linques design speaks

my latest obsession

It's snaps! How come I've never used them before?

They're fantastic. So much so that I through some scraps together to make this little bitty change purse.

Which can also double as a Moo card holder! They keep getting lost in my regular business card holder. Plus, I'm starting to get a little collection of other people's cards, and it's nice to have someplace to store them.

Have you seen the new Drawing Room fabric in person? It's gorgeous! Derek actually said that it's his favorite fabric of mine he's seen...and he's seen a LOT of fabric!! I had to use it right away, of course.

I just love the scale of the print. This is a decent sized bag, but I still had to pick which area of the print I wanted to use. The other side's just a tad bit different, so it's reversible in that sense. I was debating keeping this purse too, but I've already got my Amy Butler bag, and about a million others. Oh, but it does look cute with my outfit today! Well, I've got more of this fabric, so I can always make another. So for now, you can find this guy here.

I still haven't watched the Lost finale, so I think I'll go do that now. Although I probably should be attending to the fabric piles in my living room instead. I was just saying the other day I should become an interior decorator. Maybe I could make it a trend to have fabric strewn everywhere. Think it would catch on?

*edit to add* Have you ever been to the blog Roman Sock? Brie's got some amazing crochet patterns, all for free. She's just added another one that was recently featured on Whip Up, for the cutest acorn bag. (Now in strawberry too!) I, like many others, would normally pay to use such great patterns. Instead, how about donating to help her friend Bri with her medical costs? My donation was unfortunately meager for now, but like Brie said, every little bit helps. You can read more at Roman Sock!

Clean Up!

Just a fun way to use some cute prints!

And some embroidery!

I -heart- sewing

I made a new purse pattern yesterday that I really like. This one might be a keeper, at least for summer. It's roomy but not too big, and I really like the handles. I have a book that's all about handles, so I can see a lot of inspiration coming my way. The first one I made with an interfacing. It's good and sturdy, but I like soft and squishy bags. My next one was give and take - I used cotton flannel so it can hold it's shape, but it still can "smush" a little. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Fabric look familiar? I love this colorway. This was my tester bag, and it's mine. LOVE it. I used it today, and the woman at the fabric store said, "Look, an Amy Butler Bag! How cute! What pattern did you use?" And I told her my own, and she said, "Oh I know it's your bag, but what pattern?" So I again explained that I designed the bag and drafted the pattern. It was funny! I like that I can make things that don't look homemade.

Here's another one I made out of one of my favorite "upcycled" vintage sheets. This one was done with the flannel on the inside. I also used webbing for the straps. I like the fabric straps too, but it's always fun to switch it up a bit. Since I have a feeling I'll be making more of these, I listed this one on Etsy at a sale intro price. I'm already thinking lace, and pleats, and buttons, etc for future versions!

Ta-da!

My first project from my own patterns is done! This is just a simple straight skirt, a modified version of the basic skirt pattern. It's about 3" lower with a skinny waistband. This was basically my test muslin so I had to tweak the fit just a bit, but now it fits perfectly! A good pattern for 1 yd of fabric! Next up I think will be a cut flared skirt. I want to master the basics again before I make some design changes.

Did you see who commented on my blog?! THE Jennifer Paganelli herself! I LOVE her fabrics! I happened to find her blog the other day, probably through some links about Quilt Market. So I hopped on over and went through her archives-what a cute blog! I left a comment, and the next thing I know she's over here on this little blog. So cool! And what's crazy is just a few hours before I made a sunglasses holder out of her lovely fabric!

(Typepad - you really are messing me up here. I'm all for changes, but yours make no sense!!)

Drafting

I finally did something today I've been wanting to do for awhile. I bought cork! Yay! Isn't that exciting?

