Lotso Triangles

Finally finished my table runner! Yes, it took a lot of time and yes, it was also sort of a pain in the butt. But (hah) I love it.

I also forgot to blog about the gem you see below. My dad has always been a carpenter but these past couple years he has been making small structures. He brought the cottage below for me a couple weeks ago. I have a deep, deep love for miniatures and dollhouses. Every time I peek into this little cottage I get an immediate feeling of curiosity and almost feel like I'm looking into another world. I love the rustic feel of his creations and I keep thinking I should fill it with stuff but I really like it the way it is.

My Dad doesn't do much promotion for himself online so I had to take the opportunity to show you all.

Last Shirt Version

Well here we are. We've come to the last combination of colors/fabric I had planned for the pattern I drafted. This one took a little more time since I experimented with the straps and arm holes. I ended up making the straps thinner and arm holes bigger and it's much more comfy. It's still a little bunchy but I'm pretty much over it. I have a few more destash shirts I want to do, but I'm going to have to move on to something bigger and better for now.

Weekend Recap

This weekend I finished The Reader - wasn't my fave but still really good. I'm starting to see more about it now that I let it sit with me. Then I picked up another book: Cold Mountain. Spent all day Saturday reading. I also baked these Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls. Way too delicious. And of course, we spent time with our new best friend, Fernando.

Christmas in April

I wanted to share with you all of the goodies I got over the weekend/Monday/Tuesday.

Tons of new books to read. Some my parents saved for me and brought and some I got at the local thrift stores when we went.

The Dune trilogy in awesome hardcover versions with equally awesome artwork. Also found and saved for me by my parents.

Another gift from my parents: fabric from a yard sale. There's tons more AND a bag of leather pieces to mix in with my new creations.

Yet another awesome find from my parents. I need to set apart some time to really get into this one.

This map of antartica is dated 1958, I think, and we got it at an antique mall in Salt Lake City. That antique mall really was great. I'm hoping to go back when we really start to decorate, but for now our project is to figure out how to mount this map and display it.

AND some bud vases that I've been keeping an eye out for. I got the first two (tall and short) at once and the third one the next day. I thought about keeping it all matching but I like how the shapes on the odd one out seem like a variation of the first two.

So as you can see, it was indeed a holiday around here this past weekend.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was PACKED full of family fun time. My family (mom, dad, and brother) came to visit Jake and me all the way from California. They're actually still here, but I have some down time to blog. We went to downtown SLC and did some shopping at an antique mall, we did some thrifting, and we ate way too much delicious food. We also visited the Kennecott mine, which I'll have you know is man's largest excavation - visible from space, even.

My parents brought their little chihuahua terrier puppy (a girl) and she had a hard time with our chihuahua (a boy) that we got the day before they came. They're still battling a little but they're much friendlier than when they first met.

I'll have to take pictures of all of our finds and gifts from California and the new addition to our family.

New in the Shop!

Two new owl pillows. I adore them both. And did you see the wings on the pink pillow??  Yep, that's the fabric I designed. I'm excited about getting to use some of it. You can see them both here and here.

Also, lizajane (she is also the Featured Member this week on BurdaStyle!) nominated me for another Stylish Blogger Award. I wish I was feeling more creative but SIGH...I've been working non-stop this week on creative stuff - both for work and fun. I may just have to answer 6 questions and nominate a few new bloggers I've found recently.

Trust me, I have 6 more weird things about me for sure.




1. I used to paint. I was actually obsessed with painting in acrylics for about 4 years. I gave it up a year ago. I just stopped feeling it. I still draw, but I can't bring myself to paint again. Maybe I'll show ya'll my paintings.

2. My husband and I got a chihuahua today and I'm absolutely in love. I'm also a TAD bit allergic to dogs/animals. So, we're doing a test run to see how I do. I hope I don't have to give this little guy away because we're both already very attached to him.

3. I wanted to be a forensic scientist for the longest time but then I found out that I have a definite fear of blood. Only other people's blood, too. So that career choice was definitely out.

4. I taught myself a good amount of French and a lot of American Sign Language when I was about 10 or 11. I don't remember any of it but I really loved both languages.

5. I don't speak Spanish and never have, really, even though I'm Mexican and both of my parents AND my white husband speak Spanish fluently.

6. My worst fears are spiders, heights, and being attacked in the shower/bathroom. Spiders and heights both make me feel nauseous and bring me to tears. For our honeymoon, we hiked Angel's Landing at Zion National Park in Utah and when it got to the knife's edge of the hike I was paralyzed with fear and everyone walked by me while I cried. I was pretty ashamed.

So there you have it. The terrible, terrible details about me.

Now go visit these bloggers, whom I nominate.

