Feeling Crabby

Returning to reality after a wonderful vacation is kind of a shock to the system.....but when you're greeted with boxes full of gorgeous new fabric collections the day becomes much brighter! Going Coastal (by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics) was one of the collections that arrived while I was gone and it was love at first sight. I knew it would be the perfect fabric collection to brighten up our bedroom and continue my new "Gender Neutral Hawaiian" decorating scheme. So, I immediately whipped up some accent pillows to complement the sad and lonely applique crab pillow that we already have...
I used Going Coastal Orange Crab Walk for the simple knife edge pillows. I love making pillows - it's so easy to do and they immediately brighten up the room.....
But I have to say that my favorite from this collection is the ridiculously cute Bottle Caps fabric....
And now I'm pretty sure that I need to make a nice quilt to lay at the end of the bed using the whole collection. I haven't even finished the quilt for the living room yet.....but that's never stopped me from starting a new project before!
After looking at all my patterns and tossing ideas around in my head I think I arrived at the perfect plan. I'm going to use the Flora & Fauna Pattern (also by Emily Herrick).....
And instead of doing the flower and butterfly appliques as shown, wouldn't it be cute if I did starfish and crab appliques in their place? Or maybe I could just leave the appliques off and let the beautiful prints really stand out in a simple quilt full of big circles and squares. What do you think?

I better run....it looks like I've got a lot of sewing to do!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. And in case you're wondering, the applique crab pillow in the middle was a gift from a friend - I didn't make it. The tag on the pillow says "Hable Construction." and the Outrigger Inn print is from Kerne Erickson's website.

Eat. Drink. Sleep

Eat. Drink. Sleep. That pretty much sums up our amazing vacation in Napa. My scale and I are no longer on speaking terms but it was sooooo worth it.
Here is my first glass of wine after arriving in Napa 8 hours late. Canceled flights, delays and typical airport chaos were NOT going to stop me! The wine tasted soooo much better after having to fight so hard to get to it.
We did tons of wine tastings and vineyard tours.....
We even went on a tour of a 110,000 square foot castle with a vineyard and a winery.....
We saw some amazing gardens. Just look at this "Alice In Wonderland-esque" place!
We met a friendly vineyard kitty named Caesar.....
We ate tons and tons of gourmet food. Oddly, the food always seemed to disappear before we could take its picture. But I did manage to restrain myself long enough to get a picture of the desert case at Dean & Deluca. Isn't it a thing of beauty? The Red Velvet cupcakes are delicious, by the way.
We tasted lots of olive oil and I discovered a "political" cause that I can really get on board with.....
I learned that I think chickens are absolutely adorable. There's the most amazing garden where one of the restaurants grows their own fruits, veggies and herbs and in the middle of the garden is this.....
An adorable chicken coop with about 25 chickens running around and laying eggs and enjoying life. This one was pretty bold and kept trying to eat my hair through the chicken wire!
And for those Top Chef fans out there you may recognize this guy. It's Michael Chiarrello!!! For those of you who don't watch Top Chef, he's a celebrity chef and we ate at his restaurant one night and he just happened to be there! I thought I was going to lose my mind. He was going through his restaurant and taking photos with anyone who stopped him. He was so warm and friendly and charming......not at all like the "tough guy" he seemed to be on the show. And here I am getting a smooch from Michael Chiarrello and my sweetie, John. And by the way - the food at his restaurant was AMAZING!
And now we're back home getting caught up, giving the pets tons of hugs and kisses and trying to figure out how to get back on speaking terms with the scale. And I'm trying to convince John that we need to make this Napa thing a yearly event. There are about 400 wineries in Napa and I think we missed a few on this trip. I think we need to keep going back until we've seen them all......don't you agree?

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. Did ya see my Funked Out Peasant Blouse in the first photo? She wanted to go on vacation too!

We're Off To Napa.....

And we're off.......to Napa that is! So, the shop will be "closed" from Monday, August 15 until Wednesday, August 24. You'll still be able to shop but orders won't ship until Thursday, August 25 and Friday, August 26.

And guess what's going to arrive while we're GONE! Yup - It's Happy Mochi Yum Yum by Monica Solorio-Snow (The Happy Zombie) for Lecien.....
And Going Coastal by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller!
Hopefully I'll be able to add them to the shop while I'm gone. So be on the lookout for these cuties to arrive. I can't wait to dig into these adorable collections once I return home.

