I heart artsy-crafty babe (and she's having a sale!)

Surely you know Beki of artsy-crafty babe, right?

I just love her patterns! Here are some bags I've made from her patterns. They're from my pre-blog sewing days, so I haven't showed these here before.

This one is called the Ava Rose Tote:



And this one is called the Short & Sassy Pleated Handbag:



(Can you tell these pictures are from my earlier days of photography? I think they were both taken with a flash (ahhhh!). . . there's definitely a reason I've switched to all natural-light photography!!!)

And here are the bags I've made from Beki's free patterns- the Pleated Tote and the Phoebe Bag.



Right now Beki is running a big sale over at her shop. All bags are 50% off and all patterns are only $5.

Seriously, how do you resist cuteness like this?

Happy sewing,
Mary

I heart bugs

So in the real world, I pretty much hate bugs.

But in the fabric world? I just love these Tula Pink bugs! I was up late browsing Flickr one night and happened upon a picture of these adorable thumbtacks and I just had to have them! I started clicking around and quickly discovered that Meredith sells these in her shop. After a quick, overly-excited message to Meredith I managed to score them before she listed them in her shop. Woohoo!

I've had these for a couple weeks now and I can't bring myself to take them out of their adorable little container. Here there are posing with my newly acquired fat quarter of adorable ladybugs, scored in a little swap with a Flickr friend. I think I'm just going to stare at these little guys for a while!

Happy Friday!
Mary

I heart patchwork

Just a little weekend sewing to share -

{Front and back of patchwork cosmetics pouch}





This cute pattern is from Rashida Coleman-Hale's book "I Love Patchwork."

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy sewing,
Mary

The whole school of fish!

Remember when I was lamenting that I didn't have any super adorable goldfish in bags?

When I published that post back in July, I was mostly hoping someone would take pity on me and send me one teeny tiny goldfish.

However, I got much more than I expected!

When my blog friend Amy and I agreed to do a fun one-on-one swap, she said she wanted to make something for me based on one of my previous posts.

Just look at this amazing mini quilt she made for me!

I can't even tell you how much I adore this little quilt.  I just love Amy's version of the goldfish in bags!  The bags are linocut prints that Amy hand-carves on linoleum blocks from her own original designs.  The fish are hand painted with freezer paper stencils.  (If you'd like some of Amy's original goldfish in bags, she has some of her prints for sale in her shop.  And if you're curious about the linocut process, Amy did a great post about it here.)

I also adore the colors on this mini, all the great Make Life prints (one of my very favorite fabric lines!) and the great mix of hand quilting and machine quilting.  This mini is hanging in my sewing room and I love looking at it every time I go in there!

Amy also sent me this great handmade card, also with a linocut print.  This one is just perfect for a beach girl like myself!

(I haven't finished my end of the swap yet . . . but I'll be done by the end of the month!)

My goldfish luck didn't end there . . . almost as if they had coordinated it, I got this package in the mail on the very same day - a surprise from Mr. Pin.Sew.Press!

We have a policy of not getting each other birthday or Christmas presents.  Instead we like to give each other little surprises throughout the year.

Let me tell you, this was a huge surprise!  I had actually made peace with the fact that I'd never own these little guys, and I can't believe my husband went to the trouble of tracking these down! 

I'm happy to report that all my new fish are getting along nicely.

Thank you so much Amy and Mr. Pin.Sew.Press. for making my day!  I promise to take good care of my new pets :-)

Happy sewing,

Mary

P.S. - I think Blogger hates me . . . I can't get rid of all those extra spaces in the middle!  What's the deal?

Things I'm loving . . .

. . . Kona Color Card from Pink Chalk Fabrics

. . . the quilt-hanging wire my husband hung in my sewing room.

. . . my fabric for Bee Splendid!  

August is my month, and I'll be asking the lovely ladies in my group to make scrappy Drunk Love blocks like this.

