Let's eat Grandpa!

Making More Pennants!

Cori — Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:34 +0000

When I first set up my Etsy shop, I was pretty sure only my friends would buy my quilts, pennants, and purses. But now that it’s been open a while, I’ve been surprised to find that I’m getting orders from people I don’t know! It’s a super exciting feeling to hear my Etsy app go cha-ching! when I make a sale.

Recently, I made two sets of pennants for two new clients. They are both moms, and both commissioned pennants for their new baby’s nursery (or, in the second case, babies! She’s having twins!). I think they turned out great!

The first nine-foot set was a fun combination of greens, reds, and yellow — going in an adorable jungle nursery.

Mom #2 commissioned two twelve-foot strands in girl shades of pink and purple — lots of fun, modern prints in this one!

I’m currently waiting on fabric to make a red, teal, and brown set for…another mom! Nurseries across the nation are getting more adorable while I write!

Want a set of your own? Visit my Etsy shop!

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Let’s Get Organized: Trim Organization Round-Up!

Cori — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:00:01 +0000

Now that the Trim Trade is coming to a close, and I’ve written my own post about organizing my trim, I thought I’d share a bunch of great trim organization options I found. Take a look at all of these amazing ways to keep your trim in check!

Left to right:

Left to right:

Left to right:

Left to right:

Left to right:

Now that you’re organized, check out Heather’s great post about what to do with all that trim!

Did I miss your awesome trim organization project? Leave me a link in the comments and I’ll feature it in an upcoming post!

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Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is Here!!

Cori — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:52 +0000

It is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! Twice a year, Sew Mama Sew does an enormous round-up of giveaways. It’s a great opportunity to win cool stuff and find new blogs to follow. Visit their blog to find more giveaways to enter!

If you found my blog on the Sew Mama Sew linky party, welcome! I hope you love what you find here!

(And if you are here to check out my round-up of trim organization ideas, check back tomorrow!)

For this Giveaway Day, I’m giving away a set of 6′ custom pennants in our choice of colors (as long as I can pull them from my extensive stash)! All you have to do is use Rafflecopter below the photo to enter. There are several ways to win! The giveaway begins today and ends May 10 at 5pm Pacific time. International entries are accepted!

(If you don’t win but want a set of your own, visit my Etsy shop!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Bloomin’ Quilt-As-You-Go Pillow up for Auction!

Cori — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:00:36 +0000

If the price was too high for the pillow I made for the Newtown Auction earlier this year, I have another, similar Bloomin’ quilt-as-you-go pillow up for bid at author Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Research Auction! They are hoping to raise $2 million this year (yes, $2 million!) so I hope you’ll bid on the pillow and help support her wonderful cause. Right now the bidding is at a whopping $15, so it’s totally within your reach!

The pillow measures 12″ x 12″ and is backed in orange dots. It has a bit of a literary bent — in the center of the flower is the start of a little story. Read more about it here!

And if you want to make one of your own, my tutorial can be found here.

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Book Review #8 – Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

Cori — Sat, 04 May 2013 13:00:42 +0000

Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

Narrator: John Elder Robison
Source: Audible
Finished: 4/8/13
Rating: 8 out of 10
Publisher: Books on Tape
Length: 9 hours 16 minutes
Pages: 302
Published: 2007

Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Robison’s thoughtful and thoroughly memorable account of living with Asperger’s syndrome is assured of media attention (and sales) due in part to his brother Augusten Burroughs’s brief but fascinating description of Robison in Running with Scissors. But Robison’s story is much more fully detailed in this moving memoir, beginning with his painful childhood, his abusive alcoholic father and his mentally disturbed mother. In the end, Robison succeeds in his goal of helping those who are struggling to grow up or live with Asperger’s to see how it is not a disease but a way of being that needs no cure except understanding and encouragement from others.

Overall Impression: Once again, a book has shown why memoir really is my favorite genre of writing. There’s just something about reading the personal journey of someone that makes me love, well, being human. We’re all so different and we all have our stories to tell. We are so lucky when people like Robison work up the courage and the time and energy to write out their stories — I learned so much from his memoir. Several people I’m close to (including my SIL and one of my bridesmaids) have worked with autistic children, so my interest in the autism spectrum was already piqued. I also read Born on a Blue Day a while back, which was fascinating. Look Me in the Eye just extended my curiosity, and definitely had me grinning — there were a lot of funny, touching moments in the book. It also made me look more deeply at the way I may treat people who I find, well, socially awkward. I think it gave me more grace.

Positives: This is an essential read for anyone with or anyone who knows someone with Asperger’s (which, if I recall, was removed as classification? I need to look more into it.). I think he gives a lot of credit to the “weird kids” out there, who don’t fit in with crowd very easily, and really pushes to let kids explore what interests them.

Negatives: I wish there had been some more explanation about what happened to his parents between the first part of his life and the latter. This may have been covered more in Running with Scissors, but I had a hard time connecting his early parents from the parents later in the book.

