my "shop small" list

Thanksgiving is fast approaching (yay!) which means that Black Friday is right on its tail (booooo!).

Yep, I'm not a Black Friday fan for the following reasons:

1. We just spent a whole day talking about how grateful we are for what we have, only to trample each other in the store for a crappy TV.
2. As much as I am a people person, I hate crowds. I loathe being shoved against gobs of strangers with the fire of a thousand suns.
3. My pants don't fit he day after Thanksgiving. Why the heck would I parade that fact around in public?
4. I love sleep. I will do nothing on vacation that would make me wake up early on purpose.

All of that aside, there are some great deals to be had and Christmas is a-coming. That's why I'll be doing my Black Friday shopping from the comfort of my sofa AND supporting some of my favorite small businesses. Other than the obligatory Friday afternoon trip to Target once all the crazies have gone home to nap.

I'll never quit you, Target.

Here's my non-official, non-comprehensive list of some of my favorite small businesses and their handmade goodness. Many are made right here in the USA.

Oh and I know a lot of you are from Canada/Australia/Great Britain. I love you guys too. But I hate international shipping costs. XOXO

FOR HIM: You'll note that the men in my life like to drink, or camp, or drink while camping. Basically, I love lumberjacks. What can I say? I have a type.

Mason Shaker | Huckberry | Drop Catch | Best Made

FOR ME, I mean for HER: It doesn't always have to be expensive to be awesome. But sometimes a splurge is totally worth it. Covered all the bases on this one. And nope, no clothes are included in my list because it's hard to buy clothes for other people!

candelles | jessicandesigns | initialKstudio | abeautifulmess

FOR KIDS: Because the littles deserve to be stylish too. Nothing on this list is made of plastic. Hoorah!

finktoys | littlebowandarrow | littlehipsqueaks | wrenandrumor

Of course I'll also be hand making some of my gifts this year, but not for everyone on my list. That would be insane.

If you have a favorite small business please share it in the comments below! Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

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paper piecing: I now know what the fox says

I've been seeing the most adorable fox, cat, and owl quilt blocks gracing my Instagram feed lately. And I wanted one. BAD. Only I didn't know how to do it. But then our quilt club assignment this last month was to try paper piecing, which I did not in any way understand.

Turns out, that's how you make those intricate blocks. Who knew.

Oh wait, everyone but me knew.

At any rate, paper piecing basically means that you print your pattern on paper, arrange your fabric on it very strategically, and then sew right on top of the paper along the lines. No math skills or intricate fabric cutting required. 

Check out the image below. This is the back of that fox block.

You absolutely have to watch several You Tube videos to figure this technique out. You're basically sewing a mirror image of what you want your block to look like, which kind of hurts my brain. I found this video tutorial to be helpful. There are many different methods; you just have to find the one that makes sense for you.

Using a plaid fabric was not my most brilliant choice. Trying to match the plaid pattern when you're mirroring objects is challenging to say the least. But it mostly worked out.

I made this pattern myself because I'm cheap a designer who has to figure out everything for myself. The good news though is that you can buy this pattern along with instructions on how to assemble it into a quilt here. These are the gorgeous blocks that inspired me to take the plunge. The fox with the glasses, it slays me.

And paper piecing isn't just for furry creatures. There's lots of modern and traditional geometric patterns that this technique is great for.

Quilt Club met last night to look at everyone's work, buuuuuut I had to leave early to go tuck in babies, so I don't have photos. So sorry! But I'm sure they were awesome.

6 quilt club blocks down for my ROYGBIV sampler quilt. It's going to be a hot mess, but I love it. 

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DIY tassel garland

Does the Internet really need another tassel garland tutorial?

Yes. Yes it does.

Why? Because of the gross misuse of the terms "lengthwise" and "widthwise" on the Internet. I'm here to help you, friends.

Max's first birthday party was this past weekend. I can't wait to share all of the fun details with you, but that's going to take a minute (read: a week) to pull together. In the meantime, I wanted to give you a sneak peak with this little tutorial.

I've seen these cute tassel garlands all over Pinterest and Instagram for the last few months. I thought they must have to be somewhat difficult to make since everyone was buying them instead of making them.

