Happy Heart Day!

Well, I know it's not earth shattering- but it is simple, and sweet, and inexpensive, and above all- fast! And fast is what I needed this rainy day before Valentines Day, so this fit the bill. Grab some cardstock, cut to a size that fits into any envelopes you may have laying around, snip out a few hearts, (I used a light weight canvas and it worked great), and stich those babies into place. Just a quick but heartfelt note jotted across the bottom and VOILA! Valentine card that are cuter (and cheaper)  than storebought but don't take hours away from your loved ones.

Reminiscing About Oktoberfest

I confess that I have have not sewn a thing this week. Between being pregnant, having a slight cold and just the busyness of life, the week quickly passed by.

My computer is my TV, or my TV is my computer, whichever way you look at it when my screen saver goes on it scrolls through all of the pics on my iphoto. I was watching it the other day and a few photos from this past October's Oktoberfest came up and I was able to reminisce about my experience. I decided to go ahead and share some of that with you.

Here is an inside view of out both:

Here is an outside view of our both:

Sorry the pictures aren't that great, but it's what I had. Miranda and I decided, after some encouragement from our spouses and some friends, to try and sell some of our hand made goods at our local La Mesa Oktoberfest. So doing little to no research we sent in our money and committed to a spot for 3 days. The months leading up to it were an emotional roller coaster with thoughts of "what if we sell out on the first day?" to "what if we don't sell anything?" and every thought in between. I don't think either of us has ever sewn, or thought we would ever sew, so much on our lifetime. And for the first time in my short sewing career I started to not enjoy myself very much. Well the weekend came, we worked our little booties off, we learned more about each other than most ever get the opportunity to, and we broke even. Which let's face it, is all you can really ever ask for. I think after we were done we decided that if we were to ever do it again we would do our research and sign up for something that costs us way less and is way less of a time commitment. But in the end it was a huge learning opportunity.

Well, come back next Thursday... I promise to have some sewing to show you and possibly even a completed project.

Holly

Let the Sunshine In!!

Here in sunny San Diego, we've had a week or so of (in my humble opinion), perfect weather.  The sun has been shining, temp floating around 75/80 at the beach, and all sorts of people out and about enjoying the outside.  I got some sewing done, but only because it was a sew-date with my girlfriend and coworker, Catherine.  She and I often bring our latest crafty creations in the office, each offering oh's and ah's, as well as technique tips for how to accomplish something as fantastic as whatever we brought in.

So last week, Catherine showed me the tutorial for a project she wanted to do.  I loved it so much, I told her I'd make it too!  I'm being vague here on purpose, because the not-quite-finished-yet project will be given to Melody for her <belated> birthday gift... once it has been gifted, I'll put up the link from where we found the tutorial, plus some pics.

Back to this past weekend of gloriousness.  Catherine and I had our sew-date sipping Iced Tea and feeling the warm Santa Ana breezes come through her house - most of the windows and doors were open.  The project turned out to be a new challenge that neither of us had tried before: Binding.  Now for all my fellow blog cohorts, quilting/binding is pretty common, but I haven't yet ventured into the world of quilts.

To round out the weekend, my Boyfriend, David, built me a thread board to hang all my thread spools!  I gave him this pic as an idea (Thread Board Tree):

Original Thread Tree Inspiration

Then, when I was off busy at my sew-date, he took the concept and ran with it!  One inspirational sun pendant (and sunny day as well), jigsaw, man-tools of whatever other sort, and a few hours later, and ....


Man who knows how to use tools ~ yay!

... CHECK IT OUT! 

*** The construction of the board and nails is complete.  Now, I'll be painting it a deep burnt orange someday soon to really finish it off.  I love how detailed & personalized it is.  Thanks honey!

Cheers,
Nina

P.S. My tasty refreshing beverage while I type is a glass of chilled water with a few cucumber slices and a splash of lemon juice.  It's late, and I'll be heading to bed soon ~ it's a perfect "mocktail" as my nightcap.