Violet Craft

2011 Swaps!

2012-01-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

Recently the Portland Modern Quilt Guild did a potholder swap with the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. I showed the potholder that I made for my recipient Kristin back here. Below is the potholder I received in return from Kathy Hurley. I really love the quilting and the big grommet!

At our December meeting we had our holiday gift swap. My recipient was Ale. I made her a ticker tape tote bag which I completely forgot to take a photo of. I received this COMPLETELY AWESOME table runner, zipper pouch, scrap bin and pin cushion from Cathy. She really knows my style. She knew that I loved to add ruffles to my quilts and put that super sweet little ruffle on the pin cushion for me. This table runner is PERFECT for my house. It will spend a long time on my table.

Thank you so much swap partners!

Beer-vent Calendar 2011

2012-01-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

For the discriminating beer geek, no amount of craft beer awesomeness is too much. Following up last year's Twelve Days of Beer-mas I felt I needed to outdo myself. I'm still not sure that putting this together and surprising the Mr. Craft wasn't more fun than him receiving it. I am happy to say I was able to enjoy a lot of this gift with him. I put together 24 beers for the calendar and then a bonus three beers for Christmas day opening.

The back row

The front row

The list in order of days:

1. Dogfish Head Chickory Stout

2. Great Divide Brewing Hibernation Ale

3. Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11

4. Fire Mountain Brewhouse Hangman Winterfest

5. Hub Abominable Winter Ale

6. Golden Valley Brewing Tannenbomb

7. Ninkasi Imperiale Stout

8. Dick's Double Diamond Winter Ale

9. Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws

10. Oakshire Brewing Overcast Espresso Stout

11. Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Brown Shugga' Stout Substitute

12. Avery Brewing Old Jubilation Ale

13. Seven Brides Becky's Black Cat Porter

14. Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout

15. Oakshire Ill Tempered Gnome

16. Lost Coast Brewery Winterbrown

17. Heater Allen Sandy Paws Baltic Porter

18. Lompoc C-Sons Greetings

19. Bruery/Elysian/Stone La Citrueille Celeste de Citracodo

20. Laurelwood Gearhead

21. Anchor Brewing Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

22. Ft. George Brewing North V

23. Southern Tier Jahva

24. Shelton Brothers Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout

And on the 25th day:

Avery Brewing The Czar

Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny the Elder

Deschutes Brewing The Stoic

A little note: If you plan to make one of these for your beer geek you might want to put the days in order from top to bottom. When opening these some of the top days fell into the holes created by the lower ones that had already been cleared. Next year: beer tree? We shall see!

I call her The Trophy Wife

2012-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I had the amazing pleasure of being able to participate in a Secret Santa exchange with my sewing circle gals, the Yams. This bag was designed especially for Heather, occasionally affectionately known as The Trophy Wife.

I perfected the pattern through many a trial and error and these two were created for my sisters-in-law for Christmas gifts. Mine is on the cutting table now and I can't wait to have it finished!

Look for the pattern coming in March!

Completely unplanned, I was also Heather's Secret Santa recipient. She made me a whole boatload of awesome goodies that I'll post about soon. Thank you Heather! It was THE MOST FUN being your partner :)

Behind the Scenes of a Photoshoot

2011-12-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Peacock Lane Snowflake Petal Pillows featured on Sew, Mama, Sew!

Today I have a little tutorial featured on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog using the AccuQuilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter. Pop on over there to check out the tutorial and find out more about how I use fabric cutters in my work.

I thought it would be fun to show you here what it really looks like when I take pictures at my house.

Here is the final photo:

And here is what really happened. Actually, there were about a dozen that I deleted right after taking them with a streak running through the middle of the photo or a tail whisping past the edge.

"Oh, and what's that? Petals? Do they move? Do they FLY off the table when I hit them like THIS!? Yep, they sure do. What fun. Oh, did you put me down on the floor so I could run back up at them faster like THIS? Thanks for the help!" (Tulip)

*sigh* (me)

Who, me? What? I'm just sitting here, out of frame, minding my own business.

Beach Weekend Sewing

2011-12-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I had the awesome pleasure of being able to hit the beach with a few of my Yams. My first project was to do some pattern testing for Elizabeth. This is the Perfect Zip Bags pattern. Elizabeth supplied me with a sweet little pack of fabrics to work with and away I went. Afterwards I played photographer in the yard of our getaway house.

My Perfect Zip Bags

Perfect Zip Bags by Monica, Gabrien and mine

Perfect Zip Bags by Monica

Gabrien also made a sweet little tote bag from a pattern designed by Monica for Better Homes and Gardens. You can find the pattern on their All People Quilt site. I love this sweet little pic I took! The tote is made with Lotta Jansdotter's new line, Echo.

Happy Sewing!

Kansas City, Here She Comes!

2011-12-03T01:55:00.000-08:00

Kansas City / Portland - Modern Quilt Guild Pot Holder Swap!

Dear swap partner, I hope you like it.
I sort of love it.
It's wonky and modern and I am in love with the quilting.
I want to make a whole quilt just like it now.
And it matches my vintage dishes perfectly.

*sigh*

Thankful.

2011-11-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is the Mr. Craft. He's the love of my life. Last month he took me on a little weekend away for my birthday. Our first time away without the children or friends in years. It was absolutely perfect.

I jotted this down while relaxing in the cabin:

"On the huge, snuggly sofa in a tiny, imperfect (and yet SO PERFECT) cabin along Hackett Creek across the road from Sandy River a few miles up the base of Mt. Hood, I sit humbled and thankful.

In the twelve hours we've been away from Portland and nestled into our lodgings under the giant conifers I've already had the pleasure of contemplating the joys of parenting and teaching my children, the love of my marriage, the amazing warmth and safety of my friendships, the nurturing of my creativity and all while snuggled on a sofa, feeding cheese to baby Salmon in the stream, exploring the wooden path to the ridge, gazing out the window at the woodlands, sitting in the lodge-style grill up the road or listening to the squirrels throw nuts at the roof in the early morning hours.

I could not name that many thoughts or sights in the past blur of a normal month at home.

I've thought not just of the smooth, amazing moments in those things, but of the struggles and the defeats and the visceral joy of the accomplishments. If we didn't fall, we'd never know what it feels like to get up and stand on our own two feet, accomplished. If I never crashed and burned, I'd not know healing. If my months weren't blurs, I'd not know the feeling of quiet reflection.

I am but an infinitely small piece of an infinitely huge space. But I feel like a giant. And I am thankful. "

mod petal pillows, interview, giveaway, oh my!

2011-10-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

When Gina Cadenasso, the proprietress of Bolt Fabric Boutique in Portland, OR asked me about doing a little interview on their blog, I was ecstatic. You see Bolt is a bit, ummm, awesome.

Gina has this special way of curating her inventory. I don't use that word lightly. Walking into the front door of Bolt you are immediately greeted with a feeling of style, fashion and urban make-ing. Gina has a way of editing collections down to this refined boutique of prints and notions that suit Bolt's aesthetic perfectly.

So when I discovered that Gina had chosen to include Peacock Lane in Bolt's offerings I was truly ecstatic.

And when she asked me to pick out a fat quarter pack to give away on their blog... well, I got so excited by what I had to choose from that I had to go and make new pillows for our living room... and a mini pattern to go with them!

Mod Petal Pillows

I chose a fat quarter pack consisting of the following five prints for the giveaway:

Quilting Treasures - Juicy Blossoms in Orange

Bluehill - Savannah - 7443 - Green (5)

Lecien - Cocoa Eraser Dots

Moda - Basic Grey - Max and Whiskers - Maybley Fur in Black

Lecien - Rosalie Quinlan - Sweet Broderie - Daisy Chain in Orange

I couldn't quite stop there though... my shopping pile also included:

Daisy Janie - Geo Grand - Crystal Ball in that yummy bright citron-y green

Andover - Melissa Averinos - Dazzle - Shadow Stripe in Teal (for the backing)

Kona Cotton in Ash for the middle square and border

Kona Cotton in White for the dash of sashing

I thought you might also like to see what this same pattern would look like done in the fat quarter pack of Peacock Lane that Bolt is also giving away! In this example I've swapped out the Kona Ash and replaced it with Kona Medium Gray (or even Charcoal). The prints are fussy cut pieces of Meadow in Pink, Meadow in Gray, Falling Flowers in Aqua and Parade Day in Gray.

Shopping List (makes two 19" square pillow covers):

1/8 yard each of five to seven prints

1/4 yard of Kona Ash for center background and border

1/8 yard of Kona White for sashing

1 yard of print for backing

3/4 yard of batting

3/4 yard of no-show lining for inside of quilted pillow fronts

thread to match

water soluble marking pen

2 pillow inserts - 22" square

(optional) 1/8 yard of Wonder Under or other paper backed two sided fusible web

Cutting List:

Various Prints: 40 @ 3 1/2" squares

Fusible Web: 8 @ 3 1/2" squares

Kona Ash: 2 @ 9" squares; 4 @ 2 1/2" x 15 1/2" strips; 4 @ 2 1/2" x 19 1/2" strips

Kona White: 2 @ 3/4" x 9"; 2 @ 3/4" x 9 1/2"

Backing: 4 @ 18" x 19 1/2"

Batting: 2 @ 22" squares

Lining: 2 @ 22" squares

Mini Instructions:

(please keep in mind this is a quickie mini tutorial - for detailed explanations of how to cut, piece, quilt and bind, I would suggest the many awesome blogs that detail those techniques... might I suggest my personal favorite, Elizabeth Hartman)

1. Cut all pieces according to Cutting List (1/4" seam allowance included in measurements)

2. Trace Mod Petal Template on paper backed side of fusible web squares. (Template should print out at 2.7" wide x 3.3" tall) Fuse web to eight 3 1/2" squares. Cut out.

3. Fuse petals to center squares in your desired arrangement. Play with this! There are many fun ways to arrange the petals. Example leaves a 3/8" space between the petals. Attach with desired edge stitch. Example uses tight zigzag stitch.

4. Piece two Mod Petal Blocks by using the diagram. Press all seams flat.

5. Layer a 22" lining square face down, a 22" batting square and the Mod Petal Block face up.

6. Quilt as desired. Example uses straight line quilting 1/4" from the seams. Trim to 19 1/2".

7. Hem one 19 1/2" edge of all four backing pieces. If backing is directional, hem one top and one bottom for each pillow back.

8. With quilted pillow top lying right side up, layer one pillow back right sides together with hemmed edge running horizontally across the middle of the pillow top, aligning raw edges along the top. Layer the final pillow back piece with right side down, hemmed edge running horizontally across middle of the pillow top, aligning raw edges on the bottom edge. Pin.

9. Stitch 1/4" from edge around the entire outside edge of pillow cover layers. Turn right side out and enjoy!

Now go! Enter! Win! Sew!

Ahh - it's all SO good.

The Quilt Show visits the Craft House

2011-08-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

I can't really believe this happened. Two weeks ago I had the distinct pleasure of having a visit from The Quilt Show. Shelly Heesacker, the producer of The Quilt Show contacted me several weeks ago about being a guest on their show. To be honest, I was thrilled and totally confused at the same time! Me? Little 'ol me? Why me? She actually asked me if "I would be interested". Are you kidding me????? I think I somehow eeked out my most professional, yes. Which lasted for about a second before I started gushing my thanks and gratitude all over her.

As it turns out they are doing a segment about local places and people in Portland. And somehow the stars aligned and some very sweet people mentioned this here quilter and *POOF*! I'm on The Quilt Show. Booyah!

It was a crazy, wonderful day. Shelly was here with her team for several hours and we filmed a couple different sections including an interview where I answered all sorts of questions and my studio where I got to show off Peacock Lane for Michael Miller Fabrics, my Indygo Junction patterns and some new things I'm working on right now.

We also toured my house and there are a few silly surprises as well. The segment won't air until the middle of NEXT YEAR - I can not believe I have to wait that long to see it!!! I will make sure to let you know when it is available.

The kiddos and the husband even got into the filming and the girls got a little instruction on sound.

I think I was walking around on clouds for about a week after this. I had so much fun and am still amazed that they chose me to be a part of the show. Thank you Shelly and The Quilt Show!

Peacock Lane is Arriving in Shops Daily!!!!

2011-08-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I. AM. EXCITED.

Peacock Lane has starting popping up all over online. I am so excited to see it showing up in the shops AND projects! I got my first link to a quilt done with Peacock Lane today and it was simply thrilling to see what someone else has created out of my fabric with their own hands. If you make something with Peacock Lane, please, oh please add it to my Flickr Group!

I want to share the shop links that I have found so far and am putting together a Shops page - so if you are a shop owner or if you see one you think should be included, add it into the comments and we will get it onto the Shops page.

So here we go! Pick your favorite shop or try a new one - these are the peeps showing me the love with their orders, let's show them the love with ours :)

The Little Fabric Shop

westwoodacres

etsy shops

Look at these beautiful precuts from westwoodacres on etsy. She was kind enough to let me borrow her images for my blog post - and from what I have found so far, she is the ONLY one cutting layer cakes, charm packs and jelly rolls of Peacock Lane. It makes me want to buy them just because they look so pretty and perfect!

*** If I have missed any shops, particularly online, it was not intentional. I used Google search to find them - so if you aren't showing up here it means you should check your tags and SEO (search engine optimization). Please add any shops in the comments so I can give them some linky love on the Shops page! This goes for brick and mortars too! ***

It's About Time!

2011-08-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

Let's get the bad news out of the way..... I'm a slacker. Whew. Glad we got that over with. lol!

I could be talking about the FOUR, count them, FOUR huge baskets of clean laundry that came out of the dryer about a week ago and have not been folded yet.

I could be talking about the next fabric collection that hasn't been turned in yet.

I could be talking about my headlight that has been out for at least a month.

But nope, let's just forget about those things shall we? I'm talking about the giveaway that I promised you longer ago than I want to admit. So let's do this!

I used the random number generator and quite hilariously it picked 1. And comment 1 just happens to be from Jana in which she says, "I know that the first comment never wins."

Isn't that awesome??? But then I thought, no one is going to believe that. So I should pick another one!

That time I got number 19, Debbie (WoolenSails) - Hooray Debbie! But see, if it hadn't been for Marcia W. who reminded me on a later post that I had completely spaced completing the giveaway, well then we wouldn't be here right now - so I'm sending a charm pack to Marcia as well.

Thank you everyone for playing along!

July....

2011-08-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

July was a crazy awesome month. And I was apparently having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of hardly any of it!

The Mr. Craft and I started off July by celebrating Oregon Craft Beer Month - we celebrated it long and hard - and over and over again. We kicked it off with the official kickoff dinner and tasting right at the beginning of the month.

I attended the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show with a large majority of my sewing circle, The Sweet Hot Yams - best read about here and here. Thank goodness someone documented all of that!

The newest member of the Craft Family, Mrs. Tulip Meowington came to live with us. And apparently all I took pictures of for almost the entire month!

I got a haircut for a little something special that was happening at the end of the month... that I will blog about in the next few days!

Tulip settled in.

And settled in a little more...

And then The Mr. Craft and I completed this amazing month with the Oregon Summer Brewfest. The #pdxbeergeeks were in full force and we had a wonderful time drinking in as much of what Oregon has to offer as we could.

Cheers to July!

A Quilt for Ellie

2011-08-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of short weeks ago some very dear friends of ours adopted the most perfect baby girl. Her name is Ellie. I made her a selvage to selvage strip quilt in the turquoise, yellow and gray prints from Peacock Lane. You can't see it in any of the photos that I took, but I used free motion quilting to quilt her full name, her birthday and the "label" into her quilting. The rest of the quilt is quilted using straight line quilting.

