ApartmentTherapy.Com

A while back I was featured on ApartmentTherapy.Com for my pillows. They liked my designs as well as my low prices. I had never heard of this home decor website before but apparently they have 2 million hits a day. I didn't get two million orders, but I got enough in one weekend that I was waking up at 4 am to cut and sew like a sweat shopper. The hype over this pillow hasn't slowed down--I've sold it 35 times now. So thank you Lily at apartmenttherapy.com for the fab article. I check out your ultra chic and modern website almost daily now. Here's to good design. (*glasses clinking in the air for a toast*)

She's Got Good Jeans

I have been on a kick lately embroidering my girls plain jeans into adorable creations. The hardest part is that I have to rip out the inseam (or side seam) to get the denim to lay flat under the embroidery machine. The rest is easy...pick out cute fabric for applique and sweet colors of thread.

Back to School

The best part about back to school as a kid was getting new clothes. Now that I am a mom I realize I am mean. (Duh.) I try to hide some of the new clothes from my kids--like long jeans and sneakers because it's still too hot. Well, I gave in on the shoe thing but I hid the long pants because I don't want to see holes in their jeans by October. And since I am sewer extraordinaire I made Ilene some smocks. How cute are these? But who am I kidding--the best part about back to school is having 2 out of the 3 kids gone 7 hours a day. As evidenced by my favorite commercial of all time--Staples "Back to School".

Pretty Patchwork Pillows

I have lots of odd scraps of linen lying around. So I decided to put them to good use and make the girls some pillows for their beds. I don't think they'll mix 'em up. I love the coordinating stripe and am sad that I am getting down to just scraps of that as well. It has served me well though in making the girls' roman shades and dust ruffles. Always a sucker for polka dots and a good stripe.

Put Your Feet Up

I'm a sucker for a good ottoman. They make my feet happy. My family room ottoman (purchased at T.J. Maxx a few years ago) was looking pretty shabby. So I bought these two little ottomans at Ikea last week (only $43 without the cover!) and made them some snazzy covers. You like, no? Me like.

Finding Good Homes For My Goodies

Sometimes I wonder what kind of home my goodies find once I mail them off to customers. So nothing makes me happier than receiving a photo from customers with one

of my items displayed in their home (or elsewhere). So I thought I'd share a few with you all. Doesn't that first photo look like something you'd see in Pottery Barn? And

that pillow in the window of a NYC apartment makes me giddy because I dream of living an urban life.

Summer Dresses

I love to make my girls one-hour dresses. That seems to be all the time (and attention span) I have these days. So I look for patterns with only three pieces--a front, a back and a sleeve. This pattern by New Look was a winner. I whipped 'em up this afternoon while the girls played computer games. They look so cool you'd hardly know it's 90 degrees today!

The Touch, The Feel of Cotton

There is nothing I love to sew more than a cute cotton blouse out of awesome fabrics. I go to quilt shops and look at all the gorgeous designer cottons, but I'm not really tempted to buy them for quilts. Nope, my weakness is buying the 2 yards necessary to make myself a cotton blouse with a cute mandarin or rounded collar. And I've timed myself--2 1/2 hours to make this blouse from cut to finish. Not bad for something I'll wear for years. This pattern by Simplicity has been my favorite over the last year. I've made it three times now--as seen in these three photos. (Zoom in) I love the gathered sleeve--it's feminine and it gives enough room in my shoulder area so that I can twist myself into a pretzel position while buckling Hallie in the car. I'm trying to cure myself of my addiction to all things stretchy and wear more woven cottons. Ah cotton, the fabric of our lives.

Fabrics top to bottom: , yellow fabric is from Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, Pink Coriander by Amy Butler, polka dot by Michael Miller (I think)

Batik Quilted Purse

I've been meaning to make myself a colorful purse for summer. Well, you know the phrase, the cobbler's children have no shoes? It's taken me forever to make something for myself and not for my store. I bought a few of these hand-dyed batiks from a fellow etsy member's shop--A Stitch in Dye--good grief her stuff is gorgeous! I've used some of the pieces for an overly-ambitious queen size quilt I'm working on (stay tuned) and the rest for this gorgeous bag. (The other two Batiks I bought from that horrible chain store that shall remain nameless.)

Last night after dinner I had had it with my kids--their messes, their fighting, and arguing. So I retreated to my studio to make myself a new bag. I quilted this assymetrical bag with feather stitches, a modified zig-zag, and plain ol' straight stitches. I finished it off with a canvas lining with plenty o' pockets and a magnetic snap. Two hours later I emerged with this bag and a smile on my face. Hello, summer!

