Fabric Love

Looking for the e-book giveaway of Jennifer Becton's Absolute Liability? I am giving away 5 copies and there is still time to enter. Just go here or scroll down!

I've been thinking for awhile that I want to make Maddie and James quilts for their toddler beds. Having a young boy and girl in the same room presents some decorating challenges, but luckily Maddie is pretty tomboy-ish, so she doesn't insist on princess or pink. We are going with a sort of baseball/vintage/americana/country theme and I really want the predominate colors to be red and white (Go Angels). I've been looking and looking for a fabric line that I could use for both their quilts (as in not too girly), would coordinate with each other, and were predominately in red & white. No luck. But look what Sweetwater is coming out with!

This line is called Hometown and I think it is pretty much perfect! They have charm packs, fat quarters, and yardage for sale at the Fat Quarter Shop and I think I will be buying some! Cannot wait!

Winner!

Thank you all so much for entering my Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day giveaway!

To win the bunting and the 2 yards of fabric Mr. Random has chosen :

The lucky comment was left by Deborah in Atlanta.

Congratulations Deborah, I've sent you an email!

Again, thank you all so much for entering my giveaway!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

Hello to all of you who are visiting for the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! My name is Jessica, and this blog is about sewing, writing, being a mom, and trying to live as like a Narnian as I can in my little corner of the world. Recently it has been a little bit more about writing than sewing because I am working on my debut novel, Awake: A Sleeping Beauty Story, which is due out in February. I know you have a lot of blogs to visit and giveaways to enter so let's get right to it!

For one lucky winner I have two (2) great prizes.

First up a handmade prize:

It's Spring! (It's really almost Summer, but it snowed here two weeks ago, so I'm sticking with Spring!) And nothing says Spring and happiness like bunting! I have this sweet little bunting made from 1930s fabrics. Adorable! I wasn't sure I loved these reproduction fabrics, but in this bunting they are totally cute, and I am going to have to make another one for myself!

The bunting itself is 56 inches long, with another 12 inches of bias tape on each side for hanging.

And secondly a supplies prize:

In this case fabric! Cause we all love fabric!

I have a yard of this lovely springy/summer print with fun daisies called "He Loves Me" by Jackie Robinson for Maywood Studios:

To add some more sunny splash a yard of this gorgeous yellow called "Gather Sunshine" by Nancy Odom for P&B Textiles. Gathering Sunshine sounds great to me because it is pouring rain here . . . this picture doesn't do the color justice, if the sun come out at all tomorrow I will attempt to get a better shot of this pretty yellow!

So that is two (2) full yards of fabric. Here they are together, oooohh pretty!

So, what do you have to do to enter?

Just leave a comment! I know you are probably cruising through hundreds of blogs entering these lovely giveaways so I won't ask you to be clever (although please feel free to be clever if you really want), you can tell me your summer plans, or the title of your favorite book, or just say "pick me, pick me!" Just please, please, please make sure I have a way to contact you . . . if you are a no-reply blogger (in other words, your email isn't listed on your public blogger profile) then please leave me your email address in your comment! Thanks!

If you would like a second entry follow my blog, and let me know in a comment that you did (or already do)!

I do hope that you will come back and visit after the giveaways are over! Also, if you haven't already make sure you check out all of the other giveaways on Sew, Mama, Sew!

The fine print:

This giveaway is open until 9 pm MST on 05/25/11.

I will ship internationally, so please everyone feel free to enter!

"Spring, Spring, Spring" Sang the Frog and a Winner!

I think we can officially say that it is spring!

So maybe we had some snow last Friday - but since then only lovely, gorgeous spring weather! Even when it rains it seems like you can always see at least a little bit of sun and blue sky . . . and when there is sun and rain you get insane rainbows like this:

Can you believe this sucker? And I am telling you the photo does not do it justice at all! We could see both ends where they touched the ground and it seemed like if we just walked up into the hills we would definitely find a pot of gold or two . . . it was so close!

Another sure sign that it is spring is that baseball season has started! Yippee!!!! And of course we had to have our famous opening day nachos! Yum!

