7 Layer Studio

3rd Time's a Charm

First of all, I want to apologize for my long absence, and my lack of responding to comments....things have been beyond crazy for me this past month or so.  Thanks so much for your support and all the nice comments you have written to me, despite my complete lack of new material/conversation.  I just can't keep up with everything, and have pretty much been offline in every way except to research houses, communicate with our realtor, and look up pricing for house stuff.

Speaking of house stuff, I think (hope) we FINALLY have our housing situation figured out!  In answer to all of the kind North Carolinans who have queried about where in North Carolina we're headed, Steve's job is in Elizabeth City (just below the Virginia state line) so we've been focused on finding a property in that general area.  Not too close to any of you, unfortunately, but maybe when I get settled I'll be able to have an open house/sewing party for the orphans and you can stop by on your way to Outer Banks!

Okay, in a nutshell, here's how our house buying search has gone:  1st house, the buyers backed out and decided not to sell their house after all.  2nd house, we ended up backing out at the last minute due to a number of different factors.  3rd house, hopefully all is well!  It's a beautiful, brand-new home that was abandoned by the builder halfway through and so the bank eventually took it back and finished building it.  Having a brand-new home is VERY exciting, considering all the drama that we continue to experience with our vintage age home here in Virginia.  There are several design/layout choices in the new house that are, um, frustrating, but nothing we can't either change or live with.

One of the best parts about this house (other than being brand-new) is the location, and the fact that it's on 3 acres!  Whoohoo!  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to all that space.  Having grown up on a farm, I've never quite gotten used to neighbors 20 feet from our house on all sides.  I grew up being able to go outside on my front porch in my nightgown, cereal bowl in hand, and bask in the morning summer sun without any chance of anybody (other than my family) seeing my outrageous bedhead.  :-)

Needless to say, with all the unexpected difficulties in finding a place to live (and multiple trips down south to figure things out...thank goodness it's only about 4 hours from here!),  we've been slow to finish our house projects here in Virginia. 

I still have to trim out all the doorways and the staircase in the basement, but at least the kids' playroom is presentable!  Before we realized we were moving, I had planned on doing beadboard wainscoting, crown molding, and a really fun color on the walls.  Now that we're moving, I had to dispense with the extras and just make a nice neutral space for the renters. 

And no, I haven't even started doing the tile on the master bathroom - it's still in its glorious, gutted state.

Back to the basement: I put some of my quilts on the wall to liven things up, and

don't you just love our vintage red velvet sofa?!  I was very excited to find this $80 sofa on Craigslist - other than some cat scratches on the arms, it's in great condition!  :-)  The kids don't care about the scratches, and I love how it brightens up the basement.

I made some quick artboards to display some of our favorite masterpieces by the kids, and they're so proud to have their artwork on display.  I bought big pieces of 4' x 8' insulation foam board (the higher quality kind with yellow foam and foil paper backing, not the white compressed pebble stuff) at Home Depot.  I brought a box knife with me to cut them in half at the store so they would more easily fit into the van.  Just score the foam with the knife, then bend it backwards to create a crease on the opposite side of the board which you can then use as a guide to cut the paper backing on the other side of the board.

Once at home, I wrapped the boards with polyester quilt batting and then the white muslin to create a neutral background for all their art.  I hotglued a piece of twine which had been knotted at both ends, for extra holding power, to the backs of the boards in order to hang them on the wall.  And that was it!  Instant kid's museum.

My quilts love to be shown off on the red sofa.

So do my pillows.  Sorry the light is so funky - no time to tweak the colors in Photoshop.

I've had some requests to know where to buy my fabric...and to be honest, I don't really know.  I'm not involved with any of the marketing/selling of my fabric line, that's all handled by Benartex.  I've heard from friends that they've seen it in some shops in Utah (I don't know which ones), and it used to be on Fabric.com but it was clearanced out pretty quickly.  The pictures on the online shops didn't do the fabric any justice at all, and if I were somebody who hadn't seen it in person I probably would never have considered buying any.  (It's much better in person, I promise!)  In all honesty, my fabric line has pretty much flopped as far as I know - the royalties I have received have been far less than hoped, and I have not even made enough to cover the expenses incurred for computer programs, travel to Quilt Market, and printing my sewing patterns.  Most shops that I have spoken with have never heard of me or my fabric line = pretty hard to buy something they don't even know exists!  Plus the scary economic conditions, the high price of cotton, and the super-oversaturation of designers and new fabric lines in the quilting industry make it really challenging for quilt shops to stay afloat, and to know which fabric to buy.  It's much safer to buy lines that are by veteran designers that they know will sell well = less risk.  Sooooo....it has been a pretty discouraging time for me considering the years of work, dreaming, and planning that have gone into making my fabric line dreams come true.  At least I can say I was able to do it once, right?

At this point I'm trying to decide whether or not to throw in the towel (at least for a year or two, until my kids get a little older) or to keep trying to establish myself as a fabric and pattern designer.  Life has certainly been crazy for me this past year, both with all the house projects/moving and personally at home (including having my sweet little boy finally diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD), so maybe this is all part of the Big Plan.  I know of several other women with young children at home who are successful at juggling motherhood and a fabric designing career, but perhaps it's just not meant to be part of my life right now.  Those words are really hard for me to type, let alone say out loud, I can assure you. 

