artsy-crafty babe

inspired by orla

I'm a little late to the game with the Orla Kiely stuff at Target. I finally made my way there yesterday to check it out.  Needless to say, there wasn't much left.  I did manage to get a set of dish towels, but there was only one color left.  I didn't mind, I like them all.

Immediately I wanted to make a bag.  If you didn't know, I have a thing for dishtowel bags.

These kitchen towels are BIG.  This bag is BIG.  If I were to make this again, I'd probably reduce the body by a few inches.  I didn't think to do this because I wanted to use every inch of that print!

I decided to use some brown piping for a little kick.  I love it!  As much as I love my funky quilted bag, I'm transferring all my purse contents into this baby.  Do you blame me?

Now that I got this out of my system (it was a total impulse project) I think I'll focus on my house this weekend.  I know that doesn't sound like much fun, but with a clean house I'll have a clear mind.  I need that.  Happy weekend, friends - enjoy it :)

P.S. I finally updated my shop with my last 3 curvy bags.

big plans

I was going to wait until I had it all completed before I blogged about this, but I can't wait.  Plus, I figured if I put it out there, I would be held accountable.  Like most projects, I started this with gusto, and now that all the materials have been gathered, I've lost my steam.

After Lily's last sleep over, I decided that we needed a place for the kids to be noisy away from us hang out.  Lily and Ava share a room, so when she has friends over it causes a bit of a dilemma.  The perfect solution would be to turn my sewing room, which is a loft space, into a play room, but that isn't going to happen - where would I put my stuff?  So, I thought the next best thing would be to rearrange my sewing room to accommodate a little play area.  This room isn't very big, but I think it works.

Now my sewing stuff take up 1/3 of the room while the sitting area uses the rest.  I bought a love seat sized futon to serve as cozy seating spot. When the futon is open, there is just enough space for it to fit.  It's a full size mattress, which is plenty big enough for 2 kiddos to sleep.

I really like where Richelle's new arrangement because now I can watch TV while I sew.  The TV is in the closet.  With as many quirky things that this house has, having the cable and electric outlet in the closet was pretty smart, I think.  We still need to fix that other closet door and get it hung.

I was totally inspired by this room in the Feb. issue of House Beautiful.  I love this room.  I thought my sewing room would be a good place to reinterpret this.  Of course, my sewing room is no where near as classy as this!  Just like the inspiration room, my sofa will be pink and the chair will be green.  I've gathered a few fabrics to make black & white throw pillows for the futon and I plan to recover my sewing chair in a zebra print.  With my new arrangement, I think I need a new sewing chair - my current one is too big.  I'm sure I can find one somewhere.

It's still very much a work in progress, but it's getting there.

**if you commented on the last few posts and no longer see your comment, sorry about that!  I accidentally deleted some good comments while trying to delete some spam comments.   a definite uh-oh moment.  I did read them all, promise!

still knitting

Yep, I'm still busy with the needles.  I don't knit as much as I did when I first caught the fever, but I'm still at it when I get the chance. 

My modified rusted root is almost finished.  My goal is to have it done by St. Patricks's day.  Just one more sleeve and then neckline.

Here is my Plath Cardigan.  This thing is taking much longer than I thought it would.  That ladder stitch is taking me forever.  I let out a huge sigh of relief when I finished the body, but I still have the sleeves to go - they won't be long sleeves, that's for sure! 

Did I mention that I want my uniform for spring/summer to be dresses with cropped cardigans?  I declare that I'll only wear dresses every spring, but have yet to do that.  We'll see how I do this year...I might have a slightly better chance due to the fact that none of my pants fit me anymore.  I think it's time I visited WW again.  Blah.  Maybe I'll just sew myself a new wardrobe of skirts & dresses.  I like that idea better :)  I'm trying to look on the bright side here!!

where did the time go?

I'm not talking about that hour we lost this weekend.  How did it get to be the second week in March already?  Last week totally eluded me.  I had posts started, but then something would come up and they never happened.  I wanted to participate in green week- I took photos and everything, but I never made it to the computer.  Having a root canal last week didn't help any.  I never want to do THAT again (I'm still feeling it, ugh!!).

I feel like I'm super busy with a million things to do, but when I step back I can't quite figure out what those million things are.  I'm totally scattered.

Because I desperately needed it, I fit in some creative time Sunday night, which is my favorite time to sew.  I caught up on my February blocks for twelve square and Pieced Together quilting bees.  I think my current state of mind is evident in these blocks, kind of scattered and busy.  Both Melissa and Katie wanted similar styles.  I tried to make them somewhat calm, which is what I was craving, but that isn't how they turned out.  One one hand I'm disappointed because they didn't come out as I had envisioned, but on the other I love how these blocks are reflective of me right now.  I hope you like them, girls, they'll be in the mail this week.  Ahh, something crossed off my list.  Here's to a week of much needed calmness - I'm determined to make it happen!

still working on it

Yes, I'm still working on those curves.  It's getting there. This is my favorite one yet, and it wasn't as big a pain in the butt as the last one (hee hee -though that linen was not a walk in the park).  I have another one pieced, different than the ones I've made so far, so no, I'm not finished yet.  Obsessive?  Maybe a little :)

a little something

When a friend has an upcoming birthday, the first thing I think of is 'what can I make?'.  I can't help it, that's how my mind works - and that's just what I did.  Never mind that my house looks like a sty, I have a gift to make!  For my friend Melissa I made a pendant and some earrings.  I hope she doesn't mind that I made her jewelry last year.  It must be something with this time of year.

Before I could make her gift, I needed a little practice (it had been a while), so I made a little something for me.  There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Happy Birthday Melissa!

ava, ava, ava

That girl.  That third child of mine.  It seems like most photos I take of her lately are of her getting into mischief.  No, she's not a bad child by any means, just a very curious child.   It's hard to be mad at her when she looks at you with those big brown eyes and says "sorry mommy".  She has such a sweet temperament, really.

Lately she's been getting into lipstick and playing with fingernail polish.  I've always said that the age of 3 is more challenging than 2.  Where does that 'terrible two' saying come from anyway?  Ava will be 3 in 2 months.

 

Sunday morning she decided to give herself hair cut. Not just a little snip.  Yes, I was upset.

There wasn't much I could do with it, but I tried my best to even it out.  Now my little one is sporting a pixie cut.  I did make her a new flower barrette, which she loves, though there's hardly enough hair to clip it on.  There will be more of those in the works, possibly a tutorial?  

It's only hair.  I'm sure we'll look back on this one day and laugh about it.  Yesterday, not so much.  On the bright side, she's quite proud of her new hair, though she was a bit confused when she looked in the mirror this morning.  To quote her "Ava has baby hair, like daddy" (Matt has no hair).  Hair or not, she's still my little cutie!