Some time ago I stumbled onto this on Pinterest and briefly shared it when I was on my "button kick". But I think it's such a fantastic project for some of those fabric scraps that you might have lying around that I wanted to share it again. Here are two downloadable "sewing notion displays" from Design Sponge, just right for showcasing your favorite fabric collections. I still have to say that Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party is still one of my all time favorites.
Also from the fabric and scrapbooking paper designers, Basic Grey, offer a bit more elaborate variations of these fabric sampler boards on canvas found here... oh, the possiblities!
I just love it when I get a chance to use up some of the fabrics scraps that end up on the cutting floor, don't you? Since I've not really gotten into making quilts (yet), I find it hard to throw those little pieces of treasured fabric away... but quite frankly, sometimes I'm totally overwhelmed with them not quite knowing what do with them either. I had a tip that was passed on from Susanne recently of what she does with some of her fabric scraps (seriously, I would love to give you her link, but her blog is still in the process)
I have always loved covered buttons, and really like some recent projects I've seen with them being made into jewelry, push pins, magnets, and even gift wrap accents. Aren't these Aneela Hoey fabric covered button giant paper clips super sweet?... perfect for a bookmark or even getting yourself organized, and who doesn't need a little more order in their lives... right?
So, what do you do with your fabric scraps... any fun fabric scrap links?
Five years ago today, I got on a plane and left everyone and everything I've ever known... leaving behind my family, my friends, my house, my job, my way of life, my language, my culture, and yes, even simplicity. All for love. Of course it might make the story a little more readable, leaving one with that sense of an inner sigh, if I were to fluff it up by saying that "Prince Charming" and I lived happily ever after. But aren't such things exactly the kind of things that make up a fairytale?
Moving to another land, another culture might be much more complicated than meets the eye. On the surface, there are so many times that I think that there are really not that many differences between Americans and Germans. We all laugh, we love, we have families, and we share joy over the same kinds of things, and sorrow over just as many. The same sun rises and the same sun sets on both of our lands... just at different times. But what my soul has come to find joy in, and sometimes sadness in, is that while these surface things might make one feel connected, they can often be a painful reminder that this is not what I once knew as home. They often say that it takes more than a house to make it a "home", and that is true, but it takes so much more than that... more than just people that you love living in it.
In recent years when traveling "home" to the U.S., I have found myself quite disconnected. Things had carried on without me there to observe them and take part in them. I felt a little lost... there was familiarity without being familiar anymore. But that sense of being lost was not just on the part of returning to the place of my roots... it was also the absence of things that I have had to learn and embrace as my "new home". Some of these things came easily for me, while others I still struggle with.
But five years later finds me fairly fluent in my "new language", so much so that sometimes I have to ask my German husband the English word for "wxyz". Having a command of the language has given me a sense of freedom that I did not have at first, which makes simple things like shopping, going to the doctor, taking the train to a new city, or whatever you might find "common", not as scary as it once was. Sometimes it almost feels surreal that while I interact with others on a daily basis, whether I know them or not, that on the surface I might appear as just a normal girl making her way through life. But what they do not know is that I am actually looking out from behind my disguised cape of "anonymity", secretly relishing in the fact that they may never know that I as an "Ausländer" (alien/foreigner), view their world and see EVERYTHING they see with completely different eyes... and often they may not ever know it.
It’s kind of funny that just this past week, I was thinking about my old house... the one I bought on my own, fixed up on my own, and dearly loved. The interesting thing is that it was brick with some faux "Fachwerk" accents, with climbing ivy growing on it. You see, I've always loved this style. Something about it has always spoken to me, and when I reflect upon this and take into consideration that all these elements are quite typically found here, it makes me wonder if my soul knew ahead of time just where my heart would one day end up.
Have you already started working on any Christmas presents for this year? I'm proud to say that I've started, and have plans for lots more. Oh, I would so love to say that this Christmas will be a total handmade holiday for me... well, perhaps with the exception of my husband and a few other men in the family. (seriously... what can you make someone who is excited about tractors, wine, a good cigar, and grilling?)
Aside from the new Lizzy fabrics, the super sweet collection, "Little Apples" from Aneela Hoey, was the other fabric collection that I have been waiting on since last spring to get my hands on. If you think this collection is sweet, wait until you see the new fabrics that she introduced at Fall Market (to be delivered in spring)... blues, pinks, reds, greys... little red riding hood, foxes, flying mushrooms, all in the perfect shade of adorable.
With the fresh mix of reds and turquoises, I knew this would be the perfect fabric for my two nieces. I have another project now in the works, but I thought that I could use a few scraps to whip up this mini bag, found in Amy Butler's Style Stitches book. Really easy to sew, and don't all little girls love such bags to put their treasured what-nots in?
So, has your sewing machine started to hum before the holidays, or do you need a little last minute pressure to get things going?
You know what they say... "when it rains, it pours", and that is exactly how fabric deliveries have been around here these days. Actually, I had originally planned that the fabric collections that I had ordered from Spring Market would be delievered one month after the other, but somehow a couple were early, a couple were late, and now it seems as if everything has landed at the same time, which leaves me only one thing to do... another introduction. (but I'm sure you don't mind, do you?)