Anyway.  See what happens when I don't blog for a long time?  You got much more than you probably bargained for when you started reading this post!  :-)  Hopefully I'll be able to settle in relatively quickly in North Carolina and I'll be able to figure everything out. 

In the meantime, here's a peek at yet another project waiting in the wings until I can get our house fixed up...Craigslist is awesome, isn't it?  Addictive, but awesome.  I got these for our new house - right now they're dated and beat up, but they'll be so pretty when I'm finished.  It's turning into a bigger project than anticipated, as always, but it'll be worth it!  I'm too embarrassed to show you the dressers, kitchen table/chairs, and coffee table that I have been collecting at super bargain prices, all for the new house...you'd then have enough proof to convict me as a certifiable Craigslist Addict and take away the keys to my van - if my poor husband doesn't beat you to it!

Now if I can just get this house done in the next 3 weeks....

 

 

Chaos Seems To Be My Middle Name

From these glamorous shots, you'd never guess we're moving in 2 months.

We had been planning to demolish this bathroom anyway, but we were going to wait until the basement was close to being done.  A rusty tub drain and a big pool of water downstairs in our living room sorta changed the timeline a little.  So now you know why I haven't been blogging for awhile!  Actually Steve has been taking care of all the demo work...I'm just drowning in messes and trying to do a bunch of research regarding buying a house in North Carolina.

Here's our beautiful basement, after the flooring was removed and before the sheetrock was ripped out.  If you don't know the story, the previous owners installed the wiring in a majorly fire-hazard illegal fashion, and we didn't know about it.  Until my studio remodel, and then we had to rip everything out of the entire basement and start over.  If you're wondering why we're doing all of this work right before moving, it's because we'll be renting it out and we figure that the future tenants mights want to have power and lighting in the basement.  Picky, picky, right?

It's a gorgeous sight, is it not?

Here we are in the current state of construction.  We hired a handyman to do the framing (the original walls had no framing behind them) and electric work - Steve had planned on doing much of it himself, but there just isn't time.

There is a giant I-beam and a bunch of ventilation work to deal with in the ceiling.  More on that later.

Remember my neat-and-tidy studio?  Me neither.  :-) 

And now you can see why I haven't been sewing or designing anything!  A bunch of furniture and stuff got moved from the main basement to my studio space, so things are a little tight.

It's going to look so good when it's all done though!  I can't wait to have the basement finished.  Because we're hiring out most of the work for that, it should be done sooner than that bathroom...because I'm doing the tile work for the bathroom myself.  I'm not really looking forward to the job, but I'm REALLY looking forward to how it'll look when it's finished!  I love the tile I picked out for the floor especially.  Can't wait to show you!  It will be several weeks at least, though, so no breath-holding, okay? 

All this chaos is making me a little crazy...but we must keep a sense of humor about all of this, musn't we?  :-)

I finally took pictures of my mantel, just before taking all the Christmas things down.  The circular sign was going to be a tutorial, but it didn't happen (Hmmm...perhaps finding out just before Christmas that we had to move had something to do with that?)  There's always next year, right?

Hopefully I'll have some "after" pictures of the basement to show you in a few weeks....until then, happy Winter!

Christmas Catch-up

I guess I'd better post these pics of Christmas before it's Valentine's Day!

Here's the traditional shot of the kids on Christmas Eve.

I made them all pj's this year...minus the 4th of July Yoda t-shirt Hyrum has on!  I lost count of how many shots I took of them, trying to get all 3 kids to smile at the same time.  As you can see, I had mixed results.  :-)

They had a better time just goofing around, obviously!  I love this picture - Hyrum decided to teach Hazel how to dance "fancy".

Eliza played photographer for us so we could have a Christmas picture too.  Awwww....

It was the Year of the Horse for Eliza this year - I designed and made this top for her, and

a giant horse bag for her to carry all the horse drawing books and supplies she received.  Yes, she was excited!

It has pockets all around the inside for drawing tools and whatever else her 9-year-old heart desires to store in there.

I made some skirts,

some bags (which I failed to photograph before sending them off), and lots of Pillow Packs for the small cousins.

....and what's Christmas without a visit with Santa?  Yes, Hazel carries her pink blankie with her EVERYWHERE. 

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!  I guess I should start at least thinking about taking down the Christmas stuff...nah.  Why do today what I can put off until February?

 

 

We Interrupt This Blog for Location Identification

Hi Everybody!  Just checking in with you to let you know I'm still alive.  Things have been totally topsy turvy this past week as we've driven down to North Carolina to house hunt/figure out the general area where we want to live when Steve's job transfer goes into effect.  Could be as early as April, so as you can well imagine I have plenty to do in the next few months.  Hopefully I'll have time to blog  more in the next few days...Happy New Year!

The Official "Before and After" of 7 Layer Studio

Well, it "only" took a year, but my studio is finally finished!!!

Okay, I still have to put the doorknobs on the french doors, but I'm going to overlook that for a moment.  True to form, there's always some little detail that I can't seem to make myself finish before declaring something Done.  But at least the durn things are painted!  French doors, I've discovered, are a HUGE pain to paint.  Especially when one starts with raw wood, and 5 coats (including primer) have to be applied...with sanding between coats and a bazillion fun little angles to deal with around the glass.  I highly un-recommend doing it.  But back to this studio of mine!

