It's close to eight o'clock.  The kids are up in their beds, reading books waiting for me to come up, tuck and kiss, turn out the lights.  Fatty is out to dinner for work.  I'm sitting here thinking about the dozens of things that need doing tonight because I won't be able to do them tomorrow and they have to get done because Wednesday is a very important day.  I'm not motivated and it's stressing me out.

But I did make chocolate chip cookies with the girls.  And ate some of the dough, of course.  I printed something on fabric with a screen and that was F-U-N.  I was scared to try, but I did and it worked like a charm.  Of course, it's a secret I can't share (don't you hate that?), but I think it is going to be good when I am finished.  I will share it then, I swear.  And the nutcrackers and smokers are out and lined up.  The tree is going to happen on Thursday and I am looking forward to that.  I might actually break out the Christmas music tomorrow, it being December and all.

I'm going to go upstairs, cuddle with my girls and then get my work done for the night.  I am going to forget about my horrible shopping experience and keep my fingers crossed that I will be able to find a suitable cocktail dress without a straight skirt by Friday.  I'm going to add paperwhites to my list and think about gingerbread houses.  I'm going to make myself enjoy tomorrow for what it is.  And then on Wednesday, I'll celebrate. 

I hope those of you celebrating Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday.  Ours was lovely, but more on that in another post.  Business first today.

Thank you for all the thoughtful comments on my last post.  I am amazed at all of you and your generosity.  If you are looking to be inspired in your giving, check out the comments.  They are filled with wonderful examples of how we can help others.  One that stuck with me was making donations in teachers' names instead of giving them a token gift.  I think that is what we will do this year.

The winner of Color Your Cloth by Malka Dubrawsky is: #106, Lesley.

The winner of Quilting for Peace by Katherine Bell is: #95, Emily.

Lesly and Emily, please email me (hillroad at bellsouth dot net) your shipping address and I will get the books out to you.

After lots of thought, I have decided not to offer the notepads for sale in the shop at this time.  I know that it will take me more time than I think (everything does!) and one thing that I am short on at this time of year is free time.  I would rather spend those precious hours doing things with the girls or making gifts for my family.  So for right now, no notepads.

But there will be camera straps!  They will go in the shop on Monday, December 7 at a time to be determined.  I will post the time here on the blog at some point in the next week.  Sound good?

That's all the business.   Hope you have a fantastic weekend.

I received a copy of Quilting for Peace by Katherine Bell a few months ago.  In it, Katherine highlights the stories of people and organizations that are sewing for different causes.  Each project in the book corresponds to a particular initiative and range from full quilts to shopping bags, small pet mats to sleeping bags.

Inspired by the book, the girls and I decided to make one of the projects in the book.  Mirabel the owl is the project for Softies for Mirabel.  Softies for Mirabel is a holiday toy drive that collects handmade, soft toys for the Mirabel Foundation in Melbourne, Australia.  I chose this project because it is simple and I knew the girls would be able to help me make the softies.  Additionally, I knew that my children would be able to relate to the idea of giving to other children who might not have as much as they do.

It was definitely a team effort.  Kate and Jane chose the fabrics and trims that they wanted out of my stash.  I cut out the owls and they traced the other pattern pieces onto fusible interfacing.  I did most of the cutting, ironing and machine sewing.  They embroidered the eyelashes and stuffed the owls.  In a little over an hour, we were finished.  The girls were excited to show the softies to Fatty and spent a long time guessing what kind of child would end up with their creation.  They also asked if we could do it again another day and maybe take those softies to our city's children's hospital.  Of course.  Then they asked if they could make one for themselves.  I had been waiting for that!  Of course.

I am so glad that I carved some time out of this busy week to work on this project with my children.  It's important to me that they realize that even at their young age, they can do something for others.  And I loved that the three of us spent time working together.  Also, it wasn't me that insisted it get finished.  After I proposed the idea of making the owls to them, they were the ones that kept reminding me that we needed to do it, that we should get busy sewing.  Thanks to my girls, I was reminded that no matter how busy I am, no matter what needs to be done, chances are I have an hour or so to do something for someone else. 

Quilting for Peace includes many easy, doable projects and information on theorganizations that could benefit from your crafty talent.  There's a 30-minute shopping bag pattern in the book that you could whip up for gifts.  Or maybe sew a quilted mat to donate to a local animal shelter.  I encourage you to take a look and see if there is something you can make for someone else in need this holiday season or in the new year.

I am giving away one copy of this fantastic book.  If you are interested in winning, leave a comment on this post that includes one thing you have done or will do for someone in need or a particular charity this holiday season.  I will close comments Wednesday, November 25th at 5:00 p.m. EST.  The winner will be announced on Friday or Saturday.  In other business, I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of last week's giveaway and some shop talk.

