Long Lost Love

I recently rediscovered a long lost love.  And no.....Mr. Sew Fab has nothing to worry about!!!  Here's what happened......

Last week my cousin pinned this book on Pinterest.  It's called Cottage Style In Miniature......

 

It led me to the author's blog called Cynthia's Cottage Design.  It's a blog all about shabby chic/cottage style dollhouse miniatures.  It was a knock me over with a feather, I've died and gone to heaven, don't wake me if I'm dreaming kind of moment.  I used to LOVE making miniatures....even more than I loved sewing.  But I gave it up about 15 years......I guess life and work and other interests made me temporarily forget about my minis.  But my passion for minis is back with a vengeance and I spent last weekend obsessing over dollhouse blogs and shops and trying to talk myself out of buying a dollhouse.....Where will we put it?  Don't I have enough to do already?  Won't it just become a glorified cat bed?  But I eventually caved and The Orchid arrived at my door two days ago.

I am so stinkin excited!  I'm going to do it in a white washed, pastel, cottage style like Cynthia's house.  I haven't even started on this one yet but I've already planned my next four or five houses.....I think I need a red and blue French Country style house.....and then I need a bright and tropical Key West style house (just like this one).....and then I need a Hello Kitty house.....and maybe I should do a bunny/Beatrix Potter themed house......and maybe I need a little Tuscan villa......And no.....we don't have space for all of these houses but a girl can dream, can't she?  Remember when I said that Mr. Sew Fab has nothing to worry about?  I may have spoke to soon.....this is what our dining room table currently looks like....

It's a good thing we eat dinner on the coffee table or the back patio.

And yes....I'm still working on my quilts.  I haven't abandoned my current love for my new/old love.  The Granny Square quilt is all ready for some hand quilting after I got it sandwiched and pinned yesterday. And yes....I decided to just go for it and do hand quilting!

And now I need to figure out how to make a teeny, tiny Granny Square quilt for the dollhouse!  Wouldn't that be adorable?!

Happy Sewing,

Jenny

Almost There.....

I'm happy to report that I am FINALLY making progress on my Granny Square Quilt again!  All the blocks are pieced, the sashing is done and shortly after I took this photo I put the borders on.  Now it's time for the big decision.....


Hand quilt or machine quilt?


My original plan was to hand quilt this....but that takes a long time.  But it would be something to do at night as Mr. Sew Fab and I hang out and watch t.v.  This has already become my favorite quilt ever so it might be that extra special finishing touch.  Or......I could machine quilt it and have it done in a day.  What do you think?  My Facebook peeps have already let me know in no uncertain terms what they think!  They were 100% in favor of hand quilting.  Do you agree?  I'd love to hear what you think!


Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Parties, Pools and Progress

Wow! Hectic doesn't even begin to describe the last few weeks around here!!! I didn't mean to fall of the face of the blogosphere earth but soon you will understand why I did.......

-We decided to have a BIG dinner party on St. Patty's Day and invited 10 people. I cooked and taste tested about 20 appetizers in the week prior to the party, painted the kitchen, repainted our dining room table and chairs and still managed to run about 5 miles a day.

-I spent the day before the party frantically cleaning, running to Target and the grocery store and baking the desserts......mini buttermilk cupcakes (these are divine.....recipe coming in a future blog post), chocolate chip cookie dough truffles and mini apple tarts. But disaster struck and the tarts that I've made a million times before FELL APART! NOOOOOO!!!

-On the day of the party I badly burned my finger (the kind of burn that instantly leaves a huge blister) while melting sugar to make caramel tarts. These were the substitute tarts since I ruined the apple ones the day before. For some reason I always feel that I must offer THREE different desserts when I have a big party. I don't know why. It's just what I do. Anyway, I spent the next 8 hours doing party prep one handed while holding an ice pack in my other hand. Ouch!

-Emma approved of the appetizers I put out at the party. We had caprese on bamboo skewers, shrimp on table water crackers drizzled with cocktail sauce and green onions, heavenly homemade cheddar crackers and cheese stuffed mushrooms (my own invention - I'll post the recipe later). And yes.....I did this all one handed.

-For dinner we had my soon to be world famous slaw (I'll post the recipe one day!), bacon and blue macaroni and cheese (Mr. Sew Fab's favorite), regular macaroni and cheese and a beef tenderloin. Yum. And yes....I made all of that with one functioning hand.

