elliebelle

Sewing like a mad woman

On my way home from work I chatted with my good friend Stephanie.  I am going to visit her over this weekend while we are in the Twin Cities for Thanksgiving.  I'm very excited because she just gave birth to her son, Liam Curtis, on Thursday!  :)  But I must say I was a bit surprised when she said she'd like to exchange Christmas gifts.  I figured she wouldn't want to do them at all this year - with the new baby and all.  (She also has a 3 yr old daughter).  Well - I had one night to do it, so I came home and sewed like a crazy person.  (Stephanie has been one of the original recipients of hand made goods from me, so I can't buy her a gift, it just feels wrong!)  I haven't even eaten any dinner yet and it's 9:30.  I know that many of you know this feeling.  This obsessive, can't stop till I finish, type of feeling.  And wow, can it be incredibly rewarding!  First off, I can show you another knitted cowl.  This I did NOT make tonight - but decided to gift it to Stephanie as she had seen the yarn when I purchased it, and loved it.  I have only worn it a couple of times - so no biggie.  (I did call Steph and ask her how she felt about something I had made, but worn a couple of times.  I didn't tell her what it was.  She said it was fine and that it would be nice cause it would smell like me! haha...We live 5 hours away, so I guess we take what we can get of each other.)

Then I had remembered that she had seen a piece of my Amy Butler fabric and loved it - so that became a little make up bag!  This was incredibly easy.  I just quilted some fabric together with batting in between then added the zipper and serged it together.  Easy peasy.

I also whipped up a potholder.  This potholder is based off of a potholder that is in the upcoming Ready, Set, Serge book - which is out this spring.  Nancy taped a Sewing with Nancy program with the author and I was able to pick up the idea of the project without the book when watching our advance copy of the program. (I think it airs on PBS in January...)  The author, Georgie Melot has incredibly quick projects in this book!  They are fabulous gift items because you can make them in minutes!  She has a unique way of layering and flipping and turning.  So here is my take on the potholder.

The strawberries fabric actually makes a pocket - so you can put your hand in there in order to use the potholder like an oven mitt.

This is the back of the potholder.

Then of course I decided that if Stephanie had a present, Ariana (her 3 yr old) had to have a present too.  Little Liam isn't going to care that he doesn't have a present, and Steph's husband won't care either.  So just gifts for the girls! :)  I decided to sew up a flannel quilt.  I can't believe I decided on that being that I'm not really a quilter.  But it was so fun!  I took these small pieces of Valori Wells Sole flannel (they were from a header sample card that we had at work)  I just started with one of the biggest pieces and then started sewing strips around it.  It was such a fulfilling project - with each seam I'd see more progress and get more excited.  It was incredibly easy, which of course gives me just that little extra bit of enjoyment.  So it is not perfect - but I like how it turned out.

The back is just a solid natural colored flannel - and I sewed this together like a pillow, then turned it through a small opening.  There is no batting - just two sides of flannel.  I like the pliabability of a quilt when you skip the batting.  In order to keep the two pieces of fabric together, I sewed along some of the seam lines.  I picked random ones throughout to give the quilt more stability - and so that when it is washed it doesn't pull all apart!

Here is a picture with a flash to give you a better idea of color.

I tucked it in the dresser drawers to hold it up! 

So that was my sewing mania - wasn't that fun?  hahaha!  It was crazy and I just kept sewing - no stopping, except for to put some wood on the fire.  So now I need to eat something and then have a drink or something so that I can relax - otherwise I don't know how I will fall asleep tonight!

On another note, look what we woke up to Monday morning!

Pretty huh? (I won't be saying that come March, so I must enjoy it now!!!)  A lot has melted since - but there is still some white out there.  It was quite beautiful the way it stuck to every branch on every tree.

And since I said I never have any pictures of Callie on here, I made an effort to get a few.  I caught her while she was lounging on the back of the couch.

Do you notice what she is wearing??? Her collar!  I found it!  Sunday afternoon I went into the basement with a flash light and luckily found it quite quickly.  It was on top of the pool table between a bunch of Christmas decorations.  (why do pool tables seem to be the BEST storage places!!! haha!)

