Like daughter, like mother…
A few weeks back, Annie took a class at Fancy Tiger and made her first ever skirt.
This weekend, with one of my fave people in the world along for the ride, I did the exact same thing.
Much like when Annie graduated from preschool a mere week before I received my Masters, my achievement is a bit more impressive, but because she got there first, she’ll never believe it. Her skirt is wonderful, but has an elastic waist. Mine? A zipper! An invisible one! My first ever, invisible or not!
Hmmm, I sound more like a 10 year old than she does. But I am pretty darn happy with my creation. I splurged on some pricey but fabulous Japanese fabric. I saw it and fell in love, and felt super original and artsy, until I realized I probably subconsciously picked it because it just happens to be the fabric used in the skirt featured on the website listing for the class. D’oh. Accidental copy cat, that’s me! Regardless, I love it. And I made mine longer than Jaime’s, so I’ ll hopefully look like less of a stalker. (And also because I really enjoyed the length…)
Have you ever sewn clothing?What’s your favorite piece to make? And do you have any to die for tips for a newbie?
This was my first foray into the field- and I kind of bought fabric for two more skirts already. It was like the universe was telling me to- an email from Purl SoHo arrived in my inbox tonight, featuring 50% off of some of my favorite Japanese prints. Hopefully, there will be a mushroomy skirt as well as a london-themed one in my near future!
Filed under Sewing (not quilting!)
Sadness, and some sewing too.
I’m posting today through a lot of sadness. Yesterday we had to put Ursa, our 13 year old chow mix, to sleep. Sometime between Friday and Monday she developed an infection that raged through her system so quickly, it led to seizures and loss of ability to control her legs. The vet was not able to offer us any hope, and as Ursa was clearly in agony, we made the tough choice. Ursa was part of our family before we had the kids, and last night was pretty awful for everyone.
Before all of this happened, I had some sewing time. I finally decided which fabrics to remove from my stack (thanks to everyone who offered advice) and cut out all the pieces for the duvet cover’s top. Since they’re huge pieces, sewing them together took very little time. It would have taken even less if, when cutting the 12″ by 34″ pieces, I had remembered that 17 (not 16) was half of 34. I had to go back and add bits to all of those pieces to get them up to size. D’oh.
Looking at it now, I might have made different fabric choices. I love the green, but it may pop too much. And as much as I love the hairdo fabric, I might have used only ONE 23″x23″ square of it instead of two… But overall, I quite like it.
Next up is piecing the back, the sewing on contrast strips and making ties… The kids and I took today off from work and school to be sad, and I’m too sad to sew.
Meanwhile, I’m linking up at
Filed under Sewing (not quilting!)
WiP Wednesday: Duvet-To-Be
I took my kiddos to visit my Grandma (96 years young) over spring break this week, and as that meant air travel and being a long way from home, I got knitting done, but no sewing.
I did, however, start to pull fabrics for my next project. A few weeks back, one of the many online fabric stores I shop from sent an email that featured a project from Joel Dewberry‘s Sewn Spaces- a patchwork duvet cover. It’s such a lovely, simple project, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I had the perfect fabric for it…one I’ve been hoarding for ages with no actual plan.
Cameo from Tula Pink‘s Parisville. The ladies have the best hair ever! But they are large- 5″ or so. Hard to show off in lots of projects. I was thinking maybe curtains, until I saw that duvet cover.
I pulled fabrics, but didn’t have time to start cutting. Which might not be a bad thing, because there are 2 too many fabrics in that pile. I think I’ve decided on one to pull, but not the other. What do you think? What 2 fabrics would you remove?
As you can probably tell, it’s the same color scheme as the Modern Cross quilt- both are destined for my own bed…
So that’s my WiP Wednesday- a tiny bit of progress is better than none, right? I’m linking up over at
And I’d like to say thanks to all the new folks who came by and left comments last week- it was great to “meet” you all!
Filed under Sewing (not quilting!), WIP Wednesday
A Fan Girl’s Night Out
Longtime readers of this and my old blog will know I love Mondo. I’ve been a Project Runway fan for years- it was my “gateway” reality TV show. And when Denver was finally represented by a designer, at first I was bummed- Mondo seemed so quiet in the first few episodes.And then he broke out from the pack, both with his amazing pattern mixing, and his moving personal story.
And a fan girl was born… I nearly gave up on the show when they awarded top honors to “Retchin Gretchen”. Many others felt the same way, and the blogosphere has long speculated that the Project Runway Allstars was created to right the wrong inflicted on Mondo in Season 8.
In 2011, Annie and I got to (briefly) meet the man himself at an event to benefit the local branch of Goodwill.
That was when her love of him began. Now, she’s a fan girl to rival me, but I digress.
You may remember just a few weeks ago, I went to the 2012 version of that same event, and met Mondo again, as well as Falene and Julie (both from Colorado AND Season 9…) (And no Annie this time as the tickets were a bit too pricey.)
