I want a hippopotamus for Christmas....make that any day!

I love hippos.  I am not really sure why, but I think its because our adopted family Christmas song is "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas".  In searching last year for hippo fabrics to make matching christmas pj's I realized there was a serious shortage in hippo fabric.  I ended up buying the Ikea red and green hippos and making pjs and that was great but I would have loved to have a variety.  Well there are some japanese fabrics with hippos but they are very very expensive. Soooo on to today. Another mama on sewing mamas was asking where to find hippo fabrics so I shared the dismal information I had on the subject.  Then I thought, why don't I design some hippo fabric. DUH!  Ok So I spent the afternoon playing with Illustrator and ended up with a darling hippo fabric. I even drew the hippos, no clipart for me.  I love how it turned out, call me biased but its cute, and its hippos. I started with just bright hippos in outline with no background color, then I added a couple of background options.  It will be for sale through spoonflower as soon as I get the proofs.  Now enjoy the view and have a hippopotamus.

Baby Fairy Petal Dress and Bloomers 3-6 Month Euro size 62

 I couldn't resist making this wonderful little dress.  Although I have no babies to put it on I know that somebody will love the design as well.  It is for sale in my etsy store now. This Moda fabric is one of my favorites and I love how the dress came together with the decorative stitching.  I will certainly make more of this design, although it is very time consuming it is just too adorable to make just one, kinda like potato chips. I will have more baby stuff going to etsy in the next few days as the Sewing Mamas team on Etsy is having a baby event Starting March 5th.  Keep your eyes open for more details. You can find the links to both mine and the teams facebook fan pages in the column to the right, these will be updated as the events progress.
The images are clickable to see a larger version.

"Curvy Purse" by "The Crochet Diva"

Yesterday I wanted to work on something for myself.  I have been dying to make a purse out of my sewing toile fabric so that is what I did.  I got a great deal for valentines day from "The Crochet Diva" on Etsy and used her pattern for the Curvy Purse.  Small and simple.  I love the result and the pattern was very easy to follow and create. This is one I can take minimal items with me, like when I go to Las Vegas next month.  The straps are removable via some darling toggle clasps if I want to just use it as a clutch. Of course its my fabric so that makes it perfect;-)  I am also trying to get some quilting done and finish up some items for the stash game.  The hustle and bustle around here never seems to end.  Onto the photos!!! And yes some sunshine finally!
Here is the link to my fabric on Spoonflower!
 http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/138108

Brother cs6000i my new baby...errrrrr....machine

Yesterday the ups man delivered an enormous box.  Finally it was my sewing machine that comes with part of my Dress Making and Design course through Penn Foster.  I had no idea what to expect other than it was supposed to be a Brother.  I was pretty apprehensive because my first sewing machine was a cheapie walmart Brother and I absolutely loathed the machine. Since I already have my Elna 3210 that I adore I wasn't too worried if this was the cheapie, I figured it would get sold and I would get a basic Elna or Janome for Hannah to start on. Ok back to the machine.  Out of the enormous box came a box with a hard carrying case and then out came the Brother cs 6000i, computerized and very pretty.  It has a nice extra width table which will be great for my future quilting endeavors.  It also has a ton of fun decorative stitches and features.  Well before I got myself all excited about the machine I asked my sewing mamas and did some review searches. I was nervous, there were a lot of comments about the thread tension, which was my drama with my first brother.  Ok ok, I can't judge the machine until I have tried it.  So this morning I headed down and hooked it up.  I was thrilled at how things went together, Hannah and I had a blast testing all the fun stitches and feet...  No problems whatsoever.  I have sewn with it all day even through thick layers with no troubles so far.  Looking good for the future of the machine in my home.  It also has an slide to adjust the foot pedal pressure, from slow/medium/fast.  Which means I can put it on slow, put Hannah on the machine and no matter how hard she guns it, its sews slowly.  Obviously I have a lot more testing of the machine, if it can keep up with the stash game for the 2nd half of the month it may just earn its way into our home.  Here are a couple of quick photos.

A few items from the Stash Game on Sewing Mamas

I was really all prepared to be sewing like a mad woman during the February stash game on Sewing Mamas.  Life has had other plans though.  I have a few things to show.  A shirt for me, from Ottobre Design, a table cloth with drawstring so the kids can't tear it off, a pleated folding chair cover and a cell phone case for my mom. I have even more motivation to sew with a move back to Montana in the next few months very likely. So here is my stash game so far.

Cafe Press Give Away Wendy you are the winner!

Wendy is the winner of a wonderful prize from my cafe press shop.  Thanks so much Wendy!