Bonnie
Skirt Week is Coming to Crafterhours!
Summer means warm, breezy days and perfect skirt weather! Whether tiered, wrap-around or gored, it’s time to pull out those skirt patterns and get sewing! When you’re done, be sure to enter your finished project in the Skirt Week contest at crafterhours. Just click on the button at the top of this post to read the rules and find out how to join in the competition.
Adrianna and Susan put up the list of prizes a few days ago, and they are amazing! Trust me–you are going to want all of them! You can see for yourself right here: More Reasons to Make Skirts.
What are you waiting for? There are skirts to sew and prizes to win! Be sure to take a few minutes each day during the week of June 12th, though, to check out the tutorials, articles and ideas at crafterhours. You may even find a tutorial from me!
R’s Birthday Dress
This is the little dress that I mentioned sewing as a birthday present during KCWC. I think it’s so cute, and it was really easy. I started with my free The Tank pattern. I lengthened it and added some flare to the “skirt”. I grabbed the hood from my Charlie Tee pattern and used it in place of the neckband. Finally, I added a second layer just under the hem and used the rolled edge setting on my serger to make a lettuce edge on both hem layers.
The birthday girl wore her dress to our house last week, and I was able to snap a few modeled pictures to show you! It works well for chasing bubbles with big sister.
It’s perfect for sliding, too!
I also just have to show off the gift that Samantha made. She’s really becoming quite the accomplished knitter. Is this the sweetest little doll you’ve ever seen?
Today, I’m back to work on those summer wardrobes for the boys. Officially, June 21st is the first day of summer, and I have every intention of being done before then. It’s really been summer here in Dallas for quite some time, though, so I’d like to finish sooner rather than later!
Fun and Fellowship in St. Louis!
On our way home from Michigan last week, Samantha and I stopped in and visited with my dear friend, Julie, and her girls near St. Louis. I wish we’d been able to stay longer! We had such a nice time–we packed quite a lot of fun and a little bit of work into a day and half. Julie and her husband have a beautiful new home, and she was excited to share some of her ideas for decorating, and I was thrilled to offer my suggestions for paint colors and wall hangings. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy decorating?
Monday morning, we packed up the girls and Charlie and headed for the park. Charlie fell asleep in the car on the way there and slept in the stroller while mama got a little bit of knitting done.
The girls had a blast on the merry-go-round!
Since Charlie was sleeping soundly, I wandered over to the swings where Julie and I sat, swinging gently and visiting. That is until Samantha grabbed the camera, and Julie decided that I needed a push!
Hee-hee! I really need to laugh like that more often!
Back at the house, the big girls went to work baking cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes–chocolate cupcakes which they topped with chocolate frosting, chocolate chips and chocolate kisses. Did I mention chocolate?
So it was with complete chocolate overload and some amazing memories made that Samantha and I headed home from our girls’ road trip. We had such a lovely time enjoying each other and spending time with friends, old and new.
The 1st Annual Diva Conference
Isn’t that a beautiful group of moms and babies? I had such an amazing time in Michigan with all of them!
Early, early last Thursday morning, Samantha and I packed our bags and Charlie into a rental car and took off on a girls’ road trip. We drove up the eastern edge of Oklahoma and straight across Missouri and stopped for the night just across the Illinois state line outside of St. Louis. Friday morning, we headed even further north through Illinois, across the northern tip of Indiana and into Michigan for a weekend meet-up with a group of mamas who I’ve known online for years but never before met in person! This group of ladies all belong to the board, Diaper Sewing Divas, which is a lovely community of moms who sew diapers and lots of other things for their little ones.
I was so incredibly excited to get to meet Jamie, my close friend for years and my former business partner. Through a series of events (blessings, really!) she was able to travel down from Canada to the US to join us. We chat online everyday, but we have only talked on the phone a few times. One of the first things she said to me was, “You sound so American.” Hee-hee. I think I’m supposed to sound American! It was such a joy to get to actually hang out and talk . . . in real life! (Jamie shared the story of her adventure on her blog here: Jam Side Up: An Adventure in the US.)
AmyJ, another wonderful online friend, and her girls also shared our suite with us. (Pictured above are me, Amy and Jamie.) Amy’s girls are so sweet. Charlie just adored playing with them, especially in the cupboard under the sink!
On Friday evening, we all slowly arrived at the hotel and visited, played and swam in the hotel pool. Saturday the whole group met at a nearby park for a picnic lunch, conversation, playing, knitting and some baby-wearing lessons from Dawn who is truly the queen of babywearing! (I’m so excited that I know how to get Charlie wrapped on my back now!)
