We love being able to give away wonderful prizes, and we thank our amazing sponsors who make all of it possible. Today, we run down our latest winner roll call: the Oliso® iron winner, the Fabric.com Rustic Wedding winner, and the two Liz & Alicia's Fave Fabric winners. Four folks whose smiles went from mild to mega-watt when they heard the news.
One perks you up, one calms you down. Ahh, fabric… our drug of choice. Today's two pretty picks are both new collections perfect for warmer weather, and available right now. Hipster by Holli Zollinger and Shannon Lamden for Riley Blake Designs came out this month. It's an energizing set of prints that range from bold retro graphics to funky Cross Stitch and Scallop Knit prints. These two concepts (the bold retro graphics with the cross stitch and scallop) seem at odds, and yet they work together fantastically – I want it on pillows and a "hipster" summer dress. Linen Closet by Renee Nanneman of Need'l Love for Andover Fabrics is the epitome of fresh, crisp fabric. Envision a pretty set of bed pillows and a softly colored quilt; add an open window with a morning breeze blowing through... a silver tray with coffee, scones and strawberry jam... a kitty at the foot of the bed and nothing pressing to do. I want to go there.
At just 5" square, our teeny tiny purse might seem like the perfect little girl accessory (and it would be), but all us big girls wanted it for our very own! Not only is it cute as can be, it's also just right to hold a bit of make-up, cards and cash. We combined three soft peachy-pink prints from Cloud9 Fabric's Nursery Basics and Maman Premium Organic Collections. The easy-to-use frame is just like the ones you'd find on a little coin purse.
Because quality tools make a world of difference in your finished projects, we feel extremely fortunate to use Janome machines exclusively in our Sew4Home studios. No matter what we dream up to make, we know our Janomes will be up to the challenge. Just a couple weeks ago, we profiled the new Janome Magnolia 7630 to show what you can expect right out of the box with a standard mid-range Janome machine. Today, as promised, we start collecting entries to give away a 7630!
At S4H, we save all the beautiful ribbon scraps from our projects. Most of our ScrapBuster bookmarks are made using the gorgeous jacquard ribbon from our friends at Renaissance Ribbons. Because of their intricate designs and rich colors, jacquard ribbons are ideal for making bookmarks. Many kinds of ribbon, however, are suitable for bookmarks, and you may have just what you need in your stash. Velveteen ribbons with vintage rhinestone embellishments make beautiful bookmarks and require no sewing. Grosgrain ribbons in school or team colors are a fun way to personalize, plus you can embellish with custom mascot charms and beads. Ribbon bookmarks are fast and easy to make, especially if you do a bunch at once.
Spring has sprung! For the first time this season, I opened up my windows. I even raised up the storm glass in the screen doors. It's time to let some fresh air blow through, which in our house sets up an amazing wind tunnel effect that slams doors shut upstairs and down. I need a stylish way to keep the doors open and the air circulating. ScrapBusters to the rescue! Today's door stop is a simple cube made with standard cottons stiffened with ultra firm fusible interfacing. An opening along the bottom is where I inserted polyester fiber fill at the top, just to take up a little space, and a plastic bag of inexpensive dried navy beans at the bottom for weight. The opening seals shut with Velcro®. A wide twill tape handle makes it's easy to place and move the door stop anywhere the wind blows.
The bedroom dresser top. In catalog and magazine photos, it's always so clean – a single rose in a vase adorning one pristine corner. In reality, this is one of the most cluttered, easy-to lose-things-on surfaces in the house! Scatterings of coins, broken jewelry, forgotten notes, safety pins, missing buttons, dusty photos, watches in need of batteries... you name it, it's likely to end up on the dresser top. We've come up with a beautiful way to help you organize at least some of it. We're not promising miracles; you are still going to have to take those watches in for batteries one of these days, but at least you'll have a place to collect a few things. We call our cute fabric basket a Coin Catcher, but you're welcome to let it catch whatever you'd like.
There are so many times you need two hands free (Look Ma... No hands!). So today we have a clever pouch you can slip on a belt. Anytime you need both hands to get a task done, this little organizer is great solution. It's perfect for urban walkers, Saturday antiquing adventures or just when you're trying to wrangle two toddlers down the block. Drop your smart phone in a pocket at the back and use the zippered front pocket to hold cash, change, credit cards or other necessities. We also incorporated a handy D-ring at the top to allow you to slip a key fob in place. Or, as we show above, snap on a caribiner and, rather than slipping the pouch over a belt, simply clip it to a belt loop or even onto another larger bag or pack for fast on-and-off access.
Ditch the brown bag and lighten up your lunch table with this very cute insulated lunch bag. It uses a half a yard or less of two decorator weight fabrics for the exterior with PUL for the lining. Insulating fleece between the layers helps keep your lunch warm or cool. We added Velcro® to seal it shut while still allowing for a quick open... gotta be able to get in when you're hungry! If you wanted to amp up the insulating properties, you could reconfigure the design to add a zipper. The wipe-clean PUL on the inside makes any spills easy to remove. And, extra long handle loops mean you can grab it and go or slip it over your arm, leaving your hands are free to grab a drink or tote your latest lunchtime reading material.
For our final day of Janome Week, we took all the techniques we've experimented with and pulled them together into one, fun project: our Everything Apron. It features embroidery, decorating stitching and quilting. We're using the brand new Memory Craft 9900 sewing and embroidery machine. The slogan for this machine is: As Unique As You! And we can certainly understand why. It gives you everything you need to take your creative expression in any direction you can imagine: from sewing to embroidery and beyond. It's a great machine to take on everything for our Everything Apron. The base design of the apron comes from the Vintage Modern Pleated Apron featured in last Spring's Kitchen Confections Series. We added pretty new embellishments to give it a whole new look.
