I feel pretty

Haley has been asking me to make her a dress. She will only wear dresses and skirts. Every once in a while my hubby can convince her to put on pants….but usually there is some sort of trade off or condition to it. Anyway, I finally made her a t-shirt dress. I made it long in hopes that she’ll be able to wear it for a while (She is spinning….it’s hard to get her to stand still for long with a twirly dress!)

T-shirt dresses are GREAT! Super fast! It took me less than and hour to get it all done. (My serger helped with the speediness too.) I made it with Michael Miller‘s Orchid Boho Blossom. SUCH COOL FABRIC! It’s available here and here and here. (all from me!)

Let’s see, I’ll put up an Etsy Mini of some of the fabrics in my store! Fun Fun Fun!

Etsy Buy Handmade AboveAllFabric

Hopefully I’ll see you again before the week it over!

Now you see it…..

This tub had been holding all the things that I had started but had yet to finish. (Actually my mom helped me with many of these last year at Spring break…YIKES) Anyway, they sat and sat because I got interrupted by good things, by bad things, by, well, life. Anyway, as it turns out, now I really need the space and so one of my goals was to finish all those projects.

1. Minkee lovies – to be donated to the NICU that Taylor was in when he was born. Perfect size for preemies and just great all around. They aren’t really meant to cover up the baby, just to give them something soft to hold and love. They’re great – plus they used up scrap fabric. Yes, I too, hate to throw things away that might have some sort of use. It seems to run in my family.

2. Six bags. A few details need to be finished…I will be hand sewing the lining seams when I watch TV (or when they sell!) So I guess it’s not really done…but done enough for me to get it out of the box. There is one bag that didn’t make the photo shoot. And OK – I have to be honest….there were 7 bags, but I was so mad at one that I just threw it in the trash. I know, I said that I don’t like to throw things away. You see, for those of you who are unaware, sewing can be quite the emotional adventure. And this was beyond hope…maybe it’s not nice…and I probably should have tried to recycle the item. Sorry!

3. Cheater Quilt – Winnie the Pooh and his friends. SUPER DUPER cute! And of course minkee for the backing. SUPER DUPER cuddly! I call it a cheater quilt, because it’s really just a panel that looks like a pieced quilt. I machine quilted around some of the pieces to give it a more authentic look, and to hold the batting in place. Since I was using minkee, I didn’t want to quilt all the way through.

It’s just what had to be done. It made me think of Cathy. (Hi!) If she has another baby maybe I’ll make one for her. JT probably doesn’t need it now. What do you think? If he does, email me. Oh….or I could send her this.

It’s a cute hooded towel I made a while back. Ok, sorry I’m getting side tracked.

A few other things too…boppy covers, aprons…the usual. A real quilt (crib sized) had to be moved to a new location. So technically I didn’t finish everything in the box…but close enough. Anyway -

Now you don’t! Magic? I wish!

Ready or not

The kids have been home today, so we’ve been playing some games. That is why I thought of this title….but it applies to something other than a game in this case!

I was interviewed for a local newspaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The article is supposed to run this Saturday. SO….I needed to push up my deadline for the new website design. I really like the way it’s turned out. And while it still needs work, I feel like for the most part it’s ready.

Now I need your help! PLEASE if you have a chance, go to my website (psst…that’s a link) and make sure to tell me ANY and ALL problems that you see. I’ve already found a few.

(Just a little note – If you have my website bookmarked you may get a 404 error. Clear your cookies and reset your bookmark and it should work again.)

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO – I may as well spill the beans about another little thing going on around here. A few of you already knew, a few of you (if you were super observant) may have noticed….but now it’s official…….

I have opened another store on Etsy AND another website dedicated to fabric and patterns. I will also be back on eBay soon. You can check out that site too and please feel free to let me know about problems there too.

Whew! I think that is it. Thanks for you help

Mr. Tough Guy

Last night, armed with a 30% off coupon, (and 37 hours of overtime on hubby’s check) I went to buy a new vacuum.

Our last vacuum broke quite a while back. I’ve been using the hand held to do necessary jobs, but the whole house was in need of a good vacuuming. We seem to be tough on vacuums. This is actually our 3rd since we’ve been married.

Vacuum #1 – Something we could afford, bag less, who knows what else it had.

Worked fine, but then my dear dear husband decided to vacuum the garage. Yes, I think it’s weird too. Who in the heck vacuums a garage? And with a household vacuum too..not a shop-vac. (And while we’re on weird cleaning behaviors….does anyone regularly clean BEHIND the fridge? I don’t, but a friend of mine was shocked by that. Hmmm…) So anyway, our garage sparkled, but the vacuum never quite worked the same.

