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!

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!

Gift and you shall receive

I'm a very lucky woman.  After my super speedy delivery to Elijah, I mentally prepared myself to spend the next couple evenings in complete discomfort, with a wailing newborn, dreading the thought of having to share a room with a complete stranger, who I probably would dislike, or shall I say downright can't stand!
The maternity ward was packed to capacity that week and there was no chance of getting a private room.  *gaasp!* What?! I have to have a .....dun dun duuuuunn....ROOMATE?! *faints* 

Well, turns out my roomie(Carissa) was actually really cool, probably one of the nicest people I've met in a while.  We spent the next couple days just chattering it up, sharing birthing stories and the like, learning about each other and our babies.  We've managed to stay in touch, but haven't gotten together as much as I would like. (I've been too busy hovering over my sewing machine and seem to have forgotten that humans are social creatures. ^_^)

Carissa was my first customer on Friday, so I thought it would be nice to hand deliver her items to her and also have the boys get together.  (Her son was born one day before mine and he's the cutest little chubby dumpling!)  So we scheduled to have a "playdate" today at noon.

I've been dying to make one of those cutie pie pencil rolls from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts". I just didn't know who I could give it to and Carissa's 4 year old daughter instantly popped in my head.  So, last night I set to work on making the pencil roll in time for our visit.

Stop what you're doing and go make one right now!  I almost kept it for my self and it was so easy to do.  Easy peasey lemon squeezey!  It falls under the 2-4 hours gift category in the book.  I'd say that's about right.  It took me about 3 hours and was loads of fun to make.  The directions were very easy to follow.

I wanted it to be a little more fun on the outside, so I added a little bit of kawaii Japanese fabric that I bought off of Etsy.  I also included a sketch pad.  No fun having new colored pencils without some paper! I hope little Carter likes it, she was in school when I gave it to her Mommy.  Turns out she's quite the little artist, so I think it was the perfect gift!  We had a nice visit and I hope we can do it again soon.

Still high off of my gifting, I arrived at home to find this little item waiting in my mailbox!

A package from Melissa D. the lucky lady who won my baggy bag! 

A sweet little box with these wonderful mini cards inside with a lovely note to say "Thank you".  So thoughtful of you, Melissa.  Thank you! I love them!

I guess it's true what they say..."Give and you shall receive."  But I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be an actual item that you receive.  Maybe they mean the really warm and satisfying feeling you get when giving a gift to a friend.  Maybe that's what you receive.  Yeah. ^_^

Getting down to business

Wow!  I feel like I haven't posted in eons!
I know it really hasn't been that long, but I've done so much in the past week or so, it seems like a lot more time has passed.  Things have been quite busy for me between the creating, parenting, "wife-ing", visiting, e-mailing, telephoning, housekeeping, business-ing, blogging, photographing, photoshopping.  Every "ING" that there is!  I'm exhausted, but I'm loving it and wouldn't have it any other way. 
I recently picked up the book Craft Inc. which I learned about at the print & pattern blog.

It's another great book I think should be in every crafter's library.  At least those of us trying to sell their happily handmade goods.  It's the perfect guide book and the best part about it is the little interviews with already well established and successful business owners.  Some include Jill Bliss, Denyse Schmidt, Lotta Jansdotter, port2port press, and Rena Tom. I've been reading it for a few weeks now, taking notes and getting myself organized and it's given me the extra motivation I needed to do this crafty business thingy.

Speaking of crafty business thingies, some other little goodies I've put together for my little shop.
These pouches took a lot more work than I thought they would! 

A lot of work trying to coordinate the fabrics and reworking and tweaking the pattern that I made.  I also lined each one with matching polka dot fabric. 

I really love these and I wish that I could keep them!  I'd just have each one sitting in a different part of our apartment like little statuettes.  But I will be parting with my little pouchy babies and put them into the shop. 

Hubby should be finished with the site sometime tonight.  I've finally set a date and time for my little opening, which I will announce in my next post(sometime tomorrow).  Hopefully someone's actually interested so that I'm not creating suspense for nothing! ^_^   
Anyhoo, I can honestly say that it's been fun trying to get myself to this point.  It's been hard being a one woman show and I tip my hat to all of the other crafter's before me who have managed to get their little dream up and running on their own.  Hopefully I'll be able to learn a lot more and share that knowledge with those who will try this after I do.

Last Minute Patchwork Quilted Gifts

Yay! I got my copy! Woohoo!  *dancin' dancin' dancin'*

Go get one too! Yay!

*backflips* Yay!

*Electric slide, running man, cabbage patch* Wooooo!

*more dancin', dancin', dancin'* Yipee!

*breakdancing, headstand, cartwheel* Woot!

Whew...okay now I'm tired.  ^_^

I love this book!  I just want to pack my things and jump in the front cover and move in.  Can I live in this book?  No?  Darn.

Fall Cleaning Mini Sale

How was your weekend? I hope everyone stateside enjoyed their Labor Day!  I had a great weekend with the hubby and the kiddles!  It was relatively quiet but quite enjoyable.  Spent some time with my grandparents who returned to Florida today.  They've been here since Elijah was born 7 weeks ago!  *whew* Looooong visit, but I'll miss them.  On Saturday we packed the stroller full of goodies and headed to the park for the afternoon.  It was such a beautiful day, so nice to be out with the kids.

