stash builder

I believe I've told you about my favorite fabric store before—Fabric Depot in Portland. I can't tell you how many times I've searched smaller fabric stores for a project piece with no luck, then headed into Fabric Depot and found exactly what I was looking for right away. I'm to the point now where I don't even bother looking anywhere else.

Bonus? Frequent sales. Most weekends, FabDep has amazing sales, often 30% off all fabrics. My last trip was Saturday, and I stumbled upon 25% off fabrics + 50% off all remnants. Hello, stash builder sale.

My stash was getting a bit slim, so I bulked it up in no time with half-off fabrics.

The greens:

 Miss Adorable Bambi fab:

An orange flannel and a gorgeous spring floral (or as I like to call it, "You had me at California Poppy"):

I see a lot of these fabrics turning into owls. (Note: the owl link is for a past giveaway. The giveaway is long since over, so no new entries will be accepted.) Redesigning the owls is a major goal for me this year. (And rest assured, the redesign will be followed by another giveaway.) :)

And a full yard of thin poly batting for half price. I might use this as soft interfacing for a handbag, but I'm not sure how well that would work. Anyone ever tried it?

I also picked up this beautiful teal floral that will be used as a lining for said bag. (Probably also part of a pillow for the living room.) That chunky brass zipper is for the bag, too. LOVE it.

Last, but not least, I grabbed three solids for an upcoming quilt project. I picked up this stack of Suess fat quarters months ago and finally found a quilt pattern I love, but needed some solids to round out the patterns. I can't wait to get started on that.

 

 What do you love about your favorite fabric store?

Surprise!

I told you yesterday that I made four little owlies. This owl pattern of mine (no, not mine, Simplicity's) is just too complicated, so this version of owl is being retired.

But don't worry. I'll be back with more once I complete the redesign.

For today, you can enter to win my very last Simplicity owl! Aren't you excited?? Can you tell that I am?? This is my first ever giveaway and I'm super excited about that! Let me show you what you're entering to win:

(I know her left eye looks a little funny, but it's just the camera angle. See?)

Yes, her name is Adelgard. Yes, I know that's a little strange. But I work very hard to find names that seem appropriate for owls but also mean "protector." Or in this case, "noble protector," which is even more suited to an owl.

So here's what you do to enter: 

Leave a comment, with a way for me to reach you, by Saturday, April 10, 11:59pm pacific time.

It's perfectly fine to do "myaddress at gmail dot com" so the trolls don't getcha. Sunday, I will choose a winner using the Random Number Generator. If I can't find a way to reach the winner, I will choose a new winner. I will then contact the winner via email and post his or her name on the blog Monday.

Want a second entry?

• Become a "Google follower" (look up on the left sidebar) and leave me an additional comment telling me so.

...OR

• Become a "fan" of make*happy's Facebook page and leave me an additional comment telling me so.

Two entries maximum per person, please. 

Good luck!

owls

Alright. I'm seriously done making these owls. I thought that making a batch of four at one time, assembly-line style, would be faster and/or easier. Nope.  All those tiny pieces to cut out...all that stitching. I don't want to give up the whole idea just yet, because I love that they're nocturnal, sleepy time protectors, but they need a serious redesign before I take on any more.

So, to answer the question from yesterday's post, the first owl went to my new baby nephew. This guy here:

And this one went to J. Love that dandelion fabric.

And this one went to one of H's friends:

I tell ya, it was hard to separate these guys. They look really cute together.

And these two? I'm not sure what was going on there, but sending them off to their new owners was not pleasant. You wouldn't think that stuffed owls would make such a fuss.

But I'm sure they perked up in their new, happy homes. :)

Hmm? What's that you say? I made four owls and only told you where three of them went? 

Oh, goodness, you're right! She's right here next to me. She's awfully lonely. Do you know where I could find a good home for her?

Check back tomorrow for more details...

birthdays

Happy birthday January 13th babies! There are quite a few birthdays today in my circles. There are two birthdays in H's class today, which I'm sure means double the cupcakes. Then after school, she heads to another friend's birthday party (see adorable owlie gift below) for even more sugary fun. Today is also cousin Bill's birthday. Well, Bill is Hub's step-cousin's husband. What is that? My third cousin, twice removed? I don't know how that works. We don't count those things in my family...we're just family.

Let's talk about Bill first. Bill is an engineer, like Hubs, and they're both LEGO enthusiasts. Hubs got one of these LEGO name plates last year, and we happened to find one for Bill, too. Though it may have been the last one in the US...seems they're not making them anymore. Too bad, because they're really cool.

With something that cool, I had to try to make a card to match. Here's what I came up with:

And "LEGO" detail:

Fun stuff. Happy birthday Bill!

Now onto Miss M, H's friend. She's turning five today, so H and I figured this would be the perfect time for Miss M to have her own owl.

I just love the wing fabric on this one.

Happy birthday, Miss M! Hope you like Owlina. :)

owlicious

A few months ago, the kids and I borrowed a book from the library that sparked a crafty idea. The book itself was not my favorite, but the main character made a small mention that her favorite stuffed animal was an owl, because it stayed awake at night to keep the monsters away.

I immediately knew that I had to find stuffed owls for all the kids on my holiday gift list. I went straight to Etsy, where I found a number of owls that were OK, but nothing just perfect. I bookmarked a few and set them aside for later. (This was September, I believe, and I was not ready to think about Christmas yet!)

In November, I went back and tried to order some of my favorite one. Except that it wasn't available anymore. I emailed the seller and she steered me toward the pattern she used. I found it on Ebay cheap and headed off to the fabric store.

This was my first ever pattern. I usually sew freestyle. I have to say that I didn't enjoy the pattern experience very much. I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of girl, and the whole pattern thing was just too stressful for me. But...I'm thrilled with the way the owls turned out. They are just so adorable.

I had intended to have photos of six owls here for you. I even cut enough fabric to make six owls. But procrastination got in the way so I only ended up making one owl for practice and one for my 2 yr old nephew, because I really wanted him to have his as a Christmas gift.

Here is the owl I gave my nephew. The owl's name is Woodward, which means guardian of the wood.

 

 

And here is a precious photo of my nephew holding Woody just after opening his gift. Aw. :)

 

H ended up liking the one I made for practice, so I gave her that one. Only she wanted lime green buttons for eyes instead of wool felt. I tried to talk her out of it, but believe me, when H knows what she wants, she won't have it any other way. Good thing I had some lime green buttons.

I named this one Owlivia, but H changed it to Tweetheart. I imagine she'll only get more opinionated as she gets older. :)