Well, we’re back! We spent a long weekend in the Midwest with my sister-in-law and her husband and two boys, and it was really fun. We haven’t seen them since last Christmas, so it had been awhile! Our second nephew was born in July, so we got to meet him for the first time and he is a cutie. He has these big, wonderful blue eyes and the first time I saw them, he was staring up at me from his car seat, total deer-in-the-headlights, and his eyes were so big and so full of terror because I wasn’t Mama, that he burst into tears until Mama pulled the car over and comforted him. He was just scared of this new person, that’s all. And after that, we were good to go, and he would see me and I would smile or coo at him and his face would break into this precious little smile and he would giggle. So me and him? We’re good now. Our older nephew could not get enough of his Uncle this weekend and constantly went around saying his name or begging him to come play, or running up to him and lifting his arms so that my husband would pick him up. It was really cute. But now we’re back, and I’m getting back into the swing of things and have lots of design projects on the docket.

But I thought I’d share some fun pictures from the weekend! We got to go to an apple orchard on Saturday and it was a lot of fun. We don’t get some much of that authentic fall feel in California, so being in an apple orchard where all the trees were turning and the sun had that distant-but-intense fall feel, was really great. And they had these awesome apple cider donuts, which are basically donut churros, and they are DELICIOUS. So what if I’ve got a little wheat allergy….that donut was goooood. So enjoy the pictures of our weekend, and I’ll be back on Friday with a fun design post!

It was so windy in the pumpkin patch! My hair kept blowing everywhere.

Isn’t the orchard logo so fun? I love the tree and the little basket of apples. And for some reason I love the blurry picture of my husband going through the orchard! Haha.

Have a great Wednesday!

I thought about doing a post on some awesome “Medically-Inspired” uniforms (aka scrubs), because my life is taking a little detour from the design department, but then I actually tried to go buy some scrubs and was pretty horrified at the patterns I saw out there. So I shall stick with solids. Like this one:

(Image taken from here: www.uniformadvantage.com)

Not to worry, I am still doing design as my primary job, but my family was in a little crunch, and because I have a flexible job, and am the only child within proximity to my dad’s office, I will be helping out from time-to-time at the front desk.

Oh yeah.

I get to wear scrubs and call my dad “Doctor” and my mom “Cathy” and it’s pretty hilarious until one of them calls me “Sweetie” and then I’m back to being 12. But the cool thing is getting to hear people say how much they love my parents–even before they know I’m “THE DAUGHTER”. All in all, it’s been good to be in the office and actually be an integral part of the function of it; I like being able to help my parents out and also being able to get some socialization. Working as a freelance graphic designer has its drawbacks and one of them is not being around people during the day. And for someone who likes to be around people, it’s been a hard adjustment. So this “working in an office” is a good mental break from design, and allows me to stimulate the other parts of my brain that don’t get worked as much. And it gives my creative side a little rest so that I’m more excited to get back to design when I’m not in the office.

Here’s a funny story, that might actually only be funny to my siblings. Or you. If you grew up in a medical/dental family. Growing up, I would hear my parents talk to one another about “tooth # so-and-so has a problem on the occlusal side blah blah blah” and I would think they were so silly talking to each other like that, and then today as my dad walked through the front desk area, I swung in my chair and said to him: “Dr. A called about this patient and he said she has a slight chip on #15 distal and he wanted you to know.” And as the words were coming out of my mouth, I thought “Hey there, looks who’s talking dental!” And then as I was leaving the office, I turned to him and said “Dad. We just had a DENTAL conversation!! #15 DISTAL! Hahaha” And I got a big laugh out of him. Who knew that I would talk dental one day? (Oh, and if you’re wondering, a cleaning is called a “Prophy.” Take that!)

Another funny story: I called my kindergarten teacher today to schedule her next cleaning. Did I know I was calling my kindergarten teacher? No. I just thought I was calling a patient of my dad’s. Not until she said, “Are you the daughter? I was your teacher!” that it all clicked. So next Tuesday, my kindergarten teacher gets to meet me, 21 years later.

