Pretty Little Planner for my Sewing Friend!

I made up this pretty little ASG 2011 Calendar of events/planner for my friend Tina.

I love digital scrapping, and playing with "real" paper too.

In this project I was able to combine both techniques. (FUN!)

  

I hosted the Christmas party for our group in December and she came over early and helped me out, (even making the frosting for our Red Velvet cupcakes, Yum!) After the meeting I promised to give her a copy of our plans for the upcoming year.

But, being me - I couldn't just jot them down and hand them over.

I had to do it "pretty"

Inside I created a page for each month/meeting with the program for that evening.

I also added pages for a supply list and notes for each meeting.

Below are a few of my favorite pages:

January

(that was sewing room organization, presented by me!) :o)

June

(Flower pounding - doesn't that sound awesome?!)

The back

I fussy cut the butterfly and inked the edges. It came out so pretty!

Somethings are just too sweet to hide in a bag or with paper wrapping.

So I just added a ribbon for presentation.

I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow at our Fitting group!

I love the papers and embellishments I used on this project.

They are so rich and warm, and they printed out bea-yoo-tifully!

All my digital scrapping supplies come from Scrapgirls, and most items used in this project were from the Noteworthy Collection.

One of my favorite things to do is make organizers (go figure!) planners, or any kind of "book".

In the past I used to buy an Owire bound book, take it apart and recover/re-do it, then put it all back together again. My friend got me hooked on making these when we were stationed together in WA.

For Christmas I got a Bind-it-all (Yay!) and this is my first project!

Now I don't have to do the disassemble - reassemble thing anymore.

(any one else just hear No disassemble #5 in the back of their head?)

 Check this Post for a Vogue Pattern Giveaway!

 

Vogue Pattern Give Away!

Would you like this Vogue pattern?

(Vogue 8251)

Well, I'm giving it away!

When we picked up my Pattern Cabinet from JoAnn there was some stuff floating around the bottom, and as the guy loaded it up in my van he said I get to keep that as a little bonus.

That turned out to be this pattern.

Which is super cute!

I really love it, and could totally see myself making and wearing it!

But,

it's not my size!

Bummer....

wait,

Is it yours?

The first person to leave me a comment, letting me know what view they would make and what fabric, etc, they'd sew it in gets it! :o)

I'll ship it to you, free!

Sorry to my overseas friends - this is only available to US residents.

Spring Palette Challenge at Colette Patterns

I decided to join the Spring Palette Challenge over at Colette Patterns!

The idea is simple, pick your colors, create an inspiration board and sew a mini wardrobe around your palette. You choose the colors, and what to make.

No pressure, plenty of fun!

So, here's my board - what d'ya think?

The inspiration behind my board was some lavender stretch twill and charcoal bottom weight fabric I found in my stash.

The first project on my to-do list will be a blouse out of the stretch twill, then some trousers. I've decided to commit to 4 projects. The top, pants, a dress, and...

who knows?

I guess that's why they call it a challenge. besides, I'm not expected to think that far ahead until week 2.

I think this challenge was made for me!

Any one else joining up or making plans for their spring wardrobe?

image credits:

Luichiny Women's Juni Per Platform Sandal, Amazon.com
Button Up Tier Dress, Forever 21
Pleated Bubble Shine Dress, Forever 21
Pinstripe Suiting 3/4'' Dark Grey, fabric.com
Grey trousers, Purple Oval
DAWN Plum Purple handmade fascinator Hair clip, ChloeANDMaddie Etsy

My Happy Find! Vogue Pattern Cabinet

Guess what I got this week?

here's a peek...

My very own pattern cabinet!

Okay, you're right. I did make it the title of the post.

I guess I just couldn't hold it in.

One of my local Joann's is going out of business,

and I have always wanted my own cabinet so I snatched this baby up!

Thing is, I couldn't settle for just any cabinet.

I wanted the Vogue Pattern cabinet. 

The Vogue cabinets have adjustable spacing, and they perfectly accommodate my patterns which I store in manila envelopes. See? It has to be Vogue.

Luck was on my side

because when I went down to check them out most were already sold,

but this one was left.

Just for me

or so I like to think.

We brought it home this week

(I had to wait patiently until it was empty)

I've cleaned it up and loaded it down with my patterns.

It looks so awesome, I'm so happy!

I'll eventually scrub off the stickers, etc, and will probably eventually paint it

but for now I'm just thrilled to have it in my studio holding all my patterns!

Cozy & Quilted Hooded Toddler Jacket

Isn't this just the sweetest thing ever?

Soft and beautiful, this charming little jacket turned out even better than I expected!

I made this cozy piece from some of my favorite fabrics,

Butterfly Kisses by Robin Pandolph for Moda.

I love romantic florals, and nobody does 'em like Moda!

I used 3 prints on this sweetie -

the large scale floral, the ticking stripe and the tonal floral.

And I love the way the soft pink rick rack adds just the right touch.

I am a huge sucker for rick rack, I think everything a little girl wears should have some. :o) 

I lined it with a thick flannel, so it's nice and warm but not too heavy, and then quilted the lining.

I've made this jacket before, but I had trouble hemming the sleeves according to directions, so I had to come up with my own version.

Seriously, the directions say:

"pull whole sleeve through the opening in the lining and stitch sleeve hems with right sides together"
huh?

I'm experienced enough, I usually know what I'm doing, but that left me stumped!

But this time I've actually used the "proper" construction technique on the sleeves.

It was super easy, but I could never "get" it until I actually saw it in action.
Total Light bulb moment!
Many Thanks to Tamara for showing me how it's done!


I think the next time I make this jacket I'll also make/post a tutorial for the sleeve hems.

I did a very scientific poll of my sewing peers, and I have learned I am not the village idiot, many of them couldn't figure it out either. 

So now I've got it bagged up and ready for giving.

I made this one for my friends darling little girl.

(She doesn't know yet, so I'm going to surprise her with it tomorrow!)
I've got just enough fabric to make one more,
so I should be listing this in my Esty shop as a custom soon!

Fresh Start for January

Since my last post I've been up to a lot.
like what?

well, we took Kadence on her first trip to Disneyland

My mom came up from the Land of Enchantment and visited us for a bit.

She picked up a sewing machine for Kadence while she was here too!

(that's' for another post)

 Speaking of Kadence, besides sewing,

she's learned to ride a bike

(finally)

We took a trip out to my Uncles ranch in Wyoming.

That was a nice little break from reality

Anthony got baptized.

twice.

2 different religions.

(guess he wants to cover all his bases, ha!)

We discovered Anthony has an irrational, yet highly amusing fear of overgrown potatoes.

Of course we had to use this new found knowledge.

I've also

read some great - and not so great - books

Gotten a bunch of sewing done

been elected 2nd Vice President for my chapter of ASG

tried sushi

attended a women's entrepreneur conference (and won a lap top!)

attended a day-long sewing retreat

killed 3 hermit crabs (oopsie!)

and put on weight. Sigh...

So there it is, the good the bad and the ugly.