Nope, not hard at all. You just need a little bit of time and hopefully a glass of wine. These are perfect for party decorations, holiday decorations, and kid's room decor. Here's the step by step guide.

fall flip-flop: refreshed house tour

I love our house, but things were starting to get a bit...stale.

It's sort of difficult to admit this publicly, since I'm an Interior Designer and all, but even the pros can get numb to change in their own spaces. I just got used to seeing all of our furniture in the same spots for the last year and a half and had become kind of, well, stuck. I had ideas for how to change things up, but I needed a little extra creativity (and moral support).

Enter Sidney and Marci, two of the most stylish gals I know. Both are Interior Designers. You might remember Sidney from her downtown loft tour that I shared earlier this fall.

sunday stitch vol. 17 - DIY hand warmers

If you follow along on Instagram, you'll know that we've been fighting the good fight against hand-foot-mouth disease in our house. Poor little Max came down with it on Tuesday and we've basically been in survival mode ever since. Very little sleep, lots of crying, and Max was pretty uncomfortable too.

I kid.

Needless to say, sewing wasn't really at the forefront of my priorities this week. Round about Thursday, though, I was going completely stir crazy from being under pseudo-quarantine and doing nothing creative all week. Enter this crazy simple and fast DIY.

I spotted this tutorial on Pinterest last week and had to give it a try (click here for the full instructions). I had some fabric squares laying around (3.5" squares) and thought they would do the job perfectly. I actually like this size squares better than the ones in the tutorial.

It only takes a few minutes to make these once your fabric is cut. It's probably the fastest sewing project I've ever done. Sew part of the way, fill with rice, finish sewing, use pinking shears, DONE.

20 seconds in the microwave and your hands will be nice and toasty. But, um, be careful. You might have a mega-powerful microwave and it could be too hot. Use your brain.

These make fantastic stocking stuffers and inexpensive friend/teacher/coworker/surprise-you-bought-me-a-gift-but-I-didn't-get-one-for-you-because-I-didn't-know-we-were-that-close gifts.

I hope to be back to regular posting this week. I can't wait to show you the fall flip-flop that my fellow Interior Designer friends Sidney and Marci helped me with last weekend. The house is looking amazing and refreshed and cozy.

Oh, and in case you're worried, Max is feeling much better. Which is good, since his first birthday is in 4 days. I, however, am an emotional train wreck because my baby is growing up and I've barely slept in a week. Or 4 years, depending on how you look at it. Good news for you - fun DIYs to share in the coming weeks for his first birthday party!

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halloween wrap up (and my dirty martini recipe)

Did everyone have a great Halloween? We sure did! I had to share with you guys how cute my little Fox and Hound turned out. 

Sorry in advance that most of these photos are blurry. It's hard to keep kids still on a good day. On Halloween it's nearly impossible.

First up, my firstborn, The Fox.

sunday stitch vol. 16 - invisible zipper pillows

Even though I've been sewing since I was about eight years old, I have a bit of an irrational fear of zippers. Thankfully my friend and former neighbor Nicole taught me how to sew with zippers a couple of months back when we made this zipper pouch.

When my friend/boss asked me to make a couple of pillows for her daughter's room I decided to go for it. Perfect time to test out this new skill. And she bought enough fabric that if I totally screwed it up I would have enough backup to make more pillows and she'd be none the wiser.

I love it when the odds are stacked in my favor.

The fabric was sourced from Mood in NYC. Unfortunately, Tim Gunn was not spotted. 

I used this tutorial. Very easy to follow. Very professional looking results. Both pillows were done in about an hour. That even includes the time where I finished the first pillow, realized too late that both pillow inserts were NOT in fact 18", but were actually 18" and 16", and cut the larger cushion down by 2". 

"Make it work, designer."

Thank goodness I made it larger than necessary and not smaller. Two minutes with my rotary cutter, another spin around the sewing machine, and the problem was solved.

Henry thought they were for him. Sorry, dude. Maybe you'll get some of your own now that I'm officially over my zipper phobia.

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