In order to fully appreciate the evolution of this space, you must first see what it was like Before:

This was how it looked before we moved in.  Awesome.  Yes, that is a piece of plywood cut out in a tulip shape and painted red on the corner of the door...don't ask me why.  I think somebody kicked the door in and that was their fix-it solution.

The previous owners had slapped up a wall to create a bedroom space in here, but since there are no windows (which is illegal in a bedroom) they created one of their own above the stairs....

Which is still illegal but I don't think they were too concerned about rules or building codes...

Which explains why, when we were ripping out the plywood cabinet thingy, we discovered the foundation walls were not framed with 2x4 studs, but with skinny furring strips.  And the bare outlets were screwed directly into said furring strips with no plastic box around the outlet to prevent contact with flammable substances such as, say, wooden strips.

Which, of course, necessitated a full-on gutting of the space and a whole lot of extra work and (of course) money.

Here is Steve playing with toys, er, tools.

He ripped out the silly sliding doors and useless skinny shelves that were associated with the inconvenient water meter sticking out of the wall.  Can't do anything about that plumbing, but we built a smaller little closet to contain the thing.

I'm backtracking now...here's the little closet thingy before we demolished it.

We rented a large U-haul truck to cart away all the debris.  Thank you, thank you, previous owners, for such a fun activity.  :-)

Since the flooring now had gaps in it all over the place, and since that type of laminate is now out of production, it became necessary to rip out the flooring too.

Aahh, a clean slate at last!  I wanted lots of light in here due to the absence of windows, so 12 recessed lights did the trick...and then some!  Not many dark shadows in my studio now, to say the least.

Beautiful, is it not?

One more photo of that glamorous "window" that my kids jumped out of on a regular basis.

We hired help to do the framing, some of the electric, and the sheetrock.  I did the crown molding and spent quite a long, long time painting (and repainting because I didn't like my first color choice) everything, including the ceiling (which had been retextured because I couldn't stand the existing fan texture and it got all damaged anyway when the lights were installed).

I patched all the gigantic gouges in the concrete floor to prep it for the new flooring,

and smashed my way through the bathroom tile so I could extend the flooring into the bathroom.  I ran out of time and steam on that project, and figured I should save that can of worms for another day.  So the new flooring only extends partway into the bathroom, which has yet to be gutted (and oh, does it need gutting).

Speaking of flooring, I installed a highly textured vinyl plank flooring called Allure Ultra (Sawcut Arizona is the color and style).  It's not as easy to install as they claim it is, but I was able to do it all by myself in a day or two.

I built the "counters" at the back of the room (the drawer units are from IKEA) and discovered just how crooked a wall can be...

...which required a new board because I had already cut that one to length (and had spent quite a lot of time sanding, staining, and varnishing it without doing a dry fit first) and I couldn't lose an additional 1/2" on the other side.  Grrrr....

So after Trip # 5,987 to Home Depot, I finished another board (after custom-fitting it to the space BEFORE the final length was cut) and the back wall was ready to go.  Do you like those 2 white tables?  I got them both for $50 on Craigslist...actually I got 2 identical table tops and 4 legs, but they were brown and damaged so I sanded everything down and painted it all white, then swiped some legs from a small farmhouse table with a dorky tabletop for the other, newly-painted tabletop.

And, eventually, my official 7 Layer Studio was complete...just a few weeks shy of a year after we first dug into that back wall.

Please excuse the unrealistic positioning of all my quilts and things on my tables...I was getting ready for my official Open House and so things are unusually clean and "on-display-ish".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you tired of seeing my fabric all over the place yet?

Sorry.  Maybe.  :-)

 

 

This quilt (it's for Hazel) was quite the project...that's all hand applique, because I don't have a machine that can do a blanket stitch or any other kind of fancy stitch.  Ironic, isn't it, that here I am with my own line of fabric and patterns and I have a bare-bones basic machine.  Someday I'll actually earn enough money to buy my dream sewing machine...

I built this large quilt rack shelf by using 2 decorative shelf holders (from Home Depot) and screwing through them to secure the wooden closet rod.  Then I glued 2 wooden tapered circles to hide the screw heads.  I added trim to a pine board for the shelf above.

 

 

 

My sister sends me the best Christmas cards.  She knows I love Norman Rockwell.

 

I wonder if other fabric designers panic at the thought of running out of their fabric line?  Probably not to the extent that I do...hence my, um, stash.

 

 

There's actually quite the crazy story associated with this china hutch, akin to the big black beauty I have in my dining room....

... It goes something like this:

Searched far and wide for small, cheap-but-good condition, old china hutch with good lines.  Found one in DC for $50, brought it home without much trouble.  Was in a hurry, didn't sand/clean it very well because I figured the spray primer would compensate.  Sprayed primer, then aqua paint.  Good to go, or so I thought. 

When I started painting the white on (with a brush), the paint was lifting and flaking off in numerous places, especially the cabinet doors below.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered the panels were PLASTIC.

Yes.  I know.  So I pried off the plastic panels, which damaged the door faces. 

