Canton Village Quilt Works
Giveaway: 10 Fat Quarters of ‘Modernology’ by Art Gallery Fabrics
(Click HERE to enter)
March 2012 Giveaway Day
A little of this and a little of that ~ Kids, Hats and Dresses
Life has been very busy around here and I’ve been meaning to share some pictures of the kids I took recently. These were taken a couple weeks ago. Caspian Finn is getting into that adorable chubby, smiley, almost 6 months phase and I could just eat him up. Of course I think he’s just too cute, I’m sure I see him differently since I am his mama, but even as I look at his picture right here, I just want to snuggle this little guy.
Here are some more pictures of Mr. Caspian at 5.5 months old:
I ordered these hats for the kids for Christmas from my lovely blog sponsor, The Hook Up. I heard about her through a fan/friend over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page and have been in love with her work ever since.
And one more shot of my little snow bear. I took this when I was in my studio working and my husband came to the doorway to tell me they were going out in the snow. I couldn’t believe the cuteness and had to reach for the camera. Caspian got those mittens for Christmas and they actually look like little bear paws. So cute!!
Here are a few shots of Miss Savannah (who will be 4 one week from today):
And here are a couple of Matilda (who is very difficult to photograph these days):
The girls hats are also from The Hook Up and they match their winter coats just perfectly. The Hook Up will be participating in our Giveaway Day coming up on March 1, so if you like these hats, make sure you come back and enter to win.
Another few pictures that I’ve been meaning to share with you are these adorable dresses that my mom sent the girls for Valentine’s Day:
This dress is my ‘Janey Jumper‘ pattern that my mom where my mom added a sweet embroidery piece to the front. We got this embroidery pattern by Aneela Hoey at our trip to quilt market last spring. I ordered several bolts of this fabric line, Little Apples, and just haven’t had the time to cut into it, so I’m so glad Mom was able to start putting it to good use. Mom made the girls matching dresses in size 3 and size 5.
Mom added a bow with a button to the front of the girls matching dresses. But rather than sew it onto the dress, she made it on a safety pin so that it can be removed before washing. Smart idea, huh? We are really getting into embroidery over here, so you can expect to see some more things in that department soon.
On another note, I just sold my 1000th pattern! I seriously cannot believe it ~ I am beyond excited. When I ordered my original shipment of patterns, I was honestly a little nervous that I would be sitting with these for several years, but went ahead and took a chance. It seems hardly possible that I’m almost ready for a re-order on both of the first two patterns. A big giant thank you to all of you that have purchased patterns from me and another thank you to all the online and brick-and-mortar stores that are now carrying, ‘The Cottage Mama Sewing Patterns.’ Without you, I could not do what I do ~ you are helping make my dream a reality.
So now I’m in ‘orange’ party planning mode as Miss S’s party is this weekend. Savannah’s dress is cut for the festivities, but not yet sewn together. This dress has more pieces then I have ever cut in my life. Not sure what I’ve gotten myself into, but I’m hoping to make some serious headway on it today.
Happy Monday!
Broom Love
You may think I have totally lost my mind with this post. A post about a broom, Lindsay, really? Well, that’s what my mom thought when I called her and said, “I’m so excited for my new broom to arrive!” And as I just wrote that, I realized, that it does sound pretty strange……..what has my life come to? I’m excited about a broom? Someone over here may need to get a life……..
Enough about my craziness, though, and let me tell you about my new broom. I have really been trying to live according to this William Morris quote since we entered 2012…….
I have done a pretty good job clearing out a bunch of clutter that we no longer need and the house is starting to feel more organized. However, when I posted this quote over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page one of my international readers chimed in and said, ‘how about…. do not have anything we do not know to be useful AND believe to be beautiful? And I thought, yes, that’s even better!
So I needed a new broom for our home and I took this Facebook conversation to heart and thought, “if I’m going to buy a new broom, it’s going to be one I love and get excited to use.” And I’m a firm believer that you can buy just about anything on Etsy.com, so I headed there to begin my search and this is what I ended up with:
I ordered this handmade broom from the Broomchick on Etsy. I had never heard of her shop, but she had great reviews and I just loved the natural style of this one, not to mention the fact that it fits in perfectly with our cottage.
I can’t just name one part of this broom that is my favorite. I love that it is handmade ~ that’s a big thing for me, it’s always great when I can buy handmade and support local, US small business. I love the multi-colored broomcorn and I love the natural wood stick handle. The Broomchick has many different brooms to choose from, but this is a multi-colored standard kitchen broom.
