I want this.

Awesome. I want some neon in my wardrobe, ASAP. Baby-g-Shock via ShopBop.

So this is architecture school

I'm off work today because I have an admitted student event at University Illinois - Chicago (UIC). I'm very excited to see what the deal is, since I pretty much have no idea. Today we are going to be at the school, with tours and talks and meeting people (eeek I always get nervous for that!), then tomorrow we are getting taken to several alumni architecture firms (SOM, UrbanLab, etc). This is IT!!! I am hoping this will help me make my decision between UIC and IIT soon, because I want the decision to be over!!!

Quickie

On Sunday I made another skirt, using the same "pattern" as the other one...BUT this one was NOT silk. Everyone can exhale now in case you were holding your breath. Anyway, remember how I mentioned my obsession with Ikea, and how I'm mostly Swedish, and love modern design? Well, Marimekko has alot to do with all of the above (well except for making me part Swedish, that's because of my greatgrandparents) N-E-ways, my amazingly crafty and stylish Madre has been talking about this Marimekko person since forever. Madre loves to sew, loves Scandinavia, and loves design, and Marimekko was synonymous with all of these. Of course I find out that Marimekko isn't a single person much later in life (I still refer to Marimekko as a her), but have been drawn to their textile design since forever. Along with my introduction to FLW and The Fountainhead, Marimekko textiles were the catalyst that transformed me into a architecture and design fanatic. Not only that, but a modern one at that. Note: I don't like unnecessary adornments FYI EVER.

Ok, so I said this would be a quickie, and here it is. The skirt I made out of Marimekko LELO fabric (first designed in 1991) from the Crate and Barrel outlet here in Chicago. For....wait for it......4.5o a yard...and I used less than a yard for this skirt.
And the buttons were from the DIYODS show last weekend via the Chicago Craft Mafia, approx 5 cents a button. Wish you could tell how awesome they are....

Sewing 102

My friend Kristen was my first friend here in Chicago. I moved here for a job without knowing anyone but the people who hired me. Kristen was a Notre Dame grad my same age and her cubicle was right next to mine. Before too long she decided that she needed to take me under her wing and bring me into her circle of friends. Well I was so flattered, and in desperate need of some company, and it wasn't too long before we discovered our joint love for baking, traveling, and judging ;). So here we are more than three years later, she is no longer my coworker but a best friend nonetheless, and I can generally count on her to go on adventures with me.
About 2 months ago I convinced her to take a trip to the burbs with me to go to Ikea. A staycation as my friend Anna pointed out. I have this extreme obsession with Ikea, largely because I am mostly Swedish and adore modern design. Anyway, after Ikea we stopped by Joann's in the burbs, and Kristen found this bolt of home dec fabric in the red tag section. It was awesome, and somewhere in between the fleece, and zippers, and buttons she decided she needed curtains. So we dug through the patterns and found a great one as a guide for tab top curtains. She went up to get it all cut and it turned out that the red tag fabric she wanted was only $1 a yard. $1 are you kidding?! I wanted to rip it from her hands and steal it.

The next weekend she came over and we started to put together the drapes. Just like a good teacher I had her cut and iron and cut, etc. The fabric was silky and slippery and the drapes were long, 6 YARDS!!! We didn't finish them that first day so she came over the next Friday night. She made me some homemade pizza, perhaps to bribe me to help her finish the drape project, but then we got to work. From 8 to 10 things were going well. Then it was that time we all experience, where you know you should stop. Your concentration and patience is GONE and you're mussing up everything and the seam ripper is on hand always. Well, we pushed through until FINALLY at about 12:00AM she finished. And I have to say that they are AWESOME. I mean they really are people, some might think they are "loud" or "busy" but they are gold and fuchsia and flowery and amazing. Trust me. So ended my first sewing lesson. And another reason Kristen is a BFF. I'm so lucky to have such creative and goodnatured people in my life!!!


This is the process, see Kristen working hard to get things straight? She was very careful about her seams and ironing!! I taught her well HA!

And here is the final product, 100% by Kristen:

Spoiler Alert...

If your name is Jackie Canty, do NOT go to my flickr page.

Tonight I finished the baby quilt for my BFFL Jackie and her baby boy. He hasn't arrived yet, but I am pretty sure he will be here any day!! (Editors Note: Just found out I was off on the due date by 2 months, NO I am not a bad friend I swears). I have been working on this quilt for almost 3 months now and the first time around I started with a pattern I drew up. I was inspired by Jenny's quilt which I think is a version of a Denyse Schmidt pattern. It was a pretty great idea I thought, but using a fabric with directional images didn't work how I wanted it to.

