Spring Purse

I found my holy grail! ...And then turned it into a purse!

Turns out that amazing fabric I saw but couldn't find at the Sewing Expo was from a Kokka line called Echino... the design is called Birdsong. It's a railroaded print, which means that the design runs the width of the fabric:

I treated this amazing fabric like four different fabrics. The birds became the centerpiece of each side of the bag, framed by the dark green variegated leaves on either side. The aqua birds rose above it all at the top of the bag, and the lime green leaves provided the straps. I was able to make the bag with a yard of fabric, and some very careful, fussy cutting.

For the lining, I used another Echino fabric, called Tiger on the Flower. I like the little tiger hidden inside my purse - he looks up at me every time I dig for my keys.

The bag pattern is Sherbet, a Melly & Me design. Because the fabric I used was so stiff, and I was using it both inside and outside the bag, I skipped the fusible interfacing. I also haven't installed a magnetic closure yet, although I plan to.

Oh how I love it when a dream is fulfilled!!

A Day Amongst the Daffodils

Today I went to the Tulip Festival! I wore my daffodil headband, and I made my mom this little daffodil pin to wear. Needless to say, we were very well dressed for the occasion.

A few of the beautiful bouquets I brought home.

Pretty much anywhere I go in my house right now there's a little tulip or daffodil bouquet. I love this time of year!

Sunny Daffodil Headband Fascinator

It's Spring Break, which means one very important thing to me: it's Tulip Festival time! Despite my decidedly brown thumb, I love going to the Tulip Festival every year and coming home with buckets full of cut and potted daffodils and tulips. The potted ones don't last long, but they're pretty while they do!

Anyway, tomorrow is the big day, and I just happened to have seen this fabulous tutorial on A Hoot and a Holler* for felt daffodils. I turned mine into a headband fascinator. Here's how you can make your own!



First, use the tutorial to make three daffodils. Mine are about 2.5" wide. I used three different color-combos, representing my favorite Washington varieties!

Next, use a store-bought headband for a base. I had one that had a strip of black velvet on the underside to create a no-slip zone. I peeled this off before I started and set it aside:



Working a few inches at a time, hot-glue a strip of green fabric to your headband. You want to center the fabric strip on the top side.

I used a strip of fabric that was a little more than twice the width of the headband, and about 2 inches longer.



Fold each fabric end up and glue to the underside of the headband:



Fold the fabric under on both edges. Work one side at a time, a few inches at a time. Don't go overboard on the hot glue, or you'll get unsightly lumps. Try to keep everything smooth like Shaft.



Once everything is glued down nice and smooth, glue the velvet strip you set aside earlier back onto the underside of the headband. It'll cover up the seams and make this a no-slip headband:



Last, hot glue the three daffodils into position. I had to keep checking the position in the mirror to get them just right.



Hooray! Daffodils I can't kill!

*By the way, I have a couple of shout-outs for A Hoot and A Holler. First, can I just say that the owl on your blog banner is killing me?? It's so cute I want to get it tattooed on my hand so I can look at it all day. Second, I always admire a fellow blurry-photo blogger. Even your blurry pics are infinitely prettier than mine, but nonetheless I like seeing the blur boldly posted! I think we should start a blurry photo movement... they're artsy! Yeah, that's the ticket...

Yum Yum Spring Sprout Cake

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!). She's about the most passionate gardener I know, so I just knew I wanted to throw her a spring/garden party. The centerpiece were these potted chocolate cakes. Yes, those are cakes! If you want to make your own, here's the how-to:

Here's what you'll need:

-Boxed chocolate cake mix (or you could be fancy and make from scratch)

-Chocolate frosting

-Chocolate dirt (I got mine from a cake supply store), or crushed oreos

-Chocolate rocks (again, cake supply store)

-Mint sprigs

-4 new terra-cotta pots, washed thoroughly

-aluminum foil

Start by making your cake batter:

To prepare the pots, first line each one carefully with aluminum foil. You want to press the foil all the way down into the pot, and make sure it comes all the way up the sides. This is kind of tricky, because the foil wants to rip. I discovered it worked best to make a sort of foil torpedo, then shove that down into the pot and smooth up the sides.

You don't want any foil showing, so now tear off the extra foil that hangs out the top:

Fill the pots about 2/3 of the way full with chocolate cake batter. You won't use all the batter, so I guess I could have made 5 cakes.