So then I went to Home Depot (probably Trip #2,476 at this point) and bought tongue-and-groove beadboard to glue to all the panels, along with new trim.  Then I had to sand down all the places that had bubbled (the previous owner must have used a wax-based polishing product on the wood) and start all.  over.  again.

As my husband said, while grinning, "You know, for someone as experienced at furniture refinishing as you are, you sure do make a lot of mistakes!"  Touche.

At least I didn't mess up on my fabulous red dresser!

 

Or my super fun aqua and red chairs!

The first coat was red spray paint, then a coat of aqua over it with a LOT of careful sanding after it was fully dry.  Enough pressure to cut through the aqua, but not enough to blast through all the red at the same time.  I love these chairs.

Maybe someday I'll actually screw the seats to the chair frame so they'll be totally, completely finished...or maybe not.  Have I mentioned that I'm pretty sure I have adult ADD?  Hence the problem with finishing things before starting other things.

Hence the FOCUS sign above my photo board.  Hmmm...I wonder if it's helping?

Based on the huge amount of fabric that I have stashed and all planned out in my head how I'm going to use but will likely not ever get to, the Focus sign is probably a little less than effective.

At least Chunky Monkey and Friends are here to cheer me on...

...Even when a new quilt project is tempting me to drop EVERYTHING and make the gorgeous quilt I have planned in my head...in time for Christmas...so I can take cute pictures of my kids poking their heads out from under it.  Which I can then make into adorable Christmas cards and have something to send out that I'm actually proud of instead of the cards that didn't turn out and I refuse to send.

And you thought YOU had issues, eh?  :-)

Maybe that's why I love Toot and Puddle so much...that Puddle and me, we're a lot alike.

And so here we are, full circle, in my exciting new studio space!  I now get to enjoy it for a whole 6 months before we have to move to North Carolina.  No, I don't want to talk about that, especially because we still have the rest of the basement to gut and refinish (remember the wiring issue?) plus at least 2 bathrooms to gut and redo because of severe mold issues.  Quite frankly, I'm tired of guts, and issues.

But hey, at least I'll have a beautiful new studio to escape to momentarily when I'm having one of my inevitable upcoming gut-induced breakdowns...wish me luck, or better yet, wish for me not to have to move!  It's a nice thought, anyway - the not moving part - but somehow I don't think the Coast Guard cares much whether or not I just finished my studio, or that we are all quite happy living here in Northern Virginia.  Such is the life of a military family!  I really can't complain, we have been transferred far less than many people, but it still stinks.  And now I will stop complaining.  Hope you enjoyed my studio tour!

 

A VISUAL CHRISTMAS FEAST

Merry Christmas!!!

If I take the time to narrate these pictures, I'll never get them all loaded...

...So sit back, grab your favorite beverage, relax, and enjoy the wordless tour of my Christmas House!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can well imagine, I have spent DAYS putting all this together and photographing/editing everything...I know I should have my name on these pictures, but I'm too tired and too busy trying to get things together for some fundraisers for the Bulgarian orphans.  Please respect my hard work and link back to my blog with proper credit if you use any of my photos on your own blogs.  Thanks, and have a very Merry Christmas!

 

Chunky Monkey and Friends

 

Well, it only took about 5 years of begging from my kids, but we finally have pets in our house.

What, these don't count?  Dangit.

I thought for sure these would fool the kids and satisfy their craving for a pet.  I mean, they're so...LIFELIKE, aren't they?   Who hasn't seen a blue monkey?

Every bit as affectionate as a real pet would be too.

Until we stop moving around with the military, no real pets allowed at our house.  As much as I dislike the thought of the expense and required care (like I have the time or the inclination to walk a dog everyday, let alone scoop its poop!) a pet needs, I know the kids would really enjoy bonding with one.  Hopefully when Steve retires from the Coast Guard we can find a place with a tiny bit of acreage and THEN we can get a dog...which can live outside and run around and poop all it wants without me walking behind it with a plastic bag in my hand, thank you very much.

Until then, these little critters are the closest thing we will come to owning an animal.  Chunky Monkey, anyone?

I made this pattern for the Bulgarian orphans at the Gabrovo orphanage, so they can have something fun to make and also sell at fundraisers locally in Bulgaria.  You can buy the pattern for $5 (what a deal!) at the shop over at Create H.O.P.E. Designs.  It's actually not available QUITE yet because it takes awhile to get it loaded in the system in the shop, but in a day or two it should be ready to roll.

The Chunky stuffies are pretty easy to make, and fat-quarter-friendly (or just use all scraps!), so if you're still wondering what cute little thing to make for a small person in your life in time for Christmas, the Chunky Monkey would be an ideal candidate.

Happy sewing, and thanks in advance for your support of the orphans!

A Peek O' Christmas + Sewing For Orphans Update

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house!  I don't have everything photographed yet so I'm not going to do the big ol' Christmastime post just yet...but here are a few pics for fun! 

It's been a busy weekend already, with birthday parties, going-away parties, and then the pleasant experience of getting rear-ended while stopped at a stoplight.  Not just a fender-bender either - the guy's truck managed to crush my bumper and cave in the back hatch of my minivan.  I've decided I'm a rear-end-accident magnet...this is the 3rd time it has happened to me.  The first one, when I was a teenager, was partly my fault, but the other 2 were simply because the driver behind me wasn't paying attention.  Sigh.  So add that to my list of things to deal with this week!