Meringue Designs Goes Global (Sort Of)

I was interviewed for an article in Utah Valley Magazine called "Work it, Mom". It's about mom business owners, or mompreneurs. Yup, that's me on page 38 of the July/August 2008 issue. You can read both pages about me here and here. Or you can buy a copy, you know, so I can autograph it, or so that you can make a decopauged pencil holder from the glossy pages and see my lovely face everyday.

Front Page News

I was featured on the front page of etsy.com last Saturday. The front page features items for sale, usually with a theme, and it rotates every 30-60 minutes from what I can tell. It brought a lot of traffic to my shop. Out of 178,054 sellers on etsy, I feel pretty special. Sweet deal! (Zoom in to see mine better)

Feeding My Son's Star Wars Addiction

Am I a cool mom or what? Nathan wore this shirt again today. He gets compliments from teachers and students alike. Feed the ego, oh yea.

Make A Statement

I've avoided blogging about such a very frivolous topic, but I can no longer avoid it. I bought a new sewing machine (or as the Bernina company now calls it) a sewing computer. It's the Bernina Aurora 435. It's an embroidery machine along with the smartest sewing machine I've ever used. (It can go from 0 to 5 buttonholes in 2.3 minutes.) It's kind of embarrassing at how much it costs, so I have refused to even mention here as of late that I got a new machine. (It makes me feel better that I bought the low-end model as far as embroidery machines go. It was sure tempting to buy the $6,000 model, shah right.)

But I'm taking the cat out of the bag because I must share with you all the new creative outlet I have now discovered due to this new sewing computer. Wise, witty, sharp, whatever you want to call them sayings are new being embroidered on aprons and such. Oh sure, the ladies down at the Bernina shop are all into embroidering gorgeous landscapes and their grandkids names (I'm the youngest in my classes by at least 20 years) but I'm most excited about embroidering my sarcasm onto cloth.

So if you have anything sharp and witty that would be great embroidered on an apron, pillow, t-shirt, toaster cozy, doggy sweater, whatever then send it my way. I'm achin' to embroider it. My next aprons I embroider (once I get rid of the virus that ate my lap top) will say "If you don't like it, starve" and "Because I Said So". And possibly a pillow that says, "Don't drool on me." A subliminal message t-shirt for my son that says "I love to play the piano" and a t-shirt for Ilene that says, "I Love to Clean My Room!" It's not cheaper than therapy, but it's a whole lot funner.

Sewing Room Makeover

My friends think I am good at decorating, but really, I'm just good at copying others good ideas. I saw this photo online at Heather Bailey's website and decided to model my sewing room after it.

So I painted the walls pink, bought a shelf for my fabrics, covered my cork boards with Heather Bailey designer fabrics, and now I just need to paint my sewing table that gorgeous distressed turquiose color. If it ever gets warm enough to haul it outside and paint it, it will happen. I thought of cleaning my sewing room before I photographed it, but hey, this is how it looks on a daily basis. (Yes, a new house is being built on the *&^% flag lot behind us. Don't ask me how I feel about that.) I need to do something about having a black chair in this very feminine-looking room. I need to figure out if I can take the chair apart and re-upholster it. It's comfy!

This cutting table has saved my life. I can't believe I sewed all those years without it! My little Ikea shelf would look gret if I would keep my fabric organized into colors, but that's too much work.

I bought this chair at Ikea so that Paul can visit me when I am working. He likes to prop himself down there with the latest copy of Fortune Magazine. We're a good team. Need to recover the chair in cute pastel fabric too. Ah, the never ending projects.

I buy my fabric stash wholesale now and avoid the retail prices. I had no idea retail was marked up 100% until I started buying wholesale!

My shelving unit is loaded with Ikea stainless boxes. All my containers are critical to keeping me 'semi-organized'. This unit holds my patterns, baskets of serger thread, zippers and buttons, sewing book references, etc. (The gallon of distilled water on the floor is to refill my iron.)

My iPod is my best friend. I have it loaded with heathen music that I love and LDS General Conference reports. See my Pullitzer-Prize winning Shuffle Me Righteous Blog for more info about my quirkiness with music and conference mixes. I hang Hallie's artwork behind the iPod on the bulletin board.

We complete your 360 degree tour of my sewing room studio with a view of my college diploma on the wall. I've always hung my diploma in my sewing room since the day I got it 12 years ago. It's the most expensive piece of paper I own and it took me another 5 years after college to pay off that piece of paper. Ah, but it was worth it. Look wear I am now? Working in a pink studio with sewing machines worth more than our 1993 Nissan Sentra.