I'm getting very interested in these embroidery machines.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Wow.... what a day!
Quilt Market was in a word... incredible!
Here is a bit of the booth of Sandi Henderson of Portobello Pixie...
and Amy Butler's booth.
Yes, that is Amy in the orange sweater in the back.
And this booth of publications had a wonderful display of Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderful Put-Together Books and Hand Sewing cards.
And then there were winners from several national craft/quilting/embroidery competitions. The first display were these incredible garments. Not just wearable art, but gorgeous crafted gowns and coats...
And this corset inspired number...
Look at these modern interpretations of quilting. The first one is such an amazing log cabin.
In this one the pieces were so small, they were almost like mosaics rather than quilts.
To me this is so inspiring.... much more so than traditional quilt patterns or techniques. The visual effect is subtly shaded and almost 3-dimensional in appearance.
All in all we saw or talked with the following designers:
Amy Butler
Heather Ross
Joel Dewberry
Tina Givens
Valori Wells
Jennifer Paginelli
Anna Marie Horner
Kaffe Fassett
Denyse Schmidt
Sandi Henderson
Melissa Averinos
Tanya Whelan
And then Bolt hosting an evening gathering at their store. Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, Heather Bailey, and Anna Marie Horner were all there.
It was a good day.
Here is a bit of the booth of Sandi Henderson of Portobello Pixie...
and Amy Butler's booth.
Yes, that is Amy in the orange sweater in the back.
And this booth of publications had a wonderful display of Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderful Put-Together Books and Hand Sewing cards.
And then there were winners from several national craft/quilting/embroidery competitions. The first display were these incredible garments. Not just wearable art, but gorgeous crafted gowns and coats...
And this corset inspired number...
Look at these modern interpretations of quilting. The first one is such an amazing log cabin.
In this one the pieces were so small, they were almost like mosaics rather than quilts.
To me this is so inspiring.... much more so than traditional quilt patterns or techniques. The visual effect is subtly shaded and almost 3-dimensional in appearance.
All in all we saw or talked with the following designers:
Amy Butler
Heather Ross
Joel Dewberry
Tina Givens
Valori Wells
Jennifer Paginelli
Anna Marie Horner
Kaffe Fassett
Denyse Schmidt
Sandi Henderson
Melissa Averinos
Tanya Whelan
And then Bolt hosting an evening gathering at their store. Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, Heather Bailey, and Anna Marie Horner were all there.
It was a good day.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
And some more gratuitous eye candy...
Look at these gorgeous fabrics...
These are from Anna Maria Horner who should be at quilt market tomorrow. (Insert squeal of joy here)
And look at this!
.... and this...
from Tanya Whelan who will also be there tomorrow. I'm so excited I could burst!
On a sewing/crafty note, I made this little dress for Miss E for the summer...
She needs some simple summer dresses that she can just pull over her head and go. There is not much out there in the pattern world that is cute for kids. So many of the patterns from McCalls and Butterick have that "Yes, my Mommy made this look" about them. This is a top from a Burda pattern that we modified.
These are from Anna Maria Horner who should be at quilt market tomorrow. (Insert squeal of joy here)
And look at this!
.... and this...
from Tanya Whelan who will also be there tomorrow. I'm so excited I could burst!
On a sewing/crafty note, I made this little dress for Miss E for the summer...
She needs some simple summer dresses that she can just pull over her head and go. There is not much out there in the pattern world that is cute for kids. So many of the patterns from McCalls and Butterick have that "Yes, my Mommy made this look" about them. This is a top from a Burda pattern that we modified.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Ready for some serious inspiration...
So my friend Mo and I are going to Quilt Market this Friday. Once every four or five years it comes to Portland... and THIS year is it!!! We are so excited. Here are some tid-bits from Joel Dewberry's site.
And how luscious are these from Portobello Pixie
We are so excited, I think we are going pop!!! How ever will we make it to Friday???
And how luscious are these from Portobello Pixie
We are so excited, I think we are going pop!!! How ever will we make it to Friday???
Monday, May 12, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday.
Mine started off with some serious gardening planning...
This is my favorite book for garden strategy...
As a firm believer in zonal denial, I constantly plant tropical plants for their beauty and outrageous foliage. Of course they don't last much past October, but until then they look great!
Then it was off to Portland Nursery for some inspiration and plant purchasing..
Honestly, I could just move in here.
Everything is so beautiful.
All the purchases have been planted, but they are not really showy yet... sort of small plants in big pots. We are supposed to get some very warm weather this week which should make things grow quickly. I'll post some pics once things start filling out.
Mine started off with some serious gardening planning...
This is my favorite book for garden strategy...
As a firm believer in zonal denial, I constantly plant tropical plants for their beauty and outrageous foliage. Of course they don't last much past October, but until then they look great!
Then it was off to Portland Nursery for some inspiration and plant purchasing..
Honestly, I could just move in here.
Everything is so beautiful.
All the purchases have been planted, but they are not really showy yet... sort of small plants in big pots. We are supposed to get some very warm weather this week which should make things grow quickly. I'll post some pics once things start filling out.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Vintage Suitcase Redo
I love old suitcases. But sometimes the remnants of their previous owner's uses are still attached.
