Fun With Tea Towels

Good Morning!!! I am a very happy girl this morning :) I had  a colonoscopy yesterday, and not a polyp was found...WOO HOO! The last time I had one, 4 years ago, a polyp was found, precancerous, so not an issue, but I was concerned going into this one...
There's a history of colon cancer in my family(my grandmother died with colon cancer), one has already been found, I'm older, and, the list goes on. 
No one likes to think, much less talk about getting a colonoscopy, but if you are hesitant about getting one, please, by all means don't put it off. Yes, it's 2 days out of your life, but the 2 days spent could mean that you have more rather than less days here on earth. 

I'm a little late in getting this out, but Spoonflower is having their annual 50% off fat quarter sale. You may remember that I took a stab at designing a piece of fabric this past summer. Here it is below as a fat quarter.

If you might like to have one of your own, HERE is a link to my page and the design. A fat quarter of this piece is just $7.00 during the sale. The piece makes a great tea towel as well as a bag, or an insertion on a jacket, or skirt. So, the sky is the limit!!!

You may remember the super cute woven t-shirt that Becky of Trial Balloons made with my design. We also devoted 1 segment of our summer challenge to tea towels. 

Spoonflower suggests their Linen Cotton Canvas fabric for tea towels.

The sale only runs through Thursday, November 8, 2018, so be sure to hop over quickly if you want to participate in the sale.

I ordered a  few tea towel lengths for myself as well as gifts...

I love just about anything with vegetables. This is the Farmer's Market Tea Towel and you can find it HERE. 

I ordered a pile of these to give to my sewing friends. You can find the sewing machine tea towel calendar HERE.

And finally, I thought this deer calendar would be such a lovely little gift. You can find it HERE.

We are supposed to get snow tomorrow for the first time this season. I can't wait!!! I have no idea as to whether Mr. Berkley has ever seen snow, but I'm sure he will enjoy it. He enjoys everything!!! :)

Have a wonderful day!

Rhonda 

And the Winners Are...

You may have noticed that the title says winners, plural :)

Last Monday, I shared my new tea towel/fabric design I made from a watercolor piece that I did,

As I said last week, so may wonderful things have happened recently, and I always enjoy sharing a bit of joy, so I decided to give away 1 of my fat quarter/tea towels. Well...I was able to take advantage of a fabulous sale, and then Spoonflower gives me a discount since I am the designer of the piece, so all the more affordable. Rather than giving away 1 piece, I decided to give away 3! So yes, there are 3 lucky winners :)

And the winners are(since my handwriting is basically illegible!)...

Laura Tyre Phillips

Cynthiacc

And Sew Forth

Congratulations ladies!!!

Be sure to email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your mailing address so I can get the fabric out to you.  

Have a fabulous week!

Rhonda

P.S.

If anyone is interested, I will have the fabric ready to sell on the Spoonflower site later this week. I'll let you know when it is up and ready to go! 

Monday Morning Fun!

The best thing happened last week :)

I had surgery on my right eye last Tuesday. It seems that all went quite well. The best part is that the awful vertigo feeling that I had after the surgery was done on my left eye in May was immediately gone. So happy! But, that's not the best news...

Meet Berkley!!!

I took this picture as we drove home, me holding his little feet as he slept :) He's 24 pounds of pure love. His little tail is constantly wagging. Such a happy little guy. 

As I was supposed to be resting my eye :/, a thought came to me to just take a look and see if there were any Schipperke dogs up for adoption. It was the strangest thing, a rescue website came up that had nothing to do with Schipperke rescue, but there was a picture of Berkley. This has never happened before. But, for the first time since I lost Miss Little Bit 2 years ago, this little dog spoke to me. I ran upstairs and asked my husband what he thought. He said, "I think we should go for it!" I filled out the application and a questionnaire about what attracted me to the little dog. Friday morning the rescue called and said that they would hold him for me until we could get there on Saturday. My husband actually drove me all the way to Detroit to see this little guy. A 10 hour round trip adventure, but worth every minute :) Gracie isn't all that happy, but, she's doing better than I thought she would. All seems right in our home once again :) I have had a smile on my face since Saturday!

Remember my Summer Bucket list? You may remember that I had a piece of fabric made of my painting. I went back to the Spoonflower site, played around with the design, and did the mirror piece below. The true colors didn't come through in this picture, but I was SOOOO very happy with how the piece turned out.     

I've thought of all sorts of things to do with the yardage, but finally decided to just do a wrap skirt and keep the piece in tact. I keep pinching myself as I cannot believe that something I painted is actually printed on a piece of fabric, and that it looks so pretty, at least I think so ;)   

 Another happy little unexpected gift. 

