7 Layer Studio

Finally, something is finished!

It isn't much, but there is one tiny corner of my chaotic, in-the-middle-of-remodeling-prior-to-moving-in house that is just the way I want it to be!  Hooray!   Except, that is, for the lack of soft grey paint in the corner there, which I didn't notice until now.  Ah well.  I'm not going to bother cutting in everything until the whole room is ready to paint. 

This will give you a sneak peek into the new color scheme of the main rooms of our new house = oh, how I love the combination of aqua, red, and grey, with lots of silver accents!

That quilt in the middle there (this was the kids' playroom in our old house) was the inspiration for my new color scheme. 

Anyway, I love this little vignette at the back of the closet we just finished (a la contractors).  It faces the back door and looks into the kitchen breakfast area, reflecting lots of light and color into the back of the house. 

The mirror is one of the many things that got damaged in our move - the corners were all smashed up.  I was able to fix it and repaint it, thank goodness.  The mirror frame used to be black, but I painted it white and then did a series of glazes (1 coat light silver, 1 coat dark silvery grey....both were little pre-mixed bottles of Martha Stewart paint available at Home Depot).  I love how it turned out!  Much better than plain black. 

You'll probably recognize my awesome red faux poppies...they've been cheering my house for the past 4 homes we've lived in.  The horse head statue is a new bargain acquisition, thanks to Marshalls.  I didn't like the way the bottom of the base was designed, so I covered it up with some wide grosgrain ribbon...the perfect little polkadot flair, n'est pas? 

Here is the reason I'm finally blogging again....I love my kids more than anything, but Holy Macaroni I'm glad school has finally started!!  This has been one of the most difficult summers ever for all of us - the kids were SOOO bored so I pretty much gave up trying to work on the house and spent much of my time entertaining/playing referee/driving to the local pool.  We're ALL breathing a sigh of relief that school has begun.

It's also quite exciting to see a picture of the two of them actually hugging eachother and smiling...an important moment to document, without a doubt (wink).

Even my little Hazel Basil is off to school this year...PreK, that is, since the cutoff here in NC is just before her birthday.  I'm laughing at myself because, after 10 years of secretly looking forward to having all my kids in school so I could have more free time during the day to work, I'm all bittersweet and sniffy about my baby girl going off to school fulltime.  Hazel has been my nearly constant companion for almost 5 years now, and I miss her snuggles and adorable smile (Although not the whining.  I don't miss the whining at all).  My friends who have "been there, done that" assure me that the sadness is short-lived, however, and I'll quickly recover.  :-)

So this past week has been spent cleaning, decorating, working outside, and doing lots of little projects like the ones you see started in above photos (more on those later), plus I'm almost finished with our office - but that post will have to wait for another day.

I also need to post about the amazing Marcie, who worked tirelessly to make (and inspire her friends to make) TONS of bags for the Bulgarian Orphans!  She doesn't live too far from us, so she and her 2 sweet sons (they helped put all the drawstrings in) delivered the huge box of nearly 100 bags earlier in the summer.  At about the same time I received a box of beautifully sewn bags from Manuela (thank you!!) so we have lots of gorgeous bags to send off the the orphans.  That's on my list of things to do this week.  But I'll post about that later too.

Right now I've got to finish spreading drywall mud on the base of the dining room walls...I'm eliminating the annoyingly distracting texture of the sheetrock and, when it's all smooth, will cut trim to create faux paneling/wainscoting below the chair rail.  Not the most excitingly fun project, but it'll look great when it's done!  I'm REALLY looking forward to having my dining room put together.

Until another day, then....and I promise I won't wait another month before I post again.  You probably thought I'd died or, more likely, went completely insane due to the traumatic upheaval of everything these past few months.  Which, actually, is not that far from the truth.  But I'm mostly recupurated now.  Catch ya'll later - now that I'm in the south I can talk like that, right?  :-)

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!

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 [email protected].  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!

 

One More Day, One More Pattern

 

In the midst of all the Halloween Hullaballoo, I've been able to finish another pattern for Create H.O.P.E. Designs, just in time for the end of the raffle!  Please see the preceding post for all the details, if you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

It should be up for sale by the morning, but I may have turned it in too late - so if it's not there, you'll know who to blame = me  :-) 

As you can see, it's a simple design, but the interaction of the horizontal and vertical stripes make it anything but boring...at least I hope so!

I especially like the pieced border-of-many-colors.  My Texture Stripe fabric (from my fabric line The Garden Club) is my favorite choice for binding...and for this quilt, I just couldn't play favorites so I used them all!

If you haven't done so already, please click on over to the HOPE shop and buy a $5 pattern for the orphans.  You'll be able to enter the giveaways and, with each purchase, be entered 5 times in my quilt raffle.  For the price of a trip to Starbucks, 100% of your donation will be given to a desperately lonely orphan/abandoned child in Bulgaria. 

Please, PLEASE give a little tiny bit of your resources to these motherless, fatherless, precious children.  Even if you don't sew, please go buy a downloadable pattern and either print it out as a gift for someone who sews, or save paper and don't print it out at all.  There is no financial gain by me or anybody at HOPE or OHB for these sales, it all goes to the orphans. 