So that’s what’s been happening over here with me, and why the blog has been a little funky lately. If for some reason I don’t post one day, it’s because I’m busying takin’ calls and makin’ appointments and preppin’ charts. In my scrubs and my awesome white leather Keds. Because you can’t work in a dental office and not have white leather Keds. It’s part of the uniform, my friends. And just in case you’re wondering, the shoes I really wanted are these:

But I’m not sure they’d fly for office-wear. (They are my wedding colors though, so I guess you could say that I’m predictable?) But seriously. I want these shoes. Maybe for Christmas? (I’ve already told my husband where he can get them hahaha).

But my design work will still be happening regardless of me being in the office, so I’ll be sure to post current projects as often as I can.

Oh, and just in case you thought I’d totally forgotten about the Office Re-do, don’t fear! October got swallowed by the Busy Monster, and I talked to my padre today and we *finally* set a time to do it: November. We will be painting, and bead-boarding, and putting up new artwork, along with freshening up the plants. I’m excited! Sorry that it’s taken so long to get going on it…life just got in the way. But now that I’m going to be working there, re-doing it is on the TOP of my list!

AND, in an effort to post some inspiration, feast your eyes on this: www.minted.com. I know it’s not even Halloween yet, and it drives me crazy when I hear Christmas songs in the beginning of October, but really, you should look at these cards. They are beautiful! And after going through hundreds of them, I am sufficiently inspired to design our Christmas card for this year….

Hope you’re having a great Wednesday!

~K

Hey there!

We had a fun and restful weekend here at KWD and were able to do a bunch of things around the house. Like clean the bathrooms and the kitchen and head out to the garage to *finally* get some projects done that we’d been waiting to do. My husband built himself a wood-holding rack (which I’m pretty impressed by), and I was able to paint a lamp, a table, and stain and distress a little orange crate. Here are the contenders:

This little orange crate was a gift from my mom-in-law; she gave it to us after our wedding. Our wedding was country-themed and it was in Redlands, and she was actually able to borrow a vintage orange crate from one of the orange growers in the area for our wedding decor, and she knew that I loved it and wanted to keep it–which I couldn’t- so she bought me this little one instead!

And here’s the lamp I painted:

My mom handed this lamp off to me last year sometime and I actually spray-painted it red and then didn’t have a spot for it, so it’s just been sitting in our garage collecting dust.

I have been wanting to add a small side-table in the corner where our couch and chair meet, and I needed a lamp for it, and thought that this one would be perfect! (Read: Free!)

And last, but not least, we have this beauty of a table:

Isn’t it ugly?! I had tested a bunch of paint colors on it before we got married, and I’ve been carting it around for about 2 years like that. Why? I have no idea. I think this table cost $5 to begin with, and is pretty cheap looking. The wood would probably give you splinters if you ran your hand down the leg.

So I decided to just paint it white so that it matched our other furniture. We had some old white paint that I decided to use, and it was super gloppy and gooey and you know what? I didn’t even care. Since this table was so cheap and it was going in a corner, if it didn’t look perfect, it didn’t matter.

Here are the goods:

For the crate:

And for the table:

My goal with these projects wasn’t perfection; I wanted the crate to be darker and look more used, so I just layered the stain until I liked the color. Then I hit it with a big, fat, wrench, and then I banged it on the wall a couple times. (Except when I hit the stucco and there was a big, white, gouge out of the side, and I didn’t like the white on the crate, so I stained over it.)

The primer for the lamp was this great gray color:

And we liked it so much after it was all primed that I brought it inside to see how it would look on the table! But the gray just didn’t work in our living room; just one-too-many colors going on, and even though it’s a great color, we decided to do black or white. (And this spray paint takes about 5 minutes to dry, so that’s pretty awesome.)

Here is the table after one coat, already looking so much better:

And after about six coats of stain, here is my finished crate, sitting on my coffee table holding the tv remotes and coasters:

Don’t you think it looks more authentic now? I do.