Kathy of Running With Rockets posted this little vintage tool on her Instagram page. She loves to go to yard sales, resale shops, and find vintage sewing tools. She had said that if anyone was interested in this tool, she would be posting it on her Etsy site. I jumped on it as I had wanted one of these when I was a child. To my surprise, Kathy said that she would like to gift it to me!!! How nice :)  

The little tool makes these daisy shapes, and it came with an instruction page for this sweet top. I'm so excited!!! 

Now, if you've gotten this far in the post, I have a nice little surprise :) I've had so many lovely things happen to me lately, and I would like to share a little happiness with someone. 

This is the tea towel that I made from my painting. Because I don't know how to stretch the design to the entire length of the fat quarter, there's a repeat that will need to be cut off at the bottom. But, there's enough for a tea towel, bag, or even a skirt panel. I've started a skirt with a panel that I'll be sharing soon.  

So, if you would like a chance to win one of my tea towel panels, just leave a message on this post. Let me know what you think you might do with it. Don't worry, I won't hold you to it ;)

I will post the winner next Monday, July 30, 2018.

Good Luck!

And may you have a happy, happy week!

Rhonda

Never In A Million Years

In 2010, I wrote THIS post about Dreams and Purpose. Eight years ago, an eternity in the internet world :) 

As many of you know, the past 9 months have been a bit of an odyssey for me. I am working on a piece that I plan to publish as an ebook that will tell the story. I had planned to have it ready by the 1st of June, but rather than make an excuse (eye surgery, etc.), I'll just own up to the fact that I have drug my feet. Soon though. 

Like any odyssey though, along with the bad, there has been the good. So often, we take a step, thinking we are heading in a certain direction, or maybe no direction at all, and then suddenly, something has happened that we never would have dreamed possible. 

A few weeks ago, I did a post on my Summer Bucket List. I shared how I decided to make my list special and paint a background. The piece is below.

Once I had completed the picture, I thought that it might make a fun piece of fabric. The irony of it all has not been lost ;) Since I have put myself on a fabric purchasing diet until the 1st of August, I thought, "is this just my addiction finding a different way around getting what it wants?" Well...if it is...it won!!!

I decided to go to the Spoonflower website and just see what would happen. Below is the outcome. I thought that if nothing more, I could use the piece as a tea towel. It's not perfect. The design didn't work with the entire length of the fabric. Not a problem. When I pulled the fabric out of the bag, well, first of all, I was so excited as I loved it! My husband even exclaimed, "wow, that's beautiful!" Nice :) When I saw the piece, I realized that the design is large enough for a bag, or a tea towel, so I will just cut off the incomplete repeat at the bottom. Maybe use it as a facing.

  
This morning, I went back to Spoonflower and did a little more playing around, and did the piece that you see below. I ordered 2 yards of cotton for a skirt. I cannot wait for it to arrive!!!

Eight years ago, I NEVER would have imagined that I would create a piece of fabric with my own original artwork. NEVER!!! And here it is :) No, not Rembrandt, Picasso, or even Charles Schultz ;), but something I can be proud of.  

I love this quote from Homer's, The Odyssey...

"A small rock holds back a great wave."

We've all had our "rocks" in life, the things that hold us back. 

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike blew into Galveston, Texas. I was most amazed by how the water had been able to pick up boulders of granite and toss them onto the sea wall as thought they were made of styrofoam. Moral of the story..

Rocks can be moved.

A Little Something Unexpected

Just a quick post this morning :) 

Whenever any of us begin something new, it can be scary and intimidating. Not everyone will like what you're doing, and some will criticize. 

But then...there are those who will support, and cheer you on, regardless of whether they feel it's a good idea or not. That's what so many of you are for me :), and I cannot begin to express my true gratitude. 

You may remember the Spoonflower tea towels that I purchased last November,

They are such a simple little gift, but everyone seems to love receiving them. I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that it's an unexpected gift.

Well...I have one of the sewing tea towels left, and rather than keep it for myself, I thought I would choose a name from the list of all of you who left a message on Monday's post. Your thoughts and messages gave me the encouragement that I needed!

So, I drew names, and the winner of the towel is...

Tomasa!!!

A little unexpected gift :) Email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your mailing info and I will pop it in the mail.

While I wish I had a towel for each of you, I am working on a little something that I hope many of you will enjoy, so stay tuned!

Have a wonderful day! I hope something wonderful and unexpected happens for each and everyone of you today :)
Rhonda

Tea Towels For Christmas

For those of us who enjoy giving a gift not only from our hearts, but from our hands, I think we can all relate to this... 

All too often, my desires have been much larger than my capability :)

I especially enjoy giving a little gift to someone who really doesn't expect anything. Last year, I ordered a bunch of tea towels from Spoonflower and had the best time giving them to friends. 

I just received an email from Spoonflower announcing that their Tea Towels, actually all of their fat quarters are on sale!!!, a 2 for 1 sale.

