New fabric

The UPS man should be coming any minute now! I have 3 new bolts of fabric coming from Riley Blake in the fly a kite line. I can't wait to make a few new things with it. I have an adorable kite appliqué so I know for sure I'lll be using it on a onesie dress. I think I might make a knot dress/top for my daughter with ruffle pants. She needs a few more spring/summer outfits. I made a cute pair of ruffle shorts for her with a shabby flower appliqué top. Now the weather just needs to warm up a bit. I guess April showers bring may flowers but the last few days have been cold a deary. March weather was much nicer than April this year! Actually it seemed like last year the months were backwards too. Like we had July weather in June and August weather in September.

The hungry caterpillar dress has been a great seller since I posted it! I think with pottery barn kids and the hungry caterpillar stuff it has been really trendy. I probably should make something in a little larger size with the caterpillar. Maybe a shirt with a ruffle skirt. Or just even a tee and they can pair it with whatever they prefer. I should order a few more 2T thru 4T tees. I think it would look really cute on a red tee.

I know for sure I will be playing with my new fabrics tonight and hope to have something to post for you guys tomorrow

puppy pincushion

I placed an order with threadart.com and will be getting a bunch of new goodies today and in the order are some new pins so I needed a new pincushion to put them all on! So funny how some new colorful pins can get me so excited;) I had some of this puppy material leftover from a skirt I just made my daughter so I wanted to use that. I also had a perfect amount of green pompoms in my stash so I used that up as well. Topped it with a turquoise button and now it is all ready to go! One can never have too many pincushions. I keep one by my cutting mat, my sewing machine, my serger, and my iron.....and it seems like I'm still always looking for one when I have a mouth full of pins. I haven't been able to make anything for myself for a long time, been so busy sewing for others so it made me smile when I finished it and knowing it is all mine! I want to make one more and fill it with walnut shells, this one just has fiberfill cuz that's all I had on hand so I'll have to get some walnut shells for another one.

very hungry caterpillar

The hungry caterpillar is everywhere;) I love this little onesie dress the skirt is done in a tiny red polka dot fabric and I'm a sucker for polka dots! The caterpillar is huge so I had to embroider it on felt and cut it out and sew it onto the onesie. There was no way I could fit this little onesie in a big hoop! I really liked how it turned out. It just takes an extra step but doing it this way I am able to get really big designs on little onesies and shirts. Embroidering it onto the felt gives it a little more 3D look and felt doesn't fray so it will hold up after many washings.

I also did the same thing with the rainbow applique. I love the bright colors and this riley blake fabric is too cute! These are both listed in my shesewsassy shop on etsy!

elephant onesie dress

I wish my daughter was still young enough to wear this! I guess I could just do the pink elephant on a shirt and use this material in a skirt or ruffle capris! Or even ruffle shorts. This design is for my Etsy shop and the boutique I am working with. I have been staying very busy with orders from the boutique. I have been working on custom orders and also coming up with new designs. It has been so much fun trying new things. I am working on felt hair clippies now having fun with that. I'll post a few pics in the next few days of some of the ones I have been working on.

Easter bunny

I just love Bunnies! This ragged bunny applique is just way too cute for words. I am for sure making my daughter one in a shirt and either matching ruffle pants or a skirt for Easter. Heck I'll even sport a bunny on my shirt! The edges are clipped like a rag quilt so they will fray after washing and will add to an even cuter look. I used flannel so it will be super soft and I like the way flannel frays. I love the boy one too...I just love pastel colors. Well really I haven't met a color I didn't like, some I don't love but I like them all. I am getting so excited for spring now;)

love appliques

I love this shirt! I think I want to do one in my size;) I just love having my new machine! I didn't realize how much I missed my embroidery unit. My daughter broke my other machine a few years back so I haven't been able to do any embroidering. There are so many adorable applique designs out there and just using different material it changes the look so much. One of my favorite places to buy appliques is planet applique. They have such adorable designs and priced so well. They have specials all the time too. I also love the fonts at embroitique. I used their sugar and spice font on my christmas stockings. My head cold is getting better and I think I'll be able to focus and sew this weekend, I have to because I have a few orders to fill! This head cold has made it so hard to focus and think straight I swear I feel like I lost a million brain cells due to it!....not sure how many that leaves me with anymore;)

