Happy Birthday Laurel!

My niece turned 5 yesterday and we had an Angry Birds birthday. She loves the birds and so do I. I decided to make a live action Angry Birds and she loved it. I even created a "new" bird just for her. It is a pink flamingo. I hadn't told her it was a new bird yet and when she saw it she told me that it was nice but next time I might want to make the toucan a little more green. The boxes are just empty boxes (cereal, shoe, etc.) that were wrapped. It was a little confusing at first that they weren't actual presents for her to open and she wasn't quite sure how to play. But once I explained and showed her how to play the game she loved it. She enjoyed restacking the boxes to make a new game just as much as she enjoyed throwing the birds. She was even coming up with strategies for the order she was going to use the birds. Oh and the "King Pig" always has to be on the highest box according to her.

There are tutorials and patterns to make your own Angry Birds here: http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/2009/01/make-it-for-you.html

I didn't end up using the patterns because I was too lazy to print them out and figured they were pretty easy to make on my own and I made a few small alterations. But I did look over her tutorials and took some of the advice. Also the tutorial uses fleece but I used felt because it was cheaper. I also had to unstuff a couple of my own pillows to make the birds because I forgot to buy stuffing. I guess I'll have to buy stuffing later for my pillows. How I forgot stuffing on my two trips to the craft store for materials for this project I'll never know?!?!?

I spent a lot of time editing the little photoshop photo at the top for her birthday too (I'd printed out a couple and hung them around the house) and was thrilled when she was looking at it and said, "Hey the pigs stole the present!!"While I wasn't expecting a 5 year old to pick up on all the little details I went to the trouble of making she really did notice everything and comment on it. I think she has an eye like her auntie.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

Candles out!

I love that she hasn't yet blown out the candles and she already has a half eaten cupcake in her hand... she is an Anderson! (Grandma is not going to be happy she is in the picture. Sorry Grandma but we have so few pictures of you anyway and I love your smile!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUREL!!!

All in a days sewing...

So today was the deadline for the Make Mine Modern Swap. I had ideas lots of them and some bare bones beginnings... but for the most part I completely slacked on this swap. I think I probably should have sat this round out because the time just wasn't there. Luckily I had a good day of sewing and I think I pulled if off. Barely... considering the post office closed at 7pm



But I made a little pouch out of the super cute new line by Jessica Jones, Outside Oslo. I love the prints in this line and I like that she is a local Chicago designer too.



I also made a fabric basket which is a modified version of the Joel Dewberry pattern from Sewn Spaces. I think mine is just a little bit better.



Anyway it is off to my partner for them to decide. Hopefully they love it.

I did take a little break from sewing today to bring in the current tomato crop. I think I spent a whole minute picking. Unfortunately my plants got blight so I don't think they will go on to produce to many more tomatoes.



And now I should probably go to sleep as I need to wake up in a few short hours...

Busy, busy, busy...

It has been a busy week... I was even to busy to post about the giveaway winner for the Fall 2011 copy of Stitch but I did select one the other day. Or I should say my boyfriend did. It was very official. I yelled to him on the couch to pick a number between 1-17 (there were only 17 entries)  and he said 15.... so winner #15 who is "zena800" congrats!

And thank you everyone for all the nice comments about my sewing space! After this week it looks like a tornado went off in there.

The cutting room floor...

Last Friday my brother and I were standing in the bar at work and he said to me if you can think of anything decoration wise to make it look more interesting in here for the beer event next Thursday let me know. Well the next day I came to work with a sample and and idea and we decided to go for it... well I decided to go for it. I had a lot of work to do in less then a week but it all got done.

The event was our annual Dogfish Head Invasion where we feature 16 drafts (there are 36 draft lines at the restaurant) from Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware. A number of the drafts were rare or at least rare to the Chicagoland area. A portion of the line of people waiting to get in when we opened at 4pm:

Anyway enough with the beer geek information... lets get to the sewing geek information.

I decided that it would be fun to make banners that had the Dogfish Head logo and the names of the beers we'd be serving. There were 12 banners total, 7 of which were double sided, 16 beers and 3 with just fish. So Sunday morning I went to Jo-Ann's and got my fabric and spent all day at work cutting out fish and letters. Each banner is a half yard of fabric and I used a fusible web on the fish and letters. All the fish and letters were hand cut and ironed but not sewn. I don't quite know what possessed me to do this under such time constraints but it got done and they looked pretty awesome.

My favorite beer:

So while all this feverish sewing, cutting and ironing was going on for work, I also had a project deadline for the Spring 2012 edition of Stitch. And unlike the other two projects I've submitted and gotten accepted I'd never made this one before. Honestly I just submitted a rough sketch at the last minute and wasn't sure it would even be accepted. Surprisingly it was. So there was more feverish sewing, cutting and quilting. I actually didn't even have time to snap a photo of it before I mailed it off but it involves chalk board oil cloth.

Pretty {little} Pouch Swap

Pretty {little} Pouch Swap

I finished my pouch for my swap partner today. It was my first time using a zipper and I'm happy to say it turned out well. It isn't quite as polished looking on one end of the zipper as I would have hoped but it will work just fine. The inside is lined with the farmdale fabric pictured beneath the pouch.

I used a great tutorial that you can find here at kelbysews. On a side note the pouch featured in the tutorial lives with me! I love it and use it to carry my embroidery supplies.

I'm very happy that I finally settled in to my new place and can get back to making things.

My {new} Crafty Space & Stitch Magazine {Giveaway}

So yesterday... FINALLY... almost two months later I'm have my sewing/crafty space all unpacked and put back together. It feels good to not have to stare at the boxes and piles of things without homes. Now everytime I go in there I can just sew. At least for a while I'm sure piles will start to form they always do.  But here are some pictures of the space looking fabulous and in pristine condition.

Yesterday was also the arrival of my complimentary designer copies of the current issue Stitch magazine... of course I missed the UPS man for the third time and had to travel all the way to the south side to pick up my package but it was worth it! Anyway one copy is for me and one is for my mom so that means I have one copy up for grabs.

If you'd like a shot at it just be a follower and leave a comment and I'll pick someone at random next Tuesday, August 9, 2011 around Noon Chicago time. I'm not too big in the follower department so the odds of winning are pretty good! 

If you already bought this issue and you want to play anyway just mention in your comment that you already have it and if you win I'll send you something fun (probably fabric) and pick another name for the magazine. So there could be two winners!!