The back is a solid piece of Parade Day in gray.

Obsession on Point - The Flea Market Fancy Quilt

2011-08-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

As I have gone on and on and on and on about in previous posts since almost exactly one year ago, I have been collecting Flea Market Fancy fabrics from friends and swaps and shops for quite awhile now. I finally amassed enough of the entire collection to create this square in square on point quilt.

This quilt was my recent submission for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild's special collection display at the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show in the beginning of July. This was my Quilt Story for the submission of my quilt:

"For over a year I have been obsessed with Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy collection; out of print and hard to find; not my first and not my last obsession.

I have begged, borrowed and swapped with over two dozen online and real life friends to complete the entire collection. I cut into my obsession and created this quilt which I love dearly for all of the beautiful colors, prints and the love I feel when I think of all of the friends that helped me to gather and create it.

I cut into my coveted stash. Have you?"

One of my favorite blocks: Grey Seeds set into Blue Daisy Dots - I had BARELY enough of the grey seeds to complete the two blocks that contain it. I would still LOVE any more of those and the blue seeds that I can get my hands on.

The quilt has a 2.5" ruffle binding around the entire perimeter. The quilt back is Pink Daisy Dots on top and Green posies on bottom with a "label" strip of Kona Snow between them. The "label" reads, "Obsession on Point ~ Pieced and Quilted by Violet Craft ~ June 2011". The label was digitized with Generations Embroidery Software and embroidered on a Janome Memory Craft 300E. You can also see that I left the selvages exposed around the quilt label strip for posterity. It was quilted using a loose free-motion stipple on my Bernina Virtuosa 155.

Special thanks to Heather, John, Elizabeth, Mo and the Flickr Swappy Poo group. And everyone else who ever let me take their very last smidge of any print I could get my hands on. I am cooking up another quilt with those little smidges! I couldn't have done it without you all!

I love this quilt to pieces and hope it will be with our family for a very long time.

Peacock Lane visits Fort Hays State University

2011-06-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

We are back! And oh my goodness, my to-do-list is HUGE.

While we were in Kansas I was able to go back to my college and spend some time on campus with my best friend and our kiddos. My girls are wearing the Urban Prairie Dress which is one of my brand new patterns with Indygo Junction.

Peacock Lane Bouquet in Green and and Falling Flowers in Red.

Peacock Lane Parade Day in Gray and Falling Flowers in Turquoise.

I haven't closed the comments yet on my charm pack give-away so get on over there and comment. I'll be closing and posting a winner on Friday, July 1. Sorry - no specific time... at my whimsy (or actually, at the time that fits in between having two kiddos home for summer vacation and trying to work and enjoy the summertime!) :)

A Vacation Giveaway!

2011-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We're on vacation traveling half way across the country (you can follow along on Twitter). We're photoshooting Peacock Lane in the countryside along our route and having a great time in the wheatlands.

In the meantime, I promised you a little giveaway! Well, this is actually a BIG giveaway - a whole fat quarter pack of the entire collection! While at Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City I was honored to have Daria from Boutique Cafe interview me for her blog and podcast series. We had a really fun time and although I sound a little bit like a dork, I am so excited to share the interview with you here! We are giving away the fat quarter pack over at BoutiqueCafe so make sure to head on over to her post about my interview and comment, comment, comment!

And as an added bonus I will be giving away a charm pack here as well so make sure to comment right here on this post and also at Boutique Cafe.

I can't wait to share our vacation pics with you when we return (internet access is sketchy out here in the middle of everynowhere.)

Happy Summer Vacation everyone!

Let's Do This!

2011-06-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce my Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! winner!

I have read all of your comments. All 623 of them! I am humbled to say the least. Thank you so much for your well wishes and lovely comments about Peacock Lane. I loved reading the stories of your own love for peacocks and elephants.

I realized from your comments that once again I have been talking in my head and not on my keyboard. So I'm going to take a moment to answer a couple of questions. Yes, I designed the fabric prints! I drew those sweet elephants and peacocks all by myself. I am as proud as my peacock!

Peacock Lane will be shipping by early July (and hoping for end of June!) As SOON as I hear it's out there, I will update you here with the information.

When I designed Peacock Lane it was important to me that each one of the prints was able to stand on its own, to own the focus of a garment or be a strong focal point in a quilt. I plan to dedicate a post for each one of the prints and speak to its inspiration, how I saw it being used and why I created it in the way that I did. Each one of the prints is important to me in some way. I want to give each one the time and care to explain what I felt in creating it. I can only hope that it's interesting to you too and that I don't bore you all the way to the unsubscribe button. ha! During these posts I will also be showing projects that go along with them and have some free patterns as well.

Now I want to play my own game. I was so excited to see many comments from my home states (old and new!) and so many international posts as well. I spent hours reading all of your comments and lost myself in your blogs. Thank you all so much for sharing!

I was born and raised in Dodge City, Kansas. I am now in Portland, Oregon and although I LOVE my Portlandia, I wouldn't mind getting just a little closer to that glorious Pacific coast with just enough space for a couple of chickens, maybe a goat or three and a donkey in a pear tree... oooh!... AND a pear tree. And a barn... did I mention the crafting barn? Yes, it's not just a barn, but a CRAFT-ing barn. With a loft bunkhouse for guests. What's a crafting barn without room for your friends? A girl can dream!

And without further ado...

The winner is comment #257 from Cathy who said:
Wow, I love your prints! I'm from Miami and I live in North Carolina now.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 5:21:00 AM

Congratulations Cathy! I really hope you share what you make with it - I'm dying to see someone else sew with Peacock Lane!

Now, let's see who is paying attention. There's another giveaway happening right here this week. Keep checking back or follow along and see if you can win the next one!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

2011-05-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

**UPDATE** - Sorry if you could not comment! I have fixed my comment settings and it should allow you to comment now if you don't have a google/blogger account. I swear that it was not set that way previously so I don't know what happened.... Blogger-Ghost! - Comment away! If you are an anonymous user, make sure to include your email address so I can let you know if you've won!

Welcome Sew, Mama, Sew readers!

I am so happy to participate in Giveaway Day. I have a super duper giveaway if I do say so myself. I'll be giving away a fat eighth stack of my new fabric collection, Peacock Lane for Michael Miller Fabrics.

Peacock Lane is a brand new release due to ship at the end of June/early July... SO you'll be the very first one to receive any of the yardage direct from my sample yardage. Get it while it's hot!

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me where you are from and where you are now... and if you want to, where you hope to go next! I'll use random.org to choose a winner!

If you'd like to subscribe to my wittle 'ole blog, well I'd surely love that, but it's not required. I'm happy to ship internationally as well.So... without further ado... a little Peacock Lane anyone?

Peacock Lane

2011-05-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Please allow me to introduce you to Peacock Lane, my new fabric collection for Michael Miller Fabrics.

I just returned from Spring Quilt Market 2011 in Salt Lake City where I debuted the collection. This is little 'ol me standing in front of my display. I had a lot of help from some really great friends to get everything sewn on such short notice. I'll be posting more detailed photos and explanations of each of the projects in the coming weeks.

It has been so hard to keep Peacock Lane under wraps for so long and I am just so very excited to show you everything that I've been working on for the last year.

Peacock Lane is 24 prints divided into two colorways that all combine together beautifully. The first colorway, Cherry Chip, consists mostly of raspberry and cherry pinks grounded in chocolate browns.

The second colorway, Rainbow Sorbet, is a bright mix of colors with aqua blues, yellows and greens grounded in fabulous charcoal grays.

I have so many photos and projects to share with you. I can't wait!

Springtime!

2011-05-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

Dare I say it, I think Spring has finally come to Portland.
Fabric has started arriving on my doorstep. Big, glorious pieces of fabric.

xoxo

I will have a quilt showing at First Thursday.... on you know, Thursday.

2011-04-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

I will be there describing the complex process that went into the design of my quilt. BWAHAHAHAAA! Okay, Okay. I will be there... just to like say Hi and stuff :) Come and say hello if you are in the neighborhood!

The deets:

A First Thursday event: PMQG Quilt Show at PNCA

Portland Modern Quilt Guild's first quilt show opens this Thursday!

We would love to see you at the the opening reception of our quilt show during First Thursday, April 7 from 5:30 -7:30 pm at Pacific Northwest College of Arts, 1241 NW Johnson St. The show will be displayed in Gallery 214; join us for snacks, drinks (including beer and wine) and quilt viewing but don't worry the dress code is casual.

Petal Blossom Bag Sightings!

2011-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend Amy was at her LQS and stumbled upon my bag pattern! Esther's Fabrics on Bainbridge Island has made up a beautiful sample in a green corduroy with mixed pattern and color petals. The petals really pop on this dark background.

Mary Abreu of Confessions of a Craft Addict and the amazing author of Little Girls, Big Style has been a Twitter friend for almost a year now, but we finally met in person at Fall Quilt Market '10 in Houston. She's just as sweet in person as she is online. She picked up my pattern at market and this is her version blogged here. Ummmm, PURPLE and green??!!! LOVE! I can just imagine that bright bag on my shoulder coaxing Spring from every little petal.

This little beauty is from my amazing Give-Away winner Joanna. I sent her a kit for the bag and she added her own fabrics and her own touch to make this super dotty bag that she blogged here, here and here. Her echo quilting is fantastic. Go visit her blog if you love bright applique. Joanna is prolific and I love her aesthetic so very much!

If you've made a Petal Blossom Bag, add it to the Flickr Group! I would LOVE to see what you've made. I will be creating some new samples in my own fabric (EEEEK!!!) for quilt market. I've also received some very sweet emails regarding kits. The answer is YES, kits will be coming in the future. Right now I am off to work on the two new patterns I will be releasing with Indygo Junction at Spring Quilt Market '11 in Salt Lake City in May! Another EEEEK!!!

Because I could eat the costume design in this movie....

2011-01-26T16:45:00.000-08:00

it's just SO good. And her hair. Oh, her hair!

Oliver Goldsmith announced they will be making an exact replica of Holly Golightly's sunglasses from Breakfast at Tiffany's. They are named the Manhattan. Now, if someone can just get me that hat. Oh dear, that glorious, glorious hat.

Oh my dear child.

2011-01-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

My youngest has a bit of a sense of humor. In the Fall she crafted this little friend out of playdoh and decided she wanted to keep it in her room. Well, as playdoh does, it crumbled apart after it dried out.

We have a cabinet in the dining room with my vintage dishes and bird collection in it that also houses a few of the kids' art pieces. Just before the holidays I found Cannon adding "Ella" to the cabinet. I knew it had crumbled, so I was in the middle of telling her that I wasn't sure we should put it in there in bits and pieces and that's when she pulled out her sign to go with it.

She was already prepared and she was cracking herself up. Six is pure awesome.

A Freshcut Housewarming Gift

2011-01-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

Some friends recently moved into a new home and had a little shindig. Her new kitchen is light and bright with warm honey wood cabinets. I thought some Heather Bailey Freshcut was the perfect addition to her kitchen.

I used a microfiber towel with Freshcut fabrics and vintage golden pom pom trim to accent. The oven mitts are in Freshcut floral and Amy Butler Ginger Bliss paisley. The sewing pattern for the mitts is one of my favorites. I have the pattern loaned out right now so I can't tell you who it is by. Yes, I am pretty ashamed that I don't remember as much as I've used this pattern for gifts! As soon as I get it back I'll update this post with the information.

It was a learning experience...

2011-01-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well, that took just about forever didn't it? The holidays and a downed (and back up and downed again!) computer did me in on the deadline for the giveaway, but in the end what matters is that we have a WINNER! Random.org picked #205 and after counting to 205 three times and ending up on three different comments I finally figured out how to make my blog number my posts for me. Hooray! So, with technology on my side, the winning post is:

Joanna said...
Wow your pattern is fantastic!! I am loving both options, but probably the brown one a tad more. I would love to use polka dots - I am in love with polka dots!!!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2010 6:04:00 PM

Joanna has been notified and after doing some Google-stalking on miss Joanna I found she is a member of the New England Modern Quilt Guild and her love of polka dots is evident in this pic I found on their blog of Joanna with her original quilt:

I can't wait to see what she does with the stack of polka dot scraps I've put together to send with the package.

Thank you for all of your comments and your patience!

Christmas Craft-Style

2010-12-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

I suppose you could call this Wordless Wednesday... if only it were Wednesday... and wordless. :)

Technical difficulties are fixed and one Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! winner is coming up next.

Technical Difficulties!

2010-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hello peeps! I have once again fried another computer. This time I think it's the power supply. Our electricity went out for 12 hours on Friday night to Saturday morning and when it came back on, my pc did not. *sigh* Tomorrow I shall try to rectify the problem and then post the much anticipated winner of the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

2010-12-13T00:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

I love this day and have been super excited to participate this year! My new bag pattern, The Petal Blossom Bag is out and in shops and I'd love to give away a copy of the pattern AND all the supplies needed to make it! So, in this giveaway is the brown corduroy, the interfacing, the lining, the Wonder Under, strapping, D-rings, optional magnetic closure AND all of the scraps needed to make the petals! I have a lot of scraps, so you can be a little bit choosy about how you'd like it to look.

To enter, simply follow my blog and comment on what fabric scraps theme you would most like to use for the pattern. I will choose the winner with the random number generator, but if I've got what you asked for in my scrap bins, that's what I'll send you!

If you win - and you make the bag - I'll post it here on my blog when it's completed!

So that's it! Enter a comment by 9pm PST on 12/17/2010 and follow my blog - if you're tired of me after the 17th, well then unfollow me right off. Ha!

Have a great time entering contests today! Good luck!

Meet Mason and his Riley Blake All Stars Nursery

2010-11-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

This is my new baby nephew Mason! Okay, technically he's not related to me at all, but only if several years of college hijinx and dragging his mom as far across the country as possible to meet his dad don't count for anything. I think they do... so he shall call me Auntie Violet :)

Yes, Auntie Violet is looking kind of rough here. I had just gotten home from my awesome coastal sewing weekend with part of my tribe, spent all of about 15 minutes transferring my sewing stuff from their car into my car, kissed the kiddos and the Mr. Craft and then floored it up to Port Angeles to greet Mason. He took his sweet time with the labor so that I could get there in time. (Note to self: Must install Photoshop and learn how to make myself look 10 years younger and 8 hours more rested.)

This might be the cutest picture taken of a baby, ever. I'm just sayin'.

And this is Mason's bedroom. I, of course, suggested an out of print collection for Mason's nursery. What can I say, I like a challenge! Riley Blake All Stars was just too perfect. It fit Stacie's vision AND mine - and that's saying a LOT. I also incorporated the leaf green Monaluna Mingle Mod Squares in there in the crib skirt and into the quilt and pillow.

After I arrived in Port Angeles and greeted Mason I headed off to sleep at his house and put together his room before the new family came home. THIS is when I realized that somehow I had only put ONE strap in each place there should be TWO on his bumpers. You know, I had only HAND BOUND all 300+ inches of the thing. *sigh*

One trip to the new local quilt shop, Sleepy Valley Quilt Company, and I actually FOUND the print I needed! Seriously, it was amazing. I was prepared to settle for just about anything neutral and there it was! So, after visiting Mason all day long that day I headed back to his place again to watch countless hours of movies and rip out all 300+ inches of hand binding, make the additional 12 straps, sew them in and REBIND all 300+ inches. Luckily Mason's momma had bought some new movies since the last time we were roommates.

