jcaroline's blog

New Flower Shower

New from Michael Miller comes Flower Shower in the great jewel tones shown above.  Sorry I can't come up with any more clever things to say... I'm a little tired. :-)

Family Fun Feature

The May Issue of Family Fun magazine features a Mother's Day Tea Party and guess what they used for the tablecloth?  Well, Red/Orange Calliope by Jessica Jones, that's what.  It's on page 76 and the feature was styled by Ann Lewis, Nicole Blum and Marie Piraino.  They nicely featured the calliope design as the header of each page of the feature as well.  Yummy.

All Henry, All the Time

Henry and family are settling in nicely.  I said he had his days and nights mixed up.  That isn't really true.  His sleep schedule during the night is identical to his day sleep schedule-- it's just so much harder to take at night!  However, he has been doing a nice sleep stretch from 2:30 to 6:00 a.m., which is most welcome.

And Olivia still thinks he is fascinating as, of course, Mother and Dad do as well.

Okay, now it's time to get on with work and stop obsessing about this baby.  For now.

Meet Henry

Our newest family addition, Henry, was born Saturday weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long.  He came home with us Monday and met his big sister Olivia, who currently, is acting very excited.  He was born with a full head of hair.  I might need to schedule his first haircut!

Henry is being adopted privately, so we won't have the 18 months of uncertainly that we had with Olivia, for which I am very relieved!  And since I am not tired out from giving birth, I can enjoy long interludes of just staring at him.  Though I am getting tired from his days and nights being confused!  Don't be concerned if I appear to be sleepwalking through the next few days.  I'm sure we will get into a rhythm soon enough.

Sewing Green by Betz White

We gave away a copy of Betz White's Sewing Green a few weeks ago (congrats again, Colleen in Missouri) and I couldn't stand not having my own. Well it arrived this week and I love it! As Betz notes in the book, sewers are already great re-purposers, making new things out of old all the time. She includes 25 innovative projects using everything from old cashmere sweaters to mylar juice packs, with instructions and patterns. She definitely has me looking at wool sweaters in a new way. (Must go north and clean out my family's closets!)

Betz also includes features on eco-conscious sewers and designers, as well as vignettes about eco-friendly ideas for sewing and textiles.

My favorite projects are the felted cashmere sweater blanket, the Tyvek shopping bag and the felted foliage scarf.  I clearly see some felting in my future!

Pick up a copy of the book from Amazon and enjoy!

New Fabrics from Braemore

I love these new canvas fabrics we just got in from Braemore.  They are part of the Carnaby Street collection in Marzipan (above) and Blueberry/Vanilla (below).  I know we might be a little "pinked" out, but the addition of the charcoal gray refreshes it immensely.

And the blueberry/vanilla colorway is a nice indigo blue with a great green and orange.  Primary without being boring.  54" wide 100% cotton canvas.

Belated Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you had a good Mother's Day.  We did at our house.  Saturday we went to see Hot Peas 'n Butter, a children's musical group.  Olivia danced through most of it (when she wasn't lying in the aisle).  The children in the audience formed a "mosh pit" around the stage, which Olivia was more than happy to participate in.

Dad and Olivia bought me a lime tree for Mother's Day.  I'm anxious to see if any edible limes come off of it.  Is a lime tree symbolic?  Sweet, but a little tart?  You can only take them in small doses?

I got this picture last week.  Perhaps it's time to get rid of the binky?  Or just recognize that this oral fixation is permanent?  Better than a handful of cigarettes, I say.  That's why I'm up for Mother of the Year.

New Fabrics from Erin McMorris & Dena Fishbein

Just in!  The new Monaco collection from Dena Fishbein (shown above) and Wildwood from Erin McMorris (shown below).

Great bright spring colors and fun graphics.

I have been awful about posting.  My apologies.  I will do better next week.  (At least that is my intention!)  I haven't been doing anything too exciting-- yet.  Next week should bring lots to write about.