Time to go kiss the kitterses and pupperses goodbye and throw a few last items in my suitcase. I'll "see" ya when I get back! Cheers - clink, clink!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. And if you read my post, The Passport - Guess what??? I got it back! The new one came in the mail all by it's lonesome self and I was so sad. And then a week later I got the old one back. And I realize that I don't need a passport to go from Florida to California......this just seemed like an appropriate time to mention it!

Aloha New Living Room!

Aloha! It's been 8 months since I moved into the house on Tyndall Air Force base and I finallllly have the Living Room looking decent enough to share some photos! I was going for a Hawaiian type of look. We were ready for a change.....and John basically begged me to get rid of the pastel pink and lavender shabby chic look I had going on in the previous house! It seemed like a fair request so now our main living space is a gender neutral Hawaiian theme we both love.
I know you're probably thinking that a Hawaiian look should have tons of aqua and turquoise and ocean blue. But I was really more inspired by the warmth and the lush tropical rain forests of Hawaii so I chose lots of greens and browns and oranges. I used 8 different fabrics (most of them are from the Meadowsweet Collection by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller) and made tons of squishy pillows. I decided to make simple knife edge pillows because I had so many different prints and vibrant colors that I didn't think the pillows needed extra borders or piping or fancy trims. O.K.......seriously.......even I can't say that with a straight face. The REAL reason I made simple knife edge pillows is that they're quick and easy and I wanted to get this project done fast.
And those paddles aren't just props for our Hawaiian theme. John is a huge water sports guy and he got me into Stand Up Paddleboarding. I'm actually getting pretty good at it and I haven't fallen on my face YET. That's a pretty impressive feat for someone who's so clumsy. And that pink floral paddle in the front is my brand new, very own paddle! Don't you love it?!
Ohhh......you can just barely see our new vintage travel prints hanging on the wall of the dining room behind the sofa. I scoured the internet looking for the perfect prints to pull this look together and I think I succeeded.
And this is my big cushy chair and a half where most of my hand sewing occurs. I live in, on or around this chair in the evenings and on weekends. There's only one little "piece" of my living room that's not quite done yet......
Of course the new living room needs a quilt! This will be the final piece that will make this room perfect and homey. I'm still cutting out the pieces for the quilt and hopefully I'll have this done sometime in the next few weeks. It's just going to be a quilt of simple squares with simple borders sewn together in simple rows. The decision to make a simple quilt REALLY was based on the fact that I have so many vibrant colors and prints! I sooooo can't wait to see how my quilt turns out!

I'm off to go cut more squares and strips for my quilt!

Aloha and Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. Since everyone always seems to ask about wall colors when someone does a decorating blog post, I'll just tell ya - It's Ambitious Amber by Sherwin Williams. But if I had my way I would re-name the color Golden Retriever Fur because that's exactly what it looks like - warm and golden and happy all over!

August Giveaway - Christmas Candy

We Have A Winner!

The winner is jlk who said "I'd make Christmas place mats. Or maybe even a table topper. Such cute fabrics!"  Congratulations and thanks you to everyone who entered.
 

Happy August! Even though it's about 110 degrees out as I write this post it's time to start thinking about Christmas projects! And to get you in the holiday spirit we're giving away a Christmas Candy Fat Quarter Bundle by Doodlebug Design for Riley Blake Designs. This charming collection will definitely leave you with visions of sugarplums dancing in your head! It's full of cheerful Christmas motifs and polka dots in shades of cherry red, apple green, cotton candy pink and snowy white.

Here's how to enter....
-Leave a blog comment for one entry. I'd love to hear what you plan on making with this fabric.
-Tweet about this Giveaway for another entry
-Mention this Giveaway on Facebook for another entry
-And I know not everyone has their own blog or Twitter or Facebook......So, you can receive an extra entry if you let me know that you e-mailed at least 3 friends about this Giveaway.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be sure to leave a blog comment for each additional entry that you do. For example....leave your first comment about what you plan on doing with this bundle. But be sure to leave another comment saying "I Tweeted this" or "I Facebooked this" so that I know that you get additional entries.

The Giveaway ends on August 30, 2011. The winner will be chosen on September 1, 2011.

Thanks for participating and good luck!
Jenny