Rainbow Binding

Last night after the kids were in bed, instead of doing the dishes or the laundry, or working on the multitude of other projects I made this. It's binding for my Color Wheel Quilt, you know, the one that I finished piecing back in oh, January. My goal is to get it basted and quilted this weekend. It really shouldn't take me that long and it'll feel so good to have it done and have one less thing on my "To Do" list. This is just a really simple pieced straight grain binding. I didn't have enough scraps from the quilt to cut on the bias but considering I don't have any curves to go around I think this will work just fine. I was going to go the lazy way and just use a purchased binding but I figured, if I'm taking the time to make an entire quilt from scratch I should take the time to make the binding as well. All of that color in one little place is making me terribly happy today. I love it! It was also just the thing I needed to get motivated. I'm ready to tackle that laundry and the dishes and all of the other sewing on my list. That is after I finish all the work from my full-time job. Ahhh, the art of juggling.

Tiny Signs of Spring

Even though today is cloudy and cold, there are still tiny signs of Spring's approach. In the midwest it seems to come so slowly, teasing us with occasional glorious days of sunshine. In my house however it's in full swing! I've got the heat kicked up, daffodils blooming in a vase and these teeny tiny seedlings have sprouted! I decided this year I'd finally try my hand at growing some edibles. Anyone who knows me will cringe... In the past I've been known to kill a plant or two. I've never successfully kept anything alive. Just the fact that I was able to coax these tiny tomato plants to life from an inert seed has me pretty damn impressed with myself. If they'll actually make it until it's time to move them outside is another matter. But for now I'm babying them, moving their little trays around the house to find the best spots for them to sun themselves and making sure they have plenty to drink, hoping that in July or so they'll reward me with delicious, juicy fruit.

Blog It Forward

I'm following a really beautiful post by Jesse and Beth from Je Voudrais Que, and I have to say that I've been incredibly inspired just by reading all of the posts from the many, many blogs before me. This has been an amazing project so far and I can't wait to see the rest of the blog posts after me. I've had some time to really think about what inspires me and while I'm inspired by more things than I can mention in one post, there are two things that I believe inspire me the most. These two little girls.

They inspire me daily and in so many ways. Because of them I want to be a better person, I want to make a difference. I want to create, to make my mark. Because of them I want to make my footprint smaller, I want to reduce and reuse, not just to be creative, but so that they may inherit an earth that's not so broken. They inspire me to do my best, to work hard and above all to have fun and not take myself so seriously. They are my ultimate inspiration.

Please check out the beautiful blog Just a Dollop tomorrow to find out what inspires her!

Inspired Mondays

Some little pretties for this very sleepy Monday. These tiny little cloud mobiles make me so happy and have me dreaming of spring showers. By The Butter Flying.

Summer Sewing

Over the weekend I took a break from sewing for the shop and was able to do some sewing for my girls. I've got so much fabric that I've hoarded over the past few years I'm going to try to make most of their summer wardrobes, to reduce the size of my stash and to save some money. I'm absolutely tickled with how this little top came out for baby M. It was so simple and the best part, it only took be about an hour from start to finish. I used this pattern from Heidi and Finn and I can't rave enough about it, or all of her patterns for that matter. You don't need a serger because all of your rough edges are encased in the bias edging and it just looks so "finished". I've had this cute japanese linen fat quarter for ages and the 6-12 month size used every bit of it. I lined the top with a vintage gingham. The instructions were so easy to understand and not once did I have to second guess what was going on like a lot of patterns I've used. I highly, highly recommend any of her patterns for adorable kid's clothes. I also made this top over the weekend for the big girl. I'm hoping to get an action shot of that one before I share it. It was a huge success though and it's been worn several times since.

In other news, it's been a bit of a rough week. I been fighting a little bit of a sore throat and it just seems that the universe is out to get me. Today though, I'm optimistic. We opened the windows for a bit to let in some fresh air even though it's still only in the low 50s. The house smells wonderfully earthy and clean and just that small thing has made all of the difference in my mood. The snow is gone and I can just smell spring creeping closer. Today my to-do list doesn't seem so daunting, even with the huge piles of laundry in the living room waiting to be sorted. This weekend will be a productive one. I've lots of consignment sewing to do as well as starting to prepare for my first craft show. The house will get cleaned, the fridge will be stocked with food, the laundry will be put away and I will get out of my pjs at least one day this weekend. It's ok to dream right?

Tiny Flowers

Just a quick post about a little project I worked on over the weekend. I whipped up some of these adorable vintage fabric flowers to decorate customer packages. I used this tutorial and they were so simple and fun. It's a perfect project for working on while watching TV!

Net Outage

I was without internet most of the day today, so I was running around all day dealing with that and a broken cell phone. I didn't have a chance to finish my Inspired Monday post, so I'll just have to save it for next week. I did do lots of fun sewing over the weekend, so I'll be posting some photos in the next few days with my pattern reviews. See you soon!