New fabrics

The mailman brought me some gems. Echino fat quarters.

The new Heather Ross Far, Far Away III. This stuff is soft. Like almost quilt cotton soft. And almost with some drape to it. Almost. I love it.

Bicentennial decor

I was only a toddler in 1976 but for some reason the design of that year really fascinates me. When we were house hunting a few years ago we looked at this place with an entire bathroom wallpapered in liberty eagles. So when a living room set popped up on eBay, I watched it with great interest. I didn't bid and it was relisted. I felt it was my duty to buy it at the lower price and a couple of weeks later, it arrived from the original owner. I think it's cool that dollhouse furniture follows the trends in the 1:1 world; read this interesting post by diepuppenstubensammlerin.

I have people in mind when I work out my inspiration for a scene. This place is rented by some hipsters who think that bicentennial decor is hilarious (like myself). I played around with some doily action but ended up taking the space in a more modern direction. They like contemporary art and nice glassware but also throw in stuff they've picked up at yard sales and the Salvation Army downtown.

I do realize how crazy this all sounds but my job can be super high stress and staging these little scenarios relaxes me in a way that sewing never will.

I'll put more details in the flickr captions as I feel I've gone on long enough.

Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress . in action

I finished the Jump Rope dress ages ago but it was too cold to wear it. It's been hanging on the wall in my "studio" for months. In honor of 1001 Peeps Summer Camp, I cut an onion scepter from the garden and took some photos.

This is the size 4. I think the skirt would look great in 1001 Peeps too. This is Castle Peeps and the top is Amy Butler.

And a gratuitous action shot.

The scepter.

1001 Peeps Summer Camp!

I am so excited to finally be able to share with you all that I am going to be a 1001 Peeps Summer Camp Counselor!

Join me on July 1 for a super awesome Peeping Peeps zippered bag tutorial.

2011 Summer Camp starts today at Sew Mama Sew so go check out the first project.

Here are some buttons that you can add to your blog:
200 dpi

150 dpi:

Summer Camp happens every Friday; here's the roster:

June 24: Alexia Abegg.
July 1: Lemon Cadet
July 8: The Fat Quarterly!
July 15: Quilt Asylum.
July 22:  MrsMcPorkchop
July 29: Flax and Twine
August 5: Heather alamode
August 12:  Make Something
August 19: Whipstitch
August 26: Happy Zombie

The rest of the details are over on Lizzy House's blog (her birthday is today so go say hi). There will be giveaways and tutorials and some other fun stuff.

A bit of fundraising

Later this Summer I'll be leading a small group of students on a service learning trip to Jamaica where we'll be helping run a camp for at-risk youth in a small rural town in the mountains.

My students are really amazing and they are doing everything they can to help cover the costs of the trip. I thought I'd help out by putting a button here on this blog. Any donation, even as low as $15 will make a difference. We want to help the community purchase some new sporting equipment that is safe -- little things we often take for granted in our own cities.

If you're viewing this on a reader or through a feed, just click over. The button is on the left. Thanks!

Horses and girls

I've never been a horse girl. Never. I've ridden horses a couple of times in my life and I would be happy to again. As a girl, however, I never played with plastic horses (except for a few My Little Ponies, if that counts). It just wasn't my thing. I was more into other things (and I'll post on those next week).

So why I bought this fabric from Spoonflower, I will never know. But it's gorgeous. I splurged and chose the voile. It is soft and lovely. I was bummed at first when I saw that Heather Ross' Far Far Away III line included some of these same prints but they are on totally different fabric so it's all good. I am loving, loving, loving the ochre and browns. This palette reminds me of my early childhood before the '80s got all bright.

A mini challenge

Just before we left for Berlin, Call of the Small posted about what, for her, was involved in making a scene.  This was one of my favorite posts and I was inspired to tackle the challenge. I do my scenes in much the same way and I'll stick with her post format for this one.

Unfortunately, I don't have a dollhouse. I designed and created a roombox but there are a couple of flaws in the construction so I can't use it yet. So I'm still left with only this Petite Princess roombox. Usually I'll wallpaper it with scrapbook paper and do something with the floor. But when I started placing the red and orange in the space, the turquoise blue seemed just right so I didn't change my background.

Motivation: I picked up a few really cool pieces in Berlin and I have been dying to use them (but crazy busy!). I started with the orange and white chair and was planning on doing something totally different but after I put the credenza in there and then the red lounge chair, it all started to work.

The accessories: My favorite part of making a scene is adding all the stuff. The TV was first, of course. It is a fairy tale viewfinder of Hansel and Gretel from Berlin. There is a crazy image of the kids shoving the witch's fat ass into the oven. It's hilarious. I didn't think the aqua would work but I think it really does. Of course I had to use the "ball tower" (the fernsehturm) souvenir and that thermos (a recent eBay find). My mom bought me a box of mostly trashed dollhouse furniture at a flea market and that bird cage was right on top. I didn't think it would work either but it did. (I think it must be a Christmas ornament). Next I went with a vintage Sylvanian families cabinet and the TOMY planter. The pillows I made came next and then the mostly Playmobil dishes (check out that sausage! I am not into fake food much but that is too funny). Oh, the red shoes are from my childhood Skipper doll. Ah, the teeth marks...

The dinosaur was a last-minute find (I share a space with the toddler and husband so their toys often come in handy).

I definitely like to play around with color and I care little for realism. I like to have fun with spaces that appear realistic on first glance and then smack you with something ridiculous (like the bright green sword from some appetizer or mixed drink).

Time: It took 15 minutes to set everything up.  Everything was out and on hand so I didn't have to dig through any bins. I usually spend much longer because I often have a toddler around. I took 22 photos for 5 minutes. I spent 10 minutes with them in Photoshop (basically resizing a cropping a bit). Then it too me about 3 days to actually have a few minutes to write this post.

Finally, I would LOVE to know more about the new pieces I acquired, especially the lounge chair. It has real upholstery, it's not molded plastic. I have an identical one with brown "leather." I don't know anything about the orange and cream chair or the credenza (the only piece with a marking -- W Germany). They are all flea market or secondhand finds. Anyone?

Thanks so much to Call of the Small for such an inspiring and informative post.