Wednesday, December 29, 2010

After Christmas Sale!

I personally love to buy Christmas supplies and other doo-dads after Christmas. Who doesn't love those sales? Well I just added a SALE section to the Seamingly Sarah shop for the reusable Christmas gift bags. Stop by and take a look.

Soon I'll be hard at work making new bags (for Christmas, other holidays and birthdays) to add to the shop. So take advantage of these sale prices while you can!

Friday, December 24, 2010

A Few of My (Current) Favorite Things

I AM IN LOVE!



I found these beautiful, lovely, pieces of heirloom artwork and love on my local craigslist. And there's even more! But I limited myself. I do have an overflowing tub of fabric in my bedroom to deal with. But I'm not going to give any hints on how to get them yourself, I'm greedy like that.


After they soak in some oxi-clean for a few hours they'll be ready for some crafting. Of course some will find their way into products for the Seamingly Sarah shop and others would be just too heart breaking to part with. I really am in love. I can't stop touching and fondling them.

Oh Dear Lord, save me now. These blue napkins and table cloth make me squeal.


And this one, this has to be my favorite. How could I ever part with this?


And just so you know...MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all tomorrow!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Done, done and done!

 I finished the binding on the tree quilt in just two nights!
That is a record for me, especially with a lap sized quilt.


And once I got the tree quilt done and out of the way I felt like a busy and productive little elf.

I made these little characters for my daughter with some empty food coloring bottles, felt and glue.
They'll sneak their way into her stocking!

I finally fixed the gdiapers I'll need for the baby in my belly...


And even dyed the clothes with heinous spit up stains on them for the new baby.


I'm pretty darn impressed with myself. If you want to pat me on the back I won't mind. =)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Tree Quilt

Isn't it just gorgeous!

I have fallen in love with making this quilt. I had more fun making it than I can remember while making other recent quilts. It's a lap sized quilt (I hate going beyond 44" wide!) and I think the most fun was the quilting part. It's just pinned in this picture, but I ended up outlining the whole tree and then adding branches amongst the leaves to quilt it.


I've practiced free motion quilting a bit since I got my sewing machine back from the maintenance shop, but it still isn't working out. I even used the tips they gave me at the shop, but to no avail. Perhaps my work horse of a sewing machine just isn't meant for free motion quilting. But I was able to get away from "stitching in the ditch" with this quilt. And that felt gratifying.

The binding has been sewed on the front. All that is left now is some handsewing for the back of the binding. I can't wait to gift this to the wonderful couple it's meant for. I know it makes me smile just looking at it. I hope they feel the same way.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Inspiration from Children's Books (Part II)

Good old Sesame Street, good for the characters my daughter loves and surprisingly I love the way this illustrator drew the flowers.



A favorite of my daughter's. I love it for the shading and texture. It looks like colored pencils to me. I want to rub my fingers over it and feel the color smudge on my skin.


Monday, December 20, 2010

Our Little Christmas Corner

Since I gave you a sneek peek of the finished garland
I thought I'd show you our little Christmas corner in our house.


Of course no Christmas is complete without this little booger, applesauce and all!


Advent calendars are a childhood memory for me. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without opening up a tab each day. My daughter on the other hand just loves to count the Christmas ornaments in the pictures!


 Various decorations given to us throughout the years, some for fun, some for momentous occassions (like, oh gee, getting married!).


The angel is a relic from my childhood. I'm not sure if she used to sit on the family tree or not, but at some point she lost her wings and she stayed in my room each Christmas. I just can't bear to part with her.


Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Garland Complete

I was pacing around one morning before work. My daughter was lollygagging around while eating her breakfast and I had nothing to do while I waited for her to finish. Trying to apease my cranky listless self I sat down and turned these little paper discs into a garland!
I hung it up over her "little table" and then got both her and I ready to leave the house. It was quick and satisfying. Now if only I could say it kept me from losing my temper that morning.


I do think it is cute, but I'd like to try making one with more solid and vibrant colors. The details in the old Christmas cards get a little lost when they're all cut up.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Inspiration from Children's Books (Part I)

Anyone else ever been inspired by the artwork in children's books?

Some of my daughter's books I love to read just because I love to see the beauty that lays in front of me.

Here are a couple of my favorites. I'll share more next week.



I just love the detail and patterns in every scene!





My all time favorite book and page! Beautiful.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Boxes from Boxes

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has saved cereal boxes for me. I officially have plenty! Now what I'd really like is for someone to order something from the Seamingly Sarah shop so I can test how the boxes hold up through the mailing process!


POST EDIT:
I just wanted to let you all know how my day went yesterday:
(Tuesdays are now my Mommy Mondays)
Cleaned bathrooms
Dusted
Vacuumed
Mopped
Photographed rainbow purses for etsy shop
Washed, dried and put away 2 loads of laundry
Started binding for tree quilt
Sat through an hour long webinar for work
Cuddled, fed, played with and read to my daughter
Play date
Edited purse photos and posted them to etsy shop


Let me tell what I did NOT get to:
A 3rd load of laundry (those two extra loads of laundry were thanks to my daughter)
Iron tree quilt top (photos coming soon)
Iron binding
Baste tree quilt
Go to the library
A fully cooked dinner
(it was slightly undercooked and handsome husband had to take over)

All in all, I'd say it was a GREAT DAY!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

New Items in the Shop

The entire collection of rainbow purses are up in the Seamingly Sarah shop.
Take a look!




