Together

I was checking out my Pinterest recommendations last week, when I came across this poster. That, I thought, would make a great little piece of embroidery, and it turned out to be the perfect centerpiece for a pillow I wanted to make for my Mom for Mother's Day. The embroidery was done with navy floss on a piece of natural essex linen, and I surrounded it with scraps and charm squares of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie & Camille. The back of the pillow is from the Everything But the Kitchen Sink collection by RJR Fabrics. I love the vintage look of these fabrics, and thankfully my mom does too!

When my parents, my husband, and I started looking for a house together just over six years ago, everyone thought we were well meaning but crazy. Honestly, I think we wondered if we were a little crazy ourselves. Could we really pull this off, all living together in one house? I won't lie -- that first year of finding a home, buying it, moving in, and then slowly figuring out how everything would work was tough. Really tough. Looking back, we've had plenty of ups and downs over the past six years as we learned how to give and compromise and be patient with each other, but oh the blessings... It has been wonderful to be together, to face painful difficulties and disappointments as a family and to celebrate the victories with each other too. It's not just the big things, it's so many little ones: bringing the girls in every night before bed to Grampa and Nana's room for prayers and hugs and kisses, waking up at 3am and chatting with Mom for an hour in the loft because she was up worrying about the same thing I was, watching my husband and my dad joke with each other while they tackle a home improvement project together.

Last week my parents went off for a few days of vacation in Solvang, leaving us in charge of the house. "You're going to say, 'Free at last! Free at last!' once we're out the door," my dad teased, when I insisted that we were going to miss them. And you know, while we were able to manage all right with them away, the house just wasn't the same. We were all so incredibly glad to have them back again by the end of the week. Life is just better when we're together, and so much of that has to do with the kind of people that my parents are and the love that they have for us. I can't tell you how grateful we are to have them in our lives.

Linking up with Let's Get Acquainted Monday.

Mopsy

I never got around to showing you the little tooth pillow I made for Bunny when she lost the first one a while back. A few Marmalade charm squares, a scrap of grey linen, stuffing, and a Sharpie marker are all the ingredients involved here. This was a super quick finish that night after the first tooth came out, but it did the job just fine. Today after much drama -- losing a tooth is such a big deal when you're six years old -- tooth number two came out as well. Mopsy the tooth pillow was instantly on call, the tooth was bagged and stuffed in the front pocket, and Bunny is now counting the hours until tonight when she gets another quarter. "I'm going to be rich!" she keeps saying excitedly, clutching Mopsy to her chest in a hug.

Are kids cute or what?

Weekend

Giveaway Week has come to an end once again, and after 1,143 comments -- a new record here at Fabric Mutt -- we have a winner: Calvin & Carolyn. Thanks so much to all of you who commented, followed, and came back for another look after the initial hoopla died down. You made my week! And speaking of making my week, I went into Joann's to pick up some interfacing tonight and walked right into a display of Denyse Schmidt's new collection of Blossom Reel. I'm telling you, the bolts of fabric just started jumping into my cart. I was (barely) able to limit myself to the stack you see above.

A busy weekend lies ahead. I have a garage to finish cleaning, furniture to move, and a dumpster to fill. Not quite the usual Mother's Day weekend, but it feels good to get this stuff done, and Sunday is still scheduled to be a day of happy rest. I am so looking forward to it...

Mosaic Bag

For a while now I've been catching glimpses of beautiful fabric by the talented people at Umbrella Prints, and when I heard that it was time again for their annual trimmings competition, I didn't waste any time ordering myself a packet. It was love at first sight when I opened the package -- such a wonderful collection of scraps to play with!

I went for my drawer of linen scraps to add in a little more variety and ended up cutting a total of forty-nine squares, each one finishing at one inch after they were all sewn together. The mostly low volume design looks like a miniature mosaic to me. Along with the Umbrella Prints, there are fabrics in there by Echino, Melody Miller, and Heather Ross. It was a lot of fun to mix them all up and see how much detail I could fit into such tiny squares as I did my fussy cutting.

