wise craft

thrifty floral

I have not had great luck at thrifting lately, but I did stop at an out of the way Value Village on the way back from dropping Emma off at camp a few weeks ago, because I can't stop myself. This pair of *gorgeous* curtains stopped me in my tracks. I just love the pattern of the floral, but only with that spot of blue flower scattered in it. It would not look as cheery without it. I brought them home, washed them well, and now I'm trying to decide what I'll make with them. So pretty.

Thank you all so much for your comments on the quilt! I'll get to work on a PDF, soon as I am sure it won't completely fall apart! (Kidding.) (Well, not entirely.)

I leave you with some random links today, and the promise of not one, but TWO giveaways on Monday.

I think the kids and I make these this weekend.

I adore the look of white with colorful accents.

Tif's sewing room has me searching for an excuse to visit her. Seriously.

I keep going back to this photo, it has a truly calming feel to it, doesn't it?

I am actually having dreams about learning to crochet, just so I can make these. I adore them so much! But I just can't begin another hobby, it would be too cruel to inflict that onto my family. Right? Maybe someone, a crocheter, is up for a trade of some sort?

Have a fantastic weekend!

...and the front

Thank you for liking the back of this quilt as much as I did. That part is now well hidden. Here's a peek at the front.

I am hand quilting this ginormous quilt sandwich (king-sized) because I'm crazy like that (plus it would be pretty pricey to have it quilted). So far I'm happy with how its going. Simple straight lines, nothing complicated. It will probably take me another week to finish it if I cancel everything and don't cook, clean, or sleep.

 

I'm gonna need all reading glasses in the house at my disposal because I can no longer trust my eyes to help me stitch uniformly and evenly without them. I did find some cute readers at Anthropologie on sale. So, you know, I can look stylishly old.

 

I am so happy with the design of this quilt and the simplicity of assembling it. I thought about making a PDF pattern. Would you guys be interested in that?

backside

I had the idea for the quilt I told you about, and once I got started I just sort of hyperfocused on it and haven't stopped.

I pieced it up in about 3 days, then I went through my ritual dance I like to call "the clipping of the threads". I suppose a few of you have done this? On a king sized quilt top this took me most of a day with normal interruptions. Lots of threads, people.

However, it occurred to me that I liked the back of this quilt top so much that I should take a picture of it, since soon it will (hopefully) never be seen again. So here-

and here's another one for you-

It also occurred to me that I have definitely improved as a sewer over the years, if the backside of a quilt top is something I am not trying to hide.

Goodbye, quilttopback. I've spent a good week with you, but I'm too excited not to move on.

(I will save my prattling on about how much I love this quilt for another day.)

<><><><>

Amisha, we are *all* rooting for you!

in the clear

 
(I love camp crafts!)

I made it through Emma's inspection of her room completely unharmed. And a little shocked she wasn't mad. Just as I hoped, she was so happy to see what I had found during the cleanup (such as those long lost library books she was going to have to pay for) that I haven't gotten accused of disposing of anything precious (I tried really hard not to).

The winners of the Shabby Apple giveaway are:

In Among The Heather- Heather, you've won the women's dress

Princess Nebraska- Elizabeth, you've won the girl's dress

Thanks to all who entered. I've got more giveaways coming up soon.

I've got some quilting to do this week, can't wait to show you what I've been up to!

my first

Blogging for 5 years and I finally joined my very first quilting bee (virtual or otherwise!). Here's my first block, actually its a strip, created for a design Rossie has in mind, inspired by mid century modern design.

I am looking forward to seeing what all the participants come up with.

By the way, I pick Emma up from camp tomorrow. Its been nice getting to know you all and blogging with you. I'm a goner.

covert operation

Emma has been away at camp all week. So far, we've gotten no letters or phone calls (too busy having fun hopefully). I took advantage of her being away to completely clean out her room.

2 large trash bags and 2 large donation bags and I'm pretty sure she's going to kill me when she gets home.

summer stitches

Emma and I had a girl's afternoon last Sunday and took off for Urban Craft Uprising at Seattle Center. Emma had money burning a hole in her pocket and, well, I was just hoping to see some friends and see what was new. I saw Daria (she's got some gorgeous new jewelry and I made her pinky promise to blog again once she calms down), talked with the lovely Jill Bliss (these prints had me frozen with indecision because I loved them all... she's sized them to fit in IKEA frames. Wasn't that nice of her?). Aaaandddd, I squealed when I saw the Tako Fibers booth. I have looked at her DIY crewel kits for ages on etsy, never being able to decide which one to buy- apparently a theme with me these days. Anyway...Emily's kits are bigger than I thought (for some reason I thought they were tiny), the yarn colors are gorgeous, and she includes everything in each kit to get you going (how-to, embroidery hoop, more than enough yarn, needle, and printed hopsack). I decided to bring home one of her new designs, the Jeweled Bird. What a perfect little project to sit and stitch on each evening. I finished it in just a few days (crewel goes fast compared to everything else I'm working on these days).

