Sunshine Day & Viewfinders

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post about crocheting granny squares and wanting to learn how to make the Sunshine Day Afghan with my mom. So I bought the pattern, a crochet hook and some pretty yarn. The yarn I’m using is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It’s incredibly soft and I love the soft muted colours. Here is a photo of our (my mom’s) very first square:

Sooooo pretty. I have absolutely no confidence that I can make one myself. I thought of hiding the yarn in my mom’s suitcase so she can take it back to Vancouver and crochet it for me.

My mom was able to interpret the pattern (with absolutely no help from me), and she drew up a diagram for me to follow. I really should have taken a video of her making one. Exciting stuff.

I’m pretty sure my yarn will stay in the same bag until I see my mom again. She left this morning and I can’t say I’ve retained a single thing she taught me. I’m not a very focused student! During this visit, we took turns teaching each other–my mom got a new iPad, so I taught her how to set it up and use it. She’s a much better student than I am–she’s already addicted and ignores us while watching Korean dramas.

During one of Boo’s naps, I made an iPad cover for my mom. I gave her my old iPad Smart Cover (I had to switch to the Smart Case because Froo & Boo are not so gentle), but it doesn’t quite protect the iPad when toted around.

The case is pretty much one rectangular piece, folded, with edges sewn and snap buttons. It’s padded with 2 layers of fusible fleece. The fabric is by Melody Miller, Ruby Star Rising Viewfinders in Pink. I’ve been saving it for awhile now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it.

The iPad case is lined with a fat quarter from Jo-Ann and the snap buttons are hand stitched.

Froo picked the decorative buttons to put on the outside, directly over the snap buttons on the inside. They are the same heart buttons that I put on her fall cardigan I made for KCWC fall 2012.

My mom left for Vancouver this morning. As she was packing, she put a pen inside the case and felt that it was too bumpy and worried that it would scratch her iPad. So I took the iPad case and ran to the sewing machine to add a small elastic ribbon loop. I got the idea from the notebook I was using for the crochet pattern (in the photo with the crochet hook slotted into the pen holder).


It’s amazing how you discover that you are drawn to certain colours when the lovely things surrounding you match without realizing it.

My dad & little brother are still here, until this evening (remember I told you about miscommunications?)–I should go and see what they’d like to do! I’m sure my dad is bored–he is already addicted to Go (baduk in Korean) on the iPad, which is no longer here since my mom left this morning.

My Birthday

You know when you’re a mommy when your daughter says she wants to make you a birthday cake, so you pretty much end up making your own birthday cake. Except I don’t have any round cake pans so I made birthday coconut cupcakes. My cake batter is based on this recipe (with half the sugar and reduced oven time, about 25 minutes) and the cream cheese frosting is adapted from this recipe (halved, without coconut flakes and coconut extract substitutes the almond extract).





The frosting isn’t pretty–the ziplock bag that it was in burst, but it doesn’t really matter because it was dangerously good. De-de-de-de-licious!

I had a great birthday today! My parents & little brother are here celebrating with me, Froo gave me a card that she made at school and Boo was able to say, “Happy Birthday, Mommy!” Since we’ve been super busy, the hubs said I could buy my own gift. I don’t know about you, but I found that really romantic. The stars were aligned because this purse that I pinned over a year ago, reappeared on the Kate Spade Surprise Sale that ended today. I was able to get it at a 60% discount! Woot woot.

But here is the gift that I’m really excited about:

Thanks umma & appa! I can’t wait to start using it. I’ve already killed my magic bullet and the bella blender I’m using now is dying a slow and loud death. The secret to yummy smoothies: frozen grapes–nature’s sugar and thickener.

My parents are leaving this weekend. I’m not ready for them to leave. I like having them around and Froo & Boo love playing with their uncle Sammy. I’m also in the process of learning how to crochet from my mom. A post is in the works for the project we’ve been working on.

