Leaving for Mexico

Tomorrow, we're leaving for a week long vacation in Mexico with our friends Jason and Sarah. The kids are staying here with their grandparents. I'll be taking a week-long blogging break, but will post some photos when I get back.

Kevin and I are really looking fowrard it. See you all soon!

New Fabric

A bit of new fabric from the Joel Dewberry and Amy Butler collections. I can't waiting to start turning these into some messenger bags....

Birthday surprise

Last year, my friend Dawn gave me some lovely fabric that her Grandfather sent over to her from the UAE back when she was in highschool. I thought that it was far too generous to pass that on to me, but Dawn said that she had the fabric for close to 20 years already, and she didn't think she'd ever get to it.

So this year, for Dawn's birthday, I made her a simple clutch using some of the fabric that her Grandfather had given her. Bright red isn't really her thing anymore, so I used some nice rich brown on eiher end of the red to tone it down a bit. When I gave it to her late Saturday. She seemed to really like it.

The wait is over

I've been excitedly waiting for the new Harry Potter book for months. I pre-ordered it on Amazon.com back in February, but decided today to join the party at the bookstore at Midnight on Friday too just because it sounded like fun to be there with a big crowd. Having gotten a wristband earlier in the day, it only took 17 minutes to get the book after they started selling at 12:01 Saturday morning.

Now I'm safely back at home, having just poured myself a glass of wine, and am ready to tuck in and work my way through this thing. I might be hard to reach until I finish it.

Messenger Tote

On Monday the kids went to bed at a reasonable hour (which around here means something like 10pm) and Kevin was out with friends. I decided to get started on some custom orders. But while I was digging up my black canvas, I came across the Russian doll fabric again, and ended up getting totally distracted. Ninety minutes later, I had this new messenger tote. Which, as it just happens, coordinated just perfectly with the red and white blouse I was planning on wearing to workTuesday. I got a bunch of compliments on it today at the pool (after work), so I'm thinking it might be a good idea to whip up a dozen or so in this style for Patty Fair in December.

:: a bit of nice detail above the mht label ::

:: the inside of the bag is lined with matching Russian countryside canvas ::

Beach Kids

I had a little time at the end of the day today and was able to play around a bit with my favorite beach photo of the kids from our recent trip to Hilton Head. I love Quinn's face in this one. I swear I wonder at least half a dozen times a day what's going on inside that girl's head. Whatever it is -- it sure looks like fun.

Sewing Break

I had grand plans last week - lots of sewing, lots of crafts with the kids. None of it got done. Now my head is cluttered with projects and I have very little time this week to get them turned out.

The good news is that people have gone mad for the elephant bag design and I have four custom orders! I should have bought more of that fabric when it was available. It's long gone now. But as I mentioned in a recent post, on my short list of things to do is fire up that large format printer of mine and print some fabric. I've got a cute elephant pattern running around in my head (they keeps bumping into that citrus pattern that's up there too). It would be lovely if I could get to that next weekend.

Even though there wasn't enough time for sewing last week, I was able to find a hour or so to surf around and get inspired.

One of the things I came across was this blog by Aline Yamada, a fine artist and illustrator living about a half mile from me here in Ohio. She makes lovely delicately coloured prints using a mixture of illustration and digital techniques.



I ordered these two prints from her and they are just as beautiful on paper as they are on screen. To see more, click onto Aline's etsy shop. When I received her package in the mail I realized that I've been jogging past Aline's house for the past two weeks on my new running route. Small world.

Elephant bags

For being a busy holiday week, I’ve actually gotten a good amount of sewing done. Last weekend, I fell in love with the wipe holder bags that Beth created for Karen and Julie’s shower. I thought they would make a great clutch bag if the dimensions were just a bit smaller. I started working on that one after the 4th of July, but it was late when I started and I forgot to make it smaller. So, instead of a clutch, it’s turned into a smallish-sized messenger bag. Don’t you just love the elephant fabric!

I added a zipper pocket in the front for easy access to my phone. And like Beth, I used grommets on either side to attach the handles. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. But I think that the flap is a bit anemic looking. And, the Velcro closure is a bit too high on the flap.

I lined the inside of the flap with the pink version of the elephant fabric. It seemed like a great idea at first, but the Velcro kind of ruins the effect.


I was able to use my new labels too. I ordered these weeks ago from Name Maker and am pretty happy with them overall. The ones with my name on them are a bit larger than I would like. I thought the second line would me smaller than the first. It kind of feels like my label is shouting at people.


After making the elephant messenger bag, I thought that a couple of little clutch bags would be cute to go along with them. I’ve cut everything out and will hopefully get to sewing them together tonight.


We’re having wonderful weather this weekend. I took the kids to the pool yesterday, and we’ll probably head over there again today. After dinner yesterday, we took them to see Ratatouille. I had never heard of that dish before, and it looked pretty good (in pixels anyhow) on screen. I found this recipe on Epicurious and might give it a go.

ingredients
1 onion, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 tablespoons olive oil
a 3/4-pound eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
1 small zucchini, scrubbed, quartered lengthwise, and cut into thin slices
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 pound small ripe tomatoes, chopped coarse (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil leaves

preparation
In a large skillet cook the onion and the garlic in 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil and heat it over moderately high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Add the eggplant and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until the eggplant is softened. Stir in the zucchini and the bell pepper and cook the mixture over the moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook the mixture, stirring occassionaly, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the oregano, the thyme, the coriander, the fennel seeds, the salt, and pepper to taste and cook the mixture, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the basil and combine the mixture well. The ratatouille may be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheated before serving.

Happy Fourth of July!

We're taking a little rest between a couple of parties that are going on today. We started bright and early this morning by riding on our street's float. The kids and I spent several evenings last week putting poms in the frame. It was all finished up last night around 7pm. The theme was "through the ages" and to honor Ohio we build small replicas of a varitey of planes from the first one that the Wright brothers flew, through WWII planes. The float itself was the space shuttle. We used an old school bus as the frame. It was amazing. I wasn't able to take any really good shots of us in the float, because I was in it with the kids. But if I get any later I'll add them to this post.

My town is pretty much crazy for the Fourth of July. Most streets shut down, everyone pulls their grill to the front yard, and it's an all-day celebration. We have two more parties to hit this afternoon before the fireworks (I hope we have fireworks. It looks like rain).

The kids are all tuckered out from the whole parade thing. So I think we're all going to take a group nap now. Have a happy Fourth!

:: Our Space Shuttle float stole the show ::


:: The view from the front - it's huge! ::


:: On the float - waiting for the hatches to open so we can pop up in front of the judges ::


:: Waving to the peeps ::


:: The crowd loved it! ::


:: "We did it!" ::


:: Enjoying some well-deserved watermelon ::

Shower Gifts Completed

I was kind of a down to the wire thing, but I got the quilt and diaper bag completed in time for the shower today.

Here's the diaper bag for Julie, in her favorite color It has an outside cell phone pocket and six interior pockets. One of them has velcro to keep her keys and wallet safe.


And here's Karen's quilt. Yes, it's the same material as the quilt I made for Moon's baby. This one was a lot easier to put together thanks to the walking foot for my sewing machine. That thing is a dream.

Here's the quilt all bundled, the wrapped gifts (gotta love that Target wrap) and a snap of Karen opening it.