They need me, and they need you....and the funny thing about service is, the warm fuzzies we can all get from helping these children more than make up for any small sacrifice we may give in their behalf.  So thank you in advance for adding more warm fuzzies to the world!

My Mega Giveaway + Quilt Raffle for orphans

Remember the Create H.O.P.E. Designs website dedicated to raising money for orphans?  Well, this week I'm very happy to be the featured designer! I'm giving away LOTS of things to promote awareness of the H.O.P.E. site and to raise money for One Heart Bulgaria through the raffle of my quilt you see pictured here.

Here's how it works:  For a chance to win my quilt, click on the H.O.P.E. shop link and you'll get 5 entries for every downloadable pattern of mine you buy.  Right now there are only 2 of my patterns available (my Huggable Slug and Hazel Skirt), but I hope to get at least 1 quilt pattern up before the end of the raffle. 

You'll get 3 entries per pattern for buying any other pattern available in their shop.

AND, if you make a drawstring bag for my Sewing For Orphans project (see sidebar), you'll get 5 entries per bag!   More details are available on the H.O.P.E site, please check it out!

The quilt raffle is a fundraiser, so even if you don't sew but would like a chance to win the quilt, please just buy a downloadable pattern (or more than one!) and you'll be entered.  You can choose to print out the pattern or not...perhaps there's someone else in your life who could use it if you don't want it, or save paper and don't print it out at all.  The important thing is that we raise lots of money for the orphans!  And please remember, nobody earns any money from these patterns - 100% goes to the orphans.

We're hoping to raise enough money to fund the sewing education program for the teenage orphan girls, so they can learn a useful life skill to earn a living after aging out of the orphanage instead of turning to prostitution, drugs, and gangs.  The girls in the sewing program provide bedding, curtains, bags, and fabric toys for other orphanages as well, so it really is an extremely beneficial endeavor all the way around. 

We're also hoping to help fund a Grandmother position for an orphanage with infants and young children, so these beautiful babies can experience the loving hugs and interactions with an "adopted" grandmother instead of being warehoused in jail-like conditions with almost no adult interaction for the first several years of life.

In addition to the quilt raffle, I'm giving away:

The red bag from my Infinity Tote pattern;

THREE different sets of 3 of my hard-copy patterns (your choice which of the 7 patterns you prefer...see my sidebar for all of them);

TWO YARDS of my fabric, mix-n-match or all one fabric, your choice of color and design(s) ... with 1/3 yard minimum cuts so the maximum different prints you would get would be six...does that make sense?  You can click on the Garden Club button in my sidebar to see all of my fabric.

PLUS they're giving away a $50 gift card to The Fat Quarter Shop!

Please click on the H.O.P.E. site to learn all the details about how to enter the giveaways and the raffle - it's all handled over there, I'm just telling you about it.

So, if you haven't already, get clicking and see how you can enter!  We're trying to get the word out to as many people as possible, so Tweet, FB, and whatever else you all do with your smart phones (I wonder if I'll ever get one of those?) as much as you can!

Thousands of orphans are counting on you.  :-)

 

You can help Orphans through Create H.O.P.E. Designs + Giveaway!

I'm so excited to tell you about a newly created website dedicated to raising money for orphans across the world!  It's called Create H.O.P.E. Designs, and it was started by one of the very talented designers from Izzy and Ivy Designs. 

It essentially works as an online store to sell sewing/crafty downloadable patterns that designers such as myself donate, and 100% of the $5 price per pattern goes to hand-picked orphan foundations across the globe.  In less than a month, they have raised nearly $1,000 to benefit a special orphanage in China called China Little Flower.  Isn't that great?!

....And guess which foundation they're going to benefit next?  That's right, the organization that is so near and dear to my heart = One Heart Bulgaria!

 

 

I've been busy getting downloadable patterns ready to give to the H.O.P.E. site - I'm sure you recognize my Huggable Slug!  It will be available as a $5 download at their store very soon, as will my Hazel Skirt...

I've pulled this pattern off my Etsy sales site - from now on it will only be available as a downloadable from the H.O.P.E. shop site.  I spent quite a bit of time reworking it, and am very excited about how it looks now.  At $5, it's a bargain, and all of the money will benefit "my" sweet, desperately lonely orphans in Bulgaria. 

I'll have other patterns that you've never seen before available soon, so keep checking!  The organizers of the H.O.P.E. site are working really hard to get a large inventory of patterns from designers across the globe,  PLUS they are hosting some fantastic giveaways!

Isn't this one of the sweetest quilts you've ever seen?  Well, guess what...Create H.O.P.E. Designs is giving it away!  Click HERE to read all about it and see more detailed photos of the quilt.  There are also tons more things being given away - you really need to click on over and check it out. 

Some of you may be asking, are you still collecting drawstring bags for the orphans?  The answer is a resounding YES!  I'll be doing a separate post on that soon, but please, PLEASE make some bags for the orphans of Bulgaria (you can read about it by clicking on the large button in my sidebar).  We have been able to send about 100 bags over there so far, and the children who were fortunate enough to receive them have been SO grateful - the bags were a HUGE hit!  There are over 8,000 orphans in Bulgaria, so we obviously need a lot more bags. 

Thanks in advance for all your support!  There is so much to be done, but if we all work together we can help improve the lonely,fragile lives of these precious children.