And here is another shot of her.  She truly is a funny cat.  She THINKS she's a dog.  When I pour Chelsea's (our dog) food in her dish - Callie will come running.  And if Chelsea doesn't start to eat her food right away, Callie will start eating it!  She often runs to the door when I get home just like dogs will do, lays in Chelsea's bed in our bedroom and then on Sunday I found her hanging out in Chelsea's kennel!  

She is one weird cat.  Now, I probably need to get a picture of Chelsea up here!  She hasn't been in any posts lately.  Hopefully adding my pets into my blog doesn't make me seem like a crazy cat lady.  My sister likes to tease me about my "children." hehee...they certainly make life more fun (and of course frustrating too).  But they are a big part of my life, so I guess they have to make an appearance on here too.  :)

Safe travels for all over this holiday weekend!  I'm off to my parent's house in Northern Wisconsin tomorrow evening, then to the Twin Cities Thursday, and back to my parent's on Friday.  Maybe I'll get a post in while I'm there.  If not, I hope everyone has a wonderful and cozy Thanksgiving.  Eat lots of yummy food!

A yarn stash boost.

I love Sundays.  Always a leisurely breakfast, tea or coffee, a fire in the fireplace, Ugg boots, cozy sweater, weekend pants (aka cargos - Joe and I each have a pair), knitting, and then reflecting on my Saturday outings.  Which happened to be a day spent in Appleton with my good friend April - which included a trip to her LYS (for my mom - and others who don't know what that stands for - Local Yarn Store).  Ooo, her store was wonderful!  It is Iris Fine Yarns.  We had such fun there, and the employees were wonderfully helpful.  Though they were quite busy so we picked out our yarn and then came back later to purchase it. They were so wonderful and wound up some of the yarn for us.  Here is what I came home with.

Aren't the colors fantastic!?  As much as I love gray - and I do buy it often, it was so much fun to pick out such lively and vibrant yarns.  I've been dying to work with some Noro yarn - so I picked up 2 skeins.  I'd like to make myself a scarf.  All of this yarn is for projects for myself! haha...Does that make me greedy?  Anyway, the orange Rowan Felted Tweed is for this project.

I am so excited to try this hat pattern.  I think it will really push my skills - the woman helping us at Iris also thought it would be a good pattern to help me learn things like bobbles!  I haven't done those yet.  The pattern is from the Holiday issue of Vogue Knitting.  Here is a photo of the cover.  I picked this up at Joann's on Friday night (in Madison - I've been all over the place this weekend!)

The yellow/green yarn is for making the February Lady Sweater!  I'm sooo excited about this one.  I've seen tons of these made out in bloggy land, and I just can't wait to make mine. I hope I can do it.  This will be another pattern that will push my skills.  But I'm excited to try.

While at Joann's on Friday I also picked up this yarn because they had a swatch knitted up and it was so cool!  It's self striping and gives a really neat look. (you can see the image of what it looks like on the wrapping)  Everybody else though it was cool too - this was the last skein!

So far it has been a wonderful weekend.  Friday night my friend Gena and I had a wonderful evening - we of course, visited Joann's, hit up Bath and Body Works - to use up some of the millions of coupons they keep sending me.  I am IN LOVE with this new lotion of theirs.  The smell is wonderful, and I do find it very relaxing.

We also saw Angelina Jolie's new movie Changeling.  What a great movie.  I was very impressed. 

This afternoon my sister should be coming to visit.  I'm sure we'll play a little Wii, probably watch a movie, and just cuddle in! :)  Oh, how I love weekends!  I hope everyone else had a warm and cuddly weekend too.

Ok, that was too long between posts...

Hi again, remember me?  I am sorry for the absence.  I don't know what came over me.  Actually it's really that I had nothing to say, or show for that matter.  It seems that after work I am running errands or cooking, or cleaning, or chatting with my honey...and the projects don't get accomplished!  I've got to prioritize.  No eating - just sewing and knitting! haha...actually if I didn't get hungry, I wouldn't mind replacing meals with sewing.

So here I am - back and better than ever! haha!  I do have lots of photos to share though.  And if you are a Raveler, you get to see even more photos.

To start with, I thought I would show you the slight transformation of my sewing room.