I now hear from one of Mason's other faux Aunties that Mason doesn't sleep in his crib... or use his bumpers... and I'm not one to say I told you so, but... I TOLD YOU SO! Oh, that's right, I sort of revel in it. haha!

I love you Chris, Stacie, Mason and Gracie.

To Market, To Market...

2010-10-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

To debut a new pattern!

In about three hours I will be on the red eye to Houston for International Quilt Market. w00h00! This will be my first market as more than a buyer. My first sewing pattern, the Petal Blossom Bag will be available in the Indygo Junction booth so swing by and check it out if you are there!

I will be roaming the floor and spending a lot of time with Michael Miller fabrics learning the ropes for my Spring market fabric debut.

I plan to be tweeting a LOT, so follow along and I'll try to figure out my fancy phone to blog too :)

Work in Progress: Pieced Back, Sandwiches and a Cat!

2010-09-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

As you may know - or if you didn't, you're about to.... - Amy Butler's Gypsy Caravan is my all time favorite fabric collection to date. It's the colors, the Art Nouveau, the eclectic array of prints, the florals, the geometrics... yeah, it's a love affair. A couple years after Gypsy Caravan released - I believe around the same time as either Ginger Bliss or Charm was launching - there was a flannel release called Cozy Flannel. It just happened to be reprints of Gypsy Caravan in flannel. And so it goes that when I finally pieced my Gypsy Caravan quilt top, the back most definitely had to be pieced in Cozy Flannel. I sashed the top in Kona Snow I wanted the back sashed in Kaufman quilter's flannel also in Snow. It was sort of a pain in the behind. The Cozy Flannel had a nice woven consistency to it and not much stretch. The Kaufman quilter's flannel stretched.. and made piecing it with the Cozy not so fun at all. I washed all of the flannel, but now I think if I had washed the sashing twice... in HOT... and dried it, on HOT, it might have shrunk up enough to get all of its stretch out. It all worked out and I have a piece of information that is good to know for next time, right?

Piecing a back:

Making a quilt sandwich. With help. I kicked her out about a dozen times. What's that? Oh, that's right, those are ruffles you see. I'm doing each one of my quilts in a different process with the ruffles so that I can tell you all the ins and outs of each different way. I have much more experimenting to do first!

And... free motion quilting. Again. With help. *sigh*

Smooches!

And so, she sews.

2010-09-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

I couldn't stand it. I was working away on organizing my stash and figuring out what I was missing and begging my friends to fill in the gaps and I just Had. To. Cut. In. To. It.

And so, the beginnings of my Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy quilt. This quilt from Kristine Hanson's Things To Make Instead of Dinner blog is my complete and total inspiration. I was torn between that one and Megan from the Lucy and Norman blog's Wonky Log Cabin and finally decided on the big, bold pieces of fabric. Thank you both for making such beautiful quilts for me to be inspired by!!!

I'm using a block pattern that would cut out of a layer cake stack beautifully. The middle square of the log cabin is 5" and the strips surrounding are 3.5" wide. I wanted big, wide pieces of each print to really show the prints and the colors. This is my third quilt. Ever. (That one in high school still does not count.) Number two is in final binding. I'll show you that later this week I do believe.

You also might notice my new design wall! I was inspired by Heather to do this a couple of months ago, but I wanted it RIGHT NOW so instead of building anything, I just moved everything out of the way and stapled my batting right up onto that wall. Whalah! I do hope to get the board and make the portables soon though as I've already put up and taken down multiple designs for fronts and backs!

When I get this done I need to give a shout out to everyone that helped me gather and swap and beg and barter for the prints. MUCH LOVE to my fabric peeps. There is some serious Fabric-Karma-Mojo floating around out there right now.

I've already started cutting the ruffles. Yeah, that's right, this one is going to have ruffles too. I think they ALL will :)

I can admit it. I can not contain myself any longer.

2010-08-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Flea Market Fancy blocks have begun. I am still missing a few prints... here is my list just in case anyone else out there in the great, wide internet wants to swap some FMF for guaranteed good fabric karma.

In search of:

Posies in brown and orange
Tiles in blue and orange
Dotted leaves in blue, green and a little brown
Seeds in blue.... or any others!!! I love these seeds!
Bouquet in orange
Daisy dots in blue

I'd also love Kei daisy dots in gray.

I'm working on the post in which I gush my adoring thank you's to everyone that swapped and gifted me these beautiful fabrics! Here's the beloved stash pre-cutting. Enjoy!!!

Photo via my phone so please forgive the bad color/lighting.

Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes!

2010-07-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Actually, momma needs more cash to finish out her Flea Market Fancy addiction.

After holding onto this lusciousness for years - it is finally time to let some of it go. Don't worry, I'm making myself one big hefty stash of every print, but it's time to clear bolts. I've got it all listed on eBay and on Etsy so you can take your pick of locations to shop. Just to mix it up!

Violet's Etsy Shop

Violet's eBay listings

This is the beginning of the madness. I'm also going to start listing all of the leftover Kung Fu Bambini clothes at ridiculously low prices - like $5 - $10 for $40-$80 pieces. I'm drowning in fabric and itty bitty pants!

A Fabric A Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

2010-07-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

You might as well call me the anti-stash buster. Whether its my stash or your stash, if its decreasing your stash you're looking for, I'm no help to anybody!

Oh what a week! My stash has gone up and then down and then up again and it's been SO MUCH FUN!

Monday: I started off the week with a trip to Goodwill. I can't even remember how or why I ended up there. I swear there was a reason... maybe not. It's always just sort of a blur. I'll be driving in the car headed to the bank or the grocery store and the next thing you know, I'm in a Goodwill with a cart full of awesome. As usual, I digress.. I picked up these vintage goodies.

The prints came from two different Goodwill stores actually, but their coloring matches to a T - must be a 70s color palette thing - or they've both yellowed equally over the years. Ewwww! Luckily, they are both cotton and they've got some soaking in their near future. The cheater is on a roll and has a few yards on it. I love the colors and the styling. I really want to make this a light summer picnic quilt and machine quilt in all the cheater-ditches. Then I found the sweet little vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy and I think I have to incorporate them somehow. They just go too well together - and what in the heck else am I going to do with vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy hugging poodles, sheep, donkeys and a sheep dog?

Tuesday: My first package containing Sugar Snap by Melissa Averinos of Yummy Goods showed up on my doorstep. I ordered the complete collection from three different sources. This first package was from Rock City Quilts. They shipped super quickly and were friendly through email.

Wednesday: Modern Domestic Designer Fabric Sale. I was there participating by selling extra fabric from my Kung Fu Bambini clothing line. And I kept giving fabric away. I was selling it for $3 a yard - and pretty much throwing in an extra yard for every 2 or 3 someone bought. One lovely quilter bought six yards of fabric from me for a quilt back and I ended up talking her into taking home six yards of another fabric. My fabrics multiply like bunnies. I started off the sale doing so good - I wasn't going to buy a thing. And then I watched so many gals buying up yumminess from Garnish Apparel and Church & State that I had to give in! I bought this super fun Cameo print from Garnish that I think needs to be a top with a little black ribbon belt - and pearls of course.

Then I bought this yummy mint green fabric and lace from Church & State. The fabric is a knit and feels like butter. It is actually 100% silk with a linen weave or something super fancy like that. All I know is that I have the cutest dress in my head with a little lace peeking out of a raw edge hem and a lace-rose corsage thingy. Can you tell that I have way-not-enough experience to be working with such beautiful and precious fabrics? I'm hoping I can pull it off and not make the girls cringe when they see what I've done with their gorgeous fabrics!

On my way out I had to pick up a vintage Alexander Henry fabric with these giant red and gold tulips on it and some mustardy gold little tiny roses and a few yards of some beautiful trims from Michelle at Eclectikid. Dang it, no pictures of these! Well, when the girls get sundresses out of it, I'll show you then, deal? Deal.

Thursday: Next stop, garage sale! I found an ad on Craigslist for a "Fabric Garage Sale" - the details said that it was a quilt shop from the coast that had closed down. I did some research (all hail the power of google!) and found that the shop had closed in 2007 - this led me to believe I might find some sweet goodies there! Okay - we all know I was looking for Flea Market Fancy. ha! I didn't find FMF, but I did find some Amy Butler Charm for $2 a yard!

There were seven different Charm prints there, but I already had most of them and somehow I actually kept myself from just buying everything she had. Instead the littlest Craft picked out a batik with leaves on it for a back to school dress (I know, I can't believe I bought a batik either! - and I actually really like it. Never say never people!) I picked out some white stars on a creamsickle-y orange background for a Lemon Squares quilt by Faith at Fresh Lemons Mondrn Quilts . This is supposed to be my fourth quilt on my quilts-to-do-list - and I brought home eight yards of Charm that I was low on.

Thursday night: Mama hits the mother load! Thursday night gets its very own post about the festivities, but I'll go ahead and tell you the fabric part of it now. Miss Terri over at Sew-Fantastic gifted me a 2.5" charm pack of Flea Market Fancy and a FQ of yellow barbells. So now I have all of the centers to my wonky log cabin quilt. I now owe Terri my first born son. I have a sneaking suspicion she'd be happier with some Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan instead.

I was completely inspired to do a Flea Market Fancy complete collection quilt by Megan of Lucy & Norman. Her quilt is gorgeous and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to get my hands on all of the prints to put together a wonky log cabin. This quilt is next on my quilting-to-do-list!

See what I mean??? Mother load, people! Still on the hunt for more fabrics to do the strips on my quilt. Hint Hint Hint. :) I have some swaps I'm hoping work out. Thank goodness for the kindness of other sewers!

Friday: Boo-Yah! First off, in the mailbox was an FMF Pink Posies FQ from a delightful flickr swap. And right under her package was my copy of Small Stash Sewing! Hooray! Where am I going to start with that??? I think with a belt - or maybe with Unicorn and Moon. Oh man, I can't decide! And then just about an hour later, Hello Sugar Snap! ALL of this yumminess came today! Full yard cuts of every other print I needed (and a couple or three extra yards of one or two prints!). I ordered these from Creative Merchandise. They had the largest selection of Sugar Snap fabrics in one place and they were also speedy and kind.

I am still missing Kimono in Cocoa if anyone wants to hook a sister up! I'm planning a quilt and Thanksgiving dresses for the girls. I was inspired by The Adventures of Wondermommy. I'll probably use a similar, but slightly different pattern, but I love her combination of Wallpaper in Cocoa on top and Lace in Cocoa on bottom. To me the brown and orange colors are hearthy-warm-perfection for Thanksgiving, but it is all SO vibrant!

Dear Lord, luckily I will be out of town for the Fabric Depot sale tomorrow. Whew! Now, someone hide this post from my husband :)

Freshcut Quilt-uvet - Second Quilt Finished First!

2010-07-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

I did it! I really, really did it! I finished a complete queen sized quilt, turned it into a duvet, ruffled that baby, quilted it myself on my Bernina and we are actually using it on our bed!

A long while ago I was swept with the urge to buy the entire Freshcut collection from Heather Bailey and turn it into our bedroom quilt. I've never taken on a real quilting project like this one. As I think I've mentioned before (I talk to myself a lot - so sometimes it is unclear what I've actually said outloud. ha!) - I've made many turn and topstitch baby quilts and a couple of patched tie quilts, but this is the full-meal-deal of quilting.

Now - this is not the first one I've started. My Gypsy Caravan quilt was started before this one, but I had to stop half way through and regroup. I have a weird attachment to my Gypsy Caravan fabric and it wasn't turning out perfect so it got put to the side to age a bit more... like good scotch and cheese :)

So - back to Freshcut. I began in 2008 and then, as with my Gypsy quilt, something wasn't quite right. I blogged the beginning here. I became a member of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and pretty quickly knew what was "wrong" with my quilt. It needed sashing! They both needed sashing! And so I ripped. My little seam ripper and I ripped all the blocks apart on both quilts and it felt great! Someone actually suggested I just cut the seam allowance off. That is blasphemy! And lose 1/2" off of each block?! P'sha! teehee.

I had already purchased these linen-like cotton panels from IKEA that I had put ruffles on for the bedroom and that's what I used to sash my quilt. Once it was sashed, backed, and quilted - I added a third layer to this tasty little cake and made it into a duvet cover and then sewed on the layers of yummy ruffles. The quilt is the perfect weight for summer and with the duvet in it is the perfect weight for winter. Pure perfection for our bedroom!

So, whatchya think?

Some details:

I started with the Heather Bailey Freshcut Quilt pattern that is free from her website here.

I then adjusted the 12" blocks to be 16 1/2" blocks since I didn't want to add more blocks (making the number and pattern uneven) for the larger scale (queen) that I was making. I amount of yardage from the original pattern was sufficient for the increased size.

I sashed and bordered with 5" strips.

Missing Pics ?

2010-07-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Apparently, this little photo was being shy and wasn't showing up. Thank you Scott for letting me know!

So, if you couldn't see her before. That would be my portfolio on the left and my sketch book on the right posing with their long lost sister-spread.

Once upon a time...

2010-07-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

...a (not-so) little girl from Kansas went to market. Yeah, that's right, I'm going to blog about market now after over a month. What's it to ya? Besides, John thought he was last and someone needed to help him out of that. lol! Well okay, it might also be because I have something kind of, sort of, important (to me at least!) to tell you :)

I'm going to back track a wee bit.

I believe I mentioned one or ten times I had booked my trip and been so graciously invited by the amazing Melissa Averinos to join she and her bestie Beth Dunn at a fabulous bed and breakfast for the stay in Minneapolis, MN. When Beth and I arrived at the B&B after meeting up at the airport this amazing piece of gorgeousness greeted me as I walked through the door. Now I know I showed you this pretty little peacock before but I didn't fully explain the significance. Yes, I happen to have a bit of a vintage chenille bedspread addiction, but it was more than that. I was a million shades of nervous about this trip. I almost backed out until Melissa extended her invitation and then the timing felt like fate. So when I walked through the door and saw this sweet bird greet me, I seriously about fell the heck over. I may have screamed.

You see, I was putting all my eggs in one basket with this trip and I carried them all in my little petal messenger bag that I designed for market especially to carry this important package. What was in this little package that had me shaking in my shoes?

After screaming and possibly dragging Beth into my room to show her and explain why I had gone completely mad I pulled out my sketch book and my design portfolio and dropped them on the bed to show her.

That, my dear friends, is a tiny little sneakie peak at my design portfolio on the left and my sketch book in the center lying on their sister-spread. I was at market to show my portfolio and and try to sign with a fabric company as a licensed fabric designer. It was a goal that I achieved and that I hope to tell you and show you a lot more about soon.

And since my peeps over at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild scooped me, I better just tell you now!

My name is Violet Craft. I am a wife, a mother, a children's clothing designer, a craft-a-holic-maker and I just happen to be the new licensed designer for Michael Miller Fabrics.

OMG, that feels so darn good. I won't have anything out for MANY VERY LONG MONTHS so your patience is greatly appreciated. In the meantime I hope to fill these posts with my journey to becoming a fabric designer and some fun reveals and projects along the way.

So, come on, let's ride this train!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane...

2010-05-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

or actually, in our VW Rabbit. We're now headed to the coast for an annual family camping trip.

