11 lovely designs: linen + gray + ruffles.

Remember how much I liked the linen and gray corduroy combination from this project?  Well here's my original take on that fabric combo.

I had so much fun making the ruffled wasp bag for Presser Foot this month that I made two of them!  I lined it with a melon colored flannel for a little punch of color. 

 I love this bag so much, I didn't want to part with it.  But alas, birthdays call.  Hopefully the recipient likes it as much as I do...

The original ruffled wasp bag should be up on Presser Foot tomorrow.  I'll reveal the result as soon as it's posted.

0 presser foot - pockets and prep

My month of guest blogging at Presser Foot is almost over.  Can you believe it's almost February?  My post on pockets and assembly prep is up.  You want to learn how to make purse pockets, don't you?  If so, go here!  It won't be much longer until the final purse is revealed.

5 lovely designs: a new project.

Lately I've been coming across a lot of quilt patterns that I really want to try.  Granted, I've never sewn a quilt in my life, but why not start now?  I came across this cathedral window quilt tutorial last week and loved the design so much I just had to try it.  Bonus that it doesn't require quilting the entire thing at the end, because I don't know how to make the pretty patterns that free form quilters make on their quilts.  Not so much of a bonus-- it took me a good four hours to make these four blocks and put them together (after a practice run that definitely did not deserve a place in this post).  

Do I have the patience to make an entire quilt?  I seriously doubt it.  But it would make for a pretty awesome pillowcase!  And can I tell you how obsessed I am with putting linen and gray corduroy together?  Another project using these fabrics is coming up soon!

2 presser foot - ruffled handles.

The next post in my ruffled wasp bag tutorial is up on Presser Foot.  If you're sewing along, go check it out!

1 i like ribbons.

I think I have a problem. I can't stop buying ribbon. These are the spools I picked up today. Aren't they pretty?

Does anyone else have a ribbon addiction?

1 birthdays.

Cutest. Birthday. Card. Ever.

From How About Orange

Go here for the tutorial!

And speaking of birthdays. Today happens to be the birthday of a very dear friend of mine.  Her name is Anna, and we've been friends since we were 3.  

Happy birthday Anna!  I miss you! xoxo

3 lovely inspiration: papercutting film

Papercutting is one of those things that I will never be capable of outside of using my Cricut, which I don't think really counts.  This stop motion animation video is one of the most amazing things I've seen in awhile.  I can't even imagine how long it would take to make something like this!

Video via CRAFT and All About Papercutting.

0 lovely spaces: project runway bedrooms.

I am loving the custom walls in the bedrooms of the Project Runway house this season.  This would be a great project for my husband if we ever get a house!  My only question is -- wouldn't it suck to have to dust all those crevices?

Photos from Lifetime via Apartment Therapy

I can't decide which pattern I like more, but I definitely like the blue color more than all the greens.  Which room is your favorite?

2 presser foot - cutting the fabrics.

The next post in my ruffled wasp bag adventures is up on the Presser Foot blog.  Go there now (please) and find out how to cut your fabrics!

0 craft hope for haiti.

Craft Hope has launched an etsy shop in response to the terrible earthquake in Haiti.  100% of the proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.  Please help out by donating an item to sell or by purchasing something from the shop!

1 slacker.

An entire week has gone by without a single post from me! Not good, not good at all. I don't have much of an excuse, other than I've been working on--and finished!-- my purse for Presser Foot (more posts on that next week), been prepping for another honeymoon post on a small town bride and Weddingbee, and doing one other little time sucking activity called watching Dexter. I don't know what it is about this show but I am addicted. We've watched almost all of Season 2 this past week. Like 9 episodes. That's a lot of wasted time, but I have to admit that I've enjoyed it!

We're off to Grand Rapids for a weekend of Chuck E. Cheese with the little ones (our adorable niece and nephews), and some quality time with family and friends. Is it bad that I am excited for Chuck E. Cheese?

1 winter weekend.

Wishing you all a happy winter weekend!  Bundle up, it's going to be a cold one.

Photo via weheartit

p.s. My first post about the bag I'm making is up on the Presser Foot blog... go there now! Pretty please?

4 handmade holiday: part four.

I realize the holidays are now over, and I'm almost done sharing the things I made for Christmas gifts! A few weeks before Christmas, my Weddingbee friends and I had an ornament exchange. The goal was to make or buy an ornament in the likeness of their Weddingbee character. The only criteria was that it couldn't cost more than $15.  I set to work gathering inspiration by examining the character that I'd be making on Weddingbee.

Next I stopped at Michaels, where I ended up with some red, brown, black, and white colored clays, clear glaze, and some red and white ribbon. I consulted with my friend Dana the next day about the plan, since she is the expert on clay figures. Look at these adorable frog cake toppers she made for her wedding!  She also makes me a super cute winter clay ornament every year for my Christmas gift!  They are brightening up my desk at work all winter long.

After consulting with the pro, I went home that night and molded, shaped, baked, and glazed, and somehow came up with this little cutie in the likeness of one of my favorite crafty bees, Mrs. Yorkie!

I added a box of pawprint cookies (a little twist on my thumbprint version) and peppermint-chocolate sugar cookies for good measure, as I was sure her husband would appreciate sugary goodness more than he would clay puppies.

I packaged it all up in kraft paper boxes that I had decorated with wrapping paper, and tied them with pretty green bows.  Our little yorkie was ready to be delivered to her owner!

3 presser foot guest blogger.

I was selected to be the Presser Foot guest blogger for the month, and my intro post just went up on the blog! 

Presser Foot is a group sewing blog.  There is a project every month and everyone makes their own version of the chosen item for that month.  This month we'll be making this Wasp Bag, isn't it cute?

Photo from machen/machen.

Kelli and Rian sent me some pretty fabrics to work with. I love the pattern and the colors are perfectly modern.  I'll be writing on their blog as the bag comes together, so don't forget to check it out!

Photo from Presser Foot

And for those of you whose list of resolutions includes learning to sew things that aren't straight lines, this is the perfect time to start!  

3 hello 2010!

Happy New Year lovelies!

Photo via weheartit

I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in the new year.  Hopefully you didn't celebrate too hard!  Adam and I spent the night watching Dexter Season 1 and enjoying a feast of our favorite foods.  We barely made it until midnight, but it was still one of the best spent NYEs I have ever had.

During the NYE feast, we had a nice conversation about what we hope to accomplish in the new year.  Big changes are coming for us in 2010. Our main goal: a house!  Where that house is located is yet to be determined, but trust me, we will find the one.  

And those ever-so-popular goals of achieving complete organization and losing the newlywed 10?  We've come a tiny bit closer to success by purchasing some cute bins and totes to organize the craft clutter and playing (err, working out) on our new Wii Fit.

A personal goal for me this year is to start sewing clothes, and I have already made a little progress towards this one this weekend.  I bought about 20 patterns this weekend at JoAnn's for 99 cents each!  That is insanely cheap my friends.  I can't wait to start sewing.  I'm on the hunt for a dressform if anyone has one they'd like to donate to me.  It will be put to good use, I swear!

What about you?  Did you make any resolutions this year?