What’s been going on here?
A wire girl modeling some sweet little girl aprons.
And she even models bags. What a fun purchase!
Painting high places.
And faces. Oopsie.
Hanging out with an old friend.
Enjoying a parade and let’s not forget - Molly’s newest sport. Go Cubs!
That’s all I’ve got for now. I just didn’t want to be forgotten!
How cute is that?! They had their first bath together and they loved it. I was worried that Abby was too little but she sure proved me wrong. She was a little maniac. They’ve had a few since then and I’ve decided that bath night has also become “clean the entire bathroom night” because the entire place gets drenched. They have so much fun though and Abby kicks and screams when it’s time to get out.
Gosh, it brings back fond memories of bathing with my brother when I was little and how he had this neat little game of seeing how long he could hold my head under the water without actually killing me. Those were the days…
The other day I was laying some fabric out on the floor when Abby ran over and snatched it from me. I went to see where she disappeared to and found her in the other room getting cozy.
It’s so good to see that she has quickly fallen in love with Anna Maria Horner too! Man, my kids have good taste.
I’ve been experimenting a little more with Andalucia and made a couple little fold over clutch bags.
I have this problem lately where I just can’t stick to one thing- or even 15. I’ve been jumping all over the place trying new things and I just can’t organize a thought. I guess I am just an experimenter at heart. It doesn’t help that I have a million blogs that I can’t stay off of and I want to try making every last thing that I see. Oh well, at least I’ll never be bored- just confused.
I had to do it. It seems that people around here are just eating up the Buffalo items. There’s City Love, an entire store dedicated to Buffalo merchandise, and now the "Believe in Buffalo” apparel is rapidly becoming a hit.
We all know that appliques are popular, so why not a buffalo in fabulous fabric on a cute little tee or onesie?
It would be even cuter on Abby but I keep forgetting to put it on her and take a picture.
I also had a little project to work on for a friend of mine. Her friend is having a baby boy and she wanted some gifts. I found this adorable robot fabric by David Walker and ran with it.
I made 2 bibs, 3 burp cloths, a diaper and wipe case, and even a little ball and bunny.
Hope she likes it!
For all of you fabric and craft addicts, Fabric Family and Fun is having a great give-away. She runs the wonderful Above All Fabric shop on Etsy that I frequently purchase from. As always, feel free to enter and give the stuff to me if you win. :) I still haven’t won a give-away yet! Too many darn eager crafters to compete with.
I did it. I conquered my fear of sewing in a zipper.
Our aunt was here for Thanksgiving (hi Jeanne!) and requested one of my tote bags, but with a zipper. I have to admit that I did panic a bit. I’ve been admiring and fearing them since I started sewing last year.
I did my internet research and found a few zipper tutorials to work off of. Like here and here and here.
Then I went to the store and bought an enormous zipper. I ended up buying a coat zipper. I didn’t realize that until afterwards, but that’s ok. It does its job well on a bag too.
Not too bad for my first shot. The one thing that I couldn’t do was the top stitch. My mighty strong Singer can’t go through both the quilted lining and the zipper. Maybe I’ll get a stronger machine some day…
Jeanne made some good fabric choices too,from Amy Butlers Daisy Chain line.
I was so excited that I did it that I just had to try a few little bags. It’s cake!
Please don’t mind the wrinkles. :) I didn’t add interfacing to the larger one so it’s quite a flopper. It definitely makes a difference to just add a lightweight interfacing.
On a different subject, Andrew and I are getting very excited for the trip we’re planning. It looks like we’ll be sitting on the beach for a week on Cape Cod in July. SWEET!! This will be our first little family trip and I can’t wait.
It feels so good just thinking about a beach after the past week of frigid temps. We had to miss Andrew’s company party on Friday night. He left work at 4:30 and didn’t get home until 7 – it’s normally a 20 minute commute. There was no way we were getting back in the car and heading back downtown. I had already driven the kids to Grams (in a white-out) for a sleepover to prepare for our evening out. Kinda disappointing, but we did go out to dinner close to home. That was followed by a movie on the couch and a night of uninterrupted sleep.