I shall start with the amazing B&B that I had the awesome opportunity to stay at with Melissa Averinos of Yummy Goods and Beth Dunn, a most Accomplished Young Lady. And now that I've sent you to their blogs, their photos are going to be WAY better than mine :)

This peacock bedspread was there to greet me upon arrival. If I believed in good omens (and I think I just might - especially after this!) there could not be a better good omen for me personally. I happen to have a certain love for chenille and for peacocks and this girl set my spirits HIGH for the trip - each and every day. I shared a couple of other loves with our B&B as well - McCoy vases, freaking awesome breakfast and hand printed wallpapers. *sigh* *swoon* LOVE!

If you are even in Minneapolis and love a great architecturally intact B&B and don't hate amazing food, then you should not miss out on Evelo's Bed and Breakfast.

I totally lied to you....

2010-05-23T07:50:00.001-07:00

again. I totally planned to blog all weekend, except I barely had time to sleep!

Quilt Market was fantastic. The majority vibe of market felt energetic, fresh, and supportive.

I met some fabulous (real, non-avatar, walking and breathing) people! I had some not-so-encouraging and some over the top encouraging appointments. I came, I saw, I pitched, and I hope to have something more to tell you about that soon!

In the meantime, I will download, upload, link, share and swoon over the next week.

I leave you with Owlie McPillowpants and Moon.

Testing my Email to Blog Feature

2010-05-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

This way I can keep in contact while I'm at Quilt Market! My laptop is in a sad way right now. His fan died and he can't take the heat (ha ha ha! Get it!?) of the trip so it will just be me and my T-Mobile G1 Android phone. She can do it! I'll be posting the high res photos when I get home. In the meantime, disregard all the nonsense extra tag lines and what nots this weekend. Wish me luck peeps!

{violet craft}

2010-05-19T22:35:00.001-07:00

This is a test of the Violet Craft Broadcasting System. This is only a test. LMAO!! This one is from a text message. Wowza. I AM connected!

Creating a Charging Station

2010-04-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

First, get yourself a "helpful" cat. oi.

We wanted to create a charging station hidden in our entertainment center, which for us happens to be a mid-century buffet. We took the bottom drawer and drilled a hole in the back of the cabinet as well as one in the back of the drawer. This is for the power strip cord to go through out the back into the wall.

We then cut two 2" x 2" pieces of wood and screwed them into the sides as supports for our grid board. We also placed a 3" piece directly in the center to give it additional support since our devices are heavy and cause the grid board to warp.

Next, we cut a piece of grid board the same size as the interior of the drawer and put a drawer know into one of the holes as a handle to lift it up and down if we need to plug or unplug any of our power cords.

The final step was to run all of the power cords down the back of the grid board and plug them into the power strip that is below. The grid board serves two purposes. The first is that the divits created by cutting along the edge of the open circles allow for the power cords to run along the back into the below space where the power strip is located. The second is to provide venting for any heat that is created by the power sources.

Whalah! Camera, camera battery charger, video cam, walkie talkies, PSP and phone all plugged in and out of sight!

This is where I work :)

2010-04-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

No staging, no special lighting (bad lighting, actually), just an everyday look at the place I call my studio. I love my space in the basement. It's quiet down there and I have everything I could possibly want to work with all tucked in its place. One of these days I'll make some real curtains instead of my vintage pillowcases tossed over the rods and I have a plan in my head for recovering those work chairs. Right now I'm in quilting mode, so those projects will have to wait!

The folded fabrics in a china cabinet. It has doors that I took off when I painted it and never put them back on. It is so much more convenient to not have to open the doors all the time, but the doors are so much prettier. Pretty? Easy? Pretty? Easy? Decisions, decisions.

An overall view of the organized chaos. You can see my machines on the wall on the right with the embroidery machine on a cabinet in the foreground on the right. My ironing table is in the center there with the Amy Butler Parrot Tulips in orange covering it. Trying to light this dungeon is my biggest battle. There are ceiling bulbs which don't spread light well, then the pink damask task lights over the cutting table, the Ott lamp that moves around, the wall sconce and then the cabinets have lights in them as well. When I work I turn on every single light to make it workable.

A better look at the sewing area with the thread, buttons and presser feet all on the wall. All of my "babies" lined up underneath. Bernina, Elna and Brother. In the foreground you can see the AccuCut station.

Like the shadow in this picture? Ever since I got my fancy new DSLR I have a problem with holding my pinky up in front of the flash. I'm trying to retrain myself to hold underneath the lens, but every once in awhile I catch a snap like this one with my pinky shadow looming over the entire scene!

Dear Blog, It's not you, it's me.

2010-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

I know that we haven't been seeing as much of each other as we'd both like in the last year, but it's complicated. You see, I haven't been completely honest with you. There's someone else. Nine someone else's actually... three human, three rodent, two canine and one feline. And they need my creativity too.

For instance, in December they needed new flannel pajamas made from the cheesiest puppy and rainbow prints a momma could find. I used a PATTERN! I know - you are not as aghast at the idea as I was - but as I was sewing these on the eve of Christmas Eve, I needed quick and dirty and that's what using a store bought pattern afforded me. And the payoff was well worth it. I think they wore these for four days straight without changing into daytime clothes more than once or twice an only for a few hours. To say they love them would be a serious understatement. It is still all I can do to get them into the wash occasionally.

And it didn't stop there.... on Christmas Eve I found myself again at the sewing machine, this time whipping up these sweet little pompon skirts. I mean, look at those faces. They just NEEDED to have Christmas skirts didn't they? And the hair flowers, well, what's a pretty skirt without a little hair jewelry?

You'll be happy to know that somewhere in there I managed to make myself a hair flower or ten too.

Somehow, in the flurry that always is the holidays, I managed to not get a single picture of all of the handmade gifts I made for the rest of the family, but that's alright. All that matters is they got them.

Blog, I do love you too. I promise to make room for you in my life this year. Starting with today.

Smooches!

Violet

Because I'm too lazy to upload to my images folder :)

2009-11-30T00:20:00.000-08:00

Laurelhurst School Winter Artisan Bazaar!

2009-11-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

I've been busy! I'll be showing at the upcoming Laurelhurst School Winter Artisan Bazaar on Sunday, December 6th from 9am until 4pm. I'm so excited! I've got lots of goodies in store. New dresses... some of which you can see right down below. It is a new style that I've just finished the pattern for. My 10 year old niece loves it over jeans and leggings! I'll be photo-shooting the new sparkly holiday headbands tomorrow, so look for those pics soon!

For those wonderful customers that aren't here in Portland, this will all go online on December 7th in time for holiday shipping!

Merry Memories

2009-11-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I miss this kitchen, but not that haircut. Seriously, why didn't someone tell me? This is the Christmas of 2004. Mia is 2 1/2, Cannon is 4 months and Kung Fu Bambini wholesale was 11 months old. I lurve these pictures LOTS.

Pretty Princess Puppies

2009-10-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

I finally found five minutes to blog. I downloaded the pics from my daughter's camera as I've used it a couple times lately since my camera is dying a very slow death and when it finished downloading all 2042 pictures (seriously), I found this pure genius. Oh girls, I love your creativity and passion so much. There's some other genius on there too that I'll share. Barbie and Ken are back in the convertible again. Look out!

Yesterday I needed an outlet....

2009-09-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

In the process of catching up about the summer months, I don't want to get behind on current events so I'll be double posting for a bit.

Yesterday was my sweet kinder's first day of school! No, she did not wear anything that I made her. lol! I've taught them the art of the second hand store as well and we're all Value Village and Goodwill junkies now. Here she is putting her backpack in her locker. Bestill my heart. sigh.

I had a bit of a breakdown. I was the mom in the hallway sobbing. I have found myself doing that a lot lately. There's a lot of emotion still pouring out of this girl right now! Anyway, I was sobbing in the hallway. Here's the story:

I ASS-umed I'd be able to stay with her in the morning for a few minutes since that is how it worked with Miss Mia's kinder teacher. Another piece of the story is that we (Cannon) didn't get the same teacher Mia had. Which we (I) wanted. The other teachers really are truly fabulous. I just didn't want change. I liked it the way it was and I wanted it to be the same. And blah blah blah about me... for now.

Cannon was a bit thrown off when I couldn't stay with her. I could see we were either in for a total meltdown or, not, but I had no way of knowing which way it was going to go down. I just had to quickly walk her in, say goodbye, give her some big hugs, kisses and bubbly supportive words and off I went with an "I'll be here for lunchtime!". Two minutes later she was up in front of the classroom introducing herself with the biggest smile on her face, the stress of moments before totally forgotten. And I was in the hallway sobbing and throwing a temper tantrum of monumental tantrums. In my head at least.

On the outside I was just whimpering a little, but in my head I was stamping my feet, banging my hands on the lockers and screaming, I WANT IN! I WANT TO STAY! I WANT TO BE WITH HER EVERY SINGLE MORNING. I WANT WHAT I WANT AND I WANT IT NOW WHETHER ITS GOOD FOR ME (or her) OR NOT! and beneath that was this slight little voice, saying, you know this is best, you know she is fine, you know you need to get your arse home and work every day and not be here bugging your baby who is completely fine without you.

I needed an outlet and I had options. This is what I came up with:

1. I can go home and watch all of Season 1 Project Catwalk which is the UK version of Project Runway that I just got my hands on and eat ice cream and candy bars all day. Oh, the joy of getting my hot little hands on Project Catwalk episodes!!! But somehow this seems like a huge waste of time on my first fine day with both kids at school.

2. Go to Costco. Yay. Said with my most doldrum voice possible. Maybe I could do laundry all day too. And clean bathrooms. That should cheer me up.

3. Run on the treadmill for hours on end. THIS was a big contender. I love my treadmill and I've been neglecting her. I ran for months during the Summer of Stacie (which I'll get to in future posts) to fit into a pink bridesmaid dress and it worked! Until I brought home the rest of the wedding cake after the wedding and proceeded to eat the whole damn thing. Okay, J and the girls helped, a little bit. I ate it and I gained every pound back and it was GOOD and I don't regret it one bit. Now I'm ready to lose it again. Until the next whole cake falls into my lap! And I'll eat that one too without regret.

4. Call Justin and bitch. DING DING DING DING! Winner! My poor husband. Good thing he thinks I'm sexy.

So I called the Mr. at work and sobbed and had a little fit and told him I knew that I was having a fit and I didn't know what the hell to do with my day now. And you know what he said? "Honey, go home and create something beautiful for our house." Sometimes I think he actually knows me. hehe! Oh boy, he hit a nerve. I immediately knew exactly what I wanted to do and I went home and did THIS:

That there would be a piece of thin wood paneling that we took out of our kitchen when we tore out the built in refrigerator that was here when we moved in.

So, I know it's not fancy and might possibly look like a 10 yo painted it in art camp. Keep in mind here that I've NEVER PAINTING ANYTHING BEFORE IN MY LIFE. Besides walls and furniture. I've crackle painted a desk once. And painted squares onto a wall with an elaborate grid of painter's tape once. But this mixing, and making things look like real things. Nope, just started yesterday. I like it. It worked. I was HAPPY as a clam when I went to see Cannon at lunch and now this is in our living room. :)

Oh, Summer, where have you gone???

2009-09-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Ahhhh. What a wonderful summer it has been, standing in stark opposition to the last year. I won't go back into last year, because, well, it is finally behind me. I was carrying it along with me for quite awhile and I've finally ditched that baggage and moved forward. Kung Fu Bambini is very officially closed. I may or may not dabble in finishing some old collections someday and I could care less either way right now. Whatever the future holds, I do not now know and I don't want to speculate. Let come what may!!!!

I do want to share a little history of just the past few months that I've been in blog-hiding and soul-recovery. I'll do that post by post alright? These pics are from June. I finally got up the energy to break out the sewing machine, but only for my girls and a very small batch for friends and a little local show. It was nice. I whipped out a new pattern in one day.... the Easy Peasy Pinny we're calling it around here... and I made the girls lots of them in different variations. This one is a classic Amy Butler/Denyse Schmidt combo of mine that I call Capri. The girls also scored some Disney princess versions made out of a Disney shiny fabric from JoAnn Fabrics that I never thought I'd buy in a million years, but those sweet faces. Those sweet "pleeeeease mama" faces. At least it is made by me and made WELL. And I have to admit they are darn cute. Luckily for my ego and my hope for the girls' design sense they don't seem to love their princess versions more than my fabric picks :)

Heather Bailey Pop Garden Strikes Again!

2009-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

I can't help it, it just works! I tried really hard to use other fabrics for this project. Not because I didn't want to use Pop Garden, I just didn't think it worked... and then when it came down to it, everything else I had just didn't give me that WOW, POP that I wanted. This most certainly did. Thanks Heather! :)

I found this treasure on Craigslist about three years ago when I moved into my first and most amazing studio space. You can see it hiding in the back of that last (really horribly taken) photo of the studio from 2006. It was $20 and a complete pain to get from the west side into the studio, but completely worth every bit of effort. Three years later it is finally primed, painted and de-co-rated. It's now the proud showcase of some of my bird collection and some amazing 4 and 6 year old art work.

Don't worry, my fabrics are already safely folded and placed into another awesome china cabinet that I got for free and painted up. Pictures of that will come someday :)

Before:

Primed, first coated and testing prints:

In the beginning:

A Crafty Week... with Running

2009-05-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've been doing it! Running, that is. That treadmill and I have become close friends. I can now seriously give you an estimate of my level of patience in parenting for an upcoming day based upon how much time I've had on the treadmill. The scale isn't moving yet (DAMN YOU SCALE!) but it's been worth it for the positive effect it has had on my attitude toward being awake :) I think part of it might actually be the complete screaming of music that I do during the hardest part of my run. It's very invigorating. Thank you Darkbuster. Click at your own risk.

We've been crafting at the Craft house. Fitting. I'm starting to crave sewing again, so it is a good thing that Stacie and I are cleaning out the basement so she has a proper place to sleep while she is living here and so that I can get to some creating again! I still haven't picked a path. Will it be little girl skirts? momma skirts? pillows and housewares? If you know, let me know, k?

For now though, it is playdate tank top designing. Mia has a friend that loves that I make some of Mia's clothes. Yesterday we had a playdate after school and this is what the girls came up with. They completely came up with their own designs, cut out all of the pieces (after several frustrated attempts, I helped a bit with the birds) and they placed them on their shirts with the spray tack glue and they helped me decide how they'd be stitched on. We did all three of these in the short hour long playdate. Not bad!

Mia, age 7; Q., age 7; Cannon, age 4

This morning Cannon helped me start the teacher appreciation and Mother's Day cards. Simple free-stitching on cardstock. Super fun! I've never done these before like this so I was doing some experimenting with flowers and leaves. Not bad at all!

This card on flickr was actually my original inspiration but I couldn't get to the box of grosgrain ribbon in my craft room... we're still moving around in there... so out of laziness I got something I actually liked a little better for the occasion. Sweet.

I *heart* making things. Swoon.

100 days of Treadmill and Etsy!

2009-04-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the most boring 100 days of your life. ha! I have a goal. Probably THE most ambitious goal I've ever embarked upon. I plan to spend at least 20 minutes on the treadmill and list at least five things on Etsy, eBay or Craigslist every single day for the next 100 days. College degree, p'shaw! THIS is going to be tough!

Day 1, today, April 14th, 2009... 40 minutes on the treadmill, a couple of miles and about 300 calories. I had the program set on the lowest possible setting and I about died. Hooray!