When the picnic was over, a few of us wandered over to Ivelise’s Yarn Shop in Benton Harbor. It is a such lovely shop with a great selection of yarns and a warm, welcoming feel. Samantha left with several skeins and a few patterns. (She actually knitted a whole scarf on the way home! I’ll have to show it off later, though.)
Part of the group met for dinner at Panera. The photo at the very top of this post was taken there as we were finishing up.
Back at the hotel after dinner, we gathered in the meeting room for some games, knitting and, of course, more conversation! I actually had the privilege of planning the games, and I think everyone enjoyed them. (At least they didn’t complain.) We started the evening with each mom pinning two I-Spy squares to her shirt with a safety pin. Each time you said the words “kid” or “kids”, you lost a square to the mama who caught you using the word! A few moms lost their squares right away, but we kept the back and forth exchange going until we were wrapping up our time together. The winners were the two who had the most squares at the end of the evening. (Pictured below are Gina and Amy with their squares still attached and Beth with her empty safety pin!)
For our second activity, we each brought a yard or two coordinating half yards of fabric wrapped for a fabric gift exchange. (Here’s Katie opening the fabric that I wrapped for the exchange in recycled brown paper with selvage “ribbon”.)
Our final game required a bit of preparation. I took a night or two ahead of the conference to go back through our sewing board and choose pictures of items in the show-off forums that I thought were fairly recognizable. I copied each picture, blew it up and glued them randomly on a trifold display along with a list of the names of the board members who made the items. Each conference attendee tried to match the names to the items they created. Two of the moms actually got every one correct!
The winners of our games took home one of my patterns or one of these mason jars that I packed full of sewing notions and tied with more selvage ribbon.
Sunday morning, we had breakfast together, snapped a few last pictures and said our teary good-byes. The weekend went by way too fast! I can’t wait to do it again! There are already plans being made for a second conference next summer.
Samantha and I continued our girls’ road trip with a couple of days in St. Louis before heading home, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to share about our time there.
The New Tags Are Here!
I am so excited about my new Mama-Made tags! My talented friend, Becca, of Night Owl’s Menagerie designed these tags just for Fishsticks Designs. Aren’t they amazing? (Becca has some other great tags in her Etsy shop, too. You should go check it out! In fact, I just got a package of some of her other tag designs for my own sewing.) You can find the new Fishsticks Designs tags here: Mama Made Tags.
I also received a package of the original Fishsticks Designs tags, so they are restocked and ready to ship, too: FD Tags.
Home, Again! Tomorrow is Catch-up Day!
Samantha, Charlie and I had such a lovely time on our road trip to Michigan and back. We made some wonderful memories with some amazing women, and I’m excited to share some of them with you! Tonight, though, I’m exhausted, so sharing will have to wait a bit.
I’m a day later arriving home than I originally planned because I had to detour around Sunday night’s tornado damage in Joplin, Missouri. My heart and prayers go out to everyone there. I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through.
I apologize that orders received during my trip will also be going out a day late. I’ll get those shipped out before the post office closes here tomorrow. I will do my best to handle pdf requests tonight and get emails answered tomorrow morning. (Trust me, you don’t want to hear from me tonight–I’m so tired, I can barely think straight!)
I’ll leave the 20% discount code, “Michigan”, up until I get up and around tomorrow morning. Use it while you can! If you’ve been waiting for them, the Undercover Bottoms Boxers are restocked and ready for you.
A KCWC Fishsticks Roundup & A Discount Code
In addition to doing the Kids Clothing Week Challenge myself, I challenged the mommas on my favorite sewing board to join in, too. I may have even bribed them a bit with a prize offering. It was really fun to chat about what we were working on and share our creations as the week went by. I didn’t require it, of course, but there were quite a few Fishsticks Designs patterns sewn up. Here are just a few that I wanted to share:
Jamie sewed up Charlie Tees for her oldest two. I love how she narrowed the neck and armbands on her daughter’s top to give it a more feminine look.
Christine sewed a pile of Austin Lee Rompers, all recycled from adult tees. This one is my favorite.
Christine sewed Fishsticks patterns for her other little ones, too! Her son’s pjs are made from my free The Tank pattern and the bottoms from the Lazy Days Lounge Set, and her daughters got new Emmy tops.
