One Yard Wonder Deadline Extended!

I was very excited to read this morning the deadline has been extended til April 11th, 2010 for One Yard Wonder's latest book. I do occasionally still sew, and I'm totally interested! I hope to submit this round, but we'll see if I can get my lazy butt into gear! Hehe.

I'm especially excited because I'm toying with the thought of using one yard of my own fabric design - yeay!

From the authors -

Our focus continues to be on unique, fantastic, and original one yard projects. While we are showcasing fabric choices and options, the book itself is really all about 101 great, diverse, and unique projects, which we know you have up your sleeve! Please keep in mind that your project should use nearly the full yard of fabric (no quarter yard projects please, unless they are part of a group project which takes up a full yard).

You are certainly welcome to submit more than one project.

On the Road to Spring - Week 4 - postponed!

This was the most intimidating part for me, as I'm kind of obsessive about keeping the lines all straight and together. I kept telling myself that I'd have to accept some mistakes, as they can't all be perfect; but I still procrastinated this step for days! Consequently, I have to take a week and postpone this one's update! I hope you'll all stay tuned with me, ans I try and work through my fears and finish my quilt!

On the Road to Spring Quiltalong - Week 3

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (From the Burns' Poem, To a Mouse)

Alright, so I really shouldn't be complaining, because I did get a fairly quick start on this project, and it's my very first real quilt (although I'm done a small amount of piecing and patchwork before.) But, I am reluctant to admit that I've only made a bit of progress since last week - putting together the remaining 6 strips to total 20 finished quilt strips.

I'm a tiny bit nervous about the next step - piecing the strips together to form the top... as the squares might not all line up quite right (and if you read my blog, you'll know how anal I am about that sort of thing!) I hope to get at least half of the strips together by next week, and if I'm really going for it, maybe the entire top! (That's reaching, I know, hehe.)

On the Road to Spring Quiltalong - Week 2

I wish I had more progress to show off this week (and pics!,) but I've only managed to finish piecing a few more strips (I only have 14 of 20 completed. Bummer!)

Next, I'm onto sewing them all up together to form the top; but, I'm starting to wonder just how long that will take me! Haha! It is a fun project, working with my own fabric though! Just not a quickie project, although what decent sized blanket (handmade, people!) wouldn't take some time and effort to complete.

On the Road to Spring Quiltalong - Week 1

Wow, what a week! I broke half my craft table last Monday night, unfortunately before I'd cut the corduroy squares (but thankfully after I'd managed to get the yardage ironed!) So yeah, it wasn't looking like the easiest week ever, piecing all the strips together on one half my regular work space...

So, I only managed to get 7 strips pieced together so far, but here they are!

It's a little tricky keeping the nap of the corduroy going only in one direction, but the print is a little easier to manage, I'm trying to keep the pattern intact. So, instead of just turning the strips around when I piece them together, I'm assembling them differently. 

Half get the regular treatment of rectangle then square (5 times for each strip,) and the other half start of with a square patch, and then I add the rectangle. I tried to be clever in my construction because I'm so obsessive about details on the back end of finished items (that is to say later, when I'm using them/looking at them!)

Big thanks go to DH, who fixed my craft table for me last night! Yeay!  Here's links to my first post about my quilt, and the inspiration - Randi's Quiltalong.

Only a Few Days Left to buy Cocoa Stripe print!

Cocoa Stripe print
Originally uploaded by fortune_32

I know a lot of you are probably still in tryptophan-induced comas, but there are only a few days left to buy my custom designed fabric via Spoonflower's Etsy store! Thanks so much to Kim and Stephen for giving us designers this opportunity!

Go buy some and make something with it! I'd love you forever if you do! Hahaha! Such a shameless tactic, begging! Pretty please, though! (With a cherry on top!)

Cocoa Stripe - winner!

Cocoa Stripe - winner!
Originally uploaded by salutor

I'm so happy to report that my fabric design won Spoonflower's first ever Fabric of the Week Contest. That means you'll be able to buy it in their Etsy shop for ONE WEEK ONLY - and that's it.

After that, if I sell it myself, it'll be pricier - to cover overhead cost increases (not a lot, but I can't charge the same as them.) I'm thinking of doing a hand-drawn selvedge on it, though... how fun would that be??? That's my only misgiving about Spoonflower, is that there's no selvedge, unless you add it into your design. huh. Maybe some more people will now?

How does -
Smokey Stripes Collection - Cocoa Stripe Copyright 08 Kari Kail Printed by Spoonflower.com - sound? I can't do the color bubbles, like a normal selvedge, but I thought it might be worth a try anyway, i have fun handwriting.

Vote for mine - cocoa stripe - please?!?!?

Fabric-of-the-week contest: week 1
Originally uploaded by salutor

I was so surprised to read this morning that my Cocoa stripe fabric made it into the top 3 for the first week of Spoonflower's exclusive sale contest!

It really made me feel awesome, so a great big thanks to June, for spotting it for me, and Stephen and Kim for featuring it. Now it's up to you folks! There's 3 choices, and while I might be a little biased, I think they're all great designs!

If you'd like to be able to purchase my Cocoa Stripe fabric - exclusively through Spoonflower's Etsy shop, for one week only! - please vote for it by clicking the link above and scrolling down to the "If you haven't voted yet, you can do that here" part. (Or, you could be lazy and just click the underlined here. Hehe.)