So after I put it away for a few weeks I decided to scrap that idea and go with another Denyse Schmidt inspired pattern, the chinese coin quilt. I used the dimensions for the blocks based off of Handmade by Alissa's coin quilts (ps don't you just love her quilts?). I used what I had left of the David Walker Robots, picked up some basic colored prints from Joanns, and some sashing fabric there too. I have been hearing about the wonderful benefits of using linen for quilting, and I was very skeptical. I didn't like cutting it, and you should know that I am an iron, cut, iron, sew, iron, iron girl, and obviously linen isn't as conducive to that. But once I cut it, and sewed everything together, I began to appreciate how soft and cozy the linen is. I can't wait to see how it gets after washing again. The top came together really fast and then it was off to Joann's for some backing and batting. I decided to go with the coziness theme and found the perfect flannel for the back. Heather was worried it was a little busy and might make the baby sick (I could see what she meant, but it may have been the overtired state I was in at the time), but I thought it was too perfect color wise to pass up. I pieced a strip of fabrics from the front and sewed it off center with the flannel, and I might like the back just as much as the front!! I am definitely making myself a flannel quilt for next winter. Anyway, used some David Walker planets and the yellow stripes from Jo's for the binding (love using pieced and striped binding!) and slapped it all together. I did very little quilting to put it all together because I just didn't want to detract from the linen and the simplicity of the pattern. I hope it works out in the long run. I am still a newbie at machine quilting. So that is the basics.

Here is a sneak peek...

I can't wait for Jackie and her hubby Brian to get it, I really think and hope that they love it as much as me. I think all children should be taught to aim high and follow their dreams, and I think a planet and space robot quilt is perfect for that.

Jackie is my oldest friend, from back in the third grade, and we had some great times growing up. One time, in 3rd grade, we wore the same clothes and no one could tell us apart. Well, she quickly grew several inches and the most beautiful hair and we didn't look anything alike anymore but we still LOVED watching Goonies, and singing along to Newsies, playing capture the flag, snowboarding, and of course playing soccer together. She was a soccer stud all the way through college and I don't know if she knows how much I admire her work ethic and dedication, as well as her compassion and love. I wish I knew Brian better, but I know that she is happy and they have the most beautiful daughter, Tillie, and I can't wait to see her all grown up.
Love, Jenny

Smooth as Silk

First off, after taking these pictures, I realize that I apparently still have my swimmer legs. oh and I am pale. Please ignore everything BUT the skirt.

grey houndstooth silk!

see those buttons?

This is the skirt I made based on a skirt I bought in LA last month. I had been thinking about this project ever since then. I realized that it couldn't be THAT hard to come up with my own pattern. Well, to be honest it really wasn't. I made up a muslin trial skirt one night in about an hour and a half then tried it the next night in the silk. As you may be aware, sewing with silk is like jumping up to skiing a black diamond after your first run on a blue. Just as you are feeling confident, you step a little too far out of the comfort zone and have to side step a few of the steepest slopes. And that is what happened to me.

Enough ski analogy, the cutting was hard, the fraying was unbelievable, and I was deathly afraid of snagging something. Plus I momentarily blacked out and sewed the waistband wrong and had to take out stitches (EEEK) and do it again. I also used this project to make my first buttonholes. Who does that? Obviously me, like I always say...Go big or go home.

Well, I am hooked, I loved when people complimented my skirt and I said "I MADE IT!! and its REAL silk, and its Ferragamo, and I got it for 6 dollars a yarddd!!" While that was more than 99% of the people wanted to hear, I loved the feeling. So hopefully there will be more skirts and hopefully a dress or too before summer!! :-)

Quick Mid-week Update

I was all ready for bed, but I've been having some scary dreams lately and just wasn't ready to turn things off around here. Then I realized I hadn't shared the pictures of my amazing St. Patrick's Day purse. It was made from the pattern available on the MadebyRae website. It is really the most amazing pattern, perfectly put together and so easy to make. I wish all patterns were like this!!! Thanks sooo much Rae for posting the free tutorial and pattern. I will definitely be making many more of these bags. Perhaps in clutch form as well...

Made out of that Echino fabric I love SO much!! (ps please forgive the icky pics and shots taken on the radiator)

I also made a skirt out of a pattern I came up with myself. Its silk, and let me tell you that I can't believe it turned out. It was my first experience with sewing silk, making a pattern, AND making buttonholes. Phew. I will take some pics soon so y'all can see it. Did I mention it was FERRAGAMO silk. woot.

Here are some pictures in closing. One from a recent trip to Joann's. I was being an enabler and tried to talk Heather into buying this fabric. Because she really needed to make a MUUMUU for the summer (I mean who doesn't)..............thank goodness she didn't buy it. But hysterical at the time.

And finally, the maid in my hotel in Lansing, MI had left this little towel creature in my bathroom. It was too adorable to use. Can you tell what it is?????