple of hours ago to inform us that Mel's little sister, Cassandra is no longer with us.  I didn't get to know Cass very well, but I do know how much she suffered through her life.  I just hope that she has finally found the peace she was seeking.