2nd sneak....

of 4 that are new! Hope moms of little girls will see something they likey!! Double click on any photo and you can always enlarge it.

sneak peeks!

A new apron skirt heading to etsy soon! I have a few I've been working on, anxious to share! Tell me what you'd like to see, I love getting some input from those of you out there!

Mission Complete - Party Successful

It was a super day for Miss M's party. We had swimming along with some fun and games in the backyard celebrating her 7th birthday. Here's a few pics highlighting the games. We did the best canonball contest. This was a tight race as M has darn near perfected doing canon balls and can openers. Thank you Daddy for making it a point to turn my girlies into rough and tumble tomboys. We did some trampoline jumping, played musical chairs, played a fun game called Stack 'em up that had the girls laughing and then the highlight was the water balloon fight. I think many of the girls had never thrown water balloons before but quickly figured out how fun it can be. For some reason, it was more fun to throw them at the adults so we were quickly reigned into this game and I ended up soaked! It was worth it, a super fun day!

It's a Party Party Weekend!!!

For as long as she could form sentences, M has requested a pinata for her birthday. Well, this year we're throwing a High School Musical themed swimming pool party at the house. I'm usually the type that likes to take the party elsewhere but this year, it's here! We couldn't find a HSM pinata so I settled on one that used the colors that matched to the napkins, plates etc that we bought! The kids just couldn't wait any longer and ripped open all the bags of candy and goodies this morning and started their pinata stuffing party. It was just too cute, the small things that thrill a kid.

A few new Fall listings to check out

with holiday stuff following shortly! Click on the photo to take you directly to the auction link

Coming soon!!!

I'm in that organizing mood!! I've got more fabric than you can shake a stick at and I just need to get it all stored and sorted seasonally. bye bye to the softer Spring prints and HELLO HOLIDAY fabric! I'm positively giddy over this Christmas stuff and can't wait to start cutting, ironing (yes, unfortunately sewing involves lots of ironing) and piecing things together. My design group is launching some Fall/Pumpkin Patch appropriate stuff tonight but my brain has gone in fast forward straight to the holidays. I'm getting like the stores where I'm rolling my eyes at myself thinking, "Gawd, is it time for holiday stuff already???" In the sewing world, yes and I love that it's one of my favorite times of year to sew. I've got more holiday fabric en route to me so I can't wait to start cooking things up.

We're back home, don't it feel good!

We had such a nice getaway. A few bumps along the way like bad directions and a rental car that kept blinking change oil but other than that, picture perfect weather in the gorgeous North East along with good company. Here's the better half in this photo to the men that all work together! That's right, the better half, we like to think that right, LOL! Let's see, in this photo we have represented, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland and Georgia. Such diversity right! We love this trip as it's small, quaint and always packed with good food, chitter chatter, pampering at the spa and then shopping. I'd rank this weekend as a home run hit! I've never visited the lovely New England part of the country and it definitely wets your appetite to see more. Such old world charm and some amazing lobster, clams and fish and chips. Guess ya better like seafood visiting this part of the country as its plentiful! I even managed to go driving around as I really wanted to find this gals store. I somehow found Yummy Goods on the web a while back and when I knew I'd be a stones throw from her, went cruising in the van, yes, the van that needed oil changed that we chose to ignore :) She was just a few days away from her grand opening and I was bummed I was just those few days early and didn't get to actually go in but it looked so cool. Packed with fun knick knacks and all kinds of handmade items. I did cruise through her favorite quilt store she recommended and found some of my all time favorite fabric that has been discontinued. To anyone who shares the love, you know the thrill of finding an old print you still adore!!! Well, we're now home, back to reality now. I've plowed through a ton of laundry and can't wait to rev up the machine and start putting together some new Fall listings. We've got some new launches coming up and I'll be posting some sneak peeks as soon as I know what the heck I'm gonna do!

Adios Au Revoir Goodbye....for a short while

Getting to steal away with hubby to some great place in Cape Cod. We leave early in the AM and this is going to be great for us to have some quality time together. I hear it's Fall like weather up there, can't wait to be in the temps that dip below 90 and are perfect for jeans! Don't miss me too much, LOL! I just found this graphic and couldn't agree more and wanted to share it!

Every girl needs a custom flashlight bag right?

I have a bin full of scraps that is mounting by the days and I just can't seem to bear throwing them away. I save them for these delusions of free time to experiment with patchwork skirts or patchwork anything, and at the very least, use for test strips or practice projects with the girls. So far, those ideas sit purely in my head! M came home with a note from school recently saying that they needed to bring in a flashlight and some extra batteries. She's in First Grade now, it's the real deal school, no more days chalk full of chitter chatter, art, play, music w/ some letters and phonics thrown in there. The magical year of Kindergarten is OVER! We've jumped full force into school with language, science, Math, you name it! Reading is such a focus during this grade, they have Fun Fridays where if they earn it, they get to practice reading in the dark with their own flashlights. oh the fun right? add a flashlight and the fun factor quadruples. Well, M can't have a flashlight sitting loose in her backpack!?!?!?! .....enter Mommy and her scraps. We needed a one of a kind, la*tee*da*kids custom flashlight bag and now I have one less layer of scraps in my pile. everyone is happy and M loves her bag.