Today I turned 35. Last year, I celebrated my birthday with my family at Tropika, my favourite Malaysian restaurant in Vancouver. We were just getting ready to move to the San Francisco bay area at the time. So much has happened and I’m happy with how everything worked out. I’m looking forward to baking more of my birthday cakes in the future!

Happy Mother’s Day, Umma!

Through a series of comedic and untimely miscommunications, my parents & little brother arrived the day after my sister and her family left. They’ve also managed to squeeze themselves in before my in-laws are scheduled to arrive at the end of the month. We have a full house!

Despite my initial bewilderment as to how this happened, believe me, I’m still confused–I’m really happy that my mom is here for Mother’s Day. I’ve always appreciated everything she’s done and the mom that she was and continues to be for my sister, brother and me. She is also a loving and caring halmoni (grandma in Korean) to Froo & Boo.


If I had time to make my mom a gift, I would have. Growing up, my mom was always busy at the sewing machine, or knitting, or crocheting some project that was intended for a member of the family. She would have had an interesting blog. The last time I was at my parents’ house, I scanned a couple of photos of her work.

Starting with this dress:

I will forever associate a dusty rose shade of pink with my mom. This is my all-time favourite photo of the two of us.

This next outfit was one that my mom made when she was a newlywed. I remember using the EXACT same pattern for my Grade 10 sewing project. I used a floral print crushed velour and lengthened it to a knee-length dress. There are no photos of me wearing it–thank goodness. I still feel awkward looking at photos of myself during my high school years.

This photo was taken when my sister and I were little toddlers. We were living in Calgary at the time and visited Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver. I think that’s when my parents decided to move to Vancouver. I remember that aqua shirt–it was lightweight and had a raised pattern of stripes and dots woven into it. I was shocked when my mom told me she made it because I was convinced it was store-bought.

My mom made my sister and me a lot of dresses. She made us Halloween costumes, too. I remember one year, my sister and I were both Raggedy Ann dolls and she knit us yarn wigs for our hair. It’s a shame we don’t have a photo. My mom made my sister’s and my matching dresses. I brought the pattern home with me, so you might be seeing a new dress on Froo in the future.

This last photo is one of my bridesmaids and me on my wedding day. My mom made all of the dresses in a gorgeous midnight blue smooth satin. The draped halter dresses have a plunging back. Super sexy. I borrowed my sister’s dress afterwards for a Christmas dinner party once and received many compliments.

In a way, I think I like blogging because I want to continue the legacy of my mom’s efforts to make handmade goodies for her family. Without photos of the beautiful garments she made, I need to rely on my memory, which is turning into mush these days.

In about 5 minutes, I am going to show my mom this post. She doesn’t read my blog. For all the mommies, I wish you a very happy Mother’s Day! For all the non-mommies, we are all connected as women–whether we care for pets, plants or the people in our lives–we nurture life. Let’s continue to encourage one another, because life is hard and best lived when we love freely. I’m off to give Froo & Boo a big squishy hug! xoxo

My niece & nephew are here!

I’m so excited to show you a photo of my niece wearing the roses & chambray dress I made for her during KCW:

This baby girl LOVES me. She is so full of smiles and watches my every move. Probably since I am always staring at her! I can’t stop giving her animated winks and sly smiles to get a reaction out of her. She is the sweetest baby. I’m soooo happy that she is here with us.

My babies were never as big as my niece. She has really grown since I last saw here at Christmas! She’s 7 months old, wearing a 2T dress. Love it. Love the rolls–check them out:

I couldn’t let my adorable nephew go unoutfitted by me, so I quickly made him a pair of shorts as well. This time I used Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry. I’m always drawn to the colour aqua and the white herringbone print has an uneven hand-drawn quality to it.

The placement on the back pockets turned out much better on this pair.