In this case, the Sky Queen (how cool is the name!!!) spent some time as a tool box. There was a mysterious stain on the bottom resembling oil.
So I made a new bottom out of cardboard and covered it with some striped fabric. The new ties are twill tape that was laid in the suitcase before the new bottom was pushed into place.
Now I just need to figure out how to tighten up those pockets. The elastic is really baggy, but the pocket is sewn to the lining which is glued into the suitcase. I don't want to rip the whole thing apart. Maybe I can thread a new piece of elastic between the rows of stitching and hand tack it at either end.
In this case, the Sky Queen (how cool is the name!!!) spent some time as a tool box. There was a mysterious stain on the bottom resembling oil.
So I made a new bottom out of cardboard and covered it with some striped fabric. The new ties are twill tape that was laid in the suitcase before the new bottom was pushed into place.
Now I just need to figure out how to tighten up those pockets. The elastic is really baggy, but the pocket is sewn to the lining which is glued into the suitcase. I don't want to rip the whole thing apart. Maybe I can thread a new piece of elastic between the rows of stitching and hand tack it at either end.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Trying to find some color...
in this grey and cold spring.
I do not have any beautiful outdoor pictures, since it has been cloudy, cold, raining, hailing, snowing, sleeting or some combination of the previous. I have always admired Alicia's and Jane's abilities to capture beautiful still lifes. So here is my first attempt:
However, if you click through to Alicia's blog, it is a riot of color due to a weekend trip to the tulip festival. At least spring is happening somewhere.
So onto other color news in my life... here is my latest purchase:
It seems a little bit Hello Kitty sometimes with the purple/pink.
My previous iron died due to a fall on the cement floor. Also it had an auto shut-off time of 8 minutes which was stress inducing to say the least. I would be sewing away at my machine and hear the iron click as it was shutting off. I would have to run over to the iron and tip it a few times to get it to turn back on. This new one has an auto shut-off of 15 minutes which so far seems to work well. Does anyone know of an iron that does not have auto shut-off? or are the manufacturers trying to save us from ourselves again?
I do not have any beautiful outdoor pictures, since it has been cloudy, cold, raining, hailing, snowing, sleeting or some combination of the previous. I have always admired Alicia's and Jane's abilities to capture beautiful still lifes. So here is my first attempt:
However, if you click through to Alicia's blog, it is a riot of color due to a weekend trip to the tulip festival. At least spring is happening somewhere.
So onto other color news in my life... here is my latest purchase:
It seems a little bit Hello Kitty sometimes with the purple/pink.
My previous iron died due to a fall on the cement floor. Also it had an auto shut-off time of 8 minutes which was stress inducing to say the least. I would be sewing away at my machine and hear the iron click as it was shutting off. I would have to run over to the iron and tip it a few times to get it to turn back on. This new one has an auto shut-off of 15 minutes which so far seems to work well. Does anyone know of an iron that does not have auto shut-off? or are the manufacturers trying to save us from ourselves again?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Oh the aches and pains of outrageous gardening...
So last fall I had all the grass removed in our upper front lawn. Our house sits up above the side walk, so we had these little bits of grass on either side of the front walk... which required the mower to lift the lawn mower up and over a short rock wall. This was not fun... nor easy for myself, since I'm 5'0" tall... very challenging. To fix this problem and to provide more planting space, the grass was removed. Since we had 3 days in row of sun forecasted starting last Friday, we ordered pea gravel and mulch and rented a rototiller Friday morning and set to work.
At the end of Day 1 and beginning of Day 2, we had the site leveled and the path edging put in:
The rest of Day 2 involved hauling and spreading the pea gravel. Two cubic yards of it!
Day 3 was consumed with the moving of rose plants and mulching, mulching, mulching. The neighbors have remarked that the mulch smells much like poo, to which we have replied that the smell will go away... over time.
We still have about 16 roses to move. The original rose bed is too shady and we get one good bloom of roses and then nothing but leggy plants for the rest of the year... which does not work for this rose loving lady. Now we can plant more small perennials and edging plants. But it is raining again and I am really, really sore and having seriously bad allergies after this grand event, so that will have to wait for a bit.
For now here are some gratuitous flower shots to show that spring has really finally arrived:
At the end of Day 1 and beginning of Day 2, we had the site leveled and the path edging put in:
The rest of Day 2 involved hauling and spreading the pea gravel. Two cubic yards of it!
Day 3 was consumed with the moving of rose plants and mulching, mulching, mulching. The neighbors have remarked that the mulch smells much like poo, to which we have replied that the smell will go away... over time.
We still have about 16 roses to move. The original rose bed is too shady and we get one good bloom of roses and then nothing but leggy plants for the rest of the year... which does not work for this rose loving lady. Now we can plant more small perennials and edging plants. But it is raining again and I am really, really sore and having seriously bad allergies after this grand event, so that will have to wait for a bit.
For now here are some gratuitous flower shots to show that spring has really finally arrived:
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