Prim fabric in my Dress Boutique pattern

Hello!  I hope you are getting some sewing time in : )

I have been working on this fun paper pieced pattern!

 

 I used the new line of fabric "Prim" designed by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs. for my new "Dress Boutique" pattern.

I absolutely love this line!  The prints are very small scale and lend themselves to paper piecing patterns.

I just love that teeny tiny flower on the fabric spool on the sewing machine : )

The fussy cut window and door prints are from "My Happy Place" also designed for Riley Blake Designs by Lori Holt.  

My Dress Boutique pattern finished at 12" x 18".  It would make a perfect mini quilt.

You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop

If you use Prim in a project be sure to use the following hashtags in your social media posts

#ILoveRileyBlake

#RileyBlakedesigns

#PrimFabric

I love to see what you make

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise

A new project

Hi Peeps

I have been woefully absent here and I plan to make more time for this space.

I just finished a 4 month design contract at a local Seattle clothing company so I haven't spent much time in my studio.

My goal this week is to create a schedule for myself ( I definitely get more done with a bit of structure! )

Getting to the gym, creating home cooked meals and spending time with my boys as well as sewing daily is on my list of to dos for the upcoming months!

I spent a bit of time organizing files on my computer and found this gorgeous pattern designed by Lady Harvatine.   She created it for the LA Modern Quilt Guild.

The fabrics are from Art Gallery fabrics - "Sonata" by Amy Sinabaldi.  I adore this fabric line and treated myself to a FQ set.

I hope you find time to do something you love today.

Happy Sewing

xo

Charise : )

Sewing for myself : )

I was at the dentist office yesterday thumbing through the April issue of Martha Stewart and ran across the most adorable peasant blouse. The pattern is a free download from her site and you can find it here.  I needed a break from a pattern I've been working on and thought this would be a perfect little departure.  Three hours later and I had a new blouse!  I love the ease of the style and I'm sure it will be a "go to" this summer.  The pattern offers a dress style and 3 different sleeve lengths.
I used the long sleeve version and lengthened the body about 4 inches to more of a long shirt, short tunic length.  I measured a favorite woven top of mine to figure out which size I wanted to cut.  I usually wear a size Medium but based on my top I cup a size Small.   It is always a good ideas to sew a muslin - or fitting garment in a similar fabric to make sure you like the size and fit.

I also added another border to my quilt.  I love having the design wall up so I can work on this at my own pace - it happens to be a snails pace these days!!

Have a lovely day!
xo
Charise

Consoling myself.....

Yesterday I was planning and scheming ways to get to Quilt Market which just happens to be in Portland Oregon which is just a 3-4 hour drive from Seattle.  I received an email from Becca and another from Amber who both live on the East Coast asking me if I was going to be there. They are both the absolutely loveliest ladies and I was so excited to meet them but I told them I couldn't - kids, scheduled activities, etc - then I spoke with my hubby who said "you should go".  So yesterday after picking up the boys from school I was heading home to send the ladies emails saying "I'm coming to Quilt Market and can't wait to meet you in person!".

When I picked up my youngest son, he said he wasn't feeling well and what do you know  -  he had a temp of 102 degrees.  Plans for quilt market dashed : (

So to console myself today, I, finally, after about a year of owning it, put up a design wall.  It is just a vinyl grid with fuzzy fabric on one side and large grommets on the top -  I think I bought it at Joann Fabrics.  Armed with the drill and some cup hooks I now have a design wall.  I'm pretty darn excited. 

I hope to meet the ladies someday soon, though I'll have to say I feel fortunate to be able to make a little sick guy feel better : )

xo
Charise

What I'm Working On and A New Sponsor!

I've had a sketch of this large hobo style hand bag in my sketch book what seems like forever and am just now working on the pattern and sample!!  Of course I made an error in one of the seam allowances so I spent a good portion of my day ripping and resewing - Ugh : )

 

 

 I love the Melody Miller center print as the fussy cut center panel in this bag!

(i think) The Denyse Schmidt Flea Market fancy is the perfect match with this print.
 

 

 

You can find this fab Melody Miller  Ruby Star Shining print as well as the Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy print in my newest sponsor's shop!!! 

 Becca's shop - "Sew me a Song" is wonderful.  She has an amazing fabric selection.

She carries Japanese and contemporary fabrics as well as some great text prints.

She also got in a selection of Suzuko Koseki prints!

 

If you order the Ruby Star Shining prints from her shop she sells them by the panel - so nice. 

 The motifs are large so you don't have to worry about them getting cut in half!!!!

If you have a Work in Progress, share yours and Link up today over at Freshly Pieced!

 

Happy Sewing!!

xo

Charise

Liberty Past and Present

Seems I have been seeing lots of lovely Liberty fabric projects popping up.  Kerry made this lovely tea set for the Liberty Cafe  - how cool is that?  Leila made an absolutely adorable frame pouch.

