Etsy Love #6 etc.

First off on this lovely Friday morning, I want to say thank you to OhGrrrs! for my fabulous new bracelet. It arrived very quickly, was even more affordable, and I love it! I'm not a jewelry person, at all, but every now & then I'll wear a bracelet. I especially like button bracelets, and this one is so cute. The colors are great & some of the buttons even look like they're vintage. She package it up with this cute tag & button too, I love that. Please, go check out her shop on Etsy & maybe you can get one too.

And yesterday I made my first attempt at pin cushions. Here's the result. I used some fabric I had, and some I bought. I'm not planning to sell this one, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

And check out this cool monkey fabric I got last week. How could I resist? I'm not going to say what it's for, but it'll end up in my shop eventually. ;)

I'm also working on a logo quilt for my Farmer's Market booth, so far it's looking pretty good. When I've finished it, I'll be posting a tutorial on how I made it.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

This past weekend Nick & I decided to take a break and go for a quick little road trip. After my morning knitting class, we took off in the new car and headed north. Only 35 miles from us is the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. Being a HUGE fan of Snoopy and Peanuts, this is a must see for me. I've actually been to the site before, but not the musem. There's also an ice rink where Schulz put on a senior hockey tournament for many years, a friend of mine's father-in-law played in it! We visited the museum and had a latte in the ice rink coffee shop, appropriately called, "The Warm Puppy". I'm just dying to skate there. There are even stained glass windows featuring our beloved beagle friend on skates. How cute.

After a short stop at the local fabric & craft shop (I have to know where to get my supplies), we headed east toward Sonoma and wine country. Not too far from Santa Rosa is the town of Sonoma, it's a lovely drive along a vineyard lined road. All of the grapevines are covered in leaves and the hills in Sonoma are full of them. We stopped in the downtown area and had a little walk around town. By that time most of the shops were closed, but I was very intrigued. (Will have to go back one day on my own and browse) There's a nice little park in front of the City Hall building. I ran around trying to snap some photos before dinner. Poor Nick. Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon and evening out, not far from home, and a good dinner at the Irish Pub. mmmmm

Making your own labels

I've had a few people ask me about my new home made labels, so I thought I'd say a bit about it here. In the past I've used embroidered labels for my handbags and quilts. They work fine but are time consuming to make and I'm not thrilled with the way they look. I decided to try some of those printable fabric sheets. I've been wanting a small, folded label that I can use for bibs, booties and pouches.
After speaking with my friend Jenn , she uses Printed Treasures, I went ahead and picked up a pack of this printable fabric at JoAnn Fabrics. "Colorfast Sew-In Inkjet Fabric sheets by June Tailor". I've been a bit hesitant in the past to try something like this as I'm concerned about frayed edges. There are products out there to rinse your printed fabric in, but it seemed like a lot of work to me. My original plan was to make the labels big enough so that I could just turn the edges under, that's what I do with my embroidered labels. After running a sheet of these through my printer, and cutting a few, I've found that they don't fray. These are not like regular cotton fabric, they have a slight vinyl texture to them. I think this is what keeps them from fraying, and allows for a very bright and clear print. I even tried to tear them with no luck.

They're easy to use as you can see from the image, that's all the directions you get. And, as for how "Colorfast" they are, only time will tell. I haven't actually put them to the test yet. I'm going to sew one into a shirt or towel and wash it a few times to see what happens.

Hope this answers your questions about my new labels. Good luck with yours, and let me know what you use.

Have I ever told you about Mr. Alligator?

Just thought I'd take a moment to introduce a very cherished member of the family, Mr. Alligator. My friend Troy gave him to me when I moved away to England. He's just the best alligator ever. That's all. (It's a Cal-King sized bed btw...he's as tall as me!)