WHERE HAVE I BEEN AND WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO YOU ASK?

Well, those that know me well know that my husband was laid off so I began working extra nights to bring additional funds into the household. This presents a whole slew of infringement issues with my crafting & computer time for more reasons than I'll get into right now. I'm pleased to report that my husband found a fantastic job and he's now working several overnight shifts a week so it leaves me some alone time after the kids are in bed! Well, I've got a lot of catching up to do! I thought maybe I'd post tonight with some projects I've been able to do recently, including my last post which was a new Jalie pattern that I tried and I wrote my first pattern review. Yeah me! Brief notes on projects . . . flip flop bag was a gift for one of my nieces, the small purse was just a first effort at a new pattern, the hats I started after a friends recent diagnosis with breast cancer and thought I might try to sell them but maybe not?? (her blog totally rocks so check it out http://happyhousequilts.blogspot.com/), the swimsuit was for the queen and believe it or not I got another two-piece completed out the same 1/2 yard of remnant fabric (now that's some creative cutting!), and the pink diaper bag was put up at Etsy. I think I even came across an incomplete knit dress on my sewing table last week and finished that w/out directions and I think I'm going to just use it as a beach cover-up, but don't have a pic of that. Oh yes, then there's Kristen's blue butterfly outfit where I made my own cording. That was fun (ha, ha)! And Matty's 8th birthday where he HAD to have a turtwig cake. Last year it was a pokemon cake - turtwig is just another character. I was so worried he wouldn't even know what it was but he was thrilled with it. Sorry that my blog has been so uneventful! I'll try to do better but I make no promises!

PATTERN REVIEW JALIE 2682

These are pictures to accompany my review. http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=30855

We can dance if we want to We can leave your friends behind' Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance Well they're no friends of mineI say, we can go where we want to A place where they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world Leave the real one far behind And we can dance

This is Kristen's 2nd year of dance with Ms. Diane. She seems to really enjoy it and we look forward to the Fall when it begins again! Kristen is also pictured here with her friend Carissa. It was Carissa's first year of dance!

LARGE PJ ORDER PICS

WHEW . . . WHAT'S NEXT?!

SPRING AHEAD WITH TODDLER PAJAMAS

I realize I'm waaaaaaay overdue with my blogging but I really haven't been just dilly-dallying either. I was so excited recently to receive a pajama order from one of my previous customers. Repeat orders are the best and just soooo much fun! I just tried to load a slideshow, but can't get it to work, so i'll have to add pics of the pj's later. Here's a quick sample!

Also, just recently placed and received a spectacular order from fabric.com! I was very surprised to see the tall box, but then i realized how they had to pack the laminated fabric. Hmmm . . . checked it out and it's not quite the weight I'd anticipated so not sure how I feel about keeping that. The order includes some new knit fabrics for pj's as well as some Amy Butler and Michael Miller prints - yeah!!!

EASTER FUN!

First, there's the outfit for my little Kristen! Yes, I made it with two coordinating cotton Easter prints and a matching knit for the top. I embellished it with the help of my sizzix dies, wonder under and some fabric paint. I won't bore you with the select few things that I did wrong on the outfit but rather focus on it's cuteness factor! Kristen picked some pink glitter mary janes to match. She said she's going to wear them EVERYWHERE and somehow I think that might be true!

Next, there's dinner. Some of the kids disappeared and ate downstairs. Hmmmmm . . . maybe they just fed their food to Daisy?? Then the kids opened baskets from Grammy and Grampa while the guys hid the eggs this year!

This did seam to wear some of us out!
NOW THE REAL FUN! Let's hunt for eggs!!

Some of us had so much fun, that we never even changed into pj's for bed!

I want to thank Paul & Cindy for hosting Easter at their home. We had a great time!

OOAK ST. PATRICK'S DAY ALTERED CLOTHING

I JUST FINISHED THIS ONE OF A KIND ALTERED OUTFIT. CAN'T DECIDE IF I WANT TO LIST IT AT ETSY, E-BAY OR MAKE IT MY FIRST AUCTION AT MOMMY AUCTIONS. THE PANTS AND SHIRT ARE NEW, BUT WERE PREWASHED SO I REMOVED THE TAGS AND HAVE BEEN ALTERED/EMBELLISHED TO CREATE THIS GREAT OUTFIT. THE PANTS ARE A SIZE 4 WITH AN ADJUSTABLE WAIST AND THE SHIRT IS AN XS WHICH IS INTENDED FOR SIZE 4/5. THE BEST PART ABOUT IT IS IF IT DOESN'T SELL, KRISTEN COULD WEAR IT!