That means you can give a very thoughtful gift for only $7.00. I think that $7.00 for a smile is a great bargain :) 

I just combed through all 48 pages, and here's a few that I purchased.

For my sewing friends. You can find the towels HERE

I especially love vegetables and any type of fun vegetable print. You can find the beets HERE

The turnips HERE

This may end up staying in my kitchen as I absolutely love this print. You can find it HERE

For a friend who has a French country kitchen and loves roosters. You can find this towel HERE.

For a friend who lives in the mountains. You can find it HERE

The cardinals were available last year as a 2016 calendar. I was happy to see them bring it back for 2017. This one will brighten up the kitchen of a friend who has had an especially difficult year. 

I bought a few more, but these were my favorites. 

The sale will run from today through November 9, 2016, so don't delay!!!

Happy Holiday Sewing!

Rhonda

Priceless

Finding a great tea towel on Spoonflower...

Fun

Making an all purpose bag out of the tea towel...

Creative

Surprising a friend who has been through a rough time and seeing her smile...

Priceless!!!

The Wednesday Showcase/Custom Sewing and Fabric Design

The weather reports have been warning us about horrible storms coming through the Chicagoland area. Even telling us to be sure and have our cell phones charged just in case we loose electrical power and we need to call for help. Guess what...the storms have all moved to the south and not one drop of rain! My garden needs some rain!!! Oh well, break out the water hose :)

For today's Wednesday Showcase, I have two ladies who not only have a passion for sewing, but have decided to make it a business.

First up is Whitney of Tom Kat Stitchery. She says that she became motivated to make custom clothing when an expensive pair of pants fell apart after wearing only a couple times. She lives in Indiana, is a member of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals...and she loves to sew!

Whitney entered the 2015 ASDP Threads Challenge, "A Sheath Dress Inspired by Art."  Her piece was inspired by Renoir's ballerinas.  

I thought this shirt dress was such a great idea. A bride commissioned the shirt dresses for her bridesmaids to have the day of the wedding while they were dressing. Each was monogrammed with their initials. What a great bridesmaid gift!  

Whitney took a Shibori dying class through her local ASDP chapter and made the amazing fabric you see below. You can read her article about the process HERE.

I think we all long for a beautiful basic shirt in our wardrobes.  And there's nothing more versatile than a great white shirt.

Whitney is so inspiring and it's wonderful to see someone truly embrace sewing as not only an art form, but a business.

Next up is Renee. I met Renee a few years back when I did the fashion show for the Haute Couture Club of Chicago. Renee LOVES to design fabric and wait until you see what she does, it's absolutely amazing! Her blog is Learning Patterns, and you can find her Spoonflower store HERE. 

Now for a few of her very creative pieces. Keep in mind that she designed all of the fabrics that you see.

This dress features a big surprise in the back!

Inspired by poppies, Renee created this lovely border print and then
used the fabric so artfully.  

She really enjoys making skirts. When you visit her Spoonflower store, you'll find that the skirts are already printed, so it's just a cut and sew situation. It doesn't get any easier than that!
  

Love the cityscape with the birds on a wire. Such fun!

Be sure to check out Renee's blog for more inspiration and then pop over to her Spoonflower store for some fun fabrics.

Once again, I'm inspired. Hope you are as well!!!

Happy Wednesday :)

Rhonda

A Little Gift That Makes Everyone Smile

I've gone back and forth about posting this as it's such a simple little thing...tea towels from Spoonflower. In fact, when I've given them away, I don't feel that I can actually say that I've made them since all I did was stitch around the edges. But everyone, and I mean everyone has been so delightfully surprised when I present them with a simple tea towel. Since there's nothing better than making someone smile, I thought I would go ahead and share a few links, as you might like to be able to give a simple little gift that is sure to please.
Most of the tea towels that I purchased are calendar towels. You can purchase the tea towels as a fat quarter, or by the yard. If you buy them by the yard, you will receive 4 towels. Be aware that the towels are quite a bit cheaper per towel if you buy them by the yard. 
Below is a sampling of what I purchased. 

Cardinals as I feel that cardinals bring good luck :) You can find them here, http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/4653097

This towel does not have a calendar, but a friend of mine has a lovely French country kitchen and I thought this would be perfect.

For a friend who loves music. Here's a link, http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1504583

What a perfect gift for anyone who sews! These towels were met with especially big smiles :)

I looked for links to the other towels, and just about went blind looking. So, here's a link where you can find more towels than you ever thought might exist.
I purchased one more,

I thought the fox was adorable and then the background is my favorite color. Rather than finishing the edges, I'm making a bag(that I plan to keep!). I'll be sure to share it once it's finished. Here's a link, http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1909492#
If you do decide to purchase a few towels as gifts, I hope that the recipients are as happy as mine have been. It really makes giving a little gift so much fun!