Granny Bag

Here is a Granny Bag from the book Carry Me that I made for my friend's birthday. I used Cloud 9's Proteas fabric on the outside, with Kaffe Fasset's bittersweet shot cotton for the lining. It was a great bag to make, it looks fancy but isn't very complicated.

It so happens that we are having a class on this on June 24th, there are still a couple of spaces left if you are interested!

Empire Evening Dress

I finally finished my Anna Maria Horner Evening Empire dress. Although the pattern was easy enough to put together, sometimes you just meet a project that you have to fight your way through, and this was one of those. I was tempted to put it in the "future finish" pile, but instead I made myself sit down and hem! I'm glad I did, I think it will be cute for summer and it always feels good to knock one more project off the list.

I used Anna Maria green pastry stripe with a light blue solid as the lining.

New Nani Iro

We received a couple of bolts of Nani Iro today, both lovely florals. The fuwari print is a dark navy and white floral. One think I especially like about it, which is hard to see in the pics, is a very light sketch of a flower they have in the background. I love that it looks like someone actually went through and sketched on the fabric.
Our other print has a red/brown, almost dark brick color background. This one has a much larger floral design, which will be great for dresses and skirts. Both of these are the classic light Nani Iro gauze, which we love so much. They have arrived at the perfect time, since it will soon be hot, hot, hot and we'll need some gauzy outfits to float around in.

Summer School Sewing Special!

Summer School Sewing Special!
It's that time again, school is out and summer vacation begins. If only we all got to stay home for three months, doing nothing but lounging by a pool and eating ice cream. However, if memory serves me, doing nothing did get a
little
boring after a while.

That is why we are going to have Summer School sewing specials all summer! For the month of June we are offering 10% off private lessons on Beginner Tote and Beginner pillows. Students between the ages of 9-18 can gather up a few friends and get some summer crafty time in.

Give us a call (816.756.0855) and we will get those kids off the couch and into summer sewing.

241 Tote

Look at this great bag our friend Sarah made? She used Cloud 9's Free as a Bird fabric for the outside and Proteas for the inside. The brown fabric is a chocolate linen. Didn't she do a great job? I love the style of the bag which is Noodlehead's 241 Tote pattern.

Actually, Sarah sent these pics in at a perfect time, since I was in the process of trying to pick out some fabric for a bag for a friend of mine. I was leaning towards Cloud 9 and this really sealed it for me. Thanks Sarah!

By the way, rumour has it that Cloud 9 has sold out of Free as a Bird, so you better get it while you can...

Glitter-rama

I couldn't pass up this Martha Stewart glitter set at Jo-Ann's the other day. 25% off! I don't even want to open it because it is so pretty. I just want to hang it on the wall and gaze at the glitter...

New fabric and new decor!

The new Martha Negley floral we just got in is a showstopper! I'm in love with the huge pink flowers, and am dreaming of a summer dress with it. There is a lovely little Liberty Art Print paisley in as well which I think has a 60's/gypsy vibe to it.
You can see them both on our featured fabrics wall! Yes, most of the construction/rearrangement in the store is done. Finally. Now I've got space for new fabric and samples, a ton more of fabric and a gorgeous wall of yarn. It's more fun to see in person, so stop in!

New Shoes!

I had a banner day last Saturday. My mom, her friend and I went to a art fair and had a nice lunch. Jonathan and I went to see a local production of Tommy at the Metropolitan Theater and...I got new shoes! I love new shoes, especially when they look like this..

Aren't they great? They are the perfect summer shoe for me, and came at the time when I realize that although I have a lot of shoes, most of them aren't meant for the summer. I rarely find good summer shoes form me because I'm not a fan of open toed shoes (By the way, your welcome. No one wants to see these toes) But these snappy little apple numbers are perfect. But I'll need more than one pair to get me through the summer so what to do? Here are some contenders.

I could always do the pink version. After all, they are adorable..and what's wrong with having two polka dotted pair?
Of course, the love of my shoe life Irregular Choice has some great options as well. This first pair with Asian inspired fabric and the lucite heel are gorgeous. But maybe too much shoe for the summer? A lot of red though, I don't have a lot of red in my summer wardrobe.


