We Can Do It!!

I'm hoping I can, anyway. I've dabbled in quilting and forced you to look at most of it (that Bliss sandwich is still waiting to be quilted, by the way--life got in the way recently). But I still feel veeerrry uncertain and tend to stick with the simplest of designs. Hopefully the sew-along happening over at Sewn will give me new skills and build my quilt confidence. Plus I'm hoping to use some of my stash. Stash-busting is always fun. If you'd like a yearish-long challenge that begins in mid-June, head on over. She's also got some fabric up for grabs. Yum!!

For other goings-on: the Sew, Mama Sew giveaway day is this Monday! Pop on back to see what I made, and visit SMS for a ton of other free goodies.

I'm getting started on the bag for my sew-along. I'm going to do this as a mega-tutorial that spans several posts, but I'm also going to have a full, printable tutorial available if that's how you prefer to roll or can't play along. I'm hoping to have this going by mid-June, but technology has been kicking my butt lately so we'll see how that goes. I'm going to make a button so you can post it on your blog if you want.

I'm hoping that radio preacher is wrong (rolls eyes) because it would really be inconvenient for me for the world to end today...I clearly have too much to do :)

Why yes. That IS an aquarium around my neck.

When I find something on Etsy or Artfire or any other small shop I like to mention it here on my blog--especially if I adore the product and the service/communication/seller is really good/helpful/nice. I have been having my own personal spending spree the entire month of May--books, fabric, little doo-dads. And last Monday during Hawaii Five-O (I have a big time crush on Danno even though he's several inches shorter than me in real life and I usually have a height thing with guys, but since it's TV I'll make an exception) I was blog-hopping, then Etsy shopping, and now I have a few new adorable treasures to sport.

Obviously I had to get this pretty little bee :)

And I've been wearing this one since it arrived. I love quirky.

Put these together with the most adorable hand-made note ever and I crossed the line from gleeful to elated. I bought these from the Etsy shop The Humble Bumble, run by Zoe Quinn, a beelance artist (how awesome is that? wish I had thought of it). So if you need a different sort of gift for a different sort of person (or even yourself) you might fall in love with her shop :)

To buy or not to buy....

I think I really want this. It's calling to me. I've got several books I love and haven't touched yet, but I feel I need this in my life. The cover alone makes me happy. Any of you lovelies have this one? What do you think of it? Should I let it be or should I give it a loving home? It's not expensive, but I'm trying to be more mindful of what I buy. But it looks adorable. But I don't need it. But I need it. Aaaarrrgghhhhh. Decisions.

Couch Bags

That's not a typo. It's not supposed to say Coach, haha. A few months ago my cousin called and asked if I could make a few handbags for the bridesmaids in her friend's wedding. Normally I shy away from weddings for a few reasons: most of the time the bags all have to be the same design and I get bored, or there needs to be an exACT color match and that is VERY difficult to do. The exception was my sister's wedding--each bag was different and the fabrics were supposed to contrast with the dresses so they were pretty fun to put together. Anyhoodle, she talked me into it. I asked her what kind of fabric and she told me they'd pick it out. I offered a few suggestions, but was told that her style is "weird--she likes vintage, and floral." So for any of you vintage and floral lovers--you're now categorized as weird :)  The box plopped on my doorstep a few weeks later. I eagerly opened that box and promptly thought "Oh." Definitely not my style. It didn't have to be, of course--but I just couldn't envision this fabric turning into bridesmaid bags and going with the dresses she described. Take a look:

The fabric is April Cornell's 'Flower Bouquet Rosella' from Joann's.

It has its own charm and its own place, but not for summery bridesmaid bags. My sister said she thought the fabric looked like a couch our grandma may have had. I was not looking forward to this because I didn't think I could make this print look cute on such a bag--as a larger tote, or as home dec items, sure, but not a tiny bag. She had picked out a bag from my site she had seen a while ago--very simple, very small, and very plain:

In my attempts to make it larger and a bit cuter of a shape, I ended up making a bag that was too large and waaaay too mature looking (not to mention a tad crooked where I sewed the magnetic snap too close to the edge):

Here's just how MUCH bigger it was:

She wasn't thrilled. Neither was I. We ended up deciding to go with my wedding bag stand-by (see here and here--a shrunken version of the good old Buttercup Bag:

And these I think came out pretty adorable! Because piping and pleats make everything better :)

I haven't used store-bought piping before so I was pretty happy with how it worked out. They're not my favorite bags, but by softening the shape and adding a few details it made the bags much more dainty. I shipped them off and she was thrilled with them. 

