I got a head

I visited this ruby-lipped lady three separate times in an antique store before her charm became irresistible and I bought her. I'm not sure what her story is— is she a fine art sculpture, or was she once a department store model for bathing caps or wigs? Beats me, but she is so lovely I had to have her. She will reside in the dining room, which is getting fancier (or by some definitions, crazier) by the minute. You'll see in a couple weeks.

P.S. If you ever wonder why there are pens in lots of my pictures, it's my attempt at indicating scale.

Helpful typography websites

Here are a couple of useful websites for those interested in type. The first is Fonts in Use. It's a gallery of, you guessed it. Search for typefaces used by a particular industry, a particular design format, or look up particular fonts. Let's say you're considering using Cooper Black on the flyer for your new high-end hair salon, and you're wondering if it could ever look anything but dated and kitschy. Check out the designs users have shared and form your own conclusions (The answer is no.)


If you want to impress your friends because you know what the little doohickey is called that hangs off certain lowercase "g's," Aaron Bloom's Typography site will help. Read about type anatomy and classifications, consult the glossary, or take a short quiz to see if you learned anything.

Mini origami Kleenex box

You'd love to spend 30 minutes of your life attempting to fold a mini tissue box for Kleenexes that dispense perfectly well from their original package, wouldn't you? I thought so. Follow along with this origami tissue box tutorial at Marigami Origami, designed by Paul Ee.

The 9.5" square of decorative paper I used makes a box that perfectly fits a Kleenex travel pack. For the record, I'm never doing this again.


Darned cute though, isn't it.

Good free fonts

If you haven't visited Fontfabric for awhile and you're a compulsive typeface hoarder, it's probably time to go check out their freebies bin again. This time I'm going to grab High Tide.

Popsicle desktop wallpaper

I'm done with winter. I should not be wrapped in a blanket at my desk, but in a beach towel in the sand. My fingers should not be cold from drafty windows, but from holding a piña colada. To put me in a better mood, I'm switching to popsicle wallpaper.

"Make Me Up Before You Go-Go" pattern review

My mom, also known as Grandma G in the comments around here, sent over pictures of a new bag she just made using the Make Me Up Before You Go-Go zippered pouch pattern by Erin Erickson. She used the Wildflower canvas print from my Outside Oslo fabric collection, and here's the result.


The design is for a big makeup bag that opens up wide enough to see all the way to the bottom. You could use it to store craft supplies or toys. Or instruments of torture like Mum shows in her photo.

(Apparently these tools are also used for sewing; read about them on her blog if you're curious.)

My favorite part about this bag: she quilted the tulips. They're puffy!


Mum provided some comments on the pattern, which I'll share here:
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I went into this project with every confidence that the pattern would be a good one, because I've sewn from some of Erin's patterns and tutorials before, and I know she does a meticulous job of pattern writing and sews many prototypes before she calls a pattern good enough. I wasn't disappointed! She did an excellent job of writing this one and also of taking many photos to demonstrate her instructions.

I had a little confusion when making the inside zippered pocket. I couldn't visualize how it was going to turn out, but I went ahead and did exactly what she said and followed the photos... and sure enough, it turned into a perfect pocket.

The hardest part of the sewing was putting the binding around the ends of the bag. I had to really do some wrangling (reminiscent of making that infamous Weekender Bag, but not that bad) around those corners, and I admit I picked out some stitches and resewed in a couple of places. Of course, I made it harder by choosing to do it the opposite way that Erin suggested in the pattern... I sewed on the binding from the outside of the bag, because I wanted to make sure my neatest stitching was on the part of the bag that would show the most. I'm glad I did it that way.

Other than that, the rest of the pattern was pretty easy to use. I thought the quilting made for a fun, attractive touch. I'd say if you've had some bag-making and/or binding experience, you could easily sew this project.

Erin has a lot of cool patterns in her shop, and I know she's been working on a fun wallet pattern that should be out soon. In fact, she just wrote a post about how much she prototypes during her pattern writing process. It's very interesting, and it shows all the hard work she puts into her patterns. Read the post and see all the variations for that new wallet here. I just may have to give that a try, too, when the pattern's released!
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To do: paint a dresser

I don't think I've mentioned this project on my growing to-do list: painting a mid-century Drexel Touraine french provincial dresser I got on Craigslist. It's in wonderful condition and just needs a coat of paint to freshen it up. Then it will hold things that belong in a dining room, like tablecloths and screwdrivers and batteries.

If you'd told me a year ago that I was going to put something of this style in my house, I'd have laughed at you. But I didn't bank on having a fireplace in my dining room that looks like this. We fell in love with the house and it has been bossing us around ever since.


I think I'm going to paint it all white to downplay the dresserliness of it and make it more modern. Only the accent wall has fuschia wallpaper; the other walls are white, so adding some white over here seems like a good idea to tie things together. See some examples of similar dressers painted white that I collected on Pinterest.


This is sort of where we're headed— a Photoshop collage of ideas I made several weeks ago. (Visualize that fireplace with faux tin tile instead of the gray stuff I pasted on. This mockup was before I hatched the plan of a removable skin for the antique tile.)

Free pattern downloads

Jessica Nielsen is an illustrator based in the Netherlands, and she generously shares many of her pattern designs as free downloads for personal use. You could use them as gift wrap, make patterned envelopes, print out notecards, or set them as wallpaper backgrounds on your computer or phone. Find a selection of designs here, or visit Jessica's Etsy shop. I love her style!