Geo Cool Fabric Collection

Well, I have another new thing to share. I've put up my first collection for fabric (and even wallpaper or decals if you want) for sale via Spoonflower! I've been working on getting these up for a while. They have actually been ready for a bit now, I just needed to get brave enough to actually click something to make them public. I guess today was the day!

So, here it is! Geo Cool - a  collection of 8 simple, slightly retro and super cool patterns for your sewing pleasure. 

The samples shown above are printed on Spoonflower's basic combed cotton. 

If you are interested in any of these patterns you can click here to or on the banner to the right to visit my Spoonflower shop!

Cut and Sew Bestie Bears

Holy cow, I can not even believe I haven't posted this on the blog yet! I feel like March just flew by and was so much busier than I expected. BUT HEY.

Have you ever wanted your own little S. Jane bear to love and hug and take on adventures? And did you also want the self satisfaction of having made it yourself? I thought you might have! Introducing the Bestie Bear cut and sew fat quarter now available at Spoonflower!

Bestie Bears has two little 8 inch bears for you to sew. Here is an example of how one looks sewn up by someone (me) not so great at sewing things that aren't straight lines:

See? Still super cute! (Also the real life colors are much much much closer to the image, it's just a little dark in my apartment this morning)

So go, run! Get your little bears and sew them up and show me!

Glitter Tulle Garlands 2 Ways

As part of my Counting By 12 goals, I am here with a DIY project for you all! Have you tried using glitter tulle? Today I have a super simple project that would be great for parties, weddings, photo backdrops or just to add some sparkle to your home!

Click the images below to download!

Hand Printed Coasters - DIY Project

I have a fun little project for you guys today. It's simple, you can easily customize it, and it's useful!

I think that these would also make a great gift along with a nice glass or mug, some tea or coffee or, well, you get the idea. Oh and that drink in the picture, I'll be doing a post on that later. It's a little somethin' somethin' I made up today. 

The fabric was printed using hand carved stamps that I made a few years ago. If you'd like to learn how to make your own, you can watch my video tutorial. And! If you like to use the same shapes for your fabric you can download the template here!

There are two different .pdf versions of the tutorial. One has quite a few images and other only has one! I figured since it's such an easy project you might not need the images. Just click on the links below to download the .pdf of your choice!

PDF with images

PDF without images

Hexies

I think I've had the Terrain by Kate Spain charm pack for at least a year. I feel like every once and a while I'd pull it out and look at it and have no idea what to do with it. Last week I pulled it out from my fabric stash and laid all the blocks out on the floor in the living room and just stared at them. Then out of nowhere on Tuesday night I realized that, duh, a charm pack would be perfect to make hexies out of. Duh, guys, duh.

That's all, I guess. I just wanted to share how pretty this little pile of hexies was getting! Now I just need to figure out what they will be turned into. Any ideas?

Vlisco dutch wax

I found these beauties while searching for wax print fabrics today. They are dutch wax prints from Vlisco.

There are so many more at their site but these were a few of my favorites.

And how gorgeous is this dress in one of the color ways of the first pattern above. I love how large the print is!

Painted fabric

For a while now I've been wanting to try and print some of my own fabrics. I never actually tried it because , for whatever reason, I had always thought about it as printing at least a yard of fabric. That's pretty silly. I decided the other day that I would just try and do some small pieces for some small sewing projects.

I did these today on some small linen blend pieces I had. They are painted with acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium. I think I'll try washing them tomorrow and see how they hold up, but what I had in mind for them isn't something that would probably be washed anyway. 

I'm slowly working through a giant mountain of laundry that I have been meaning to do for weeks now. It's one of those chores that I'm trying really hard to be better about. I didn't really make resolutions this year but I do want to make a conscious effort to get into better habits. I have such an awesome feeling about this year and I'm not sure why. It's going to be great, I know it!

A handmade wedding - some decor

As a lot of you know, Adam and I got married six months ago. We received a disc of the wedding photos from our lovely photographer, Erin, on Friday. Since then I have been anxious to make a post about the handmade elements of our wedding and a few tips for those of you doing the same. So! Let's do this!

