The Four Learning Styles of Sewists

#1   Visual

#2    Auditory

#3    Kinesthetic

#4   I-Know-Exactly-What-I'm-Doing-Thank-You-Very-Much

Aren't you glad the world is made of all sorts?

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

One Yard Wonders Book Launch!

Last Saturday was the release of the new Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders book!

There was a launch party at The Crafty Planet in Minneapolis, MN - well within driving distance - so I went. Several reasons - one, to meet the authors, and put faces to the very fun personas behind the volleys of emails we'd sent back and forth. Two, to finally see this book I'd been waiting for, for almost two years. Three, to see - and touch - all the 101 projects in person. Four, to meet Pig again, whom I'd handed over for adoption by the good folks therein. See- there she is, on the back cover:

And five, I was on assignment to take photos for my good friend Jen, (who did the Drafting Series with me) who's also in the book, but who lives on the other side of the planet and wanted in on the fun, too.

See- here's her Mandarin dress:

- so gorgeous:

Here's my smocked gingham sundress,

ye olde piggy

and her babies:

and that camel and chocolate skirt, which looks cuter on the model than it ever did on me:

Look at all those patterns!

I promised I'd do a review of the book later, and I will, so these are the merely preliminary photos of the launch party, just for fun (and for you, Jen!).

Now, after going all October and half of November with not a single flake of snow, that Saturday would be the day the skies chose to finally unleash their first official Twin Cities snowfall. I had to think very hard to remember all the snow-driving tips because one very quickly forgets all this slip-sliding nastiness in the summer when the land is green and warm. Having lived most of my life on a tropical island, whose worst weather threat is floods, I still think of snow and ice as deadly road hazards, albeit in different ways. And driving in a blizzard, even to the gas station, is to me a feat of courage of Olympic proportions. Although, now that I've driven in both blizzards and floods, maaaaaaybe I'd pick snow over floods. 

It's fun to talk about the weather, isn't it? Snort. Well, what's a person to do, living in Minnesota? 

But let's get back to the fun stuff!

So here's the fabulous little fabric store where the launch party was held.

You all know I'm not a quilting cotton fan, but on Saturday I was. Look! 

Halfway through the book-signing and meet-the-everyones, I excused myself and ran off to buy fabric. Rude, I know, but I couldn't help it, I was so overcome by covetousness.

Here's Trish, one of the co-authors. And that's Rebecca's (other co-author) husband Gene, signing books.

Here I am with Rebecca and Trish! They are both such fun people in person. And Rebecca is wearing the bolero she designed for the book!

And here are some of the projects!

Look, Jen, there's your dress!

Incidentally, I'd warned Jen that I might be moved to tears to actually touch a thing she'd made with her own hands, and that came all the way from her sewing room halfway across the world in Malaysia. We both still think it's awful that we live so far apart and have to resort to discussing sewing by email and scanned photos, and getting ourselves in a book, for Pete's sake, to finally get together.

Jen, you wouldn't believe it, but this is the first thing I saw when I stepped into the display area:

I swear I didn't put them side-by-side. They were just hanging there, daring me to weep and overreact. I didn't, incidentally, but only because I was heavily distracted by what fabric I was going to buy when no one was looking.

I so enjoyed seeing all the things everyone made for the book - there was a wonderful variety - household items, clothes for people of all ages and types, some awesome bags, furniture, toys....

Speaking of toys, I spotted Pig and you know how they talk about your eyes meeting across a crowded room? Well, our eyes met, even though hers were sort of fibrous and vacant. I mosied up to her, drawled, "So..... come here often?"

and we had a nice chat about stuff we both knew a lot about - babies, birth stories, nursing, how our bodies have never been the same since - things like that.

It was good to catch up. 

Here are some of my favorite projects -

Katie's umbrella -

Becka's Knight in Shining Armor Costume -

And this next one blew me away. It's a bag, and I'm partial to bags, especially bags with piping, and this one was just fabulous.

Perfect top-stitching, perfect finishing, perfect piping, perfect inside, and so incredibly cool.

I got to meet the designer himself, Nate Van Hofwegen. It was hard not to gush. 

It was hard not to gush at everything, really, but I'm going to stop now and catch my breath. I'm going to slowly peruse the book over the Thanksgiving weekend, and review it for you later. From what I've seen so far, it's a work of art, and projects aside, it's also filled with extremely useful information and tips for working with all those different fabrics. I am proud to be a part of it.

Gingerbread!

Buttons.

Ric-rac.

Lollipops and candycanes.

Sweet treats.

But whose hands are holding them?

Gingerbreadmen!

They're missing something, though, don't you think?

Ah.

That's a start.

That, too.

Are you done pulling faces?

Let's go find a hat,

a collar,

a dandy bowtie,

some cuffs,

and a snazzy belt.

We can't decide - button-down shirt..

or suspenders?

Almost done - just two more things:

a heart in the right place

and handfuls of treats.

Wait, mum, does he have to be a boy?

Well, she doesn't -

They can wear whatever they like

and be whomever they want.

That's what dressing-up is all about, isn't it?

I made gingerbread dolls this week. They're so crazy-colorful, because I was thinking of little Jenna, and her love for baking and cupcakes and gingerbread-shaped sugar cookies. She always did love the decorating more than the eating. So I made the girls a gingerbread doll they could decorate and dress up all through the advent season and beyond. I think we might even start a new advent tradition with him - sort of like the Elf on the Shelf, except there's no reporting to Santa or anybody, just a naughty gingerbread boy who jumps off the cookie sheet and runs away and hides, daring people to catch and find him. Or her.

I took all those photos out in the snow yesterday - if you look carefully, you'll see the little white snowflakes (or nanohail) dusting their bodies, like powdered sugar from the sky.

All those colors made this a really fun project to make. Time-consuming, though, especially with all the different spools of colored thread that needed to be swopped on the machine. And you wouldn't believe how tricky it was to get the shape of the gingerbread person right in fabric. It took at least 3 muslins. In case you were going to ask, no, I am not planning to make a pattern for this. I didn't want to slow down to take photos, because I wanted to get it all done in time for advent. The next toy I'm making - hopefully in time for Christmas for the girls, is one I do intend to turn into a pattern, maybe in the first quarter of 2012.

Back to the playset now: there are lots of bits and bobs, so I made drawstring bags to contain them.

And I thought it might be a tad selfish of us to hoard all the fun, so I made a few more sets for the shop. Here's what each set comes with: the bare dolly, one drawstring bag, 8 pieces of ric-rac, one boy's hat, one girl's kerchief, one bow tie, one clay treat (a cupcake or sugar cookie), one felt lolly, one felt candy cane, one red mouth and 9 buttons (2 eyes, 1 heart, 3 rounds and 3 flowers).

That's a total of 24 decorating accessories, so you can use it as an advent calendar, too! The dolls are made with a similar fabric to the Owie Dolls, so the accessories all attach anywhere on the doll's body with velcro. Did you see the bandaids/elastoplasts? We borrowed them from the Owie Dolls for the photoshoot. And I know it's sort of obvious, but I do want to remind you that there are quite a few small items that could potentially be choking hazards, so bear this in mind if you have small kids at home, okay?

All that said, I hope you adopt a dolly! 

I've put five sets in the shop, and that's all I have. I'm not planning to make more this year because I wanted to get them done in time for mailing out for advent. As Mouse says, the best cookie is the one you share with a friend!