A couple months ago I was pondering what in the world to give my aunt for her big upcoming milestone birthday: 75!! She's impossible to shop for. Plus, I like making stuff...so this happened:
If by chance you have read my previous post titled, "A Bag Fit for the Queen", you'll already know a little bit about my beloved Frannie. "Queenie" is what we call her, and rightly so.
Frannie is a Maine-er, and you don't find too many couches in Maine without a blanket thrown over it. I thought a new quilt would be perfect for her winter nights curled up in front of the TV hollering at the Celtics and the bad referree-ing...one of her favorite pastimes.
It didn't take me long to think of a good motif for the Queen's quilt. Crowns! Duh! So I started sewing pieces together and trying to make something that somewhat resembled a crown. Then I thought...well Queenie needs a crown for every occasion. So these are what emerged:
This is her Glamour Crown. She wears this one when she paints her toenails and gets all dolled up to go out with her girlfriends for Church Suppers and such. The buttons are shinier in person. :)
This is her Housework Crown. She wears it when she's scrubbing her "throne".
Here is her Business Crown. This alerts everyone around when "Frannie Means Business"
This fancy one is her Coronation Crown. When she puts this one on, we know it's time to roll out the Red Carpet.
Here is her Card Game crown. Because come on...it's just fun. She hopes the bright colors will distract the boys team so that the girls can win a hand for a change.
This huge crown is worn only for special occasions. It seems to provoke things like free first-class upgrades and opening up of the car door. It let's 'em know that someone important has come to town.
Frannie's Princess Crown is always accompanied by the sweetest, meekest smile she can muster and maybe a bat of the lashes. She puts this on when she's picked something pricey out of the Lands End Catalog for Christmas.
Last but not least is the Cookin' Crown. It is the most glorious of all. She adorns this heavyweight when she's cookin' up her magic in the kitchen. I hope she will remember who made her this crown in particular the next time she bakes a batch of cookies. She might get the urge to send a Priority box to Wisconsin.
Although I wasn't able to be in Maine at Frannie's 75th birthday celebration, I was fortunate enough to see her on Skype when she opened up her quilt. The party go-ers got a good laugh, and so did Frannie. Ironically enough, her two loving sons had a custom birthday cake made for her that said, "Happy 75th Birthday Queenie". We did not coordinate. When the planets align, they sure do get it right!
Happy Big One, Queenie!! xoxo
I finally took some time to stitch up a cool Cosmetic Case designed by a cool gal I met at Sew South, Lindsay Rhodes from LRStitched.com. The pattern is very well written, easy to understand, and it has lots of good pictures. You also get to try out some cool stuff like Pellon's Vinyl Fuse and a poly-resin Snap. I get excited when I get to use fun stuff in addition to just fabric and thread. :)
The Vinyl Fuse is awesome! You fuse it onto regular fabric and Voila! It's water/stain/messy resistant! It's a perfect idea for something like a cosmetic case. All that eye shadow dust and lip stick smudge will wipe right off! I'm imagining it on the inside of a cute lunch bag as well. Then you wouldn't be stuck with whatever ugly waterproof fabrics you can find. You could use anything! Too bad I don't require a lunch bag to take to work since I work at home. Bugger! I might make one anyway...to transport my Oreos downstairs to the Shop.
You can find Lindsay's pattern in a neat little PDF for FREE by clicking here.
FYI: I had a hard time finding the Vinyl Fuse when I looked for it the first couple times. I assumed it would be on the Pellon Interfacing rack at JoAnn. It was not. :( When I asked a girl for help, she pointed me to the wrong stuff - which will definitely not work. You can actually find the Vinyl Fuse pre-packaged in the notions aisle. It comes in a long, skinny, orange box in 2 yd cuts. I used the Matte finish, which I liked a lot. I have yet to find it sold by the yard, although the Pellon website says it is. Somewhere. Out there.
I used a Babyville Boutique poly-resin snap and Snap Pliers. These can be found at JoAnn and many other places, I imagine. I bought my zippers (a while ago) by-the-yard from TheZipperLady.com. She has an awesome selection of zippers and pulls for even more awesome prices. I love the Pop Top pulls. I think they look cool and unique. If you have never put pulls onto zipper tape by yourself before, she has a couple great videos that show you how. It is SO EASY! If you use zippers very often, you'll save a ton by buying them by-the-yard and have so much less waste.
Anyway, I definitely recommend this pattern. I'll be making more cases for sure. Try it out, and send any questions along if you run into problems. I'll help if I can. :)