Narration: Like most authors who read their own memoirs, he nailed it. He knew exactly how he wanted to sound, and then sounded that way.

Other books I’ve read by John Elder Robison: none

Other books I’ve listened to narrated by John Elder Robison: none

Other blogger opinions:

My Books. My Life.: “I thought the book would focus mostly on Asperger’s and how it affected his life, but instead it was just a memoir about someone who happened to have Asperger’s.”

The Book Lady’s Blog: “It is a wonderful resource for anyone who knows, lives with, or works with someone who has an autism-spectrum disorder, and it is a great for those curious minds that just want to hear another perspective.”

The Almost Perfectionist: “…I’m so glad I read this book to understand this man better and hopefully use his life story (thus far) as a resource to understand my son.”

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Let’s Get Organized: Trim Organization

Cori — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:00:45 +0000

When I pulled out all of my trim to get it organized for the Trim Trade, it was a wee bit embarrassing. There was a lot of it. Especially ribbon and twill tape. I had no idea until I got it all into one place! And it was a disaster! Basically, I had several unorganized boxes of ribbon, lace, ric-rac, bias tape, and buttons.

Oi, right?

I started with the pile of small spools of ribbon. I’ve seen it in several places, and I can’t get enough of it. Clearly. I used some a while back to make a cute ribbon tote, but I had, well, a bit left over. First, I organized it by color and took it off the spools.

But what to do with it? I tried a couple different options, but finally found these little rounded-corner wood squares in a drawer. I had bought them for the wedding from Pick Your Plum (if you’re not receiving their daily emails, I highly suggest you sign up!), but I didn’t read the size and when I received them, they were about a quarter of the size I expected.

So I had 20 little wood squares with no purpose, which ended up working perfectly for the ribbon. Wrapped it around, and secured it with a straight pin.

Cute! And it now takes up a fraction of the space the spools did.

But that was just the start of the ribbon. I stopped by Goodwill yesterday to try and find some small glass vases and jars for my future SIL’s wedding in July (yes, Ryan and his sister are getting married about a month apart!), and I ran across something that I’m sure the Goodwill people thought they would never sell — a wooden cassette tape holder. To me, however, it was the ultimate ribbon/twill tape organizer!

I had a few spools of lace (which will probably be used up fairly quickly for the wedding), which I wrapped around the outside of a big vase that once held Valentine’s flowers from Ryan (awww), and I put the ribboned wood squares inside the jar. The rest of the ribbon went into a big mason jar. I had a few spools of twill tape that didn’t fit in the rack, so I just stacked those on my fabric shelf. Ribbon — organized!

Next, I had a bunch of ric-rac and bias tape, as well as a small collection of washi tape and a large handful of buttons. I had more mason jars, so I made quick use of them. For the loose bias tape and ric-rac, I wrapped it around wooden doll pins, a la Everyday Celebration.

Me thinks I need more washi tape.

On Monday, check back for a round-up of other trim organization ideas from around the web, as well as a chance for you to add your trim organization post if I missed it in my round-up!

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WiP Wednesday

Cori — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:00:16 +0000

Had another fairly productive two weeks — I feel this intense drive to finish things soon because I know that life is only going to get more and more busy between now and August/September (which, if you didn’t know, includes our wedding, honeymoon, a move across town, quitting my job, and the NorCal Sew On Retreat, among other things).

This week I dropped off Jen’s quilt to my friend Becky to quilt, as well as finished up and delivered Cheryl’s baby quilt (blog post coming soon). I also finished another set of pennants for Kendra, and made a bag and wrote up a tutorial.

I also sorted some scraps and did a bit of QAYG for fun (maybe something for the shop?).

This week I’m hoping to pick out some fabrics for bags for Julia, Robyn, and Amy, but I’m not sure I’ll get much farther than that. Amy, my bestie, is getting married on Saturday! Which is so-exciting-I-might-fall-over. And then Sunday is my birthday so we’re heading to the Scottish Festival to watch men throw logs while wearing kilts.

Finished this Week:

Cheryl’s baby quilt
Pennants for Kendra
Ribbon Tote Tutorial

Works in Progress:

Clutch for Julia (next step: choose fabrics)*
Quilt for Jen (next step: Becky to quilt)
Essential Quilting Quilt (next step: baste)
Bag for Robyn (next step: select fabrics)*
QAYG bag (next step: make back and interior)*
Bag for Amy (next step: select fabrics + pattern)*

Sewing Projects to Start:

iSpy Quilt for Owen (next step: cut fabric)
Knitting Bag (next step: work with Brittney on design and create mock-up)
Christmas tree skirt of Christy (next step: give her a quote)
Thank you gifts (next step: select fabrics)

* Goals for this week

W.i.P. (Work in Progress) Wednesday can be found over at Freshly Pieced!

