Giveaway WINNER!!!

Just threw in another beach picture of Lillian for the heck of it.

Lesson #1: Do not plan on announcing the winner to your giveaway on Halloween when your husband has left to go out of town and you are in charge of all of the evening festivities.

Sorry, guys! I fell down on the job. I really stink at trying to keep up with stuff sometimes. Life intervened and I just got around to drawing the winner. I wrote all of your names down, folded all the pieces up and had Lillian pick from my hand. And the lucky winner is.....SHANA!!!

Shana is a great friend and an equally great photographer! You can find her at Captured Studios in downtown Tuscumbia or keep up with her online. I am amazed by her talent. She keeps getting better and better and I've got to get Lillian back in there soon.

Congrats, Shana! Hope you find a little one who will enjoy this paci clip:)

Carving

Well, tonight we are going to carve the pumpkin. Every year we carve the pumpkin and I roast the seeds. My mom always did this and I have always loved those toasty seeds. I doubt very seriously that 3-year-old Lillian will try them this year but that just means more for me! This year, I am going to follow these instructions that I found while browsing recipes...sweet and simple. She gives instructions for several different ways to toast your seeds--I always do mine in the oven with a little salt and olive oil. YUMMERS!

Do you roast your pumpkin seeds? Any special spices?

Don't forget about the giveaway on Friday:) That cute little gnome would love to come your way.

Remembering...and a Halloween GIVEAWAY!!!

Just browsing through photos and found this one from last Halloween--or "Hallowing" as Lillian calls it. My how she's grown--that's what they do though, grow and say funny things and talk about poop a whole lot. Everything is poop right now. We'll be reading a story--last night it was about Arnie the Anteater--and, after I finish it, Lillian inevitably wants to "read" it back to me. Except her version involves a lot of poop. Arnie found a mouse and then he pooped. Arnie looked for ants and then he pooped. Arnie saved the mouse and then he pooped.

I've been making a conscious effort to post more, but I see that I've just spent too much time away and y'all are mad at me. I can't blame you so in the spirit of Halloween or bribery--however you want to look at it--I'm going to force you to comment. How, you ask? By giving away a paci clip--a Halloween treat. It's a cute little gnome paci clip that you can see on my flickr site. He's a cute little fella. And if you don't use a paci yourself then feel free to give it to someone that could use it. Like a one year old or a newborn. Comment on this thread and I will pick a winner (not out of my nose silly people) on Friday.

Holiday Shopping

Well, the season is upon us, and, while I think the most important part of this Thanksgiving through Christmas season is the memories we make while visiting with loved ones over meals and family outings, I also know that we love to give little gifts as tokens of our love. This year I will be supporting all of the wonderful crafty women out there. Yesterday, I shared with you the wonderful creations by Sarah & Abraham and today I am featuring Tip Junkie's Mom-Prenuer's Shop-a-thon. You can follow the link here or in my sidebar. There are so many great gift ideas from all of these wonderful Mom-prenuers! You are certain to find just about anything you need for holiday gift giving--or for yourself:)

Sarah & Abraham

I ordered some notecards and an 8x10 print recently from Sarah & Abraham. When she says quick turnaround time, she means it. My shipping label was printed the same day that I placed the order and everything arrived within a couple days. I will have to take a photo of the 8x10 print. I painted a frame green and placed the pink print inside. It hangs on the blue walls of my daughter's bathroom and is just precious! I'm sure you will find something that you will love as well.

Diptych

My first diptych. Straight out of the camera. Had to try it out:)

ROLLLLL TIDE!

WHEW!!! I feel like I'm back from the dead. My Photoshop editing software was on the fritz and I just haven't had time to figure out what was wrong so I couldn't post pictures and I just felt like I was losing it. Well, I sat down tonight and it's really embarrassing how easily the problem was fixed. I feel like a genius, though . We moved this month and things have been a little out of whack but I'M BACK and it feels great. Here's an outfit that I made for Lil to help her show her team spirit at school on Fridays during football season.

A Little Frustration

I caught this expression while trying to get Lillian to pose in a dress that I made her. She wasn't up for the photo shoot at all and I didn't get the shot of the dress that I was hoping for but while uploading the photos from my camera, I found this little gem. I think it captures her frustration perfectly. I also think it fits nicely with the Shutter Sisters "stalk the moment" post.