I thought I would share my past experience with Liberty Fabrics.  You may or may not know this, but I have been a fashion designer for the past 23 years.  I have taken the past few years away from my career to spend time with my youngest son who goes to Kindergarten in the Fall. 

Way back when in 1999 : )  I worked as the women's woven designer for Nordstrom's Evergreen, now Halogen, line of women's clothing.  It was a wonderful job.  Halogen was a new line for Nordstrom and I was the first of two designers.  Those of you who are familiar with Nordstrom may know a bit about the different departments. At the time, Halogen was to sit in the Savvy department at Nordstrom.  The Savvy department houses young, fresh, higher end fashion.  I was lucky enough to travel to Europe for design inspiration, work with factories in Italy and even more exciting, to shop the most wonderful fabric show - Premiére Vision -  outside Paris!  We purchased fabulous Europen fabrics and that is where the connection comes to Liberty Fabrics.  I chose Liberty lawn for this little top I designed, bottom right.

I even still have the swatch booklet from the 1999 Liberty Fabrics line.

Can you tell it is well loved?  It has been travelling with me for the past 13 years : )
I love to open it and admire all the wonderful designs.

Someday I'll muster the courage to cut into it........

So... all that being said, and thanks for listening, but I couldn't resist this F8 pack of Liberty from Pink Chalk fabrics!!  I think I'll make the Rose Dream block into a zip pouch.

 

xo

Charise

Have you seen this?

The Workroom had a photo of this on Flickr. 

 

I have soooo many projects in the works but I just had to buy the pattern.  You can get it as an instant download PDF.  The details are just amazing and I'm torn as to whether to make the top or dress! 

Or maybe the dress with the bishop sleeves.  The placket is bias cut stripes and I think it is an absolute genius detail.  It reminds me of something I would find at Anthropologie, my absolute favorite shop!!

The Victory website is here and she has many more adorable patterns!!

I made another Rose Dreams Block.  I just love this block!!

Thank you everyone for your comments about a Vintage Block Quilt Along.  I'm definitely going to start in the Fall when my little boys are in school.  It will be a block a month, no stress, no pressure.  Make an entire quilt or use the patterns for a bee block or any quilty project you can think of.

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

Kerry's House and some more bits and pieces

Kerry asked for houses for the Ringo Pie Bee.  I love to make houses so this was lots of fun.

She wanted a more traditional school house style block.  I picked a house from Kumiko Fujita's Patchwork Lessons.  I love this house because it has lots of windows to fill and you all know how much I love fussy cutting!! Here is the Kumiko Fujita version.

I added the attic window, and the pathway to the house.

As far as "bits and pieces" go, I started this log cabin to be one side of a purse.  It is mid size - about 15" x 12" which will be the perfect size to fit all my goodies.  I'm on the fence as far as the color scheme but it is growing on me.

   I picked the first flowers from my garden today!! 

 There is nothing like the scent of  fresh cut flowers.

I've been doing a bit too much vintage shopping lately.  

The pitcher came from a wonderful little antique shop near Hood Canal in Wa State. 

The sweet painting was $10 at a vintage store in Olympia, WA.

I thought the tea towel on the left was just so sweet.

The book on the right "From Me to You ~ A Gift of Friendly Thoughts"  is just wonderful.  It was written in 1911 and is filled with lovely little gems about friendship.

I'll leave you with this:

"Happy is the house that shelters a friend. "

~Emerson

xo

Charise 

Cozy Cottage

I'm incredibly excited to have my first pattern published!  You can find my "Cozy Cottage" in the new "Paper" issue 8 of Fat Quarterly right here.  It will be available on January 31st!

The issue is full of wonderful projects. 

I'm absolutely obsessed with houses and love making them in fabric. I made two because I wanted to illustrate how you can change the fabric and the theme of your cottage.  This would be a great gingerbread house, cooking cottage or Santa's workshop for kids.

This project allows for lots of fussy cutting and filling the windows with fun images!

If you make a cottage please include your photos in my new Flickr Group - Charise Creates Projects and in the Fat Quarterly Flickr Group. 

Thinking about the Holidays

So I'm almost done getting ready for Halloween.  I made a vampiress dress for myself and I just need to add the zipper.  I'll post a pic when it is finished.

I hate to even contemplate this, but......the Chrismas Holidays are just around the corner.  My son is in 2nd grade and has a male teacher so I probably won't make him a gift, but my four year old has three female teachers and I thought a lavendar sachet and a gift card would make a lovely gift.

I love this project because it is super easy and a great way to use up your scraps.  And who doesn't love a sachet that reminds them of summer : )

Tutorial here : )

Another Suzuko Koseki Purse

I've taken a little break from my Bee Blocks to do a little sewing for myself.  I made the small log cabin bag from Suzuko Koseki's Patchwork Style and was very happy with the results. 