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Woven Ribbon Tote Tutorial

Cori — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:00:28 +0000

I picked up a pack of 16 rolls of this cute polka-dot ribbon at Marshall’s a while back. Organizing my trim the Trim Trade has made me realize just how much cute things like this I have lying around. So let’s use some!

Here’s an easy ribbon tote tutorial. All seams are 1/4″.

Cut your fabric pieces as follows:

Exterior fabric: 13″ x 15″ (cut 2)
Interior fabric: 13″ x 15″ (cut 2)
Straps: 2.5″ x 26″ (cut 4, 2 each of 2 fabrics)
Horizontal ribbon: 13″ x width of ribbon (cut 4)
Vertical ribbon: 15″ x width of ribbon (cut 4)

Instructions:

To affix the ribbons to the exterior fabric, I sprayed the back of the ribbons with 505 spray-adhesive. This allowed me to weave the ribbons together and get them to stay put without pins (pins will warp the ribbon). Start with the top and left-most ribbons and start weaving them together. You’ll have to lift ribbons you’ve already placed to weave them:

Because the spray-adhesive sticks and re-sticks, it made it pretty easy to weave the ribbons together. Soon you’ll have the ribbons woven like so:

Sew along the edge of each ribbon. I used coordinating thread for each ribbon. Get as close to the finished edge as you can. You may notice the ribbon pulls and warps the fabric a little as you sew but it doesn’t really matter because you’ll square everything up in a bit.

When I got to an intersection of ribbon, I just sewed across the other ribbon:

Once all the ribbons are sew on, square up the fabric by trimming off the uneven edges. I lost about a 1/2″ of fabric vertically, and a 1/4″ of fabric horizontally because of the warping. Trim down your other exterior piece and your two interior pieces to be the same size as the exterior ribboned piece.

Sew the two exterior pieces together, RST, on the bottom and sides. Do the same with the lining pieces, but leave a 4″ gap at the bottom for turning the bag right-side out later. Trim the corners. Press the seams open.

Make your straps. For mine, I used the black crosshatch for the top of the strap, and the teal ovals for the underside of the strap. Sew the long sides of two of the strap pieces, RST, leaving the ends open. Iron the seams open. Turn the straps right-side out, press, and topstitch down the long edge, 1/8″ away from the edge.

Now it’s time to assemble the tote.

Turn the exterior of the bag right-sides out and nestle it within the wrong-sides out lining. Then nestle and pin the straps between the exterior of the bag and the lining of the bag, 2″ from the edge on each side. The straps will be in between the layers of the bag, with the raw edges of the strap lining up with the top raw edge of the bag.

Make sure your straps are pinned the right way up. For mine, I had the black crosshatch fabric together with the black crosshatch exterior, and the teal ovals together with the striped lining.

Sew all the way around the top of the bag, making sure you catch the straps as you go around. Backstitch at the start and finish. Turn the bag right-side out through the hole in the bottom of the lining. You’ll see that the straps are now on the outside of the bag. Stitch the hole shut, either with your machine and a stitch very close to the edge (my preference), or by hand sewing.

Topstitch around the top of the tote — first 1/8″ away from the top edge, then 1/4″ away from the top edge. This will help secure the handles.

Tada! You have a super cute ribboned tote! The nice thing about this tote is that you can make it pretty much any size you’d like, use any ribbon you’d like, make the straps any length you’d like — it’s incredibly versatile!

I’m thinking I’m going to make several totes and zippered pouches using these ribbons. They’ll be in the shop soon!

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SWAP Etiquette!

Cori — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:49:15 +0000

Are you participating in the Trim Trade or another online swap? Always wondered how to be the best swap partner possible? Heather at the Sewing Loft has a great post today about swap etiquette!

Want to participate in the Trim Trade?

The swap is simple:

Go to the Google form and fill in your information.
We’ll email you the name and address of your swap partner.
Choose enough trim to fill a sandwich-size plastic bag.
Post photos of your trim to the Flickr page.
Comment on what you love…and what you don’t (be kind!)
Ship out your swag by May 8!

We’d love for you to join us!

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Another Compact Grocery Tote!

Cori — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:34:05 +0000

I’m just in love with this Compact Grocery Tote from Lisa Lam’s A Bag for All Reasons. I made a couple earlier this year, and I have found that it’s a super easy, yet really cute and surprisingly sturdy bag. The reinforcement stitching on the handles makes it feel like you could pack this thing full of books or groceries or gold bars and it would hold up.

I wanted it to be sort of bookish, so the outside is typewriter keys from Julia Rothman’s Type line, and the handles and strap are part of the Architextures line by Carolyn Friedlander. The inside is the bright orange crosshatch from Madrona Road for a big pop of color.

One of the reasons I love this bag is because it not only has a handy little hook, but also wraps up super small, so you can throw it in your bag and use it when you need a bit of extra storage space.

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