Like I already mentioned, all photos were taken by Erin of a love supreme. If you need photos for your special day, engagement, portraits, whatever - I super mega totally recommend her! I'm lucky to be currently working with her on a project and she is just the greatest! She is based in Maine but is looking to travel.

The first thing I have to say about having a lot of handmade things in your wedding is: enlist as much help as possible. It's really easy to think that you can do it all yourself, but trust me, you probably can't without losing your mind. Plus your friends and family will most likely be excited that you've asked them to help with such a special day.



The little birds in the glasses were all sewn by me using this pattern from Spool. I designed the fabric and had it printed on a cotton/linen blend through Spoonflower . The patterns matched the patterns used on our save the dates and invites. The birds were wedding favors and had little tags around their necks to let people know where to sit.



The napkins, oooh the napkins! My mom sewed all of them! After months of sending me swatches of fabrics she was collecting I picked three that I really liked and she got to work. I'm not sure how many she ended up making, but I think she is going to make Adam and I a quilt with them.

We spent months collecting pieces of milk glass and other glass pieces in the wedding colors for the tables. Big discovery - milk glass vases cost about $2-$3 less at Goodwill/Salvation Army per vase here in Eugene than they did in Maine. Weird, huh?

The lanterns were purchased from Luna Bazaar. Some of the colors were kind of off from what they were supposed to be, but in the end, it really didn't matter at all. My brothers hung all of them and they did such an amazing and creative job. I think I suggested how they hang one set of them and the rest was all them and perfect! Thing I have to say #2: you don't need to be in control of everything. Trust your helpers and remember, if something doesn't get done - your guests totally aren't going to notice unless you tell them!



Remember all those crochet pieces I was making in the spring? I crocheted about 100 pieces in different shapes and sizes. That is, and isn't a lot of pieces. This brings me to the third thing I have to say: be flexible with your design ideas. You'll more than likely have to change or completely throw out some of your ideas. And I promise you, it won't ruin your day! My initial idea for the crochet pieces was completely different than what we used them for but in the end, I think they looked great and some people even took some home with them.




These garlands were my mom's idea and what a great one! She sneakily started collecting paint swatches in the wedding colors, which is really not hard for her. The woman L-O-V-E-S paint chips. We sat my dad down with a glass of wine and some paper punches and set him to work punching out shapes. Then my mom, dad and brothers took turns sewing the pieces together and creating the garlands.



My brothers also made these tissue paper garlands. (I can't remember the site we got the pattern from right now!) They hung them from the trees outside of the hall where we had the reception. They looked so pretty! They also made flowers for the tables and my friend and bridesmaid DeAnne and I made some fabric ones.



The last thing I am going to share in this post is the drink stirrers that we enlisted my dad to put together. I don't think he hated this project, but I'm also not sure he loved it. We made them from crepe streamers, bamboo skewers and floral tape. Oh, and we also made the delicious sangria!

I'm going to do another post after the holiday about a few more wedding things. I hope that for those of you planning your own wedding my little suggestions are helpful. I know it can be stressful! And if anyone needs any ideas, I still have SO many!

Oh, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Simple Blanket

Last Friday I got a couple boxes from my mom. One had a bunch of bulbs to plant and one of my favorite blankets from when I was little. The other one had a plastic box with cut fabric triangles and then a bunch of cut 4.5 in squares. Both of which where for quilts she wanted to make for me at some point.

I felt like sewing this weekend so I picked out the squares I liked the best and just started sewing strips.

My plan is to make this in the style of the blanket she sent me. It's basically a front piece like in the picture above and a back solid piece sewn right sides together, flipped and then tacked. Super simple and light weight, no quilting or batting. 

In other news I have DJ school today with my bro-in-law, Paul. He wants to teach me how to DJ and really all I'm hoping for is that it doesn't go horribly! I need to pick out some fun jams! Who wants an Edyie Gorme remix? Nobody? Just me? Ok.

For sale!

I've been curious about selling on Spoonflower for a little while now. The last time they had their free swatch day I ordered a swatch of their cotton knit fabric in a simple geometric design I made quite a long time ago.  It came out awesome and I really need to order some more.

