Fabric from left to right: Eva in Desert Sky, Leah Duncan / Cocoons in Bone, Parson Grey / Wall Flower in Cherry, Amy Butler

Too much fabric. Not enough time. I distinctly remember writing about how I tried not to hoard fabric, and here I am, hoarding fabric. It’s just, I have the best intentions, and I had projects in mind for these fabrics when I bought them six months ago. Still, here they sit, unfolded and unsewn because I have no time to sit and play.

That fabric on the far left, by Leah Duncan, is my current favorite. I thought I wanted to make a dress out of it, but it’s pretty loud, so I think I’ll make a full skirt using Gertie’s tutorial. Wouldn’t that be fun for the sumer? Is it still technically summer in August? Maybe I’ll have it finished by then.

The middle fabric, made by Amy Butler’s husband David, was supposed to magically turn into a pair of curtains. Nope, no curtains. I’m just too afraid to cut into it because I don’t know if we’ll be living here a year from now. I’m sure Mr. Butler wouldn’t want me to degrade his beautiful work on a rental window. Instead, his fabric can live in a box untouched until we move into forever home some time in 2026.

That Amy Butler fabric was a complete impulse purchase from Sewn Studio in Cincinnati. It was the first time I’d seen it in person, and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t buy a couple of yards while I was there. I think I want to make a seat cushion for my sewing chair. See how the fabric matches my cute Anthropologie button drawer-pulls? I’m obsessed.

I hope you’re having more sewing success than I am. I’ll leave you with a photo of my sweet Charlie. He doesn’t mind if I don’t get any thing done. In fact, he’d probably prefer it that way. Have a wonderful week! —Emily 

Right now, it’s 31° here in Dayton, but on Wednesday it’s supposed to be 60°. Womp womp. Winter’s over, and all I have to show for it is snow boots I didn’t  wear nearly enough to warrant their price.

I knew I’d be disappointed if I didn’t share our holiday card from a few months ago, so just pretend like you’re reading this in January, not mid-March. I feel the need to explain that while I’m normally a punctual Christmas card sender, my whole idea hinged on S-N-O-W and a general sense of winter wonderland-ness. Well, we didn’t get any snow until January, so my Christmas card magically transformed into a New Year card.  My first winter in the Midwest and we get nothin’.  C’est la vie.

Dave and I actually had a lot of  fun taking these photos, and our poor dogs cooperated.

I hope you’re  having a wonderful winter and staying warm where you are! —Emily

It can be difficult to find an etsy seller who is willing to create a custom fat quarter bundle, so I have to say thank you to Lela of Cedar House Fabrics for working with me to create this quilt. All of the fabric is designed by Cloud 9 and is a combination of five different collections.

Also, I’d like to add that making small quilts is exactly one grillion times easier and more satisfying than making larger quilts. A 55 x 55 inch square?!  Sure! No problem. I’ll make 20 more. I think I sewed the top together in one day and hand sewed the binding over the course of three days.

This was the first time I handmade my binding and it was surprisingly pretty painless. Plus, it looks so cute! When it came time to attach it, I used this trusty tutorial, and conveniently, Melissa Esplin posted a helpful video about adding thread seamlessly, which is a technique I didn’t know existed. So much less swearing.

Sweet baby M, you are so loved!  We can’t wait to meet you in a few weeks!

Update: “baby M,” now known as Lucie, made her debut on December 15, 2011! She is chubby and squawky and wonderful, just a baby should be. To learn more about sweet Lucie and her beautiful parents, click here!

Note: If you watch Glee, I was also tempted to start this post with, “Brittany, what’s the capital of Ohio?”

That’s where I am now. We made the drive from San Antonio nearly eight weeks ago, and despite everyone’s opinions about living in Dayton (picture a scrunched up nose followed by “eeewwww”), we’re really happy here. It’s so  nice to be surrounded by so much greenery after struggling through a drought in Texas…even if there are way more bugs and creatures around here.  By that, I mean we have a groundhog/woodchuck/marmot that lives under our deck and torments our dogs on a daily basis. Also, we have an albino squirrel that frolics around these parts. Speaking of parts, we can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl, so we decided to name it “Pat the White Squirrel” and later shortened its name to “Albie.”  In a moment of unchecked chattiness, I told my neighbor we named said squirrel, and now I’m worried he thinks I’m a little  strange. Mind you, this pretty much all he knows about me. Otherwise he would definitely think I’m normal.  Which I totally am. Luckily, I have 17 months to change his opinion.

Anyway, enough about my white squirrel. The photos below are just a random assortment of adventures in Cincinnati (I can finally spell it!), Columbus, and Dayton.

