Sewing

Some of you may remember this pattern from last summer.  I wrote up the directions for one of Better Homes & Gardens' magazines.  Well, today I have it all formatted for you as a free pattern download.  If you downloaded it from BHG's site before, please replace your copy with this new one as their pdf was sizing the pattern pieces all funky from what I heard. 

Come to think of it, I reformatted a couple of the other free patterns in my sidebar long about last January.  I don't believe I mentioned it back then.  Many of you already have the new versions, but if you downloaded the headband pattern or the Freshcut quilt pattern when they were first posted, you might want to download them again for a spruced up version.

…just a fun lil' somefin'.

Every sewer should have a cute pincushion — or several cute pincushions if you ask me.  Follow this link to download the Square Deal pincushion pattern, or click on the photo below.

Been having sweet times with the kids lately.  With summer break just about over here, Elijah & I are trying to wrap up Inkheart, which we've been reading off & on since summer began.  It's well-written & interesting, but slow-to-action.  True, that could be somewhat due to our intermittent reading schedule. We've also purchased The Deathly Hallows on cd.  Isaac's mid-way through loading the cds into iTunes, but we've caught up to him and are content with the immediacy of listening by cd for now. – – – Wow, that JK Rowling.  What can I say?   She really gets it, every nuance.  Friendship, temptation, imperfection, heroism, humor, struggle, tragedy, triumph, loyalty, love, purpose, and human nature.  She is truly inspired.

On the book front, I also had the pleasure of meeting J.S. Lewis a couple of months back at a writer's conference I attended with my mother (my mom's a talented writer — I'll have to sneak one her poems or stories onto my blog sometime so you can see).  He is a quippy, sarcastic, funny guy (best presentation there).  Elijah whipped right through Revenge of the Shadow King and is hoping to get the other volumes soon.  J.S. sketched out a gargoyle for Elijah on the inside cover. Now how cool is that.

Charlotte's still in princess mode and she has become a champion knot-tyer.  Every day she re-decorates the banisters with interlaced ribbon in preparation for The Royal Birthday Party.  I've lost track of just how old I am now that I've celebrated several birthdays a day for weeks.  Presents wrapped in fabric, party hats, cake (the ribbon loop is the candle we must blow out & each ring is a slice we must pretend to eat).  It's very involved. 

We're having a good time.

I always dread the start of the school year though, when our family schedule tightens up and our son is gone all day.  We love Elijah's school, but why can't the school day be 4 or 5 hours long, max? Someone should start a charter school with more sane hours, so kids can spend more time with their families during the week.  Has anyone heard of such a thing?  Home-schooling isn't the best match for Elijah.  He thrives on daily interaction with other kids (and teachers) and we haven't ended up with enough kids in our family to satisfy that social thing.  Where's the happy medium?   Volunteering at school has always helped.

You know, that's it — I'm doing more of that this year.  Before Charlotte was born, I was helping at the school every week.  Elijah just loved it & I miss it.  So there we are.

Before things get even crazier around here, I must report that the pincushion class
was fantastic fun.  Everyone received a bag full of goodies, including
kits for a red strawberry & a velvety, pink one.  There were
laminated recipe cards,
strawberry-shaped needlebooks, and fruit pincushion patterns to boot.
Two students even flew in from across the country to take my class.
With less than a week’s notice, they were signed up and on their ways
from Pittsburgh & Fort Worth!  Now that’s spontaneous — and
entirely flattering.  Hi Katri & Ruth!

To see more photos and read my post on the class, click here.

What
an awesome response — thank you all for your enthusiastic feedback on
my new fabric collections.  I’m thrilled to release them; it’s painful
to keep such an exciting secret to myself for so long.  I’m going to
keep the contest going through the weekend so everyone will get a
chance to participate, so expect news on the winners come Monday or so.

And yes, I’m back in the blog saddle again, as promised.  I have tons
of things to post about these days, one of which is the class I’m
teaching next weekend at Blissful Living Studio (part of Domestic Bliss).  We’re going to have a
summery, pincushion-y, strawberry-y fun-fest, making luscious, velvet
strawberry pincushions, chatting with girlfriends & sharing my
favorite Strawberry Pretzel Dessert ice cream (homemade!) — recipe
coming up next. 

The class includes a pattern for a pear, an apple, a tomato &
two strawberry pincushions (yes, my pear design now has friends — and
they’ll all be available in the same sewing pattern in the next couple
of weeks).  I’ll bring the supplies for making our strawberry
pincushions — and I’ll bring the ice cream.  While
everyone’s busy stitching away on their strawberries, I’ll go over
the instructions for making the other fruit pincushions included in the
pattern.

Kristin has an amazing talent for putting events together.  I’m
pretty sure she has some other fun flourishes to add to the class as
well. We’ll have a good time. 

So, if you’re in the area & would like to attend, contact
Blissful Living & sign up.  Here’s their adorable
invitation.

I’ll see you there.

— & a link to the Blissful Living blog —

I went out of town for most of two weeks and came back to a backlog
of everything.  We did kick off summer with an awesome day in the rain
at Disneyland (lots of rain, but that was kind of fun — no
complaints).   

At home, we’ve had puppies to train, more summer plans to secure,
patterns to complete (THAT’S RIGHT — I have four patterns written —
they’re out with pattern testers).  I figured I could secure myself
some absent-blogger immunity with that news.  Granted?  Say yes.  They
should be available before the month is over.

Then I sat down yesterday with the goal to post a preview of my two
new fabric collections, but my computer kept crashing — probably a
dozen times.  I finally gave up & decided to embroider something —
on the couch — I hardly ever make my way to the couch.  (Have I
mentioned how much I love to embroider?  It’s like coloring in slow
motion — very soothing — great for when your computer is on the
fritz.)  Now I’m set up on a different computer & back to assembling
images for that fabric preview.  Just popping in for a Hello. 

Hello.

So, look what I found!, a download of the pincushion pattern I wrote for Better Homes & Gardens’ Quilts & More.
I’ve probably had over four dozen requests for this pattern in my
inbox, but am under contract to not release it for a few months.  I had
no idea it was up on their site and available all of this time.

I’m not sure how much longer they’ll have it posted, so go get a copy.

Fun little stocking stuffer!

Here’s something I should have done two years ago.  One hour of frantic
de-beiging and now Charlotte has a brighter place to spend her meal-
times.  I went a bit groovy on impulse.  Feels good (ala James Brown).
These are a couple of vintage pieces I had tucked away in the laundry
room.  I love how some fabrics from the 30s have a bit of a 70s vibe.
This is one of those fabrics I’d love to see reproduced so we could all
get our hands on some yardage. Yardage!

Well, there it is.  One snazzy highchair cover for a baby who’s probably ready to move to the kitchen table anyhow.  Sigh.

Here’s the before.

Isn’t
this pillow fantastic?  I’m pretty sure I collect such things to make
up for my lack of family heirlooms — heirloom envy.  Well, and my lack
of grandparents growing up.  Nope, I don’t have a cherished "LW", but I
can fancy this pillow was lovingly embroidered by my fictitious great aunt
Lulu – Lulu Wiggins, I’m sure – and perch it in the prime position on
my bed nevertheless.

I adore her choice of dusty gold and rich
turquoise on fresh, rumply pink, don’t you?  Another who-zee-whats-it for what’s quickly becoming a trinket tour of my bedroom.