Ally gets featured and I won a gift certificate!

An online fabric store where I buy quite a bit of my fabric is called Above All Fabric. The owner, Melanie, has a flickr group, where she asked people to share pictures of things they've made with fabric purchased at her store. After people posted, Melanie chose some to write a blog post about on HER blog.

Well, not only did one of the first try pics of Ally in the Julia outfit make it onto Melanie's blog, but I won a $25 gift certificate! Talk about feeding someone's habit. Melanie also has a new feature at her shop where you earn points for all of the fabric you buy, that can be used, or saved and used towards future orders. Wowee!

I'll post what I buy with the certificate, but in the meantime, I'm making more upcycled napkins and some special order baby blankets for my Etsy shop.

Oh yeah, and check out my new banner in the shop...I'd love to know what you think?

Ally in Julia

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

I am totally addicted to Twitter.

One afternoon as I was driving, I saw my phone light up with a Tweet from designer Patty Young. She was looking for new pattern testers for her new girls' clothing patterns that are coming out at the Fall Quilt Market.

Needless to say I jumped at the chance. It's a two layer skirt with a shirred drawstring that shows off the underlayer, and appliques put onto a purchased top.

I used fabrics from Patty's Mezzanine fabric line. Maybe it's because I'm a child of the '80s, but pink and green as a color combo just make me smile.

I got to use my new Pfaff overlocker on this pattern that I got for my birthday. And I got to use that great dark green large rick rack that I bought during my first Shop Hop.

The pattern went together like a breeze, and Patty's pattern was laid out beautifully. The fabrics from Michael Miller are a very nice quality. Over all, more fun than I think one sewer should get to have!

P.S. Fabric was purchased online at Above All Fabric.

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

Weekend project - cloth napkins upcycled from vintage tablecloths

So, it seems like forever that I've had this giant Rubbermaid tote full of vintage tablecloths that I've managed to accumulate over time. Lots and lots of them have small holes, or thin spots. Some of them have great patterns or images on them. Most of them have those gorgeous vintage color combinations that you just don't see anymore. Pretty much all of them had some stains. But I found one at a Goodwill store recently and it reminded me to pull them out. I made a huge batch of bleach and water to soak them in, and started cutting.

The first set had these great roosters, chickens, and farm houses. It also had lots of tiny pea-sized holes. But once I was done with them...





They are double sided, and not 100% perfectly square, but they are all intact, and what I did use is in wonderful condition. And who can beat that pattern?? Best of all, they are super Earth friendly, eliminating paper napkins, and re-using something that would have been in the landfill. They are absorbant as all get out, just to make them that much sweeter.

My favorite pattern and color combo of all time was in this cloth...the red white and blue (but more like teal). Best of all, these are 15 1/2" square, which is nice and big. Just the most gorgeous shabby chic looking napkins you'll ever want to see.






Both sets are now in my Etsy shop, with many more to come.