It was a treat. At the same time, it’s so sad going to bed and walking past the empty bedrooms. That’s just the emotional person that I am. We’ve never even had a babysitter outside of family. I get laughed at a lot about that. Call me a dork it you’d like. Yes Caren, I am expecting a comment from you on that one.
The snow, and frigid temperatures have arrived. Molly is in her glory. I am not. Well, I do really like the snow. I just wish it could co-exist with 70 degree temperatures.
Molly has so much fun outside. I remember when I was like that- a million years ago. Abby had her first adventures out in the snow and loves it. We had a hard time getting her back in the house. Well, that was after she figured out that she could actually move in that suit. For a very long time she just stood there with her arms sticking out to the sides (the classic baby in snow suit pose). What a cutie. I still find myself trying hard not to bite her chubby marshmallowy cheeks off.
Every year we have an auction at work for our holiday party. This year the money we raise will go to the WNY food bank. For this year’s party I contributed two things: 1. a bag/purse with a matching checkbook cover and key fob and 2. a doll. This isn’t just any doll though. This is my boss and former CEO of our company.
This would be so much more funny for you if you knew him. I wanted to put a picture of the real man here too, but I figured I shouldn’t do that without his permission. Anyways, he looks just like doll!
I also made a new little girly out of the fabulous Andalucia fabrics.
I made this weird ruffle bag too. I had something different in mind, but this is what came out….
Ah yes, and some new cute hair clips.
Other than that we have decorated the house and are just trying to stay warm in these negative wind chill temps. I haven’t gotten any presents for the kids yet, so I guess shopping better fit into the schedule sometime soon!
I did add a few things to my Etsy shop too. It takes me forever to list these items though, so it’s gonna be a slow process filling the shop up!
Hope everyone else is warm and in the holiday spirit!
Meet girly number 5. I am afraid to name them or I won't be able to sell them! If you haven't checked out my flickr photostream (why would you?), I’ve posted a bunch of the new stuff I made. I worked my little (big) butt off to get a nice stock of stuff done because I have a few shows this week. I'll throw a few of my favorites up in this post and you can see the rest on flickr if you want to see.
Shannon and I did the first of the 3 shows on Saturday. I could write an entire essay on that day but I am not sure anyone would want to read it all and I am not sure I want to relive that day over again. I will try to sum it up quickly.
1. Bad Christmas music on repeat.
2. Unfriendly people.
3. The woman behind us had no (literally no) filter on her thoughts, and everything that crossed her mind came out of her mouth. And it wasn’t nice.
4. No sales. Well, to be accurate I sold one bib and one bonnet. That was about half of the cost of the table, not to mention the long list of things I spent money on to get out there. Ouch.
There were a lot of people at this show too, so I can't blame it on that. They just didn't like our stuff. It was the completely wrong crowd for us. I can't tell you how many people walked by our tables without even stopping. It was kinda humorous.
So, to all of you who may have a show like this - don't worry about it. Just blame it on the other people. :) I guess you just have to make a few sacrifices before you become famous. Heehee...
The good part about my lack of sales is that I don't have to worry about not having enough stock for the next two events!
Ok everyone, cross your fingers for me. I really need to sell some of these things I made to cover the cost of the boat loads of new fabric I may have purchased. What I really need to do is get some stuff in my poor empty Etsy shop. That's my goal as soon as these next shows are over.
Ah yes! I am still alive. I cannot even begin to understand how time goes so quickly. I feel like I am constantly rushing around and yet still nothing gets done.
I caved in and bought Sandi Henderson’s ruffle pants pattern. They are so cute. I made a fall orange/green pair (Sandi Henderson’s fabric too) and a corduroy pair.
These were done a few weeks ago when it was sunny and beautiful out. Now is rainy and cold. We were supposed to have our village Halloween parade today but that’s not happening now. Darn weather.
Next are my two favorite new bags. They are already gone though. I sold them to Chique Boutique, the very first boutique that my items will be sold at! Nuts. Thanks Devon! She purchased some bags, bonnets, bibs, checkbook covers, and bows.