So I decided today to offer it for sale on the Spoonflower site. I have so many other designs that I think would look great as fabric and I need to order some more swatches to see how they look.

So yeah! If you like this pattern you can order it in lots of different options here!

Oh and sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy with some design work and playing with my new sewing machine!

Quilting the quilt!

I spent most of Monday finally quilting my quilt. I was really nervous that I had forgotten what went into sandwiching and basting etc.  My kitchen table was just slightly too small for the whole top but I think I did alright. I know for sure I should have trimmed my batting down a little more but like I said, I was so nervous!

It took me a while to figure out where to start with the quilting. Really, I'm not all that used to sewing, let alone trying to wrangle a bunch of fabric around and through my machine. I got the hang of it after a little bit. I definitely need some practice getting my stitch straight, but overall I'm happy with what I ended up with.

I decided to just stitch diagonally across the dark blocks and the little yellow ones. You can see it a little better in the next pic.

So it's alllmost done. I am still stitching the binding in the back. You can see along the left side and a teeny bit on the bottom where it's not done yet. 

I can't even tell you guys how excited I am be really close to saying "I'm done with my first quilt!". SO DAMN EXCITED.

Fabric crushes

I just spent way too long looking on Fabricworm and I'm totally crushing on these fabrics!

You can click on the images to go to the Fabricworm site and buy them for me! Thanks in advance!

Apparently I have a lot of pillows that need covering.

Sometimes I think one of my favorite things about making stuff is how excited Adam gets. I mean, I made this envelope style pillow cover today for a throw pillow and it was like magic to him!

I've been hanging onto that Echino fabric forever and occasionally pulling it out and looking at it and just assuming I'd never use it. I think I also assumed that I just never would get into sewing but I guess that's not true!

Man, you guys, who knew that making stuff for your home felt so satisfying! Oh and p.s. the back of the pillow is a plain, natural colored linen.

Pillow cases!

The other day I was determined to do some sewing. I wanted to do a fairly simple project that could be something for our home and had been really wanting to try out this pillow case tutorial for quite some time. I didn't have any fabric big enough so yesterday Casie and I went to Joann's and looked for something cheap to do a kind of practice run. It took me a little while to find something because I'm picky (I have no illusions about this and I am sure that my Mom, Adam and Casie will back me up!) and decided to take a peek in the bargain/clearance fabric section and just like when we were picking out quilting fabrics there was a little ole' colorful $3/yd bolt of cotton just waiting for me! I scooped it up, Casie was all.."Duh, I knew you'd find something here." and we left.

So I just spent the last few hours making some pillow cases. The first one is kind of wonky and the second one I had to do some seam ripping on because I'm a bonehead and didn't pay attention to what I was doing..BUT! I'm still really happy with them!

The fabric reminds me so much of my Gramma, the lilac colored bedroom she had when I was growing up and most of her sheet sets. If she were still alive I would have given these to her in a heartbeat! I'm so excited that I know how to make these now. I haven't done a whole hell of a lot of sewing and I feel like I definitely learned some stuff while working on them.

Packing is weird.

So Adam and I are going to sign a lease tonight on a super cute place in south Eugene. We're really excited. We've been living in the same house since we moved here three years ago and we're sad to leave our landlord, but we need to move on and save some money. I've never lived in a place other than the house I grew up in for this long and packing it up is feeling weird. I just started so there isn't much in boxes yet but it still looks different. It's going to be a busy August! We're moving, Adam's bro is moving out here (on route cross country with their dad as we speak!) and my dad and brothers might come visit from Seattle at the end of the month.

I got a newsletter from Piece By Piece today with their upcoming fall class schedule and it looks pretty fun! Casie and I really enjoyed our beginner quilt making class that we took so maybe we'll have to do another. I was also checking out the blog and Casie and I are on it! Our instructor, Cherie, took a few pics the last day of our class and got one of me with my finished quilt top.

There a bunch of great pics over at the blog. Check it out! I love the pics from the kid's quilt camp.

Quilt progress!