Put the pots onto a cookie sheet and bake according to your box directions (or recipe, whatever). Keep an eye on the time though - mine took about 35 minutes, but I kept checking because I wasn't sure what the terra cotta pots would do to the bake time.

While I waited, I decorated the table all spring-like:

When the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool thoroughly.

To decorate, first frost with the chocolate frosting, then sprinkle with your chocolate/Oreo "dirt." Adorn with chocolate rocks, and stick a healthy-looking mint sprig in the top.

Dig in! The best part is, there's a built-in party favor here: your guests get to take home terra cotta pots ready for spring planting when they finish their cake! By the way, the portions are kind of huge, so you could also plan to share each sprout cake.

This recipe compliments a glass of champagne nicely. Happy Spring!

Springtime Table Runner

I got kind of obsessed with vintage-looking fabrics at the sewing expo on Sunday - most of the fabric I bought was definitely vintage-inspired! This table runner was made from a set of coordinating fabrics, but it caught my eye because of the look of the fabrics.

It was incredibly quick to make.

You just need 4 fabrics:

3/4 yard of your main/backing fabric

fat quarter of the outer border fabric

fat eighth of the inner border fabric

fat eighth of the flange fabric

Cut:

Main/backing fabric: (3) 10" x 24"

Outer border fabric: (2) 10" x 9"

Inner border fabric: (2) 10" x 3.5"

Flange fabric: (2) 10" x 1.25"

(1/4" seam allowance throughout unless noted)

Iron one piece of the flange fabric lengthwise, and sew it to one piece of the main fabric, 10" edges together. Press and repeat for the other side.

Sew one piece of the inner border to the main fabric, over the flange. Press and repeat on the other side.

Sew one piece of the outer border to the inner border. Press and repeat on the other side.

To add the backing: sew the remaining 2 pieces of main fabric together, 10" edges together, leaving a 5" turning gap. Use a 1/2" seam allowance.

Put this long piece together with your front, right sides together. Sew all the way around. Turn right side out, using the 5" gap you left. Press and slip-stitch the 5" opening closed.

Put it somewhere pretty and watch the daffodils bloom!

Springtime Kitchen Towels

I've made no secret of the fact that I am no cook. Thankfully, I lucked into a husband who really loves to experiment in the kitchen, and on top of that he's darn good at it.

To make up for the fact that I can barely boil water, I try to make sure he's always armed with the equipment he needs to get the job done. This includes lots and lots of dishtowels. Any chef will tell you that a cook is only as good as the number of towels he has available, not just for wiping things down but for covering dishes, protecting hands from the heat of the oven, and keeping countertops from scorching under hot pans.

About a month ago, I found these polka-dotted kitchen towels at Macy's:



The problem is, I like a tidy kitchen, and dishtowels laying all over the place does not fit into that vision. We don't have a good towel rack/hook in our very small space, so there's never a neat place to put towels. That leads to a lot of wadded up towels strewn all over the countertops.

But no more! Kleio's Belly to the rescue with her tutorial for hanging dishtowels. I was able to take my three very large (20" x 30") towels and cut them up to make three very functional new springtime towels. These will loop over the bar on my oven and button there securely.



Hooray for no more towel wads!

My Sunshine Garden Bag

Ahhh... it feels good to be back on my sewing machine again. Here in Seattle we are having unusually sunny, warm weather, so I was inspired to make this bag with all of the beautiful bright fabrics I've had stashed away.



I found the tutorial for this shopper on the Moda Bake Shop. You should make one too!



The tutorial calls for 12 layer cake pieces (10-inch squares). Of course, you could go buy a layer cake to use, and then your coordinating would be super simple. I finally got my Spoonflower fat quarters in the mail, so I was dying to try out some of the bright and fun fabrics I picked (so I made my own layer cake). I like the way these six fabrics both clash with and compliment each other. It reminds me of one of those chaotic gardens full of riotous colors that you see in bloom in May.

I simplified the tutorial in several ways. First, I skipped the pockets. I'm envisioning this being either a grocery bag or a carrying-papers-back-and-forth-to-grade bag, so I really didn't need pockets. I also skipped one layer of lining. I'm sure that made my bag more floppy, but my goal was to use up some of my fabric supply, so I didn't want to have to go out and buy more canvas for a flat lining.

I used up the rest of my Goodwill white eyelet cotton for the lining. I think it really adds to the fresh springiness of the bag.

One thing I really liked about this bag was learning to put the grommets in. I got to go down to the parking garage (so that I had a concrete floor) and hammer away to my heart's content. It's always exciting to learn a new technique!