Inspiration — Unruly Art Class

The to-do list.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to say yes to everyone. Even if they don’t expressly ask, I offer a yes. I’d love to do that for you, I can do that, oh, let me do that…

I did a lot of that when I was home visiting friends and family a couple weeks ago. I’m not put out by it, I love to give gifts. Plus, it gives me experience just in case I ever want to start selling again {I’m coming back soon, etsy}

So, before my memory gives out on me, I thought I’d [...]

Fabric Shopping Spree

So, I’ve recently returned from a long road trip from Texas to Philadelphia, Pa. Along the way, I managed to stop at a few fabric shops, including one I found about 20 miles from my house. It’s been heavenly. There’s something so much more special about wandering through an independent fabric shop, as opposed to just shopping the big box crafts stores. Don’t get me wrong, I probably shop these chains at least once a week, but the independents have so much more “personality”.

Enough talk, let’s see the freshly laundered cotton goodness just begging to be [...]

Weekend Wrap Up

This has been such a creative time for me. The 3 months or so since I’ve started to learn to sew kid’s clothes has been the most excited I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve tried sewing in the past based on YouTube videos and the like, but until I took the Home Ec class from LeighAnn of Freckled Nest along with a couple other contributors, including Rachel Denbow from Smile & Wave. That started the bug to really learn how to sew properly. Since that online class, I’ve gone from fudging together tote bags, to sewing nicely finished [...]

No more ugly camera bag

Well, this is what I was carrying my Sony Nex-3 around in:

I’ve been wanting to do a “camera bag” that would essentially just be a camera cozy. I don’t like to wear the camera around my neck without it being covered, but I hate toting that bag around. So, after I finished my sewing machine cover with my delicious Happy Mochi YumYum fabric, I had some pieces left over that were just big enough to wrap around my camera and it’s long lens. So, I pieced together this little number.

Trust me it looks better when there’s [...]

Craft Room Reorganized

I’ve been working for weeks on reorganizing and de-stashing my craft room. I was totally inspired by Sew Many Ways craft room pictures. Here’s a couple of pictures of the mess that lived in there before.

So, here’s what I did. I rearranged my 3 main pieces. Sewing table with leaf, folding table, and Ikea (cutting table). I moved my sewing table away from the windows because while natural light is great, having the sewing thread backlit doesn’t work for me. I can’t see. so I moved that to an interior wall, pulled the Ikea [...]

Work In Progress-Yellow and Gray Quilt

Let me be clear. I didn’t make the quilt below. This inspired me to make a quilt! If anyone knows who made it, please let me know. Thanks. I found this image on flickr – the poster is nora*elizabeth. It’s gorgeous.

The initial inspiration for my quilt

So, I’ve started working on a new quilt. I decided to go simple since I’m still learning. I started with 4.5 yards of light fabrics (one solid and 3 smallish patterns) and 4.5 yards of dark fabrics (2 solids and 2 patterns). I really like the fabrics together when they’re just [...]

Finished Chloe and Mieko Tshirts

It took a little longer than I thought it would, but it was worth it. I finished the Living With Punks sew along. We made Pink Fig’s Chloe & Meiko Tshirt applique designed tshirt to send to the deserving children in Japan. Read more here. Here’s my contribution. One girl and one boy version.

chloe & meiko tshirt

boy version [...]

Birthday Divas

Last week was a busy week for birthdays at work. Monday was one of my favorite people’s birthday…Shannon. Shannon is a diva and she’s fabulous. She’s so fun to shop for because she likes anything bedazzled, flashy, or covered in animal print. She sports the most positive attitude of anyone I’ve ever met, she’s totally non-pretentious and she’s absolutely supportive of everyone on our team.

She's fabulous!

I was in charge of the baked goods for the birthday celebration, so I decided to make some happy little sunflower cupcakes. The center of the flower is an Oreo cookie [...]

Getting excited for cake decorating 101

This year for Valentine’s Day, my lovely husband gave me a very sweet and special gift. It didn’t cost hundreds or dollars. It didn’t come in a pretty Tiffany blue box, and it wasn’t delivered to my office for all my friends to see and swoon over. This gift came from him observing me and making a decision on what he thought would make me happy…and that’s what makes it so special.

He noticed that of all the shows I have set on the DVR, 9 out of 11 of them have the word cake in them. [...]