I would love to see the moments that you've captured "by accident".

Oh Say Can You See

Well, we normally have an anual Fourth of July party with lots of friends around town but this year so many of us were going to be out of town for the 4th that we all got together for June 14th and celebrated Flag Day. Lillian really enjoyed this first party of summer. Photos are from the annual parade around the grounds. So much fun!

Family Time

When Chad isn't here at night, Lil is somethimes still up at 9:40 pm. Only because she doesn't "WANNA GO TO BAAAYED!!!" There's a bunch of other reasons too like she "wants some GUMMMMM!" Or she needs to "GO POTTY"--a phrase she rarely utters unless it's bed time. One of the best excuses is that she doesn't want to close her eyes. That leaves me saying 'you don't have to close your eyes, just go to sleep'. NOW!!!
Anyway, I was sitting down to post about what a great time we had at camp this weekend. But I sat down to post this over an hour ago and once I got the photos edited and uploaded and once I got the "GUMMMM!" and once I took her to the "POTTY" and once I realized it's now 9:50 and someone is still awake, I just don't have a lot of time to write about the fishing and the marshmallows and the swimming and all of the other fun stuff we did. So I'll let the photos do it for me. There was a first fish experience and some other cool stuff. Oh and a sweet little pic I snapped of her while she was pulling leaves off of the trees. Next time I'll start this after I put the little night owl to bed. I'll be typing away as she's sleeping with her eyes wide open.

A Precious Little Top

I just love the way this top turned out. You can find the pattern here and here. I bought it over at YCMT, as usual. I think I shop there daily. Which means I have WAAAAY more patterns than I can get to in the near and not so near future. This particular top is by that darn kat and it really is simple. She did a great job putting it together. I know that Sandi Henderson is also coming out with a round neck top pattern very soon. I'll be trying it as well. I truly wish that I knew which end was up when it comes to designing patterns but I'm just no good at it. Maybe one day...

I'm Still Here

I mean, seriously, I really am. I've been having a blast this month sewing up eight outfits for the sweetest little kiddos. My only regret is that none of them were for my Lil. Three of the eight were reversible and I'm dying to throw something in the mix for Lillian but there's that whole time thing. Thanks so much to everyone for keeping me busy doing what I love to do. For those of you who do not know me, I work full time during the day and get a few hours of sewing time in at night after the little one is tucked in tight. It's a challenge to find the time to blog, post photos on Flickr, list items on Etsy, create new appliques, sew and be a mommy and wife but hopefully I'm succeeding at each of them. The blog suffers the most, I know.

Anyway, here's a couple of photos of the outfits. Okay, I know you can't really see the dresses in these photos but Lil was hamming it up for the camera and I had to include them. Just click on the photo and it will take you to my Flickr if you want to see more. The green seersucker with applique reverses to the blue seersucker with the octopus. The swing top is a Simplicity pattern and the A-Line dress is from my favorite lady (Carla C) over at YCMT

Sorry

Okay, so I'm not very good at tagging people even when it's as nice of a gesture as the "You Make My Day Award". I was supposed to tag 5 folks who make my day and post the badge on my blog. Well, I don't know how to post the badge and I just suck in general sometimes but there are so many great blogs out there and I've added so many to my Google Reader that it's hard to keep up. Here are 5 that I read EVERYDAY!

1. Dooce: Heather Armstrong is hilarious and I laugh outloud everytime I visit. I love her sense of humor because, although I love the soft and cuddly things in life, I also love sarcasm and crassness (is that a word? yes, it is)

2. Portabello Pixie: Just click over there and tell me if she isn't one of the most talented and creative folks in webdom. Her new line of fabric, Ginger Blossom, is begging me to make something out of it. But in the mean time it has to sit in my sewing room while I dream of what it will become.

3. How About Orange: This talented little lady is dedicated to her blog and has a line of fabric available at JCaroline Creative. She finds the coolest spots all over the web. These are two of my favorites: ONE and TWO.

4. Make and Takes: Marie is one busy Mama. And oh so creative. She makes the simplest of things look so much fun and comes up with the neatest crafts for her two precious (and lucky) kiddos.

5. Hello My Name is Heather: Another awesome Heather on my daily list of blogs to read. This is one talented lady and I own some of her Freshcut line of fabric. I've made several things from it and love it just as much now as I did when it came out.