A detailed look at the orange stitching:

So what happens when your mischievous boy puts random spools of thread in your shopping cart at Jo-Ann without your knowledge? Especially colours you wouldn’t choose yourself? (Ie. Orange. My favourite fruit, my least-favourite colour.) I’m not sure about you, but I ended up going back to buy matching piping and called it an example of serendipity. I was going to use white, which would have blended into the white herringbone print. The orange just pops.

I am definitely going to make a pair for Boo. Since our little boys are in fact, little boys, a pair of shorts takes up less than a 1/2 yard of fabric. Awesome value.

We spent a relaxing morning at the park today. I brought my camera with me because I wanted to catch a shot of my nephew wearing his new shorts. He is a fast little booger. I love him to bits.

I managed to catch him by surprise a couple of times:


The park is always more fun with amazing company.



I am going to miss my niece and nephew when they head back to Vancouver! Froo & Boo have been very busy with them. Froo has been especially protective over my niece and will order the boys around. The boys will play–running around and jumping over the baby, until their heads are drenched in sweat. Ew.

My sister & me. My best friend growing up. Now our kids are growing up–in different cities and countries, but it’s my hope that they never grow apart. Sniffles…

KCW: A dress for my niece

I managed to squeeze in one more KCW project–a little dress for my niece, who will be visiting next week! My sister and her family were supposed to come last summer, but she was preggos and her doctor put her on bed rest, then she went back to work (with a newborn and a toddler!) and finally, school’s out and she’s able to visit! My sister has her PhD in medical genetics and teaches at the university we both graduated from. One smart cookie. You can’t tell so much from this photo:

I’m not sure what to make of my stunned squirrel expression, except that I think Boo looks a lot like me.

My sister was probably put on bed rest because my niece was really big. She’s still really big-off the charts big. At 6 months old, she is almost as heavy as her 2 1/2 year old big brother. I asked my sister to email me her measurements, but I didn’t get a reply, so I made her dress in size 2T–just to be safe.

The pattern: Kate’s Dress by Lily Bird Studio
The fabric: Chambray (main) & Tea Cakes in Tea Rose Vanilla purchased at Fabric.com (facing, lining and back buttons)


The dress is pretty simple, which is great since it highlights the fabric. I’m really loving the fabric combination. The chambray is super soft and has a bit of an airy quality to it. I had some brown piping left over from Froo’s chiffon geranium dress, which pairs nicely with the rose print. The brown buttons are really lovely. They are shiny, sparkly, and a little off-kilter.

I used the rose print again to make fabric-covered buttons on the back. Sometimes it’s the small, subtle details that make me happy.

One thing I did to secure the lining to the dress was to stitch in the ditch at the arms by lining up the seam lines. You can hardly tell, but it’ll keep the dress together, especially after a washing.

So that wraps up KCW for me! Two dresses, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Now I can relax with my sister! I’ve missed her terribly. Our personalities are so different, but now that we’re both married, with 2 kids, we are finding out that we have a lot more in common and our reactions to situations are very similar. I think there might be a genetic component. I’ll have to ask her when she gets here!

KCW: Snails & Tails…

I used to tell my little brother the following nursery rhyme:

Girls are made of sugar and spice,
and everything nice.

Boys are made of snails and tails,
and everything… gross.

In hindsight, I guess that wasn’t very nice, considering my little brother is 11 years younger than me. But now that I am a mother to a son, I think there is some truth to my version of the nursery rhyme. I have a new poem about my little boy:

Boo is constantly messy,
his head is always sweaty.
He puts his fingers in everything… gross.

For Boo’s KCW spring edition project, I decided to make him some shorts. I have to change his dirty clothes several times throughout the day and shorts are in short supply. It’s not unusual to find Boo crawling around underneath Chinese restaurant tables, running barefoot outdoors–while chewing on his shoes, rubber stamping his face, and licking mirrors. He’s THAT boy.