You see, my body currently hates me. I have been sick for over two months now. My dad's death seriously knocked the wind out of me, and then the CPSIA kicked me while I was down. After getting back from a wonderful weekend at the beach last month I vowed to start giving my body sleep. I thought it would like that. I went from 4-6 hour nights promptly up to full 8 hour nights. Still sick. Then, I thought, fine, you can have vitamins.... one women's daily, one beta carotene(because my eyes hate me too) and at least one Emergen-C pack. Still sick. So this is the final straw. I'm exercising (and possibly eating a vegetable or two). If this doesn't work, then it can go ahead and piss off. I'll go back to drinking excessively and eating bon bons for breakfast.

Let's see what happens, shall we?

MARCHing on... Dewalt Compound Miter Saw

2009-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

So what if it's April. P'shaw! I MARCH to my own beat, thank you very much!

Hello sweet power tool friend of mine,

Everyone, this is my Dewalt Compound Miter Saw. DCMS, this is everyone. Please excuse the disaster of a garage around him. Keep in mind, I'm still working on my COMPLETE LIQUIDATION of Kung Fu Bambini that will be happening this month and our house is plastered with tubs of chenille bedspreads, vintage linens, trims, fabric, light fixtures from the warehouse/studio AND the store, mannequins, ay ya ya ya ya! It's hard to breathe in here.

Justin and I purchased this handy power tool many years ago when we bought our first house. It was one of our first power tool aquisitions. At the time we invested in this bad boy to help us put in all new floor and crown molding in our house and to cut all the snap together flooring that we installed in our great room. The Dewalt has seen many projects. Most, not as artsy crafty as this one I suppose...

Our Dewalt is a "compound" miter saw. This means that it can make compound cuts. In the first pic you can see a dial along the front of the saw. This dial allows you to change your flat angle. It physically pivots the blade and base slot where the saw blade cuts into the wood on a horizontal pivot. You can see me cutting a straight cut through my shims here:

What makes it "compound" is that there is another lever on the left hand side (out of frame, sorry!) that allows the blade to tilt from right to left on a vertical access. Tilt your head from left to right... now imagine your blade tilting from left to right. This allows you to make a compound cut. You might be cutting a 30 degree horizontal cut and a 30 degree tilt... this is how you get exact cuts for joining crown molding.

For this project I only had to make very simple straight cuts to get the shims to the height that I wanted. Whalah! Shims cut to about 12".

Art How To: Shim Canvas and Applique Flowers

2009-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Now let's get detailed...

This art project was a very simple undertaking and I love how it turned out. It is exactly what I pictured and I can't wait to make the second piece in the series for the larger wall above the *commode*.

First, gather some materials... I actually had wanted to use some scrap 1" x 4" boards, but when I went to scrounge the garage and the Mr.'s tool bench area I found they were, well, nowhere to be found. I vaguely remember said scraps being used somewhere... and quite possibly burned in the fireplace this winter. Whoops!

So, being resourceful AND determined to make this from scraps and NOT have to leave the house, I rummaged around looking for anything made of wood that I could either use as was, or destroy :) Destruction = good craft-therapy as well. I found shims. If you've ever had to actually purchase shims, you know that you have to buy an whole freakin' package of them. Granted it's like three bucks, but still.

Next, I gathered an old container of stain (I was looking for a dark jacobean stain and only found honey... I found the jacobean yesterday, too late, but I ended up liking the honey pecan color better anyway!), some gloves, a piece of steel wool, sandpaper, my handy friend Welder, a 3M velcro Command strip, some coordinating solid color jersey fabric backed with Wonder Under, a pair of scissors and an iron.

First off I cut the strips to the length that I wanted. I varied them ever so slightly as I wanted a natural edge on the top and bottom once they were assembled. I very lightly sanded off any big splinters. Again, I wanted the natural texture. I stained the shim pieces using the steel wool as a 'brush'. I let these dry to the touch and then assembled them together using, you guessed it, WELDER! See, isn't he so handy?

Next I cutout some really simple leaf shapes. They're very similar to some embroidery appliques that I've done in the Kung Fu Bambini collection. I just started placing and playing until I found two that I liked together. I painted on two stems and then ironed on the leaves. Now, DON'T DO THIS with your good iron. This is my been-through-hell-and-back craft iron. I wanted it to actually sizzle the stain which still wasn't completely set. It did! And it put a little bit of texture onto a couple of the leaves as well.

Since the shims are very light and I was attaching to a tile wall, I place a 3M velcro Command strip on the back and hung it up! Whalah! Art! Mia reminded me that I need to sign my art. I think she might be right.

Now, you know what to do... GO CRAFT!

Bathroom Reveal!

2009-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hola!

Last week during Spring Break crazy time I was in need of some serious craft-therapy. I did this project in one day and no, I wasn't plastered to my sewing machine! Our bathroom is in two parts. First, the Jack & Jill style main bath with all white tile walls and white tile floors. It was BORING. I've known for a long time that I needed to find a way to get color in here. As I've mentioned a bazillion times, I'm working on a Heather Bailey Freshcut quilt/duvet for our bedroom and wanted to bring those colors into the bath as well.

We don't have a bathtub in this room, but I decided to cover our extremely ugly shower doors with a shower curtain and create some art for the tile walls. The shower curtain is made from three prints, Heather Bailey Freshcut Crest fabric, Amy Butler Ginger Bliss Paisley in lime, and HB Freshcut Graphic Mum. I found the guava berry bath accessories, towels and rugs at Target awhile ago with the idea that I'd finally make these other pieces to bring it all together.

For the artwork, I wanted to bring something earthy into the room to give it some warmth and character with all of that white tile suffocating the life out it.

Extending off of the main bathroom is a vanity that is between the bathroom and our bedroom. The wall color in here extends into the bedroom. For this space I wanted more neutral towels and wanted to tie the warmer fabrics from the collection into the towels:

And last, but certainly not least I made an earring organizer out of a really cool old frame that I found at the Goodwill Bins.

Now, go and craft!

MARCHing on.... 19 days late OR 12 days NOT too late!

2009-03-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

As you can see from that beautifully designed banner over yonder ----->
I'm participating in Heather Bailey's March of the Tools this month... but you can't quite tell that *YET* from this sleepy blog!

Did I mention that I crashed my laptop. No, no, not the one that I crashed LAST month... the NEW hard drive that I replaced that one with. Fabulous! And you must say that with that opera-ish FAaaaaaB YUuu LUSssss.

So, the first tool you should getchya is a reliable computer. Hahahahaha. I'm not funny, am I?

The next tool that you should getchya (ooh, I like that word) is some GLUE! That's right, this sewer, crafter, designer is using my very first March of Tools to recommend simple glue. But you better know that if I'd put this glue in first position on March of the Tools, then it must be some good glue :)

This is my friend, Welder. Welder is everything that your super glue and glue gun aren't. It should be in at least three places in your house... your kitchen, your tool area and your crafting area. It's the glue that you always wish you had, that you don't think exists. I'm so serious. Allow me to tell you about Welder...

Welder is a contact adhesive. It permanently bonds or seals whatever it is applied to. If you want the maximum strength, you should apply a slight amount to both surfaces that you are joining and allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before putting them together, however I rarely do this.

Welder is NOT fast. It doesn't work like your basic, stick-your-fingers-together-for-life super glue. It is a slow drying substance and it reaches maximum strength after 24 hours of drying time. You'll need to support the items you are gluing together in a way that they won't be disturbed for 24 hours. This also means that you can touch it! Although it says something about some very bad side effects that I like to ignore, you can smooth this stuff around and position it with your fingers if you need to without gluing yourself to your phone.

Welder dries very mildly flexible. Have you used super glue and then gently tapped the things that you glued together only to have your super glue spot just pop right back off? Welder is a sort of rubbery adhesive and dries with a gently flexible consistency so you don't get that *snap* point.

Welder works on ANYTHING. I've glued glass, ceramic, wood, metal, rubber, paper, fabric, plastic, jewelry AND I've used it to seal a leak on a broken window pane.

Last week I glued on the rubber foot to my husband's Tom drum stand and later that day glued the top portion of this crystal vase that I am restoring to the base.

It's good stuff... Next up, the Dewalt Compound Miter Saw. Power tools!

Another Happy Pillow and Some Onion Peels

2009-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Please forgive my dark pics. I took these at night again. Why do I do that? And why aren't I upstairs retaking them right now? Good questions! ...with no answers. hahaha! :)

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The main fabric is one of my favs. It's a Heather Bailey Pop Garden print ... Rose Bouquet in cream. Again I quilted around the roses and through the leaves, adding some sweet yellow vintage pom pon trim and backing with a nice fine wale cord and a zipper closure. I used another Goodwill pillow for the form and tossed its original cover. Trust me, not worth recycling.

The chair in this pic came from the bins and was a whopping $10. I *super heart* this chair. It's comfortable and I love the high back and shape... and the cane of course. I ADORE cane.

I'm still super sneezy and sick today. The sun is out and I'm hoping to get outside and just feel the sun. I can feel the fog of the past year's craziness clearing. My business AND design instincts are coming back. I can just feel it, kwim? I keep saying that if I clear my studio and make it beautiful that I'll just know what I'm supposed to do when it is done. The piles of the past seven years' scraps and clutter are slowly unfolding like the layers on an onion. Because if my belief and commitment to reusing and recycling just about EVERYTHING, it's a very slow, tedious process and the garage will take a bit longer to deal with, but it's progressing and I feel those same layers unpeeling off of my shoulders as I go along.

Today I organized all of my paint swatches. Easy peasy, but a HUGE success none the less. I use these things constantly. You can see my Pantone book tucked into the big back part of the box. A place for everything and everything in its place. Hurrah!

My cutting table. w00t!

2009-02-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

So, it's a little messy, but you get the idea! I built myself a new cutting table a couple of weeks ago. It is made from two very old, very free, very lead paint covered solid wood doors, some old table legs and a dining table top that I picked up at Goodwill bins last year for $5. Sweet! And I love it. I left all of the hardware on the doors because I really loved the way they look. I cut the table legs up to make myself a shelf with the second door.

The bunn feet that are on the bottom I found last year in a sea-side thrift store. They were four for $1. I bought two sets of them. I was ECSTATIC when I found them. Have you priced bunn feet lately? I had no specific plan in mind for them at the time, but I knew eventually I'd find myself saying, man, I wish I had some bunn feet for this project.... and Whalah! I think everyone else that I was with at the time thought I was crazy. Which is their usual reaction to me in thrift stores and at junk piles. This was one of those fabulous thrift stores that is just filled with randomness and most of it is 50 cents or $1. HEAVEN!

ON THE TABLE: Layers and layers of felt from making poodle skirts. Our elementary school has an annual sock hop event and this year as a fund raiser we sold poodle skirts. I donated my time and skilz to make the skirts for the fund raiser. I made 35. It was a really enjoyable project and I look forward to doing it again next year.

Happy Blogging.... Let the Joy Shine In!

2009-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, this blog has been a DOWNER for the past few months. I'VE been a downer for the past few months. I had lost my joy. Lost it. The CPSIA was the final straw that put me over the edge. How many times does lightening have to strike for you to realize it is time to get out of that tree!

I've climbed out of the tree. It was hard. Hard to publicly post that I'm closing the shop, hard to put away the Spring designs, hard to look people in the eye at the shop when I'm there and tell them that I won't be after the 31st. Actually, I'm still working on that one.

But it was the right decision. And now I can move forward. I've got big plans in the works for the future (as always!) but for now I'm holding. And by holding, I mean sewing goodies for my house as fast as I can crank them out and working on a basement remodel project complete with a clean and organized laundry room, a beautiful design studio and a workshop for the Mr. That's how I rest. And it feels SO good.

Here's one of the first completed projects. This is an 18" pillow made from on of my favorite prints from Amy Butler's Temple Flowers line circa 2003. I've free-quilted the front with a batting layer in between the front and a white cotton lining. It has a zipper closure for washing and is stuffed with a down insert that I picked up at Goodwill for $3. It had a horrible cover on it of course. The backing is a nice fine whale corduroy on the back for durability.

You can sort of see the free quilting in this photo. I stipple quilted in the open spaces and then followed the form of the leaves and roses.

Now these pictures aren't as beautiful.... these are the ceiling tiles I'm ripping out of the basement.

After that I get to remove the concrete over wood lathe false ceiling underneath. THAT's going to be nasty. But completely worth it!

Poisoned by CPSIA

2009-01-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Worried about lead poisoning in your children's library books? No? Good! You shouldn't be. Worried about lead poisoning in your handmade Kung Fu Bambini couture? No? Good! You shouldn't be. Worried about lead poisoning in the law? Well, you might want to think long and hard on that one. The CPSIA is poison, a much more damaging poison than you could ever find in a single garment that ever came from my hands. The CPSIA has put me and countless others out of business and your local school library might be next.

YOU NEED TO KNOW: Taken directly from a statement issued by the American Library Association on January 22nd, 2009.
"Under the current opinion issued by the General Counsel of the CPSC, the law would apply to books for children under the age of 12; therefore, public, school, academic and museum libraries would be required to either remove all their children’s books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities as of February 10."

Proponents of this law need to swallow their pride and realize that it was poorly written and that putting all of the power in the hands of two overwhelmed, unelected officials is mind boggling. I am ALL FOR lead testing in products that necessitate it, but books? handmade cotton apparel? wooden toys? It is absurd. And their lack of guidance or action is shameful and irresponsible. With every passing day more and more damage is done to the economy, businesses and families.

So, as I briefly mentioned before, I am closing due to the CPSIA. It is official, Violet [handmade boutique] will be closing as of January 31, 2009 and I will not sell any children's items past February 9th, 2009 until after this fiasco is straightened out, IF it is ever straightened out.

Facts:

After February 9th, 2009 it is illegal for me to sell children's products that have not been tested for lead. GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT! I do not have the investment capital to become compliant. It is not even financially feasible to sustain a business and test as much as is necessary for CPSIA compliance.

I have been asked why I am not waiting it out longer.. a large amount of my income comes from wholesale orders from stores other than my own. Although I scaled back greatly in the last year, the wholesale orders are still the bread and butter of my income. The CPSIA attacked a market segment of boutiques that were already adjusting to a devastating economy and then to be hit with CPSIA legislation at their weakest time has caused them to stop buying almost at once. Even products that are completely compliant have taken major sales hits because retail stores are scared.

And who can blame them? With absolutely no guidance from the CPSC and nothing but fear being projected onto them by trade magazines such as Earnshaw's (who should be ASHAMED of themselves), our Spring wholesale orders were almost entirely canceled. I had to stop production immediately. That Spring line would have been beautiful too! I think it is my best design work yet and it is all worthless now. All the time and energy to design the entire line, source the fabrics, trims and dyes, sketch, design and size grade the patterns, all of it completely worthless. And the CPSIA could care less about me and thousands of other businesses that never harmed or would have harmed anyone.

The CPSIA has put me out of business. Exit stage left.

What YOU can do. Read this article and this article and then call Henry Waxman. The US Government still operates by phone. Call, call, and call again. Tell him the deadline needs to be extended. Tell him how devastating this will be to libraries and children. Tell him to call a Committee meeting. It is really our only hope.

Henry A. Waxman
California-30th, Democrat
2204 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0530
Phone: (202) 225-3976

What does the CPSIA mean to YOU?

2009-01-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

I am livid. I haven't posted in weeks about this issue because honestly, I can't contain my anger and emotions enough to get a decent thought out. But today I have to do this, NOT because the CPSIA means many things for myself and my family including the possible complete closure of kung fu bambini and Violet Handmade Boutique, but because it means SO MUCH MORE for our children and their future. BOOKS, people, if nothing else lights a fire under your booties, BOOKS ARE BANNED the way this legislation reads right now.

