Organizing Buttons

Button, Button who's got the Button?

I have not been Blogging , Facebooking, or Twittering much today. I was easily distracted and flitted from one incomplete project to another.
Is ADD in the air??

Somewhere along the day the need for 4 matching buttons came up. My project could use 4 matching buttons OR 2 pink & 2 blue of the same size and style.
I located my button stash and at first glance thought: Perfect colors and Many to choose from!

This bundle is what I was matching to.......something pretty in the works........


For the next 20 minutes I sorted and sorted so more! As husbands tend to do, mine walked in the room to ask what I was doing. When I explained how no two buttons were the same, he looked at me as if I were crazy and began to look for my oversight!
The Tile Man finally came to his manly senses and left the room, mumbling something about wanting to eat lunch.

Just like snowflakes, no two pastel buttons in this collection are alike!

With laundry to wash, floors to sweep, groceries to buy and seams to sew, I found myself going through my other button containers!

Notice the DOZEN of large purple beauties. I've owned them for about 10 years...... possibly BECAUSE they are large & purple!?

Fabric Flower Craft is a great way to use your scraps

A quick little fabric flower for those of you with little girls or needing a purse adornment. Use your scraps! The fabulous scraps are from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern collection which were undoubtedly leftover from making a Girly Stripwork skirt by Pink Fig patterns!

This beautiful outfit was created by the very talented Amy.
Visit Amy at her blog
The Lonely Crafter

Click the Supply List image to enlarge

2 NEW Amy Butler Sewing Patterns COMING SOON

These new Amy Butler sewing patterns are coming soon. No doubt they will be very popular!
Sign up as a follower to be notified when they are available.

Sew Darn Cute book & Amy Butler fabric embellished Tank Top

Sew Darn Cute Inspiration, originally uploaded by thomasparkgifts.

Let me usher in some warm weather by posting a picture of this embellished tank top from Thomas Parker Gifts where Amy Butler fabric, buttons and a classic tank top collide in a good way.

Thomas Park Gifts opened it's "brick & mortar" retail shop in 1998 in South Boston, Massachusetts. After so many years of selling handcrafted items as well as a large variety of giftware locally, wanted to bring a smile to a wider audience. Thus, this special shop where you can find pretty and affordable fashion accessories, children's clothing and other great goodies

.Inspiration came from the book SEW DARN CUTE by author Jenny Ryan.

Amy Butler fabric turned into The Ashley Bag

Ashley wanted a new bag and requested a top zipper closure.

Here is what we came up with. aka The Ashley Bag.
I gotta say this zipper panel nearly kicked my butt! Putting in a zipper was not the problem. The problem was the mathematics! Look close at the drop-down zipper closure. Since I didn't have a pattern..........let's just say.........my seam ripper and I bonded.


Apparently the length & width of the inner band and zipper panel MUST match the finished width of the bag! Who would have thought?!

Sewing Trivia

Beginners to sewing are more likely to be bothered by the need to
remove stitching mistakes than seasoned sewers.

I read that on a blog last week, but can't remember who to credit this knowledge to.

For me, I am so "seasoned" that I can almost laugh at my sewing blunders!

Fabric or Felt Handmade Birthday Necklace

These handmade fabric necklaces are among the greatest ideas for celebrating a child's birthday. So stinkin CUTE! Tell me what toddler would not feel special wearing his or her birthday number? A potential problem may getting the child to STOP wearing it day & night for weeks on end!

So you say " WHO made these cute necklaces" ?

These necklaces were made by the owner of a handmade craft shop called Modern Bean.

Does Modern Bean only make necklaces?

not a chance!

Here is the scoop
straight from Modern Bean's word processor

I'm a craft-otaku Japanese mom of two little girls (ages 2 and 3). I love simple, modern and Scandinavian designs.

All of my felt hair clips are designed and hand sewn by me. I use Holland 100% wool felt.

::My Handmade Hair Clip History::
My first daughter was born with a birthmark next to her right eye. I didn't want to hide it by covering her hair even though many people asked me if she bumped into something. So instead of covering it, I started making these originally designed handmade felt hair clips! I'm happy that my daughters love what I make, but I'm even happier when they like my creation so much that they give them their own names :-)

Here is the link to her flickr photo stream. Here is the link to her etsy shop.

If you liked the birthday necklace and hair clips........let modern bean feel the love by telling her so!

Bags,Totes, Purse, Pillows & Pincushions

Thought ya'all would like the heads up on my shopping find.

I purchased this Better Homes and Gardens magazine with a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby yesterday. Naturally I stood and flipped through it prior to buying and knew it was a keeper. Kids, this one is worth full price!

It actually has cute, useful, do-able (is that a word?) projects. Several totes, pincushions, an adorable spa bag, ipod case and pillows.......just like the title to this blog says.

The above tote is made with Optic Blossom and Honeycomb fabrics in the Amy Butler Midwest Modern 2 collection. Pretty huh? This one is cute too. It uses grommets for attaching the straps

I've done my good deed for the day by telling ya about it, but you'll have to go get your own.