Printing with Finger Paints!

Do you remember the dried flowers I found during a family walk this fall?

Well I finally made a date with them to do a little printing!


Does it count that this date was a double date with my daugther and her finger paints? I cut up some brown paper bags for her to paint on and I decided I had waited procrastinated long enough. I jumped up and cut off a few blooms from the stems and stamped away with the flowers and finger paint on my own piece of paper. I loved it. The photo above shows you the detail that came out in some of the stamping. The photos below show you the overall effect.



And then guess what I decided to do for Christmas cards this year?
I guess I just hadn't had enough yet.

And this time my handsome husband even joined in the fun. His prints came out even better than mine. I'm blaming it on the flowers I chose to print with. But we're both going to blame give credit for the blurred prints to our daughter (who was asleep at the time of this activity). Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone.


Monday, December 13, 2010

Christmas Garland

Now this is a Christmas project I have wanted to do since I first saw paper garlands.


I kept putting it off because I don't have a circle punch, but I finally sat down and took a pair of sissors to all the old Christmas cards I have been saving. My sissor dented hands are now begging for a circle punch, but at least I finished! I hope to find the time to push these little discs through the sewing machine and create my own Christmas garland.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Leaves and Pins

Remember how I told you the christmas tree and sewing machine are sharing space still? Well it's because of this little beauty. Which will hopefully look like a tree in fall foliage when I'm done.


I'm excited to be creating something so beautiful and yet the tension in my neck and shoulders would tell you otherwise. I've sewed many leaves on already and have many more to go.


Speaking of all those leaves I have officially used every pin I use, including these oldies, but goodies. My handsome husband saw these and said "Dear Lord Sarah, how old are these?"


I laughed because I knew he was more shocked that I've kept them all this time more than he was shocked by their actual age. If something goes missing in our house it is the basic assumption that I threw it away. I'm a minimalist, a declutterer, a putter away of things, a ruthless tosser of cherished childhood memories and objects. But these pins have been tucked away inside my sewing box since I was a teenager. My paternal grandmother gave me a birthday gift of a sewing box filled with odds and ends I would need. These pins were included. I don't know why, but I just never got rid of them. And today I'm glad that I did not.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Purse Rainbow

The rainbow blocks rear their crazy heads again!


I had created each of these blocks when my scrap pile started to dwindle and I needed to use up the very tiny pieces left. I ended up making one in each color and was going to make either a quilt or a set of placemats from these. Then I laid them all out and saw that the blue block's diagonal stripe went the wrong way. Ugh! I BRIEFLY contemplated tearing out the stitches and fixing it. Then I threw the whole pile back in my overflowing bin and closed the lid (or at least tried to close the lid).


A little while later I saw one of the blocks folded in half and it looked like the perfect purse. Yeah! Problem solved and now back tracking on my sewing. So I got some zippers and interfacing and finally faced my fears of purses and interfacing. I learned a few things and still NEED to learn more. But here they are and if I do say so myself, they look pretty darn cute!

I hope to have these in the Seamingly Sarah shop as soon as I find a minute to photograph them during daylight hours (rare in the winter). Stay tuned...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Christmas Tree Photos

Let's pretend the fuzzy, low light photos are an artistic statement on my part and not my laziness to get the tripod out when we're decorating the tree one late evening.


Our little helper was very eager to "help."
Thankfully my handsome husband has a plethora of patience compared to me.


So far she's only broken two ornaments. And trust me, we put all the "non breakable" ornaments on the bottom and all the fragile ones up top. She still breaks "non breakable" things. This little girl is a whirlwind, not a gentle breeze.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas Time...

Good news
I finished 6 purses, one for each color of the rainbow
(stay tuned for photos after I charge my camera's battery)

Bad news
The belated wedding gift/quilt is not finished (who was I kidding?)

Good news
The christmas tree and sewing machine are peacefully coexisting while I prick myself with pins
(again stay tuned for photos)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Time to Hunker Down

I've got 5 rainbow blocks waiting to become purses, a few more flower hair clips to finish and a belated wedding gift to finish by this weekend. I'll be speeding along so that my sewing area can be packed up in time for the Christmas tree to move in. And then I will spend time reveling in Christmas and all that is winter. Wish me luck...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Aftermath of Thanksgiving

Who else would go visit family for Thanksgiving and come back with more sewing supplies? I love raiding my mother's house. Love you mom.

Multi colored zippers. Love it.


Technically these were given to me by my sister. I'm like the save-a-stray for unwanted fabric.


Many moons ago my mother attempted to clean out her stash of fabric. Thankfully I was there and saved many scraps and yards of fabric from being discarded into the unloved pile. Unfortunately I still have limited storage space at my own house, so a bin of fabric still resides at my mother's house. Ultimately she didn't really accomplish the whole declutter mission, but at each visit I select a few lovelies to come home with me. Who doesn't need more white....and black....and blue....and red stripes....and gray....? I ask you, who?


And buttons. Need I say more? I'm in love.