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

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