Sorry about the second picture. Andrew didn’t feel like getting his camera out that night and working magic on my bag so I had to use the standard old camera. Andrew, you should’ve known I’d call you on that. It’s amazing how much nicer my things look with a really good camera!
Ok, that’s it for now. We are going to a little Halloween party at my aunt’s house today. Molly is a little rambunctious.
We had the Indie Market again this past weekend. It’s a really great idea for an indie/custom/handmade market each month for the Buffalo area. We just need to get more people to go!
Shannon and I had a fabulous set up (I may be biased) and were ready to do some business. Unfortunately, there was no business. Very few people showed up for the market and I did not sell a thing. That’s right, not one single thing. I guess the good part is that I don’t have to stress about getting a ton made for the next show! I also had a great time spending the day with Shannon and her hilarious girls. Another great crafty friend Josie was there this time too. She has some of the cutest things ever. I got some sweet little covered button barrettes from her.
Here’s one of the latest bags I made. I thought it was appropriate with its rich Autumn colors. I absolutely love the colors of Fall. I never ran across a person who didn’t though.
And a dress-
Andrew got some cute shots of my hair bows outside on the front porch. I also made some tulle bows to match the tutus.
On the home front, Molly is one tiny little tug away from losing her first tooth. We whipped up a little tooth bag for her to put under her pillow when the magic moment happens. I saw this somewhere but don’t remember where. I did not have a problem when they were my own teeth, but for some reason it grosses me out when she looks at me and her tooth is completely horizontal.
By the way, what is the average rate that the Tooth Fairy has to dish out these days to get herself one of these treasures?
Well, there’s the big girl standing in front of her school this morning. She did so well. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I was pregnant with her and now she’s already in school! I only cried a little bit, so I was proud of myself too.
Besides preparing to send Molly off to school, I have been chugging away at crafting things for the Art Festival coming up. I thought I would see how much stuff I could get out of one yard of fabric. I think I did pretty well.
I started with a Buffalo Bonnet and matching fleece lined bib.
I finished by squeezing out one pair of reversible pants and a little matching purse. I love this Kokka print with the big bold flowers. They look just like the flowers that Molly draws with the huge centers. The reverse side of the pants is Anna Maria Horner, from her Garden Party collection.
Let’s hear it for the boys! I even went out on a limb and churned out a lounge pants/bib combo that’s made for a boy. I didn’t do so hot finding designer fabric that I thought would be great for a boy, so I went to Joann’s. I got a neat dinosaur print and this puppy/dog house print. I thought it was cute. It is so different than anything I am used to working with so I did feel a tad strange. These pants are also reversible with a very comfy gray knit on the other side.
Hope everyone got the kids off to school without a hitch!
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P.S. If anyone out there is interested in food (who isn’t?!) and wants to take part in a little challenge, my husband won last month’s Paper Chef food blogging competition and this month’s is underway now – the ingredients and rules are here.
I have been up to some sewing lately. Turns out I have myself signed up for the Buffalo Indie Market on September 14th. I figure I better start cranking some stuff out now so I don’t have to pull any all-nighters when it gets closer. Not only that, but another local crafter contacted me about sharing a booth with her at the Quaker Arts Festival. The only bad (and scary) part about it is that it’s the weekend after the Indie Market! AHH!!! Not real sure I can make enough in time.
My new crafty friend Shannon makes the most adorable baby items and we have very similar tastes. I think we’ll have an awesome booth and I am so excited to make a new friend! We’re gonna have a ton of fun. She just started up a blog as well, so check out Babypeas.
Besides the Buffalo Bonnets, I have started making a few bags. Most are my usual quilt lined bags in some of my favorite fabrics. To spice it up a bit I tried a new style – the drawstring bag.
Of course I didn’t come up with it on my own. I never do - I always seem to need a visual. I saw something similar when spending one of my many many hours paging through all the amazing things on Flickr. I think it’s adorable!
Do you like the light up flowers in the background?! I saw them at our nursery when I was spending loads of money on new plants for our garden. They were too cute, so I had to spend some money on fake flowers as well.
On another note, there’s another fabulous giveaway! This one is from Kaytiebugs and it’s for a Double Ruffle Femme Skirt. I love it! Check it out.