Bella especially had a good time out this weekend.  But my dear little daughter is suddenly afraid of grass!

She wouldn't set foot off of the mat. (See, even with some gentle nudging by my husband's smurf feet. ^_^)  It was quite amusing and perplexing to say the least.  How are we supposed to move down South and have a nice big yard if my little one is a afraid of grass?  Well, I'm sure it's just a phase and she'll grow out of it.

I have to admit September and October are my favorite months.  The weather is so wonderful this time of year.  The air seems to have this crispness to it and the sky always seems to be an extra special hue of blue.  The fall always means new beginnings to me, which brings me to the fall cleaning I've started.
I'm slowly eliminating some of my fabric stash and craft book library.  (Making room for the new ^_^)

I've set up a little gallery to show some of the items I've chosen to part with.  Take a look.

Gift of time

My dear sweet aunt Rosalinda is visiting from Los Angeles this week to see Elijah.  (No one cares about us grown ups anymore ^_^)  She always brings a thoughtful little gift for me whenever she comes to visit.  This time she brought me a cookbook and wrote on the inside, "Enjoy this gift of time, Rashida. xxoo Auntie Ros "

"Best Ever Three & Four Ingredient Cookbook"
by Jenny White & Joanna Farrow

This has to be one of the best cookbooks ever!  The title speaks for itself, but the recipes are incredible!  There are over 400 recipes ranging from breakfast and brunches to vegetarian dishes, desserts, breads, preserves, relishes, even drinks!  I don't even know where to begin describing all of the features in this book.  So here's what is printed on the inside cover and pics of a few random pages:

"This comprehensive book offers an innovative approach to food that is perfect for today's busy modern cook and shows how to achieve maximum flavour with minimum effort. Every recipe tastes sensational but requires just three or four ingredients, which saves time on the kind of planning, shopping and preparation that you would normally expect to spend on creating such memorable meals.

The book opens with an introduction to the minimalist kitchen, explaining the basics of making fabulous, fuss-free food with the fewest possible but freshest available ingredients.

Then in the main section recipes are divided into 20 easy-to-use chapters, and there is something suitable for all occasions, from fast breakfast bites, tasty appetizers and dips, snacks and sweet teatime cookies, to main meals that cater for fish and meat lovers, and vegetarians.

There is a color photograph of every finished dish, with easy-to-follow illustrated step-by-step instructions to ensure perfect results every time. A complete nutritional breakdown of every recipe is also included, which details calories, carbs, fat and salt so you can plan meals for any kind of diet.

Quick dishes include stuffed baby squash, or chicken escalopes with lemon and Serrano ham that can be assembled in minutes. For those with a sweet tooth, there are four chapters filled with indulgent delights such as passion fruit creams and chilled chocolate and espresso mousse. With special sections on baking wonderfully aromatic breads and making sweet and savory preserves and pickles, there is a recipe for all kinds of simple, but scrumptious, home cooking. Together with a superb selection of healthy juices and drinks there is a great recipe to either kick-start the day or wind down with at night.

Including recipes for every type of dining, from brunches, midday meals and simple suppers, to midweek family meals, buffets, relaxed al fresco dining and elegant entertaining, and beautifully photographed throughout, this is the one and only cookbook for anyone who loves good food, and demands superb results, but wants to spend less money in the market and less time in the kitchen."

It's a must have for beginners as well as those who know their way around the kitchen.  It's basically crammed with just about everything you would want to know about cooking and the recipes are the wonderful bonus. My aunt received a copy as a gift and immediately went out and bought 5 more copies to give to her friends.  She gave one to me thinking it would be perfect for me considering I have two little one's now and won't have time for elaborate meals.  And I have to agree with her.  This is perfect for someone who doesn't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but wants big flavor at the same time.  I'll keep you posted on what I make from this book.   

Thank you for giving me some time Auntie Ros! ^_^ 

Doll Quilt Swap II - Update

So, I've chosen some fabrics from my stash that I'm going to use for my little quilt..... 

My partner likes some of the same colors as I do, so I'm very pleased about that.  She likes applique as well.  The only type of applique I've done before is with fusible web.  So this should be quite an adventure! This is only my second quilt! Eeeek! *starts breathing in paper bag* Thankfully this is just for fun, so I'm going to try to relax.   I actually purchased this book to help me along.

Another must have for the library, whether you're a beginner or not.  I flipped through some of it last night and it cleared up A LOT of questions I had about quilting.  It basically tells you everything you need to know.  Great pictures, the instructions are easy to understand, especially for the quilting challenged like me! ^_^

Bend the Rules Sewing

Yay!  I've added this book to my slowly growing collection of sewing/craft books.  (It came via Lasership at around 10 p.m. last night! *rolls eyes* Not shopping with B&N anymore.)  I haven't sat and actually read everything, but so far I'm loving this book.  The mood is so lighthearted and takes some of the seriousness out of sewing.  The photos are just wonderful, delicious even!  I understand from Amy's blog that the photographer used regular film and didn't go all digital, which seems to be a rarity these days.  Definitely one to have in your library.  So check it out!