Well, there are many more (too many!) but these are 5 that I know I can count on for a laugh, inspiration, and a good aha! moment each day. I would love to hear of some of your favorites. Oh, and I have to post a photo...this post looks lonely without one.


It's ME!!! and my Lil and my sister (from Left to Right).

Easter

What a fun and busy weekend. My beautiful sister was in town for an Easter visit and we had so much fun dying eggs, hiding eggs and letting Madelyn and Lillian play together. Madelyn is my niece and is just 16 months older than Lil. Saturday we went shopping and stopped by the fabric store to get some fabric for some beach dresses that I'm going to make for the girls. I turned my back for 2 seconds ( I SWEAR) and when I turned back around Lillian was in the process of painting her eyes with lipstick. The kind that is long lasting. The kind that is pretty much just permanent marker in a tube. I had to scrub and scrub to get it off. You would have thought that I was pulling her fingernails out one by one though by the sounds coming out of her mouth. However, on Easter morning, her eye was still puffy and rug burned so I think maybe I did scrub too hard. Hence the reason that this was her best side this morning.

I Am So Tired

Of talking about myself. I'm sick of it...I feel really bad that I've put up post after post of "hey look at what I did". Anyway, thank you all for commenting and emailing and finding ways to lift me up on your shoulders so I feel as if I've really accomplished something with my sewing and smocking and blabbering about ME! Anyway, I know I've written about Heather before but I just LOVE her. See here and you'll see why. She's an incredible writer and her (written) voice sounds like the voice inside my head. She can put words on paper like no one else. Oh, if you don't like curse words or are easily offended--please don't click the links.

Smocked

Well, here is my second attempt at smocking. I do love it. Once I learned to smock, I knew that I MUST learn to "picture smock". I found the cutest pattern (they are called "plates" in the smocking world) in the spring issue of Creative Needle. It was a row of chocolate bunnies that just screamed Easter. Lil will certainly wear this through the Spring--not just for one Easter Sunday--considering that a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it. Here's a peak:


Many of you have expressed anxiety over trying to learn to smock. I say GO FOR IT!!! My teacher told me that you will either love it or hate it--You will be over it before you even begin or you won't be able to get enough. Well, I certainly couldn't get enough. My first dress was a "bishop" and I took a class that walked me through each step. This second dress is called a "basic yoke" and I dove into it on my own. I bought a book that is indispensable called the A-Z of Sewing for Smockers. These A-Z books are incredible and this one deals only with construction--not smocking. So it walks you through the steps of how to construct the actual dress--whether it be a bishop, a basic yoke or a full yoke. How to add a sash, collar, sleeves, etc. EVERYTHING. I want several books from this series because there are a kazillion photos in the books with step by step instructions. I could go on and on. Anyway, the point is, don't be scared. Jump right in like I did but be prepared to make time for it. Lillian likes to sit right next to me while I smock. I would love to see your smocked creations! Here are more photos of the bunny dress:

The Song Remains the Same

Well, it's the same song second verse around here. I've been busy busy busy and haven't made the time to blog. I did finish my first smocking project and loved it so much that I learned to "picture smock". So I've completed two dresses at this point as well as some other projects. I've done so much lately that I really don't know where to start so I'll just take it one step at a time and blog about each thing separately....first is my very first attempt at smocking. Which I have to say I am very pleased with.



Oh SHOOT!!! I just remembered that sweet, sweet Tara over at Project Felt gave me a 'You Make My Day Award' exactly ONE MONTH AGO. I have so fallen from grace on this one and I apologize, Tara. I was so honored by this and yet I didn't even show up. Tara is great about blogging several times a week and honestly--She makes MY day. It's all on my list of things to do. And I don't even know HOW to display the badge:( That shows my stupidity with all things related to html. I'll just post another couple of pics of my dress since I DO know how to do that:)

I must stop

I seriously must stop browsing over at You Can Make This. When I told you all that it's my new favorite place--well, I meant it. Anyway, for about a year now I've owned a yard of the coolest material. It's chalk cloth that I ordered from Denver Fabrics but I have since heard that you can get it at Hancock's. About 6 weeks ago, I joined an AWESOME fabric co op. I have since spent my life savings there and, in the mean time, I managed to get hold of some of the Michael Miller Lolli Dot laminated cotton. I've been all giddy trying to figure out what I would do with it. Then I remembered the chalk cloth, then I remembered all the cool stuff over at You Can Make This, then I ordered this. And then I made this:



Mine is a little different than the one over at you can make this. The dimensions are a little more rectangular and I used a different technique to hold the chalk but all in all it's the same deal. I used some oilcloth around the edges--I purchased it when I ordered the chalk cloth. This sweet little placemat/chalk mat is a gift for one of Lillian's best buddies in the whole world. Maybe I'll find the patience to make another one for Lil. I would love to see your oilcloth or laminated cotton or chalk cloth creations!

