Kyoko and Beverly Bell

Samples are so fun! I just picked up 2 beautiful samples from one of our sewist. Are you surprised? I would love to do all the sewing for the booth but then there would be no booth. The only thing I consistently make in our booth are the quilts and I am on the fourth top for the week, those I will post later, back to cute children in cute clothes.

A "Very" Cool Quilt

One of our customers just emailed me some great pictures of a quilt she made using Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric. There are now three lines out by the amazing children's author.

I bought the fabric from you earlier this year and firstly made a cot quilt for a baby grandson. Then I made this larger single bed quilt for 2 year old William. Just wanted to say thanks - the fabric is great quality and easy to sew with. The colour are bright and very effective together.
Although I also bought some of your panels, I decided to make the pictures in this quilt with applique. The appliques are mostly from the Hungry Caterpillar fabric, too. i'll do some with the panels next!

Alison, Thanks for sharing! I love the applique.

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.

Modern Craft Camp

This camp was loads of fun. The kids got to make a bunch of greats crafts. My Accucut was a life saver and so was my new bias maker. I had a blast designing the projects and I think even our token boy enjoyed all the sewing.

Here are some details of what we made:

Paper Flowers


Kiragami Screen Prints


Pouch / Purse - We made these more boyish by adding a loop on the back of some so they could hang it off of a door or hook in the bathroom.


Fusible Appliqué pillow


Recycled Paper, which became cards, balls and book mark


Pincushion / Plushie


I hope I get to teach this class again, it was a ton of work but the results were wonderful. I will work on a proposal for my homeschool moms, they are always asking me to teach art classes.

Dolly Dress Up

Here is a great pattern for an 18 inch doll or a baby doll ala American Girl, Dolly Dress up by Indygo Junction. We made the outfit using Lila Tueller's line Woodland Bloom. My girls love it.

Can we Go Swimmin'?

This is my children's favorite refrain. The pool opened this weekend and they are waiting none too patiently to GO.



I am not soo ready.

Pink Fig Sample for Expo

Here is my cutie pie modeling one of our new samples for Expo, the pattern is from Pink Fig - The Lily Top.

The fabric is from Michael Miller, Designed by Sandi Henderson - Farmers Market.



The sample was made by Miss Rena, with super fun shirring and all.

Heart Pencil Monster

Good For Girls and Boys!
Our rainy day fun! Blah weather, sick kids but messy craft project for entertainment.



Just finished the instructable.

ReMaking Crayons

Folks I am in stitches. I wrote this instructable last week and it has hit big time. Who would have thunk it. Melting crayons is my new claim to fame.
It has been boinged and craftzined.

I guess I will take it where I get it. Famous for an art trick I discovered when I was student teaching a decade ago and wanted to go on a nature walk and do texture rubbings. Big Grin.

Lenard

Meet Lenard. He started his life out on someones back as a wool sweater. Lenard now leads a far more glamorous life as an international poster bird for the crafty reuse of said sweater. To create your own international poster bird follow my step by step.

Monster Pics

Here are pics of the girls making their holiday gifts.

Lot o' Monster Backpack Clips

Voting has Started! The girls would love the prizes.

Lot o' Monster Backpack Clips

Lot o' Monster Backpack Clips

Hi I posted this as a craftster Holiday Challenge.

Voting starts soon so please vote us in! The girls would love the prizes.

Posted using ShareThis

First Sight from Michael Miller -- Free Pattern

I love this new line. Research says babies respond to black white and red. My last baby quilt used this idea and the quilt was striking.

Michael Miller has designed a great new line, First Sight, that has an Asian Anima look with penguins, fish, crabs. The line includes a panel and black white and red dots and stripe coordinates.

BEST OF ALL Michael Miller has a

Free pattern to Download.

More Fun with Dick and Jane

Where do the cool kids go for summer fun?