I know, it doesn't sound exciting, but if it's covering a table it is. I got some lovely, thick cork squares and Command Adhesive-d them to my (free) glass table. Ta-da! Cork table! The very absolute best thing to draft patterns. The key here is thick cork so you can push pushpins all the way down. Cork is quite hard to find for some reason. I had to buy the squares because no one had the thick stuff in a roll. So what did I do? I went right to work and drafted myself a front bodice sloper. A sloper is a basic pattern; nothing you would actually use to make a garment out of, except to fit it. The basic sloper set is used as a base for manipulating to draft a pattern for pretty much any garment you could think of. The basic bodice set is the first of many to come. Now I just need to get another bolt of muslin and I'll be good to go!

whoa

Is it just me, or has Typepad changed?? It wasn't like this yesterday! Weird. Anyways, Happy Birthday, mom! Glad you liked your present. In case you couldn't guess, it was a quilt! Another one. I was making an oven mitt last Wednesday and it wound up looking more like a claw, so I decided to do a quilt. I ran up to the store to get some coordinating fabric for my Swell fat quarters, and just made up a cute, easy pattern. I barely had anytime to work on it, because last Wednesday was an awards dinner for Derek (best teacher!), then Thursday was his dinner for his b-day, then Friday I was home so obviously couldn't work on it in front of mom. So it left me little to no time to work on this guy. I finished it up Monday afternoon, didn't take time to wash it (she's been instructed), snapped some photos and jammed it in a box. It went out overnight, and made it there just in time!

Yep, Typepad's different!

I quilted this with straight, vertical lines. The backing is the dark pink gingham, which is the same as the main rectangle. You can't tell, but the cream has pink flowers all over it. The binding is a floral print, but not from the Swell line. Can you tell her favorite color is pink?

Mom also started a different blog, this time with blogspot. If you've got a second, swing by and wish her happy b-day! She's also got a b-day sale going at Etsy.

I wanted to be crafty today, but wasn't. The only things I made were one measly headband, and a pen case for Derek. I love my Mondays and Tuesdays, but I need to make some more stuff!

The headband's cute though. It's skinny, but big enough to fit my larger than average head. For a small person my head is quite big! It's reversible to a pretty tan linen, so it will go with everything!

May is busy!

May is quite a busy month around here. I've got mother's day, Derek's b-day, and my mom's b-day all in a row. Maybe that explains where I've been all week. I went with nearly all handmade gifts for each occassion this year. Not everything was made by me, but it was nice gifting unique and interesting things.

Here's what my mom received for Mother's Day:

This is another print from YumiYumi. I cut it down a bit and found this great frame for it. I think it's absolutely adorable!

I won't post pictures here of everything I gave Derek for his birthday, but here are some links in case you want to see:

some beer soap
a Chihuahua T
a mac'n'cheese T
a Black Flag wallet
and a few other goodies like dvds, a cd, and some video games

Notice all of the American Apparel in there? I was originally going to go with just a bunch of plain AA stuff since that's his favorite clothing, but why not make it better with a great screen print? I love the Chihuahua one!

I made my mom's birthday present...but her birthday's not until tomorrow so I'm not showing a picture of it yet. She was thinking about coming to visit here tomorrow, but decided not to. It's kind of sad, because we usually go somewhere on her birthday. Usually a mall, but even if we don't buy anything it's still fun! Now instead I'll be forced to clean all day. That way I can get back to some sewing.

pretend

It's fun pretend shopping on my mom's site. To start, I'd get these 3 things:

A cute dish for my strawberries.

A pretty plate for my pins. (yes I often use plates for pins!)

And this little owl just because!

quilt along, week 2

Here's my second block for the Star Quilt Along. I know we're in week three, but I just decided which fabrics to use for last week's block. I have 4 different prints that I'd like to limit myself to for the blocks, so I'm going to sit down and plan all the fabrics for the blocks now. I've got a separate print for the setting blocks, so I guess I could start on those anytime...

fun day!

Working at the dog wash...

Today Derek and I helped out at a dog wash for Animal Outreach, a group that promotes spaying and neutering, as well as adoption programs. I found out about it through work, and we'll probably go each month to help. We brought Cosmo, which we had been debating, because it was from 12-4. But he was SO good! That's a long day for him, especially being outside the whole time.

This is Levi. He was so sweet. I'm the one in the green, and don't ask me what I'm looking at! I think his owners in the background were saying something. The wash is in a parking lot right outside of Starbucks, and they let the org hook up to their water, which was nice. There were maybe 12 dogs that showed up for it, but it was the first day this year with minimal promotion. Dogs are fun!