I've been planning to write the requested tutorial for the patchwork bag I showed you almost two weeks ago, but I wanted to do a little experimentation with interfacing first. This bag was a great opportunity for that. I love the extra structure that a firmer stabilizer gives to this version. Once again, I used my favorite yarn dyed essex linen in black as the main exterior fabric -- I just can't get enough of that stuff!

The inside is one of Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Parenthetical Flight prints from her Field Study linens collection. It's incredible to me that as small as this purse is -- nine inches square and just two inches deep -- it holds everything I need to carry with me when I go out. There's space for my new wallet and my triple-zip pouch with room to spare.

I added a double pocket to the back of the bag which turns out to be just the right size for my sunglasses and phone. The largest trimming piece from my packet made a perfect accent, and I lined the pocket with the same fabric I used for the bag interior. For one final touch of whimsy, I added my last paper airplane charm to the zipper, just like the ones I used on my gift pouches last week.

I don't think I've ever carried around a purse so small, but I adore this little bag. It feels like a piece of summer to me, and seeing all the snippets of my past projects in that mosaic just makes me happy. I do believe this bag is going to get a lot of love...

Update: I've written a tutorial for a slightly larger version of this bag which you can find right here. Sew and enjoy!

Giveaway Day: Spring 2013 Edition

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS SO MUCH FOR ENTERING!!

Welcome to Giveaway Day! You (and I!) have hundreds of blogs to visit today at Sew, Mama, Sew! headquarters, so we'll keep this post short. Here's the whole tour in just three easy steps...

1. Another Valentine Pair, 2. Notion Bag, 3. Market Lap Quilt, 4. Triple-Zip Pouch, 5. PPP #2, 6. Doll's Sleeping Bag in Use, 7. Traveling in Circles Tote 3, 8. Color Study Baby Quilt, 9. Fox Hollow Box Bag 2, 10. Patchwork Bag, 11. Once Upon a Time, 12. Tsuru Bag & Wallet

1. If you visit this blog on a regular basis, here's what you're going to see (cue picture above)... I'd love to have you drop by here anytime!

2. If you enter this giveaway today, here's what's up for grabs: a fat eighth bundle of Color Me Retro by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics along with coordinating solids. Happy retro goodness in a nice little bundle!

3. If you'd like a chance at the prize, here's how you enter: leave me a comment answering this question -- Who's your current favorite fabric designer (or two)? Followers of my blog, old and new, get an extra entry. Be sure that your email address is in your comment if you're a no reply blogger so that I can get in touch with the winner. International entries are welcome here. I'll pick a winner on Friday night.

Have fun!

Have It All Wallet

 
After seeing this lovely wallet back in January, I determined that I definitely needed one of those too. The pattern is only one of several fun projects offered by the cheeky Straight Stitch Society, but this is definitely my favorite.

The Tsuru flowers on the exterior are a favorite of mine as well as the Annie's Farm Stand print for the inside -- I'm only sad that the Lush print that I used for the zipper pocket is hidden as much as it is. I had planned to use a snap for the fastener, but the generic pliers and snap set that I purchased a few weeks ago turned out to be garbage. Velcro to the rescue!

For me, a wallet is all about space for my cards, which I use more than anything else. It's amazing how much room is built into this entire design -- I love the abundance of pockets! There's plenty of space in here for everything I need to carry with me, and it fits perfectly inside my Two Zip Hipster. Don't they look happy together?

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Giveaway Day!

Linking up to the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link-up.

Three Pouches

After the prototype I made earlier this week, I was able to finish three more versions of my Office in a Pouch for Bunny's AWANA teachers in time for her to deliver them last night at the closing program. Bunny helped me pick out the exterior fabric for each one, and I had fun selecting the fabrics to complement the main print.

If I had to choose a favorite, it would be the Melody Miller pouch. I love the way it turned out with the fussy cutting on the front and back.

I ended up making these just a tad smaller than my first one -- 8 x 13". It's a perfect fit for the supplies inside, and it makes the pouch a little easier to slip inside a larger bag if needed.

For the zipper charms on these, I used paper airplanes. It just seemed appropriate.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.