Just Do It

When you're done treat yourself to a free coffee at Starbucks or free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.

Slippers version 2.0

While I loved the look of my first slippers, they were made of two layers of thin cotton and not particularly warm. I had some extra fabric left over so I decided to make a new pair, adding a layer of warm & natural cotton batting to the uppers and another layer to the insoles.



I cut the pieces slightly larger (I just eyeballed it) to accomodate the extra bulk and adjusted the fit as I went along. I kept the quilting lines simple so as not to compete with the bold print.

I'm really pleased with the both the look and the added warmth. I wear them all the time and they seem to holding up to the heavy use. I would definitely make these again.

My Quilt is Famous!

I'm so excited! My quilt was featured on the amazing Sew Mama Sew blog today!

Welcome to everyone stopping in by way of Sew Mama Sew. Take a look around and, if you're so inclined, please leave a comment.

Happy Sewing!

Supermodel

I just had to share these adorable photos of Miss Stella rocking her retro 80s tee! You may remember this shirt from my original post here. It looks so much better on the model.

So young and yet she's already learning how to deal with the paparazzi. Watch out Mom, this one's going to be a handful!

Score!

I stopped in my local thrift store last night and hit the jackpot. I found 4 vintage Vera Neumann scarves for $1.99 each! Actually the first 3 were $1.99 and the 4th was free with my coupon.--SCORE! Clearly I was taught well by my thrifty (cheap) dad and mom whose favorite sport is yard saling.

Here are some pics of my beautiful new scarves:

I'm no expert, but from what I was able to find online about the changes in her signature I would guess these date from the early 60s-mid70s. They probably don't hold much real value as vintage Vera scarves, while collectible, are still fairly easy to find in vintage stores and these do show some signs of age (a few pin holes and some small spots). But for $6 they are definitely one of my favorite finds. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with them. I could wear them as intended or maybe repurpose them into something fabulous like this.

Hmmmm...

Cold Feet

Now that the weather is getting colder, it's time for some new slippers. Instead of buying a new pair, I decided to attempt to make my own. I used this pattern and some fun fabric I had in my stash.

I have to admit I struggled a bit with the pattern. It looked simple but the whole process just took a lot longer than I anticipated. I might have just been having an off day but I felt like I spent more time with the seam ripper than the sewing machine on this project. Also, handsewing the soles was quite time consuming.

Despite the difficulty, they are comfy and I like the funky mismatched look of the fabric I used. They could stand to be a bit warmer, but the wool felt soles take off a bit of chill. When winter sets in I might be inspired to try another pair with some modifications to add some warmth.

Quilt Accomplished

I finally finished my quilt. It took several months and quite a bit of cursing but I'm really pleased with the result. Here are lots of pics:

quilt top

quilt back

close-up

I'm so glad I took June's advice and invested in a walking foot for my machine. It definitely made the quilting process much easier. I'm also grateful to this helpful tutorial on continuous quilt binding. I think it will be a while before I attempt another project of this size, but it feels good to know that I can do it.

action shot

gratuitous adorable cat photo