Hodgepodge…that’s kinda my schtick

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Trish

I’m a scrappy kind of sewer.

I like to use a lot of color. Patchwork. Scrappy. Rough. Imperfect. I like it that way. For Christmas in 2008, I made my parents a scrappy quilt. Just a throw quilt to use in front of the telly at night or in the car while they travel. My Mom handed it back to me a few months ago because a couple of the blocks had pulled apart. (pats self on back…way to go Trish).

It was December 22nd and I was still sewing away at this quilt. I stayed up until 3am one night just so I could sew kid free. My parents really liked it so I felt bad that it had pulled apart.There and over here. See? That’s where the blocks had pulled apart. Is there a legit way to patch these? I have no idea because I’m not really a quilter so I did what I do and got more scrappy with it (as if it weren’t scrappy enough already). I thought if I put some kind of square block on them that first of all, they would have to be pretty big to cover the full tear. Second, I thought, it would be so much like the blocks that to only have a couple where the tears were would make the whole quilt look odd. SO…I frequently revert back to dots. My logo being the peas, I try to replicate dots in a lot of things that I do. And that’s how we came upon patching with dots.

But I couldn’t do just two…I had to do more over the whole quilt to “even” them out. Luckily, my niece was here last weekend. She wanted me to do some dorm room sewing for her and so she stayed the weekend with us, watching kids so we could have a date night and then sew for her. (Dang, if I only she lived closer. I could SO enjoy that at least every other weekend…it was great to have her around but she lives an hour and a half south of us.)

Anyway, once I patched it…um, everyone loved it in our house. My niece slept with it. Everytime I lay it down, the kids come running to snuggle up on it or under it. I really need to make one for ourselves I guess. Well, see there? Sprout…running from the playhouse like she had “quilt radar” when I laid it down to take a photo.

A perfect summer afternoon, napping on a quilt in the shade. Mom…I’m just sayin’, not sure this quilt will be making it back home to your house anytime soon. Sorry about that.

Join me back here tomorrow…for a lovely sponsored giveaway from Lisa Leonard designs. So many lovelies to choose from – one lucky reader will get something wonderful! Come back and find out more tomorrow…

xoxo,

Trish

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Trish

Love these Patty Young prints Danielle chose....

Danielle…from just a jump north from Columbus, helped me test the Patsy Ann. I’m not sure how I got so lucky as to have so many fabulous women volunteer to test for me but Danielle is one of those amazing women who I wish I could be more like…

“Joint heir with Christ, Wife to an international man of mystery, Mom to 5 home educated blessings, for sanity time I run and sew. Have yet to figure out how to combine both passions into one And while I love sewing and like running, the thing I am most passionate about is being a great wife and mother. I delight in the ministry God has given me in my home. When I married I neither cooked or sewed. But the learning curve was worth it and I am now passing these life long skills along to my daughters and “mom” friends.”

Ok Danielle, I have an idea. You’ve seen those little handheld “sewing machines” “As advertised on TV”, right? So, for small projects, you know, like a pillowcase…get it all pinned before you go, take that hand held machine…viola! Sew and run at the same time. Genius, I know. Thanks for your help Danielle!

Megan...check you out!

Now, the photos came out a little grainy but the smile is unmistakable. Meet Megan from the Newlywives. Megan and her cousin Emily are newly married, both to Matt’s and are the blog authors at the Newlywives. Their blog, well, it’s as much fun as Megan looks here! Fun!Megan was kind enough to give the Madison bag a test run and she made up this cute version in brown. She even patchworked the strap which is a look I love! Thanks Megan for testing and go visit her and send her some love (she has a great posts on gardening, cooking and I LOVE the posts they’ve done on handmade weddings.)

If you’ve made up the Patsy Ann Apron Top (or plan to before August 15th) be sure to post it over on my Flickr page. Everybody who has posted a Patsy Ann project over there by August 15th will be entered into a drawing for a $25 shop credit to Two Peas. (ohh…how cool!)

Patterns are about all I’ve doing lately. Well, that and hanging out at the pool. The girls are on swim team at our city pool this summer and I do always look forward to it because practice time gives me an excuse to sit poolside and sew, chat and swim with Sprout for several hours a day.

I really had the best of intentions of being really organized this summer and getting so much done. But, I think I’ve given in to the reality that life with kids is very unpredictable. I mean, I knew that before but, the more kids you add to the mix, the more “stuff” that happens, literally, every day. The best laid plans, fall apart daily it seems like. I’ve put out the call for help to many of my friends to help me with sewing orders, testing, trying to do all these things.

The truth is, this business of mine, is really important to me. I guess I feel like after my husband and I have served in careers in service to others in law enforcement and education, we deserve to do something for ourselves. There is nothing good in life that doesn’t come from hard work and sacrifice. And we work really, really hard. All I really want is to take care of my kids and worry about how to do that a little less. Clothe them, feed them, make their life a little easier.

Is that too much to ask? Isn’t that what we are all trying to do everyday?

xoxo,

Trish

These girls can rock it…

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Trish

I know! Right…so these girls came to my sewing class and went TOTALLY WILD!!!

Nah! Just teasing…but there is a good story behind this photo. See…last month we had a fun little Two Peas Sewing Bee that was making basic pillowcase dresses with a few tiny Two Peas tweaks. One of the girls made a dress that was size 10. Well…see here…she’s holding it up. See?!Doesn’t it look like it would fit a grown woman? Well…that’s what we all thought too! So we totally convinced her to try it on and told her it would be so cute on HER! Um, yeah, so size 10…not so much converting to a full grown womens size. And thus…she kinda got stuck. This is how we ended up with our “Girls Gone Wild” version photo from our Sewing Bee up there. (mind you these are all iphone photos – excuse the quality – I edited them as best I could)

Well, we DID have a good time at the sewing bee and commented about how “cool” we all were for spending our Friday night out with the girls…sewing. Because sewing is…so cool. I mean it’s totally, the hip thing to do these days. All the cool kids are doing it. Wanna try?

Well, here’s your chance. We have another sewing bee class coming up on Friday, July 23rd at 6pm. We will be making the Patsy Ann Apron top and a matching doll apron to go with it. Registration and fee info can be found here.

Now, I have to leave you with these images because they will melt your heart. One of the Moms left before we did our group shots but she sent me these of her darling modeling her finished dress we made in class that night. Seriously! Could you eat her with a spoon or what?!

Do you LOVE the matching hair bows? Me too! She has a Facebook fan page for her bows now…you have to see all her cute little creations she’s made.

If you wanna try out a basic pillowcase dress…just ask. I do have a PDF version of my basic pattern that are available (for a small fee…I know, what?! Not free? My husband is gonna make me stop all this crazy sewing stuff if I don’t start showing something for the oodles and oodles of time I spend doing it!) Really, $3 you get a nice full color PDF pattern with all my hints for making a basic single panel dress. Not the ribbon in the casing kind…I have a different twist to it.

(…and I promise to add more freebies soon….there’s a few over there. No, to the left sidebar, under tutorials. Even a nice purse pattern!)

Come sew with us if you can or if you can’t sew “with” us…sew along and share your projects over on my Flickr page! Did I mention there might be a “sale” going on with one of my patterns currently? And maybe a giveaway or something like that…hint! hint! (you. might. want. to. look. at. my. Facebook. fan. page. I’m just sayin’…you might…)

Happy Summer Sewing,

xoxo,

Trish