Well, see Dick? See Jane?
See Dick and Jane went to the Fun Park with Mom and Dad.
Where's Sally?
Oh, there she is.
See Sally at the Fun Park with Dick and Jane.

So, we've updated our Dick and Jane page with a few more coordinates to get you running. Run. Run.

Melly and Me

Hope you all are having a great summer. We are. We just checked in again at the Melly and Me blog and Melly's a new auntie and quite proud. The laptop bag she's working on ain't no slouch either.

Here's a link to their patterns. We love them so much and we're proud to be able to carry them for you in the US.

Blue Ridge Kiwanis Fair

There are some childhood activities that parents simple endure, this parent anyway. My fear and aversion to amusement parks is deep-seated and kind of overwhelming but there I was on Thursday night with my mom and my 2 kids. Why? Peer pressure. Just because my parents could not keep me in tow as a youngster does not mean I will lose my kids right? I hope not. As a child, I spent almost every trip to an amusement park in the lost and not yet found. Granted my parents had 2 loud rambunctious boys and me, the quiet wonderer, who quietly wandered away often.

The Kiwanis fair is an annual event in Blue Ridge. My oldest daughter went last year with my mom and she speaks of it with all the awe and grace a 7-year-old can. This year I decided to put my fear aside and drive up for a visit and some quality time in hell (not the visit, my mom is great, the fair). This year there were animals, oh yeah, and lots of big rides that are only in place for 3 days, but during that time they sling hundreds of children high in the air to their screams of delight. We purchased our tickets and went into wonderland. To be honest, I could people watch here for hours but that was a not to be as the girls immediately attempted to separate and draw us to what interested them. Arabella is always my charge and Julia went off with Oma to buy tickets. My memories are certainly colored by my childhood , whereas the girls had a blast. No one got lost or terribly cranky. Arabella had the singular honor of using her first porta potty, which she did not enjoy. As we ran out of tickets a light breeze sprang up and we began to feel tiny droplets of water. Time to go. Thanks God.

New Patterns from Melly & Me

Well, I am automatic order with the folks in Upper Ferntree Gully and there are new patterns in from Melly and her sister Rosalie Quinlan. Introducing Petunia, Dudley, Florance, Blossom the butterfly and a new purse pattern Flower Garden. We also added one of their quilt patterns Billie, which I am making a sample of using Malibu Monkey.
From Rosalie we have 6 of her beautiful primitive dolls and her new book called Gifts which is perfect for those of you starting your holiday gift making. Proceeds from her book support Breast Cancer Research, she is a surviver.

Do You Sew?

I bet you are wondering just that. Where are the sewing projects, ideas etc! Well I have finally finished a small sewing project for next weekend. I wanted to have a super simple beginner project to demo at Lakewood, so I went searching for a free bib pattern. I found a great one with a down loadable PDF at Chickpea Studio. I made my bib reversible with 2 pieces of Amy Schimler fabric. It might be more absorbant with a plain flannel on the back but I love the fabric too much to use plain. The bib is a cute size for an infant up to one year, more of a drool bib.

Chickpea also has a burp cloth tutorial that I peeked at but I decided to make mine a bit easier. I just cut down the rest of my fat quarter (after making the bib) into a rectangle then cut a piece of matching towel (one is a new diaper). Sew right sides together, turn and top stitch. This makes a cute gift that I managed to eek out in less than an hour.

A Coat for Baby Kelly

My cousin's baby is just SO much fun to dress. You see I didn't have Ottobre patterns when my girls were this little so I have all these adorable girl baby patterns and nobody to make them for...well until baby Kelly came along! Someart has this fabulous poplin and for some reason my first thought was spring jacket! I found some pink twill in my stash that matched perfectly and found this adorable little pattern and knew it would be just precious.

The best part about this little coat is that it's reversible! So when baby Kelly spills her peas all down the front, my cousin can just turn it inside out and they're ready for any photo op that may present itself. My next project is a little dress in the coordinating knit!