Promises, promises

So I promised pictures. Here is a picture of my newest creation. I haven't even gotten it on etsy yet. :) I started this bag yesterday morning after dreaming of it. I finished it yesterday, too! And today I photographed it and I'll get it listed tomorrow. Along with all the other things I have to do tomorrow, as we are planning on taking the twins to the grandmother's for the weekend, which means a 4 hour drive and MUCH packing.

I love this bag. It's really gorgeous. The pictures don't do it as much justice as it deserves because the fabrics are all so textural, and that just doesn't photograph well! :) And I adore Urban Threads' Cheshire Cat. I'm planning another piece with it, but I'm going to have to design hack the file first! I'll start that on Tuesday, probably, so tune back in for a sneak peek then!

Speaking of things in the works, I've got an entire dance team that needs alterations. This is mucho exciting to me, as this started out as a freebie "hey, can you fix this messed up embroidery?" thing for a friend and has now developed into a repeat customer. Proof that excellent service is more important than anything else in business. I always love to be reminded that it really is all about the relationships you create. I've got to get those finished by Monday, so that will take my free time this weekend.

Monday will likely be spent working on a quilt square for a little girl named Layla. More to come about this Monday, as I'm not ready to talk about it yet. But stay tuned, as I'm certain you are going to want to get involved. Crafting to help with heartache. And crafting as therapy. Can't wait!

So you might not hear from me tomorrow. But fear not! I have big plans for you and I next week......(insert diabolical laughter here)

Whew.... Now THAT was productive!

I often find myself wondering how I did it in college. The late nights, the long days, going without sleep, forgetting meals..... yadda, yadda. Well, today I apparently remembered how. It all started at 4:50am.... (insert fade scene here).

Seriously, the twins were ready to get up before 5am, but I managed to fight them back to bed until 5:30ish. Then I gave up and watched the sun rise with them over breakfast, while laundry and dishes were going. And reflected on the dream I had of a dress and a bag. See, I was looking at tutorials before falling asleep and got inspired by http://myobsessionwithonlinetutorials.blogspot.com/2010/02/back-in-saddlewell-actually-back-in-bag.html#comment-form I promise to take pictures tomorrow (okay, in a few minutes, today) and post them. I also owe pictures of quilt squares, though you'll have to settle for quilt tops! :)

But to tide you over until then, please check out my etsy store!!! Yep, I finally got items posted. So visit me at http://www.etsy.com/shop/stresstheseams . I've got a few things for sale. One of which is this outfit on the left. It makes me very happy! I've used Urban Threads' stitch files. I love their Alice in Wonderland stuff. In fact, stay tuned for tomorrow, as the matching bag will be posted! You can also see other pictures of these pieces in my etsy store along with a scarf with the caterpillar on it.

Time to snooze for a few hours before 4:30 rolls around again. Sigh.....

Pirate Quilts

So I spent large portions of today working on quilt blocks for the twins' pirate bedroom. Before they move into twin beds from their cribs, I want to have their pirate quilts, bedskirts, and shams done. This shouldn't be a big deal, as they are only 14 months old.... but I have been working on these quilts since before they were born. Insert deep sighs here.

So I've put the spurs to this project and managed to pump out a crazy amount of squares today. They are all 8" squares currently, with all kinds of crazy patterns and combinations. I wanted the quilts to look very hodge podge, like pirates made them from scraps of their booty! :) So far, I would say I am definately succeeding in making them look random. I'm hoping to lay them all out tomorrow and see where I am as far as sizes. I'm trying to decide how I'm going to do divisions between the blocks, so maybe I'll get that done tomorrow too. I can't even think about bindings or backings yet. I'll post some pictures of the blocks as well.

Valentine's Day Cards

Sew, mama sew http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=4778 has an incredibly inspiring tutorial and contest for Valentine's Day. So I decided to participate, as I was just that inspired. I decided to do Valentine's Day cards from my 14 month old twin sons to the special people in their lives (mostly grandparents and such).

Each card is two layers of fabric on the front and one layer of fabric on the back with two layers of stabilizer inside, as I embroidered each side independently and then sewed them together. The two layers for the front allowed me to embroider a monster on the underneath layer that then appears to be ripping through to the front. Each envelope is two layers (with the exception of the green one). I machine-embroidered the cards using files from http://www.urbanthreads.com. I LOVE their work. It stitches out so perfectly each time. The monsters on the backs of the cards are actually stuffies, but I turned them into appliqués for this project. I did one monster for each of my twins, though I didn't try to match the monsters too much to my actual sons. :)

Set #1

Set #2

Set #3

Set #4

Set #5

I don't really care if I win, though it would be cool. I really enjoyed making them. I also got to thinking about how easy it would be to make them out of quilter's layer cakes, since they are already laser cut into 10" squares, which is PERFECT for the envelopes. Then you'd just have to cut down the pieces for the cards, which wouldn't be that big of a deal. Getting the envelopes perfectly square is the hardest and most important part. If that first square isn't ideal, then you'll end up with weird envelopes.... don't ask how I know this. Maybe I'll post pictures of that some other time :).