You may remember this post, from back in April, where I mentioned that I’d be helping my gorgeous friend Megan with some of the other paper-related details to her September wedding.  If you’re good at math and have planned a wedding before, you’ll notice that September is a mere two months away. That means…time to send out invitations!

I started the first version of her invitation probably thirty minutes after she called and asked me to help. I was just so excited! This overall project has been my biggest so far, but I feel like I learned a lot and I’m thrilled with the outcome! (minus that annoying fabric wrinkle in upper right corner of  the first photo…blerg!)

It was hard to capture in a photo, but the invitation is printed on a really pretty opal shimmer paper, purchased from the new(ish) Paper Source up in Austin. It looks like the underside of a sea shell…very chic, and perfect for a Southern California coastal wedding.

Mr. Max Meeker, I don’t know you, but you were at the top of the stack, so you’ve made it to the blog!

All of the paper goods were purchased from Paper Source using the Strawberry and Papaya color schemes, and the fonts I used were La Portenia and Coquette.

This last photo was taken on my wedding day in 2008. I asked Megan to do my bridal makeup and she did an amazing job. She made me feel the way every bride deserves to feel. Now, three years later, I’m making her invitations and sharing in her day.  Don’t you love when things come full circle like that?

Love you, Meg!  Thanks for trusting me!

Anyways, I have two new sewing projects waiting in the wings, and I (try to) make it a point to not start new projects until the first ones are done, lest I end up on an episode of Fabric Hoarders–don’t worry, that’s not really a show. I’m hoping to buy the batting and backing fabrics next week, and I think I might actually try to make my own bias tape this time around. I’m fully aware that I will probably be screaming into a pillow shortly after taking on this task, but I can’t help it…patterned bias tape is just so cute!

(photo via www.dana-made-it.com)

I just finished some save the date cards for my dear friend, Megan, and I’m just loving their bright, springy hue. I’m a sucker for warm colors, so I had a great time incorporating her wedding colors, shades of orange, coral, and pink, into the design. I won’t have a chance to show off the invitations for a few months, but take a peek at these:

Aren’t they such an adorable couple? So much brown sugary goodness. The beautiful photograph was taken by equally beautiful Marcie, of Marcie Jane Photography, and I added the text on the left. I know, it’s not as cool when you realize I did barely anything, but…yeah.

I made some fun address label wraps, and I really love the way they turned out.  I had never made any before, but I know they are all the rage right now. Normally, I print addresses directly on the envelope, but my P.O.S. 4-year-old printer wasn’t allowing it this week.  So, these wraps were made in a moment of panic, and I think they are one of the best features of the whole shabang.  Here’s a close-up:

Meg, I can’t wait to celebrate your marriage in September! Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to participate in your special day.

Oh yeah, and that background fabric is from Joel Dewberry’s Deer Valley collection. It’s called “Architectural Persimmon.”

Cause you were dying to know.

I hope you’re having a wonderful week!  We’re working on Illustrator in my design class, so I’ve been trying to get the hang of the pen tool, which uses a combination of linked  Bezier curves to create a path (had to google that one). Anyway, the process is very foreign; when it comes to drawing, I usually end up scanning a sketched image and manipulating it in Illustrator, but I’m trying to become more comfortable with all the tools in the program, whether or not I actually use them.  Thank you, Charlie and Poppy, for serving as wonderful models.

I just can’t believe it, but today marks our third wedding anniversary!  I love you,  my David!

It’s funny how weddings seem to bring out the creativity in people, whether by chance or necessity.  When I was planning my own wedding,  I felt frustrated by the lack of affordable options, so I made my own invitations and programs out of necessity. Little did I know how one visit to Paper Source would send me into such a tizzy and eventually bring about a love–or dare I say, obsession–for all things paper and design related.

Here is the finished product! I created these invitations Microsoft Word (which I do not recommend), because back then, I didn’t know what Adobe Illustrator was.  Oh, and that gold flower? Hand-stamped by yours truly…all 100 of them.  For the actual invitation, I used Paper Source’s A7 note cards in luxe cream, and for the enclosure, I used their  half-moon enclosures in chocolate, wrapped in chartreuse satin ribbon.

This is the cover of our program.  Again, more stamping.  My hand hurts just thinking about it. To keep the pages of the program together, I used the A-7 backings connected at the top with chocolate-colored brads.  The fonts I used were Copperplate and Jane Austen (nerd alert!).

I will never forget the joy I felt on my wedding day. Just before our celebrant declared us husband and wife, I thought I’d  nearly leap out of my skin with excitement!

Finally, because my husband is a true romantic, I have to share the gift he gave me on our first wedding anniversary.  I made sure to ask his permission first, since I would hate to ruin his street cred as a manly man:

He hand-painted our marriage vows on a canvas that now hangs on a wall in our bedroom. Isn’t it wonderful!?

Here’s to many many more years together!