Finally starting on Christmas presents....

Last night I got started on family Christmas presents. I'm way behind this year and have a ton to do over the next 6 days!! Got my husband's grandmother's blanket done last night and it went in the mail this morning. This morning I started cutting out pants for the kids. So far I have 5 pairs of pants cut out (for the girls) and about to start cutting out the boys (5 more pair). Then I will begin sewing. I plan to embroider shirts to go with several pairs, so I've got my work cut out for me.

I'm participating in a gift exchange through one of my groups and haven't even started or figured out what I'm making for the person I'm responsible for. The package was suppose to go in the mail by the 10th, so as you can see I'm way behind!! Thanks to 2 nasty colds and the flu!!

I have a bunch of other presents to make too, cookies to bake and decorating to finish! I'm hoping to get a bunch done this weekend!! Back to work for me!!

Beautiful Dreamer and other projects

Here are a few projects I've been working on lately. I have a craft show this weekend, so there are a lot more!!

Just finished testing this nightgown for Ellie Inspired. Beautiful Dreamer will be available for sale very soon.

Pattern I tested for Katie Cupcake. Urban Girl Skirt for little girls. It was cold outside, so my daughter wasn't very cooperative!!

Pattern I tested for Katie Cupcake. Urban Girl Skirt.

Sample for my Craft Show this weekend.

Miss Madeline

Yule Tree fabric by Michael Miller

Another sample for my craft show. Also, a late birthday present for my daughters little friend. I liked it so much I decided it need to be displayed at my show.

Frame from Planet Applique

This was from October, but I never showed the finished dress for my friend's daughter. LOVE how it turned out!!

Pattern Testing

I have the wonderful job of testing patterns for a few pattern designers. Most recently I got the opportunity to test a couple different patterns for Ellie Inspired.

This little dress is actually from a pattern for slips, Nanny Etticoat, but I decided it would be cute as a dress for the fall for my daughter. Now I just need to find a pink cardigan for her to wear over it on cool days!! Nanny Etticoat should be available in the pattern shop at Ellie Inspired very soon.

Lil' Bluebird is such a cute pattern. It includes capri pants and a top with two different sleeve options. It is now available for sale in the pattern shop at Ellie Inspired.

Busy, busy, busy....

I'm busy finishing up orders so the next week I can focus on sewing for the craft show I have next Saturday. I'm getting close to being done and hope to finish today or tomorrow. Here is one order I'm working on. The Minnie Mouse dress is a test run and the final will get finished today, hopefully!! I need to make some adjustments to the pattern for the final. Please ignore the mess and the bad quality of pictures!!

Mommy's Weekend

I shouldn't even be sitting down and blogging, but it's been so long I thought I should at least write something. I haven't even packed yet and I'm getting picked up around 11:15!! I'm leaving the house a mess! I've been busy sewing orders, sewing for fall craft shows, sewing for a gift exchange and sewing for birthday parties! Busy, busy, busy. My house needs to be cleaning, but I haven't spent much time cleaning lately. A bathroom gets cleaned when it looks like it needs it, the floors get vacuumed when I can't stand it any more, dishes get done every day and laundry gets washed and dried, but is still sitting in baskets to be folded. I should be working on packing and folding laundry!!

My MOPS steering group is heading south. I think most of us feel the need to get away once in a while and what's better than a weekend with the girls!! I'm so looking forward to the weekend!! Less than two hours and my ride will be here. Off to pack and do whatever else I can find the time to do!!

Happy Friday!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Lost tooth

My little boy, who is 5 and just started kindergarten a little over a month ago, lost his first tooth last week. One of my friends had me make a tooth fairy this summer for her 5 year old who had a loose tooth and ever since my son has begged for a tooth fairy pillow of his own. I didn't see any rush in getting it done until he came up to me one day and said, "Mommy, I have a loose tooth. Have you made my tooth fairy pillow?" I didn't believe the loose tooth part until I saw for myself it was really loose and he had a tooth popping up behind it. So, I procrastinated some more until one day last week when he showed me his tooth and it was barely hanging on. That night I stitched up the front and the next day when he came home with the tooth in a plastic bag I stitched up the pillow and let him help me stuff it. Did I mention I knew this was going to be the day? I predicted it when I saw his tooth the day before! Anyway, he was very excited to loose his first tooth and also to help stuff his own pillow. He did a good job stuffing, with just a little extra stuffing from me.

