Saturday, September 24, 2011

September Birthdays

I know far too many people born in September, which lead to a couple of weeks of mad sewing. I'm not sure how it happened, but I swear, the birthdays crept up on me! 

This month I made a Feliz Cumpleanos banner (not picture -- I didn't have time to take a photo before I mailed it off), two Happy Birthday banners, a set of mustaches, and one last gift that has not quite made it out of the door, so I won't spill the secret.

Zissou, also a September birthday, is never camera shy. I kept fighting with him to move so that I could snap a couple of photos, but he wouldn't have it. Instead fighting him, I let him have his way, and I ended up with this adorable photo. 





Here's an up close photo of the Happy Birthday banner. I made two of these, much smaller than my original banners, and with a new font, which I'm liking more than the bolded American Typewriter I normally use. 



The letters are a little more work, but I really like how they turned out. I'm hoping to head out to the fabric store sometime this weekend to pick up some materials for my Christmas banner.


And, as a special gift for my friend and coworker, I made this set of mustaches! The hardest part making these was deciding what kind of mustache I wanted to make. I'm not exactly happy with who they look (there's a little messiness where the douwel was hot glued in), but I started cutting and crafting without a plan. Now I know for the next time. Does anyone want a set of these?



I have one last gift that I made for my sister, who's birthday is next week, but I'll post that after the 29th. 


Happy Birthday, everyone!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day Fun: prepping for new projects

It's fitting that on Labor Day I finally have the time and energy to begin prepping for some new projects. Check out the fabrics I bought this morning!


So with an idea in mind, and remembering the wonderful colors and shapes that I was inspired by on my visit to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and the beautiful beaches, I headed over to my favorite brick and mortar fabric store, Stonemountain and Daughter. The fabrics above are all for a new quilt I'll be working on. Unfortunately, this will be another long project that will take me weeks, if not months to complete. What a bummer, but a great lesson in patience. I'll try and post updates on my progress to keep me motivated; it'll give me a sense of accountability!

I've also begun prepping my materials for Christmas gifts (yes, already)! Did you read that lovely sisters of mine? I'm already getting started on your Christmas gifts! I'll be spending a lot of my evenings working with my hands, needles and thread. I can't express how much I'm looking forward to being creatively active again. And since I don't wan to spoil the Christmas surprise,  I'll refrain from posting images.

And for now, I'm off to finish cooking my mom's famous Mexican rice.