The nest.

 

I have been so busy with sewing work lately, and it seem that everyone is planning some sort of celebration at the end of the month. Either the first big weekend at the beach house, or a graduation party.  I’ve barely had time to sit or tend to the nest. (I do take a little test rest in most of the chairs I slipcover…just a little short close-your-eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath rest.)

I did make it over to Saffron and Genevieve for the Spring Sale and open house and used some of my sewing credit for this great iron nest. Looks like it is the perfect place for the Charley Harper salt and pepper birds that my daughter, Sarah, gave me.

We also got a new computer and I thought, “Oh no, now I have to figure out how to use this new PC when I am used to a Mac”, but turns out it isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

I am looking forward to a little bit of a let-up in the work because I have opened my home to a few needy chairs that are longing for some special attention. I’ll introduce them to you soon.

Raising Rabbits

For hugging only.

I have really been busy with slipcover and other home decor type sewing lately, which generates piles of beautiful scraps. Any larger pieces go back to the client, but the small pieces inspire me, so I am trying to come up with useful projects. The most recent inspiration came from beautiful soft chenille leftovers from a slipcover project I am working on. I thought it would make a really nice bunny.

I looked at a lot of rabbit photos and pictures of vintage bunnies and made a pattern. I started by drawing and cutting my bunny shape on muslin, stuffing it while I basted it together, so I could adjust it. I then made some changes, guessing what needed to change and then transferred the pattern to paper.

After I made this bunny, I made some changes to the head, but made the mistake of trimming my paper pattern and not saving the original. After making two more bunnies each one a little different, I think I like the first one best.

The bunny at the bottom of the pile is made from a big piece of lighter weight chenille that I found at my favorite thrift store. I used pieces from a worn vintage dresser scarf for the insides of the ears.

I can't wait to work on the bunny pattern some more, but since I still have my day job, and need it to supply me with scraps and craft money, the bunnies may not be reproducing as fast as the real kind.

A good week for enjoying grandchildren.

The baby girl grandchild we have been waiting for was born on Wednesday. She's a little one, 5 pounds, 12 ounces and very cute and sweet.

On Thursday my daughter, Raya, and her husband and son came for a visit. 

Our grandson had fun sitting on the little couch that my son (father of the new baby)  gave me a few years ago. I will make tiny slipcovers for the little couch one of these days.

Here he is feeding the stuffed kitty.

Now it's naptime.  It was so cute to hear him tell the kitty "Sweet dreams".

 

There's no party like a tea party.

I need to have more Tea Parties. Really. My daughters helped me host a tea party shower for my sweet daughter-in-law who is expecting a baby on Valentines Day. Raya had most of the inspiration and vision and took some great pictures. You can see more of them on her blog. 




We wanted to give our guests a thank you favor for coming, so I made some zipper flowers. I saw a demonstration on Martha Stewart using a glue gun, but I stitched them together and it worked just as well.  The original designer of the zipper flowers, Kate Cusack has designed some amazing zipper jewelry.



I also used my new die cutter to make tags.  I asked for it as a Christmas present and I love it. I could sit and cut out shapes all day.

We had a great time and are very excited about the baby. I know she is going to be a sweetie.

Happy New Year

For some reason I became obsessed with the idea of making tiny party hats. My first idea was to put party hats on vintage ornament style animals and hang them on the Christmas tree, but I couldn't find the vintage animals that I pictured in my head. Instead I got out my vintage bird collection and put them on a small artificial tree that I found at the Last Chance Thrift Store that is at the Marina Land Fill. (Fun store, and what a great concept... donate usable items on your way to the dump.) If I'd had more time I could have made little hats all day. It's so fun to make things on a small scale because it goes so fast.










Now they are all ready to sing in the New Year. Have a happy and safe celebration!

I should stock up on stockings.

Every year I make stockings. I remember the fun of pulling out the same red felt glittered stocking every year, growing up. The familiarity of it was part of Christmas. I'm afraid I have robbed that joy from my own kids because I just can't help myself. Stockings are just so easy to make, and because of my sewing business, and fabric collecting habit, I always have lots of great stocking worthy materials around.

I always frantically sew up some for various Holiday Home Tours, or for Colleen's shop. ( If you check out her blog and go back a post or two, you can see some I made this year) But I didn't get any finished in time to put them in my etsy shop. I just can't seem to get in the stocking making mood early enough for that. I should sew some up right after Christmas and put them in a box, to be unpacked and ready nice and early next year.




It might even be fun to predict what trends will be in force by this time next year and see how close I came to getting it right. The challenge would be in making them work if I get it wrong.

It was WILD!

I had the opportunity to take part in a "holiday home tour" fundraiser. The Berries and Branches tour is in the nearby Salinas area, and one of the decorators I have the privilege of sewing for, asked if I wanted to participate. This year it was based at the
Vision Quest Bed and Breakfast at the Vision Quest Ranch.
I have heard of this Bed and Breakfast in the past, and was told that there were wild animals there (as in jungle types) and that if you stay there the elephants bring breakfast to you in a basket. When I first heard of it, I just tilted my head to the side, like dogs do, and gave it a little scratch. When I think of Salinas, I imagine unending fields of Brussels sprouts, lettuce, artichokes and the like, never zebras. Not many people I have talked to had heard of it either.






Well, it does exist, and you can see one of the tent cabin bungalows in the background in this picture. The decorator I worked with, Cindy Hattersley, decorated one of the two bungalows on the tour. There were several nearby houses featured and a spa that I didn't make it to. The spa is in a restored Queen Anne home that was built in 1890. I really wanted to see the Chateau Coralini Retreat and Spa, but the work was piling up on my sewing machine at home, so I had to skip it.



I snapped this porch arrangement before someone spotted my camera.
I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the homes, which were beautiful, and beautifully decorated by many talented local designers, but I did get some of the cute little canvas cabin.



Her theme was "a stay in the hunting lodge of French hosts, while on safari at the turn of the century". I made most of the pillows, the ottoman covers and of course, the white linen slipcover on this unique little wing chair.






I love opportunities to get to know the area that I live in. There are a couple of gift shops in Salinas that I can't wait to visit!