My Littlest Munchkin

Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned…..

It’s always better the way God has planned.

You Made It (Part 4)

The last Monday of September….and therefore the last of our celebration of National Sewing Month. And I’d have to say….

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

 

Seriously you guys!  Totally awesome stuff you’re making!!!!  I hope you will all go look at the pictures, and I wish that I could share them all here! Please keep adding more pictures as you finish projects.  Who knows, I might surprise a lucky person now and again with a little blog feature.    

Many people I know start sewing (again) when they have children.  It’s just fun to make them stuff.  So I figured that I HAD to do a feature on children’s clothing. 

Amanda sent me these photos of little lounge sets.  LOVE them!  And love that they are for little boys – because how often do our little men get left out of the sewing fun?  Too often!  She sent me several pictures – so be sure to look at them all in the Flickr pool.  The Cowboy print is from Alexander Henry and the Monkey print is from Moda!  Thanks, Amanda for emailing them to me!  

 

And Ericka shared with me these adorable outfits she has made for her daughter.  

This was made by sewing together Soiree charm squares and cutting the Little Hip Skirts pattern out of the pieced fabric. Way cute appliqued shirt too!

And this Cuppy Cake dress is soooooo cute! She used the Riley Blake Just Dreamy Fabric. Love it! Great job, Ericka!

Okay so I just have to include one more this time as well. I was so excited when Rebecca added this picture

It is one of Patty Young’s new patterns that will be released at Quilt Market next weekend! Rebecca was one of Patty’s pattern testers. She use fabric from the Mezzanine collection to make this adorable skirt and appliqued shirt. I love it! Can’t wait to get my hands on the new patterns!!!!

Thanks everyone for playing along!  You’ve been great!

Art Gallery Rocks

Did you know that you can gather with a serger too?  Yep!  It’s a handy dandy trick, especially since I don’t have a gathering foot for my sewing machine. You’ll need to up your differential feed and lengthen your stitch. (Test out on scrap fabric to get your settings just right! I’m sure it varies by machine and how tightly you’re trying to gather the fabric, but I think my differential feed was at 2.0 and my stitch was at 4.0) Perfect gathers and no pulling a stupid thread to try and get it even.

Sadly, my serger broke again in the middle of construction. (I assure you, it had nothing to do with gathering fabric.) The most devastating part of all of this was that I had to do a real hem on this skirt to finish it up.  (I LOVE rolled hems!)  So anyway, it’s back in the hospital getting it’s motor replaced- and I’m seriously considering a new serger. And this time I will not be going with Husqvarna Viking. This is the second time that the motor has given up….the last time was about 6 months ago. That track record makes me a little nervous. I feel a little sad because all my machines are Vikings. But they have failed me with this machine so it’s time to look elsewhere. I am looking at Bernina and Baby Lock right now. If you have a serger that you love (and the motor hasn’t gone out twice on you) then please let me know!

Back to the Art Gallery skirt! I made Haley a skirt with the Spellbound and Nature Elements fabrics and we’re both in love with it!  (By the way, the tonal solid prints in Nature Elements are great!  And you guys obviously love them too b/c they are selling well!)  She requested an ankle length skirt. I knew I wanted to use multiple fabrics and have it go together quickly. So the tiered peasant skirt seemed like a natural fit!

I didn’t have a pattern, I just used her waist measurement as the starting point.  Each tier is 1.5 times longer than the one above.  Next time I’m going to up that to 2 or maybe even 2.5 to give her a little more twirling power.  My girl loves to twirl!  I also cut out a few of the floral motifs to applique onto a shirt. She has worn it for 3 days straight – so I’m pretty sure it’s a hit.     

Patricia Bravo, the designer (and owner) of Art Gallery Fabrics, is from Argentina.  I realize this may not be important to you – but for me that makes her extra special since I studied in La Plata during college.  Anyway, she is really incredibly sweet and I can’t wait to see what she has worked up for Quilt Market this year!  

Be back tomorrow with the last You Made It winner(s).  I have not even started writing that post – so it’s not too late to add pictures to the Flickr group.  I think you ALL should win because everything you have made is SO great.  It breaks my heart that I can’t feature every single picture!

Design Your Own

I’m so excited to offer you guys a chance to win a Milkshake Baby Messenger Bag!

Wendy, the owner/designer/seamstress behind these wonderful bags, has graciously offered my wonderful readers (yes, that is YOU) a chance to win one of these fun bags!  And you get to design it yourself with any of the fabric in my store!  How awesome is that!!!!!

The bags are made with durable duck cloth and added stabilizers.  They have 3 pockets inside, 4 pockets outside, an adjustable strap, and a magnetic closure on the flap!  Plus they are just really really fun!

Any mom or student or grandma or basically any breathing person would love one of these bags!  And Christmas is quickly approaching!!!  Visit Wendy’s shop here.  

So how do you enter to win?  

Tell us which fabric you’d pick for your custom made bag!
Pick any of the fabrics I have available in my shop!

The winner will be picked on September 30th at which time I’ll get you in touch with Wendy.

Thanks for playing!!!!

Andalucia

You read my blog.  I’m going to guess that the likelihood that you know of Patty Young is pretty high….but just incase…..