Ashley at Refurl (just found her blog recently but I'm def a follower)

Fiona at Hop Skip Jump

Prudence Rabbit

Poppalina

Paunnet

And Audrey at Audzipan Anthology

Have fun!!

Third Version of My Tank Top

I'm still doing my de-stash project (not to be confused with de-stache) so I'm still going through my fabric supplies and figuring out how to use the weird (too small) pieces of fabric I put aside for clothing. You may  remember the tank pattern I drafted and the second, wacky version I made. I took the pattern and made a third version with two different halves: navy blue top and facing and stripes for the bottom.

It still droops a bit on the left shoulder and I promised to fix that last time but it was too long in between sewing sessions, so I forgot. But I WILL try and do that this week when I make two more versions. Also, I know it bunches a lot (on this version) around the arm pits....I'll have to work on a new version for cotton instead of voile.

Check out that nice stripe job, eh? Seems pretty pro right? I wasn't even going to pay attention to the stripes until Jake's mom reminded me about them. And I would have worn it anyway. That's just me. But I'm very happy about how good they look.

I have four more shirts to make (two of mine, two of the 80's pattern) before I can move on to the full yardages of fabric I have saved for clothing. Lots of work ahead.

Weekend Recap

The weekend was really cloudy and rainy (it even snowed a good amount overnight on Friday) but it all cleared up on Sunday just in time to grill some salmon. So delicious. But after about two hours, it got too cold to keep the grill hot so I had to pack it up and pretend to grill inside with my broiler. It was good while it lasted.

I also had my first experience sewing with striped fabric (with some pointers from my mother-in-law). I'll show you that later.

Some New Projects

I've expanded my project list with about 20 new ideas just this week. In some ways it's good. I love to be busy all the time. In some ways it's bad, because some ideas that were good just die when better ones come along because this list is so long.

Made this little owl for a friend's baby shower. I definitely love him and I'm excited to give him away as a special little gift.

And I decided that even though everyone's doing the owl trend in design and even though I swore I would never hop on that bandwagon, I do like the one I made and I might have to make 2 or 3 more. The problem is, I think people follow the owl trend and don't even know why. They just know that it's like the deer and cupcake (which I've also done) and whale trend and that they should like it. Or maybe they do know why they like it. But I doubt it. Working 2 years in marketing tells me they don't know why they "like" it, they just follow. But as a designer, I can't ignore the trends and I can't ignore the fact that I made a darn cute little owl. I just hate trends...

Did I repeat myself a bunch just then?

Lately, I've also fallen in love with applique. Maybe madly in love. This the first half of a table runner. (Triangles, another trend I can't ignore, but I've always loved geometric shapes.)

Just a new pattern for you. Thinking it'd be more for baby/girl stuff.

A new illustration. I did the drawing a while ago but hadn't digitized it until recently. It's strange yes. Probably makes you feel uncomfortable, yes, but I definitely have that creepy side to me. That's the versatility of a designer for you.


Have a great Friday!
My rabbit is showing at Eve-N-Odd Gallery tomorrow night. I can't wait to see more pictures.

Girls Girls Girls

Two new dolls I finished last week - Courgette and Aubergine (Zucchini and Eggplant). Sort of a series, sort of just an idea I had floating around in my head for a while.

By the way, have you noticed the triangle trend in design/art? I'm sure you have.

High Seas

I know I don't often post other people's work. I feel like there are a ton of blogs that already do that and we probably already read the same ones. But, I think I could make an exception for someone's work that really made a difference to me for whatever reason.

Cartoon Monster creates kinetic wood sculptures that involve boats and the ocean. Some pieces are really tiny and some are huge. I can't really explain to you how these sculptures moved me. I saw a video of one of them in action and I could not help but get a little teary-eyed. Maybe wooden toys remind me of being at home with my family, or maybe it's the lighting in the photos, or maybe (now I'm probably going to read too much into it) I feel like the boat - just tiny and sometimes really alone but still moving quietly along on the big ocean. There's something about how the little fragile boat just keeps sailing.

Either way, I love these. Especially this one. It's almost like the fantastic things a child can dream - sailing your boat through the stars.

Weekend Recap

The weekend started out with a bit of thrifting, then turned into a fun night out with friends. The next day, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast at a place in town that we'd been eyeing. And it truly was all we hoped it would be. I haven't stopped dreaming about that food since. And who can beat a restaurant that has booths lined in cowboy print fabric? Who?!

I also got a nice mini tour of Utah Valley University, which made me lament the fact that I didn't try a bigger, nicer university when I had the chance to, 7 years ago. But, then I remembered how much I hate school and how much I loved having a degree after 18 months.

P.S. that petrified cat is the scariest/worst thing I've seen in person.