Here is the finished table, tucked away in it’s corner:

So much better than the rainbow-colors that it was before.

The lamp ended up being black, which I may change to white if I decide to keep it on the table. It’s kind of an awkward corner of the living room, because in our apartment, there is no divider between living room and dining room. And our dining table is on the carpet. (It drives me crazy.) There is already a tall floor lamp in the corner, and I stuck the table up against it and it might work…I’m not sure. So here are the choices:

Table with black (or white) lamp, (with a new correctly-sized shade):

(Don’t you love my awesome slipcovers? They constantly look like un-made beds and they, too, drive me crazy.)

Or the second option with the tall, metal, floor lamp:

I keep going back and forth on which one looks better…any suggestions?

But all in all, I’m excited to have done those projects this weekend, and been able to check something off my project list. Even if the table isn’t the greatest, it’s hidden in a corner, and I’ll probably toss it when we move, anyways. And I love that crate and can’t wait to see where it ends up in our next place. And the lamp? Well, we’ll see what happens with that.

Hope Monday isn’t getting you down!

It’s Friday! And time is flying by. I can hardly believe that it’s already October. Pretty soon Christmas will be upon us! I’m excited for Christmas, but maybe if it came in six months instead of TWO.

The other day I sat down and started my list of Christmas gifts, because, really, it’s not that far away! This year we’re trying to be really frugal with our gifts, and I’m up for the challenge of doing a lot of hand-made gifts to save some money. Last year we went a little overboard on gifts for everyone, and while it was really fun to buy it all and give people gifts that we knew they would love, it was just a tad bit expensive for us. So this year, we’re reigning ourselves in a little. And plus, we are trying to save for a house. So that’s kind of a big deal.

Now, Christmas has nothing to do with this post, so I’ll stop talking about it. It’s not even Halloween yet, sheesh!

But I did want to share some fun fonts on an invitation suite that I did for a dear client of mine who is getting married next month. Because it’s:

The feel of their wedding is kind of 1920′s East Coast and their reception is at The Madison Restaurant in Long Beach, so I designed a suite that fit the vibe they were looking for. We printed everything on Neenah Classic Linen–my favorite–in Classic Natural White for that warm ivory feel, and used the blackest black ink and a beautiful fall red color as an accent. I wanted the suite to be heavy on fonts and really bring out that vintage feel they were looking for, so instead of having a really bold design, I did a refined pattern and background design with some bolder fonts. It was a fun way to change things up a bit and focus more on the typography of the invitation.

I’m pretty thrilled with how they turned out, and so were they. Here is the whole suite:

(Some little bits of info have been blurred for their privacy. )

Let’s start with the “Save the Dates”:

We did a postcard-style “Save the Date”, instead of a card with an envelope.

Here’s the invite and outer envelope:

We also did an mini RSVP card in lieu of a more traditional card and envelope. They wanted all the traffic directed to their website, so we just had this little info card that directed people there, with a little space where they could fill in the number of guests:

Kaitie and Justin are really thoughtful, and decided to have an Open House after they get married for people who aren’t able to travel down for the wedding. Here is that piece:

I carried the border pattern that you see around the invitation, over to the back of the Open House and RSVP pieces:

The coolest thing is that the pattern really closely matches the pattern on the china at The Madison Restaurant. I love it when things come together like that!

All in all, the suite turned out beautifully with all the pieces complementing each other with subtle variations on the fonts and the pattern.

Now, here are the goods! The fonts that I used on this invitation suite are:

What do you think? Do you like the idea of different typefaces and a refined pattern, or a bold pattern and a refined typeface? (I think both are great, it just depends on what look you’re going for).

I hope you’ve enjoyed the invites today, and enjoy this wonderful fall weather.

Have a great weekend; I’ll be back on Monday with a fun post!

(I’ll probably be in an iphone coma by then, because I just got my very first iphone last night and I can’t put it down…oh technology!)

Since it’s been raining here for the last three days, all I want to do is stay inside. So I thought I’d post some Wednesday inspiration of awesome indoor spaces, courtesy of our friend Ikea.

