jcaroline's blog

Who doesn't need a gnome?

I never have quite gotten the gnome thing, but this fabric made me laugh and, I thought, who wouldn't need this gnome sewn up and stuffed?  This is the new gnome panel fabric from Michael Miller.    This gnome is about 19" tall and took less than a half hour to sew and stuff.  Olivia thought it was hysterical so that is all the incentive I need to inundate her with gnome paraphernalia.  Which, fortunately, with the new gnome and trailer collection I can.

I'm envisioning a pillowcase out of the Gnome Some Traveler fabric

And I may have to complement the stuffed gnome with a stuffed cloud pillow that I envision sort of like this:

  
and I still have half of that gnome panel left, which features ten gnomes that stand about 10" high.  When did I get into stuffed things?  I don't know, but currently, I'm obsessed.

I may also have to crank out a crib sheet for Henry out of gnomes.  I made two of them this week using Joanna Armour's pattern that she created for Michael Miller and it is awesome!  Makes a nice crib sheet with finished seams and covered elastic.  Also a nice half-hour to 45 minute project.

New Michael Miller fabrics keep pouring in including  Paula Prass's Woodland Delight, Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet and Patty Young's Flora and Fauna collections (which Patty's will be on the site Thursday or Friday this week, I promise).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note before I buzz out for the holiday weekend.  First, how about a coupon?  15% off using coupon code "THANKS" through November 30.

Plus we've gotten in a ton of new fabrics, namely Flower Bucket from Genevieve Gail, Meadowsweet from Sandi Henderson and Woodland Delight from Paula Prass.  Enjoy!

So have a great weekend and I'll see you back here next week!

That's my boy!

Thank goodness the state did not catch wind of Henry's Halloween costume debacle and we went to court Friday, November 20 to finalize his adoption.   Henry is now, officially, my boy.  Sorry I don't have pictures of the event-- I was busy holding Henry, wiping runny noses (we all had colds), and hosing Olivia down with Tylenol to take any pictures.  Family members did, however, so I'll post those when I get them.

Friday was National Adoption Day, so the courthouse was abuzz with media taking pictures and interviewing people.  I got asked questions by a local paper and between my cold and being caught off-guard, I don't know that I said anything printable, much less profound.  I should have come prepared with talking points. :-)  Olivia was quite a hit with the photographers however, as she performed various poses.

We didn't expect any hurdles on the road to adopting Henry, so the hearing was very routine.  However, it is still such a relief to have all the legalities behind us on that big bundle of love.  Now it's just full-time snuggling (and feeding) with no timeouts for paperwork!

Fabric Sightings

Jessica Jones brought some star sightings of Amusement Park to my attention.

Yes, Nordstroms has it in the form of a laminated diaper bag.  Cool, eh? They are made by a company called Reese Li Baby who uses Jessica's canvas and other cool prints in a laminated form.  I had to get one and I love it!

And our friends at Land of Nod have it on a child's chair.  It's a "limited edition" which must mean it's extra special!

Fun!

Henry's Halloween Costume- FAILURE

Okay, so I didn't get Henry's costume until Saturday, which is Halloween day, if you didn't remember.  So I ran to Target and they were limited on 3-6 mo. sizes, so I got this.  The picture on the package looks pretty cute, doesn't it?

So, at about 5:30, I put Henry in above pea pod costume, but it is about 10 inches too short.  Never fear.  I have these:

So, I cut leg holes.  

So, Henry's was not dressed as much as a pea pod as "the-son-of-a-mother-who-doesn't-plan-ahead-for-Halloween-but-is-determined-to-make-the-costume-work-anyway."  

 
So, we got in the car, trick and treated at the nanny's and then came home and took off his costume.  I'm sure he didn't mind.  I promise to do better next year, Henry.  Olivia, you're old enough to be on your own and thank goodness, you are up to the task.

Do you recognize her pants? Yes, they are pants and an appliqued shirt I made for her two years ago.  That was about 15 inches ago in height.  But she can still get them on and put on some boots and no one is the wiser, yes?  Yes, I think that girl will do just fine at Halloween.  Then she can help out Henry.

Inspirations Added to Jcaroline Home

I don't know if this is what I should have been working on Friday, but I spent all day on these pages and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I love picking out paint colors!  And I can't guarantee I'm good at it, but it at least gives you a starting point!

My fantasy would be to pick out paint colors every month, paint one wall and make someone else finish and clean up and then the next month we would start again.  I wonder if the walls would actually get thicker if you repainted that often?  In theory, I think they would, so would you have to scrape them down after awhile?  Hmmm.....

Oh-- and we added the Henriksdal Chair Cover and the Henriksdal Barstool Cover to the site as well.  Look how great it looks in this Black Tunisia fabric.

You can find more of my handiwork in the Inspiration section of the jcaroline home website.

Happy Halloween!

I've never been much of a Halloween fan, but it does help to have an enthusiastic child at home!

She got to wear her costume to Mother's Day Out on Thursday.

Henry is there in the background, not terribly impressed by the whole thing.

Whoa-- where did that hook come from?  It's dangerous to have a resident pirate.  Better get Henry an eye patch.

Since some of the children only come to Mother's Day Out on Friday, they got to wear their costumes again today.  However, Olivia decided to mix it up and be a princess out of her dress-up box.  It was chilly this morning, so we insisted she wear her fake fur stole as well.  I also made her take off her princess high heel slides (you know, those plastic shoes that are designed to break your child's ankle?) and replace them with her silver sequin flats.  She even agreed that they were easier to walk in.

I don't know what she will pick for tomorrow night.  We might be out of impromptu costumes.

Jcaroline Home has covers for the Harry Chair

We just added the chair cover for the Ikea Harry Chair to the jcaroline home website.  The Harry Chair is a fairly new addition to the Ikea lineup.  It has a slimmer profile than their other padded dining chair, the Henriksdal chair, so it fits better in small dining spaces.  (And never fear, the Henriksdal cover is in the works!)  I especially love it in the new fabric we just added to the site, Turquoise Henna.  A nice mix of turquoise, deep green, deep orange on a linen background.  Sophisticated without being boring.  (You DIYer's-- that fabric is also available on jcaroline creative here.)

I noticed while at Ikea yesterday, that the Poang chair is now available as a rocker as well.

And it uses the same covers as the Poang chair, so you could do some really cool covers for your nursery!  A Poang cover we've been making a lot of lately is out of the Licorice Emilio fabric.  I think it looks pretty awesome myself.

 

And it can be paired with the Licorice Alisa fabric to make a darling Tullsta chair as well.

Woodland Friends by Ellen Crimi-Trent is here

Ellen's debut collection Woodland Friends is here!  Blue, green, yellow and orange hedgehogs, mushrooms, birdies and other woodland creatures.  Ellen is a prolific licensed artist and creates darling characters.  Ellen also offers her hedgehogs and other illustrations as prints in her Etsy shop.  I bought some of the birdie prints, which are my personal favorite.  (And rumor has it they might be a future fabric collection!)

Ellen is a prolific twitterer, so don't miss her there either.  I think she types with one hand and draws with the other!

Enjoy Ellen's first foray into fabric!  She promises more to come.

Post Quilt Market

First, let me warn you that you will find much better Quilt Market Recaps elsewhere.  I forgot to take pictures of most booths and didn't really "work" the show very hard.  I hit the usual suspects, but I by no means saw most of the booths.  But I did take pictures of the things I made for Quilt Market.

Above is Sandi Henderson and her husband, Dustin, in her booth.  As usual, they did a great job with her booth and she won Best Merchandising Award.  She had wanted chair covers and sent me 1/3-yard cuts of a bunch of her new Meadowsweet fabric and told me to do whatever I wanted.  That made me nervous, but fortunately, she loved the results.

I basically created a "trellis" patchwork by inserting natural canvas between 5" Meadowsweet squares.  I definitely wanted a solid in there, but when I used a color, it didn't show off the fabric as well as I would like.  The natural really helped showcase the fabric, in my humble opinion.

 

Here they are again so I can admire them a bit more.  Sandi loved them (sigh of relief) so I sent them home with her.  Everyday she can study her fabric designs as she eats her meals.

Paula Prass was showcasing her new fabric Woodland Delight and her sometime-in-the-near-future pattern release.

 

That is a little girl's tunic made out fabrics from her pink and gray colorway.  It has a pleat down the front with a cowl-neck collar (I don't know if that's what the neckline is really called, but you get the idea).

Her booth was also very cute and her fabrics looked great.  For whatever reason, I completely forgot to take pictures of Pillow & Maxfield's, Patty Young's and the main portion of Michael Miller's booths.  They were all very cute.  Fortunately, Jona and her husband, Joey, of Fabritopia picked up my slack and got some good shots of those booths.  I'm not very good at this recap thing.