Can you play I spy?  I spy a Blythe...I spy a Black Apple Doll.  I spy, an Amy Butler bag!  I spy my Heather Bailey pear pincushion! heehee

Looks kinda fun huh?  I really like how it looks now.  This room just makes me so happy - it's definitely meditative for me in here.  Hopefully it will inspire me to sew like mad!

And some in process projects...

Can you guess what this might be?

And some fabric flowers - which I will make in to pins/brooches.  I need to buy more pin backs though to sew on.  I had made 2 fabric flowers for a friend of mine who lives in Minneapolis.  Well, apparently, everytime she wears them, she gets compliments! :)  Woohoo!  So, she really wants me to make a bunch that she can sell.  We are thinking of doing a home party in the spring.  Wouldn't that be fun?  I want to make gaboons of stuff so maybe the two of us could make a little cash.  You never know, right? 

Recently (while ordering some Christmas presents) I realized I wasn't quite at Amazon's minimum amount for free shipping, seriously, when are we ever at that amount?  You ALWAYS have to buy more to get free shipping.  Anyway, I decided to add something to my cart that had been on my "wishlist" for quite some time.  And this is what I bought...

It is a lovely coffee table book on Frida Kahlo's clothing.  The images are just stunning - her clothing was quite magnificent.  Unfortunately the book came a little beat up - but oh well I guess.  I spent some time this evening paging through the book and looking at all the gorgeous photos.  There is quite a bit of history to read about her clothing too - which I will have to do sometime when I can really sit down and dig in.  She was such a fascinating woman...

Oh and one last little thing for all you kitty lovers out there...

That's Sophie's way of relaxing by the fire!  I just think it's so cute.  I've never seen her do this before.  Our wood stove is directly behind the couch - so that spot is quite warm.  Such a funny kitty.  I feel like I never put pictures of Callie on here - she's just too difficult to photograph - she's always running around like a crazy woman.  She's even lost her collar somewhere in the house - I have no idea where it is.  It's probably in some dark corner of the basement.  Ugg...it was so cute!  I got it from Pattern and Paw.

So that's it from me for now...oh yes, and you Ravelry folks, check out my Ravelry page for tons of new projects.  Don't get your hopes up - it isn't some fabulous cabled sweater - but there are some fun little accessories.  Oh, and if you are on there and we aren't friends...request me as your friend!  I'd love to have you! :)

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy during these dark and cold evenings.  Well cold for us up here in da nort.  :) heehee

Thanks for being patient with me while I waste time doing silly things like Christmas shopping.  I need to stop that's what the internet and Etsy are for!

Randomness

First of all, I want to thank everyone for all of your kind comments on my last 3 posts!  It is such a treat to have online friends who come here to read a little about my adventures.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoy reading your blogs and looking at your beautiful photography.  I can't believe that I have been blogging for almost a year!  It was my New Year's resolution - to start a blog.  My first entry was January 2nd.  And here we are - just a week and a half until Thanksgiving!  But I have to say, I have really been enjoying myself here as I feel the blog has challenged me to keep creating, and to keep myself from watching too much tv.  (there really are a lot of good shows, but I don't watch them much anymore!)  What I find the most inspiring in the blog world is seeing a glimpse into other creative people's lives.  It can sometimes be difficult to find people in your immediate surroundings (hello, I live in a small town...) that truly love the creative lifestyle and I sometimes long for that connection with another person.  I am so amazed (and happy!) that there are a WHOLE lot of others out there like me.  And I'm so glad to be connected to and inspired by all of you!

So, again, thank you for all coming to visit me here and thank you for continually inspiring me and pushing me to keep sewing and knitting.  

Moving on to a few random things.  First, I've been sewing and knitting - but everything has been Christmas presents, so I won't be able to show any of it until after the holidays.  Geez, I'm going to have LOTS to blog about in January! haha...  But I can show this - another Delores Park Cowl.  I've made this before, as you may remember.  And actually I've now made a total of 4 of these!  I just haven't taken pictures of all of them.  Here is the one I made for my mom.  For this version, I took out 10 stitches to make it fit more closely to the neck.  My mom LOVES turtlenecks, so it is only appropriate that this would resemble a turtleneck!  She and my dad were here visiting over the weekend, and the cowl was worn and loved all weekend!  (Winter is on its way! Not exactly sure how I feel about that yet...)