"... require public, school, academic and museum libraries to either remove all their books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities, beginning on February 10."

Did you read that? Read it again.

You don't believe me? Think this HAS to be an internet scam? Somehow it is real. It has been my nightmare for several weeks now as I combed through the legislation and the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) interpretations and found that my line, kung fu bambini, is in fact considered a HAZARDOUS GOOD after February 10th unless I do testing that would amount in the thousands of dollars.

HAZARDOUS GOOD until proven otherwise.

I will get to my story in another post. For now, I just want you to know about this law. I want you to know how far reaching it is and I want you to be mad. IRATE in fact. That our lawmakers see fit to "protect" my child from lead by banning ALL things EVER made for them until proven innocent is a travesty to say the least. It should be said that their intention was good, but the solution is disastrous.

Straight from the ALA (American Library Association):
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

Get started with that and I'll be doing a facts and links post and then a personal post about why kung fu bambini and Violet will most likely be closing before February 10th.

I hope to be able to control my anger and emotion while providing you with just the facts.

Humble beginnings.... one of the very first kung fu bambini outfits complete with headscarf, matching receiving blanket and one orange squirming bundle of Mia inspiration. At that early time in 2002 the line was called Kungfugrrl by Mommy & Mia.

Semi-Annual Clearance on Kung Fu Bambini at Violet

2009-01-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

As the saying goes, out with the old, in with the new! And that's exactly what I've got planned for the shop. Violet's Boutique is one big clearance sale right now with every single Kung Fu Bambini item on sale for either $5 or $10. Yes, EVERY kung fu bambini item. Dresses, skirts, pants, tees, bibs, changing pads, booties and even jackets!

I have big plans for the new Spring lines coming in and we've got to make some serious room. Valentine's gear and early Spring will start making their way from my cutting table into the shop in just one week. In the meantime, you've got some saving to do!

Sale starts NOW and ends at closing on Monday, January 12. But I think you know how this goes... fast! So don't wait around if you are looking for specific items or sizes. And the one-of-a-kind samples always fly out the door first. So get on over to the shop!

{Look at those awesome handmade banners! Ooh, Ahh! teehee...}

Flavors for Next Month:

Love is in the Air - a collection of easy knit cotton dresses in vibrant colors with sweet bird appliques. Matching skirts, tees and baby accessories join the party! Two colorways... classic red, black and white & vibrant hot pink, deep turquoise and green.

Puppy Love - who doesn't love a puppy? Especially when it combines a chocolate brown damask and pink stripes in a fun skirt and tee collection for girls complete with the sweetest hair accessories. The boys won't get left out here... baby blue and chocolate plaid print combine to complete their look.

Love and kisses,

Violet

A VERY important P.S. Please accept my heart felt thank you for all of your kind words and actions following my grand-dad's death. I appreciate each of you so very much and your support means the world to me and motivates me daily!

Grand Opening Party in Portland!

2008-11-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!

There's a party in Portland this weekend and you're invited! Please join me in celebrating the Grand Opening of Violet {Handmade Home & Children's Boutique}. Our fixtures are built, clothing is sewn and cupcakes are baking. After six years of sewing and designing, my little dream has come to fruition in the back of a wonderful space on lower Fremont Street within Poppy & Ivy Vintage Boutique.

Over the past month and a half, Amy (the lovely proprietress of Poppy & Ivy) and I have taken on the adventure of sharing a shop. Thus far I've asked her such insane questions as, Can I reset our router? Can I raise our cash drawer 4" for my laptop? Can I transplant the trees 6" to the left? Can I scoot half the shop cabinets two feet to the right? And she's been nothing but accommodating and encouraging! Even when I built a 17 foot long cabinet installation along the back, she didn't even blink an eye. I sent her a photo and said, I'm going to build this! And she just smiled at me and said, Of course you are! And I did! Make sure to check out my complete recycled cabinet installation when you come in.

This is in the middle of construction progress. You'll have to come in or wait until the event is over to see the after!

I love the creative freedom that I've been able to explore since this adventure began. Along with building our fixtures, I've been working on some really fun window displays. Last month's Halloween window was a great time and this month's Santa Baby red and white display was just as much fun. I think I'm becoming addicted to spray painting tree branches. When I chose a red and white display theme, I had no red and white clothing to go with it... and thus, last week Santa Baby was created. A red with white stitching and white eyelet ruffle pant combined with a romantic white eyelet and red stitched grosgrain ribbon tee. The perfect set for Christmas morning and comfortable and casual enough for any day.

I've also just added some great Prep School Argyle lounge sets for boys and girls. Available in two color ways and in sizes 0-3 months to 8 years. Amy calls them the Greg Brady sets. And they so are!

And we've only just begun. I'll be adding a whole new collection every two weeks. In the queue for November:

Victorian Holiday a collection of dresses, skirts, tops and lined jackets in hounds tooth, washable green silk shantung and black lace with black footless leggings

Sharp Shooter a boys collection of sling shot tees and corduroy pants

Imperial Garden a girly collection of giant roses in gingham with lace roses and hand appliqued ribbon flowers on skirts, tees and dresses

... and the list goes on! I'll be incorporating more and more vintage trims and materials and doing some great recycled denim collections. For holiday gift giving there are sewn baby shoes, handmade baby dollies and women's jewelry on the way!

So come and join Amy and I for a celebration this weekend with mimosas, sparkling white grape juice and cupcakes. Home-made of course! And just for coming in you can also redeem this $10 gift certificate! Pass it on to your friends :)

Love and kisses,

Violet

P.S. A little note to my wonderful customers that aren't in Portland. I'm thinking about you and the online webshop and etsy will be restocked in the coming two weeks. Don't worry, I wouldn't forget about you!

Baby Go Retro Charming JUST ARRIVED!!!

2008-11-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for our opening this weekend. The most beautiful pieces are arriving and being completed daily. We have so much for you to see! Today's arrival.... Charming by the fabulous Sheila of Baby Go Retro.

Sheila does not sell to boutiques anymore, only through her own web store and I am SO very lucky to be her good friend and have her send some fabulous things for the store opening. Hopefully she'll want to keep sending us more yummy clothes! These cute Hootie pant sets and LINED jackets are available in 6 months to 5t. Each piece is handmade of course!

***doctor notes*** So far so good. I made it through this morning's breast ultrasound and an additional mammogram. The doc says that the wonderful black spots (that I was able to see for the first time on the monitors today) appear to be normal tissue and we'll be monitoring it with more mammogram's down the road to make sure that it isn't changing shape or size. Tomorrow: thyroid biopsy. One down, one to go.

TRADE SECRET DAY: A Hangar Tutorial

2008-10-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Okay crafty peeps... so you want to have customized hangars, but you don't want to pay a small fortune to have them all screen printed. Here's a nice little DIY project for you.

Supplies:

Your beautiful logo
Laserjet or Inkjet printer
Water-side decal paper (typically used for model trains and cars, etc)
Clear coat spray paint
Scissors
Saucer of cold water
Dry towel
Hangars of your choice

1. Design your logo/decals in your graphics program and make a layout for an 8 1/2" x 11" paper.

2. Print your logo on the glossy side of the decal paper.

3. Spray the page with a soft coat of cear coat. I would let this dry and give it a second coat. If you get it thicker it will be easier to side off and onto your hangar later.

4. Cut out the logo to transfer onto your hangars. If you are a perfectionist like I am, keep in mind that you might be able to see the outline just slightly so try to cut them out in a uniform way.

5. Place a few of the decals face up in a shallow plate of water and soak for close to a minute. Check to see when the decal starts to slide off of the backing paper. Throw away the backing paper and slide the decal onto your hangar. It should slide around easily until it is centered and straightened.

6. Use the clean, dry towel to pat the decal down and press out any air bubbles.

7. Let it dry and rock the party!

Room with a Birthday View

2008-10-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist taking this pic. I just looked down and started laughing. I had contemplated taking a work-hookie day, but I was forced into a non-job-related work day from the beginning. I have an advertising deadline that I need to get proofs off to this afternoon, Mia's gift wrap fund raiser (that I strongly oppose) is due today, Cannon is still sick, and most importantly I got a new SHUFFLE for my birthday!!!! My hubby loves me.

So, there's a story there. Of course. He bought be a most loverly ipod for my birthday a couple of years ago and I was too busy to properly play with it... and so it sat unused until Justin finally started using it. I even bought it pretty cases and such. Alas, my laptop wasn't cooperating with iTunes (SEE PREVIOUS POST, GRRRR) and I was so frustrated with it that I just didn't touch it. Fast forward to today. There she is in all of her pink glory. And here I am with my entire CD book that I haven't opened since I sold my VW Cabriolet in 2001.

So before I begin to tell you how ecstatic I am to be uploading my ode to 1997 cd's, let me give you a little insight into my very complicated psychie. I am technocologically very savvy. VERY. I'm also pretty self-aware of my time/capacity limitations. If I don't have the time to fully understand something, then I don't want to waste the time or energy to even know a bit about it. I either know it very well, or not at all. I can fully admit that I don't always prioritize this well. My head and body are always running a mile a minute. At any given moment in my head, I'm planning to design a new line, construct a retaining wall, paint a china cabinet, bake cupcakes with the girls, bathe the dog, build an exterior store sign... yeah, that was all a moment yesterday. It's not that I don't want to know all about how iTunes works or know the ins and outs of Arduino boards (OH how I want to know THAT! The fun that this crafty geeky grrl could have!) It's just that it hasn't found a space on the highway to cut into traffic yet. If it keeps my interest long enough, eventually I'll find the bandwidth for it to merge in. Today, I made room for my new iPod/iTunes. And I am in PRINCE HEAVEN here people.

Now, on a slightly less exciting note. Here I sit on my 35th birthday and writing about myself and I realize that these things have always been true about me. It is sometimes hard for me to still see that part of myself. That "mile a minute, energized, friends had to hide my algae energy pills because I was wearing them out" girl. My body just doesn't move that fast anymore. My mind still does. And, as my husband can attest, so does my talkie talkie mouth. Maybe I need to find those crazy algae whole food pills again. Oh Hays Girlies out there, do you remember that?

And now, a short birthday review for your entertainment pleasure. Apparently my laptop is still bitter about that whole love/hate thing from yesterday because it just thrashed all of the photos I had uploaded of birthday's past. So, you get a review starting in 2000. BORING. :)

2000 - this is the closest pic I could find to my birthday. It was taken on Oct 12. Surely we did SOMETHING fun right?

Maybe not, because just two days later I had done THIS to myself. Maybe I was belated-celebrating?

And two weeks later:

And exactly one month after my 27th birthday:

Whew. Moving on to 2001. No birthday pics again. BUT! Here I am on the 22nd with a 15 week, 4 day old Mia Quinn brewing in my belly!

2002. It's time to PAR-TAY! Right? Ummmm, nope. Looks like we ripped out the ceiling in our kitchen for my 29th. Wow, we were all sorts of fun back then weren't we?

Oh, nice. MIA however had a Half-Birthday celebration just four days later on the 7th. OMG that's cute.

2003. The big THREE-OH. Yes, this time we did it up right. A little family photo before heading out for our FIRST EVENING away from the Quinn-ster.

This pic pretty much says it all.

2004. Cannon was just over a month old and we went to IKEA for my birthday! Seriously. We went and bought a new kitchen. It was pretty awesome actually.

2005. Um. Yeah. Somehow I've misplaced all photos from a couple of years. The backup cd's are m.i.a.

Wow, that WAS boring. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

i heart the internet

2008-10-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me!

For about two years now I have had a love/hate relationship with my laptop. I have hated everything that it can't do or doesn't do well and I loved that airport security has dropped the uninsured hunk of junk three separate times. It has entire lines of dead pixels on the screen, the memory was low and worst of all, I couldn't stream Project Runway to save my life!

I just upgraded to 2GB of RAM. Hello hotstuff! Or so I thought. I started up Firefox and within a minute or two - stuck. Dead halted on trying to open some pretty basic websites.

GRRRRRR.

So, Justin mentions that I should maybe update my network adapter drivers. Okay, how come I don't think of that... or didn't anytime in the last two years. So he goes on the hunt for the file and I start google searching anything I can find on the adapter itself. I have searched for any info on the problem before to no avail, but apparently I tapped into some new keyworking this time around and found this piece of gold. That's right. THIRTY SECONDS of updating and I was streaming Season 5 Episode 3 like butter!

If you clicked that link, make sure to read my comment where I declare my love for the blogger that posted it. Bloggers rule.

So, it's my birthday and I just got a pretty special little gift. I got my youtube back. All is right with the world.

*** don't take this as a sign that I don't want your gifts and adorations! more is more here people! ***

BOO! Halloween is here!

2008-10-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

I had a very hard time getting a good photo of the new shop window, but I'm counting on Amy to get a better one tomorrow. She has a much better camera and well, she's just good like that :) We've stocked the store with new Halloween lounge sets complete with vintage Halloween print pants and Sassy Kitty or Peter Peter Pumpkin shirts. I'll be bringing in more sizes tomorrow through the weekend. We made 0-3 months through 8 years this time around! These are limited edition and limited quantites per size.

and you thought i was working...

2008-09-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Introducing Violet at Poppy & Ivy

2008-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Announcing a collaboration of Poppy & Ivy's Home & Gift Boutique and Violet's Handmade Boutique featuring the kung fu bambini line. We are now two great stores in one fantastic location at 1315 NE Fremont.

Poppy & Ivy and Violet are pleased to announce our store within a store: Starting Friday, September 12, Violet. Ridiculously Cute. will open up inside Poppy & Ivy. Violet offers couture baby clothing from size 0-3 months up to 8 years. Pants, coordinating tee's, cloche hats and booties. Also look for housewares...old meets new, dishtowels, potholders, aprons, etc.

We are SO thrilled with this announcement. We are two women who love vintage items & support "buying handmade & local". We both have minds racing at all hours of the night..figuring how we are going to create the NEXT big thing. What do we sew, paint, collage, embellish, or find next?

As the flagship retail store for Kung Fu Bambini, Violet will be the only place to get the full collection each season as well as many One of A Kind creations. Look for the new collection of limited edition women's apparel, accessories and housewares, Everyday Violet, in mid-October!

TODAY, Friday September 12th, we offer our 2nd Friday Art Walk & Sidewalk Sale on Lower Fremont. Added participants this time around include, County Cork, La Bodega, Acadia and Rerun. Come check us out Friday from 5:00-9:00 pm. Joining us are many local artists. Come enjoy a dinner in NE Portland followed by our cool, tree lined stretch of shopping, wine and appetizers. We are all located between 7th and 14th on NE Fremont.

We look forward to seeing you all!

- Violet Craft & Amy Hollands

Oh Me Oh My..... WHO's Got NEWS For You???

2008-09-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

but no pictures. I've got pictures, I just can't get my laptop to not creek painfully and die on me whilst trying to upload one for you! So, BIG announcement coming on Thursday. Are you excited?!

A note to two friends....

2008-09-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

... and my lame way of feeding my blog (geez, and therefore probably lame way of feeding my friendship - I owe you guys a pitcher this week for loving me anyway!)

I'm not ignoring you...I'm just ignoring you. wait..