This is a great pair as well. I love the "straw" heel and the fabric body. Red again, but with enough gray/black that I could put them with anything. Now this shoe is just fun. I would be delighted to look down at my feet everytime I wore this shoe. I'm guessing I would do a lot of lounging with my feet up on my desk just so I could look at them. And they have so many colors that they would go with everything. My heart is sold, but my head is telling me to think about it before I go for it. There are just too many choices!
By the way, my polka dot shoes are Poetic License, which are available on the Irregular Choice website. If you are in KC though, run down to Bob Jones Shoes, that's where I found mine..

House Projects

I had high hopes to finish a couple of sewing projects last week, but we had a slew of guests coming to stay the weekend so we had to focus power on home projects.

Aside from the requisite cleaning one of my goals was to get pictures on the walls. I finally put my Liberty Union Jack in a frame and hung it, as well as the awesome Ghostbusters poster my sister got me for my birthday in September.

J did some awesome poster work in his room, I'll put pics up of that later...

I stole these frames from my mom's garage, E and I couldn't believe that the green frame was the exact color of my walls. Perfect!
The bigger goal of the weekend was to do something with the gross drop ceiling in the back room. It was dirty and ripped and who wants to see a drop ceiling anyway?

So we covered all the tiles in IKEA fabric. We had quite the system down where J would chisel out the tiles and sweep off the crud on the back. Then they came to me and I cut the fabric to size, ironed it, glued it on with spray adhesive, and pinned it for extra support. Then they were back to J for installation. It went much faster than I expected.
And got some pics in the wall. Now instead of walking into a depressing room, it's much cheerier! We also did a little gardening, planted some pots and hung flower baskets on the porch (With the help of my expert flower guy, Dad!) Which cheered everything up nicely. I'll get pics of that another day, it's too rainy for it to look it's best.

Raphael Saadiq

J & I have been listening to the new Raphael Saadiq album, Stone Rollin, endlessly. It's so good! It's very Motown/Sly Stone/ Awesome. Here are the videos they've released so far..

Raphael Saadiq - Music - More Music Videos

Raphael Saadiq - Music - More Music Videos

Alexander Girard Bikes

My VW is giving me fits. I just got off the phone with my car person who said I have to have a new coil pack and something. It sounded expensive, and it turns out it is. Boo. Maybe I should nix the car and ride a bike? Midwest Cyclery has had an Alexander Girard bike in their window that catches my eye every time I drive by.

MC has the red bike at the bottom, which I love. I think though, given a choice I would get the green with the sun. It just seems so happy. Which one would you choose?

**Tidbit! When e was little she had the coolest Pink Panther bike. It was (not surprisingly) pink with the pink panther's face on the seat. Tragedy struck when she left it outside in our yard and someone stole it. Who steals a child's pink panther bike?? Anyway after that we weren't much for riding bikes..

New fabric!

Today's UPS box looks like outside...Summery!!

This boxed dozen fabric from Martha Negley is absolutely delicious with the Kaffe Aqua and Sprout shot cottons. I'm totally taken by it, I think it would be glorious as wall paper! You know..on a sun porch with wicker and ferns? With a lovely water view. And someone bringing you lemonade and cucumber sandwiches? Oh! Sorry, I seem to have gotten lost in my vision..anyway, isn't it pretty?

Amy Butler Fashion Fabrics

I know we don't order a lot of Amy Butler (not from dislike, more from the fact that everyone already has her prints) however we might be getting a lot more from her now that she is offering her Soul Blossoms line in fashion fabrics like rayon and corduroy. (Corduroy!) Check out the video she made to promote her new line...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDg4kQZ83f8

Julia Rothman Cloud 9

I'm definitely digging the new Julia Rothman line for Cloud 9. Too bad we will have to wait for July to get it. It has a 60's flowery kind of Liberty vibe, don't you think? That is always a winner for me. What do think?

Museum of Arts & Design Bowie

I so wish I was going to New York this summer to see this David Bowie exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design. With “David Bowie, Artist,” MAD sets out to “expand past his notoriety as a musician” to showcase “the too-often-overlooked diversity and multifaceted nature of Bowie’s total artistic output,”. Yes please! I would love to see that. Also, I have a challenge for e. I think it's high time that she knitted a one shoulder David Bowie jumpsuit, shiny bits and all. Oh, and of course with the giant bangle bracelets. Ready? Annnd go!


See more about the exhibit here.