10.27.2013

Sunday Stash




  On a recent trip to Ikea I purchased a pretty little "Isala" cabinet for fabric storage.  My current method is to store my fabrics in plastic bins by color.  This works great but makes it hard to find the exact fabric I am looking for.  I wasn't sure how I would store my stash in the new cabinet until I saw a pic of Angela's stash on instagram.  She uses comic book backer boards to make mini bolts and has a tutorial here





My hope is that this new method of storing fabric will cut down on the amount of time spent picking fabric for projects since most of my stash will be in one space - like a mini fabric store : )
 

 

I'm planning on making some large berry baskets for storing the stacks of fat quarters.
Anna's Fab tutorial for making the baskets can be found here.



This is by far my favorite shelf - I love red and pink together!
 


 
 
Sewing has been happening at the Randell House!  I've been working on "petite cottages" for the handmade ornament swap group on Flickr.  I have designed two more houses and will have them available as a PDF pattern soon.  They make fun ornaments and you can also make sachets for gifts any time of year!
 


 
 
And last, a pic of my boys with their new camouflage caps, part of their costume for Halloween!
 
Happy Sewing!
xo
Charise
 
 
 

10.16.2013

Quilted Winter Purse, Stitch Winter '13


 
 
There is a chill in the air here in the Pacific NW.  I can't believe it is already mid October!  I've started thinking about Christmas sewing and hand made gifts.
Stitch magazine's Winter issue has been out about a week now and I have one more wintery project in the issue. 
This project would be a perfect hand made gift as well as the tea time coasters from this issue!
 


 
Each side has a large pocket that is made from strips of some of my favorite aqua fabrics. 
I have some info about them here.

I used a large vintage mother of pearl button and self fabric loop for the closure.  A self fabric covered button would also work well!

Enjoy your day!
Happy Sewing
xo
Charise

10.07.2013

Strawberry Pouches



[Fabric: Lecien Sweet Broderie by Rosalie Quinlan]

I had a fun sewing day yesterday after being terribly sick for three days.  A girl knows she is really sick when she feels too horrible to sew : )  I missed the last (most likely) couple days of glorious weather in Seattle, but I am thankful to have a wonderful hubs who took care of the kids most of the time I was feeling bad!


[Fabric ~ Border - Sweet Broderie by Rosalie Quinlan for Lecien, Center - Vintage Scrap]

Inspired by the wonderful Strawberry Pincushion Swap hosted by Erin, I made these fun pouches from a pattern I designed for Stitch Gifts 2012.  It is an easy fun project and makes a perfect gift.  Not to freak you out, but Christmas is just under 3 months away!

[Fabrics ~ Border-Lecien "Broderie" by Rosalie Quinlan, Center fabric Atsuko Matsuyama]


 
 
This pouch has the addition of a "Fruits" patch and little flower with embroidery.




I found the zipper pulls at my local bead shop.  I used split jump rings to attach them to the zipper. 



 I also found these cute enamelled apple charms - I think an apple pouch is in my future : )
 
Happy Sewing
xo
Charise

10.02.2013

Party Dress



As of today I am caught up on All of my bee blocks.  This one is for Penny in the Ringo Pie Bee.
Penny requested garments and the like and I had already designed this 1950's party dress!
It is definitely similare to my vintage dresses pattern but a little more complicated.


Vintage Dress from Hemlock Vintage Clothing

It is inspired by this vintage dress I found on pinterest.
Making dresses in miniature is so much fun and I have more in the works.
 
Have a lovely day!
xo
Charise

10.01.2013

Tea Time Coasters - Stitch Winter '13






I love this time of year. The weather is starting to cool, a chill is in the air and I look forward to spending many a day inside sewing! I designed this project for Stitch Winter ' 13 with Fall and Winter in mind. These Tea cup coasters combine my passion for paper piecing and scrappy quilting projects.
Scrappy patchwork projects are so fun and a great way to use favorite scraps!




I combined some of my favorite fabrics from Suzuko koseki - Picture window, Francophile stripe, Marguerite Daisy and Newspaper Text print.  You can find the first two prints at sew me a song. 





 I also used some of my favorite stash fabrics - Moda 1974, Moda Sweet and Whitewash from Lecien.




 


Happy Sewing
xo
Charise