Camp Sew Fun

The kids have been out of school just about a week now, but so far so good.  I must admit I was a bit anxious as the school year came to an end. After all, the kids fight like cats and dogs on the weekend so who is to say that the other five days of the week would yield a different result? Most days I believe that my kids would sell each other for a nickel—with or without a coat of many colors. So what’s a mom to do? Structure is the answer my friends.

I decided that every Tuesday this summer would be Camp Sew Fun in our house. So for this week’s projects the kids wanted  to make banners for their rooms. Imagine that, their mom makes and sells banners to everyone else on the planet, and yet my own kids don’t even have one. So I put one of my sewing machines on the lowest possible speed (lest Camp Sew Fun result in a trip to the E.R. for removal of a sewing machine needle) and let the kids sew their own banners. They picked their own fabrics, traced the letters, cut them out, and pieced them together. My oldest son had the hardest time cutting out his letters and my youngest daughter excelled at cutting hers.  Go figure. Now I just need to figure out what we can sew the rest of the summer.

 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow it is spring. Or at least over in my shop, because my front lawn still has piles of snow.

Technicolor Pillow $40

Anti-Winter Pillow $27

Spinning Circles Pillow $35

In the News

For better or worse, I was featured in The Daily Herald newspaper and then the very next day on KSL Radio. I've decided I hate being interviewed because facts get lost and I get misquoted. Almost makes me feel sorry for celebrities. (almost) The sad part about being in the news is all the negative comments that quickly follow--there are some meanies who commented on the ksl broadcast and sound so bitter you wonder if they suck on lemons all day to keep up such a demeanor. Nonetheless, read or listen to the broadcast if you so desire.

Oh, and buy the way, I do not work 5-6 hours a day. Yikes! More like 2-3 hours.

Treasure Chests

I have decided that if I want to buy my kids toys then the test should be this: throw the toy down onto the floor in my path of walking, and if it looks good there, then buy the toy. Because that’s the only reason my kids have toys—to make me work harder at cleaning up all the crapola. So being the brilliant person that I am, I have put a moratorium on toys, sort of. For Christmas, this was the test: give the children gifts they’ll love and I will love. Tough order to fill.

I think I've mentioned before that I swap my sewing skills for fabulous furniture with Four Chairs furniture in Orem. In an effort to keep the no-toy-rule this last Christmas (yes, I'm behind on blogging about sewing/decorating) I decided to give the girls blanket chests. I told the girls that these were like treasure chests . So only items they love and treasure should be placed inside—i.e., no crapola. They seemed to like that idea and quickly went around their room grabbing special items to carefully stow inside. And because I love color, they had to be painted cute shades of limey green and turquoise. Mission accomplished.

Pillow Envy?

By now you all know I design pillows right? Well seeing this post on apartmenttherapy.com (my favorite design website…and not just because they’ve featured me twice) made me think the pillows in my own shop were a bit dull. Come on, sushi pillows! And how about the pillow mimicking a pool of blood! Ha!

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.