SEAM Block Party!

  

SEAM is celebrating summer at Alewives Fabrics with a BLOCK PARTY!  Free and open to all!  Sunday, August 4th from 1:00 to 4:00 we'll be making "St. Louis Sixteen Patch" blocks. The Sixteen Patch is a very easy block, even for a beginner.  If you've never sewn up a quilt block before, but always wanted to try, we'll help you get a couple made at the meeting.  Bring two fat quarters with you (one red and one white) and we'll stitch up these blocks for a charity quilt (or two... or three!).   Bring your own machine or use one of ours here at the shop. Rotary cutters, mats, rulers and irons will be available to use, but feel free to bring your own tools, too.  We'll be serving refreshments, and it's also the last day of Alewives' 20% off Midsummer Clearance Sale. See you there!

 PS...  Don't forget that we'll be doing show and tell, too!  Bring your latest project, a favorite fabric, a handy tool... anything you'd like to share with your fellow sewing enthusiasts and artists of Maine! 

Quick post while he's napping...

Bert has just recently (and I mean "within the last two weeks recently") begun to sleep and nap on his own, in his crib, without being held.

It's a whole new ball game and it does mean I have a bit more time for internet endeavors and sewing.

I've *almost* got not one, but TWO washi dresses ready to share with you, but I also wanted to show you something I managed to sew in those first few months when Bert was literally a handful.

 

It's a pincushion that was given away at the Pincushion Swap we held a few weeks back...

Don't cry for me, Argentina, but I was up until 3 o'clock in the morning finishing this pincushion the night before the swap.

It's made up of 1/2" hexies and completely sewn by hand.

It's not that I'm a glutton for punishment, it's just that I do love to sew hexies... and I do love a bit of hand-sewing and some late night TV.

That's a vintage Bakelite button in the center.

Gotta love the Bakelite. 

 

And this one little block was another late night endeavor.

Just five stolen minutes of sewing and a bit of finger pressing and it was done.

Maybe it will become something some day, but it felt good just to sew something without an agenda... just making for the sake of making.

I don't know how other Moms out there do it.

(Get things done, I mean)

I can barely keep up with the dishes, but it is getting easier all the time.

And it's so, so much fun to be Bert's mom.

He's still the best thing I ever made.

Gotta go... hope you had a happy 4th!

XO,

Rhea

Sewing!

I am back in the saddle again.

 

Spent the last two days making a muslin and studying up on the Washi Dress for my class this weekend.

 

The options for customizing the fit and look of this dress are insane, and Rae's tutorials and videos and the sheer volume of information available to help you do this right, it's all just plain amazin'.

I have missed sewing and I'm enjoying taking my time with this.

(I used washi on my washi... did you catch that?)

(Make mine a maxi, please!)

...This post brought to you courtesy of hands-free time, made possible by...

...Monsieur le Bouncy-Seat!

 

Thank you , Deb, for hooking me up with Monsieur le Bouncy-Seat.

He has changed my life.

I've got three being shipped to me as we speak:

One for the kitchen, one for Grandma Baba's house and one that will have a permanent place of honor hanging in my sewing room door.

It's good to be back :-)

XO,

Rhea

Baby Jane

Love, love, love this new collection of pre-cuts that has arrived at the shop from Moda...

 

The collection is called "Baby Jane" and it's designed by Eric and Julie Comstock (the couple behind Cosmo Cricket).

Our yardage should be arriving soon, but in the meantime we have Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Charms and Mini Charms, all listed on the website right here.

They remind me of a grandmother's kitchen in Sweden, at the base of the Alps.

She has a large meadow full of buttercups and a picket fence in front of her house and a couple of cows.

During the day she churns butter for the neighbors and at night she does cross-stitch by candle light.

Not what you see when you see this collection?

Just me and my crazy imagination, you say?

Probably true.

XO,

Rhea

Fish Ladder Festival!

What are you and the family doing this weekend?

Me and my family will be at the Fish Ladder Festival...

Stop by the shop to have your face painted, buy a soda and an ice cream, and watch the alewife documentary (and yes, you can use our bathroom, too!).

The forecast looks a bit dicey, but our end of the deal is rain or shine.

See you this weekend and have a great Memorial Day!

XO,

Rhea

Celebrate Spring with a Pincushion Swap this Sunday!

A couple of no-sew beauties! These pincushions were made by my friend Dawn, from a set of vintage egg-cups.

 

 

 I can't think of anything more fun than a celebratory Spring Pincushion Swap, can you?

So, let's pounce on the moment and have one this Sunday at the shop!

I've set up a Pinterest board with tons of "Pinspiration" to get you going...

There are so many different ways to make a pincushion and the beauty of a pincushion is that they don't take very long to make at all.

The hardest part will be deciding which type of pincushion you'd like to make!

Here are the details:

The Pincushion Swap will be this coming Sunday afternoon, April 28th at 1:00 pm here at Alewives Fabrics.

You don't need to sign up to attend: just show up.

You need to make your pincushion yourself: the more creative the better (here's where you should sneak a peek at our Pincushion Love board on Pinterest to get your creative juices flowing!)

Wrap your pincushion so no one can see it: make it look like a fabulous little present that anyone would want to open.

The Swap will work like a Yankee Swap: we'll all draw numbers and swap and steal from each other until the last pincushion standing is gone.

Swapping and stealing are highly encouraged: that's part of the fun!

No matter what number you get, everyone goes home with a handmade pincushion, so everybody wins.

The Pincushion Swap will also serve as our spring SEAM meeting: you'll get to meet lots of people who enjoy sewing just as much as you do.

(Don't know about SEAM yet?  Check out the official SEAM website here!)

So, I guess that's it...  we hope to see you at the shop this Sunday afternoon.

(And please forgive me if I steal your pincushion from you!)

XO,

Rhea

Rekindling the romance...

(The culprit)

 There is another relationship besides my relationship with this blog that has suffered a bit since Bert came along.

Allow me to elaborate...

I'm someone who's always trying to figure out the whole "time management" thing.

I'm sure most of you can relate, right?

Even before having Bert, I spent most days feeling like I was constantly playing catch-up, constantly trying to keep all the balls up in the air, constantly letting go of one thing or another in order to end the day in a semi-organized state.

Between my duties at the store and my (completely lame) attempts at keeping the house neat and my time spent visiting friends & family and my (also completely lame) attempts at physical fitness (the occasional walk and/ or yoga class), there was always still just enough time left over for a date with...

the sewing machine.

(Did you think I was going to say something else?)

But now that I have a baby...

Oh my, time management has been brought to a whole different level.

To be clear, it is a wonderful state of un-organizedness I now find myself in.

 But...

Lately I can't deny that we're drifting apart.

Over the course of the last few weeks I can tell the sewing machine is getting jealous of the baby, growing resentful of my time away.

 I've come to the conclusion that I've got to crank everything up a notch if I am ever going to have time with my sewing machine again and I do NOT want to neglect that relationship.

So, in an effort to patch things up, I have a date with my sewing machine this Saturday night.

I've lined up a babysitter and picked out a special outfit and everything.

I just hope it's not too late to rekindle some of the romance we used to share.

 

 We're going to have to work hard in order to make time for each other in the coming years, but I think we just might be able to do it.

XO,

Rhea