Vacuum #2 – the cheapest vacuum I could find in the store

I probably don’t need to say much more. It actually worked for several years, and just recently (remember, that is a a relative term) got so hot that the little wheel thingy melted together, making it useless. I knew it was hot, so we changed the belt and all of that. Didn’t solve the problem, obviously!

Vacuum #3 – Bag less (hubby’s request), propelled wheels, dusting attachment, stair attachment and a bright color.

I have to say, the floors look wonderful! We’ll see how it holds up over time. We’re awfully tough on vacuums.

Toddler Love

When my oldest moved to his toddler bed, there were NO toddler bedding sets in the regular stores. Now they have a few, but you’re pretty much forced to stick with Dora or Thomas. Not that I don’t like Dora and Thomas….but for those who want to decorate their toddler’s room a little differently, there still are not a lot of options.

Unless, of course, you buy handmade. Then the possibilities are endless. There are some WAY cute sets out there. Here is one I just finished for a customer. A blanket, bed skirt and matching valance.

Cute, don’t you think? Yeah, me too!

Kyle’s shirt

Here’s a picture of Kyle’s shirt. He helped with it…but has now decided it needs spaceships and aliens ALL over it…so we may be adding some more.

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I used to keep online photo albums. Now I have this blog. So, here are some pictures for the fam. Enjoy!

Taylor loves his lego wagon Christmas gift, but he especially loves to get rides.

Our Saturday hike could have ended quickly. The kids would not have lasted long with wet shoes. Good thing Daddy was there to carry both across!

We stopped at this Canyon to have our snack. We decided it was time to turn around and head back after that. It was a good distance for the kids. Total trip – a little over 2 miles. I’m not sure of elevation change, there were a few big hills. Haley even hiked almost all of it!

Cute boy!

Haley Kisses! (of course)

Kyle’s shirt

Here’s a picture of Kyle’s shirt. He helped with it…but has now decided it needs spaceships and aliens ALL over it…so we may be adding some more.

****************************************

I used to keep online photo albums. Now I have this blog. So, here are some pictures for the fam. Enjoy!

Taylor loves his lego wagon Christmas gift, but he especially loves to get rides.

Our Saturday hike could have ended quickly. The kids would not have lasted long with wet shoes. Good thing Daddy was there to carry both across!

We stopped at this Canyon to have our snack. We decided it was time to turn around and head back after that. It was a good distance for the kids. Total trip – a little over 2 miles. I’m not sure of elevation change, there were a few big hills. Haley even hiked almost all of it!

Cute boy!

Haley Kisses! (of course)

Kyle’s shirt

Here’s a picture of Kyle’s shirt. He helped with it…but has now decided it needs spaceships and aliens ALL over it…so we may be adding some more.

****************************************

I used to keep online photo albums. Now I have this blog. So, here are some pictures for the fam. Enjoy!

Taylor loves his lego wagon Christmas gift, but he especially loves to get rides.

Our Saturday hike could have ended quickly. The kids would not have lasted long with wet shoes. Good thing Daddy was there to carry both across!

We stopped at this Canyon to have our snack. We decided it was time to turn around and head back after that. It was a good distance for the kids. Total trip – a little over 2 miles. I’m not sure of elevation change, there were a few big hills. Haley even hiked almost all of it!

Cute boy!

Haley Kisses! (of course)

Diet friendly cupcakes

A while back I got a wonderful package in the mail. One of the goodies inside of it was a new pin cushion. Haley spent a good 3 or 4 hours arranging my pins in it to make it look just right. She loves it…and she won’t let Taylor near it. That’s probably good since he’s still so little. Anyway you can get a pattern for these delightful non-caloric cupcakes here. Linda is the best! You’ll enjoy her patterns for sure! And for those of you on a new year’s diet…these delicious treats won’t ruin your day!

So, I needed to send Linda a little something. HMMMM…what should it be? Well, I made this little potholder for her. Obviously you can guess my inspiration.

I could tell you a zillion things that are wrong with it (okay..maybe it’s more like 6 or 7), but I won’t in hopes that she won’t notice. I’m sure that she’ll notice….duh! Not only does she sew (and quite wonderfully too) but she writes patterns for heavens sake. So, Linda….just ignore all those things that are wrong….please!

Order Form

Here’s a little sample of my new online order from. It will appear a little bit differently…but this is the general idea. I’d love to get your feedback on the whole thing. Any suggestions are appreciated. While this isn’t a shopping cart, I think it’ll be better than just having people email me their orders. What do ya think? (And you can actually fill it out to TEST it right now. Just please type TEST in the additional information!)

*****************UPDATE:**********************

The new form has been added to my website. If you have gone to my website recently or have it bookmarked, you will probably have refresh to get it to show up or try clearing your cookies.