I made these little notepads for Kate's birthday party favors.  The second graders started learning cursive last week so I thought it would be fun to have a little practice pad.  And stickers.  And a gel pen.  I mean, who doesn't like a gel pen?

Making these got me thinking about who else on my list could use some notepads.  The teachers for sure.  And I already whipped some up for the nephews who can write/scribble and some for Jane's friend that has a birthday today.  They were fun and fast to make.  I am thinking about putting some in the shop next week if there is any interest.  They would be made to order because of the personalization and there would be choices for fonts, color ink and lines/no lines.  Two or three sizes, too.  They'd be available for a limited time so that I could ensure delivery before the holiday.  What do you think?

And speaking of the shop, there will be some camera straps before the holidays.  I haven't set a date yet, but it is looking like the first week of December due to Thanksgiving.  I'll set the date and time next week and post it here.

All right then.  I'm off to cook dinner.  Later.

I started following Malka Dubrawsky's blog, A Stitch In Dye, after I happened upon a photo of this quilt on her flickr stream.  At first glance, I gasped.  The colors are so vivid and the pattern is so interesting - there was nothing about this quilt that I didn't like.  After a moment or two of gazing, a few of those fabrics looked familiar.  Upon closer inspection, I realized that she didn't piece those circles into those squares.  The fabrics were dyed!  A whole world of possibility opened before my eyes.  Dyeing printed fabric?  Wow.

How did she do it?  Well now I know, and so can you.  Malka's new book, Color Your Cloth, A Quilter's Guide to Dyeing and Patterning Fabric arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago.  In the first part of the book, Malka explains in depth the how's and the why's to wax resist and over-dyeing fabric.  In the second part, she shares directions for projects that she has made with fabric she had dyed and patterned herself.  And her fabric is fantastic - crisp, bold colors that really pop and make me want to run out and buy dyes and experiment a little myself.  If only the holidays weren't right around the corner.

 

Lucky enough for me, Malka sent me a stack of her hand dyed and hand patterned fabrics to play around with.  I knew instantly that I wanted to combine the prints with something neutral so they could really sing.  I grabbed some linen, my ruler and rotary cutter and got to work.  More than a hundred triangles later, I started sewing.

I went with a zig zag pattern that I sewed to a rectangle of linen to make placemats.  I used solid linen on the back and cotton batting in my quilt sandwich.  I sewed the three layers together leaving an opening and then flipped it right side out then quilted it.  I love the way the crisp cotton contrasts with the soft linen.  The colors stand out against the neutral ground and the piecing takes a pattern that was already interesting and adds another dimension to it.  And the finished placemats look great on my table.

I highly recommend Malka's book if you are looking for more information on dyeing and patterning fabric or if you just want a good dose of inspiration.  The sewing projects include small items like coasters and totes and larger endeavors like quilts.  Malka has an etsy shop where she sells her fabrics and sewn items.  Her book can be purchased from etsy as well or on Amazon.

Malka has generously offered a copy of her book to one of my readers.  If you'd like a chance of winning, please leave a comment on this post before Friday, November 20th at 12:00 p.m. EST.  I will use the random number generator to pick a winner.  Good luck!

because today is Fatty's birthday.  While I could go on and on, I'll keep it short.  I'm blessed to have him in my life.  He's a great person and good father.  He's funny and smart.  He's loving and patient (oh so patient!) and isn't afraid to tell me when I'm acting up.  And I need that.

 

Happy Birthday Fatty!  Here's to the next forty-four.

Every year, I make the girls a birthday shirt.  It's always appliqued and I now know that it needs to be short sleeved and a size too big so it will fit all year round.  This year I wasn't feeling extremely creative.  Or more to the point, I wasn't sure how I could top the tally mark shirt from last year.  I asked Kate what she wanted and she didn't have a preference.  Fatty came up with a couple of good ideas and I was ready to use one of those when it hit me.

 

Of course.  It's perfect for my girl.

She is full of energy and full of life.  She wears her emotions on her face - you can always tell if she is happy or sad or excited.  There is no hiding it for her.  She is stubborn and determined - if she wants something she won't quit until it's hers.  She is funny and good at making puns.  She is kind and helpful, almost always willing to do what I ask.  She is messy and doesn't like to put her clothes away.  She does like cleaning toilets, though.  This past year she learned to ride her bike and multiply and divide.  She likes the colors pink and purple the best.  She is adept at changing the subject when you aren't talking about what she wants.  She started to play the piano and I often hear her practicing on her own.  She devours books and goes through reams of paper writing stories and illustrating them.  She sings loudly and jumps high.  She has a sweet tooth.  Pasta is her favorite food.  When she grows up, she wants to live in the house next door.  I think that would be nice.

She is Kate and she is eight today.

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.