bunny toilet paper roll

How cute are these toilet paper rolls! The face and ears are embroidered and then you can just add a bow. It is perfect for Easter decorations but since I LOVE bunnies this stays up all year around on my toilet. I was joking with my bunny friend and said I should make a few of these and sell them at the next rabbit show. Us bunny freaks love anything with rabbits! I will for sure make one for the raffle table. I have had quite the cold for the last few days so I have not been in the mood to create much. I've been planning some easter designs in my head so I need to get busy on that. Easter is still 2 months away but we all know how time creeps up on us! Easter is my Favorite holiday! I love spring, I love the pastel colors, I love the warmer weather, and most of all it reminds me of how much Jesus loves us!! It just brings me to tears every time I think of the crucifixion. I'm just in awe of how much He loves me and that knowledge helps me to face anything this world wants to throw at me;)

Christmas Stockings

One more post of Christmas projects that I did. For years I have been wanting to do custom stocking for us. Every Christmas I have plans to do them and every year gets so busy and I run out of time. Then after the season is gone I am not in the mood to do them anymore;) So this year I was able to get the time to make some. I just loved how they turned out. I used the super soft minky material for them in fun red, green, and blue. The material is a little more tricky to work with only because it has a lot more stretch both ways than woven cotton does. Some of the material also was raised so when ironing on the fusible fleece I had to be careful not to iron out the bumps in the material. Also when embroidering the names I had to use water soluble stabilizer because the minky was so dense and plush the names would not have looked as nice if I hadn't. I did make a set for a customer but next year I think I'll stick with woven cotton or flannel if I plan on selling more. Looking at the pic I got a little sad, my dog Tori died last month so next Year when I pull out the stockings I won't be hanging hers up:(

Christmas gifts

Now that Christmas is long gone I can post a couple quilts I did for gifts. I didn't want to post them early incase the recipient saw;) The baby quilt was for my friends little 2yo girl. I had made her brother one for christmas a couple years ago when he was little so I wanted to make her one too. The mom is preggo now so looks like I get to make another one this coming christmas!

The red and turquoise Christmas quilt I did for my mom. She had been wanting a christmas one for herself for awhile and has been dropping hints.

I embroidered the names and dates on the quilts to add a special touch. Also you can see what year you got the quilt and who gave it to you. Memories fade so it is helpful to have those reminders!

The pink/red Christmas quilt is for me! I made a flannel christmas quilt a few years back and that poor thing has seen better days. I last brought it to a rabbit show and snuggled under it to stay warm. I wanted to make a new one this year so I found this adorable riley blake material and knew that was it.

Riley blake is coming out with a new halloween fabric real soon so I think a halloween quilt is in order! I know it is 8 months away but better early than late I say. Plus when fabric comes out you need to get it before it is gone. It is like lipsticks and nail polish they are always coming out with new colors and retiring the old.

baby boutique sets

I have exciting news! My clothing designs are now in a boutique. Posh Baby boutique in Lakeville, MN is now carrying my outfits. You are still able to purchase designs in my Etsy shop and now at a store front. I am just so excited to be creating and designing and I just love to be behind my machine working with my hands. It has all been happening so fast. I just opened my little shop on Etsy and trying to figure out my niche because I love to do it ALL and now working with a boutique and coming up with baby designs. My daughter is now 5 so it feels like a lifetime ago that I was out buying baby stuff. It actually makes me want to have another one but that is just not in the cards for us unless God wants to preform another miracle for us, I know he is more than capable just not sure it is what He wants for us.....this is a WHOLE 'nother post that I won't bore you guys with;)

So back to sewing...... I have been making a few baby sets. Here is one of my faves. I am a total sucker for pink and black;)

I'm almost tempted to make my 5 year old the top, I think it would be adorable on an older girl as much as it would on a baby. The only problem is my daughter has more clothes than she can wear! I guess summer is coming up and she doesn't have much for short sleeve stuff......How cute would this top with some white shorts with the roses be? She has these new pair of baby pink tennis shoes that she could rock with this! Oh yeah guess what I'll be making this weekend;)

only 3 years later!

