my book!

Funny how the book is available for purchase but i haven't seen an actual copy yet. in fact we will be doing the indexing this weekend. we are also trying to go to the ALA conference in Anaheim this June for a book signing.

new pup art

mike and i are going to open a doggie day care since we both love dogs and are unhappy in our current jobs. as well as the day care, we want to have a shop of sorts. besides dog food, toys and accessories, i want to sell my dog paintings. i started doing some different breeds and have been playing with my painting style as well. they will still be in bright colors and larger scale since that is what i like to do. if these turn out well, i think i'd like to try to sell prints of the original paintings. these recent pups are from a book called "97 ways to make your dog smile"

i hope that isn't some kind of copyright infringement if i sell the paintings. hmmm i'll look into that. anyway i love how these dogs are all smiling with big happy faces.

so, i'll be posting paintings as i finish them and more on the doggie day care as events unfold.

brand new bag

i loved this bag in Lotta Jansdotter's book, "Simple Sewing." when i cut it out, i was afraid it would be on the smallish side, but no. it is very roomy and could easily have more than one pocket inside. i like the front sideways pocket too, i wasn't sure if i would.

next time i will make the handles a bit longer so i can wear it on my shoulder. the other issue i had is that it's not reinforced in any way so it loses its square shape. i did put cardboard in the bottom to give it some stability. it could definitely have something in the sides since i like square bags to not flare out.

more for vermont

travel placemats from Lotta Jansdotter's book "Simply Sewing."

keeping busy

well i see it's been a month since my last post. this is exactly why i'm getting rid of the other one. so i've been keeping busy trying to get a box of stuff together for Seven Mountains in Vermont. the cup sleeves have been selling well at the coffee shop at work. the problem is that when i run out of them at work, i steal from Stacey's stash to replenish them. after a few weeks, i think i've saturated the market enough that my stock at the coffee shop will last and Stacey can get hers.



i've also been saving my scraps for piecing together. i'm able to use these patchwork pieces for many things like the front of cards and here as coasters.

i got this idea for piecing from Denyse Schmit's book "Quilting" and find it's a great way to use the small scraps. i tend to fall in love with certain fabrics and don't want to waste any of it. my goal with Stacey's stuff is to try to make things that replace something that might have otherwise been a disposable item and to use all of my materials by not throwing anything away.

Denyse Schmidt pt deux

here's another project from denyse schmidt's book. this one was really easy to make since it isn't lined. my only suggestioon would be to use needles made for vinyl since my machine would skip a few stitches.

Last year, i got an itch to make a bunch of purses that unfortunately didn't sell anywhere. i really like the felt purse as it is easy to make; no hemming. The 2 with the circles are inspired by jay mccarroll from project runway and the third with the flower is from a book entitled "Making Handbags"

Denyse Schmidt Quilts

This is a cool book even if you don't quilt. (which I don't) Lots of hip, simple projects to do on the machine with your scraps. These slippers were fun and easy to make espicially since there are few straight lines. The hardest part was sewing the sole on since you are going through lots of layers. I wasn't able to sew a straight seam so I did a crooked seam a few times around the edge. It goes with the crazy uneven seams done on the strap. Great for schlepping around the house.