junk drawer

be there...be square

Hey gang-

Kinda took a little leave of absense there...

With two weeks (TWO WEEKS!!!) to go until our wedding, I've been kinda busy over here.

Therefore, I dub this, week o wedding.  Each day this week I'll fill you in on a bit about our day.
Kinda exciting stuff.

First up:

Our invitations. 

If you recall I mentioned a very special fabric project a good while back.

Well- here is the main reason why I spent all those hours at spool.

Take a look:

Our envelopes (from paper source. They have the most dreamy colors!).  Calligraphy was done by our very good friend JZ.

Each guest recieved an invitation wrapped in very special fabric that I bought when visiting my friend Aimee at work. so fun. (thanks for the fabric guidance girlie!)

I designed the invitations myself on illustrator.  It was quite the process and WAY tougher than the sewing bit.  It had been a while since I had used a graphic design program...kinda cool to access that side of my brain again.

Otis and I really wanted to include our nicknames in our invitation.  Afterall,those names are what we call each other (Otis and MB) but we included our formal names on the main invitation.  (erased for posting here)

Our response card.

Our response envelopes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project.  Most people thought I was crazy to sew all these little pockets (over 200!!), but I thought it was really fun concept and a personal way to set the tone for the party.  Best of all, by doing all the labor myself I estimate that I saved $2,000!!

And to be fair, I got the idea for this project from "The Knot" Magazine and the concept is from local Philly gals Bird and Banner. Thanks for the uber creative mojo ladies!!!

Magical fabric wonderland

When Otis and I started talking about what elements of our "celebration" were important to us, on the top of my list were some DIY goodness....(his was a rock and roll band. We both got our way)

I really wanted to incorporate fabric and pattern into something. This special addition was totally WAAAaaaaaay easier to accomplish with the opening of a very awesome fabric shop here in Philly.

Spool Sewing: Welcome to the world! (gah! this place is soooo awesome!)

Best of all (and perhaps most dangerously) it's located right smack dab next to loop, my most favorite yarn shop.

And the big time added bonus is that one of my best girl's, Aimee of betsy ross patterns fame, works there.  Familiar faces make fanatical fabric shopping sprees so much more special!

My super secret fabric projects will be revealed right here very soon.

For now, here is a sneak peak:

happy tuesday!

::insert blog post title here::

Hey there- been a while.

you know when you have so much to say you just don't even know where to begin?  yah.  I could write a post about the nearly twenty million kajillion things that have happened since I last post, like:

-how there are cute wild kittens that keep snuggling up in the trash pile between our stairs and our flower pots. Which in reality is like eeew.  gross.  but at the same time.  awh. cute! (note to self: um, could you clean up outside your house!? narsty!)

-or how I am paranoid that I'm going to get the flu and curl up on my sofa for days on end while trying to aimlessly hack up a lung or sweat to death, all the while trying to rationalize to myself, that really, a situation like that doesn't sound half bad.

-or how that planning a wedding is wonderfully horrific and terrifyingly such a good time all at the SAME MOMENT!

- or how much I love my wednesday night with the girls.

-or how Eric Ripert has been popping up everywhere lately.  wtf?! (btw- Who's his publicist?! they deserve a raise. Lately this man has spread like the flu!)

- or how excited I am about picnik.

-or how I can't seem to stop listening to this song! i keep getting weapy! (seriously, it's almost an epidemic and has been going on since NOVEMBER!)

Instead I'll just write a post about this:

I taught my first knitting class.  It was pretty awesome! In my opinion there's nothing like sitting in a circle with some gals, knitting away while dangerousely sipping on wine.  I was pretty impressed with the group of students.

pretty fast for 2 hours, right?

After after much delay.  Ladies...here are those links I told you about:

How to cast-on
How to knit
How to purl
How to bind off

Happy stitching!! and more fun stuff monday. I promise.  I have big plans for the weekend that involve rotary cutters and being surrounded by yards upon yards of fabric for hours on end.

take a stab at that

The week o projects continues...

For Christmas I made my soon-to-be niece a pin cushion to accompany her brand new hello kitty sewing machine (that thing really does purr like a kitten!)

I loved working with this Amy Butler fabric.

