wip & etsy shop opening

I purchased these fabrics years ago in hopes that I would one day have a little girl.



I'm whipping something up, but it won't be for my wee girlies, rather I am planning on putting them in my etsy shop. Unless of course they get sold before I can do that ;) This is what I've put together so far.



It has a very "American" feel to me and is just in time for the big 4th of July celebration around the corner for my neighbors to the South. I'd better hurry, I want to have this and maybe others in the shop for Monday June 4th. Now that I've finally committed my shop opening to print I had better get working! 

japanese patterns

I finally dug into this lovely book (pictured on the right hand side), the mum & daughter tops & skirts just keep pulling at me. Understanding the pattern and how the book is set up took a bit of getting used to. I was very surprised by how the patterns are all laid on top of each other, it was very confusing. I was almost tempted to get my dh to take the book to his work place so he could have one his Japanese Students figure it out for me.  But I didn't and forged ahead. It wasn't so bad after all.  I started with making the pink top on the cover for my girls. It was just too pretty to pass up.
 


Since this was my first Japanese pattern and not being too sure (or confident) as to how things would turn out, I pulled out my vintage sheets to "practice" on. I am so glad that I did because the blouses are so pretty and gave new life to the delicate, yellow-flowered sheets of old.
   


It went rather well and I was happily surprised at how simplistic the pattern pieces themselves were, once traced. Basically once you get past the road map, things were fairly straight forward.



   

Nothing tops off this blouse like a nice set of braids. My wee girls ask me every morning to "have hair like Laura" (Ingalls) from Little House on the Prairie and I, their "ma" happily oblige. Oh and the other thing they love, love, love is their butterfly barrettes, can't forget about those.



Well I'm hoping to get a few outdoor things done this weekend as it has rained all week long. I'll also be trying to sneak some more Japanese sewing goodness in as well. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

wip update

This post is a long overdue. I posted quite a while back about something I had in the works with these blue & yellow florals.  I even provided little snippets of my progress, but then I neglected to show you the final product.
 


   

I finished their dresses a couple of weeks before Mother's Day which gave me enough time to whip up a skirt for myself in a coordinating blue fabric. My skirt, a basic A-line, was easy peasy and took no time at all.

 

The girls' dresses were a bit more work as I was using a combination of a couple of patterns plus making adjustments along the way.  In hindsight, I would have actually made the dresses a bit longer, my girls are amazons in training I think.  I am happy with how everything turned out and the girls' love wearing their dresses.  I also found this adorable crocheted trim for the girls' to wear as headbands, but they are resistant to that idea thus no photo.  Oh well.



   

long weekend

yes, that's what it was.  In fact I can hardly believe it is Wednesday already.  My dh was in MN this past weekend for work and I really am starting to dislike his travelling.  There was a time when I used to love it, but I think the 4 to 1 outnumbering on a 24 hour basis is making it all wear a bit thin.  He has compromised greatly and where possible keeps his trips to 2 days max.  I love him for that. Still his travelling takes it's toll.  The first day of his absence is always the same, you'd think I would catch on and do something about it, but no.  I feel grouchy, I act grouchy and then somehow miraculously I clue in around supper time to what is going on.  I then proceed to have a marvelous evening with the kids and the next day I am back to being "myself".   Poor kids, they even know the routine.  My eldest ds says he knows that "mummy is always a bit grouchy" on the first day of daddy's trips :(  Well hopefully if recognizing you have a problem is half the battle then perhaps this enlightenment is moving me in the right direction.  Either that or we have a "normal" mummy for at least another 30 days or so until the next trip *sigh*

On a happy note I should mention there are always some perks to his travelling.  I usually get him to pick up some items from stores that we don't have here like Ikea.

 
   

Or lightbulbs that retail in my city for $ 35.00 (plus 13 % tax) but are available in the US for $ 10.00.  I guess that's the difference between being from a country of 300 million versus 30 million.  Cheaper prices.  Anyway, he is home now, mummy is back to normal and strangely enough I did managed to get a fair bit of crafting in over the weekend even with the kidlets, strange very strange.  I be posting about it all over the next few posts. 
In the meantime I'll leave you with my Bob Villa moment.

I dragged out the tools and with drill, hammer, drywall plugs & screws I hung up a cute dragonfly hook set in my studio under the shelves.  Yeah, I know I still have to touch up the area of paint where I filled an old nail hole, but first things first. 




  That's crafting too right?