 

I sprayed a thrift store frame apple green to put it in and hung it in our hallway. I think its needs a mate though. Hmm......

shabby apple giveaway

I colored my hair red and am now in Paris. 

     kidding...

The folks at the lovely online shop Shabby Apple recently contacted me about hosting a giveaway for my readers. (Just for the record, I get requests like this often and I am very selective about what to choose to offer for giveaways.) Their shop is full of beautiful fun dresses for women, preteens, and girls, as well as accessories, and I spent at least an hour going through their shop. Based out of Utah, the owners Emily and CK are all about creating dresses that are well-made, easy to wear dresses that are as gorgeous on their own as they are with the right accessories. I was also pleased to find out that they donate 5% of each dress sale to support work in India, which you can read more about here.

I was really impressed with their selection of preteen dresses. I just went through the process of finding Emma a "dress up" dress and was bombarded with way too many poorly made, tarty-looking dresses out on the market for 10 year old girls. We finally found one, but I wish I'd have known about this shop.

The folks at Shabby Apple are offering the "L'Amour", and the "Garden Party" dresses (both pictured above), to wise craft readers! Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw one name for the woman's dress, and one name for the girl's dress on Friday.

sweet preservation

A couple of months ago I hinted at some work I was doing for the Washington State Fruit Commission. The project is now up and on their new website devoted to canning and preserving summer, Sweet Preservation. I was asked to come up with some new, inspiring ways to illustrate the resurgence of home canning, and then style the photos on the day of the shoot. I had a great time doing research and forming ideas for this project.

My one experience in home canning was years ago, before kids. I still have most of the equipment and is there really anything better than tasting homemade jam or preserved fruit in the middle of winter? There are so many uses and recipes out there, I think I need to give it another try. There are fantastic sites like Canning Across America that give you all the basic information you need to started.

One of the most creative ways I've seen preserved fruit used as gifts would have to be as wedding reception favors. I really wish I would have thought of that when I got married. More than ever, when I am given preserved fruit, and realize how special it is and the work behind it.

Several etsy artist created all kinds of labels that can be downloaded and printed onto Avery #8163 Label sheets that can be fed through an ordinary home printer.

And now, a few completely random and little known facts from the day of the shoot for this project:

*That is not champagne in that last photo. Its Sprite with a bit of beer mixed in. Which makes that "Spreer". Or "Brite".

*In the 3rd photo down, I was totally coveting that Jonathan Adler vase behind the jar (belonged to the photographer, too big to steal) and those are tiny Swarovski crystals on the label, available from my buddies at Fusion Beads here in Seattle.

*Thank you to the person on set who let us use their latte to stage that photo (2nd from top) after our Starbucks run. I certainly hope we gave it back, cause no one should have to give up their coffee.

quick and inexpensive summer display

that doesn't involved fresh flowers that I admittedly sometimes for get about until they get smelly.

 

This display cost about $5.00. The two long neck glass bottles and the covered cheese dish (is that what you call it?) I got secondhand ($1.99 each). Filled with some beach sand and nicely shaped twigs and they helped to summer up our mantle. I fell hard for those glass bottles because of the shape, and the color of the one in the back. That Guy Wolff pot on the right is the only one left of a set of 2 I had from back when no one knew who he was and you could still buy them pretty inexpensively. I can't believe how much they are now.

Yep, we are living summer inside and out here folks! Each afternoon, and morning for that matter, the kids have their noses firmly planted in books..Emma is rediscovering Harry Potter and Ian is dissecting the Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary. And me? Well, I'm:

reading short stories

listening to a lot of music

starting a quilt

working on a tutorial for you

helping Peter

taking a few naps

strategically opening windows throughout the day to optimize the breeze in the house

and...

thanking you for all the thoughtful comments on my last post. Any longtime blogger will tell you that they don't need to hear things like that and they're lying through their teeth. Thank you for reading, and for chiming in on my thoughts. I still don't know what I'll do or how long I'll continue to blog, but I guess that's all part of the process.