Bzzz…

I joined my very first virtual (or any) quilting bee. Kat over at Ripping Out Seams pulled this thing together and (thanks to Twitter) I got in on it. I always only hear about these things months after they’ve begun, so I’m excited to have been at the right place at the right time.

If you’re interested, it looks like she might have enough interest to do another one. So, go drop her a line you’d like to join. In the meantime, checkout the other ladies’ blogs on the right.

This is going to be a fantastic year!

 

The Basket Apron

A few posts ago, I showed you my whiteboard with an apron sketched out on it. Well, that was an apron that I was designing to enter into a contest at my local fabrics (and everything else creative) store, Ben Franklin in Redmond. Yesterday, I finished it. Here’s the result:

For the contest we were given a choice between two fat quarters that had to be used in the apron somehow. I chose this circles print from Windham Fabrics and used it for the yoke and the trim around the bottom. The other fabrics are Amy Butler, leftover from a skirt that I made a few weeks ago. The apron is lined with solids from Amy Butler as well.

I call this The Basket Apron. Can you guess why?

This idea came from an old sewing book that I have from the fifties. The author describes the apron:

The apron… is usually called a ‘basket’ apron because of its carrying capacity. It is useful in the house or back yard, for small working appliances or clothespins.

I’ll probably just use it in the kitchen, but that description had me envisioning my grandmother picking up toys around the house or gathering tomatoes from her garden.

If you’re in the area, swing by Redmond Ben Franklin and vote for your favorite apron. I think that starts today.

 

Infinitely Dense

One of my favorite diversions is Brown Sharpie, a webcomic full of math-wit drawn by Courtney Gibbons with, you guessed it, a brown sharpie*. Three times a week, I find myself thinking, “Now that would make a great embroidery to nerdify my home.” (Yes, nerdifying my home is a goal of mine.) Yesterday, I finally set out to make one of these embroideries. I chose this Bananananana… Bread comic from February, because isn’t that perfect for a tea towel?

Unfortunately, I had a difficult time transferring the image to this natural linen, despite using the sunniest window in the house as a light-source. I ended up freehanding the text and the result is… well, you can see how bad that text looks. Rather than ripping it out, I’m just going to get some white linen and re-do the whole thing. Maybe I’ll do this one next.

Thanks, Courtney, for giving me permission to copy your work and share it here!

* Well, it’s now a brown-sharpie-like tool in whichever drawing program she uses with her pen-tablet.

 

Productivity, Yes!

Yesterday, I sewed up a quick and simple skirt using Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern 2 fabrics. At the time, I was in a summery mood, dreaming about wearing my new skirt to the market. We had blue skies and warm temperatures. Yesterday, that was. Today is much cooler, wetter, and gray. Not that I don’t appreciate this weather as well, but it is such a 180 from yesterday. Ah, thus is spring in Seattle!

In lieu of my summer skirt, I thought that I’d share with you a taste of what I am up to. Today, I’m working on an apron for a contest at my local fabric (and everything creative) store, more details to come next week. I also just downloaded and printed off that adorable little Sarah Golden print from Feed Your Soul project. To the right you can see my next projects creeping in, the Sew Mama Sew Spring Clean Your Sewing Room checklist and a magnetic sheet that will be handy in an upcoming meal planning center for my kitchen.

I’m feeling very productive, but now I think that I’ll curl up on the couch with a good cup of coffee and a book or three.

 

*Sigh*

Such a dog’s life, I have. After pulling down Mama’s box of fabric scraps and making a mess, I’m just so exhausted. Somepup’s gotta do it, I guess. And Mama’s had her nose in a book all afternoon (again!), so I had to find some way of entertaining myself.

Uh-oh, here she comes. We have some homework to practice for our Tricks and Games class. I’m getting top marks for wave, spin, and up, but I just dread rollover. I know she’s going to make me try it again. Egads.