(I don’t know how you Pacific Northwesterners do it–I don’t feel like going running at all when it’s raining outside…)

Here is the story behind these pictures: I found these pictures about a week ago when I was looking around on the internet for inspiration for my future house. Two weeks ago, we thought we’d maybe found our future home, and I was trying not to get to excited about it, but it was a historic Craftsman Bungalow, so how could I not get excited?! And then we found out from the realtor yesterday that it had sold. I shed about two tears, my husband gave me a big hug, and then we started looking for another house. (The right one will be out there, I just know it.)

Because the little place we were looking at was a small bungalow, it had really limited space and limited storage. My husband has seven billion books, so I thought something like this would solve our book-storage problem:

Or this:

(It even show you the bookcases we would get. Those Billy bookcases are gems…) Check out this post here to see what Layla and Kevin did with a couple of those bookcases…

This little living room would fit the bill quite nicely:

And how about this for a tiny entry:

Those babies hold shoes! Which make them perfect for a narrow entryway.

And this is my favorite:

We were envisioning something like this for the master bedroom, with the bed behind where the photographer was standing. Isn’t it awesome? And again, solves our book-storage dilemma.

I love each one of these spaces. I could just curl up in them, and they seem perfect to spend a rainy day in.

And now I have some more Bungalow thoughts I need to get out of my head:

I kind of liked the idea of a little house instead of a huge one. I liked the challenge of it. Of paring down what we have to keep only the stuff that we need and stuff that means something to us, and to live happily in a small space. The house had a yard–a BACK YARD, people!–so the space would have definitely been live-able. (I had actually started purging our place of excess stuff…just papers and stuff that piled up in the office, because I thought we might be down-sizing a bit in the near future).

But maybe we’ll find another adorable bungalow and it will be even better than the first.

Yes. That’s a good plan. I think it’ll happen!

So what is your inspiration for living spaces? Do you like big and open? Airy or muted? I’d love to know!

Hope you’re having a happy Wednesday…

(Disclaimer: all the above photos are from Ikea.com. I did not take them, style them, or create them. I just love them.)

Well hi! I can’t believe that it’s Monday today. I feel like between now and last Monday, an entire year happened.

This weekend we went to my husband’s 10-year college reunion, and it was a total blast. It was nice to get away for the weekend and have a mini-vacation, with no computers or anything like that. And being in Santa Barbara didn’t hurt either. The weather was gorgeous, meeting all his college friends was really, really great, and also– I’m not sure why I loved this so much–but I just loved going out to breakfast with my husband! It felt like such a treat, because I guess when I actually think about it, we hardly ever go out to breakfast. We went to IHOP, (totally awesome), and I discovered that I love their coffee. I’m not a regular coffee drinker at all, and I know that it’s totally weird, but there’s something about the atmosphere of a Denny’s, or an IHOP that makes me want to order a cup of decaf in those great, old, thick stoneware mugs. You know what I’m talking about? Like one of these:

There’s something about getting an endless supply of coffee in one of these mugs. With cream and sugar of course. (I told my dad about my weird little coffee realization and he knew exactly what I meant! It must be genetic, because he loves coffee like that as well.)

But back to Santa Barbara. Of course, I had my camera with me and I snapped a total of four pictures. I meant to get more, but oh well. Here was our view as we laid in the shade by the ocean…

And here is the best shot I took of us. Seriously. Pathetic, I know. All I managed was the back of my husband’s head. But it’s a good head! Full of awesome-ly curly hair.

The reunion was a lot of fun. Being “The Wife” was an interesting position, because the reunion wasn’t for me, and people aren’t there to see the spouses, so it was fantastically without pressure! I could sit, stand, mingle, or remove myself whenever I felt necessary while my husband chatted away with old friends. Or eat as many mini-lemon cakes as I wanted. Hey! It’s vacation, right?! But I actually did talk to a ton of people, who were all really genuine and nice and lovely. You see, I met my husband a few years after he went through college, and so this part of his life I only knew from his stories. So actually getting to meet all these people and put faces to stories was so great. He has some great friends, and part of me wishes I’d gone to the same college he did! We even ran into his old track coach, (who gave me a bear hug), and who talked with us for over an hour in the parking lot, sharing the upcoming events that were going to be happening and welcoming us to his home anytime. So I told him to not be surprised when he finds us in his jacuzzi next weekend.

So as we drove home late Saturday night after his reunion, we both felt full and happy and tired from all we did in a day and a half. And we resolved to get away more. Even if it’s just for a night, just to go somewhere and be away for a day; we need those quick little breathers that rejuvenate us for a little bit. Thank you, Lord.

(Case-in-point: we were sitting on a bench in this park that is right on the shoreline, and the sun was beaming down on us, and I love nothing more than warm sunshine–seriously, I am solar-powered–and I just exclaimed to my husband multiple times: I am so happy!! Who knew that all it took was some decaf coffee from IHOP and a sunny bench by the beach? ) Here are our sunshiney legs:

But now it’s back to work! And back to working on this great invitation suite that I’m working on for a dear family friend who is getting married next July. She’s like my second older sister, because her younger sister and I have been best friends since preschool, so we’ve all known each other for a long time. The “Save the Dates” are getting printed and sent out this week, so I’ll be sure to share them when they’re all done!

Here is a quick bit of inspiration from the weekend: we got to see the new art building at my husband’s college, and it’s phenomenal. It has an outdoor sculpting area with air hoses hanging from the ceiling over each workstation, louvered glass doors that fully open up each classroom to the outside, and it’s got an awesome Design Studio. Check it out:

And the back wall, complete with huge tack boards where you can stick your projects up:

It makes me want to go back to school an sit in one of those awesome chairs that are so high that your feet dangle down like a little kid’s.

But for now, I’m just glad I got to see it. You art students are lucky!

Have a great Monday!

Howdy! And happy Friday to you! This post got delayed this morning due to a freak thunderstorm and power-outage. (I’m not making this up.)

But right before the power went out, I discovered the “specials” section over at Myfonts.com. Now, I’m not sure how I haven’t seen this before, but I’m pretty convinced that it’s a good thing I just found it because this section could be T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Just look at all the sweet fonts I found! And the best part is that they’re on sale! (Let’s just say that right now my shopping cart is filling up veeerrrry quickly!) Here are some of the great fonts that caught my eye:

Aren’t they beautiful?! I want all of them. You can click on each font and it will take you right to the page where you can buy it. I’d love to know which ones are YOUR favorite!

On a similar note: right now I’m working on a wedding invitation suite and I’m looking for a great new script font that fits these invites perfectly. Here’s a sneak peek at the design theme:

I’m so excited to see this design unfold and see the whole suite put together. It’s going to be bold and unique and full of color. I’ll be sure to share them with you when they’re all done!

Have a wonderful Friday and don’t let any freak thunderstorms get you down!

~K

Hi there!

Monday’s post got a little delayed due to a really busy weekend and an equally busy Monday. I thought I would have time this weekend for running, resting, and sewing, and even though I did get one run in on Saturday morning, the resting didn’t happen. And the sewing? Not a chance! I did fall asleep for about five minutes on the couch in my parent’s sunroom because I was totally pooped, and then their German Shepherd beast barked at the mailman and woke me up. Such is life. But it was a good weekend, nonetheless. Just busy. I was going to sew, sew, sew but that didn’t happen at all, and the project I wanted to showcase on Monday morning, got done Monday afternoon, so here goes. I decided to sew a pillow just like this one:

(Image taken from here: http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2008/09/petal-pillow-tutorial.html)

This is the tutorial that I went off of:

I figured I could use the extra pumpkin-colored fabric that I had left over from my pillows, and I just happened to have some dark chocolate-colored felt that I could use for the flower, for a truly fall-looking pillow. The felt was left over from my attempt last year at making Christmas stockings for my husband and I, which, uh, didn’t work out. So last week I cut out all my petals, so all I needed to do was cut out the fabric for the pillow and get started. (I didn’t follow the tutorial exactly; I just cut two 17″ squares for my pillow and blind-stitched the opening closed, rather than having two back panels of fabric for the back of the pillow.) Here are the goods:

I think Allison must be a superhuman sew-er because it took me a good hour and a half to sew the pillow and it took her 30 minutes. Maybe one day I’ll be that fast! And initially I did have a pretty funny mix-up– let’s see if you can pick up my error:

Let’s just say, always make sure your fabric is the right side up before you trace your pattern and start sewing. After I had sewn three petals on, my husband came over to look and I proudly held up my pillow with the petals attached to the inside. Doh! (Where’s that seam-ripper??)

But I fixed it, turned it right-side out, and started over.

I decided to add some flair on the pillow and instead of just having a center circle of felt for the center of the flower, so I folded up two left-over petals and sewed them folded, and then stuck a vintage button in the middle. (The vintage button came from my grandmother and I have bags of her old buttons just waiting to be used on projects.)

And here is the finished pillow:

So what do you think? You like the added flair?

I can’t wait to peruse her site more and see what other fun projects I might want to try….

Now switching gears a little:

The Office Re-do is still happening! Don’t fret. It’s taken a back seat these last few weeks, but it is still moving forward. Life just got really busy and so we are figuring out a time to do it. But I did have a good chat with my parents and showed them the images from photoshop of how the re-do was going to look. I wanted to be respectful and make sure the changes were something that they liked, because it is still my dad’s office and he is the one who has to work there! So I was pleasantly surprised that my dad liked the images! We did pare down some things–like that beautiful, white, magazine rack had to go back. My dad really likes the ones that are in there now–I know, I know–and I wasn’t going to fight with him on it. So I’ll jut have to work around them.

We’ve pared down what the re-do will encompass, and it’s this: new paint in the whole office, beadboard paneling in the whole office (he really liked that and wanted to do it!), and all new artwork and picture frames.  He even said, without any prompting from me, that he wanted new artwork and the old stuff needed to go. So, it’s not that far off from what we were doing before, but the beach theme has been toned down. The walls will still be sand-colored with a blue accent wall, but other than that, there won’t be any wooden seagulls or weathered “welcome” signs anytime soon. And that’s alright, because he’s letting me beadboard the whole thing! Double bonus!

That’s it from me today, hope you enjoyed the pillow! I’m off to design an awesome wedding suite, and am so excited to see how all the pieces turn out! There will be a detailed blog post to come, probably in a couple weeks, when all the pieces are done.

Have a happy Tuesday!

~K

I am so happy it’s Friday. Last weekend was really busy, and this week I tried to play catch-up, so I’m a little tired and ready for a mellow weekend. I’m planning on running, resting, and sewing. Sound good?

But first! Let’s get down to business.

And our friendly font of the day is:

I picked this font today because it’s one of your common script fonts that you’ll see around a lot, but I used it on my sister’s wedding invitations, and she and her husband *just*– as in this week–celebrated their 2-year anniversary! So I thought I would do a little post on their wedding invites. And a little post on Zapfino, of course.

First, a little background:

“The 20th century’s greatest calligrapher-type designer, Hermann Zapf, worked with David Siegel and Linotype Library to create Zapfino, the most versatile calligraphic font ever.

For each character there are four alternative versions, so text can be far more individual than with normal calligraphic fonts. There are accompanying fonts of ligatures and ornaments to complete the package.” Myfonts.com “About this Font”

Apparently, this is “the most versatile calligraphic font ever”! That’s quite the standard to live up to, my friends. But let’s see how it looks on some invites, shall we?

Here is our featured font on the Invitations:

And the RSVPs:

And the Menus:

Just look at all that Zapfino!

And here’s a few pictures from her wedding!

The Maid-of-Honor Toast! Look at that short hair!

Awwww....the Bride and Groom

So pretty!

I have no idea what we were doing here.