Here is Maddie doing her best Vanna White with the official Melendez Family Opening Day Nachos Angels Plate (we got it at the kid's first ever game at the Big A, pretty sure James was about two months old):

And here are the nachos, yes, we make our own chips!

And because it is spring it is time to pick the winner of the spring fabric giveaway!

And the winner is the lovely Stephanie of Sand and Starfish! You lucky girl you!

I've sent you an email! Congrats!

What I Did For National Quilting Day and a Giveaway!

March 19th was National Quilting Day (it is the third Saturday of March) and as I haven't done any sewing in months (gee, I wonder why), and I haven't had a chance to set up my sewing stuff here at the new place yet I thought I'd at least start moving my fabric bins into the correct location.

I am planning to use this walk through closet for sewing . . . isn't it cute?!

It is also the hottest part of the condo because the heater is in a secondary closet inside it - yes, a closet within a closet! It is basically the walk through area between our bedroom and the master bath. The bedroom has a regular sized closet, and I just do not have enough clothes to need a large closet. My other problem is I don't have a table to put in here yet to put my sewing machine on . . . however, I have now moved all my bins and other paraphernalia into the closet/sewing room.

(Maddie and James rifled through my bins, wasn't that helpful of them?)

And in the process I managed to break my toe! Yes! Note to self: bare feet + pushing bins of fabric + door jam = extreme pain! This is not the first time I've broken this toe - you would think I would learn!

I have not been able to put on shoes, or go anywhere, or sew (also missing in the move seems to be my rotary cutter) since the 19th.

Also, I feel like I haven't posted anything sewing or crafty related in ages, so to make it up to all you lovely sewing gals, I thought I'd have a little giveaway from my stash (partially inherited) in honor of my new soon to be sewing closet and the fact that it is spring!

Up for grabs I have 1 yard and 2 fat quarters of this lovely spring-like fabric. It is from a 2006 line from RJR fabrics called Bungalow. I think it looks very California Craftsman and really pretty . . . I have two fat quarters of the pink flowers (with some green and yellow designs) on cream, and 1 yard of the green print.

To enter just leave me a comment telling me where in your house you sew . . . or your favorite thing about spring . . . or pretty much anything you'd like!

If you'd like some extra entries you can leave one comment for each of the following:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Comment on another post.

3. Follow me on Twitter.

4. Tweet about this giveaway, make sure to include @narniamum and a link to this post, you can use this wording if you'd like:

Enter to #win the spring fabric #giveaway on @narniamum http://bit.ly/gEk8ad

5. Share another way (blog post, email or Facebook status) just leave me a comment for each that you do!

I will keep this giveaway open until Saturday, April 2nd at 7:00 p.m. MST, and it is open worldwide, so everyone please feel free to enter!

This giveaway is now closed, thank you for entering!

Oops, I zapped!

Moving is a lot of work.

Moving when you are sick is even more work!

So far since January we have had a cold, a new cold, the rotavirus, and now back to colds!

But we are here in Montana . . .

Getting settled in and figuring things out.

It's snowed three times, mostly just flurries that melt a few hours later.

I discovered that if you leave your laundry detergent in the car it will freeze. I mean it makes sense and all, I just didn't think of it.

It is so dry, our skin is itchy and our hair is standing on end. Everything you touch results in a mega electric shock - the crackly blue lightening arcing from one person to another type of static shock. We all look like Emperor Palpatine blue lightening the heck out of Luke Skywalker, except that we can't control it and it usually takes us by painful surprise. Maddie keeps saying "Oops, I zapped!"

And oh, happy day, I discovered yardage of my favorite ever Robert Kaufman print in the bottom of my fabric stash. This is the fabric I used for the Maddie/Jamie's crib bedding and I didn't think I had anymore of it. But now I am torn, use it for something or save it in case there is ever a baby #3? Cause I love it. Desperately love it.

Any opinions? Hold out for a baby? Make some pretty summer clothes (in white, yeah right) for Maddie? What else could I do with this gorgeousness?

