color story #8

My sweet mom offered to make a quilt for Baby M before she was born. Since I've made a few quilts myself, I realize how much time they take and so I knew what a special gift this would be.

My mom and I headed up to Purl Soho's warehouse to pick out some fabric together. When I moved from New York three years ago I was especially sad to leave the Purl stores on Sullivan Street, but lucky for me, their warehouse happens to be here in Southern California. (And did you know that the warehouse is open to the public? You can stop by from 9 AM to 2:30 PM, Tuesday through Friday.)

We went with shades of red on a white ground (more of a natural white, almost cream) and tried to stay with simple, geometric patterns: stripes, dots, and grids.

color story #8

My little sister has outfitted my nephew's nursery with a vintage circus theme. (Circus? I know what you're thinking.. it could be crazy. But think vintage strong men billboards with beautiful type, not scary clowns and dancing elephants.)

I can't say I've ever used this combination of red/yellow/blue in any of my previous sewing, but the more I look at it, the more I am starting to love it. And some of these patterns might need to appear in Bee's summer wardrobe. I better get sewing!

a quilt for my sweet boy

Remember this color palette? Finally, the quilt is actually done. And my boy couldn't be happier. This is the first quilt I've actually finished since I took Joelle's patchwork quilting class almost three years ago.. it sat for over a year all pieced and ready to be quilted, and then once quilted, sat for a few months patiently waiting to be bound. And of course, now that it's done, I have a million ideas for the next one.

For those of you who are new, this quilt was made from a pile of old dress shirts my husband was throwing away. I love the idea of my son sleeping under a quilt made from his father's shirts.. I tried to incorporate as many little details as I could, a pocket here, a placket there.

I sewed most of this quilt while visiting my mom. When I lived back East, I would try to fly home each summer for a few weeks to visit my parents in California. This quilt came with me on a few of those trips. My mom has a beautiful Pfaff that sews like a dream, and switching back to my machine sometimes felt like switching from a Mercedes to a Pinto. (For my birthday last year, I finally got a Pfaff of my own.. not quite as nice as my mom's but it's so lovely to sew on..)

I made a little sketch of my quilt in Illustrator before I cut up the fabrics, so I could see it a few different ways. I decided to just keep the design very simple, in hopes that it would have a classic feel and that my son might keep it on his bed for some time.

For the backing, I wanted something with a very subtle pattern. I found a Japanese grid fabric at Purlsoho that was perfect. (thanks for your help Jen!)

When it came time for the binding, I didn't know what to do. I had originally bought a solid blue fabric, but it seemed so plain. In the end I decided to sew together some of the extra squares I had leftover from the shirts and piece the binding. I'm so glad I did. I think it makes the back look almost as pretty as the front.

I did a very simple "stitch in the ditch" quilting. For some reason, I'm just scared to death to throw it in the washing machine, so it has yet to be washed. I think the squares will have a little more poof once they've been washed and dried.

I wanted to leave a message to C somewhere so I finished it off with a little cross stitch... "to C, love MOM". Using a grid for the backing certainly came in handy.

After finishing my quilt I started researching other quilts made from men's dress shirts... turns out it's not such a new idea. I came across so many beautiful examples, I will be sharing them with you over the next few days. They make my simple little quilt look quite elementary... but my son loves it, and that makes me so very happy.

color story #7

There's nothing I like more than finishing a longtime work in progress. This color story comes from a quilt I have been working on for my son C who is 4 1/2 years old and the sweetest boy you've ever met. (I know I'm biased because I am his mother, but man, he is a sweet one.)

A few years ago my husband cleaned out his closet and ended up with a stack of old dress shirts. Nice shirts that had gotten old and worn out, and he was ready to toss them in the trash. Instead I threw the pile into my fabric stash, and a little later decided a very simple quilt would be the perfect way to use them.

I don't think I will ever throw out another one of JR's shirts. Men's shirting fabric has such a lovely feel and I love the small grids and tiny ginghams and all the shades of blue. I love the idea of a quilt made out of a father's shirts for his son. And I've tried to perserve little bits of the shirts in the quilt, a few pieces of pockets and plackets here and there. It's a very simple little quilt, and I'm a little embarrassed it has taken me so long... why do I always stall when it comes to the binding?

My sweet boy has been waiting so patiently.

baby #4

My dear friend Emily is having a baby, her fourth, so we got to have a little shower to celebrate. I find it really hard to take photos during a party (there's so much running around right before and the light is never very good) but I managed a few shots.

I wanted to hang some hearts over the table but once I cut/punched all 50 or so, the thought of punching holes and tying them all to string seemed a bit ridiculous. Saved again by my sewing machine... much faster.