ANYWAY...My kids weren't sure what those silvery cones were...mountains?  Trees?  Either one works for me!  That's all the Christmas stuff I'm sharing right now...I'll have a big giant Christmas post soon, I promise.

I want you to meet Parker, the very nice owner of the Circle Sewing Studios.  Parker has kindly agreed to be a drop-off/mail-to destination for the Sewing For Orphans bags!  (Please see my sidebar for the clickable button about this project)  Now I can publish a real address online for where to send/bring in your drawstring bags, and then Parker will contact me when they arrive and I can go pick them up. 

Here's the address where you can now send your drawstring bags for the Sewing For Orphans Project:

Circle Sewing Studios c/o Shelley Detton

2212 Tackett's Mill Dr.   Woodbridge, VA  22192

I met Parker while searching for my first "real" sewing machine...I've been using my Singer CG550 for the past 10 years or so, but now that I'm getting much more involved in quilting I need a more capable machine.  After a lot of research, I've narrowed it down  to the Janome Horizon 7700, which has an 11" harp and it free-motion quilts like a DREAM.  Not to mention all the fancy stitches and alphabets and Accufeed and all sorts of other great features!  PLUS it has a red panel on front, which really sealed the deal.  :-)  The 7700 is not a pocket-change kind of machine, however, so I'll probably have to wait awhile before my dream machine is in my hot little hands.  Unless Santa suddenly has a big surplus of funds and decides to spend it all on me...but I'm not exactly holding my breath.  :-)

Anyway, check out the huge selection of gorgeous batiks at the Circle Sewing Studios!

There is a workshop area where people can come and work on their projects and/or take classes,

and there are lots of other fun fabrics there as well.  If any of you live in Northern Virginia, you should swing by!  It's fairly close to IKEA and Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge, so you could make a day of it and give yourself a fabric treat after (or before!) doing all your Christmas shopping.

Do any of you recognize the bags that you sent?  Nickolai (the Bulgarian director of One Heart Bulgaria) gave some to the children in the Gabrovo Orphanage sewing class, and they were so happy to receive them!

The kids in the sewing class are going to start making the bags for other orphan children too, since the bags are such a hit over there.  The demand for these drawstring bags far exceeds supply, so if any of you have any spare time it would be so wonderful if you could make some!

I fell in love with this darling boy - he looks like such a sweetie!  I hope someday I can meet him in person - I really want to go over to Bulgaria to work with the sewing class, maybe paint some murals and, most importantly, shower love and attention on these precious children. 

Here is the sewing teacher for the class at the Gabrovo orphanage.  It costs a mere $100 monthly salary to provide a sewing teacher for these children.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could guarantee the continuation of the program at Gabrovo and create sewing classes at other orphanages?  It can be done with donations by us, if we can just sacrifice a little and commit to doing it.  To find out more about supporting this and other valuable programs for the orphans, just go to the link HERE.

Here are two eager helpers cutting fabric to make curtains for the orphanage windows.

The sewing program is so important to these kids.  A huge percentage of orphan children in Bulgaria fall between the cracks, so to speak, once they age out of the orphanage system.  They turn to gangs, drugs, prostitution, and other terrible lifestyles because they are not prepared to become contributing members of society.  Many, many children and young adults commit suicide because they feel like their lives are hopeless and worthless.

Which is why it's so important to teach these children a skill like sewing.  It not only gives them a fun past-time and increases their confidence, but it gives them a useful skill-set upon which they can rely to earn income, independence, and self respect.

Don't you just want to give all of them a great big hug?

I'm going to be having a jewelry fund-raiser for the orphans this month with the jewelry I've made and will be making in the next several days.  I'll probably list the pieces that I don't sell locally during my Studio Open House (I still haven't taken pictures of my studio, and it's all messy again, dangit) on my Etsy site, so I'll keep you posted on that.  Plus I'll probably have an online raffle ($1 per entry, all money goes to the orphans) for some sewn items here pretty soon once I can get all my ducks in a row.  December is going to be busy!!

 

Lina's Auction

Remember Lina, the 5 year-old orphan we're trying to earn money for so she can be united with her adoptive family in time for Christmas?

Well, it's time for her online auction!  I've donated a couple of Pillow Packs like the ones you see here, plus a bag from my Infinity Tote pattern.

To go to Lina's online auction, click HERE

and you can see 101 items people have donated (thank you to those who did!!).  To find out how the auction works, click on the tab at the top of the page which reads, coincidentally enough, How the Auction Works!

I also have a bunch of great photos of the Bulgarian Orphans enrolled in the sewing class we're trying to raise money for through Create H.O.P.E. Designs (thank you Nickolai for emailing them to me!) but I'm such a dork I can't figure out how to unzip the file to load the photos onto the blog post individually rather than the entire huge zipped file.  One of these days I'm going to take a Basic Computer class so I can fill in the gaps of all the super easy This-Should-Be-Intuitive stuff that I haven't picked up on yet.