Yummy Fabric and Some Other Randomness

I have to apologize to you all for being MIA throughout the last few weeks. We have some very exciting, life-changing, and a little bit scary news to announce soon . . .

In the meantime I have some exciting things coming up on the blog!

I am working on my first tutorial! The tutorial itself is pretty much done, I just need to get some halfway decent pictures to go along with it.

I also have a giveaway from CSN Stores coming up next week! I am super, super excited to be giving away a gift code to their online stores! That giveaway will go live on Monday so make sure to check back!

I thought I would share with you some of the yummy fabric I got for Christmas! My Mom, Dad, and brother Andy got me a gift card to Lola Pink Fabrics, my favorite online fabric store. I was able to get a bunch of fat quarters from Pat Bravo's Paradise line, as well as 4 1/2 yard cuts of Ty Pennington's line Impressions, and 2 fat quarters of my all time favorite Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane!

Here is the Paradise:

And here is what I got from the Impressions line:

Oooohhh pretty!

I am super excited to start working with these gorgeous fabrics!

Did anyone else get any sewing related goodies for the holidays?

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!

Hello to all of you who are visiting for the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! My name is Jessica, and this blog is about sewing, writing, being a mom, and trying to live as like a Narnian as I can in my little corner of the world. I know you have a lot of blogs to visit and giveaways to enter so let's get right to it!

I am giving away a handmade item and some fabric! This giveaway will have two winners!

The first winner will receive this fun, handmade (by yours truly) Christmas stocking:



I love Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection, and I thought these fabrics would make a really adorable stocking with a not-quite-shabby-chic, not-quite-Whooville feel to it. There is no law that says your Christmas stocking has to be red or green when pink and green will do just as well! The exterior fabric is Dream Dot in Celery and the cuff and lining fabric is Hop Dot in Cream.



The design, such as it is, is my own.



The second winner will receive the following fabric charm packs all from Thimbleberries. I inherited these fabrics, and they aren't quite my style, so I hope they will suite someone else! Three of the packs are "light" packs and have 19 pieces, and the other two packs have 25 pieces. There is a nice variety of prints in each pack. The second winner will receive all 5 packs!





So, what do you have to do to enter?

Just leave a comment! I know you are probably cruising through hundreds of blogs entering these lovely giveaways so I won't ask you to be clever (although please feel free to be clever if you really want), you can tell me your Christmas plans, or what your brother's middle name is, or just say "pick me, pick me!" Just please, please, please make sure I have a way to contact you . . . if you are a no-reply blogger (in other words, your email isn't listed on your public blogger profile) then please leave me your email address in your comment! Thanks!

If you would like a second entry follow my blog, and let me know in a comment that you did (or already do)!

I do hope that you will come back and visit after the giveaways are over! Also, if you haven't already make sure you check out all of the other giveaways on Sew, Mama, Sew!

Merry Christmas!

The fine print:

This giveaway is open until 9 pm PST on 12/17/10.
I will ship internationally, so please everyone feel free to enter!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks!

Shop Feature and Giveaway - Sand and Starfish

I have been blog friends with the lovely Stephanie from Sand and Starfish for awhile. She is super talented and creative, as well as just plain nice, and a mommy to a sweet little girl. Stephanie recently opened up an Etsy shop, also called Sand and Starfish and she asked me to review (and giveaway!) some items from her shop! Lucky me and lucky you! I chose to review some of her fabric covered notebooks as I was gearing up for NaNoWriMo and feeling very authory. Meanwhile, I only managed to sit down 4 times to write during the month of November and have yet to produce more than the prologue and first three chapters of the next great American novel . . .

But let's not focus on my total NaNoWriMo fail. Let us instead focus on Sand and Starfish's awesome notebooks . . .

Stephanie sent me a Fabric Covered Composition Notebook to review . . . and an adorable scrappy Fabric Covered Mini Composition Notebook and Fabric Covered Steno Pad to give away to one lucky winner!

The Composition Notebook is covered in cute fabric, giving it a really special feel - which makes me even sadder that I have failed it but not putting much other than my first sad attempt at a timeline for my novel in it. . .. but hope springs eternal, and at least my story notes have a really cute place to go once I like, you know, write them.