Usually when I say something is challenging it's because there are techniques that are new, or too much precision for my taste, or weird angles and curves. I don't know if I've had something I've made a gazillion times before be challenging because I was trying to transform the actual look of a fabric. But all's well that ends well so we'll cross this one off the to-do list.

Linking up here:

Quacking myself up

Sooooo I'm just walking into work this morning, minding my own business, when I hear this yammering and chattering in a vocal tone that could get quite annoying after a while, especially when one hasn't had one's coffee yet. So I pulled out my cell phone and took this picture to share with you the "conversation" that was taking place in one of the parking spaces in our lot:

See those? Mallard ducks, with pefectly teal-feathered heads (at least I think they're mallards). I immediately concocted their conversation:

Hal: You couldn't hold it?

Erma: No. You couldn't ask for directions?

Hal: Don't make this my fault. You're the one who needed to stop.

Erma: Well, I'm sorry I'm not as young as I once was. You try having ducklings and see how long you can hold it, Mr. Perfect.

Hal: There are plenty of bushes. Can't you just.....?

Erma: Oh, so now I'm just expected to go anywhere because you couldn't follow the signs for the rest stop?

Hal: If you don't just go I'm leaving without you.

Erma: So typical. You don't want to do something so you mess it up on purpose, and then leave it to me to solve the problem. I'm not going in the bushes like some uncivilized barbarian, Hal!

Hal: Every time we take a trip, Erma. Every time!

Erma: I guess you're just a slow learner, aren't you, dear?

This interlude has been brought to you by Bethany, who will always find a way to amuse herself :)

A Retro Mother's Day

A few weeks ago I was digging through a kitchen drawer looking for a calculator (I, apparently, cannot tell the difference between a 3 and a 5 when maintaining my checkbook) when I found something my mother has had hidden away for I have no idea how long. It has to be almost twenty years ago now that I spent an afternoon making a delicious mess in my bedroom, while creating for her what has become a kid craftiness cliche: the Mother's Day Coupon Book.

May I draw your attention to the childish "title" of this book? As well as that stellar stapling job holding it all together? And you gotta love the faded old construction paper.

 I even stuck in a bunch of dividers like a real coupon book. I always wanted one of those--I would go shopping with my mom and the other ladies would have their neatly organized coupon folders. I remember thinking that I would definitely have one when I grew up. Now I keep my coupons the way my mother did--crammed in my bag until I need them. Why mess with a system that works?

Let's see what she was entitled to oh so many years ago:

These were obviously joke coupons. Our dogs have always loved my mom best--no coupons needed for snuggles. I think she never redeemed the bath coupon because she knew it would be triple the work to clean up the major flood that would have been caused.

 I reeeaaallllllly used to hate vacuuming. I think I threw that little disclaimer in there so my brother couldn't try to pull a fast one when it was his turn...

 Here's some artistic free-styling on the furniture polishing coupon. I never could tell what that pink sticker was so it needed a qualifier.

I am appalled at my lack of straight edges. I think I made everything and never measured so there was last-minute trimming.

  I thought I was oh so clever with my sticker choices.

 I have absolutely no idea why I included my sisters and the dog in this but not my brother. He had probably already bought her some useful store-bought gift...

When I made this I remember that I fully expected her to use these. Never mind that most of the chores were things she would have had me do coupon or no coupon. I recalled some years later that she had never turned them in. I didn't fully understand why. But now that I've watched my nephew grow up and have been able to spend a ridiculously lucky amount of time with him and received some things made with his own little hands I get why she kept it, staples and messy disintegrating layers of construction paper and all. I suppose it's one of those things that you ladies call a "mom thing."

So now I wish to you, all of you wonderful mothers, the most delightful of days. I hope you cash in on some breakfast in bed, some sweet smelling flowers, and hugs and kisses to last a lifetime. I hope you know how much your children appreciate you, even if they don't always say it, and how empty our lives would be without you in them. You give us that "thing"--that thing that having a mom gives you, and for that we thank you. I have not yet been blessed with children--but I have been blessed with an angel mother. I heart you beyond comprehension, my dear mumsy. 

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm showing everyone what a geek I was at these parties this week: