Author: Ms. Chinchilla

Books

Puffin Classics

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The Adventures of Robin Hood

We visited Annie Bloom’s in Multnomah Village today and saw these wonderful Puffin Classics hardcover editions of children’s literature. If you’re a fan of the Penguin Classics with covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith, then you’ll probably love these as well. One of my favorite covers is The Adventures of Robin Hood. Other titles in the series include Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Black Beauty, and The Call of the Wild.

Holidays · Toys

Hallmark Fisher-Price Ornaments

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I know I’m a nostalgia marketer’s dream demographic. Therefore, I am a sucker for the Fisher-Price Little People ornaments that Hallmark has been releasing the last few years. I am not a regular Hallmark shopper, but these just bring such good memories back. I played with Fisher-Price Little People for a lot longer than most kids — probably into middle school. Then, I let my mom sell most of my things in a garage sale. This Play Family House ornament even opens up to reveal the rooms inside and of course the dog is at the back door of the garage. Even though the ornaments are plastic, there is a great attention to detail and the quality is very good.

Garments

Schoolhouse Tunic

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I haven’t had a chance too sew many clothes for myself in a long time. But recently I did get a chance to make the Schoolhouse Tunic by Sew Liberated. I’d been admiring it for awhile. I really like the tunic look, but I’m not a leggings kind of gal. So, I just wore mine over jeans.
This is a great pattern for beginners — no interfacing, no gathering. I would definitely recommend it to someone who is just starting out. I was really pleased with my results.
The fabric I used was a dobby lawn from Jo-Ann’s! I was surprised to find such nice, cute fabric there. It was a pleasure to sew with and washed up nicely.
The finished tunic
Close up of the front
Bodice
Close-up of fabric
Books · Quilts

Log Cabin Squares

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Several months ago I was able to get out on a crafty outing by going to see Susan Beal do a book signing at Powell’s for her most recent book, Modern Log Cabin Quilting. I was star-struck by seeing some of the well-known Portland bloggers that were there for the event. I am such a geek. 

After purchasing her book, I decided to give some log cabin squares a try. It’s pretty addictive and a great way to use up your scraps. Here’s a few of my experiments:

Playing with greens















Playing with browns














Playing with blues















I used the blue log cabin squares to make a little zippered pouch project that is included in Susan’s book. I’ll get some pictures up of that when I can.

Quilts

Story Quilt Finished!

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I haven’t been posting much, but finally have the time to get a little done as my little guy is engrossed in the final episodes of the Clone Wars. I’ve going through all my pictures and trying to share some of the things I’ve actually completed this spring.
Here’s the Story Quilt I had been working on for some time. I finally finished in March.
Here’s the finished quilt      
 
Here’s the back
 
 
Pillows

Pillows for Classroom

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I made these pillows as a gift for Teacher Appreciation Week at Southwest Charter School. Asher’s classroom has a wooden bench that the kids like to lay on during read-aloud. These helped to make things a little more cozy.

I used a charm pack of Kate Spain‘s Central Park and some Kona solids. I used an echo quilting design. They were a big hit with the kids and Asher’s teacher.

Close-up of echo quilting
The blue pillow
 
Here are the two pillows for Asher’s class.
Quilts

Work Continues on the Short Story Quilt

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The Short Story quilt is moving along ever so slowly. It’s actually at my sewing machine right now about halfway quilted. But I don’t have any pictures of the process. It is coming out ok, but there have been a few bobbles — like forgetting to leave the needle down when I pivot or forgetting to put the presser foot back down. So that leaves a few weird stitches. Also, when the quilt sandwich is not moving freely and gets caught on the edge of the sewing table, the stitches get tight. But after leaving it be for a while, I don’t notice these things as much when I come back to it. Here’s some pictures of the quilt top before I started quilting.

Here’s the blocks all sewn together.


Here’s the border and the corners added on.

Here’s the lovely Enzo enjoying the quilt sandwich process.

Collections

Green Pottery Collection

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I know there was a blog a while back that featured people’s collections and that inspired me to share pictures of my prized collections. One of my favorites is the “Ugly Green Pottery” collection. Of course, I don’t think it’s ugly, I think it’s beautiful. But let’s just say some of my family members are not as enamored. I have picked these up over the years at thrift stores, antique stores, and a few are new. Most of my collection is Royal Copley. Can’t wait to go to the big antique show at the Expo Center this Saturday. Maybe I’ll find another treasure!

Here’s a general overview of the first part of the collection. It’s mostly Royal Copley with a little McCoy and USA Pottery. And, also a new piece from Jonathan Adler.

Here’s a close-up of one of the shelves. 

 

Here’s a preview of Part 2 of the ugly green pottery collection. More pictures coming soon.


I’ll also post some pictures of my other collections in the next few weeks.

Books · Quilts

Short Story Quilt

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The 49 squares for my next quilt are all made. I’m using two charm packs of Liz Scott’s Sugar Pop! and Kona Cotton in Snow. The pattern for this quilt is called Short Story and it is from Carrie Nelson’s Schnibbles Times Two: Quilts from 5″ or 10″ Squares. This is only my 2nd official quilt and the first one I did contained no solids. I liked the way it turned out, but it was very busy and there was nowhere to rest your eyes. So, using solids to offset my love of color is a new approach. I’ll get more pictures up once I sew the squares together and start adding the sashing and border.