As I was looking through Boo’s dresser, I realized most of his shorts have too many pockets, snaps, zippers, belt loops, buttons, drawstrings and extra design elements that don’t serve much purpose for a 2 year old. I wanted to keep his shorts simple and easy to wear, without forgoing style.

The pattern: Ben & Mia pants by Lily Bird Studio
The fabric: Tiny Elephants by Daiwabo, purchased at Hawthorne Threads
The t-shirt: upcycled Threadless.com t-shirt, “Take Me to Tokyo“, designed by Juju’s Delivery

The shorts were pretty straightforward and easy to make. I love the elephant print and the fabric is incredibly soft. I was a little worried because the pattern didn’t come with grainline placement arrows, so I had to guess at how to cut the fabric, but the elephants are lined-up pretty straight.

Before Froo was born, I was obsessed with Threadless.com t-shirts. I still have a bunch in my dresser, but I’m waiting for the day my squishy midsection magically flattens out before wearing them again. The above t-shirt had a tiny hole near the bottom hem, so I thought it would be the perfect one for Boo–every boy needs a cute pink t-shirt.

I used the Flashback Skinny Tee pattern in size 3 to cut out the PERFECT fit for Boo. Here are the steps that I took:

1. I traced 2 back pieces of the pattern onto Pellon Tru-Grid Pattern-Tracing Material and put them side by side onto my t-shirt (one on the flip side). I did this so I could see where the graphic print would end up and also, to cut through both the front and back of the t-shirt at the same time.
2. I cut one of my back pattern pieces to make it the front, then I folded the front t-shirt in half, to cut the neckline.
3. I followed this tutorial to make short sleeves and used the existing hem.

After cutting out all of my fabric, I used a seam ripper to reuse the neck ribbing and serged it altogether. Then I used a double-needle to hem the bottom. It was super fast!

Here’s my Mr. Snails & Tails:

Let’s try again, without blurry elephants.


I have to fix the back pockets. I’m pretty sure I messed up the pattern placement–they are waaaay off. It looks like his butt cheeks are falling down.

But those calves! I bite them all the time. There is nothing sweeter than a little boy who lets his mommy bite his chunky calves.

KCW: My First Geranium Dress!

Over the past couple of weeks leading up to KCW, I have spent too much time agonizing over what to make for Froo & Boo. I feel that a garment that I make them should be extra-special, since it’s handmade and all. But underlying that, it’s because I have found the secret to affordable and cute kids clothing: the GAP Kids clearance rack, when there is an additional 40% off. No contest. Well, almost. I am still sewing for the kids, right?

Here is the 3-point summary of my thought process for my first KCW project of the year:

1. Replace Froo’s outgrown chiffon wedding dress
2. Use the embroidered chiffon I bought on sale last Christmas at Fabricana ($5/metre–Score! Although, I think the fabric was intended for sheer curtains…)
3. Find the perfect dress pattern to go with it, aka the Made by Rae Geranium Dress

When Froo was 1 1/2 years old, our friends visiting from Japan gave her a really cute chiffon dress. She grew to love that dress and called it her “wedding dress” and said she would wear it when she married me. She wore it for years, with it gradually turning into a tight shirt. (It has plenty of elasticized shirring.) I thought I would have oodles of photos of her wearing it, but the last one I have is from her 3rd birthday:

Sadly, it no longer fits. This is one dress that I’m not handing down to friends because I want her to have it when she is older. Also, as a reminder that she once loved me so much, she wanted to marry me!

Before getting into all the construction details of the dress, let me first start by showing you the most beautiful dress I have ever made:

And seriously, this girl cannot be anymore beautiful than she already is. Froo had her reservations about replacing her old wedding dress with a new one, so it took a lot of convincing to even get her to try it on. This was her first shot:

Her fourth shot. This photoshoot was going nowhere really fast.

I brought in my photo assistant, Tiny Little Pig, but she wasn’t much help.



