Thank you all!

It was an exhausting but wonderful update... thank you to everyone who stopped by and for all the kind notes a well wishes. Looking forward to putting my feet up for a few days before the little one arrives, but by the way my belly has been feeling, who knows if I'll even get a few days!
Before I get too far ahead of myself...check out the mountain that greets me at my door. These will all be off to the post tomorrow... more little bundles of Joy!

Ohhh, and if you were wonder what's going on in that photo, that's my Murphy Bed Ironing Board in the hallway next to my studio. It's been a dream... works great, packs away easily, and holds lots of stuff. What more can one ask for?

The new pieces are up!

I'm so happy to have all of these (and other) summer pieces finished and available!

Come shop the update!

my website update is today!

Come by and a check out
all the new summer pieces
available at 12 noon CST
(1pm eastern, 11am mountain, 10am pacific)

see you there!

Questions about how the update works?
find all the details here.

The update is just a couple days away

I'm getting all the pieces ready for the update on Tuesday and the studio is full of little bits and pieces just needing to be finished up.

Check out this ridiculously cute dress...
the bears are looking forward to getting dressed!

squirrels in progress...

I've been working on adapting the Lookout Bunny into a squirrel pattern... it's looking good so far, and I'm excited to see how they turn out. You can see the finished pieces on the Website Update this coming Tuesday!

another find...

I love this ebay store... they're always selling such cool oddities.

a summer day in the studio...

our little mobile...

Jay and I finished our little mobile for over our changing table... it's a smaller version that what we'd been planning, because my parents made us the most amazing mobile ever. So here's the details of our humble attempt at making something sweet and kinetically engaging.

We cut little bird shapes out of balsa wood. Jay used an exacto blade to cut them out, not so easy, but seemed to work well.


I painted a glue/water mix onto each side of the wooden shapes and stuck on a cotton print. Once the first side dried, I cut it out with a sharp pair of scissors, and repeated that for the second side.





Once the wooden shapes were all covered and dry, we assembled the mobile with little pieces of drift wood we picked up off the beach.


Ok, now back to work on the pieces for the update! Hope to post more photos later today of all that good stuff! It's coming along really well... can't wait to show you all, all the new bits and pieces!

today on the worktable...

Lots of projects in process today.

Update

This will be the one and only update this summer.
I'm expecting my first little bundle of joy in the next few weeks,
so I'll be taking a few months off sewing to spend time loving up and getting to know the littlebit!

If you'd like more information about how my website updates work:

check out all the details here.

Email me with "reminder" in the subject line if you'd like me to send you a note reminding you a day or two before the update.

While I've been posting in process images here to show off what I'm working on, rest assured (as usual) I won't be preselling any pieces for the update. So, come early and see all the new Goodies here!

Just like the mobile....

Check out this cutie my mom recently made. 

She's available on her website!

"Mother... God Bless Her" ... that's for sure!

lucky little one...

Today Jay and I found a box of fun on our doorstep. My mom and dad made our little one this fantastic mobile. We were in the process of trying to make something to hang in the room to entertain the littlebit, but our efforts had yet to yield something so kinetic.

It moves really nicely in the slight breeze that moved through the two windows in this small room...

Mom needle felted these birds, both flying and perched, and my Papa engineered the whole business.

Could these vintage paper lucky coins be any better?
Some have clovers and some horseshoes.

Thank you mama and papa! We're very excited for the littleone to contemplate life under such a dynamic and beautiful object.

today in the studio...

I'm working on new kitties... hello summer colors!

Another Box Off...

I packed up these pieces for Earth Angels Toys and sent them off yesterday! It's a great group of pieces... to see all the details check out the Earth Angels website (early next week, gotta give them time to arrive!).

no will power.

I finally gave in last night and whipped up a pair of bloomers. I'm not all that speedy when it comes to making clothes, but these were surprisingly easy. This pair came together in about a half hour, and once I wash and prep a few fabrics I'm sure I could create a wardrobe of bloomers for the warm summer months in no time flat. I think I'll change the pattern a little once I'm able to check the fit... no one needs bloomers in the middle of a Minnesota winter. So they'll have to be fitted to size in a month or so, once the little one arrives and is ready to sport the onsie-bloomer look. Until then, I'm on to other projects. (do you think I'm in the nesting phase? I'm letting the hormones have their way with me... why fight it?)

Seriously Cute.

My good friend Kelly made us these amazingly cute pants for our little girl or boy (arriving in 3 weeks, Yikes!) from an Oliver + S pattern. Since receiving her beautiful gift, I've been looking all over the web at all the ridiculously cute clothes made from these timeless patterns. I currently have bloomers on the brain, but I'm trying to stay focused on work right now so those cute bloomers will just have to wait.
In the interim, here's the dreamy "Birthday Party Dress". If you know a little girl, hurry, buy this pattern and make on in every color.

Thanks to Spool for their beautifully made Birthday Party Dress

bits and pieces in progess...

I have so many different projects in process right now. I hope to finish a few editions this week, but it's nice to have so many different little bits going... ok, back to work!

after the rain

After four days of much needed but chilly rain, the sun and 70's have returned. My yard is the better for it and everything is that unimaginable bright green...

hello new spouts and shoots!

todays side project...

Today I tried my hand at making wool diaper covers. For those not in the know, wool naturally repels liquid and the covers work great over the old school tri-fold cloth diapers in place of plastic pants. Being an industrious seamstress (and a bit of a stickler for quality fabrics), I couldn't quite imagine spending $30-50 (Top right and bottom left) for more than one or two of these beautiful wool diaper covers, nor could I fathom using a bunch of plastic covers... so I thought I'd try one of the patterns I found online (bottom right) and I constructed the other from looking at the beauties given to me (top left). Both are made from a vintage 100% wool sweater. They feel really good, and without felting them (I just doubled the knit in key areas), they have a comparable thickness to the samples. We'll see which works better, and then perhaps I'll make more in different sizes.

(laughing at myself) I may not be much of a planner, but oh my, how I can think of important projects which just have to be practiced before the little one arrives.