ANYWAY, I promise I'll get it figured out soon and share those pictures with you.  I'm also excited to announce that I was able to find a brick-and-mortar fabric+sewing machine shop here in Virginia who is happy to be the drop-off/mail-to destination for the Sewing For Orphans bags!  Hurray!  Now I can post an address online and feel more comfortable publicizing the ongoing SFO drawstring bags project.  But I don't have pictures of the shop yet, so I hope to get that up and running within the next couple of days too.

AND I'm in the middle of decking my entire house out with Christmas Cheer...so when I get it all up and then vacuum the millions of fir tree needles off my floor, I'll be sure to share.  But right now I've got to get some rest before ZombieHood kicks in again.  :-) 

On Giving Thanks

There are already some houses with Christmas decorations up around here.

Now, you know how much I LOVE Christmas and all that goes with it...but it seems like Thanksgiving gets more and more overlooked every year. 

Well, I'm not even hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year (gasp...I KNOW!  This is the first year in probably a decade that I haven't hosted Thanksgiving) but I couldn't let the one holiday that focuses on gratitude go unrecognized in my house.  Okay, I can hear some of you saying that Thanksgiving is about eating an insane amount too.  And I guess it means watching football games to some people, but certainly not to me!  :-)

But hopefully we can all sit back and recognize all of the incredible blessings in our lives, regardless of the (often silent and private) struggles we all try to work our way through.  None of us are starving to death, we probably all have roofs over our heads and somebody to call family or at least friend.  Any of us who have the time and the means to sit around and read eachother's blogs and pursue things like decorating, design, and crafts are so very blessed.  Billions of people in this world do not enjoy even the most basic of earthly comforts, and millions of orphaned/abandoned children in the world do not have a single soul to call family.  They have no sense of belonging, no sense of being loved and cared for. It rips my heart out.

So yes, I have a LOT to be grateful for.  Sometimes I feel guilty for pursuing such "frivolous" things as, well, pretty much everything you see on this blog!  I wonder if I'm using my time wisely.  But I also know that the talents that I possess are from God and I'm supposed to develop them and use them to accomplish good.  Creating a beautiful environment is important to me, it feeds my soul and brings me joy - I just need to be careful about balance, and I need to make sure I'm giving back to others. 

Which is why this is as far as I got on the fabulous new quilt I was planning to make and hang on my Wall O' Plates wall instead of the plates that you see.  It'll have to wait until next year, because I'm Mommy to 3 beautiful kiddos and I'm doing my best to help those nearly invisible, so very fragile Bulgarian orphans on the other side of the world.

I still had time to "Thanksgiving-ify" my china cabinet a little bit. :-)

Speaking of my kids, here they are being swallowed up by a giant, child-eating pile of leaves!

They don't seem to mind.

Can you believe that all of these leaves came from our small front yard?!  When it's Fall here, it is REALLY Fall!  I love it.

You've heard of Snow Angels, but what about Leaf Angels?  Now you have.

Okay, these pictures have nothing to do with Autumn or Thanksgiving...I just wanted to show you the skirt I made Hazel recently - I've had that fabric for at least a year, and have procrastinated big time.  This week I've been back into Skirt-Making-Mode due to birthday party gifts and fun things for the cousins.  Hazel was feeling left out, so I squeezed this project in.  Plus a matching skirt to the one she was bringing to her little friend's birthday party, which I don't have pics of.  Yes, she's spoiled...but that's what babies of the family are for, right?  :-)

Raaawwrrrr...she's a dinosaur...or a tiger....or something!   You can tell she doesn't have any idea how cute she is, can't you?

One more thing I wanted to give you a sneak peek of...another quilt!  I'm planning on making a downloadable pattern for this one - I just haven't had time yet, imagine that.  Hopefully in the next week or two.  I'm also ALMOST done with my studio!  Which means that, after about a year's time, I'll finally be able to take a bunch of pictures and show you the big dramatic Before and Afters.  Woohoo!  Very exciting stuff. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Not sure what I'm looking forward to most...the turkey, the stuffing, or the pies?  Hmmmm....

Calling All Crafty People

These precious little legs and feet belong to a 5 year old.  She weighs 11 pounds.  Yes, that's right...she's a 5 year old girl named Lina who is clinging to life in a foreign country orphanage (the country can't be named). 

There is a loving family here in the U.S. who is eager and anxious to adopt Lina, but the red tape is enormous and the expenses are high.  Time is of the essence in bringing Lina home to her adoptive family, and they need our help.  Please click HERE to learn more about the whole story.

If you are the crafty type, would you please make something to donate to the fundraising auction?  It doesn't have to be huge, like a quilt, nor does it have to be super fancy and spectacular.  Just something nice and handmade (that someone would buy to give as a Christmas gift) that will be sold at an online auction. 

The auction starts on December 1st (sorry for the short notice, but I just found out about it) but you only have to turn in a photo before then.  Once the auction is held, Amy (the auction organizer) will notify you of the buyer's address and you'll send your item to the buyer within 48 hours.  Easy enough!

I'll be donating a couple of Pillow Packs and a handmade bag. 

You could make some Pillow Packs too!  Or something else! What a great excuse to neglect your housework for an hour or two, eh?

For more information about the auction, please contact Amy at hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com.  Thanks so much!

PILLOW PACKS for Kids on the Go

Anybody out there traveling with kids for Thanksgiving or Christmas? 