So now the details, starting with the fabric. Chiffon is sheer and lightweight. It’s totally shifty when you are trying to cut it so the best way to do it is to lay it flat on a cutting mat and use a rotary cutter to cut around your pattern pieces. I traced my pattern onto Pellon Tru-Grid Pattern-Tracing Material, which is sheer and clingy, which helps keep the fabric stable. Also, when cutting the front bodice, I traced both sides of the piece to create one piece, to avoid cutting the fabric on the fold. I did this with the front of the skirt as well. Do not use a ruler when cutting, it somehow stretches the chiffon askew.

For the lining I used a lightweight cotton muslin, which matched the dress perfectly. I also backed each bodice piece with muslin, basting it with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Here’s what I did differently to create a full lining for the skirt. I cut all of the skirt pieces in muslin and sewed as per the instructions. I did the same for the chiffon, except for the step of sewing down the seam edges on the back of the skirt. Instead, I serged the edges individually and pressed them open, on low heat. I did this because I didn’t want to bulk up the seams and affect the way the skirt draped.

Then I top stitched the openings of the skirt and lining together and basted the top edge together. After that, I sewed my gathering stitches and treated it as one piece.

For the side seams on both the lining and chiffon, I used 1/4″ French seams to hide the edges. Chiffon frays like crazy, but I didn’t want to add bulk by serging the edges, so I pinked (is that a verb??) the edges before enclosing them in the French seam.

The sleeves, oh the sleeves! The prettiest part of the dress. To make the sleeves, I just cut off the sleeves on View B, taped them together, added seam allowance and used the embroidered edge as bottom edge of the sleeves. I also sewed a gathering stitch to ease the sleeve in place.

For the piping, Rae has an excellent tutorial on how to add trim to the skirt. I couldn’t figure out how to machine finish the bodice lining with the piping in the way, so I hand-stitched it in place. It took a long time, but it was well worth the effort.

Now for the sad and somewhat ironic part of this wedding dress replacement project… the bodice is too tight. What makes it doubly ironic is the fact that I used muslin as my lining, when I really should have made a muslin first! I just assumed that size 5T would fit and didn’t bother to measure Froo. I made her the Flashback Skinny Tee in size 5T, which is was big on her. She must have grown again. When did that happen?? So I had to opt out of making buttons and used hook & eye closures instead. Which is a shame because I had the perfect buttons for the dress.

Here is a side-by-side photo of the old and new wedding dresses:

Here are a couple of outtakes from our photo shoot this morning:

The KCW flickr group is full of really creative and beautiful handmade creations–oodles of pretty Geranium dresses abound. I LOVE the eyelet one by Cherie of you & mie that was featured on the KCW blog. I guess that’s what it’s all about–to see kids romping around happily in clothing made especially for them, because they are unique in every way. What a fun and meaningful way to celebrate our children!

Spring Cleaning: Boo’s Toys

A couple of months ago, I blogged that my spatial reasoning skills were unimpressive at best. I have since come to believe that spatial reasoning is not a box to check, it’s more of a multi-dimensional skill varying over a spectrum of manifestations. For instance, I can stack a dishwasher like nobody’s business. Or squeeze out multiple projects from one cut of fabric.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to build amazing LEGOs with Froo & Boo, but it turns out to be one of our favourite toys to play with altogether as a family.

Until one of us steps on a brick and throws Froo into a wild frenzy of tears or me holding back a slew of potty-mouth words (picture Hugh Grant late for a wedding–”Oh, eff! Eff! Effity eff!” ). The hubs gets thrown off-balance, which is not good when you’re built like a tree. Boo, however, is completely unaffected and continues to run around, laughing like crazy. His feet are thick like a Hobbit’s.

Anyhoo, I wanted to make a new container for all of our LEGO Duplo bricks. Something easy to tote around, yet big enough to stash all of the pieces. After making a couple of small round-bottom fabric buckets using this awesome FITF tutorial, I thought the large version would be perfect for the LEGOs.

