craft fair prep

I signed up for my first craft fair!  I am very excited but a little nervous that I am not going to have enough stuff.  So... I have been cutting like crazy!  I am planning to make lots of these:

I would love advice from anyone that has a craft show under their belt!  I am planning a lot of kid stuff since that always sells well.  Maybe some baby gift sets.  A few of Vanessa's cute new art journal.  Some clothes and bags, of course!
 Any other suggestions?

tunic refashion success

I feel vindicated from my mess up from yesterday!  The fault was all mine.  I contacted the very sweet seller that I bought the cute pattern from and she helped me figure out what I had done.  My scaling was messed up on my printer, rookie error, I know!  Even though I don't consider myself a rookie, we all make those mistakes sometimes, right?



So this:

became this:






















I am so relieved, I hate making
silly mistakes like that.  And....  she loves it.  Man, she sure is cute!

day 4

Here is the cute little top I made yesterday for KCWC over at Elsie Marley.  I think it is really cute, love the fabric, love the button.....  wish it would fit over my kid's head!  I must have had my printer settings slightly askew because it is too little.  I made the size 2 and Adelaide won't be 2 until November and is teeny tiny.  So, I am going to have to try to fix it somehow today!  I am thinking maybe fall jacket.  This should be interesting!

day 3 of the challenge

Here is the little dress I made yesterday during nap time.  I love the simplicity of the shape.  It is just begging for ruffles or applique!  Doug says it looks like a nightgown or a mu mu.  So,  I need some other opinions!  I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the fabric, or at least I am hoping because it was such an easy pattern to sew!  It is by Leila and Ben and I would like to sew a few of them to put in my little shop.  The fabric is Heather Bailey's nicey jane line, which is one of my favorites.  I bought this particular print to use in a quilt that I made for Adelaide and decided that I wasn't crazy about how it looked with the other prints I had chosen.  Now I remember why, it is just a little grannyish.  Oh well!

I made this dress for Adelaide but out of habit cut it a little too big.  It is too big for Addie and a little small for Penelope.  It will be great for Addie next summer though so I am ahead of the game!  I finally talked Pippa into putting it on for a picture.

kids clothing week challenge, day 1

So, it is actually the second day of the challenge but yesterday was a bust for me on the sewing front.  Adelaide decided that she didn't need a nap, which meant no sewing for me!  But... today was so much better.  Long nap = lots of sewing!  Yea!  I had to finish up a custom order which was almost done and then I got to make this!

The pattern is the simple skirt pattern by Leila and Ben.  I have been hoarding the Heather Ross fabric for a couple of months now waiting for the right project.  Besides the fact that it is not cheap, I only bought half yard cuts and most of the patterns I have call for more yardage.  But this was perfect!  And, Penelope loves it!  I am sure the fact that it has pockets really helps.

I used my serger for the first time and love how those seams look!  I have a few more half yard cuts from Heather's new line, so I think a few more of these will be in the works.

  

lazy weekend

Not much happened here this weekend.  I have 2 sick girls, so we just laid low.  We did make play dough on saturday morning, which is always a big hit.  If you haven't made your own, you don't know what you are missing!  It is SO much better than the store bought stuff!  The best part is that you get to make your own colors!  The fact that you know exactly what is in it doesn't hurt either.

Homemade Play Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups of water
3/4 cup salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp cream of tarter

Mix together all of the above ingredients in a saucepan (I highly recommend a nonstick pan, it makes getting the play dough out so much easier) and cook on a medium low heat, constantly stirring,  for about 5-8 min. or until the dough starts to stick together and resemble the store bought stuff in texture.    Remove the pan from the heat and turn dough onto a sheet of wax paper.  When it has cooled enough to touch, knead the dough for a few minutes to make sure everything is mixed well and the texture is consistent.  Now you can divide your dough into equal parts (I make 4 balls of dough from one recipe) and use food coloring to make your play dough beautiful.  I just mix several drops of food coloring into each ball of dough and knead until it is all mixed in.  Have fun and let me know if you make some!

kids clothes week challenge!

I am going to join my friend Virginia and be a part of the kids clothes week challenge!  You commit to sew something for your kids for one hour everyday for the week of sept. 20 -26th.  So, for all of you that sew, Lisa that means you, join me!  Plus, it means that I will, hopefully, have lots of cute clothes to show you all next week!

first day of school and a new dress

Yesterday was the first day of school for Penelope, and it went so much better than we were anticipating!  Thank goodness!  I bought several adorable dress patterns from zozo bug baby on etsy a few weeks ago and finally got around to making one for Pippa's first day.  This is the Georgia Dress and it was so easy to sew.  She picked out the pink floral fabric and we went from there.  I have put this in the shop as a custom item.  I bought several of her other patterns and can't wait to get them made up.

I haven't been sewing clothes for my girls lately.  I've missed it!  I have been trying to keep new things going up in my shop and the crayon art folios are so popular that I have several of them cut out and in different stages of construction all the time.  But clothing is how and why I started sewing, so it is nice to get back to doing some of that!  I had almost forgotten how much fabric it takes for a little dress!  I will have to adjust the way I have been fabric shopping lately, darn, more fabric shopping!  :)

Here goes nothing!

Adelaide

Penelope

my three girls

So, I am starting this blog not only to keep a record of our lives but to share a little of it too.  We were city folk until 4 years ago when we moved out to the country.  At the time we had only one daughter and were expecting a second.  Now, we have 3 girls and 9 chickens!?  Oh, how life changes!  And it is wonderful!  I stay at home with my girls and have a little etsy shop that helps me remember that there is a world out there besides my little house.  My middle daughter, Penelope is starting preschool tomorrow and I have to admit that I am a little nervous.  She is super shy and takes a long time to adjust to anything, so it should be interesting, but I am also excited for her to embark on this next step in life!  So I will leave you with some pictures of our little life!  Thanks for stopping by!