I need your advice on a few projects I’ve got going on. First is this vintage quilt I picked up at the thrift store recently. It is super fantastic, there is no doubt. The colors are super saturated and somehow read neon and pastel at the same time. The prints are flat out amazing…

…but the thing is ginormous! Queen size? King size? I don’t know but it weighs a ton. I’m thinking of cutting it down to a twin size for my daughter’s bed. What do you think? I’m pretty sure I can just cut it to size and then hand bind it. I want to use a pattern binding (stripes or polka dots), but is that too much? If I just do a solid color, which color?

And then what to do with the rest? There might be enough for curtains for my daughter’s room, but is that too crazy? Is a pillow to boring and matchy matchy? Advice! Direction! I need you!

Second is this cheetah print. Leopard really, but my youngest son is obsessed with cheetahs and he is convinced this is a cheetah print. He has requested a jacket made out of it. I’m planning on using the Study Hall Jacket pattern. How do I do it so it’s not too costumey? I was thinking of pairing it with that dark green jersey. That’s one option. Another is dying the print:

Another idea is to do more of a color block thing with the print–like Shauna from Shwin and Shwin did. I don’t want the thing to look goofy. I mean he’s 4, so he can rock goofy, but still. Any ideas?! Any advice?

There is actual sewing going on here people. Woo-hoo! My sewing machine has been too quiet for too long. I have a bunch of project cut out and ready to go–some secret, some not so secret, some I have to finish before it gets warm.

I’ve fired up my sewing machine again and I’ve also fired up my sponsorship program–how’s that for a segue?!  No really, though, I love to be able to show off all the amazing pattern designers and indie shops out there. To make showing off all your talents, I’ve changed a bit how sponsorship works. It’s super streamlined and super easy and I’m super excited about it!  Do go check it out!

And check back here for crazy monster pocket pants!

It’s not all wine and finished projects in these parts. Trust me there are plenty of half done–half assedly done–things shoved in various corners of my studio. This afghan is not destined for one of those corners (I hope). It is actually coming along quite nicely.  I fell in love with this vintage afghan that Miss Rachel from Smile and Wave picked up at her local thrift. I had been looking around for crochet patterns I could use to make a blanket for my son, but nothing seemed right until that blue number popped up. A commenter on pinterest pointed me to a pattern on ravelry called the Vintage Fan Ripple Stitch Pattern, which turned out to be exactly the same as the original afghan. I went out and bought a bunch of yarn the next day.

I liked all the blues in Rachel’s blanket, so I stuck with that and threw some gray in for good measure. Ravelry came to the rescue again when I ran out of the light blue yarn I was using. The heathered light blue was by Berroco Vintage, which I had in my stash, and when I went back to my local yarn store for more they were all out. After a look on the interwebs, I discovered Berroco didn’t even make that colorway anymore. Luckily there was someone on ravelry who had two skeins of it for sale! I don’t know why the two rows of light blues look different in the photo–trust me they are not. Oh also there are more nerdy crochet details on ravelry. 

The other half done project is not coming along as nicely. The first time I made the Wiksten Tank it was nice, but it was a smidge small.  So I cut a medium this time. Well turns out the first one wasn’t small, it was just that the material I used didn’t have any give to it. The medium is too big everywhere and if I try to take the sides in, the wide set straps make me look, umm, beefy.  I can’t shove it in the corner because this fabric was expensive as hell. So here’s my plan: I’m going to cut this tank apart, cut the small from it (a little lower down), and then add a band of color to the bottom. What do you think? I picked up some navy linen that I think will work. I’m hoping it won’t look hackneyed.

A certain little girl and I are both very excited about making things for the upcoming rainbow birthday party!

I actually took this picture last wednesday, but found myself picking up this little project again today. They are vinyl hexagons: a little crafty, a little s&m.  That’s how I roll.  No, really, this project isn’t going to make any sense until it’s done and then only if it works. So I guess you’ll just have to wait.

I haven’t even turned my computer on the last couple days. I’ve been reading. Books. Fancy that.  So please if there is crafty awesomeness that I am missing on the internets, shoot me a link in the comments.