Sandi Henderson has been in the fabric design scene for quite some time now, creating lovely, sweet fabrics that are pefect not only for quilting, but epecially for children's clothing and other kids projects. Her latest fabric collection "Secret Garden" not only lends itself to children's projects, but reads a little softer and more sophisticated.
I remember reading "The Secret Garden" as a little girl, and this fabric collection evokes images of a lush, hidden garden burried somewhere deep in the woods or other undiscovered place, just waiting to be found... and that one vintage key, with so much character and intrigue, not knowing what it might unlock, who it belonged to, or how old it is. But thrilling to discover that it is just what one needs to unlock that intricately carved door, overgrown with roses, that leads into a wonderful world of pristine blooms and scents... what's in your secret garden?
Out of all the fabric collections that were introduced this year at Spring Quilt Market, this is the one that I have been waiting for... the one that made me sit up and go, wow! I've followed Lizzy House's work for quite some time now, and am super excited to get a hold of a few of her new fabrics from her most recent collection, "Outfoxed".Outfoxed is a super fun, super colorful, "walk in the woods" on fabric. I love Lizzy's graphic and whimsical characters mixed with natural shapes. Pretty pinks, reds, and blues add a bit of fantasy to trendy foxes and hedgehogs.
... or soft yellows, limes, and deep olives give the collection a completely different look. I love the pop of turquoise-green in this first fabric.
... and probably my favorite colorway is with deep plums and vibrant oranges... just right for fall projects. I kind of have a feeling that this will not be the last time that you will be seeing this collection here.
What about you... do you have a favorite colorway?
So I guess the "how" and "why" behind what I've been working on these days perhaps might need a little explanation... including somewhat of a confession. Before you quickly scroll down to see what I've been sewing, let me first warn you that you are not about to view the most "wow" worthy thing I've ever sewn. In fact, I would say that anyone who sews, at one time or another has made something similar. Perhaps, I need to explain a little...As I've shared before, simple things like grocery shopping in Germany is much different than in the U.S. I shamefully admit that prior to living here, my weekly shopping trips included way too many plastic bags that only later found their way into the trash can. But that's one of the things that I love about Germans, is that almost everyone recycles here. So, in case you're on the U.S. side of the pond, let me fill you in on a little something that one would find in EVERY German home, and not just one but several... simple canvas bags. You can pick them up just about everywhere, but somehow it seems that one never has to because there are always a million of them at home, and as you read in my last post, Germans love them because they are very practical. (If you are German and reading this I would really love to know just how many of these you have in your home) Instead of plastic bags used to lug groceries home, one uses baskets, boxes, and yup, you guessed it, canvas bags. It really is great to have at least one or two of these in your purse in case you stop by someplace unexpected. Say for instance you need to pick up something at the florist, and then remember, you need a couple stamps and other office supplies at the post office, then since you're just next door you need to pick up a few things at the pharmacy, while doing that you think that it might be nice to pick up a few pastries for coffee and cake time in the afternoon... where do you put it all? yup, again, in your handy, dandy canvas bag. (boy, you're good)
So since living in "Rome", it might be easy to see that I've started doing a few things the way the "Romans" do. But now for my confession. I too tote these little bags with me when I am out running my errands. And once again I shamefully admit that I've not been taking my pretty handmade purses for the daily "here and there" shopping. Not only that, I've opted to take the old, faded, worn out, don't know where in the world they came from, canvas bags because they are, um, well,... practical. 
But I could bear it no longer, and decided that practical could be pretty too, and not only could be, but should be. In addition, I was able to put to use some really nice scraps in the process. I no longer have to hang my head in shame because of the old, dirty bags hanging on my shoulder, but I now I have my own stack of pretty canvas bags to replace them...
... proving that one really can have the best of both worlds... any "confessions" of your own?
I don't know about you, but when I buy something online and it shows up in a pretty packaging, or with that special added touch, it makes me feel like I'm not just another random person whose only purpose is to make the company's bank account a little fatter... but that my business might actually be appreciated.
I've been adding little "thank you" cards to orders that I send out for quite a while now, but I've had a lot of fun working on this non-sewing way to say "danke"... just my little extra to make an order feel less like an order and more like a present.
What, did you really think that I could put the Anna Maria LouLouThi fabrics down for long? I have to say that this one is my favorite... somehow the fun color combination and the intrigue of seeing just a small little snippet of this fabric makes this one for me kinda special.
What do you do with your fabric scraps? Do you like to combine fabric with other mediums?
I don't know about you, but when I buy something online and it shows up in a pretty packaging, or with that special added touch, it makes me feel like I'm not just another random person whose only purpose is to make the company's bank account a little fatter... but that my business might actually be appreciated.
I've been adding little "thank you" cards to orders that I send out for quite a while now, but I've had a lot of fun working on this non-sewing way to say "danke"... just my little extra to make an order feel less like an order and more like a present.
What, did you really think that I could put the Anna Maria LouLouThi fabrics down for long? I have to say that this one is my favorite... somehow the fun color combination and the intrigue of seeing just a small little snippet of this fabric makes this one for me kinda special.
What do you do with your fabric scraps? Do you like to combine fabric with other mediums?
