Simple things

Last night's project was not creative, but I will be bearing happiness from it fr a long time. Our 1922 bungalow does not have a basement or a garage (though we do have a cluttered half-guesthouse filled with Libby Dibby skirts), so the laundry room has been the catchall for everything. It's been an embarressing, dangerous room. Our kids are not big "explorers", so it wasn't hugely motivating to get everything locked up. However, our home study requires that we lock up everything (including laundry detergent), so it's been a weird thing to try and wrap our heads around. A few weeks ago, J was driving through our urban neighborhood and saw some high school lockers for sale by the side of the road. The people sold and delivered them to our place for $40, we painted them bright red (of course) - and now all of our chemicals, tools and random junk is safely under lock and key and my laundry room is no longer an embarressment!
We are also thinking of getting a stackable washer/dryer (please, please!) to maximize more space, though i'm thinking red may be a little too much to ask for.

More hot houses

Object: stay still in the heat (88 degrees indoors today)
Proect: cutting linoleum and eraser stamps
Unexpected part: other than stabbing myself numerous times (bandaid festival), finding that most of our stamp pads have dried out due to the heat.

Please, will someone turn off this heat?

Hot houses

It's still hot. Ze artiste is kinda sick so we are stuck in the house trying to move as little as possible. Today we've gardened, watched movies, practiced whistling and snapping fingers. (Oh, and Z keeps telling me to look at him because he is convinced that he's growing taller each minute.) We've colored clothespins with markers (hey, it's a easy, busy task) and now we've decorated chipboard houses with paper. I've been meaning to play with these houses for a few months, but today became the day as I tried to find anything to keep us calm and interested. Ze Artiste and the Design Director each made one (hers - of course is pink and glittery, and his - of course - is quite abstract). Momma's look pretty traditional, but they definitely reflect my busy happy taste. I think they'd look good in a frame  together, as a series.

Baby onesie love

I got this "thank you note" today for one of the onesies I made and sent out the other day to a friend for her new baby, Mia. Yay! Welcome baby Mia... I'm glad you love the fairy onesie!!!

Hot couture ... Ruby necklace

It's SO hot I can't think straight. And with these wildfires in Southern CA (last night we could see flames from our front yard, even 20+ miles away) it's not fun breathing- or trying to entertain cranky overheated preschoolers. But I did enjoy dressing this morning with my new necklace made by my friend Rubyellen (at www.mycakies.etsy.com). It's a lightweight fabric scrap necklace that elevates my humble tank top to something cuter and at least as I faint in the heat, I'll look cute doing it.

Bias tape maker

Have you tried one of these yet? If you've sewn with me recently, you likely know that I'm crazy about double fold bias tape and using it to finish everything. I recently invested in this (inexpensive) little contraption which helps you make bias tape out of any fabric. (Glorious!)... It's even more lo-tech and easy than it looks. And the finished result is great.

Stained sweater fix

Here's another project from last night. Mimi has this sweater that she stained a while ago. I'd been planning to appliqué something over the stain and she'd requested a butterfly... But last night, I realized I actually had this beautiful AnnaMaria Horner fabric (see inset) sitting around waiting to be used... And sure, I could spare ONE butterfly.

Sewing night...

My sewing machine broke this morning... (love, hate, love, hate!) but not before I got to finish a bunch of projects last night with the girls... here's a peek at a few of them. I'll post more later.

Baby Onesies

Inspired by the super cute designs that my friend, Christy, made a few weeks ago, I embarked recently on another item on my to-do list... baby onesies...

I have mentioned before that I attend MOPS - well it starts up again soon, and my role in our group is to plan the creative activities - as well as do the table centerpieces and gifts for new babies that are born during the year. We have a little basket of gifts that the moms get to choose from, and one of my jobs is to stock it. After last years' onesies - I was asked to make more for this year... here are the designs I made the other night. They make me itch to have a baby around here to dress!

anywhoooo... tomorrow night is another sewing eve with the gals... we're going to be working on more baby items. Can't wait to see what we end up with. I'm off to get some more blank onesies tonight.

this one was a new technique... i did a little machine embroidery on it. see the spiral on the inside of the heart? i like how it turned out.

Christmas in August (Jen & Vic: don't read, FAMILY SPOILER!)

Please don't call me crazy... Let me explain myself first.

A few years ago, it was my first Christmas as a retailer. It was also one of my first Christmases where I wanted to handmake my gifts... I did what most people do, and waited until after Thanksgiving before I began making my gifts (quite normal)... but I didn't realize that when you are "the store" that people come up to you wanting to shop up until the last day before the holidays... which left me up until 3am every night in December, trying to ship out orders, make my own gifts, and make special orders as well... I was exhausted and miserable that final week...

So each year, I've found reasons to start earlier at working on my gifts... (i.e. having a baby, being very pregnant, planning for different holiday boutiques, blah blah blah). And now... it's August. And the school year is approaching. Which also brings with it about 11 family birthdays between now and the holidays - even after last week... ... And we've got a few final steps to complete before we're certified foster parents, which opens up a whole new can of unknowns... so ... my Christmas fever has begun. Which is kind of fun for me.

I've instructed my sisters to not peek, unless they want spoilers for their girls' gifts this winter... we'll see what they do. But I thought I'd share it early, since now is a good time to get this stuff on sale. This summer, I made my kiddos some personalized beach towels with the same technique that I use for the bath towel gifts... they are super super cute, so I decided all the nieces and nephews needed them. This IS California, after all, and beach towels come in handy much of the year. So here's what they are getting... By the way... if you are going to buy beach towels, do it now, they're on sale, and they aren't easy to find the rest of the year.

so... armed with my trusty HeatnBond, here's what I've been making.