The blue and brown color combo of this yarn is so beautiful.  I can't get over how much I love Malabrigo!  I made another cowl for myself in a red/pink/lavender colorway.  it is gorgeous.  I need to take a picture!

On another random note.  Here's a picture that Joe snapped of me last night.  I'm a pink lady!  I had worn that pink sweater to work - the pink pj pants were added when I got home and the house was 65 degrees!  brr!  The pink apron was a promotion thing I got at quilt market.  I figured I needed something to protect my $6 cashmere sweater! (it's one of my thrift finds from this summer.)

Look Mom - I CAN cook! :)

Oh, I also wanted to show another Quilt Market purchase that I forgot about when composing my last post.  Here is a sweet little "E" hankie.  I'm thinking it would be neat to cut out the corner of the hankie and sew it into something for myself.  Maybe a bag or a blouse - I could be like Laverne of Laverne and Shirley. (actually after reading Wikipedia's description of Laverne - we are somewhat similar, though I would never drink milk and pepsi - yuck!)

I guess that's it for today.  Hopefully little by little I can widdle away all of the Christmas presents and get back to sewing for myself and for my "someday" Etsy shop. :)  I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

I'm Back: Part 3: Quilt Market Purchases

Yes, I admit it, I am a shopaholic.  Actually I know I admitted it before....heehee  But some of these items were once in a lifetime finds!!!  I HAD to buy them! ;)  haha 

Some beautiful African fabric.  This was one of the first times I've seen African fabric dealers at Quilt Market.  I love the unique designs!

There was another woman selling embroideries done by African women.  These embroideries represent traditional African folk tales and the woman in the booth told us a bunch of stories behind many of the designs.  It was a lot of fun!  Also very cool was that each embroidery is signed by the woman who made it and many of them also had business cards with her picture and biography on it.  I love being able to see and learn about who created these beautiful embroideries.  They are small about 3" x 5".  I bought 3!

Besides these beautiful African finds, there were also a few vintage fabric/trim dealers.  Look at this fantastic vintage fabric!

You have to see the Silhouettes up close.  Aren't they wonderful?  The woman in the booth told me that this was the only piece she'd ever seen like this.  It's a small piece with some damage - but it was just too great to pass up.  Any ideas on what to make with it though?  I'm feeling a little stumped on that end...

Also - look at this fabulous booty!

I could have EASILY spent over a thousand dollars at this booth.  Don't worry!  I didn't...I didn't even come close to that number.  But - the selection of vintage buttons and trims was stunning.  It was so hard to choose what to come home with.

Here are the large buttons...

Those black and red buttons are actually two buttons stacked.  Pretty great combo though - I think I'll keep them that way!

And some smaller buttons...

Appliques...  You know I love those nautical motifs!

And beautiful cotton trim.

I'm thinking the green and white check would be great bag handles, and the gold lace would be wonderful around the sleeves and hem of a top or dress.

I was also able to purchase this fabulous book!

With which I was also able to have THIS done!!!

And the one project I'm dying to make out of the book?  Definitely this super fun and practical pincushion.

Some great loot huh?  I also bought a necklace and pin, but I didn't photograph those....

Overall the two trips combined were both inspiration and relaxation for the soul.  It was a wonderful trip and I'm so grateful that I was able to make it work.  Now it's just back to reality! :)

  

I'm Back: Part 2: Cancun

Today I was going to post pictures of my Quilt Market purchases, but I had forgotten how dark it gets now that we had fall back!  So no pictures until I can get some decent light. haha...I'll show some pics from Cancun instead.

Here is our resort...Isn't it gorgeous???

Us gals on the beach... My friend Stephanie is in the middle, I'm on the right, and Steph's friend Krystal is on the left.

Ooo...love the foamy waters...

Actually I didn't get to swim in the ocean much since the waves were so huge!  The life guards kept calling people back in as soon as they went above knee level.  Luckily one day I got to jump in the waves.  I just LOVE the ocean!!!

One evening we actually got to help release baby sea turtles into the wild!  They were soooo cute!

The water was just so beautiful I took a gazillion pictures - you can see all of them on my Flickr.  But here are a few of my favorites.

And some pics of us girls!!!

At one restaurant we went to, they served cotton candy at the end of all the meals!!  Cool huh????