So that’s it! How’d you like the Zapfino? Oh, and that rock picture on the invitations was where they got married. It all tied together really nicely. Even the paper we used had a marbly/sand look to it, so it mimicked the beach really well. And Zapfino worked really well as the right font for them.

Hope you enjoyed today’s post, and I’ll be back on Monday with something special!

Toodles.

~K

Hey folks! It’s

and I have some fun sewing inspiration to share.  Yesterday I spent a good part of the day with my friend Michelle, sewing some new pillows for the abode, and possibly for my next Etsy venture. You see, I got this awesome sewing machine for Christmas last year, and although it’s been out of the box since then, I haven’t exactly used it. I was scared by it. A little intimidated. Home Ec was a long time ago! As in 7th Grade Home Ec. I remember learning how to sew a bag, a pillow, and a little sachet of potpurri for my mother, but threading this new machine that was completely MINE terrified me. I could just hear the grind of a machine wrongly-wound and then the distress of having to fix it. Eek.  I felt like I should call an expert. So I decided to give Michelle a holler and see if I could come over to her house and sew with her. (And have her show me how to work my machine. ). And Michelle is probably the most creative person I know. The woman made me this:

on the MORNING on my Bridal Shower, with no pattern– just whipped it up. Because that’s what every normal person does the morning of their friend’s bridal shower, they whip up a perfect lemon apron for them sans pattern. And look how cute it is!

(Sorry I didn’t remove the clothing behind me! Oops. )

I’m telling you, this woman is GOOD. (And soon she will have her own Etsy shop and all will be well with the world!)

So anyways, I knew that I wanted to go sew with Michelle because she is The Queen. And she helped me make some pillows months ago and I wanted her help again. I needed a little refresher course. So I got out the machine and we got to work.

The sewing machine I have is from Costco(!) and I love it! It’s a Brother XR-9000 and it’s got this fancy flip panel in the front that showcases all of it’s monogramming and stitch options. I’m so excited I know how to use it now, and I can sew my little heart out.

Michelle thought it was very important to point out the proper pins you need for sewing. I told her that I brought my own pins (from 7th grade) and my own tomato pin cushion.  She said I could “save the pins for the grandkids” and that THESE were the correct pins for sewing:

Here is my little tomato, straight from 7th grade.

And I couldn’t have done it without this baby:

And here is where the fun started:

After we measured and cut the fabric for the pillows, Michelle showed me how the thread the bobbin, and thread my machine–all of which I vaguely remembered from 7th grade– but now I can do it myself! I even made a pillow after I got home from her house. I just couldn’t stop! She also taught me the amazing “Blind Stitch” to close up pillows after you’ve stuffed them. That stitch is amazing. If done right, you can’t even tell which end is hand-stitched! So I sat and watched NCIS last night and stitched the pillows closed. (Is that normal?)

I ended up making five pillows yesterday. (Five! ) All the pillows I made were recycled from pillows I had around the house that I was tired of; I don’t see the benefit of spending tons of money on store-bought pillows when I had these pillows that I wasn’t even using. And this red beauty, well it was stuffed under the guest bed because I thought it was hideous. So I made a new cover for it!

One of them started with this:

And then this…

To this!

Pumpkin is such a better color than fake-velvet/towel fabric red. Don’t you agree?

And here are the beauts resting on my bed now.

I’m  really excited that they are so fall-ish and graphic. (It’s pretty funny the prints that I’m drawn to when I walk through the fabric store; they are all really graphic looking, which is I guess goes with the territory considering I’m a graphic designer.)

And here are a couple more that are on the couch. Please note the awesome royal blue color that the couch is, sans slipcover. Gotta love Craigslist!

I have two more pillows to make covers for and lots more fabric, so I might try and get a little fancy and add a button or something crazy on one of them. I know. Buttons are CRAZY. But for now, I have some graphics work to do, so the sewing will have to wait for a little bit!

In the meantime, I hope this inspired you to go sew something, or make something new from something lying around the house.

I’ll be back on Friday with a fun font to share!

~K