Was your Instagram feed full of images from Quiltcon over the weekend? I know mine was and it was so inspiring.  This humongous quilting conference in Austin, Texas hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild is amazing and the quilts look positively incredible (be sure to check out the winners. Unreal!).  I was so bummed I couldn’t attend.  So when the lovely people at Cloud 9 fabrics, the premier organic fabric company that just happens to be in New Jersey (represent!), asked me to stitch up some items for them to bring to Quiltcon, I was thrilled.Not only did I get to play with some of the upcoming fabrics they are releasing but I also got to have a few stitches of my own at Quiltcon…even if they were there having a good time without me.

It was a last-minute thing so I dropped everything and got sewing. I made this lovely blouse for Michelle, one of the owners as well as a designer and all-around inspiration, to wear on the floor during the conference. The fabric is Rave On from an upcoming line called Let’s Have a Party, it is a scrumptious voile fabric from designer Avril Lovreti.

The colors in this fabric are so interesting and intersect in a fascinating and sophisticated way but the fabric manages to be playful and fresh. Very cool.  The blouse pattern is Blossom from In-House Patterns and it’s a loose, relaxed fit top.

I also made two simple half-aprons designed specifically for vendors at craft shows.  The pattern is from Blissful Patterns and is simple but very cool, each apron has a little zipper pocket and pockets for business cards and pens.  It’s sleek.

These were made with the amazing Cirrus solids collection, a yarn-dyed collection of rich solids, all organic (of course).  The colors are so, so delicious. The prints are from two of my favorite artists, both of whom I’ve been following for a long time.  The cactus print is from the amazing Geninne Zlatkis whose bird sketches are literally all over the place…on cards, games, journal covers.  She’s amazing.  The bird and leaf print is from another surface design icon, Skinny La Minx.  Her nature-inspired, organic shape prints are amazing and I have long coveted all of them, it’s even possible her prints are some of the first unconventional fabrics I discovered and possibly the first thing I pinned onto my textiles board!

It was a dreamy little commission and it was extra fun to see them pop up on my Instagram over the weekend.  I certainly wasn’t in Texas but a little something of mine was! Wahoo!

Funny side note:  I was, of course, talking about Quiltcon a whole bunch to my husband last week as I was sewing all of these lovely things.  Well, on Saturday he left for a business trip to England and he stopped in at Liberty of London for reasons he is unwilling to divulge (!). He did tell me that he was chatted with someone in the fabrics department (!!) and she was complimenting quilters and discussing how hard quilting is when he asked her if she had heard of Quiltcon, the big conference. She hadn’t! So, he told her all about it! How funny is that, my husband informing the staff at Liberty about a quilting conference. Go baby!

Here are a few things you may not know about me. 1. I’m a lyrics girl. Some people hear the music; I hear the words.  2. I love karaoke.  A lot.  3. I often spend long car rides listening to (and singing along with) all kinds of music to be prepared for any upcoming karaoke opportunities.  4. I have lots of long car rides.  5. Pop music lyrics stick in your head and are, frankly, poetic at times.  What does any of this have to do with chalk paint and creative habits? Right. It’s kind of long-winded. (The giveaway info is at the end, promise. updated: giveaway had ended). 

Remember that lovely book I was so impressed by a while ago, Mighty Ugly?  Well, I was determined to follow through on every directive in Mighty Ugly and that included incorporating a daily creative habit into my routine.

I have a canvas I covered in two coats of chalk paint and lovely chalk markers and I was all prepared to write a daily message to myself.  Yup.  Good, solid plan for a creative routine.  (more…)

It is almost Valentines Day!  The boys both had their classroom parties today and came home so excited about all the valentines they got.  All of which means tiny temporary tattoos and glossy pieces of paper are scattered all over every surface (because everything must be looked at in its entirety).  It also means our household has an additional six unsharpened pencils that I will promptly add to our junk drawer, which is mostly full of unsharpened pencils.  I swear pencils are this generations version of double bubble gum from…the supply seems endless as does its popularity as the completely safe gift nobody wants.

Our family, however, has one plan for Valentines day and it’s a big, celebratory breakfast.  We decided on our menu over dinner two nights ago.  The plan is that J will make a fruit salad with only red fruit (strawberries, watermelon, red grapes, etc.), I will make pancakes and my husband and C are making smoothies.  It’s going to be spectacular.  I decided to make some special straws for our smoothies and that is how these “love”ly smoothie sippers came to be.  It’s totally the easiest thing ever but here is how I made them, just in case.  (more…)

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was going to share Valentine’s Day ideas all week. I really am! What is better than a little sweet nothings treat bag, am I right? Yup, right.

I love the way packaging can make something ordinary look extra-fun and super special and, as it happens, my kids love M&M’s.  So, in the spirit of this valentines making frenzy I am on, I combined those two loves and made sweet nothings packages for bags of M&M’s!  These sweet treat bags will be in our valentines wraps on Saturday morning.

I really hope my kids know how rad I am because some days…eh, hard to tell.

Just like with the Monster Valentines, I used PicMonkey to make these and it took all of 10 minutes.  I don’t even have the paid version of PicMonkey, just the free version and I love it.  (Nobody is paying me to say that, either.)  Click on any image to get the pdf for yourself. Yay for free printables (now that I know how to make and share them, I’m unstoppable)!  (more…)

Guys! It’s my very first ever printable paper project!  Meet the Valentine Monsters!

It is here just in time to rescue you from a last-minute rush to the drug store to get school valentines.  (You know they will only have crappy cards left with tired, out-dated boy and girl orientations, anyway. And, if you are experiencing the same kind of icy/slushy/grey winter that we are, you don’t need another trip outside. Forget that!)  Print up these MONSTER VALENTINES and make everybody smile!  (more…)