The Gocco is my new mini screen printing machine that is going to rock my (and therefore probably your) worlds. lol! It only prints about a 4" x 6" area, but it's awesome. I have been SO freakin swamped with back to school shiite that I haven't even gotten to play with it yet. Though I whined like a baby for two weeks waiting for it to come from Japan. Seriously, this week has kicked my ass. Both Mia and Cannon going back to school at two different schools which meant two different Meet the Teacher Events, two separate parent orientation nights, two school community potlucks, soccer practice and Mia's first game is tomorrow. Oh, and she's got her first overnight birthday party on Saturday. SO - that all also meant shopping for two different school shopping lists - and then we got NEW lists when we actually met the damn teachers, shopping for all new soccer gear (she actually has shin guards) and general clothes/backpack/lunchbox shopping - and then shopping for back to school lunch and snack food. And this is NOT the GOOD shopping that I know and love. Today I'm off to buy a birthday gift for this party, more soccer socks, groceries and class snacks for next week. Tonight I get to wash all of her soccer clothes for the game tomorrow since she had practice yesterday and their uniforms haven't arrived yet. Thanks Portland Youth Soccer Club! Oh - and the post office called yesterday to let me know that the PO Box that I've been using for a month now isn't really mine and the rightful owner came back from vacation this week and freaked out that they couldn't open their box - so all of that address changing that I did for three businesses just went out the damn window and today I also have to go fill out all new forms and also cancellation forms for the forms I already filled out and then I get to call all twenty seven billion credit card companies, suppliers, customers and utilities to change it again.... and tomorrow I'm meeting with the owner of the store I'm moving into next week for a grand opening event on second Friday. (details to follow soon!) That's right, I still have to WORK too! Cannon starts school on Monday, but can't attend her before or after care for the first two days. So Wednesday. GLORIOUS Wednesday is the Day of all Holy Days. The day where my life may settle into it's natural hurricane state and I can drop our families' personal terror alert from Red back down to that lovely shade of Yellow we've grown accustomed to.

:blink:

Happy Chairs!

2008-09-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Me!

2008-09-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Making New Crayons

2008-09-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Although, we didn't use that first bowl of crayons. Those are our "keepers". We had a whole gallon sized ziplock bag filled with broken crayons saved up.... and we couldn't find them... so we had to scrounge through all of the craft boxes for broken crayons and yep, we had enough! Fun stuff! Where could that bag be?

a monumental moment

2008-08-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

i'm hoping to be a new car owner again in the next month. i can't believe i'm about to say this, but soccer starts next month and i need to be able to transport more kids. i am a soccer mom.

Making Pink

2008-08-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

While Mia was away at Art Camp I did a bedroom remodel for her. The girls officially have their own bedrooms now and we no longer have a guest room. Mia's room was this awesome orange color when we moved in. It was peeling in several locations and had lots of scrapes and holes in it, but it was a great color and I wanted to live with it for awhile.

I gave myself a $0 budget to work with. You heard I'm not working this summer right? Money is a bit tight. So, zero dollars it was. Mia and I both wanted pink walls - and this is what I had to work with:

Here we have an almost full quart of the color I wanted that was leftover from a kung fu bambini tradeshow booth project, a full baby pink quart that I bought a few months ago at Home Depot for $1 in the mistinted paint section (LOVE the mistinted paint section!), a half of a gallon left over from painting Mia's room pink at our old house four years ago and an almost full gallon of a lighter version of the color I wanted that was also leftover from that same kung fu bambini booth project.

I did some crazy calculations using the formulas that were on the paints and came up with my own formula for what I'd need to add once I mixed all of this craziness together. I needed Exterior Red - and lots of it. So I took one of the partial gallons back to the Home Depot and asked them to add in 4 oz of Exterior Red. Took it home, mixed it up and whalah! PINK! The perfect melony pink that I wanted. Mia's room in Vancouver was a much more magenta pink. After all of that work to get the perfect color I dragged Justin upstairs, explained this to him and he shrugged his shoulders and said "that's the exact same color of her old room". P'shaw!

Anyway, it's perfect. Here is her bed being painted as well. That was a $10 find from the bins about a year ago that I finally painted and Justin helped me build the bed portion with pieces from an old bunk bed that we had in our garage. There's also a great antique nightstand that I got for $1 at the bins a few months ago and had in the garage.

SEE - reduce, reuse, recycle!

PURGE PURGE PURGE!!!!

2008-08-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

I am a keeper. It's even in my business plan. You know, reduce, reuse, recycle. I can not bear to let things go. I look at every single piece and think - that has value to someone, somewhere - and then I convince myself that someone is me. The recycling part just takes so much time. And I don't love sending things to Goodwill. I do it. I send them LOADS of stuff, but I also shop the bins and I see how much of what they get just ends up as garbage. So, I try to send everything out to more local places and I try to divy everything out to the place that will best benefit from each thing. As you can imagine, this takes time. And partially contributes to what I call my crazy-factor.

Ze Closet Before

Ze Closet After

I have been so busy growing kung fu bambini for the last few years I became too busy to abide by my own mission and let stuff accumulate (although at least I didn't throw any of it away! THAT would be Violet-sacrilige!!!) And the accumulation DEFINITELY added to my crazy-factor. Part of this summer's sabbatical has included reducing that accumulation, in the best way possible. I started in my own closet after reading this article which I of course can't find now. Basically it said that you need to create flow in your life. For things to flow in, things need to flow out. Makes sense right? And it also said start in your own closet. I think it was right. Between that article and Fly-Lady's kitchen sink cleaning I'm building my arsenal for reducing my daily crazy-factor. Come to think of it, this whole sabbatical is simply that, reducing my crazy-factor. By George!

In case you were wondering....

2008-08-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is where I've been:

Chasing two little mismatched shoe wearing princesses all over summerville. Aren't they the best?

I realized that I've been blogging in my head again. How can I keep doing that? I seriously blog in my head all day every day and then when I do finally go to sit down and really blog on my site... whoops, it's been three weeks. oi vey. So it's two posts a day for awhile until I get caught up!

BTW, I'm off of caffeine. Started yesterday, Monday, August 11, 2008. May it go down in history. I detoxed from caffeine when I was in junior college a million years ago. At that time I had found out that I had fibrosis of the breast and that caffeine was making it painful. SO, I detoxed and it was hell and I had migraine like headaches for two weeks. For years I only drank non caffeine beverages and little chocolate. Slowly I started drinking caffeine drinks again and more chocolate and in the last couple of years it's been two to three diet Dr. Pepper's a day as well as a daily chocolate fix. THIS is going to suck.

I've been planning on cutting back for awhile and whenever I start to get pain in the boobage I back off, but I finally made the decision to do it this week when I woke up feeling like a sack of potatoes and then read The Dooce's post about cleansing in some serious ways. I want to cut sugars as well, but having a Diet Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper may be my only tasty pleasure left so I'm holding onto that one for now - but no more than one a day.

Anyhoo - I also have my physical and mammogram coming up in October so now seems like a good time to take care of myself - as if I can counteract all of the damage I'm sure I've done to the boobage in the last few years all in a matter of weeks. But I'm going to try. I'm also going to be back at the kung fu bambini office starting in September so I felt like I needed to do this now so that I don't end up screaming at sweet baby shoes for not tying correctly.

Get ready for the ride peeps. Going to go take some Ibuprofen now.

Where was this diaper bag when I had a baby???

2008-08-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

My sister in law had commented that she likes my purse the other day and laughed "does it come in diaper bags?" Well, of course it does! I whipped this up for her the day of her shower. Nothing like procrastinating! It turned out better than even I could have expected. (if I do say so myself :)

Know someone that wants one? I just added it to the shop as a custom design!

The outside has a cell phone pocket on one end and a big folder style pocket across the back. You never know when that working momma is going to need to pack along a file or two! The inside has a big free-quilted zippered pocket along the back and several side pockets running across the front. There are two puffy pockets on either side end that are the perfect size for a bottle or pump.

Ooh la la!

Don't You Judge Me...

2008-08-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

It's a work in progress. It's not supposed to look like a page out of Country Living Magazine. Yet.

And I can completely admit I'm just jealous that I don't have one of those blogs where every picture and every aspect of my life always look perfect. But I don't. That's my husband's laundry there on his side table - and those are extension cords that I fished out from behind our bed on mine... and yes, those are bare lightbulbs hanging out above our bed. The shades are in the process of getting a custom cover. In the meantime we read by MISMATCHED lightbulbs. If you only knew how bad it bothers me that they are mismatched lightbulbs. As if the bare bulbs themselves aren't bad enough.

I can tell you that once this quilt is done that room is going to be spectacular! I've raised the curtain rods up to ceiling level to achieve height. I used some basic IKEA curtains and added the 3" ruffle on the sides in Heather Bailey's Freshcut. I had a few of the prints that I wanted through wholesale and then planned to substitute in several other prints that I had in stock, but as I started cutting, I started craving the Freshcut prints for this quilt. They are so yummy and the prints I was subbing in just didn't feel right. And so I headed to my favorite source for buying retail fabric - Elinor Peace Bailey's ebay store. Beth Watts will most likely be the one to help you and she is the sweetest gal to work with.

I digress. As usual. SO.. I'm making the Freshcut Quilt which is Heather's free pattern. But I'm changing it. The original pattern is for a lap quilt and I'm making a big 'ole queen sized duvet quilt. I've adjusted the pattern to use a 16 1/2" square instead of a 12 1/2". I'm going to post the adjustments once I have this baby finished, but email me if you want them. What is a quilt duvet you ask? It's a quilt that has a duvet insert for the winter.

In a nutshell:

make the quilt top
sandwich the top, the batting and a plain sheeting back
quilt those three pieces
bind the top edge only
sandwich the previously made quilt and a duvet back
bind (with the awesome ruffles) the three unbound edges creating a duvet pocket.

This way I can have a nice quilt in the summer and can fill that puppy with my big fluffy duvet in the winter. I'm excited, are you?

A Patriotic Home Coming

2008-07-12T00:59:00.000-07:00

We made it home in time for our neighborhood Fourth of July parade. What a perfect home coming. Family, community, barbecue and a little boutique sewing. Girl missed her sewing machine! You'll see just how much in the coming days. I've been a sewing maniac since I've been back.

All personal sewing. I am still on sabbatical. It was so necessary. I've taken breaks before - like 10 hour breaks. Maybe two day breaks. Once I think I may have taken off for a whole week - and I always ended up right back where I started... oversold, overworked and an under-nourished soul.

I love the saying "everything happens for a reason". I don't believe the affirmative that there is a reason first and then something happens second to support that reason. I do believe that any negative energy behind everything that happens in life can influence positive energy towards something else... and thus, everything that happens can be associated with what another might see as an afore-known reason. Whew... windy much? Anyway...

This was a forced sabbatical. But it has been an amazing, much needed, nourishing time for me and hopefully for my family too.

Saturday, June 28

2008-07-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

Almost homeward bound. I'm already picturing our car driving out of town. It is nice to come "home". It is familiar and picturesquely easy. It has memories and it shaped me. It is the past.

Ahhh, but going home... that is the future my friends. My work here is done. At least for now. My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades?

Friday, June 27

2008-07-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

Cannon asked me yesterday in the car what feelings are. I know I talk about feelings sometimes with her and Mia. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized at once that she didn't know what feelings meant and also how grown up she was to be able to ask me what they were. Mia and I combined our efforts to explain many different feelings to her. After breakfast today she came running into the kitchen and exclaimed, "Momma, I'm having a feeling!" I asked her what feeling she was having and with a huge beaming smile and a half giggle she proclaimed, "HAPPY!"

Today the girls got to spend a lot of time with their Grandpa Rick. They really, really love him. We went and visited geese and played a ton of arcade games. And I got to thrift this morning! Yippeeee! I can't wait to share these really crazy quirky birds that I found. These characters are definitely making it into a print someday.

Side note: I've lost two men in my life at very different times in my life and both to very similar car accidents. I have spent time with both of their mothers this week. Could this place GET any more depressing?

Thursday, June 26

2008-07-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

I'm very officially homesick. It's hot, all I've done for three days is eat bad-for-me food and draw until 4am. Okay, that's not true at all, but it kind of feels that way. I'm exhausted, I've slept in the firmest-ever-made full size bed with two kicking, bed-hogging munchkins for a week using a teddy bear with a rattle in its tail for a pillow in a house where my grandfather who can barely walk can somehow make it down the hallway every two hours throughout the night to make sure that it's ridiculously NON-climate controlled at all hours of the day. I'm not saying hot or cold because it simply varies with the setting of the sun.

It has been quite the week. I've thought of a million things to share. I've written entire papers in my head on my sociological and psychological theories about old westerners and prairie statesmen in general. A roller coaster of a week really. All in all I just feel pretty useless or helpless or something like that. We treated ourselves to Applebee's for the second time this week just to be near something familiar and normal and .... I don't know. You asked. No wait, you didn't. It's my blog and I'll gush if I want to.

Wednesday, June 25

2008-07-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

I've quit making my list. The internet doesn't exist. I know why some people who live out here don't believe a man walked on the moon. It's a blind faith situation. If you believe in the internet, you'll believe anything!

Do YOU see anything that resembles the internet in this picture? Me either.

Tuesday, June 24

2008-07-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

I've been drawing a lot since I've been here. Mostly late at night after everyone else is already in bed asleep. I have no idea what I am going to do with it yet, but I love that I'm doing it just the same. I've made a bit of a break through on a recent series incorporating an exotic little birdie and I'm loving it. I need to name that little guy.

Kansas is inspiring me to draw some Kansas critters as well. hmmmm.

Monday, June 23

2008-07-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

I don't believe my cereal box. It says Whole Grain Guaranteed. According to my box, a whole grain is made by using all three parts of the grain. That sounds like wordplay to me. You shouldn't have to "make" a whole grain, right? Instead of "making" a whole grain by "using all three parts of the grain" shouldn't you just use the entire and thus, whole, grain all at once without processing it somehow? I mean, if they are just cracking it, that is one thing I suppose, but what exactly are they doing to it? And why oh why isn't there internet access so I can look this up?

My other dilemma arising from this sneaky little box here is that there are a guaranteed 8 grams of "whole grain" in every serving. Each serving is 30 grams. What the heck is that other 22 grams? I mean sure, there's some sugar and some cranberries, but it is a cheerio for goodness sakes! Shouldn't it be at least 50% grain? I hate processed foods... and I hate that I have to buy them. It's getting easier to eat more naturally, but I can't change myself or my family overnight. And buying natural foods in Kansas - even though this is where all of that pesky "whole grain" originates from is down right impossible. Don't even get me started on my salad frustrations at the grocery store yesterday!

Things I wanted online access to today (and other questions derived from that desire):
What is really considered a whole grain and what are the packaging standards pertaining to that (those?) definition(s)?
What soap opera did this David Chow guy that is on the Young and the Restless used to be on? Guiding Light? (How do I know exactly what’s going on even though I haven’t watched this since the last time we visited two years ago?)
How do I replace my phone that keeps turning off? Where is the closest T-mobile? What model should I replace it with? When exactly is that G-phone coming out? *sigh*

Sunday, June 22

2008-07-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

I took a pair of scissors and cut off 24 guns and 18 arrows from a gifted playset of cowboys and indians today. Showing my liberal Portland colors a bit too much? I mean come on, did ALL of the action figures have to be in mid-shot? Certainly whilst one was shooting, one would be reaching for his weapon, or reloading perhaps? Not these guys. They're like the synchronized swimmers of massacre attacks. I felt the need to liberate a large percentage from them. Polly Pocket moved in and I just didn't think she'd feel comfortable around all of that. Her little dog either.

