Gentle Reminder Scrappy Cuffs

I mentioned that I'd been doing a ton of sewing, so here is the other project from this adventure with my sewing machine and ALL it's fabulous stitches!

These are made with two pieces of fabric sandwiched with batting.  Lots of random stitching, button closures, hand stamped saying with more stitches and of course a hand dyed charm and bead!  They are super comfortable and quite a conversation piece.  I made them in 3 sizes as well so to fit all wrist sizes. 

I promise after the Norcross Art Festival, should there be any left, they will appear in my Etsy shop.  For now though, if you are interested in any pictured, please just send me an email.  They are priced at $22 each.

I Really Didn't Like My Sewing Machine Until....

I have ALWAYS loved to sew.  I love to tell the story that as a child I can remember sneaking down to Mom's sewing closet to play on the machine to make things (it was an wonderful mustard yellow colored machine).  Remember when they used to sell pre-printed fabric projects?  You'd cut out the shapes and sew them together?  One year I made all my friends those for Christmas presents.

About 7 years ago I decided to purchase my own machine.  I researched and fretted over this decision I tell ya!  But after much thought I chose this Singer:

It's really cool looking isn't it?  At that time I was all about making clothes for Mailey and my neice Addie.  I seriously made some of the cutest dresses ever....I'll have to find them in the attic soon and show you.  Embellished like, well.....very hard to explain. Think of the dress like my fabric canvas and that's what I added.  But in the past year or so it's been a very naughty machine.  In fact, I was researching new ones.  And then Ashley came over, my quilting friend.  I asked her to peek at it.  First she said to have it serviced.  OK....and then she proceeded to tell me all sorts of things I HAD NO idea my machine could do.  You see all these stitches:

Let's just say that those stitches and I have been rockin' and rollin' the past couple of days!!  See below what I am working on?  Tomorrow I shall share all my sewing projects with you.

Field Trip Friday...Intown Quilters

As a child, I LOVED field trips days.  I can still remember visiting the Barber's Ice Cream factory in elementary school.   At the end of the tour they gave us each a fudgesicle. It was the best fudge pop ever!  To this day the thought of heading out to knew places still holds an elementary school excitement in my heart.  So I've decided to start sharing these adventure with you!  I'm calling the blog series "Field Trip Friday".  Now, they may not be appearing every week, I do work ya know, but when they do happen, this is when and where they will be shared! 

Now a really good field trip is always accompanied by a friend.  And this week it was with my sewing genuis girlfriend Ashley.   Together we visited a quilting shop in Atlanta called Intown Quilters.  Let me prepare you for what you are about to see.....color schemes to die for, patterns, patterns and patterns.  Holy tamoly, it was heavenly!  It's in a cute little house.....so imagine room after room filled with patterns....patterns...did I mention PATTERNS?  I did one run through of the whole store.  Then I started pulling.  It was funny, at one point Ashley said to me, "sorry if I seem kind of out of it....I get that way in here."  I was too.  Seriously, I couldn't even focus on one pattern before my eye got caught by another.  I was speechless, which is so not like me! 

This was a bin of fat quarters at the check out area.  There were bins like this everywhere.  Like those little candy dishes your grandmother keeps out all over the house with candy in them for you to just grab one or two as you walk by.

Why do I need all this fabric you ask?  Well my friends, the new bird pattern I am making requires a patterned body and felt on the bottom (which is opposite of my old pattern).  And since in Newnan we have only Hobby Lobby for fabric buying, driving an hour north to this little fabric heaven was well worth the drive.

This is me in the Amy Butler corner.  And if you really know me, and my house, and my obsession with her and her fabric, I was a little AMY high in this corner.  Yep, could have crawled up into the shelves and stayed for a spell. 

There were samples of projects everywhere and more sewing patterns than you could shake a stick at.  And doll clothes patterns and little girl clothes patterns, and book, and trims, and ribbons, and zippers, and Yep.  I really was really really dizzy when I left.  Although I left without spending a fortune somehow....I was very discerning with my bird fabric picking.  I have in my head how I want them to look, so it was easy to say yes and no to the fabrics.  But for my house, I picked way too many for the number of rooms I have!

Lastly I choose a jellyroll of fabric.  I always wanted to know what those were for, they are so stinking cute.  But seriously, what can you possibly sew with a 2" wide long strip of fabric?  Um.....see those flowers above.  I know, I know....I love them too!!  I see flower pins for your sweaters, purses, scarves, etc.  I'm making them now as you read this I bet.  :)  I cut bird bodies out at baseball practice last night and plan to start stitching those tonight.  Busy fingers here in the Horne house this holiday weekend!  Hope you have a creative one as well!

PS......Give away announced later tonight.  So check tomorrow for the results!

Happy Mail Day!

Oh what fun to receive happy mail. And this is happy mail. I set several goals for myself once I became a full-time artist, and one was to take the time to submit articles to Somerset publications. It's really an easy process....and boy is it worth the time when you see it in real print. My girls got a 3 PAGE spread! Yipee skipee. Aren't they so sweet? I love to write, so the intro is always a fun part of the process of submitting, not just the technical stuff of making. I want to thank Amanda, the editor of Sew Somerset, for including me in this amazing publication. It's chopped full of great ideas. So pick up your copy today!

"Mommy can we make.....?"

So yes, I am one of those Moms. When my children want to make cookies, we make cookies. When they want to swing, we swing. When they want to make art, we make art. Of course I do say no as well on occasion. But honestly, these requests are what build their childhood memories. Memories that I treasure as well. So yesterday Mailey asked if we could make a bunny. Hummmm....The first attempt was without a pattern using vintage chenille. Major disaster and frustration. She was like, "Mommy we can just try again tomorrow." And I was hoping she'd forget. Fat chance. So today, after we had a filling re-filled in her little toothy we hit Wal-mart and picked friendly fabric, a bunny pattern and very important buttons. Of course I had to adapt the pattern. It calls for use of one fabric and simply four cut pieces (easy peasy if I'd followed the pattern). We wanted different fabrics for the ears, arms, legs and body. So I manuvered this request pretty well.

My little blue bird monitored the progress. Mailey decided she needed a "break" and took off to snap every odd corner of the house with my camera. Seriously, I may have to share the unique angle at which she photographed our home at some point.

Here's the end result after 3 hours that seemed to fly by. I had to say no to a game of horse with William only about 100 times. I am sure that will be tomorrow's activity. Anyhoo, super cute bunny I think, and Mailey is in love. His name is "Snuggie".

Close-up of the funny details. Since she's not at risk for swallowing we added button eyes, nose, whiskers and a funny tail. I know you are asking yourself, will Jenni be making more of these to sell? That answer is simply and most definately, "no." But thanks for asking. Have a creative night!