. . . my little helper.  I love her the most.  Even if she makes huge messes in my sewing room :-)

Happy sewing!

Mary

For the love of goldfish (and aqua and tangerine!)

I really love these little guys . . . 


1. goldfish to go, 2. Heather Ross goldfish, 3. 5 little coasters, 4. goldfish squared twin quilts, 5. Heather Ross Baby Quilt, 6. Heather Ross Baby Quilt, 7. Passport Cover, 8. Goldfish & Tangerine Dot Car Seat Strap Covers, 9. goldfish

Aqua and tangerine has to be one of my favorite color combos. (Did you know there's a whole Flickr group dedicated to aqua and tangerine?!) And these little goldfish just make me smile. They have names for pete's sake! Adorable.


All you fabric addicts out there know just how rare these out-of-print Heather Ross prints are. You can't find them anywhere! They were certainly long gone by the time I started sewing. 

Except that I did find them on Etsy today. And I was pretty excited until I saw the price. $45 per yard. Per yard! Seriously? 

If you're looking for a real bargain, I just checked back on the link and the price is down to $42.50. You can find the goldfish in bags here and the swimming goldfish here. Still out of my price range (by about $30 a yard!), but if you snatch it up will you please just cut out one teeny tiny fish in a bag and send it to me? Just one? I'll feed it and take it for walks and everything, promise.

Thanks :-)

Mary

I heart LBG Studio

Check out these awesome goodies I won in a giveaway over at Steals, Deals, and Heels!

These items are handmade by my blog friend Vanessa of Little Big Girl Studio.  Even better!

Pink and navy is one of my favorite color combos.  I just love this little zip pouch and key fob.  The zipper is installed SO nicely . . . I'm going to need a lot more practice before I can achieve that myself!  Good thing I bought 50 zippers to practice with.

I've admired Vanessa's work for a long time.  In fact, I think she may have been my very first Flickr contact way back when!  Her projects are so cute and inspiring.  If you don't already know Vanessa, be sure to check out her blog and her shop! 

Happy sewing!

Mary

I heart potholders!

Try not to be too jealous . . . but look what I got in the mail last weekend!

Amy of During Quiet Time made me these awesome potholders for the Potholder Pass Round 2, and she also sent some adorable mini potholders for Lauren to use!

Lauren loves her new potholders -

but I love mine more :-)

You can read more about these awesome potholders and my sad tale of lost mail here.

Next, here's what I've been working on the Potholder Pass Round 3:

These were inspired by the amazing Winter Rainbow quilt by Faith at Fresh Lemons.  If you haven't seen this quilt yet, you have to check it out!

I've admired this quilt for a while, and when I discovered that this quilt was also a "fave" of my secret partner on Flickr, I was instantly inspired!  I made the potholder on the right first, pulling out stacks and stacks of fabric and sewing together little strips to make the blocks.  I love how it turned out, but it took a LOT of work, so I made the potholder on the left a bit simpler.  I think they make a great pair!

I wanted to keep up with all the other cool ladies in the Potholder Pass and try my hand at adding grommets.  (Everyone else is doing it!!!)  Unfortunately the actual installation has been a little harder than expected.  I've been hammering away on my grommet tool and can't seem to get the darn thing to bend and play nice!

Here's the back, and as you can see my sad, sad grommets aren't fully installed yet.

I think it's time to swallow my pride and ask the husband for help!

Am I just a huge wimp, or has anyone else out there had trouble with their grommets?

Happy sewing!
Mary

I heart naptime

and this is my idea of a naptime well spent . . .

Have you discovered Stitch Magazine yet?

It pretty much rocks.

This issue features projects by Beki of Artsy-Crafty Babe (her project is on the cover!), Ayumi of Pink Penguin, and Rashida of I Heart Linen, to name a few.  I love seeing some of my favorite bloggers in print, and I love how modern this magazine is!

Now if only we could get a quilting magazine this hip and modern!

Happy sewing!
Mary