Polly spent the afternoon riding around in a canoe with two big strong blue plastic chiefs. She slept in a tent next to a covered wagon while one cowboy slept in her red and white candy striped kitchen. Pretty hilarious actually.

Cannon tends to latch onto very small objects. Polly's puppy has been her little friend for awhile now. Her new object of choice? A headless pig on a spit. She's carrying it everywhere and knows exactly what it is. Funny only to me? hmmm.

The Old West Unplugged... or at least offline. Saturday, June 21

2008-07-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

In the first day on the road I had an old grizzled cowboy look down my shirt and make fun of my knowledge (or lack thereof) of horse breeds. I forgot about the impact of cleavage out here. In the city, no one looks at your chest whilst talking to you. Ever. In the country I didn't come upon a single person that didn't stare intently below my face that day, but this fella - well, let's just say it was a little more obvious and a little more awkward. I changed shirts as soon as we got into town.

I was able to upgrade his opinion of me by telling him we were headed to Dodge City and live in Oregon. Apparently both places are stamped Grizzled Cowboy Approved. At one point he uttered literally six expletives all in a one phrase description of Dodge and right in front of the children.

added note: my father also cusses like a sailor in front of the girls without even a thought that he shouldn't

even newer note: so has everyone else in my family and multiple strangers - I had a conversation with my father about children that I think pertains to this but apparently he doesn't consider his cussing in front of my kids as a part of what we discussed... basically my idea is that kids that are more disrespectful because adults are more disrespectful to them. hmmmm.

Things I wanted online access to today (and other questions derived from that desire):
What movies are at the drive-in this weekend? (why isn't it in the newspaper?)
How long is that carnival across the street going to be in town? (why isn't it in the newspaper?)
Why does dry air make your skin actually break out instead of just drying up?
How much money is in my checking account?
What is going to be on tv tonight here? (why IS that in the newspaper?)
What is Portland's main industry?
What is Portland's yearly rainfall?
What happens if I YouTube search Dodge City?
(Why isn't there anything at all useful in the newspaper?)
I wonder if Justin is online right now. That would be fun to chat. *sniff*
Who is this girl on C-Span talking about the modern presidential campaign and the internet? (When Obama wins the presidency, will he still email me? cool!)
When does the G-phone come out?
Where is this new Ross Elementary going to be in town?
Where is the closest Lowe's, Home Depot, Ross, TJ Maxx, Target?
Is there a farmer's market here? (why isn't it in the newspaper and why the hell not? HELLO? this is FARMland, seems to make sense that there'd be a FARMer's market.)
What is that darned trick using offset to figure out the perfect repeat?
What's the deal with this whole Lost Boys II thing?

Almost Scary....

2008-07-05T10:33:00.001-07:00

I took the color quiz at spacefem.com and this is what I got. I wish I'd saved my answers before I continued on. I don't want to take it again and see if I pick the same things because this is too perfect to jinx.

you are violet
#EE82EE

Your dominant hues are red and blue. You're confident and like showing people new ideas. You play well with others and can be very influential if you want to be.

Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Advice: Take Time For YOU!

2008-06-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

With everything happening with closing down kung fu bambini, moving out of the studio for the summer, leaving behind a summer camp that I SO want to be a part of and of course the parents.... well, I have needed some time to be with girlfriends. I've had two such wonderful opportunities recently.

Last weekend was "girls weekend" with my closest friends. The boys headed out of town for a camping excursion complete with various things to burn into our atmosphere and a lot of cheap beer, pizzas and potatoes. I don't want to know. The craft-monkeys went to grandmas for the weekend. The gals and I drank some fabulous sangria, danced the night away at 80's night, had pedicures, ate some great mexican food complete with margaritas and enjoyed a full night of Cranium. Have you ever had to hum The Boots are Made for Walking? It's not easy.

Last night I had the pleasure of joining some mom friends for a much needed Mom's Night Out. We headed to the Gotham Tavern for lots of happy hour appetizers and a couple of yummy drinks and lots and lots of girl talk.

Little review of the Gotham Tavern: First off, whoever the architect/design team was on that project did an amazing job. The bee-hive is a truly amazing design and the lighting, wall painting and woodwork in there is beautiful, thoughtful and inspiring. I have never been there before, so I don't know what it looked like under its original ownership for comparison. I do know that there are parts of the place that don't feel original. They just don't fit. The seating, although wood, doesn't fit the decor and there are random things about that give the place a townie tavern feel that don't coordinate with the modern decor. The food was not great, but VERY reasonably priced. The drinks were really good. Our server, Deb, was fabulous and seems like the kind of gal you'd like to invite to sit down and join the girls night. The place was pretty empty all evening long opposed to Mint just a block away. We popped in there for one drink on our way home and it was literally packed. We had to wait for a seat at the bar. All in all - Gotham Tavern has this feel of amazing potential that someone should find a way to tap into more efficiently. If you know me, you know my biggest pet peeve is wasted potential. Of course, it could have just been a slow night. What do I know?

So, my blog message today for all of the entrepreneurial women out there is: if you don't have one already, go out and get yourself a girls club. Two weeks ago I was about to lose my mind and now I feel rejuvenated and ready to take on whatever comes my way in the next few weeks. Luckily I have at least one of my best girlfriends in the world in Dodge City, USA to help me cope once there. Take time for YOU and make it a habit! Once might help, but it takes repetition to really create a change in your life. Go on, call someone NOW!

P.S. If you want to know more about the summer camp happening in the KFB studio this summer, take a look at this. It's going to be awesome and Michelle has some pretty great things planned.

Family steps up, Career steps aside.

2008-05-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

These are my parents.

I was raised by my grandparents since I was two years old and they have been my parents ever since. On Wednesday before market my father took a nasty fall in the evening and landed himself right in the hospital. Once there they discovered that he had a severe infection in his blood, is suffering from a heart disorder that affects his oxygenation, has had some small strokes and is stubborn as a bull. Oh wait, we already knew that part.

I found all of this out on Thursday. Around 1pm. I was getting ready for my fabric 2.0 meet and greet with other sewing, fabric and crafting bloggers, which also equated *for me* to an experience of a lifetime. You could say that I was under a little bit of stress. I managed to get all of the information that I needed from home, get the kiddos off to grandma's, head to the event and not seem incredibly overwhelmed. Although, I definitely wasn't at my best. I will get to all of the exciting details of whom I met, where, when, and how in my next post.

During market, during pitching the ideas of my life, during everything since then, I've also been juggling coordinating things at home. Home, by the way, is Dodge City, Kansas. Yes, I am a Portlander. It is my new home and I don't foresee leaving ever. But, Kansas will always be home.

We are a part of the sandwich generation. I've heard the term. I hate the term and yet, now I am the term. We are sandwiched between taking care of our children and our parents. In my case, my parents just happen to be a lot older than they should be. My family is and always has been my priority. My business is my passion and it can wait. Family can not wait.

With that, I will be closing down kung fu bambini for the time being. The girls and I are braving a 24 hour drive to the Old West in mid-June and staying until things are taken care of. Right now, I don't even know what "taken care of" entails. It could mean home health care, it could mean assisted living, it could mean just stocking the pantries with food, putting up some more railings and hiring someone to check in on them now and then. I wish it meant drugging them, piling them into the backseat and hauling their stubborn behinds to Oregon where I could look after them myself, but they won't leave the city limits. Seriously.

I hope to be back by early July, but we are playing it by ear. There will be changes for kung fu bambini, and changes for me I am sure. For you, well, you'll probably hear from me more often!

I fully plan to get to everything about market. Very soon in fact. But now you know where my head has been.

Spring Quilt Market 2008 - Portland, Oregon

2008-05-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Wow. Really, wow. Where oh where to begin? How about the what: Spring Quilt Market is currently being held here in Portland, Oregon. Five years ago was the last time Quilt Market was here and where my career as an independent designer really took shape. I may have already told this story, so bear with me for just a moment if you already know all of this.

My mother, Melissa, is a quilter. An amazing quilter who formerly owned a quilt shop in Montana. I didn't grow up with my mother and so our love of fabric and sewing was something we had in common when we became re-acquainted several years ago. She was coming to town to attend market and I, having just started Kung Fu Bambini on a one-of-a-kind basis, tagged along.

Now, a love for sewing we may have in common but our styles are another thing entirely. She's a Montana quilter. She likes moose and bears, oh my! I'm a midwest transplant to the city. I love the saturated colors of candy, flora, fauna, glass, you know, almost edible or covetable or .... let's face it, I can't describe it. But color makes my heart sing. And thus why I'm Lowes' mis-tint best customer. That's another story entirely.

Anyhoo - she was deep into some evergreen tree prints when I stumbled, quite literally, onto Amy Butler's booth. She had just launched Gypsy Caravan and I stopped dead in my tracks causing a half dozen people to crash into each other and me in the aisle. My mouth dropped and I walked right up to the lovely tall blond woman in the booth. Being a complete newbie and having not really thought about the situation at all, I totally thought she was a sales rep and launched into how refreshing it was to see something so new and vibrant in such an evergreen tree-esque environment. Yeah, it was Amy Butler. She was as amazingly nice then as she was again yesterday, but we'll get to that. I quickly took myself right over to Roy from EE Schenck, my local distributor and customer service rep-extraordinaire, and ordered the whole kit and kaboodle. Every print. I still have at least a fat quarter of each and every print from Gypsy Caravan and I have most of Temple Flowers, Ginger Bliss, Charm and Charm II. Jealous? hehe.

Okay, so fast forward five years. Kung fu bambini is a thriving little operation and here I am at market again. Only this time things are quite different. Market is different, I am different.

I am always continually amazed at how much possible visual pleasure I can get at specific tradeshows. I gear up for them expecting a certain amount of visual bliss, but I love the satisfaction in being caught off guard with the abundance of it all. I am a visual person. I can walk the aisles of market and literally feel my mood change based up on the colors, patterns and textures. Each large fabric company has a sectioned off area where their reps sit at tables for appointments to purchase their lines. Most of these areas can be distinguished by the color of their carpet as well as their booth displays. Michael Miller has white carpet and I feel instantly lighter and happier being there. I walked through one company's area that had hunter green carpet and dark fabrics draped everywhere and told Michelle (my design partner on a new project that I'll hint about later) as we walked through that I felt like I was dying inside walking through it. That's how much it affects me. I should get pics of that tomorrow as well.

I'm going to try to cover as much as I can from market, one blog post at a time. The very first thing I need to do is apologize for my lack of photos and their quality. I am going to try for more pics of everything tomorrow. For now, here is quick sneak at Amy Butler's booth. Stunning, as always!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Silly girls in our matching skirts. It was her idea, not mine. hehe!

Tutu Tulle

2008-05-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

I think it must be birthday party season. I know that's not possible, but it sure seems like it runs in cycles. Cannon and Mia have each had two parties in the last two weeks and they each have a party to attend this weekend as well - at the same time - in opposite directions. I will be selling my lovely wares at the St. John's Bizarre Bazaar in the St John's neighborhood here in Portland this Saturday so their daddy gets to navigate that situation! Whew. hehe.

We've decided that this year, our gift of choice is the tutu. Every one that we've made so far has turned out very different. I've altered the colors and style on each one. This tutu was for a very special friend of Cannon's for her fourth birthday. I hope she gets a lot of happy twirling time out of it.

To get this effect, I used two yards of a coral pink tulle. The tulle comes folded in half lengthwise on the bolt and I folded in in half a second time, but I folded each selvage edge up to the fold line and stitched the four layers with the longest straight stitch two times, 1/4 inch apart creating two long pockets and leaving about 6" of extra string at the end.

I then filled each one with orange rose petals and stitched it closed with one normal straight stitch. Then I gathered the tulle by pulling the bobbin threads and tying them off at the desired amount of gather. I measured how far my elastic length that I had chosen was in its most stretched state. I attached the waistband elastic with a zigzag top stitch about 1/2" from the edge of the tulle in between the original straight stitching leaving the rough selvedge edge to make a puffy edge.

I usually serge the elastic on and turn and top stitch it, but I wanted to try this fun edge this time and I like how it turned out. Enjoy!

Topic of Interest: Changes in the Fashion Economy's Climate!

2008-05-02T14:31:00.001-07:00

If you haven't noticed, the economy is a little rough out there. Of course, you're not supposed to say that it has taken a downturn, right? But, from experience, I can tell you that it has definitely changed.

Some articles for reference:
Gap closing 85 stores, Ann Taylor closing 117 stores and I am SO sad that their production in China is rising in cost. NOT.
Babystyle files for bankruptcy and closes stores.

Violet Craft

2011 Swaps!

Beer-vent Calendar 2011

I call her The Trophy Wife

Behind the Scenes of a Photoshoot

Beach Weekend Sewing

Kansas City, Here She Comes!

Thankful.

mod petal pillows, interview, giveaway, oh my!

The Quilt Show visits the Craft House

Peacock Lane is Arriving in Shops Daily!!!!

It's About Time!

July....

A Quilt for Ellie

Obsession on Point - The Flea Market Fancy Quilt

Peacock Lane visits Fort Hays State University

A Vacation Giveaway!

Let's Do This!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

Peacock Lane

Springtime!

I will have a quilt showing at First Thursday.... on you know, Thursday.

I will be there describing the complex process that went into the design of my quilt. BWAHAHAHAAA! Okay, Okay. I will be there... just to like say Hi and stuff :) Come and say hello if you are in the neighborhood!

The deets:

A First Thursday event: PMQG Quilt Show at PNCA

Petal Blossom Bag Sightings!

Because I could eat the costume design in this movie....

Oh my dear child.

A Freshcut Housewarming Gift

It was a learning experience...

Christmas Craft-Style

Technical Difficulties!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

Meet Mason and his Riley Blake All Stars Nursery

To Market, To Market...

Work in Progress: Pieced Back, Sandwiches and a Cat!

And so, she sews.

I can admit it. I can not contain myself any longer.

Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes!

A Fabric A Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Freshcut Quilt-uvet - Second Quilt Finished First!

Missing Pics ?

Once upon a time...

Leavin' On a Jet Plane...

I totally lied to you....

Testing my Email to Blog Feature

Creating a Charging Station

This is where I work :)

Dear Blog, It's not you, it's me.

Because I'm too lazy to upload to my images folder :)

Laurelhurst School Winter Artisan Bazaar!

Merry Memories

Pretty Princess Puppies

Yesterday I needed an outlet....

Oh, Summer, where have you gone???

Heather Bailey Pop Garden Strikes Again!

A Crafty Week... with Running

100 days of Treadmill and Etsy!

MARCHing on... Dewalt Compound Miter Saw

Art How To: Shim Canvas and Applique Flowers

Bathroom Reveal!

MARCHing on.... 19 days late OR 12 days NOT too late!

Another Happy Pillow and Some Onion Peels

My cutting table. w00t!

Happy Blogging.... Let the Joy Shine In!

Poisoned by CPSIA

What does the CPSIA mean to YOU?

Semi-Annual Clearance on Kung Fu Bambini at Violet

Grand Opening Party in Portland!

Baby Go Retro Charming JUST ARRIVED!!!

TRADE SECRET DAY: A Hangar Tutorial

Room with a Birthday View

i *heart* the internet

BOO! Halloween is here!

and you thought i was working...

Introducing Violet at Poppy & Ivy

Oh Me Oh My..... WHO's Got NEWS For You???

A note to two friends....

Happy Chairs!

Me!

i heart the internet