I am currently keeping this broom hanging on a hook in the kitchen next to our kitchen hutch. It’s too pretty to put away and hide. My sister-in-law thought it was just for decoration when she saw it in our kitchen and my mother-in-law said she wants one for her birthday.
"I Spy" Fabric Matching Game ~ Tutorial
To start off 2012, I thought I would start at the top of the list and use some of the fabric scraps that have been invading my sewing studio. Since I typically design and sew children’s clothing, the amount of fabric scraps is out of this world. Big pieces, little pieces……you name it, I’ve got it…….it’s getting a bit ridiculous!
My girls are beginning to become interested in playing games. With them being 2.5 and almost 4 years old, there aren’t a lot of games they can play together, but we’ve found that they really enjoy matching games.
I was inspired by the ‘I Spy’ quilts that many people seem to enjoy making and came up with a game version ~ the ‘I Spy’ Fabric Matching Game. This is a great way to use up the many different fabric scraps you have lying around. If you have little ones, they will truly enjoy playing this game. It is stimulating, fun, and pretty much indestructible (which you know is important if you live in the world of toddlers). There are two different ways to play so it’s great for 2 year olds on up.
A Little Change: Giveaway Day
So I’m making a few little changes around here on the blog and one of them is in regards to giveaways. While I absolutely love sharing new businesses and products with you all, I feel like my blog content has had too many giveaways over the last several months. Promoting and growing small businesses is very important to me, as I am a small business owner myself, but I’m going to start doing things a little differently.
The main reason I started this blog was to share my love for creating and hopefully inspire you all to want to create in your everyday life. I want to make sure I keep the content here on the blog focused in that direction. I try really hard to post projects and ideas that you hopefully all enjoy and keep the majority of posts written by me (although my mom, Grandma Jane, will be ‘guest posting’ coming up). I never in a million years thought I would make any money from blogging. While I feel incredibly blessed to now be able to generate some income from blogging, I would be blogging regardless.
With that being said, instead of having several giveaways a week, I am now going to be hosting one giant giveaway day per month. My sponsors all have the opportunity to participate in this day and I am also opening the day up to other small businesses as well. I got this idea from my friend Jessica (from Happy Together) and she assures me it is working out great.
I hope you don’t mind this change. If you love giveaways, then you’ll want to mark your calendar for the first day of each month as that will be the BIG giveaway day. I will still do personal giveaways (from me) and the occasional book and fabric giveaway, but these will be very selective.
On the Cutting Table: New Fabric, New Designs, Ect.
It’s been a busy week over here. Lots of things going on and trying to juggle my family, the kids, the blog and the business is always a challenge.
This past week I finally decided it was time for me to bring in a little help so that I can prioritize some things in regards to my work-life balance. The only people that have ever watched our kids since our oldest Savannah was born are family members…..mainly my in-laws. But I decided to ask the high school girl from next door to come over two afternoons a week (for three hours each day) to play with the kids while I get some work done. So for right now I am home the entire time she is here working in my studio, but after Cass is done nursing in another 8 months or so, I might feel comfortable enough to leave for a little bit.
I have gone back and forth about this for months and now I’m wondering why I didn’t do it sooner? Well, I know why I didn’t do it sooner……….guilt. I think my business was ready for this about three months ago, but personally I wasn’t. It’s really hard being a work from home mom because as much as I want to grow my business, I want to be there for my kids during this precious time that is going by way too fast. But I need to create. It’s just part of me. It makes me a better mama to do what I love and it is so very important to me that my children recognize that Mama has passions and dreams just like they do.
So I decided it was best for the kids to have a young person come play with them two days a week that is completely focused on them. They are getting used to someone new watching them (other than family) and are just in love with our new sitter. And for me, I get to devote six very focused hours of my week in my studio doing what I love and working on my business. I am really happy with my decision now and I think it’s a win-win for all of us. But being as though I value the fact that I am able to stay home with my children, it’s not a decision that came about lightly.
So what was going on this last week? Lots of stuff………
Well, I’m excited to say that I got my next three patterns sent out this week! One is for boys and two are for girls and I think they are so cute (of course, I’m a little biased). It will still be several months before they are available for sale, but they are officially now in production. It’s amazing how long it takes to get a printed pattern fully ready for sale!