Sorry for all the italics and bold, guys - I'm just super jazzed and excited about this opportunity! (Plus, I love contests!)

Feature Friday - EmilyMe

I first saw this fabric over at True Up (a great fabric & sewing blog!) I knew I wanted it, but I wanted to decide what to make with it before I bought any - so I knew just how much to purchase! That's always tricky when you fall in love with a fabric. For whatever it's worth, I like a quantity of 3 yds. It's enough to make a knee length skirt (even with some pre-shrinking with cotton,) and plenty of Home dec items, and I guess that's what I enjoy sewing the most.

Rachel was very good about communicating with me, even though we're a half a world away - literally! She's 12 hours ahead of me, so I thought her communication was better than most, considering her time zone! She quickly gave me a private listing for my 3 yds, but I had to wait while it was in transit to me! It was a hard wait, because I really love this print! Check out the selvedge - it's in Thai, and I think it's so beautiful.

It actually came a bit quicker than I expected, for as far as it was coming from! That's always a good thing, though. I haven't made all of my design decisions about my skirt yet, so I think I'll sew a muslin first; this fabric is just too limited to play around with, design wise. There's only 20 yds of it anywhere, and less than 5yds available through EmilyMe on Etsy. I don't want to cut something wrong, and then hate myself for it! Hahaha!

I also received a package of buttons with my order, and aren't they pretty? I know I'll have to save them for something really special, they're chunky, shiny and awesome! I love getting freebies with my Etsy orders, and I really liked sending them out, back when I was selling. Do you guys like getting a little something extra when you buy handmade? Is it an expectation, or a hope?

If you missed the link above, here's her shop!

Decor8 Mood Board Contest Entry!

I was totally inspired by the latest Decor8 challenge - the Amy Butler Mood Board! Picking one of Amy's newest fabrics to design a room around - what a dream challenge! Admittedly my style is a bit more modern than hers, but I think the bright colors she's used pop wonderfully off interesting textures in neutrals (or pseudo-neutrals,) in both fabrics and wood. I hope you like my entry, and I really hope I do well, the prizes are awesome! Hehe. The items I've chosen do range from the very affordable to the very pricey, but I like the mix of serious and playful. I hope you do, too!

The title of my room is Lime Martini living room with a twist. The twist is the office, because who doesn't have real living to do in their living room?!?!?!? Bills, a laptop, sticky notes and pens - real living is so much messier than design magazines would lead us to believe! I didn't use actual paint chips, they vary so much from market to market, so I just went for color blocks instead. Also, the drapes are like my dream drapes... silver velvet casual pleat drapes with a wide band of turquoise silk dupioni at the bottom. I haven't been able to find them anywhere, much less the fabric to make them, but am still planning on sewing them up myself someday...

Here's my list of resources -

• Petrie Sofa Espresso - Crate & Barrel 1,459$
• Liege Desk Wenge - DWR 2,600$
• Elements Reversible Bookcase Epsresso (x2) - Crate & Barrel 179$ each
• Sakura Area Rug Light Blue/Gold - Home Decorators 69$-1,499$
• Parsons Storage Coffee Table White - West Elm 249$
  
• Eames Aluminum Side Chair Powder Blue - DWR 1,529.10$
• Windowpane Chair Green - CB2 79.95$
• Nelson Saucer Pendant Lamp - DWR 300$
• Ponzio Table Lamp - Crate & Barrel 149$
  
• Bauhaus Arc Lamp Olivine - CB2 199$
  
• Tessuto Throw Blanket Olivine - CB2 39.95$
• Cardigan Pillow Ivory - Crate & Barrel 24.95$
• Gallery Tray White - Crate & Barrel 19.95$

It was so much fun pulling together these items, and dreaming up the paint colors & drapes! I may have to do more design work soon, but it's so much harder when it's in your own house! Hahaha! I hope I do well, this is the first contest I've been interested in for a while!!!

There were a few accessories that didn't make it into the final room, I may post them if anyone is interested. (Cheaper, more room "fluff" than furniture.) Thanks for looking!

My first fabric design - ever!

Wowsers! That was FAST! My first Spoonflower swatch arrived today! They warned it might take a while, so I wasn't expecting it so soon! I whipped it up the very first night I got the invite. (Actually, I worked up two designs... but couldn't get the repeats right on my other one.) It's a crappy picture, but I just have to share how cool this is!!!

Concept and reality - right next to each other!

I had to adjust the lighting on the fabric (right,) it wasn't reading quite right next to the laptop screen. It's also un-ironed here, I just couldn't wait to share it!!! I think it's so satisfying to design something, and have it show up at my door a week later. I can't put into words how good it felt, so great big THANKS! go out to the folks who run Spoonflower. You guys are awesome, and I can't wait to see what's coming next!

Hooray for ME!

I was so excited when Bakerella asked if she could include my Martha Stewart themed cake pops! Little did I know, just how many other people were having so much fun with them! All sorts of cupcake pops, from all over the country... seriously, if you love sweets like I do you should click over and watch her video composite (immediately!) I'm at 1:57 into it. Thanks for including me, Bakerella!

Another awesome surprise recently was my invite to Spoonflower finally came! AND - I already have my first fabric swatch on it's way! They have a video on their blog, too... and I was sooo stoked to see my fabric in it! Check it out! I designed this pattern! (I cut the repeats, too - so if it's not tiling properly I'll only have one person to blame! Me!!!)