I just finished another Suzuko Koseki Bag from the same book - The Fan Bag.  I've never made a quilted purse before and I really like the results.  The quilting and batting gives it nice body and it is big enough to carry most of my stuff.  I'm definitely a Big Purse gal.

I'm not sure what is next though I do love this bag by Leila from Suzuko Koseki's latest book - Natural Patchwork.

Happy creating to you!

A Little Bag

I have acquired quite the nice collection of Japanese craft books but have never tried a project until now.  I've been doing alot of very fiddly, precise work with the paper piecing blocks I've been working on and felt the need to do some "free form" sewing.  I picked out the mini log cabin bag from Suzuko Koseki's Patchwork Style.

I used lots of scraps and just had lots of fun improvising as I went.

The bag is quite small - about 8 1/2" long, so I may use it for a pencil pouch.

***Happy Sewing to You***

More crossed off the "to do" list!

I've been in "getting ahead on my to do list" mode.  Although Christmas is almost three months away it will creep up and I want to have plenty of time for my personal holiday sewing.

I finished Annabel's Orchard block for the Cocorico Bee.  I designed it quite some time ago but had almost all day Sunday to work on it and was able to finish it today!

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.  I love this bee - it really stretches by design abilities.

This little swatch was my inspiration......

I finished my 4 x 5 bee blocks

The pattern is vintage Alice Brooks found on Ebay. 

My collection of bee blocks that I have received totals somewhere around 16.  I'm really looking forward to creating a quilt with them!

 *** happy sewing to you  ***

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - No Safer Road to Travel

I've been lagging behind in the Farmer's Wife Quilt along but I'm still really enjoying making the blocks when I can.  These two blocks were inspired by a letter titled " No Safer Road to Travel."

My favorite excerpt from the letter:

" To wake up in the early morning to the bird calls, the animal greetings, is better that the best symphony concert ever played.  To see the sun climb out of bed and reach out rosy fingers to pick up the dew drops from field and meadow, and to watch the joyous greeting of all nature, in the summer time, is worth more than silver and gold can buy."

Mrs. E. M. L.

Furnas County, Neb.

Patchwork 318 Bee - The second time is a charm

I've been having sew much fun using my "Patchwork Patterns 318" book from Kumiko Fujita.

Amisha chose a sewing theme and this is the block I chose.

This was actually my second try and I like how it turned out!  I was inspired by Faith's spools here.

You should really check out the Flickr Group here.  Kerry and Leila created some adorable blocks and I can't wait to see the remaining three blocks! 

Happy Creating to you!

Cafe Au Lait

Finshed....my first block for the Cocorico Bee.  Lauree chose Kitchen Couture and I decided to do a Cafe Au Lait theme.  I love my french press but it isn't very stylish.  I found some great images for antique coffe pots and decided to change my french press to an old fashioned French coffee pot.  This image is the test block.  It was actually the combo I was going to make for Lauree but later found out she loves orange so I made this block for her

The "lait" and "Cafe" labels were printed on fabric from my printer.  This is such a great way to take cool images and use them in your sewing projects.

Ok...I've have a list to make and some new blocks to make for a few more bees.

Happy creating to you!

*******************************************************

Tama

I've been entrusted with the care of this little doll named Tama.  She is so sweet and has been well loved.  I swear I felt a connection with her the moment we met.  Her Mommy asked me to give her a little TLC.  She is missing an eye and her nose and her clothes are a wee bit damaged.  I feel like the doll doctor on "Toy Story II" and am honored I've been asked to fix her up.  In the meantime she will be getting the royal treatment until she is reunited with her family.

Teeny, Tiny Inspiration

I'm so excited about the new block I'm working on for the Cocorico Bee!

Annabel's theme is orchard so I'm going to use this tiny fabric swatch as inspiration. It came with a group of vintage fabrics I purchased on Ebay and it is by far my favorite piece. It only measures 4" x 3 1/2" with each little square at about 1 1/2". I'm not sharing which little square I'll be using, but I thought it would be fun to share my inspiration.

I'm off for a little swim with the family on a beautiful 80 degree day!

Happy Creating !

Yummy Ice Cream....mmmmmmmm

We have had a wonderful August filled with outdoor swim lessons and a few fun get - aways. But I've found time to sew! I was so honored to be invited to join an incredibly talented group of ladies in the new Flicrk Group - Patchwork Pattern 318.

Each month we pick a theme from the book by Kumiko Fujita and make a block for that theme.

The first month Ayumi picked sweets' shop. You must check out her site here. She is an incredibly talented sewist and sells super cute fabric on her etsy shop.

I chose this truck and paper pieced the itty, bitty ice cream cone.

I used a new paper piecing technique from Kerry and you can find it here.

She is another incredibly talented gal in the group and you should really take a look around her blog - very inspiring!

Happy creating to you!