Quilting class again today! I get so excited seeing it all come together. I had to trim down my white and yellow blocks because they were a little big and a little outta control. This pic is when Casie and I were working on sewing our blocks into strips. Casie is a machine and daredevil who doesn't pin so she was flying through.





I plan to never remove that little piece of painter's tape that Cherie, our instructor, put on my machine to mark 1/4 in. Unless I end up getting a 1/4 in plate or foot or whatever, but even still, I might just leave it.



So here is where I was at the end of class today. I'm really happy with how it's coming out and can't wait to sew the last couple rows on tomorrow and then maybe attempt to add the border. I'm a little nervous about that part though! Yaaaay quilting!

First blocks!

Here are my little blocks from Casie and I's beginning quilt making class:

Nothing much yet but it's exciting to see! The teacher has been showing us lots of little tips that seem to make everything feel so easy. It's great!

It's only supposed to be in the 70's today and I'm so glad. I think I might do some clean up around the house, do some stitching maybe, eat some Otter Pops?

Quilt Crushes

Adam and I just watched a bunch of X-Files episodes. Some were kind of gross out and I didn't really fell like going to bed right after so I decided to look up some quilts on Flickr. So here are some quilts that I think are really neat!

1. Zen Mini Quilt, 2. Wedding quilt top, 3. Paletas Quilt - texture, 4. zigzig, 5. Triangles in a Square Quilt, 6. me plus you quilt, 7. Lines#6, 8. 13.365, 9. Color Study: Log Cabin ~ 2001, 45"X45"

Casie and I's first class went really well and I think we are both excited to see what we will be able to do with what we learn. The class went by so fast that I didn't get to take in progress pictures but I'll take some of what we got done tomorrow. Casie took one of her progress though! You can see it over at her blog.

I'm going to go crawl in bed now and watch some Simpsons and lay in front of a fan. The summer sunshine is nice and all but I'm ready for some cooler days and when Adam and I don't live in a house that stays all hot all the time.

Night dudes.

Quilting Class!

Casie and I are starting our quilting class today at noon! It's three Sundays at Piece By Piece Fabrics . I'm excited to finally learn the quilting basics and I'm nervous because, well, I'm just that way about anything new.

These are the fabrics I got. They're a little crazy but hopefully it will turn out OK. I mean, it's my first, ok second....maaaaybe third, try anyway!

Casie thinks someone is going to make fun of her sewing machine but then I reminded her that mine had had two serious drops and I think that made her feel a little better. (One of those drops was down Mellen Street hill in Portland, ME and if you know that hill you know it's not somewhere you want your sewing machine to be rolling down. Somehow all that broke was the bulb!)

Anyway! I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Piece By Piece is a really rad shop and everyone there seems super friendly. I'm gonna bring my camera and hopefully get some in progress shots. Wish us luck!

Hand quilting

So Monday was my birthday and I wasn't feeling so well. I had grand plans of snacks and board games with friends but when it came down to it, I was just too tired. Adam and I made some strawberry cupcakes in our new Kitchenaid mixer and some salsa and plopped on the couch to marathon some X Files. (Thanks Netflix instant watch!)

One of my gifts from Adam is a quilting class that I'm going to try and sign up for for July. I'm so excited about learning how to quilt that I decided to finally try out some paper piecing in the mean time. It was on my list of projects to try out after all the wedding stuff was done. I know that probably the easiest way to start out would be with what seems to be the most common shape for paper piecing - hexagons. But I decided I don't much care for hexagons quite as much as I like triangles, so I watched a tutorial on hexes and diamonds...and made triangles.

So here was the start on Monday:

And here is where I'm at as of yesterday's mini marathon of sewing and Torchwood (what? That show is ridiculous!):

Annnnd here are just some closeups:

My mom called this "typical Sarah" - wanting to just dive into a craft project without learning a whole lot about it first. I know it's probably impatient of me, but I feel like practicing is sometimes a waste of time that I could be putting into a finished piece. That's bad, I know, I know. Crafting is probably the only thing that I do where I feel comfortable diving in and sometimes totally crashing and burning.

Anyway, I'm having a blast. I think this is going to end up being a cover for a throw pillow or something. I'm already getting pumped up about other color combinations and shapes!