Castle Peep Quilt Kits & Summer Camp

For the Knoxville AQS show I made up the Castle Peep Quilt kit from Andover. It was a great hit and I have a few left in all of the colorways. The quilt kit shown in the pattern is in green, but there is also a red-orange-pink color way and a blue colorway. I made more of the green but sold more of the blue, go figure. It only takes about 30 minutes to make and looks super cute.

The kit includes all of the fabric for the 44 x 50 top and binding

• 1/2 yard of 4874
• 1/2 yard of 4871
• 1/2 yard of 4872
• 1/2 yard of 4875
• 7/8 yard 4876
• 1 5/8 yard 4373

I love the Lizzy House designs and this summer she is sponsoring a Castle Peeps Summer Camp with fun downloads and great ideas for her fabric. Run over and visit with her and then hop over to our shop and pick up your supplies so you can make some of the cool project she is sharing.

Izzy and Ivy come to play

Have you heard of the cool children's clothing designer Izzy & Ivy? Well they are one of my new favorites. Their patterns are easy to make, and the go up to size 14, which means I can make an outfit for little bit in size 6 and her big sis in size 14.

We have a bunch of her patterns in stock and we are working on samples of many of them. I will post pictures as soon as they are done.

Avery Olivia Dress

is all about sweet shirring, and girly ruffles.
The middle ruffle is pieced so that you can include all of your favorite fabrics.
This is an easy to sew dress that any girl would love.

 Beverly Bell Top

This was one of our most popular patterns this past week at Knoxville and I am working on a sample right now.

This is a fun Babydoll top....with a twist!
The stripes swirl around the skirt of the shirt.

Jack n Jill Hat

So sweet and can be made for a little boy very easily, our sample is made with the Be a Man fabric. Sized up to a 22 inch head, so can be made for most adults.

Macy Giggles Dress

Easy and breezy as a bright spring day. As refreshing as a child's giggle.
This sundress is cute enough for a party, and comfortable enough for play.You'll love how fast this dress comes together.Make it with or without pockets, and with a thin or wide band on the skirt.

We are also working on a sample of this one. Can't wait to show off the cutie pies in my life wearing clothes made from these adorable patterns.

If you life the Castle Peep fabric from Lizzy House, so does Izzy & Ivy her most recent blog post shows off a redone bedroom for her little one.

Recycling for Christmas

Those of you who make your holiday have already started, right. Since I make holidays for others I started working on our Christmas line back in March. I am prepping aluminum cans to the made into ornaments, earring & bookmarks.

My friends and family save all of their cans, but then I have to cut them down to make space. Usually I don't need thousands of cans but this year I went global and two of my ornaments will be in a VERY BIG CATALOG, which will remain nameless until the print date.

Here is a sneak at the glamorous back side of using recycled cans for creating art:

Once I get them all cut down and washed they head to the basement to be stored or if I still feel like standing for another hour I run them through the accucut. Making 500 items was easy, I think making 3000 may be a huge challenge.

Drink up and save your cans cause I need them to make Some Art.

Kokeshi Make & Take from Melly

Late yesterday I received an email from a customer that put a huge grin on my face.

Hello ladies!

I stopped by your booth at the AQS show in Knoxville and picked up your embroidery special - 2 DMC thread colors and a hoop, then you get the linen with the pattern stamped on it.  so cute!  Of course I'm addicted to embroidery now! Finished that cute doll pattern, and have downloaded several more :)  My question for you is:  I loved the linen that your free pattern was printed/stamped on.  What is it called?  And do you stock it in your store?  And do you stock any more embroidery patterns?

Thanks ladies - for introducing me to hand embroidery!  What fun fun fun!

Good Ferments Explode

This morning, I went to check on my ferments and there was a MESS.

Yesterday I added more flour, sugar, soda starter to my gluten free kinda Amish Bread starter. Some time during the night it oozed out of the loosely closed jar.

When I opened the jar this morning to pour it into a larger jar it EXPLODED!

It ended up everywhere. All over me, the floor. I am sure to find it for days.

The dough starter, which is one cup gluten free flour mix, one cup ginger soda stater, one cup sugar, has some kick.

Not sure how it will work when I bake with it but should be fun. I added another one cup of all after I moved it into a larger container. I will try to make a cake with it tomorrow.

Food Allergies & Fermented Foods

I am crafty, right now most of my craft energy is happening in the KITCHEN. Yikes. I don't cook, I can make 3 meals really well and that is what we eat: Meatloaf, Spaghetti, Baked Chicken oh and Tuna Casserole, so four meals. I make enough for leftover and it is a really good week if I make three, otherwise we are likely to have cereal for dinner. NOT so right now! in the last two weeks we have seen new and amazing dishes like homemade gluten free pizza, homemade granola, sauerkraut the list goes on and it is really kinda fun. Some of the fun comes from the fact that the girls are old enough to clean the kitchen up when I am finished, some from moving outside of my comfort zone. I have been feeding a family since I was 16, that was my job. I made the list, went to the store and made all the meals. It was not really a huge bit of fun for a teenager and that is where I mastered my four meals.

So fast forward my life, married with kids, and in charge of feeding and watering, but there is a glitch, my youngest is allergic to milk and wheat (Dairy Free/Gluten Free are we!) and apparently so am I. I was not before I had Arabella, I ate bread and cheese all the time, was I tired, cranky, yes probably but many would say I still am, so how did I become "allergic" after I had my second child. Here is the story: