Bad Blogger

I've been such a bad blogger as of late. I've been involved in several major projects with my full-time job that has kept me working around the clock for the last few weeks. The last of these crazy big projects will be presented tomorrow which will be a HUGE load off my shoulders. In what little down time I've had I've been sewing like a mad woman. I'll try to photograph some of the things to share with you next week. I'm so excited for the end of the week to arrive because I get to take my very first little vacation of the year! I'll be heading here for a long weekend...

Yup, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. And you'd never guess it but it's home to one of the biggest vintage car shows around. The Symco Shakedown. My rockabilly Mr. will be slapping his bass as one of the many entertainers for the show. All of the girls are tagging along to float in the river, sit around a campfire eating s'mores and laugh with great friends. The kids are staying home with Grandma so it promises to be an amazingly relaxing weekend. So, I'll be scarce until next week sometime. I hope you all have a great, great weekend!

August Desktop Calendar

Sorry this is a little late my friends! August is shaping up to be a very hectic yet fun month. No matter how much I'll miss it, it feels good to have my little shop closed for a bit. Mostly because I'm so excited to finally get some of the new things done I've been wanting to do. There's also lots of back-to-school sewing for my gong to be 1st grader that I've got to do. Hopefully I'll be able to share little sneak peeks of all of the projects I've got going on this month. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this new background!

*Edit: I've fixed the problem with the files so if you were having trouble installing the background re-download it. Thanks so much to everyone who kindly brought the issue to my attention!!

**Edit: Geesh Kayanna, get your stuff together! Ok really, I've fixed the files so re-download if you were having issues. I'm so sorry for the screw-ups today. Not sure where my head is at!

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One.

I really don't know how it's possible but my baby girl turned one yesterday! It seems like only weeks since we brought her home from the hospital and at the same time it feels like she's always been a part of our family. None of use could imagine life without her. She's got the most contagious smile that quite literally lights up every room she's in. She's always so happy and has everyone wrapped around her tiny little finger. I tried to get some good pics of her special day but the above was the best one out of the bunch. She's a quick little wiggle worm and getting a picture of her lately is next to impossible. Most of them turned out like this...

Maybe we'll try again when she's sleepy!

Vintage Patterns

I was always scared of sewing from vintage patterns. I think I had this perception that they would be like vintage knitting patterns and be completely impossible to understand and execute. Many modern patterns (like the great Oliver + S ones) share tips and tricks allowing you to learn along the way. This isn't the case with vintage patterns. So, it really helps to have some sewing knowledge before heading into a vintage pattern project because back then most women did know how to sew and there are a lot of assumptions made. That's really the only tricky part. Make sure to read through all the directions before starting so you can look up any techniques that aren't familiar. I've had a few successes lately with some vintage patterns so I've been snatching them up left and right to add to my collection. Here's a few that I've recently gotten my paws on. I'm so excited to sew some of these up! (There's even one for my rockabilly mister!)

Shop Update Part. 2

I've FINALLY listed the rest of the plushies in the shop. Sorry it took me so long, the heat around these parts has fried my motivation. Thankfully we're getting the air conditioning replaced next week so just a few more days to endure and we'll be cool as cucumbers and productivity will return. (I hope) There's a few more guitars, some LongDogs and a few Mini LongDogs. These are just a few of what's in the shop. This will be the last batch before my little shop vacation. I'll be back with more in September, along with some new exciting goodies! I'm hoping to share sneak peeks here along the way. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

Cloud 9 Fabric and some Shop Talk

I've been meaning to blog about this little hat since I sewed it up way back in May but it keeps getting pushed aside. I was super lucky to get my hands on some gorgeous Cloud 9 Beyond the Sea fabric way back when it first was released. I can't tell you enough how awesome this fabric is. Not only is it 100% organic, eco-friendly and priced quite reasonably - it's super cute and feels so dreamy to the touch. I knew the Beyond the Sea collection would be perfect for summer goodies for the kiddos, so with just the tiniest scraps I stitched up one of these sun hats. It took less than an hour to sew up and turned out better than I thought it would. It's been used numerous times this summer already to protect baby Mabel's head from the sun and she looks too cute in it! Check out the Cloud9 website here and get your hands on some of their amazing fabric!

SHOP NEWS -

I should be listing the rest of the softies that I've sewn up later this week. (Fingers crossed) I'll let you all know when that happens. I've also made a pretty big decision to take a shop vacation for the month of August. August is filling up to the brim with shows for my husband's band, mini vacations, back to school, etc. etc. I've also got less than two months to prepare for Renegade Chicago which I'm freaking out about. I've got so much new stuff that I want to finish in order to debut there that I realized that I needed to close the Etsy shop temporarily just to catch up and get it all done. I'll put the shop in vacation mode on August 1st and reopen at the end of the month. A part of me is terrified to do it - afraid that I'll be forgotten about. I'm trying to focus on the positives which is that I'll be able to come back with lots more cool stuff!

Also, Don't forget that the rest of this month I'm donating $1 from each sale to Oxfam for Gulf Relief. I'll already be donating $27! Woot! Thanks so much to everyone who placed an order this month and made it possible for me to help out in this way. So, if you've got birthdays / special occasions to buy a gift for make sure you get your orders in before August 1st!

New in the Shop

Just popping by to tell you about the new design in the shop. Plush folk guitars for your budding rock star! And, there's a new little school of crinkle fish too! See them here. The rest of the plushies will have to wait to be added to the shop next week. It's been an incredibly busy week with my full-time job workload so I'm a bit behind with everything else. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow and we're taking the kids to the zoo and science museum! Yay for a little mini vacation. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend.