A {handmade} Pillowcase

I have a great artist friend, Tracey, who is an amazing quilter and seamstress.  She is so fantastic for inspiring me with her sewing skills.  So the other day, she invited me over to sew a pillowcase, and with her help I stitched up the most beautiful pillowcase on the face of the planet {so not exaggerating here!}.

See for yourself:

Am I right?  

Well it helps to start out with fabric you love, and then get a perfectly coordinating strip of yellow that your friend just happens to have in her stash, and then have that amazing friend walk you through the pattern (which, by the way, you can find at All People Quilt as part of their 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge) and give you great pointers along the way (like trim down your seam before completing the last length of stitching on the French Seam, and use a pin to pick out the corners to make them square).

Just look at these beautiful French Seams:

I am always amazed at the process of sewing: the way you stack fabric in a certain order and facing a certain way and then bing-bang-boom it magically transposes into the right thing.  I have learned to not over think it, just follow the steps and wait for the magic to happen.

I can't bear to part with this pillowcase, and I need to make one more for my husband's pillow (he will be thrilled, I know).  Then I will whip up one (or three) to send off to someone who could really use a pretty pillowcase.

Art Journal Week 3

My littlest guy and I took some time to create last week--I in my art journal, and he on a painted birdhouse.

Here's an Instagram of our beautiful mess:

And here's my week three page:

Played around with crayon pastels (the little old Crayola kind), some watercolor paint (again, Crayola), and writing with a fine brush and acrylic.  I like doing that, but need to practice to get a more consistent line.  

Valentine Cards

Whipped up some little Valentine's for a cutie pie to hand out to her friends next month.

So thrilled to be able to work with girlie colors, butterflies and bling!

Thanks, Shannon, for the opportunity to work on these for you and little Reese.

12 on the 12th in twenty12: January

Ella Publishing has issued a little challenge that you might have heard about {but in case you haven't, click here}

I'm all over it (well it's a new year filled with possibilities, right?).  12 photos once a month for 12 months--I can manage that.

Here are today's (taken with Instagram and put into these cute little collages with the PicFrame (formerly Photo Frame) app

 1) it snowed!  the view of our backyard
2) Maddox making a snowman
3) my first vanilla cafe au lait made at home with new milk steamer/frother
4) Logan enjoying an after school snack of hot chocolate made with steamer

5) chili for dinner
6) cafe mocha from Panera during book club
7) sign at Panera: Make Today Better; Take a Risk
8) book club location for this month

9) at a stop light on the way home
10) catching the end of the B's on the couch with Perry
11) a day is not complete without a check on Pinterest
12) time for bed

It was fun documenting the day.
Things I noticed: the tail end of my day is more picture heavy as I realized I was running out of time to take photos--8 of my pics were taken after 6 pm and only 1 was taken between 9 and 3.  Food is a big part of our day: 4 food related pics--3 of them hot beverages--we love our hot drinks!  You really can capture memories with whatever camera you have on you at the moment.

Looking forward to next month.

2012 Art Journal

My dear artist friend gave me a beautiful art journal last year for my birthday.  It has sat on my shelf in wait of the perfect project.  

This is it. 

 This year I hope to create a page a week.  One page, seven days, fifty-two times.  I can do this.

week one:

week two:

For these first two weeks, I was inspired by two quotes that I had found recently.

I'm excited for this project--looking forward to seeing how my art journal evolves over the year and to try out some new-to-me techniques and products.