These cute little pillows are going up in my Etsy shop very soon! I'll also be making up a girl version.

My first tooth fairy pillow for my friend's son.

Halloween Black Cat Skirt

I saw this really cute Halloween dress someone posted on Sewforum and fell in love. I remembered I had a remnant of similar fabric, orange with white polka dots, in my fabric stash and thought I could make a skirt out of it. The person who posted the dress also mentioned she got the embroidery from Applique Momma, so I ran over to her website, got the cat and went to town. In my opinion, this little skirt turned out so cute!! I have it available in my Etsy shop, available for custom order if anybody is interested. I can even make a coordinating shirt to go with it if interested.

So, this morning as I'm working on my computer I get an e-mail from somebody through Etsy and found out my little skirt made it to this person's treasury on Etsy. You can view the treasury here, http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c8b8a9d726c8eef9a3deec3/meow?index=0. I've never made it into a treasury on Etsy, so I'm quite excited!!

Woohoo!! I received an early birthday present....3 new craft books!!

I spent my morning sewing a dress for a customer who contact me last night and wanted a dress for Sunday. My policy has always been, pay for your order then I sew it up, but since this was a rush order and I knew I had time this morning and maybe not again until Friday, I went ahead and sewed it up. She said she would send payment by 3:00 this afternoon. 3:00 came and went and finally at about 7:00 this evening I get an e-mail telling me she changed her mind. For now on, I stick to my policy!! Now I have a size 8 white pillowcase dress ready to ship if anybody is interested..... http://www.etsy.com/listing/55791883/boutique-pillowcase-dress-size-8-ready

Kids had swimming lessons tonight and they both did so great!! I'm so happy it wasn't the struggle we had this summer when they wouldn't participate unless they were in the same class. Today we had long talks about them being in different classes and I didn't want to hear any whining and it worked!! Woohoo!!

I came home and saw three craft books I've been wanting sitting on the counter. I asked hubby what they were doing there and he said they were the beginnings of my birthday present from my in-laws (more than a month early!! :-))!! Yiippee!! I can't wait to sit down, read through them and make some new things. Here are the books I just received....

Sew & Stow - 31 Fun Sewing Projects to Carry, Hold, and Organize Your Stuff, Your Home and Yourself! by Betty Oppenheimer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603420274/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=42535318&ref=pd_sl_1149ynrj3b_e

Sewing Bits & Pieces - 35 Projects Using Fabric Scraps by Sandi Henderson
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Bits-Pieces-Projects-Fabric/dp/0470539240/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283991302&sr=1-1

Sewing Clothes Kids Love (includes 10 full size patterns) by Nancy J.S. Langdon & Sabine Pollehn
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Clothes-Kids-Love-Instructions/dp/1589234731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283991327&sr=1-1

Now I need to finish up a couple skirts I started earlier today and maybe move onto some other projects on my long to do list.....probably some Halloween/Fall stuff first!!

Have a wonderful night!!

First Days of School

First, I apologize for the LONG post, but figured I should include both the kids first days of school (even if they were 2 weeks apart!).

I should probably start off with my son's first day of Kindergarten. He actually started a couple weeks ago and bad mommy didn't record his first day, so I'll share his first day before I get to my daughter's first day. He is in his 3rd week of school. He takes the bus to and from school every day and loves it! His first day with the bus was crazy! The information we received in the mail was incorrect. The bus number it told us to look for did not stop. This was confusing for us as parents (1st time sending a child on a bus) and for him. He was in tears because he thought he wasn't going to take the bus that morning, but another bus going to the same location stopped and he was able to take it. The system does bus transfers, which is crazy! They go to their home school (which doesn't have Kindergarten) and then transfers to a different bus to go to his school. We felt we needed to go where the he transferred buses to make sure he got where he needed to go. We had to wait a while for his bus to finally show up and then made sure he got on the transfer bus. Very nerve racking!! I talked to the bus driver of the bus I thought he was suppose to get on from our house and found out they changed routes and he should have been on a different bus. We got all that figured out....