They say we are stimulated as babies by these colors!

.....but I'm stimulated still at the lofty age of 38 by my new creation I'm working on. Whoa, did I say that? I mean 30 and holding. I covered up my grey the other day after my hubby started calling me Murphy Brown and now I'm back to my more youthful blonde!
Anyways, a dear friend of mine enlisted my help to make a special outfit for someone's daughter. All I was told was she was 2 and Asian and I had full reign to surprise her. That's awfully flattering to have someone say to you, "You're so good at this, do whatever you want, I know I'll love it" and off I went. I haven't done the top but I just love the direction this is going. I know a long sleeve black tee with a the large red gerber daisy on the front is going to be such a nice balance and pack some punch. They say the colors red, black and white are stimulating to a babies brain but it's sure got my attention as well and I think it's going to look just lovely against some jet black hair. These colors are so saturated and bold, she's sure to turn a few heads :) Here's hoping she'll love her surprise.

Armchair quarterback....

Backseat Driver, wingman, copilot etc etc. That's what I've got at the house these days but here's one situation, it's sort of endearing! We're back in the routine of Fall so I've decided I'm going to get a jumpstart on those holiday pounds and say goodbye to my excuses for not exercising. You don't have a whole lot of fringe health benefits from pushing the pedal on a sewing machine. T sits closeby watching the TV while I hop on the treadmill and also cheers me on. Here's what I hear while running. Good job Mommy! Mommy, you need to hustle! Mommy you need to go fast like Daddy. On most counts, these armchair quarterback comments would annoy me but when they come from a 3 yr old with no agenda and who is one of my biggest fans, it makes me smile and powers me on! Thanks T, everyone loves a cheerleader!

FREE online tutorial

I have had many a friend say to me over a period of time, "I'd love for you to teach me to sew" We seem to face the age old battle of time and coordinating it against the kids' schedules. That's the life of a SAHM right but I'm first in line to say, it's a wonderful life! There are so many great resources on the web that if you just start small and figure out how to thread your machine and load that bobbin, you're off! I've been a long time fan of Heather Bailey and she's got some great downloadable patterns if you care to take a peek and give it a whirl! You'll be surprised how just a small project can spark the inner crafter in you! This is just a simple headband pattern and as well know, sometimes its' the accessories that make the outfit! Click HERE to go straight to the pattern and have fun.

Some new things sent to EBAY!

Well, I've been busy making stuff and off to ebay it goes. I have a mish mash of custom sized offerings and then some ready to ship items as well. You can check my EBAY listings and see them as well as all kinds of Halloween goodies as we continue to purge the pile of bins! Here's my contribution for The Girlfriends Manor Halloween Launch. If you want to check out all of our listings, simply search on ebay under the initials TGFM or you can click HERE! enjoy and hope you see something you love! Have a great day!

need a M2MG fix anyone???

I'm not a texter but I have decoded many of the shortcut acronyms out there! I don't have an iphone or any of the fancy gadgets for me to stay 100% in touch. What I have seems to be working for me but I have learned a little of the shorthand! Do you ever see these acronyms folks use and have not a clue what they mean? We have a few in the sewing world we use when listing our goodies. OOAK......any guesses? One of a Kind and then there is the popular M2M. Because of the laws protecting the rights of the companies, you can't actually use their name in your listing so creating an item that's intended to match something from Gymboree doesn't give you the right to use their name. In fact, it gives ebay the right to shut your auction down. The workaround? well, most designers will use the acronym in this case to be M2MG which stands for made to match Gymboree and then include the line name you are matching. My girls are leaving the Gymboree world for the most part but every now and then I find myself wandering through, especially since they caught my eye with a new coupon! I've decided I'm working on a few M2M tiered twirl skirts that will be heading to ebay soon and here's a sneak peek at my first idea. Here it is in it's raw form, my highly technical way of piecing together fabrics to work with a tee that's not in my hands just yet. Gotta love the computer! tell me whatcha think! I'm a blog ho, I admit it, I wanna hear whatcha think so wander down to the comment section and tell me which one you like best!

In our house, we also love, love, love the Gap. They've stepped it up this year and I can't seem to get enough of this new BOHO line. I love the denim skirts they made but I decided I needed to play with a M2M twirl skirt to match the Boho owl. Again, here I am at the beginning stages with the colors I'm thinking for this cute owl.