30 March 2013

One way to learn paper foundation piecing?

What's one way to learn paper foundation piecing? Watch a video on the Fons & Porter website and then try it.

95 blocks later, you'll be a master.

It's always a satisfying feeling to get to some major milestone in a project that spans several weeks. Today, I finished the final blocks for Mike's new quilt.






29 March 2013

Linking In, Tweeting Up, Creating Interactivity

After updating the research data and some of the examples, I gave my social media presentation three times in two days this week.

On Wednesday, I spoke to two sections of Advanced PR classes at Baylor. In general, young adults know all about how to use social media... for personal reasons. Most don't quite grasp how to use it for business purposes. I appreciate my professor friends who invite me to their classrooms and I enjoy doing it.

On Thursday, I spoke to the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Almost all of these folks were strangers to me, but they were a warm bunch and eager to listen. Several followed up with me later in the day to ask for more advice about their organization needs.

Most rewarding: one person sent me a message detailing a Facebook crisis that happened as soon as she returned to the office -- that she handled it just as I had advised such a situation should be handled -- and that the result was she turned a negative "troll" into a positive "trumpeter" and received accolades for it from higher-ups. Nicely done! Made my day.

17 March 2013

She's gone wild in the sewing studio

Apparently, Caille's art teacher loves giraffes. Caille found this fabric in the clearance section at the Joann's store, added a punch of lime green from my stash, an adorable appliqué embellishment and personalized it with her teacher's name in embroidery.

The perfect apron for her art teacher!

It is amazing what Caille has accomplished in the last week!



Mustaches and color blocking during spring break

Color blocking can add dramatic impact to a garment. Caille loved Alaexander Henry's Where's My Stash fabric, so I ordered some for us to make something over spring break. She cut some of the pieces from black to break up the mustaches.






Pillowcase dresses

Caille has been busy this week working on her first commissioned sewing project... Pillowcase dresses for my friend, Brodie.











03 March 2013

Episodes of "lost time"

My sewing room might be an "overlapping time cave" (as described in my favorite podcast, Mysterious Universe).

Once I enter the room, I suffer severe episodes of "lost time." Friday and Saturday nights I usually emerge from the sewing room shocked to realize it is long after 2am.

Mike has been accusing me of "staying up all through the night sewing." I guess it might seem that way to him. But to me, it doesn't seem like I was in there for very long at all!

So, I have now added the retro wall clock, but it hasn't really made any difference.