My loot from a recent fabric sale – cottons and wools.

Shades of gold and brown.

Pretty trim… I might use this for scrappy pincushions someday.

Jenn : )

Sewing up new Business Card Wallets for the shop.

All done – now I just need to get them photographed.

I love the Japanese trim.

And I have more in the mail, on its way.

Yay!

Jenn : )

….Done!

I finished my pennant banner for our friends daughter Robyn’s, 1st birthday.

Y was my favorite letter to make – the flannel is so soft.

We recently started a set nap schedule here and I am loving it!

(Wish I was the one taking the naps – haha!)

While the baby slumbers I’ve been able to catch up on a few projects, take some custom order requests and start some brand new projects, too!

I’ll have more to show you soon!

Jenn : )

…make me happy!

Even the selvages are cute:

Leaves

Skulls

Butterflies

Ladybugs

Jenn : )

Hmm…

I thought the holidays were busy BEFORE I had a baby!

Good Lord – I still have Christmas presents to wrap!

But, I did manage to get one crafty Christmas project finished…

…finished at 11:59 pm Christmas night…

…but finished nonetheless.

I wish you all a wonderful 2010!

Jenn : )

(P.S. I got this stocking pattern from Martha Stewart.  I added the embroidered names and substituted French knots for sequins.  I am very happy with the results, but I found the sizing of this pattern was a bit wonky (how does Martha let that happen??) and cutting out the felt for the cuffs was a bit tedious… but, as most Martha projects come with some ultra time-consuming component, this wasn’t a surprise, and I think it was worth the effort in the end.)

I recently discovered a new use for taskets =

holding baby accessories!

Until now I’d never thought of how a soft, portable basket could come in handy in a nursery.  But they sure do. I’ve been keeping this one right in the co-sleeper.  It stands on its own, but it’s soft, so no worries if baby bumps it.

I think I’ll be making a line of baby tasket sets in the future.

I’ve already gathered these sweet fabrics from Superbuzzy:

Bright and colorful elephants, owls and deer.

Cute airplanes, balloons and forest friends.

LOVE the colors of this one!

This one is subtle, with sweet forest animals.

Now I’m off to find some dotty cottons and rick-rack to match!

Jenn : )

A shop update:

New tasket sets!

Pom Pom Fawn

(I only made one with this small pom pom trim.)

Our House.

Pretty Forest.

Dotty Birds.

Happy Thursday.

The weekend is almost here!

Jenn : )

It seems like lots of friends and co-workers are having babies these days.

Two girlfriends of mine have babies who are less than a year old.

Being a fan of Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing,

I recently purchased another of her books: Simple Sewing For Baby.

So far I’m loving it!

It’s filled with projects that are practical and fun.

Some of the more whimsical items may not match your personal esthetic,

but they could be easily modified to “make them your own”.

The first project I tried from the book was the Tag Blankie.

And I’m so happy with how they turned out!

It was fun to choose fabric and then ribbons to match.

The sewing was very easy.

This one is for little Robyn.

I double stitched the edges to make sure those tags stay on.

And this one is for little Mylo.

I hope he likes robots (as much as I do)!

I washed both blankies together on gentle with woolite, tossed them in the dryer and they both came out looking great! This is a wonderful project because these sew up very quickly (and isn’t it satisfying to start and finish a project in the same day?), and they make a lovely handmade gift for a friend, or your own little bundle of joy.  I’m also proud to say that I had ALL the supplies on hand to make these – no trip to the fabric shop was needed.  I’ve been saving scraps of ribbon in the hopes of finding a project to use them for and this worked perfectly.  I used satin-y ribbon scraps that I hadn’t washed before – and they came out of the washer/dryer just fine.

My next Lotta project will be the Soft Rattle toy.  Again, I’m going to only use materials that I have on hand.  I’ve already had a learning experience washing cotton velveteen to use for this project.  I was very nervous about how to go about washing/drying it, as I have very limited experience (ie: none) with this material.  But you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss.  I just stitched up the raw edges and threw it in the washer, then dryer, and to my delight – it came out looking better than when it went in.

I’ll let you know how those rattles turn out!

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Have you tried any new projects lately?

Experimented with a new material or technique?

Tell me about it!  : )

Cheers – Jenn : )

So, what’s been going on with those Japanese fabric scraps I blogged about awhile ago?

Well….

I got out my favorite Clover pins.

(Technically these are for light/sheer fabrics,

but I’ve used them for many fabric weights.

You can buy them on Superbuzzy, but I’ve also found them at Joann’s.)

Did a little chain sewing…

…see how you can save thread if you’re

sewing lots of pieces together at once?

Gave them a good ironing with my Clover Iron.

(Also purchased at Joann’s.)

Stitched them all together with a bit of linen in the center.

Ironed on a little teapot sketch.

Got out my smallest embroidery hoop.

And embroidered this steamy little fella.

Time for a tea break!

Be back soon with the finished piece!

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Wow – this week seems to be flying by.  It’s already half over, tonight is a new Lost episode, and somebody will be leaving American Idol.  Whew!

Josh and I took a trip over to Bainbridge Island Wa this past weekend.  We lucked out and had a very sunny day.  We took the car over on the ferry and visited new friends at their beautiful home.  It was such a nice day trip – I’d like to go back again soon and visit all the little shops there.

I was so preoccupied with the gorgeous weather and our new friends that I forgot to take any photos while we were there.  But I did get this one of Josh on the ferry.  Can you tell we were having a great day? : )

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I want to send out a big thank you to Liz over at LavenderLizard for including my little orange needlebook in her latest blog post.  Thank you, Liz!  If you love great Etsy finds like I do – I hope you’ll take a gander at Liz’s fun collection.

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This morning I did a big shop update…well, big for me anyway. : )

I’ve got a brand new Project Tote.

And a matching needlebook.

And something a little different…

The other day I made up this tasket prototype.  This one is quite a bit bigger than my usual taskets.  I used linen (reinforced with fusible fleece) and this new Japanese canvas I just got from Superbuzzy.  Over all I’m very happy with how this new design turned out.  I think there’ll be some larger taskets in the shop soon.

This one does have some slight puckering of the lining at the back, but all-in-all it’s sturdy, roomy and cute.

Since it’s a prototype, I’m offering it at the same price as the smaller version, even though it’s quite a bit bigger.

So if you like a good sale and need a cute place to store some fabric bundles, knitting supplies etc… I hope you’ll give this tasket a home!

Sold – and on it’s way to NV.

Have a great day, everybody!

Jenn : )