A few of my favorite things

I ordered zippers and pulls from Jennie's Etsy shop Zipit.  I'm a new fan - unbelievably attentive service, great prices, and really fast shipping.  She threw in a few extra zipper pulls at no charge, which was both unexpected and sweet. I swear on the head of Bob the frog, I will never buy zippers from JoAnn's again.  Watch for a future post about how much I hate that store.

The zipper pulls are now stashed in a little zakka bag I made.

Which brings me to one of my favorite things:

Maybe some day I'll have a fancy computerized sewing machine, but right now, this is my favorite.  Vintage 70's Viking, with embroidery cams (they fit into the back).  That's how I did the little hearts on the bag above.



And here's the goofy cover I made.  This fabric cracks me up: "That's Sew Wrong" by Michael Miller.

And last year's Christmas present from my DH.   Who doesn't love peg board?

See those things on the left near the basket, above the pliers & jewelry tools?  Those are some of the 58 headbands my daughter and I made as a fund raiser for her 5th grade field trip.  They're reversible & $5 each if anyone wants to buy one.  I'll throw in free shipping to the U.S.  The trip is to Boston, but if we don't sell more of these, she won't make it past White River Junction.

My favorite things in the sewing (ahem) studio - not including fabric:

Sort of from left to right: my machine with embroidery cams, Grammy's pin cushion (probably over 60 years old), an inexpensive Sunbeam iron WITH A RETRACTABLE CORD (because life is too short to wind up cords), little zakka bag, Gingher scissors that cut fabric like butter, my Kona color card (it's the affordable version of Le Corbusier's color palette), my trusty 45mm rotary cutter, cute tape measure on a lanyard, and a signed print by Heather Ross (who called me personally about my order for her studio sale! I was awkward in a fan-girl geek kind of way, but she was sooooooo nice.  We had a conversation and everything).

And here's the dark underbelly of my very small space:

Yes, it's the tenement housing of fabric.  The problem is space.  I don't have any more room for shelves.  As it is, I have to take the sewing machine off the table - which is too high for sewing and too low for cutting - to cut fabric, and the ironing board half-blocks the bedroom door.  But I make it work, and I pretty much know where everything is.  And hey, I can reach just about everything without getting out of the chair.

2009 favorite fabrics

Kim at True Up is having a 2009 fabric round up, where people are blogging about fabric "best of 2009", plus she's having a lovely give away.  So as brandy-new fabric aficionado here are my thoughts for best of 2009 (and I totally took advantage of True Up's fabric round up - thanks, Kim!).

Favorite Juvenile Print: Wendy Slotboom "Frolic" for In the Beginning Fabrics
Favorite Trend (Motifs): leaves or sprouts on vines in a stripe pattern, a la Orla Kiely (see Taxi Trio, Bloom and Grow, and the Sunny Tender Sprouts pattern in Art Gallery Fabric's new "Filigree" line)
Favorite Trend (Motifs):  Runner Up - Owls - love all those owl fabrics
Fabric Motif Trend Prediction: Foxes (this has nothing to do with anything in the True Up categories, though)
Favorite New Designer:  Laura Gunn "Lantern Bloom" for Michael Miller
Favorite Quilting Weight Cotton Collection:  a tie - Art Gallery Fabrics' "Revive" line (I think it's 2009, let me know if I'm wrong) and Sanae "Arcadia" for Moda
Favorite Fabric Shop (bricks and mortar) - Franklin Mill Store in Franklin, Massachusetts (luckily for me, my in-laws live a short drive away)
Favorite Under the Radar/Sleeper Collection - Sanae "Arcadia" for Moda
Favorite New Fabric Worked With - double gauze, even though it frays fiercely if you're not careful
Favorite Print From Country of Choice - Heather Ross "Far, Far, Away" for Kokka (Japan) - yes, even though she's an American designer.  Second choice - Asuka "Girly and Bitter" double gauze for Nina's Sewing Factory (Japan)
Favorite Overall Designer - Anna Maria Horner, because of the colors, the designs, and most of all, because of the variety of fabrics.  Quilting weight cotton, cotton voile, textured voile/dobby, home dec weight, oilcloth, and flannel - come on, how can you not LOVE IT  LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!
Wild Card Category - Favorite Fabrics from 2008 I'm still working with and loving: "Lush" by Erin Michael, "Mendocino" by Heather Ross

My end of year holiday

So very nice to have time off at the end of the year.  All the frogs are thriving, more about them later.  I've been sewing quite a bit, and making soup when I take a break from sewing.  Embracing the craft of sewing has been a total kick this fall, mainly because I've started making quilts.  I started quilting about 15 years ago, and didn't get very far.  Why?  Probably because the fabrics available then didn't really turn my crank.  I still have that first quilting project sitting in my sewing room, and honestly?  Not going to finish it.  Because it's super boring.  I'll re-purpose it into doll quilts or similar, I suppose.

So about a year ago, I broke out my 15-year old $100 Kenmore beauty from Sears.  I made a few things, picked up some nice apparel fabric over the next few months from the ONE non-chain, non-quilting fabric store within driving distance.  Then that lovely fabric store, the late, lamented Threadneedle in Essex, Vermont, closed its doors last summer.  That's when I started exploring some local quilt shops, and the new fabrics blew my mind.  New (or new to me) designers like Heather Ross, Tula Pink, Denyse Schmidt, Erin Michael...holy cow!  Cotton fabric is so much fun now!

And the crafting, sewing, blogging, selling - the sheer volume of artistry happening now is fantastic.  I've been  inspired by blogs like Oh, Fransson!, Film in the Fridge, The Selfish Seamstress, and so many others.  So off I go with my rattly little machine, having a blast.

Hawthorne Threads

Great new fabric website - check it out!