I got the pattern from The Purl Bee- such great tutorials over there.

happy sewing!

paper work

well lookie here-

There are some mighty fine completed projects (if I do say so myself) that have happily made it to their final resting places and I have neglected to post about them!

Each day for the rest of this week I'll be posting a new one.

First up:

Plaid woolen throw pillow:

::wool from the Trading Spaces megastash.

::Ikea pillow form

::yummy dollmakers felt

See you tommorrow-

 

to friends, old and new!

Still relishing in the many fantastic moments from this weekend that I got to spend with two very,very old friends Jessie and Andy from my hometown. Not that their old...but, you know...we've been friends for a while.

we had a great time trolling the haunts in south Philly and just taking in the city. I love weekends like that.

Plus they brought down their pup, Bagel, which was an added bonus.

Speaking of friends...here is a stuffie that I made for my friend Leslie for her birthday.  I think it's going to be her year.

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of their week as much as I am.

It is a new week after all. 

New beginnings are very welcome.

hey! look what I made!

My boss at work was headed to a bigtime, shmancy tv conference with her spankin' new iphone.  Sadly she was keeping it protected in a HUGE microfiber bag. UGH! it was embarassing.

So I whipped her up an iphone case to keep it safe and sound.  This fabric is made of cork. It's soooo cool and made from a sample that I picked up somewhere.

(Isn't it great when you have a boss who has a rock garden in her office?)

Ooooohhhh.  sparklies. distraction.

(PS- Here is my newly set ring! sometimes I just catch myself staring.)

The wedding planning is going along swimmingly. I have relied heavily on many of the GREAT wedding blogs out there.  To top it all off, a copy of DIY Bride landed on my desk the first week of my engagement which just ROCKS.

If you're gettin' hitched...check out some of these cool sites!

DIY Bride

Style me Pretty

Something Old, Something New

Offbeat Bride

Etsy Wedding

A $10,000 wedding

The Weddingbee

The Bride's Guide

pillows and pink

No FO yesterday because my camera battery died.  whoops.  But here was the quick pic that I snapped before it lost all the juice.

On my head is the birthday gift for my sister. Em, it's in the mail to you asap.  enjoy!

I really loved this pattern, which is called Odessa, from magknits.  The pattern is so easy and the effect is really really cool.  The pattern called for little beads, but I decided to nix those.  I knit it up in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I have had sitting in my stash.  I believe I bought it on my business trip to Glasgow, Scotland years back.  You UK gals are lucky, there was a huge yarn section in the local department store!!! thrill!

So today's FO is a pillow I whipped up last weekend for my biggest FO of all, our home office.  I've spent several recent weekends painting and redecorating this puppy.  It's not ready for it's reveal yet, but here is a small little addition to the space.

The fabric is wool that I got at the Philadelphia Sewing Collective fabric swap last spring.  It has served me well.

Bendin' the rules in the name of love

It's certainly been a summer of love.  O and I had two quintessential summer weddings to attend, (leya and dustin's and phoebe and matt's) and we had so much fun at both events-

But pre-celebration there was just one hitch in my giddy-up: I didn't have the perfect party purse.

Thanks to Amy Karol's Bend-the-rules sewing I was able to quickly craft up a perfect clutch.

I utilized some vintage fabric that I have had on hand for a while (two years) and bought a big brown button for the clasp.

Paired with my polka dot dress and some whimsical ribbon that I tied around my waist, I was ready to p-a-r-t-y.

Thanks Bend-Rules-Sewing! (said in cheesy infomercial voice while I give a thumbs up and a wink)

where's my cheetah?

Another great benefit to going home and visiting my family was presenting my mother with a valance that I made using the same animal print fabric that she used to cover her vanity chair seat in their bathroom.

I would dare to say that my mom's not really an animal print kinda girl...but I think this print works in the room and I was pleased to be able to harnass some skills that I picked up back in my TS days in order to make a valance on the cheap.

I'm thinking about creating a tutorial for this project. It's so easy and only took me about 2 hours to make. Anyone interested?

In other crafty news:

I've been thinking about making a quilt for our master bedroom. Perhaps it's due to all the inspiration out there...I don't know, it just seems like something that I would like to tackle.

I am always inspired by the gorgeous quilts that fill my parents house. I believe they were sewn by hand by my great-grandmother. Unreal.

Look at those little squares! can you imagine?!