I had 1 yard each of the coordinating elephant prints on home decor weight canvas. I changed the measurements of the pattern to make 2 buckets as large as possible, with minimal waste. I ended up with a 13″ diameter circle and 2 rectangles: one 18×40″ and one 20×40″. Even after squaring up my fabric, I had a 38″ yard (yay fabric.com!), so one bucket is 2″ taller. I could have made them both 19″ tall, but that would involve elephants with severed heads. The swatches on the wall are what’s left over. Score another point for me on the spatial reasoning spectrum!

Even though the canvas is relatively heavy, I backed the outside fabric with a medium-weight fusible interfacing to give it more structure. Given the larger size, I could have used a heavier interfacing or fused interfacing to the lining as well. The buckets are a little squishy when empty. The elephants on the lining fabric are upside-down, so when folded over, they are right-side up.

The current LEGO box is falling apart because Boo decided it’s more fun to sit in it.

After enlarging the buckets, I made one modification: a pair of handles for easy carrying.

I can foresee some potato sack races in our near future:


One thing I haven’t quite figured out is how we are going to keep the LEGOs inside the bucket. Or how I am going to motivate the kids to clean up after themselves. I guess I haven’t really solved my original problem of LEGOs on the floor.

I have one more spring cleaning project lined up, but this time, for Froo’s toys. Before I start on that project, I am gearing up for KCW (Kids Clothes Week) that begins on April 22! I still have patterns to print, notions to buy, fabric to pick out and pre-wash, but I am excited to sew some clothing for Froo & Boo. I haven’t made them anything to wear since December. I think Froo & Boo’s spring outfits will be more appropriate for summer–the weather has been incredible! (As I write this wearing a strapless maxi dress…)

My Boo is 2!

My baby is not a baby anymore. Not compared to the above photos when we could dress Boo up in cute little toques and have a photographer snap away while he enjoyed his dreamy sleep. These days I have a hard time taking photos of him that are NOT blurry. This is what the usual photo of Boo looks like:

What a happy, happy day it is to be 2 years old! (Especially when mommy bribes you with Easter chocolate to take a couple of photos with your new birthday quilt.)

For Boo’s birthday, I decided to make him a quilt. I started exactly one week before Boo’s birthday and worried that I wouldn’t finish on time. But I managed to get it done on Sunday, with a couple of days to spare! I even had time to make Boo a matching pillow case.

Here is a photo of the finished quilt top:

I really wanted to make the wonky stars pop, so I used light colours to create contrast with the navy blue background. I also placed the wonky stars on a checkerboard pattern so I wouldn’t have to make so many stars! I think it works–since the background is a bit busy, there is enough going on with the quilt that the stars create just enough interest to make them stand out.

Here is a close-up of one of the stars:

This time around, I pin basted the quilt top, batting and backing together. After trying both spray adhesive and pins, I have to say, I prefer pins. With the spray, it’s hard to smooth out all of the layers when you are constantly peeling back the fabric to spray it, causing lots of little bubbles in the fabric. With pins, after smoothing it all out, it’s just a matter of pinning it altogether.

After creating my quilt sandwich, I decided to quilt the layers together using straight line stitches 1/4″ from each seam, similar to the quilting that I did for Froo’s quilt. I also quilted around each of the wonky stars.

For the stitching, I used a variegated blue cotton thread from Sulky. It is very subtle, but shows up nicely on the backside of the quilt:

It’s wrinkly and soft after a trip through the washing machine:

I really love the fabric. As I mentioned in my last post, most of the fabric is from Michele Brummer Everett’s collections: Seven Seas & Monsterz. The fabric is really soft and the sleeping monsters and celestial animals are just too darn tootin’ cute. I ended up substituting one of the prints for the stars, so the green stars are the only non-organic ones in the quilt. I used a soy/organic cotton blend batting that is also very soft. For the binding, I just pieced together leftover fabric from the stars and bound it by machine.