In relation to this business of mine, Patty is a fabric designer and pattern writer extraordinaire.  Michael Miller Fabrics prints her lovely designs.  And her company, ModKid, handles her patterns.    Her first line was Andalucia.  

This summer she released Mezzanine.

And now on her blog she has revealed her third collection.  Flora and Fauna.

So I need to make room for her newest collection….which means that ALL of Andalucia is now on sale.  (I  need to go get Haley something made with the Mod Bloom corduroy.  It’s too cute and perfect for fall.  Maybe I’ll do that tonight……)

In fact, the whole Sale Section has been updated.  What is left of Sandi Henderson‘s Ginger Blossom is also marked WAY WAY down.  And as a super extra added bonus – this week all the Sales items get bonus points!  More cash back for your future purchases!!!!  (Read up on the Reward Points here.)  Only 2 weeks until Quilt Market!!!!

You Made It! (Part 3)

Monday – Tuesday.  Meh.  Really what’s the difference?  

*Ahem*

Do you want an excuse?

Okay – fine.  This past weekend was my birthday.  I took the weekend off from work related things.  And this left me swamped come Monday morning.  But it was worth it to have the whole weekend work free!!!!  So I’ll be playing catch up all week!

Onto the fabulousness of things that you made!  It is agonizing, I tell you!  Today I’m gonna go with children’s gift items.  

Check out these goodie bags that Aprongal whipped up. Her son’s 5th birthday party is dino themed. She used the fantastic fabrics from Oh Boy! by David Walker.  I think the boys will love these!  I know mine would.  

This super cute gift from quiltsrock is made with the Heather Bailey Happy Stacker pattern. She used a mixture of corduory and cotton fabric (Sandi Henderson and Michael Miller‘s Carnival Bloom). Wonderful tactile development for a little one! Her sister’s baby is so lucky to have such a cool aunt!!!

Thanks for sharing these with us! I’ll be in touch about the Gift Certificates. And I’ll be back next Monday with another You Made It! for National Sewing Month celebration.

Shoot, it’s Friday

This week has flown flown flown by!  It has been a busy week on my website.  Quilt Market is coming up and I want to be able to order new fabrics, so I put everything on sale.  AND I finally got the end of bolts listed.  That felt good.  They fly out of here  -but there are still several wonderful fabrics – even some from Amy Butler and Sandi Henderson.  Check it out!    

Yesterday I recieved the most orders in one day in the history of my buiness.  What a great way to end the week.  Tons of packages are being shipped off right now!  The sale is not over yet, so please help me clear out more space!!!!  Help me, help you.  he he

 

We also had fun this week playing with a birthday present of Kyle’s.  We have enough mentos to do the experiment again.  I think that’ll be on the list for this weekend.  The kids loved it!

 

Next week – another You Made It (on Monday – you still have time to add pictures to the flickr group) AND a super super super awesome giveaway! Check back after the wonderful weekend.

Love you guys!!!!

You Made It! (Part 2)

How the heck am I supposed to choose a reasonable number of pictures each week?  All the stuff you’re adding to the flick pool is awesome!!!!!  So here is part 2 of the National Sewing Month celebration.

Well, you know I’m a bag girl.  So let’s start with a couple bags!

I love this wristlet by Jennifer Ladd. It uses the Ducks in a Row print from Lizzy House’s Red Letter Day collection. Super cute!

The awesome red print of JenClark74′s bag caught my attention. It’s from Paula Prass’ Flights of Fancy. The Petit Garden in the Summer colorway is wonderful! And if I’m not mistaken, the bag is lined with a print, aqua gazebo damask, from Lila Tueller’s Soiree collection. I also love the flower on the bag. Great job, Jennifer!

Okay I have to make myself stop there! I could look at bags all night!!!!  And there are so many on the group pool that I love….ugh!  I wish I could show them all here!  I will be in touch with both Jennifer’s from tonight’s post about the $25 gift certificates. Thanks for adding your pictures!

There are still 2 more Monday’s in the month of September (remember it’s National Sewing month). Keep adding your pictures to the flickr group and you might be featured next!

Shade Garden

Shade Garden by Michelle Engel Bencsko of Cicada Studio is here!

I’ve made the collection available in Fat Quarter Sets while I still have all the prints in stock! Of course, you can also buy each print in half yard increments.     

You can find it in my shop here.

Counting Points

You guys, I’m so excited to announce that the Reward Points Program on my website is in place!

(If  I were super cool, I’d make the words Reward Point Program as a .gif in photoshop and have it do neat flashy things.  But it’s late Saturday night and I’m not that cool right now.)

Now each time you shop, you will earn points!!!!  For each $1 you get one point.  Those points can be redeemed on your very next purchase!  No minimums to meet, no maximum caps!  Or you can save them up for a more expensive item or purchase because they never expire!

All the nitty gritty details can be found here!

 

And becuase there is a strict rule that you must never blog without a picture, here are some patchwork towels I made with the some of the remaining fabric from my Odyssea charm pack.

Keep adding your pictures to my flickr group!  I’m so excited to see all the stuff you guys are making!

Peace Out