Embroidery Coach

Recently added to my book stash was this kitschy craft instruction manual I couldn't resist mooching, if nothing else than for the title: a 1993 copy of Create Your Own Cross Stitch: How to turn your design ideas into reality. I was curious about this emboldening statement to not let one's dreams (of cross-stitch) lie in wait. Had I wasted my time in art school when all I needed was this book to fulfill my dreams? I'm a sucker for diagrams, sketches, and how-to's especially if they have a homey spin and have been written by women with multiple degrees {the fantastic Shirley Watts of CYOCS has a degree in Geography, Geology, and a degree in the Philosophy of Education, to boot}.

Shirley sketches mushrooms, tells you how to take photos to turn them into cross-stitch, gives basic instruction on how to start a project, and gently coaxes you through the process of unpacking your fears of being a creative individual. If ever you needed an embroidery coach, she is it.

I collect more craft books than I am able to do projects, but I do try not to give into impulse buying of craft books unless I really think I'll make something from them. Bookmooch is my kiddie cocktail of the book binge world; tasty but not inebriating. Are there any books you stock up on for your own work or just for fun?

Colette Patterns

I have just discovered Colette sewing patterns through Pink Chalk Fabric. I'm in love with the ink and watercolor drawings of the clothes on their patterns and how the model has been painted in a wash of color. Completely lovely. The one below is called Parfait, and I'm determined, once and for all, to sew myself something wearable because of this pattern. Colette's blog is here, and designer Sarai Mitnick's blog Sweet Sassafras is here. How come I've never seen these patterns before? I wonder if the use of hand-painted illustration is part of a new collection. I'm off to investigate, but if anyone knows, do tell!

Wednesday Pillow

Say hello the newest member of our pillow family, sewn yesterday out of Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks fabric. When I got this 1/2 yard in the mail it was begging to be made into a pillow. It would have taken much less time to make had I thought about a closure before I started sewing, but the buttons worked out, and I like how they dress it up a little bit. Those buttons are vintage, from my mother's stash that I've kept for 2o years.

Heirloom Quilt

My diversion of the day has been to play around with fabric swatches in order to piece together the remainder of an unfinished quilt handed down to me by my grandmother. The squares were made by my grandfather's mother. This is what one quilt block looks like:

Originally I was thinking to use variations of yellow and brown to bring out the flowers and french knots, but now that I have pleated seafoam green curtains (long story), I really want to tie in the quilt with the curtains to make the color scheme more livable. Not to mention the curtains are a bit frilly, so the pattern needs to be brocade or more elaborate than I had originally planned. How to tie in a vintage quilt with shiny curtains? That's my goal. Ideas?

Yesterday I fell in love with Heather Bailey's fabric, so I made a test layout in Photoshop (pretty haphazardly, I should add), to see if it might work.

These are the fabrics from her website that I love:

And one possible layout... this is pretty rough, however. I kind of gave up after awhile trying to tile them. I think once I had the fabric, I would rearrange the squares more, and make less uniform lines.


I know I should do a starter quilt, not having done one before, but I'm not very motivated to try a difficult pattern -- any suggestions? I have lots of fabric scraps that could be used for a for a patchwork quilt.

Ruthie clutch

Super adorable Ruthie Clutch from Anna Maria Horner. I always skip to her blog posts in my reader because of the gorgeous photography, and wonderful storytelling about her life and family.

Nancy Coat

I'm catching up on my posts, here, and adore* the Nancy Coat from BurdaStyle. I think because I'm a brunette and like red lipstick it makes me think I might buy the pattern and have someone make it for me. That sounds so luxurious, but I could use a little bit right about now. I know I'm supposed to make these things myself, but my sewing machine won't cut it, nor will the 1-2 hour window of time a day that I have to work.

I need to think of new adjectives for the things that I like. Even I'm getting tired of adore, love, gorgeous, amazing, lovely....