The finished quilt! It measures roughly 36″ x 50″.

I had just enough fabric to make a small pillowcase for Boo’s pillow. I guess not quite enough, but I pieced together some fabric to make the pillowcase long enough to create an envelope casing at the opening.

Here’s a look at the quilt and pillow on Boo’s crib:

We are planning to keep Boo in his crib for as long as possible. We moved Froo to a “big girl” bed at 22 months and had the worst time keeping her from escaping at night. We first moved her to a bed because she kept climbing out of her crib and once got stuck hanging onto the bars, on the verge of falling upside down. Boo hasn’t tried to climb over yet, which is surprising since he exhibits no fear at the playground.

The little cloud pillow is the birthday gift I made for Boo last year. It’s what inspired my Sunshine & Grey Skies Cloud pillow in my shop. The massive bunny is a gift the hubs got me while we were dating. For some reason, Boo has really taken a liking to it. We think it’s because he was born in the year of the rabbit.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Boo’s birthday today! Boo’s best friend’s family came over for dinner and gave him the coolest remote control Thomas the Train. His other present was a 2-seater bicycle trailer. This past weekend, we took Froo & Boo out in the trailer hitched to the hubs’ bike and me, riding my new bike–it was the perfect afternoon, even with a bit of rain. Reminded me of home. It’s celebrations like this that gives me a bit of heartache for our friends & family in Vancouver. We miss you dearly. But know that your love reaches us here and the kids are growing in love, with full & happy hearts. xoxo.

Cheers to the start of Q2

I didn’t sew much in March. I had sewn up an order for my Etsy shop, but that’s pretty much it. Instead, I spent the end of the first quarter of the year with a sinus-muddled head and a persistent cough that has been keeping me awake at night and driving me mad.

So I gave up on sewing for a bit and started watching Downton Abbey–in bed, with the new tv that the hubs put in our bedroom. I stayed in bed until I watched all 3 seasons, which are happily available On Demand. I’m quite surprised by my new-found addiction to the show programme, since I don’t usually watch tv. Books are my thing. Except Downton Abbey is like a Jane Austen novel, only oh-so-much better because of the setting, clothing and characters–who create both chemistry and tension by the subtle nuance of facial expressions and excellent dialogue. Then this quote had me thinking that I should get back to sewing:

“You have a talent that none of the rest of us have. Just find out what it is and use it. It’s doing nothing that’s the enemy.”
— Sybil Crawley, Downton Abbey (Season 2, Episode 2)

You win, Sybil. (The part about doing nothing). Yesterday I started cutting fabric for Boo’s birthday quilt. The photo above is a collection of Kate Spain’s Central Park fabric that I was going to use to make Boo a quilt. I love every single print in the line. But even though there are blues, greens & purples, I couldn’t get over how feminine it is–too many florals, I guess. One of the first things I sewed for Boo were fabric boxes made with the animal print. It’s what got me hooked on quilting fabric, really, so the entire collection makes me a bit sentimental. I made the baby boots with this pattern.

The bigger box fits diapers and wipes.

So I bought another stack of fabric, mostly from Michele Brummer Everett’s collections: Seven Seas & Monsterz. The other prints are random fat quarters that I bought from Sew Fresh Fabrics. All of the fabric is 100% organic cotton.

Today, I sewed up my first wonky star block! This tutorial is excellent–the photos make it easy to follow. Instead of using 4.5″ squares, I used 3″ squares to fit my quilt design. The finished block measures 8″x8″. It took a bit of effort to figure out where to put the points, in order for all of the critters to be right-side-up. Only 17 more to go!

I am hoping to have this quilt finished in time for Boo’s birthday next week, but I think that’s a bit ambitious. I’m hoping to post a finished quilt soon–I need something to focus on so I don’t feel the effects of Downton Abbey withdrawal.