Linking Up...

Because this is a new blog I am linking up to Lily's Quilts with a bunch of other new bloggers. There sure is a whole lot of inspiration to be found there! Sometimes the inspiration tank runs low, but in Blogland it is always easy to refuel.

I often think of my mom and grandma who didn't have the luxury of internet to inspire their Sewing Days. I remember trips with Mom to the fabric store, paging through all the pattern catalogs, those little pencils and pads of paper in hand so we could jot down our selections. I remember the smell of that store as if it were yesterday. It was a sad day when that store closed, and for a while there really wasn't a place to buy fabric, not decent stuff anyway. My how things have changed with the rise of the internet...

I do most of my fabric shopping online. Need a notion? I can have it here tomorrow morning if I have to. Don't have to go anywhere. Need a pattern? Got it instantly. Got my blog list to keep current on what's new. Got my Pinterest boards for plenty of ideas. What a world we live in.

And I have all these sewing buddies, which is one of my favorite parts of the internet community. There are swaps and Flickr groups, comment threads and sewing forums. Always a way to connect with other people who love this art.

Can't wait to meet more of you!

Scrappy Happy

This is what I made last night:

Business cards for my Etsy shop, made from upcycled grocery bags and scraps of linen and quilting cottons. I confess. I am a scrap hoarder. It really is ridiculous, but no piece is too small to throw away. Or too ugly (well, OK, maybe sometimes...)

 I cut my paper bags and fabric into business-card-sized pieces as I want these to fit in a card holder if needed. I then used my VersaCraft stamp pad, which works equally well on paper and fabric, and spent a while fiddling with the tiny letters getting them right-side-up. I like the raw look, but backwards letters are a little unacceptable. Ahem.

 After cutting the paper to size with decorative scissors (please not your fabric ones!), a little smaller so the border of fabric would show,  I attached the paper to the linen with a glue stick. I chose a pretty fabric for the back and put the layers together. Super simple. Then with an old sewing machine needle I sewed around the paper to attach all layers. Lastly, I trimmed the fabric with my pinking shears. This project is so forgiving because it is not supposed to look perfect. That's about my speed.

 

I am thinking of putting a magnet between the layers next batch I make. Handy to put up in a place where they'll be seen.

These were so relaxing to make. Not a lot of pressure to get it right the first time. There are always more scraps and paper bags after all!

Boots on the ground

I've been burning the midnight oil making new stuff. Man, it's hard to get the mojo going after the kids are in bed. But once I get going, then I can't stop, until I make a mistake and am too tired to rip it out.

This little thing is my favorite. I found this cute vintage owl embroidery floating around on Pinterest. I love how he just came to life somewhere between the screen and the paper and the fabric. What did we do without Pinterest?

 Zipper pouches are addicting. And you can't have enough of them, can you?

Speaking of Pinterest, my daughter, who is only 9, is already interested in looking at boards. Oh my. Like mother, like daughter... Children do have a way of mirroring us, in good ways and bad, don't they? It is a very good thing. When they start imitating my undesirable words or actions, it is a rebuke like no other. "I wonder where she got that from?" as I point three fingers back at myself...

Here is an example of how she loves to copy me. She cut up a bunch of her little scrap fabrics into little squares to make a mini-charm pack. See, she even named it April Showers (one of my favorite current collections), and set it on this textured background and photographed it herself. What a hoot.

 On a non-sewing note, look what we got to do this week! I surprised two of my boys and took them up in a little Cessna for an hour. It was a gorgeous day.

 The surprise went over very well, though he looks a little smug about it.

 I am convinced we live in the most gorgeous state there is. Within the hour we were in the air, we flew over flat plains, water, and mountains (or came close to them anyway).

 Here is the one that got us all--the area of the Oso Mudslide. Kind of made us all speechless. You can see the road now. You can see that the river has found a new path, as if it really wasn't even bothered. You could also see signs of mass devasation, trees bowled over like toothpicks. From the air it looked oh-so-small. So insignificant, really. But we know it wasn't.

I love how you can see the gradient depths of the water, so clear and fresh looking.

It was good to put our boots back on the ground with a renewed sense of God's power and care for us.

And with that, we're off to a new week...