So I finally finished this quilt. I think I started it 3 years ago;) I bought a jelly roll of this material not knowing what I was going to do with it I just loved the colors. Then I decided I was going to make a quilt for my bed then I ran out of material and had to find more then it sat in my closet for a year or so. I pulled it out and decided my daughter needed a quilt for her bed first so I finally finished it this weekend! It is going to be a long time before I do another queen or king size quilt! Pushing all that material thru the machine to hand stipple is quite the workout. My shoulders get so tight and sore I can only work on it in small sections so it felt like it took for ever to get done. I love piecing and I love hand binding I find that so relaxing it is the stipple part that I could live without. If I had a longarm machine that would be so much easier but I don't see myself getting one of those in the near future. I will just stick with lap size or smaller quilts and my shoulders will thanks me.

Now I need to make some pillows and curtains to go with the quilt. I'm not sure what color....I painted her walls this weekend and boy did they turn out PINK!!!! It is kind of a pink purple and I'm not loving it but I think once I get art on the walls and curtains and accessories up the pink will not be the main focus. The shades she has have to go and maybe I might have to paint the woodwork white......uggg always lots of work! First thing first I finding a material for the curtains.

Brother & Sister sets

I have been working on designing brother and sister shirt sets and onesies. I have never embroidered or hooped something so tiny like a onesie before so it was a challenge but I figured out an easier way to do it so that was a relief. I was using the 3 month size, there is the newborn size that is smaller so I'll have to try hooping those. I have a few more designs and also ones that work for brother and sister that are more color neutral. I am trying to come up with color combos that aren't the typical baby colors. I remember when my daughter was small EVERYTHING was baby pink in the stores for size 0-24 months. I wanted bright bold funky colors and it was hard to find. That might not be the case as much I'm not too sure, I haven't strolled around in the baby section for awhile now. I just remember when you opened her closet door it was a sea of PINK. Pink is my favorite color but I have to have more than just that in a wardrobe.

playing with jersey knits

Yesterday I pulled out some knit material and decided to make a few tops for my daughter. I have been more of a woven cotton girl over the stretch material but it is fun to mix it up. I like to try pushing myself to think out of the box. I love how both turned out. It has also been awhile since I put a zipper in an outfit but it was like riding a bike. I do have a confession, the zipper was easy to put on but I made a huge mistake! I was just about done and I was hemming the bottom and cut the bottom of the zipper off to line it up! What did I do??? I had spent the whole day embroidering designs and embellishing it, and the zipper had no stopper so when you went to unzip the hoodie the little handle flew right off! I was mortified and couldn't believe what I had just done. So long story short I had to zigzag the bottom close, super glue the end of the zipper so it wouldn't separate up from the bottom. After that mess I had to make it look visually appealing so I cut some felt to make a flower and sewed it over my BIG whoops! So it is now a pullover hoodie with a zipper;) It is still cute but not what it was suppose to be. Oh well, I love how there really is no right or wrong way, it is like art anything goes. After these 2 tops I think I might make my way over to the stretch knits area at the store a little more often to see what else I can make.

What was the first thing you ever sewed?

I was trying to think back to see if I could remember mine and I think it was a pair of shorts in home ec. I just loved going to sewing class in high school! That was the one class I never skipped....lucky for me it was an afternoon class! Oh me and mornings have NEVER been friends. With the help of my home ec teacher we sewed a formal dress for a dance for me. That is me in the little "green" number! I wish I still had that dress. I lent it out and never got it back. Wow that is 22 years ago now! 1990

So what was your very first thing you sewed and do you still have it?

tooth fairy pillows

For the last week or so I've been working on different tooth fairy pillows. I have perfected the look I was going for. They are all just so cute! I think this is my new favorite thing to make right now! I love quilting so I get a little "patchwork" fix....check.... and I love to embroider.....check, They also don't take too long to make so instant gratification....check! It is a win win for me! They are all posted in my Etsy shop.

I also reorganized my sewing room. It had slowly started seeping into the dining room little by little. My hubby took back the dining room so I was forced to organize and clean out some things to make room for everything comfortably. I think he was more concerned about the noise when I embroidered, it would drown out the TV in the evenings....one does NOT mess with a man and his TV;). I actually love being back in here, my little pink happy place!

SheSewSassy

My etsy shop is up and running! I have been busy sewing and coming up with new designs. I will be posting new things often, my head has been spinning with ideas so keeping checking back. I just ordered some new fabrics and can't wait to make a few more new outfits. I have spring and summer on my mind even though it is january and cold! Since I'm new to Etsy any tips or tricks or just advice post your tidbits!

SheSewSassy