Storybook quilts

A customer came in this morning with a really great idea I just have to share.

I get lots of requests for really specific fabric, usually involving some sort of theme or character (i.e., curious george, barbie, pinocchio, etc.). This fabric is almost always nonexistent. Well, if you can't find it, make your own!

This customer came in with this book. (I love that it's a vintage book! Check out the price.... $0.39!).She chose some pages with images she liked and went to lunch while I scanned and printed the pictures on fabric sheets. (I use the Electric Quilt sheets that you can put in your inkjet printer. I think the quality is a little better than Printed Treasures, plus you get one more sheet per package than Printed Treasures for the same price.) My favorite picture is the one of the beds - the "mama bear" bed has a quilt!The lighting doesn't do them justice, but they came out adorable! She's going to use them in a baby quilt for her yet-to-arrive granddaughter. Too cute. Too. Cute. The vintage book is very cool, but you could use any book, including coloring books. Garage sales and the library would be a good place to find books also. I'm going to call my mom tonight and have her send me some of the old books she's kept. Even though my sister and I drove her crazy with them. Then I need to make a mental note to hang onto them and introduce them to my niece and nephew so they can drive my mom crazy all over again. It's the least I can do =).

Heidi the dog

This is my dog, Heidi.











As you can see, she's weird, but we love her. We rescued her (I prefer "adopted") from our local animal shelter last February. The lady at the shelter told us she thought Heidi was some kind of lab mix. Probably shar pei (you know, the wrinkly dogs). But for the most part she just looks like a deranged lab runt.

Heidi has proven to be a good dog...never potties in the house, doesn't chew on furniture, etc. So, in order to reward her good behavior, I decided to make her this.

It's a pillowcase for the pillow that serves as a cushion in the bottom of her crate. (Get the pattern here). Her crate is next to our bed, and she spends about 12 hours a day napping in her crate whether my husband and I are sleeping or not. Until today, we had just thrown an old pillow in the crate with no pillowcase or cover on it. Naturally, the pillow is quite stained and disgusting looking in spite of my best efforts to bleach the you-know-what out of it. So for my sanity and just because it's cute, she now has a pillowcase for her pillow. Spoiled girl.

In the bag

Remember when I got this fabric in and was dreaming of all its possibilities? Well, here are just a couple of them.

I can't take credit - Cindy has been busy sewing up all kinds of things. She'll be teaching a class on the hobo bag (the pink one) in April, so keep an eye out for you newsletter or check our class schedule on our website.

Here are a couple of other things Cindy has whipped up in the last week or so.

These are for her granddaughter, so if you know her keep your lips zipped for a little while longer. A little machine applique here, some embellishments there, and she turned two plain t-shirts into what I'm guessing will become two of her granddaughter's favorite outfits. The pattern for these is called fun in the sun, by Caught Up In Stitches. This one will be available in the shop as well.

That's all for today. We're busy piecing and quilting away, so we'll have more to show you soon!