With Love

I made this outfit for Lil with a lotta love. I did it in one marathon sewing session this past Sunday. It was so much fun! Both the top and bottom are from patterns purchased through You Can Make This--my new favorite site for patterns.

The back of the dress turned out perfectly and is probably my favorite part. It looks as if it is shirred but it is actually four pieces of elastic running parallel to one another.

I promise to update on my smocking soon. It is turning out better than I had imagined and I've even learned to "picture smock" and have chosen the perfect pattern for her Easter dress. More later but for now I need to enjoy this little outfit a little longer.

Just Enough

She now has just enough hair to pull up into pigtails. For months, Lil has been handing me pony tail holder after pony tail holder until her hair is littered with little sprouts of hair like water spouts---the elastic barely hanging on to those few strands. "More! More!" She would insist not realizing that she didn't have enough hair to support one ponytail much less "More!" So just the other day, I went for it. Eureka! We got two REAL ponytails out of those curls and now she feels like a princess.

As soon as I took this photo, I knew I would have to include it as a blog posting so I went ahead and edited it so that, when I found time to write, the photo would be all set to upload. Well, the next day I'm going through my favorite blogs and what do I see but this. I thought that was pretty cool. Almost the same shot. There's something so sweet about pigtails.

You Can Make This

Oh yes you can! The coolest site on the web, as far as patterns go, is You Can Make This---also known as YCMT. The money I have spent over there this week isn't to be shared with the hubby. But just think of all the money that I am saving by MAKING Lillian's clothes rather than BUYING them.

The fabric you see here is a work in progress How to Make a Peasant Top. It's just the top--not the corset. In order to complete this top, I had to learn a bit about shirring. There's a great instructions included in the pattern but more can be found in this tutorial on one of my new favorite blogs: Portabello Pixie. We'll save that for another post but I'll let you know how the shirt turns

Working

Well, I'm busy that's for sure. Learning to smock. Oh the fun. It really takes so much concentration that I can't imagine breathing AND smocking at the same time. I find myself holding my breath--working a few stitches--breathing--then working some more. These are just my practice stitches but before long it will be the real thing. On a real dress. On a real girl.

Learning

I feel that I'm all the time learning something. If there's ever a lull in the learning then I seek out something to learn. It could be something simple like learning what a charm pack of fabric is:) Yes, I'm one of the few sewers who still doesn't know what one is(until about 20 minutes ago). Or it could be something BIG like smocking. I've signed myself up for a smocking class that starts Monday. I'm so excited. Even more exciting than that is in February I'm taking a quilting class. I want to learn to quilt so badly. So, in the mean time I have put my little shop on hiatus while I learn some new moves. I'll keep you posted. Here's a few things that we've been up to lately:

We went to the Christmas tree farm to find the perfect tree. Well, I guess, I should say for the experience of finding the perfect tree. I like Frasier Firs and Frasier Firs do not grow in Alabama but lots of Pines do. So we bought a severely overpriced but absolutely beautiful Frasier Fir that had been shipped from North Carolina and kept fresh in it's own little pail of water. My brother and his fiance on the other hand love Pines for Christmas so Lillian got the full experience of riding the Mule drawn carriage through the Pine fields and then walking up and down the isles of trees with our pole to measure and find the perfect Pine. We always went to the tree farm growing up and I'm excited that Lillian will get to experience this year after year.





Afterwards, I stole a few shots on the porch swing.



And between all the baking and potlucks and parties and gift buying, wrapping and giving, I found a little time to sew.

The sweetest little set for a great customer:



The snazziest of collections for a college friend of mine:




And a little something for a sweet little boy.



Of course there was more ~ this being the giving season and all ~ but this post is long enough and there are tornadoes looming in the distance on this scary warm January day, so I'll put it to rest now and go check the weather.

Happy New Year to you all!