Jill made this lap-tee from my Little One Layette pattern and embellished it with a dinosaur applique.
Mechela is finishing up a wardrobe for the new little boy that she’s expecting in a few days, and she added a stack of Comfy Sleep Sets and Little One Layette gowns.
Amanda has been working on summer wardrobes for her two boys, and I’m loving all of her Charlie Tee and Inside or Out Pocket Shorts sets. Here are two of my favorites.
Finally, I love this picture of Bekah’s four children. She sewed them all matching pajamas using The Tank pattern and the Lazy Days Lounge set bottoms, and she used a thrifted cotton jersey sheet set for the fabric!
I love seeing all of your creations from my patterns! Aren’t these all great?
I mentioned yesterday that I am heading to Michigan late this week to meet up with some friends. Actually, they’re sewing friends from the online sewing board that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. One of the mommas who coming is my dear friend, Jamie. If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll remember that the two of us once had an online sewing business together called Fishsticks & Jam. In the several years that we’ve know each other Jamie has become one of my very closest friends, yet we’ve never met in person. She lives in Canada which is a long, long way away from here. Things worked out at the last minute for her to be able to join us, and I am beyond excited! I can’t wait!
Would you like to celebrate with me? How about a 20% discount code that you can use on my patterns from now through next Tuesday? All orders placed between Wednesday at noon central and next Tuesday will ship on Wednesday, May 25. The discount code is “Michigan”.
Kids Clothes Week Challenge Day 7
I know I’m supposed to be working on summer wardrobes for the boys, but Samantha, Charlie and I are heading off to Michigan next weekend to visit with some friends, and, well, highs are only supposed to be in the 60s. Here in Dallas, it’s been summer-like for months! Most of Charlie’s cool weather things are outgrown, so I set aside the romper that I had cut out and spent my sewing time today sewing up a quick Charlie Hoodie for him.
I did modify it slightly by adding a fold-up cuff. I’m hoping that he might be able to wear it again in the fall.
That wraps up Kids Clothes Week, but I still have work to do on the boys’ summer wardrobes. I’ll be taking the next week off to get ready for and take our trip, but I’ll be back to work on finishing those wardrobes as soon as we’re home! I will have some sewing to show you early this week, and I’m sure I’ll have lots of pictures to share from our trip while we’re traveling. I may even have a discount code starting tomorrow morning!
Kids Clothes Week Challenge Day 6
After a crazy day filled with birthday parties, football games and fabric shopping, I settled the kids in after dinner to watch a movie while I pulled out these couple of UFOs (that’s unfinished objects, not transportation for aliens) and set out to finish up the last two pairs of PJs that are on Charlie’s Summer Wardrobe List. (I hadn’t sewn anything at all for Charlie yet this week!) It was a great plan until Jamie wandered over to my work table, saw what I was working on and gently reminded me (okay so maybe it was more of a whine than a gentle reminder) that I’d told him I would make him some pajamas from that tool fabric. A momentary panic set in because I did remember telling him that, but I realized that there was not enough left of the tool fabric to do a size 5T pajama set!
What’s a mama to do, but start cutting and piecing and call it colorblocking? A few hours later, two tired but happy little boys wore new pajamas to bed, but not until after one amazing husband helped one crazy sewing mama wrangle them long enough for some way past bedtime pictures.
Charlie’s Jamie Jumper is from my Wee Tot Collection pattern. I used the short-sleeve option and shortened the inseam on the legs to shorts length.
Jamie’s top is from my free The Tank pattern (you can find it in the sidebar on the right), and the pants are AJ Bottoms.
One more before we all collapsed into bed.
I have an Austin Lee Romper cut out to sew up for Charlie today. Maybe I’ll get that other PJ set finished up, too.
Quilts & More Ad!
It’s Spring Quilt Market Weekend, and I’m a little sad that I’m missing out on all the excitement. I am thrilled, though, that I’ll be taking my patterns to Fall Quilt Market in Houston in October! I can’t wait! In the meantime, Michael Miller has a few of my patterns with them at this weekend’s Market, and while I was out at my local quilt shop this morning, I found a copy of the summer issue of Quilts and More with this in it:
Woo-hoo! It makes up a little bit for being here at home instead of checking out the latest fabrics and patterns in Salt Lake City. I’ll be stalking my favorite blogs to find out the inside scoop over the next few days!
I’ll be back this evening with my KCWC work for today! (If I can set this magazine aside for long enough–there are some great projects in here!)