The Steno Pad is covered in a really fun pink argyle and leopard print and is perfect for lists . . . it was really hard for me not to steal it and start madly filling it with lists . . . I love lists!

The Mini Composition Notebook is adorable, I love the scrappy details! So much fun!

Here are some other things from Stephanie's shop, I had to start with more mini composition books notebooks because they are to die for cute! You know how much I love ruffles! And they are a steal at $4 for the pair!

Stephanie also makes awesome fabric covered mouse pads, it is ok to add a little style to your computer desk!

Reusable snack pouches are all the rage! They are economical and eco-friendly! Stephanie makes the cutest ones I have seen! I love the Christmas prints . . . and of course there are everyday prints too!

Stephanie also has a bunch of really great appliques. Make sure to check out her Etsy shop and see all of the yummy goodness!

Want to win these?

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you would use the fabric covered notebooks for.

Extra Entries (please leave a comment for each entry)

1. Follow this blog, or let me know you already do.

2. Follow the Sand and Starfish blog (scroll down to the bottom to follow via GFC or RSS).

3. Favorite an item at Sand and Starfish on Etsy.

4. Follow me AND Sand and Starfish on Twitter

5. Tweet about this giveaway and link back to this post.

Sample tweet (feel free to use your own):

#Win some lovely fabric covered notebooks from @sandandstarfish on @narniamum #giveaway http://t.co/TX7uBPK

6. Like Sand and Starfish on Facebook.

So that is 7 possible entries . . . if you do all 7 make sure to leave 7 comments!

This giveaway will end on Tuesday, December 7th, and is open internationally.

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks!

M and L Fabrics - A Virtual Tour

I am so lucky to live near one of the most amazing fabric stores ever! It is called M&L Fabric, it is located in Buena Park, California, and it is huge. Seriously, people drive for miles and miles to come shop here and it's a hop, skip, and a freeway away from me.

I went the other day to get some tulle for a tutu for Maddie (more on that to follow) and I snapped some pics on the iPhone to share with you.

Here it is from the outside . . . large-ish looking, but unassuming . . .

And then you walk in side and oh my gosh. Acres of fabrics.

Ok, I am sure it isn't literal acres, but it feels like it.

Facing the front, the whole left side of the room is discounted fabrics, gorgeous, name brand stuff like Robert Kauffman marked down to $3, or $4 a yard depending on the row you are in . . . I have found some amazing deals in these sections.

Whole rows of flannel . . .

Solids . . . they have Kona solids, poplin, chambray . . .

The right side of the room is the "full price" fabrics, where you will find all of the lovely Moda prints . . .

Kauffman stripes or dots anyone?

Even Hawaiian . . .

Every novelty print you could possibly ever think of . . .

And some you couldn't possibly ever think of . . .

There are children's prints and holiday prints. The only drawback is that they don't carry Riley Blake, boo.

The back half of the room has the faux fur, the tulle, amazing sequined fabrics, silks . . .

And the stacks!

The stacks are rows upon rows of $2 a yard fabric, usually fabric that was cheaper to start with (although I have found some amazing stuff, for example, the toile I bought at $7 a yard ended up months later in the stacks!)

The second section has denim, corduroy, and even t-shirt and sweatshirt material.

There is also an amazing section of decorator weight fabrics that I managed to somehow miss taking a picture of because I was too busy checking out the Lake House fabrics.

Have I mentioned the trim section?

Or the notions section?

In-freaking-sane people.

I could probably easily drop a grand (if I ever had a grand to spend on fabric, hey, a girl can dream) in just a few hours at M&L.

This is also one of Maddie and Jamie's favorite places to go. Maddie is very particular about fabrics, she likes to feel them, pick out her favorites, and hold the bolts in the cart. James likes lean out of the cart and run his hand over the bolts as we go down rows. They also are both fans of the lollipop jar at the register.

Have you been to M&L? Do you have anything like it near you? If not, what would you snag at M&L if you were to visit Buena Park? I'm still drooling over the Lake House lines!