Lemon Tree Tales

Bikini Bags

Thanks to the tutorial for making these box bags at Small Hands  I was able to make these thank you gifts. Don't you just love the fabric?! It's called "In the Swim" by Alexander Henry Fabric Collection. When I saw this in one of my LQS I just had to get some ... maybe I should have bought more? I wasn't sure what to use it for, but this turned out to be the ideal fabric to use for these bags for my swimwear clients.  They're the perfect size to tuck in sunglasses, suntan lotion and a small bikini for the beach - or in my case, the perfect  size for pens and pencils.

I still have to finish up the extras on my Back-Tack 3 project ... I should be able to mail it out this Friday. Nancy of Belle Epoque is only up the coast in San Francisco so she'll receive the package well before June 10th. I really want to take better pictures so I'll need to figure out how to stage a better photo studio.

Black & White & Pink Inspiration

I'm still working on my back-tack 3 softie .... it's coming along, slowly but surely. I've noticed that a few people have finished their sofites: pointy kitty , wee bunny , turtle , another wee bunny , panda bear , another pointy kitty , wee bunny with cute monogram, wee bunny with cute tail.  Those are just a few that I found when searching to see what others have been coming up with. It's making me anxious to finish mine up soon.

I also was intrigued by what people do with a color limited theme such as our back-tack 3 project and found this site of Black/White & Pink Quilts .  It has some gorgeous pieces.

Happy Birthday to my Husband!

Before Columbus, this was the end of the known world .... Mizen Head, Ireland. October 2005

In honor of my sweetheart's birthday, I wanted to share one of his photos from our many travels to Ireland. He's a much better photographer than I ... he brings his tripod with us on our trips so that he may capture some of the beautiful things that we see together. He's a very very special man and I'm very lucky to share my life with him ... happy birthday babe!

Back-tack 3 Update .... no new pictures yet. I've been working on it and hope to have it finished by Wednesday so that I may have some time to take better pictures ... I may have to borrow that tripod.  :-)  A thank-you to Nicole  and Alison  for their nice mention of my fabric selection in the back-tack blog.

Dad Update .... He's doing so much better and getting stronger everyday. He has a lot of good friends near by who are looking out for him. So I felt that I was leaving him in good hands. Now I'm back home again. Home, sweet home!

BT3 Progress Report

Here's just a wee bit of the BT3 project. I really love the little 30s repro print with the circus animals. I just saw an actual antique quilt that used a blue/white combo of this print from the original printing. Wow ... we are in such a fortunate time to be fabric shoppers. There are so many options out there to satisfy anyone's taste level or interests.

The above section is my first attempt at the crazy quilting stitches. The double herringbone was fun, and I didn't even realize that it was a real pattern while I was stitching. I just thought that the double X's would be interesting. I think that after I finish the softie that I may have to try my hand at making a crazy quilt.

Now to other news ... first of all, a BIG thank you to everyone who's been wishing my Dad good luck in his recovery! It certainly means a lot to me. Dad's still in the ICU, but he's doing much better. I'm hoping that he'll be discharged next week sometime. I'm also in the middle of more freelance work for my client, which is always a good thing. I really enjoy designing ... it's a wonderful feeling to see your designs go from 2-D sketch to an actual live 3-D swimsuit. Of course, the best thing is walking on the beach and seeing them on real live people!

Dad Update

My Dad had his surgery yesterday and is doing great! I'm soooooooo relieved. Yesterday was a really long day, but I had my back-tack III project to keep me occupied in the waiting room. It's pretty nice to have something portable to work on to keep the mind distracted. Plus that is turning out well.

Back Tack 3 - finally!

I finally started cutting out the back-tack softie tonight! It took me a while to decide what pattern I really wanted to use. While the three pattern choices were adorable, they didn't really work with what I had in mind. So it's something else, one of these: bear, bunny, monkey, cat, dog, or sheep. I'm not going to let on what it is until later. I know, the suspense is just killing you, huh?

Here's the mostly white fabric selection:

And here's the mostly black fabrics:

Not pictured is some black minkee ... I have  a yin-yang thing going, so I like to balance the white options.

They're playing some 80s music in the Kinko's ... too funny that this is now considered "oldies".

Who goes there? Perhaps a Bunny?

I wanted to take a picture of the finished baby quilt on the grass ... springtime photo shoot ... and this little guy decided to come on over. He was a little camera shy at first, but finally I persuaded him to turn around.

This was my first sewing of  Wee Wonderfuls' free bunny pattern. I used the leftover scraps from the baby quilt and crazy quilted it onto a plain piece of white cotton. Then I had to try out a few of my sewing machine's built-in stitches using the multi-colored thread that I used to quilt earlier. I then made a cute little pom-pom tail ... okay, maybe it's a tad too big ... but my bunny likes it for balance. I showed it to my Dad (who's back in the hospital .. surgery is Monday) and he said that the bunny had an Elvis smirk!

I know he's a boy bunny, but he insisted on having a ribbon around his neck .. I'm guessing that he's one of those metro-sexual bunnies.  :-)   NOTE: You can use the wired ribbons for all sorts of things, but if it's for children or babies you have to remember to remove the little wires for safety reasons.

Mail Delivery

Not many days go by that we don't have the UPS or FedEX man ringing the doorbell with a nice brown box. Usually these are for my DH who likes to order books online. But today the nice package was for me ...

It is a fabulous book! Just as many good idea's as Patti Culea's   first two books on dollmaking. And just as much eye candy! If you're unsure about designing and fitting clothing for your dolls (or softies) then this is a good starting point. Plus it has full-size patterns included in the back of the book - for a doll and many clothing options.