Well, have I got the ideal pattern for you!  Actually, it's for your kids...

It's a soft and comfy pillow on one side,

and a handy storage case on the other side with room for a few books and a separate pocket for markers, pencils, and/or other small treasures.

The pattern includes 2 different closure options for the pockets.

The Pillow Packs are 13" square so they're not too bulky for the airplane or a crowded car, and the pillow form can easily be slipped out whenever you need to wash the case.  The ribbon strap is designed to slip over a child's shoulder or adult's forearm with ease.  It's super easy to sew, and very "fat quarter friendly" (meaning you can make the whole thing with 4 fabrics measuring 18" x 22" = fat quarters). 

So where can you buy this handy new downloadable pattern?

Yes, you guessed it!  Right on over at the H.O.P.E. shop site for the very reasonable price of $5.  And all of your money will go directly to the orphans of Bulgaria through One Heart Bulgaria.  So please click on over to the H.O.P.E. shop and download your pattern today! 

Moms and Grandmas, you know this would be a perfect thing to make for your kids/grandkids!  Thanks in advance for your support of the orphans!

 

Tree Time Again

Can you believe there are only 40-ish days til Christmas?  Me neither.  I just barely put the Halloween stuff away!  But lookie what I got to do today...recognize this from last year? 

There's nothing like putting up my Handel's Messiah themed tree at the DC Temple Visitor's Center to put me into the Christmas mood!

Do you notice the new ornaments this year?

Yep, I bought a bunch of unfinished wooden snowflakes at Michaels, then painted them and dropped them into a pile of glitter while the paint was still wet.  I really like how they turned out...I think they make the tree more wintery, don't you?

These musical orbs are giant versions of the tutorial I have in my sidebar.

You can download the images to make identical phrase boards when you click on my tutorial for the wooden disk ornament in my sidebar.  The links to the individual images are listed within the text of the post.

Nothing like a visual Hallelujah chorus to get me humming the tune to the real thing!

A few years ago I bought a bunch of big ornaments at IKEA after Christmas for 70% off (sweet!) and then I embellished them with sheet music and ribbon, with the help of my dear friend the hot glue gun.

I had a $200 budget to come up with all these decorations - and since I was able to make/embellish many of them (including the tree topper star) I was able to stretch it pretty far....plus about $40 of my own money.  I have to admit I went over a bit - including this year's snowflakes - but I couldn't let the tree suffer, could I? :-)

It was so fun to unwrap everything and see it all again!

Hey, look - can you see my camera-head self portrait in the red ball?  A very flattering picture, I must say.

If you're in the Maryland/Virgina area, I encourage you to take an evening and go visit the DC Temple Grounds and Visitor's Center after Thanksgiving.  There are tons of colored lights bedazzling the landscaping outside the temple, and a beautiful lifesize Nativity Scene is on display outside as well.  Inside the Visitor's Center are about 15 big, beautiful trees that congregations throughout Maryland and Virgina have the privilege of decorating each year.  There is also a huge creche exhibit inside with Nativity Scenes from all over the world.  Plus every evening there is some sort of concert or performance from Dec.1 and New Year's.  So much to see and do!  I highly recommend it.  You can find out all about it HERE. 

Merry (almost) Christmas!!

ps. Does this mean I can switch my playlist to the Christmas version?  Would you shoot me if I change it to Christmas tunes in mid November?  :-)

Catching Up

Oh, what a busy week this has been!

We had a 4 day weekend, so after 3 soccer games on Saturday and an especially busy Sunday, we decided at the last minute to rent a little cabin at a gorgeous nearby park to escape it all on Monday and Tuesday.

I think it's safe to say we all had a really great time...even without any electronic devices!  Or maybe I should say, especially without electronic devices. 

Argh, Matey!  Who needs a Wii when there's a pirate ship in the mini golf course?

We were the only ones at the mini golf course, and Hyrum played something like 7 games in a row.  Can you tell he was very intent on his game?  The equipment was only a couple of dollars for an entire day, so we goofed off at the vacant golf course for a wonderfully long time.

Can you believe the incredible scenery surrounding this course?  The older kids could have stayed even longer, but Hazel made it quite clear that it was high time to make our way to the giant playground. 

I just could not get over how beautiful the trees were, especially in the evening as the rich, golden sun streamed through the foliage.

The weather while we were there was absolutely, positively, PERFECT.  Unseasonably warm in the mid 60's, no wind, gorgeous clear skies...have I mentioned it was perfect?

I'm usually not a huge fan of yellow, but golden autumn leaves, in all their various hues, really take my breath away.

So I'm skipping around in the chronology a bit...on Sunday I wanted to get some family photos taken for the Christmas card that I always have the best of intentions to make and send out.  Because of daylight savings and a late church time, we only had about 15 minutes of prime sunset time for pictures that day.  It was the usual mega-drama to get the family ready and out the door, and then poor Hyrum hurt his finger and spent about 5 precious minutes being upset about it (hence the Hyrum-less photo above).

Awww, isn't that the sweetest picture ever?  Nothing like a giant hug from Hazel to turn those frowns into smiles.

By this time, Eliza had gotten her feelings hurt and was sulking in the van for another 5+ minutes or so (tick tock tick tock as the sun was setting).

So I got the two younger kids to have a leaf throwing party in the meantime...

