Good to be home...

Well, Texas was great fun. Lots of good food and good drink, and I finally got to meet my long-lost cousin (?) that I've been chatting with online for probably 10 years but never met. I also flew for the first (and second) time in my life and was thoroughly terrified for some parts.

I had a wild weekend with some very much-needed girl time and now it's back to the grind. I'm glad to be back home with my dogs and Jake but not so excited about the ton of work I have to catch up on...

Sewing might have to wait a couple days while I get back into the groove of things, but I promise you I'm gonna tear it up once I get to it!

Just a Note

Ok, so I won't be sewing this week or blogging much since I'll be spending all of my time cranking out work so I can have Friday off so I can go to Texas. I know. I'll tell you about it later, Mom.

See ya! and enjoy your weekends, I'll have lots of photos (hopefully) when I get back.

photo courtesy Texas Liberal

90's Skirt Refashion

I found an awesomely 90's maxi skirt at the thrift store a while back and decided that it MUST be converted into something playful. So feast your eyes...or try to...

It's ugly (maybe even fugly) and bright green and sorta floppy but I love it. Eat your heart out, Forever 21 - you can't top this!

I may have also stolen some poses from Vivat Veritas.

Oh and I forgot to tell you that we adopted another lil Chihuahua - this one is Max and he's a Chihuahua/Terrier mix. He's super tiny, only 9 months old, and my little sidekick. He hasn't quite warmed up to Jake yet, and I hope he never does!!

The "Grand" Finale

Get it? Because the end of our trip was an adventure at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I still can't fathom just how massive the Canyon is. And for someone with a fear of heights, it was definitely hard to walk out even on the ledges with railings. I think I ran away from the edge twice when the wind picked up. But, aside from being a weenie, I loved it.

Greatest anniversary present :) Thanks, Jake. Love you!

Vacation Update

We're halfway through our vacation and so far we've done tons of hiking, some canoeing and spelunking, and off-roading.

Print & Pattern Feature!

So apparently I was featured on Print & Pattern last week and had no idea until a reader of the blog emailed me about it.

I read the email at midnight and checked Print & Pattern and flipped out! I'm so excited! This means a lot to me since I was unsure of my patterns and if anyone else liked them and all that. So expect some more pattern work!

Don't forget to read up on Healing Hearts, too :)

Also! I forgot to mention, I'll be out next week as my husband and I are going on a week-long vacation with my family to celebrate our anniversary. I set up email posting though so at the very least you'll have a few snapshots of our activities.

Have a great weekend!

Elloh Handmade x The Heart Touch Project

I worked with The Heart Touch Project last year while I still lived in California. I worked with the founder Shawnee Smith as a freelance designer doing some pro-bono work. I really liked Shawnee and the other volunteers that I met and was moved by their motivation.

From their site:
The Heart Touch Project is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the training and delivery of compassionate and healing touch to homebound or hospitalized, men, women and children.


I was especially moved by this because I remember when both of my parents did hospice work - they worked on call and long hours all of the time giving their care to other people and I always thought it was very noble. I still do. So for me to work with Shawnee again and in this way - through my creations that I put a lot of love into to give to people who can then love my creations - is really exciting for me.


So, I'd like to introduce you to Healing Hearts plush toys.

I have so many scraps from sewing my plush toys that I can't use them right away. I also don't want to let them go because I feel like they can still serve a purpose. So I decided to use them to make dolls to sell in my Etsy store and then donate the profits to The Heart Touch Project since I've already worked with them and I feel more personally invested than with any other non-profit organization.


The dolls even have a special Elloh x Heart Touch tag.

I'm really glad to be giving back. So go ahead, take a look at Heart Touch and all of the good they do. And then if you want, donate. And not through me...feel free to do it on their site. 


Caring and healing touch is such an important thing - vital to human beings. I'd just like to support them in their work. 

Progress

I'm not making much of it, but here are some updates.

More squares for top secret project.

Neck of shirt...needs to be seam-ripped and restarted as well. This shirt will never end. And the sad part is that if I dedicated a night to it, I could get really far, I just have too many things to do.

Amazing finds at Wal-Mart: Floral Ikat - 2.5 yards for $11 and 3 yards of wacky, VERY stretchy knit for something like $6. I can't wait to start on these...I must stop buying fabric until I finish that stupid plaid shirt though. That shirt should have just been a pair of shorts. Boo.

I also made this Brown Butter Banana Bread only I used blueberries instead of strawberries and it turned out very nicely.

Weekend Recap

I have to say I didn't do any sewing this weekend. We did have a fire in our fire pit twice AND we played Life twice (I also even ruined the game by spilling red punch all over it because I was trying to play for Jake who was talking too much). I also scored that wacky green fabric at a thrift store. It's a huge ugly skirt with pleats and an elastic waistband. And I know exactly what it's going to be turned into.

Tackling and Battling

See those pleats? So nice....Especially on the lower half of the shirt. Oh, they're still uneven but they're neat. I'm hoping no one will notice.

I'm planning on making some real headway with this shirt this weekend. But a bobbin might run out of thread and I'll have to stop - which is what happened last night. Just in time though, because I'm not sure you should pleat while you drink wine.

Check out this patchwork work (?). This is for my special lil project coming up. This weekend will also see a few more of these 15x14 inch squares sewn up.

What are you working on this weekend? I hope it involves BBQ.

Cranberry Dress into Sassy Pencil Skirt

I have many pieces in my closet that are 4+ years old because I couldn't think of a good reason to get rid of them. My style and preference changes so much that when I get rid of all my dresses, I want them back. Same goes for my ugly plaid button-ups.

So this dress: obviously I couldn't let it go last Thanksgiving even though I was repairing the waistband right before leaving for my sister-in-law's house. Obviously.

I bought this in 2006 or 2007 for a work party and have worn it for holidays since.

I love the cranberry and the knit fabric is so stretchy and comfy. So I made a pencil skirt using C&C's tutorial.

So sassy, right? My husband calls it a "stretch pants skirt" for the reason you are about to see...

Oh hai, butt! It seems as though this skirt has defied genetics and given me a butt. However small, it is there and it is SHOUTING at you. So take a good look. Because I might not be wearing this skirt that often. I might have to get used to being so sassy...

Oh yeah..and enjoy that stupid mismatched hem. What an amateur. I think the side seams bunch because the fabric should probably be used for underwear instead of a shapely skirt.

Shapes and Leather

What you're viewing is the completed mini-collection of wristlets featuring my fabric designs. You can see more details here. The two on the top right have soft leather backs and straps AND the blue geometric one has a shiny gold lining fabric.

These are really fun to make and pretty easy, too. I had to buy a heavy duty needle to tackle the leather parts and I was really impressed how well that worked. Working with leather with a normal needle just shouldn't happen, ever.

So there you have it. Now it's on to tackling a certain pleated monstrosity I have laying around, a ton of refashions from my own closet, a new boyfriend (doll), and a very exciting partnership with a non-profit from California that I had the pleasure of working with last year. More on that later.