Then after school I waited at the bus stop until about 5:15 (about 1 1/2 hours past his scheduled drop off) when he finally arrived home. When it was almost 5:00 I tried calling transportation and couldn't get anybody on the phone and was about in tears until another bus stopped to verify our address and tried to help me track him down. In the meantime his bus finally arrived. What a long day for a Kindergartner (school let out at 3:15)!!

Here he is the morning of his first day in his new embroidered t-shirt. I was going to do something like Kindergarten Rocks, but he wanted a dinosaur, so that is what he got! The embroidery is from Lynnie Pinnie.

My little girl started her first day of preschool yesterday. Part of me is sad because she is growing up so fast and I did miss having her around all morning, but I do have to say I did enjoy a few hours of kid free time! After dropping her off at school I had a few errands to run (about 5 places to stop). What would have taken me all morning with both the kids took me just over an hour!! I love getting errands done quick! I then came home and did some uninterrupted sewing. I finished an order and was able to drop it in the mail after I picked her up from school.

When I woke her up yesterday she whined for the first hour that she didn't want to go to school. This is a new experience for her, so I'm sure there were some nerves involved. After big brother left for school she settled down and got excited about school. By the time I dropped her off she was ready to play with her new friends. When I picked her up she asked if she can come back another day! As we were driving home we talked about what she did at school and she then say a song she learned. She LOVES to sing!!

Since it was her first day, she had to have a new outfit. She is in the kangaroo class, so I found a cute kangaroo applique from Sewing For Sarah. For the shorts I used the Easy Fit Pants pattern by Carla C from You Can Make This and shortened them so they hit a little below her knee. I actually wanted them a little shorted, but at least now she wear them longer.

Recent Projects

A friend of mine placed an order a while back. I think she placed it right after we got back from vacation the first week of July. I had hoped to get it done within a couple weeks, but things were crazy with the kids and it took a while. Thankfully she was understanding and said to enjoy the last of the summer before school started! :-) I finally finished it and sent it out last week. She received it last Saturday and sent an e-mail telling me how much her kids loved their new items. Her 3 year old daughter slept in her new robe Sunday night and wanted to take it to school with her to school the next day!! LOL!!

An extra shirt for my friend's 5 year old.

Design from Lynnie Pinnie

An extra twirl skirt (now known as the Fiona skirt after my friend's daughter).

My own design.

Robe for a 3 year old little girl. She picked the fabric.

Pattern is Simplicity? (I can check number if anybody is interested). It was pretty easy.

Tooth fairy pillow for a 5 year old little boy who just lost his first 2 teeth in August.

My own design, but the pocket and tooth are from Sewforum.

I made a similar blanket for my friend's daughter when she was a baby. She has loved it so much it is falling apart and my friend ordered a new one for her. Hopefully she loves this one just as much!!

My son started Kindergarten last week and my daughter starts preschool Monday, so I will hopefully be doing a lot more sewing starting this coming week. She will be going to school 3 half days a week, so I will have almost 12 hours of free time each week!! Yippee!! I know I'll miss her, but I will enjoy the uninterrupted sewing time (maybe even some errands without kids, maybe even a 'coffee date' with a friend once in a while). I love my kids, but I'm dreaming of all the projects I can accomplish when they aren't home interupting me every 15 minutes. :-)

Pink Leopard Skirt and Flower Embroidered Shirt

I bought a 1/2 yard of this fabric sometime in the last couple years. I used some of it for another project (although I intended to fully use it to make something for my daughter). Turns out, there was enough to make a skirt for my daughter. I then debated for a week or more what I was going to embroider on a shirt to go with the skirt. Wednesday night I finally decided on a flower from Planet Applique and LOVE the way it turned out. I now have this embroidered shirt available in my Etsy shop....it's so cute!! I will be adding the outfit and matching bow to the shop too.

My daughter had her preschool open house on Thursday, so this was her outfit for the day. Isn't she cute!!