I put together a little quiz (thanks to Emily's mother) about Emily when she was younger. The best question was about her getting sent to the principal's office in second grade for throwing spitballs at the ceiling in the girl's bathroom. Heart toothpicks for some of the food (two hearts stuck together with a bit of double stick tape).

It's nice to not have to deal with cups and ice at parties, so I'm a fan of water bottles. And they always look cuter with new labels. Emily's favorite drink is IZZE (her favorite is actually the raspberry flavor, but she likes the pomegranate too and well, it matched the color palette better). I'm not above choosing drinks solely on their color.

Light blue and white sugar cookies, with a few red ones thrown in. These heart cookie cutters are from an old kit from Martha by Mail, I wish I had bought one of everything they sold while they were still in business. So well designed and so well made.

Emily's sister was kind enough to pick up some Sprinkles cupcakes, and the red and blue candies on top were perfect. Although my cupcake love is reserved for Magnolia Bakery, these are pretty good too.

My sweet sister in law ran all over town trying to find some red heart candies. I used my new favorite trick for the tags, punching out the heart shape and putting fabric behind it. I think we'll be trying something similar for Valentines day... stay tuned.

color story #5

I have always been a fan of light and bright teals paired with red. The teals can even be more on the bluer side, like the bottom right swatch, but you have to stay clear of bright blues or it starts to feel a little Fourth of July. I love this pairing so much I once did an entire identity in it for photographer Lisa Hubbard. (she's wonderful, by the way)

 

More to come on what I've been using this stack for...

jen + ray

Remember this color story? It's still one of my favorites.

Now that the Winter 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings is out, I can finally share what this color story was for... the wedding of my friend Jen Hoverson (Jen and her sister Joelle own Purlsoho). Jen's colors were orange and spring green, with a mix of prints and patterns thrown in.

The stationery was designed using green and orange dots with the couple's initials. Everything was letterpressed by Bryce Knudsen over at Bjorn Press (A fantastic letterpress studio if you are ever in the need for one..) The dotted paper was printed on a thin Japanese rice paper and used to wrap the invitations. The RSVP card had guests circle Y for Yes or N for No. We made the J and R coasters for the cocktail hour.

Menus were letterpressed and tucked into fabric napkins. Jen wanted to incorporate fabrics into her wedding (no surprise as the owner of a fabric store) and made napkins for each guest, with the help of her friends and family. Each table featured a different print in the orange and green spectrum. Each place setting also included a glass magnet with the guest's first initial. After the wedding, Jen took the napkins and made an amazing quilt from her sister Joelle's book "Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts".

For the escort cards, we included a swatch of the fabric for that table. The Martha Stewart Weddings website has more information on how to make these cards, and a template you can download. I love these cards since they are a great way to use up leftover fabric scraps — I've already made them into Christmas tags. I have a few other ideas coming later this week!

See more photos of the beautiful couple here taken by the lovely Meg Smith. I was lucky enough to get to art direct the photo shoot of this wedding as well, and though it was a bit crazy running a shoot while an actual wedding was going on, working with Meg made it all the more enjoyable... she's lovely, as are her photographs.

color story #4

Christmas was a big deal when I was working at MSLO. December was the most popular issue of the year, and we would fret over each and every last detail. A new color palette was chosen each time, and the traditional Christmas colors were given a bit of a tweak. Not your standard berry red and holly green... some years pink would sneak in, some years blue, some times a bit of silver.

I have high hopes of making a few things for my little family this year, so I've been playing around with my own color story. Bright spring greens, orange reds, and even a bit of pink. I will be so pleased if I can finish the stockings, as it's the first year we've actually had a mantle to hang them on.

I purchased all the fabrics you see here from the lovely selection at purlsoho.com. 

i want candy

There is way too much candy around here this week. When I was little, my brothers and sisters and I used to come home from our marathon of trick or treating, dump out our pillowcases and organize our candy stash. One row for peanut butter cups, one row for now and laters, etc. And then we'd trade like crazy for our favorites.

My dad hated the idea of all that candy in the house, so the day after halloween he would buy our candy from us. We'd weigh it on the bathroom scale and get paid $1 a pound, or something like that. So this year, we bought the candy off Bee and C. They got to pick 10 of their favorites, and we got the rest. They're happy and we are too. 

color story #2

I'm not so into pink, never have been. So when I had my little girl Bee, I found myself wading through a sea of pink.. clothing, bedding, toys, everything seemed to be pink, pink, pink! And not a nice sweet pink either, but that bright bubble gum type of pink. The shade of pink Miss Piggy would love. 

Now that Bee is almost 3, I'm starting to like pink..  a little. In small doses, and paired with other colors I love. Like a nice bright springy green. Now that is a color combination I can get on board with. Even if I have to make the clothes myself!