-Everyone seemed to have a great time and one of my friends even said she felt like she walked into a Pottery Barn catalog when she arrived at the party. Awwww......how sweet! Apparently if you put out about a million big white pillar candles, a bazillion mason jars full of baby's breath and another bajillion mason jars full of river rocks and votives your party will look like a Pottery Barn catalog!
-Oh.....the one great thing about having a party on St. Patty's day.....you will receive LOTS of bottles of Bailey's as hostess gifts. And I LOVE Baileys. I even have a cat named Bailey. Maybe I should have this party every year! Wait....maybe not....it took 2 days of prep work and 2 days to recover. Did you know that throwing a big dinner party is seriously hard work?!

-Then Mr. Sew Fab got sick. For 10 days. One of those wicked fever, sore throat, can't get out of bed things.....then I got sick for a few days. But not nearly as bad....whew!

-We celebrated Daisy's 15th birthday on March 26 with a little chicken, catnip and tuna party. A good time was had by all. Daisy's on the left, Bailey is on the right. Oh...and Daisy has developed this charming little habit of screaming at the top of her lungs around 1:00 a.m. every night. You can imagine how much we enjoy that! Thank you Daisy!
-I bought a floating pool lounger for my dog, Emma to use in the hot tub (the hot tub that we refer to as The Pool). Yes....I realize that is one of the most insane statements anyone has ever said. But it's true....and I did it....and I'm glad I did it! Emma deserves to relax in the hot tub too!
-Then I decided that my office/sewing room needs a makeover and some spring cleaning and some re-organization. I'm sure I'll be much more productive in my office if it's prettier....oops....I meant to say if it's more organized. I picked out a bunch of fabrics from my shop and my stash and they got the Royal Emma Seal of Approval. I have big plans for these fabrics. Very big plans!
-Can you tell I'm a major girly, girl by my fabric choices???!!! You can never have too much pink or too many flowers in a room, can you?

-And then......after months.....and months.....and months.....of nudging by Mr. Sew Fab he finally made me realize that I need to hire an assistant. After I agreed to the "hiring an assistant plan" he posted the help wanted ad faster than Emma sits when she hears the dog treat bag come out. And did you know that Mr. Sew Fab is the Director of Personnel here at Tyndall? So, I may not have an employee yet but I do have my own personal personnel department!

-Today I had a face to face meeting with my #1 candidate and hired her! She seems wonderful! I hope I don't scare her off!!!

-And then.....Mr. Sew Fab made me realize something else today......my big, beautiful office/sewing room is much more spacious than my cramped, overflowing fabric room (the room where I house and cut all of the fabric). I'm a little bit bummed....well....more than a little bit.....but it looks like I'm evicting myself from my room. We'll be playing musical rooms this weekend. It's for the good of the business and I'll have room for A LOT more fabric if I make this move. And it will be a much more efficient workspace. So, all my big, beautiful, girly decorating plans are being revised just a little bit. I'll be o.k. though....I have my dog, my hot tub and some red wine to console me! And really I should just be focusing on the fact that this change will allow me to order A LOT MORE fabric.....and that's always a very good thing!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

April 2012 Giveaway - California Girl

We Have A Winner!

The winner is Brita who said "Oh, how I love the California Girl collection! Anything by Joanna Figueroa rocks my world. And roses, sweet red, wild, romantic, on white, gray, green, yellow. Modern in moderate doses. I'm really sick of red with aqua, tho. Orange has been fun this year." Congratulations Brita! And I apologize for the delay in picking a winner. We're in the middle of moving our shop to a bigger space - It's been an exciting, chaotic and wonderful move and I'm so glad we did it!!!
Happy April! I bet you thought I forgot all about my monthly Giveaways! The last few weeks have been a little hectic but I'll tell you all about that another day......let's just get right to the fun stuff! This month we're giving away a 20 piece California Girl Fat Quarter Bundle. I want to say that this collection just screams springtime at me.....but it's such a soft and sweet collection I think it would politely whisper at me instead. California Girl is too ladylike and delicate to scream!

Just leave a comment to be entered to win. I'd love for you to tell me what styles/colors/designers/manufacturers/types of fabrics you're looking for these days. Modern? Brights? Batiks? Romantic Florals? More Riley Blake? More Amy Butler? I could go on and on but I think you're getting the picture! Tell me everything and anything you like in the fabric world - I want to know what's on your fabric loving mind! Spring Quilt Market is coming up so TONS of new collections are about to be released and I want to know what YOU want me to look for. We'll pick a winner on Friday, April 13, 2012!

Good Luck and Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. My favorite style/color/type is anything pink and green and cutesy and floral and feminine.