...and they were having such a fun time...

....that Eliza thought she might as well join in after all.

I managed to get a couple still (sort-of) shots of the kids and was setting up the self timer for the official family portrait when Hazel decided that she was absolutely not going to stay up where it was sunny any longer.  The shady path leading deep into the woods proved too tempting and she disappeared down the forest trail.

...And thus ended our chances of getting a family portrait that day in optimum autumn lighting (sigh).

Off we went to chase Hazel down, tripod in tow, and we eventually convinced her to pose with us for some family shots, despite the fact that the sun had disappeared below the tree line at this point.

This was the best we could come up with = mediocre at best.  I think I'm going to have to endure another round of family-picture-taking-torture again, unless you all can convince me that this one will do.

I tried a black and white version too...is this any better?  What's your vote?  Do over or make one of these do?

While you're thinking that over, I wanted to show you this collaborative quilt project my friend Sharon and I did for a mutual friend who just had a baby boy. 

I sewed the quilt top and back using my fabrics from The Garden Club, and Sharon worked her magical quilting touch on the rest of it.

Didn't she do a fantastic job on the quilting?

The big blocks of fabric were like an open canvas for her, and she had a great time doing all sorts of super fun designs within the blocks.

And check this out...she even sewed "Garrett" into the quilt in several places!

Isn't that such a cute idea?  What a great way to personalize a baby quilt. 

Sharon sewed the binding on too, bless her heart.  I can't stand doing binding - it seems like it takes as long as all the other steps of the quilt combined and I get very impatient.  I just want the darn thing done at that point!

I have another quilt that Sharon quilted for me that I'm looking forward to showing you...I just finished sewing on the binding while at the cabin (I felt like a pioneer, stitching away in my log cabin like that..minus the electricity and heater, that is).  I have to admit that working on the binding was less irritating when I had no other distractions/optional activities.  I just snuggled up on the futon and stitched away while Eliza sat beside me reading Harry Potter - the last book! - and it was so relaxing and cozy.  A very good memory-in-the-making for both of us.

 

 

 

 

Falling for Fall

Having grown up in western Oregon, I used to associate Autumn with rain, mud, and falling leaves...mostly soggy brown falling leaves.

Don't get me wrong - Oregon is a gorgeous place - it's just very wet for over half the year.  I remember being very excited when I got to crunch through dry, crispy autumn leaves instead of watching them fade into the wet concrete like ghostly remembrances of what they used to be.

So you can well imagine my happiness when the multitudes of trees shed their leaves here in Virginia, and we can actually go PLAY in them (and crunch them, and rake them, and throw them in the air...)

Even this Autumn, with so much rain (and now SNOW, unbelievably) that the majority of my kids' soccer practices and games have been cancelled, there are plenty of dry days inbetween so the leaves can stay gloriously crackly.

As you can see, Hazel shares my love of the crispy Fall leaves.  Gosh I love that girl - such a cutie, and so much personality!  Boy, oh boy, does she have a personality.  Guess that goes with the territory of being the baby of the family.

I wish she could stay innocent and little and snuggly forever - I'm even going to miss her sneaking into our bed every night.  I know, I know, that's a huge parenting no-no to let your kid do that consistently, but she's so...darn....snuggly!  Plus I'm so groggy and tired that it's easier just to move over and let her in than it is to carry her 45 pound self back into her own bed and stay with her until she falls back to sleep.  And did I mention she's so endearingly snuggly?

Just look at that sweet face and tell me you wouldn't do the same thing.  :-)

Don't you just love that fabric?  The cats are from Alexander Henry, and I'm sorry but I don't remember who did the spots and dots.  I used up every last little bit of those spots - I really regret not buying more of it when I had the chance!

Sooo, are you at all curious about what our Halloween costumes are this year? 

Why, a family of many-eyeballed aliens, of course!

Ta-dah!  Eliza enjoys posing for the camera now, can you tell?

I know, she's pretty subtle about it.

I think she's just really excited about her costume, and the fact that I let her wear "real" makeup for the first time ever.

Hazel was even more excited than Eliza about the makeup...oh dear, what have I done?!!

At least Hyrum didn't want any makeup.  The sparkly, glittery headpiece was quite enough for him.  At least it had lots of cool eyeballs!

How do you say "CHEESE" in alien language?  No, seriously...I want to know.

Yes, I made all the costumes.  Took me 2 days, but hurray that they're finally done.

My secret weapon was silver glitter Foamie sheets...I had never used that stuff before, and can I say, it's AWESOME.  It even has sticker adhesive on the back so if you want it to stick to something (like a shirt front, or wrist cuffs, or ears) you just peel off the paper in back.  Beautiful. 

I'm sorry I didn't take any photos along the way during the construction of the headpieces.  Each one is different, and I just folded the sheets in half and started cutting - so I don't have a pattern to share at this point.  But maybe, if you're REALLY interested and say pretty please, I can do a couple of samples to show you the basic techniques of How to Make an Alien Headpiece. 

If there's a lot of interest, I'll make a tutorial about it.  Sorry it's so close to Halloween, I should have done this weeks ago!  Typical me, doing things at the last minute in the squeak of time.

But at least I got to go outside and throw a bunch of leaves around with my baby!