And last night…I went to Mondo Bazarro, the finale viewing party here in Denver, hosted by Mondo, to benefit another great local non-profit, the Colorado Aids Project. The event was carnival themed, with goofy games to play, fab decor, and a scary inflated clown. Well, other folks didn’t find it scary, but after reading It, I’ve never been able to look at clowns the same way. Here are some great photos of the event from The Denver Post- and here is a facebook photo including the scary clown.
If we’d sprung for the VIP tickets, there would have been mingling and schmoozing and Mondo cupcakes.
(Photo cribbed shamelessly from HERE.) I admit, had I known about the cupcakes, I might have paid for the VIP tix 
But the $10 general admission price was wallet-friendly, and so, along with my friend Amber and her very fun mom, off I went! (The event was 18+, so Annie and Amber’s little one were once again left behind.)
We bought some shirts. We played some games (the ducky matching worked best for me, but Amber rocked the Plinko.) We munched on the free Popchips- they sponsor Mondo and support CAP, so, hooray! We had some drinks, and scored some good viewing seats… And then we watched.
And you know who won, right?
After the show was over the party rocked on. In the VIP viewing section were some other fabulous Project Runway alums, who graciously took photos with the hoi polloi. Recognize Season 9 winner Anya with her new blonde hair and engagement ring?
Or what about the adorable Casanova from Season 8?
Do you watch Project Runway? What about any other reality TV? I will proudly admit to loving Ru-Paul’s Drag Race (tho not this season as much), and not as proudly admit that I’m a bit addicted to America’s Next Top Model. But PR is my fave!
Filed under Uncategorized
A Year’s Worth of Cookies
2011 was the inaugural year for the Cookie A Sock Club- and I wiggled my way into a spot from the wait list. I was a tiny bit worried- the only other sock club I ever joined was the Rockin Sock Club. I didn’t always love the yarn or patterns, which is always the risk of a club. But, I’ve never knit a Cookie pattern I didn’t like, and, the club promised to be mainly solid-ish yarns. Surprisingly, given my penchant for buying wild and crazy sock yarns, this was very appealing to me. It actually does make sense- as I’ve been knitting more and more complicated socks, I’ve gone more toward simpler colors, as they let my hard work shine through.
What was my point? Oh, yeah… While I still have several intact, untouched kits from my Rockin Sock Club year, I finished a pair of socks from each of the 6 Cookie A shipments! And since each month had 2 patterns, in one month I even made 2 pairs!
I loved the club so much that when 2012 signups opened, I forked over my payment immediately. My first shipment was delayed by the USPS, and so I just finally got around to winding the yarn for the first pair of 2012. But before I move on, it seemed like a good idea to show off the fruits of 2011! Tonight my awesome husband rigged up a faux-clothesline for me, so I could take some decent photos.
Without further ado, I present to you…my 2011 Cookie A Sock Club finishes!
February: Ripple Leaf
April: Boysenberry Yo (my favorite yarn of the year)
June: Orange Pekoe (my favorite pattern of the year)
August: Velma
October: Slide
December: Rambutan
Once more…just because
I’ve got to fly next week (taking the kids to see my grandma, who is 96 and in failing health), so I bet I’ll be able to show you the first Cookie A socks of 2012 soon… Stay tuned!
WIP Wedneday, Complete with Lousy Cell Phone Photo
I am continuing to plug away at my Modern Cross quilt (link will take you to archive of previous posts w much much better photos!)- and I’ve hit the point where I need to make a few decisions.
At last count I’ve made 54 squares. And since I finally bit the bullet and did the math on increasing from the pattern’s lap size into my desired queen size, I know that I am just barely halfway done. (PS Let me give a hearty shout out of thanks to Pink Chalk Fabrics for including a great wallet sized quilt size chart in one of my orders… SO useful!)
So, at the halfway point, it’s time to decide- can I repeat fabrics in any of the squares, or do I need to come up with 100 different fabrics? I do really truly adore some of the fabrics, so using them twice would be fun. But then again, coming up with 100 different fabrics almost entirely from stash also seems fun. Nightmare inducing, and also like publicly admitting just how much of a stash problem I have, but still fun.
What choice would you make?
(This is my first week joining the Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday. I’m hoping to make some new bloggy friends and dive back into the quilt blog world- I’ve missed it while I’ve been away… So please, if you are a new visitor, leave a comment so I can get to know you!)
Filed under Modern Cross, Quilts, WIP Wednesday
Annie, Junior Sewist
Yesterday was a monumental day- Annie made her first skirt!
She took a class at my beloved Fancy Tiger, and in the course of 2 short hours, she completed a gorgeous spring skirt! Her fabric choice was a shock to me- this girl LOVES blue. But she picked out a sweet little Alexander Henry print, covered in tiny pink strawberries and grapes.
While she was stitching, I hit the Goodwill up the street, and found her a shirt that both matches perfectly, and fits her sensibilities exactly. What do you think?
Christina, the fab teacher, sent home instructions for the skirt, and Annie talked me into buying enough elastic to make 2 more. So I sense you’ll be seeing some more posts like this soon…
Annie will be 11 next month- much younger than I was when the crafty bug bit me. How old were you when you started sewing, knitting, crocheting or crafting in general?
Filed under Annie