Above are the pictures of the lovely bundle that arrived this week from Riley Blake Designs. Being on the Project Design Team definitely has its perks and working with pretty fabrics is one of them. I am so in love with this line ~ Woodland Trails. It’s fun, whimsical, girly and springy. I’m certainly feeling Easter with this line, what about you?
My next tutorial on the Riley Blake Designs blog will be done in this line as well as a pincushion I am designing. And those trims and buttons, you’ll see those coming up soon too!
I also got a few things listed in my shop, The Cottage Mama:
Wide Leg Boys Pants – Size 4/5
Guest Blogging at Project Run and Play: Creating a Signature Style
Savannah’s Orange Birthday Party ~ The Invitation
Miss Savannah has a real thing for orange at the moment. It’s her absolute favorite color. Who knew she would be so en-vogue with her color selection? Seeing as though ‘Tangerine Tango‘ is one of the Pantone Colors of the Year she is staying right ahead of the current trends. Just kidding……she obviously doesn’t have a clue about that, but I just thought it was kind of funny.
Anyway, Miss S. is crazy for orange, so she decided she wanted an orange birthday party this year. What does that mean? It means that everything is going to be orange ~ the food, drink, candy, flowers, balloons, her birthday outfit, the guests attire, the invitations and if she has her way, her fingernails too! If you hang with us over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page, then you know that I wasn’t sure about this theme at first, but now I’m really excited about it. I can’t wait to start designing her orange party outfit!
The invitations went out this last week and I designed them in Picnik. I was going to show you all exactly how to make something like this of your very own, but since Picnik has decided to close, I’ll have to wait and show you in a different program (once I decide my favorite alternative).
On the backside of the invitation I included a recent picture that I took of the birthday girl. I know invitations usually get thrown away right after the party, so I thought some of our family members could enjoy it a little longer with the picture on the back.
I had these invitations printed through VistaPrint. I really love this site for inexpensive custom printing options. I print a lot of my business pieces for The Cottage Mama through them such as business cards, postcards, stickers, return address labels, ect. I’ve had really good luck with this company. Our Christmas cards had a little bit of a printing issue, but they fixed the printing problem and rushed delivered them several days later, no questions asked.
VistaPrint allows you to upload your own custom design which is great or you can use one of the many templates they provide. You can design your cards or printed material in any program that you have (i.e. Photoshop, I-photo, Picasa, Picnik) and then just upload it to the site. The thing you will want to keep in mind is to make sure you’ve resized your design to fit whatever size card you are printing. Savannah’s birthday invitation was designed to be printed on a 5 x 7 postcard.
So, here is a blank version of the invite I designed for Savannah’s party in case you want to throw your very own orange party. You can save the picture to your computer or you can head over to Google Docs where I’ve uploaded it and grab it HERE. Just pull the invite into any program you have and add your text. If you decide to bring it into Microsoft Word then you will need to add a text box on top of the picture to add your text.
Happy Day Big Bow Dress ~ Pattern and Tutorial
Today I’m excited to share my tutorial for the ‘Happy Day Big Bow Dress’ with all of you. I created two coordinating sister looks from this gorgeous fabric (see previous post here) – ‘Sunny Happy Skies’ by Riley Blake Designs. The big bow dress is an easy, beginner sewing project that makes a big statement with the over-sized pocket and bow. Yes, there are two button holes, but trust me, you can handle it!
Make this dress for any holiday by changing up the fabric. The dress can also be layered with long-sleeves and tights for the colder weather months. Let’s get started…….
Measure down from the top of the dress by 1/2″ on the right side of the fabric. I made my button holes 1″ long, though you could probably make them 3/4″ if you would prefer. I also set mine about 1″ apart from each other. Before making the button holes, turn the 2″ of fabric that you pressed in the prior step back up (you don’t want to catch the other side when we make the button holes). We just wanted to press it down so we could mark our button holes appropriately.
I’m going to assume everyone does button holes a little different depending on what kind of machine you have. I have a button hole foot on mine, so that’s what I use. If you need a button hole tutorial, you can check out this one from Sew Mama Sew. Do not be afraid of the button hole – they really aren’t as hard as they look!
Remember when deciding on your strap length that you will be losing about 2″ based on sewing the straps in line with the casing stitching (in the step below). So make sure to add 2″ to your desired strap length when cutting. Logic would tell you that you’d be losing 2″ on EACH side, but the way the bow gathers the top of the dress, you really only end up losing 1″ on each side for a total of 2″.