From CA, with love

Isn't this cool?

I had fallen in love with a similar pillow from Kitson, but wasn't willing to pay upwards of $100 for a pillow that would inevitably get covered in snot and goldfish crackers. I sent the link to my sister, who I am crafting vicariously through until we return to home of the brave, land of the free and its multitude of craft stores. She in turn, painted white muslin fabric and put our favorite California landmarks on it, including out home (Newbury Park) and the town Nick and I fell in love (Davis). 

It now lives on our sofa (as opposed to Sal's room which was my original idea) and I'm smitten.

Pint Sized Fabric Bolts

{Drool worthy fabric storage solution}

I found myself an organizing project to do today ( as if i did't have enough already)..thanks to my sister-in-law finding this way to organize fabric over at the Little Green Bean blog.

Sadly, mine has been living in an under-bed storage container in our shoulda'-been-nursery turned guest room that rarely gets used as such, and is probably better suited as a craft room since I typically have to drag my projects out to the dining room table which doubles as my cutting/sewing/creating space.

I'd love to ditch the bed in the guest room and swap it for a pull out sofa ( so we can still have overnighters, and could be left for nursing babies if we ever get there) and get a nice L shaped desk with file cabinets on one end and an open book shelf with cubicles on the other end that could store cute buckets and boxes of goodies. In other words, if anyone is wondering what to buy me for my Birthday, the desk below from Pottery Barn would really put a smile on my face.

And, while I'm at it...one of these mid-century style Sleeper Sofas would look really swell in my dream craft room...So, while I should have been out enjoying our 90 degree weather, I found myself at the dollar tree purchasing 5 foam core boards ( Now that I think about it, I should have bought more)..for a grand total of $5. Michael's, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's all sell foam core board as well, but a buck a board? AWESOME.

Each full size board was cut into 10 pint sized boards. I cut them with my ol man's pocket knife and my carpenter's square ( love that tool). Each board is 6" x10".

Here's the finished project.. It's all within eye sight and reach without having to move blankets and other random things from under the bed to see what I have to work with. I also re-purposed some photo boxes that I bought a while back into "Notions" and "Patterns" and "Ribbon", and stacked those at the end of my bolts as book ends of sorts.

This totally satisfied my OCD desires to organize my fabric better. Mission accomplished!

Afternoon Project: Christmas Tree Skirt

The weather man warned us that we would see triple digits this weekend, but I was skeptical. He was right, I was wrong. Our truck read 101 degrees at noon today. What better reason to stay inside, pull out the sewing machine, turn on some football ( GOOOO Steelers 3 and 0 now!) and do an afternoon project. And, while we're at it, why not make it a Christmas project?



So, that's exactly what I did. I found a super duper cute pattern over at Sew4home.


I love the Heather Bailey prints that she used, however, I am on a budget, and can't afford to fork out $10/yd for those prints. Instead, I used JoAnn's Christmas fabric which was on sale for 30% off today. Although you can go to Sew4Home's website and follow their step-by-step instructions, I made some simplfications to my pattern ( omitted using bias tape-this saving $$$ and time).

You will need:

• 5/8 yd. of 4 coordinating fabrics or 3/4 yd of 8 coordinating fabrics


• 1 1/2 yd. of 46"wide muslin ( I pieced scraps of 1 1/2 yd of 36"wide muslin together)


• scissors


• sewing machine with a straight stitch


• thread


• measuring stick


• 26x26 paper to make a pattern


• pins


• marking pencil


• string

INSTRUCTIONS ( sort of...go to Sew4home for really good directions)

1. Pick out fabric. I used 5/8yd of 4 coordinating fabrics to keep cost down. 2. To make pattern piece. Follow diagram below. Photo credit: Sew4home.

3. Fold 5/8yd fabric in half. Lay pattern piece and pin. Cut. Repeat for remaining 4 fabrics.

4. Arrange your wedges into an appealing pattern.
5. Sew each wedge to the one next to it. Leave the last wedge unsewn. Press seams open.

6. Lay the completed 8 wedges right side down over your 46" square of right side up muslin ( again, I had to piece muslin together to make a square). Smooth out both upper and lower fabric pieces and pin. Cut muslin using the skirt as a guide. Sew around perimeter, remove pins and turn right side out.

7. Press perimeter of skirt and pin so that muslin does not peek out under the print fabric. Sew a strightstitch around perimeter of the skirt. There will be raw edges left open on two of your wedges. Turn them under, pin and press. Sew with a strightstitch.

8. Using a 6" circle ( I used a pot lid), center it over skirt, trace and cut around guide. Turn each raw edge under and pin. Sew with a straightstitch.

9. Remove all remaining pins and press. There you go. A Christmas Tree skirt for under $20.

Do you think September is too early to get a tree? I can't wait to see it wrapped around ours this year!