So it was a wonderful trip, as you can tell.  I just loved spending time on the water.  I think maybe I was a fish in a previous life! haha.

All right - next up will be Quilt Market stuff - I promise!  Oh, and don't forget to VOTE tomorrow!!!  I think it is so exciting that history will be made tomorrow!!!! :)  yay!!!  I think elections are so exciting!

Have a good night everyone!

I'm Back: Part 1: Quilt Market

I made it back safe and sound!  Since I was essentially on 2 separate trips, I will do multiple posts to tell you all about them!  First, we'll start out with Quilt Market (since that happened first)  It was a great market (like always) full of beautiful fabrics, quilts, and inspiration.  These posts will be mostly photos, since I have tons to share and there are even more on Flickr.  (Oh, and I want to apologize up front for the blurry nature of some of the photos - I went without a flash for the most part so that the colors would be more true to life.)

This first photo is of a chair covered in Anna Griffin fabric - she had 6 different chairs in her booth covered in different fabrics of hers - they were wonderful and all so different.  You can see the rest of the chairs in my flickr set.

And always a beautiful sight - here is Tina Givens booth.

A personal favorite of mine...

And of course, my most favorite (well she and Amy Butler definitely tie) - Anna Maria Horner.  I was even able to buy her book and have her sign it right there.  It was pretty cool.  She was lovely, as always!

And a couple pics of her booth.  Isn't the wall color great?

Guess who has a new fabric line?  Jay McCarrol - the winner of season 1 of Project Runway.  He was at Quilt Market the entire time promoting his line which I thought was pretty great.  (By comparison to another celebrity - Marie Osmond - who was there for about 3 hours on only one day!)

And the infamous Amy Butler...well, actually it's her booth - I didn't get a shot of her in it.  She is totally mobbed...in the Quilt Market sense...not like Britney Spears or anything, but people love to chat with her.  I was able to show her my Anna Tunic because I was wearing it the first day.  That was fun!

And for all of you followers of Oliver + S - there are new patterns in the works for spring!

I took a picture of this quilt because it is absolutely amazing - this entire landscape is pieced!!!  Just stunning!!!

Look at these tiny felt cakes - don't they look delicious??

I can't remember which booth this was - I'm thinking possibly Michael Miller?  I am not sure - but isn't this bed beautiful?  I just love how magical it looks.

And here is Sandi Henderson's booth - she is the one who designed the beloved Ginger Blossom fabric line and the Portobello Pixie pattern line.

And some shots of the wonderful Seven Islands group - these are the Japanese lines of fabric and products.  We don't carry them at Nancy's Notions so I don't know a whole lot about them - except for that they are ADORABLE!!!  This booth was huge so I took a bunch of photos - you can see more in my flickr set.

And here is a photo of Elinor Peace Bailey's booth (and there she is in the background!)  I found her wonderfully inspiring.  If you are not familiar with her, she is known for her dollmaking and has been in the home sewing industry for quite some time.  I was able to go to her "Schoolhouse class" (which is a short 15 minute run down on new products - we have a full day of these the first day of Quilt Market - I also went to Anna Maria's and Amy Butler's...on top of MANY others...)  Anyway, Elinor was very entertaining.  She is so full of life and fun that you can't help but smile as she talks.  I hope that I can be as much fun as she is as I age. You can see she is quite the colorful woman - she even wore giant fairy wings during her class.  I just LOVED it!  Oh and a side note for you - she is the mother in law of Heather Bailey who has the Fresh Cut and Pop Garden fabric lines for Free Spirit fabrics.

And this last photo is for my friend Janelle of Threads of Friendship.  She is Australian and knows (and LOVES!!) Rosalie Quinlin from Melly and Me.  I of course had to say hello to Rosalie from Janelle and take a picture of us so she could see us half a world away! :) (and no, she is not as short as me...she's crouching down so that I don't look so miniature!  But on a side note - I was tall in Mexico! :) haha!)

So that is a summary of my trip to Houston.  Again, there are a bunch more pictures on Flickr.  I've created a set so it is easy to look through.  I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and I will need to catch up on all of your blogs soon.  

Next up in this series...my Quilt Market purchases!  Yes, I bought some things for myself besides just work stuff!  Here's a hint - there were some GREAT vintage dealers at market. :) Until then - ta-ta!