Taylor Made Designs

Fun in LA and a Contest

The weekend before last I went to LA to visit my daughter Leanne.  She is in her second year of law school at UCLA.  She does not live near campus, but rather in a darling apartment in Korea town.  There are four units in her buidling. 

The night of my arrival she, her boyfriend, Peter, and I went to a Korean karaoke bar.  It was unusual because it was full of private rooms where you could sing to your heart's content and only embarrass yourself in front of friends and family rather than perfect strangers. 

Leanne is a great singer and it is always fun for me to get to hear her sing.  Notice the video on the screen.  From what I could tell, the video never had anything to do with the song being played.

And here's Peter...always singing with lots of enthusiasm!

Two if the three nights I was there we got to order dinner from the Taco truck that parks in a car wash parking lot that is about a half a block away and across the street.  It is there every night from 6 P.M. to 3 or 4 AM. (depending on the night of the week).  It is apparently one of the more famous taco trucks in LA.  The food is super cheap and DELICIOUS!  People stop by all night long.

Sunday we got to go to one of my favorite places...the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  We were looking for furniture and storage pieces for Leanne's apartment and had pretty good luck.

Leanne is holding my purchase...a fiberglass dog that came out of a shoe store in the 60's.  WHY did I buy this?  I can't answer that.  If Leanne weren't driving here for Thanksgiving I would not have even considered it.  I resisted it for several hours and had even forgotten about it when we happend by the booth again and it was STILL THERE!  I guess I took it for a sign.  I think the dog will be cute standing near the front door and I think I will accessorize it for every holiday.  Now I just need a name for this dog.

I am open to both boy and girl names.  The winner will be rewarded with two of my books...you get to choose which ones.

Did I mention that I also got to rearrange furniture?  So it really was a perfect weekend that included 4 of my favorite things.  Visiting with Leanne, attending the Rose Bowl Flea Market, eating from the taco truck and rearranging furniture.  YEAH!

Bye for now

Cindy

Meet the Apprentice

For the first time in my 25 years of business...I have an employee!  She is my daughter, Elizabeth.  We refer to her as "the apprentice".   This was her first time at Quilt Market and she was such a big help.

 
Elizabeth graduated from college a year and a half ago with a BFA in musical theater.  When she is not cast in a show or working at her restaurant job, she helps me!  When she first proposed this idea to me she said that she wanted me to "teach her everything I know" so that she could take over my business when I was ready to retire.  Mind you at 56 years of age...I have actually never even considered retiring.  I love my job.  However, the idea of turning over the shipping and accounting did have a lot of appeal!  So that is where she is starting; with design, pattern making and sewing lessons thrown in when ever time allows.

Fun at Moda/United Notions booth above and at Me and My Sister Designs below.
 

Bye for now

Cindy
 

Quilt Market

As you can tell, I am quite a bit behind as I am just getting around to posting the pictures from Quilt Market.  It was such a push for everyone to get ready because market was 2 weeks early this year.  I was a vendor at my first Quilt Market 25 YEARS ago!  Doesn't seem possible.

 

This market I re-issued one of my most popular patterns The Big Shirt.  It has been discontinued for several years and people keep asking for it.  The actual pattern is the same but the photos and instructions have been updated.  Also new is the Slice of Cake pincushion pattern.  This completes the trilogy of bakery related pincushions.

Bye for now

Cindy

 
 
 

Happy Halloween

The house is decorated, the candy is ready and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the kids in costumes. 

Over the years, Quilt Market has, more often than not, fallen on Halloween.  So I am extra excited to be here.  According to my husband, we don't usually get a lot of trick-or-treaters so this year I used our electirc Christmas luminarias to make Halloween luminarias.  I cut the bottom out of 7 plastic pumpkins (.94 each) and put them over the luminaria bases.  I think they look very festive and inviting to anyone wandering around looking for candy.

Keep your fingers crossed that it works or you know who will end up eating these candy bars!

Zebra Cake

Look how cute this fabric combination turned out using the new Slice of Cake Pincushion pattern.  My daughter, Elizabeth, also know around here as The Apprentice selected the fabrics.  We call it the zebra cake for obvious reasons but one of our favorite desserts also goes by that name.  You might know it as a Refrigerator Roll.  You will find the recipe on the bottom of a box of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer Cookies.  When you cut the finished roll on a diagonal you get a black and white stripe so when the girls were little they always referred to it as "Zebra Cake".  If you have never made this delicious dessert you might give it a try.  It's cookies and whipped cream...what's not to like?

Slice of Cake Pincushion

Life is SO hectic right now but I wanted to show you one of the TWO new patterns I will be taking to Quilt Market.  This is the same pincushion that I originally designed for Quilts & More.  They are sold out of the magazine and 6 months has passed since it hit the stands so I am now allowed to publish this myself.  I have tweaked the pattern just a little so it is even better than before!  And it makes a perfect ending for the bakery themed trilogy that started with the Cupcake Pincushion.

 

Shower Them with Baby Cakes

 

Linda recently sent my a photo of the Baby Cakes she made for a wedding shower.  She used irovy, champagne and white fabrics.  The little heart tag says "dum dum da dum".  How cute is that? 

At the end of the shower she put each Baby Cake in a clear plastic treat bag, tied it with a bow and gave one to each guest.

 

Here is Linda and you can see the bags in the background.  Well done.

Here's a little tip I passed along to Linda because she wrote me that she was also going to make the bride a Retro Apron.  Embroider the bride's new last name on the pocket of the apron.  Mrs. Whatever.  If it is a shower gift, it will probably be the first time she sees her new name written out.

Bye for now

Cindy

Dumb Mistake

Wait until you see what I have done to my beloved Rowenta Master Steam Generator superpress iron!  So beloved that I recently sent it off to California to be fixed to the tune of $90.00 because it was made in France rather than in China like the new ones.

  

See the gaping hole where it should say "Rowenta"?  Here's what happened.  This particular iron takes about 7 or 8 minutes to warm up.  I have it plugged into a surge protector that is on the floor.  When I want to turn it on I just flip the switch on the surge protector and go about my business until it is ready.  On this particular day, there was a lot of stuff piled up on the ironing board.  (You know how tempting a large flat surface is for temporary storage.)  The iron was not sitting flat on it's plate but rather a little askew with part of the iron on the plastic!  I did not discover it until it was too late.  Now to my surprise, that portion of the unit holds the electric not the water which is good because if it were the water tank you would not be able to get up enough pressure for the steam.  So the iron still works and husband will cover the scar with I don't know what.  Live and learn.

Bye for now,

Cindy

In The News...SewNews That Is

 

In the current issue of SewNews you will find me in the Designer Digs section.  It is a very nice article but I wish they had made the pictures of the studio larger and the picture of me MUCH smaller.  Below are a few more photos of my studio/office where I spend the better part of most days.

 

The desk is made of unfinished cabinets from Lowes.  William, my husband, painted them for me.  I had an outside handyman (as opposed to my in-house very handman, William) hang the upper cabinets and I ordered the desk top to fit.  Very important feature is being able to see the TV while working at the desk, sewing or standing at the cutting table.

 

This rolling ironing board is one of my favorite things.  The space is a little tight and there is a lot of stuff stored in those curtained closets so it is nice to be able to easily roll the ironing board out of the way.

Bye for now

Cindy

Somthing New

This new book Little Sassy Skirts will not be ready to ship until June but I wanted you to see the cover.  I am hard at work on the instructions...trying to get them turned in before I leave next Tuesday. 

These little skirts are fast and fun to make.  I feel so lucky to get to work with such beautiful fabrics.

Bye for now

Cindy