Thanksgiving Recap

Just sitting and chilling with the in-laws, working off the food coma from a wonderful weekend of gorging.  We had Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixin's and then some followed by a dessert spread of all sorts of pies and cakes.  Played some espn worthy rounds of six cubes...relaxed in the mornings on the porch....and spent the weekend listening to the constant snore of Beau the bulldog (regardless of whether he was awake or not).   But, after all that eating....this was how we all felt:

I actually ventured out on Black Friday....to the fabric shop.  Yes, I know, I'm turning into a real fabric nerd.   But Joann's had all their flannel on sale for 1.49 a yard.  In the end, I only did a little bit of damage....spent 26.94....saved 83.80!  Awesome.  I don't usually use fabric from Joann's for my products, but I'll be using this flannel to make som pj bottoms as Christmas gifts.  I just couldn't resist the sales....apparently, neither could hundreds of other women.  Joann's was a madhouse! But, I got out without a scratch and with this fat bundle of fabrics:

On the jslik designs front, finished a set of blankets this week!  They're for a set of twins.  I used the "Oh Boy" collection from Lakehouse Dry Goods again - I love this line!

Well that's it for now!  Going out to dinner with the family....trying the new Grimaldi's in The Woodlands.  I'm hoping that it's as good as the NYC pizza that I long for back home....we'll see :-)

Thankful

Today I'll start my Thanksgiving preparations....this is the first year we're hosting at our house, so the whole family is coming tonight.  I'm very excited.  My mother-in-law and I are doing a tag team effort so that both of us can enjoy a manageable amount of cooking.  Looks like the weather will be nice and cool (maybe I can even bust out a sweater!).

This year, I'm thankful for alot of things. My family, my friends, and my husband especially.  I'm thankful that I am able to stay home and start up my own business.  Despite it's small size and income potential, it really gives me a sense of accomplishment.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of enjoying something you've created.  So thanks everyone for helping me grow this business!

Speaking of growing, a friend of mine asked me to do a pillowcase dress and matching booties for her niece. After some research online and alot of measuring, this is what I came up with:

I might just have to start designing some baby apparel now!

Well, that's all for now, time to get started on my  Thanksgiving preparations.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Quilt Challenge Part II

It's a cold (when I say cold, I'm thinking 60 degrees....) evening in Houston and I've got a steaming crock of jambalaya in the slow cooker.  Mmmmm.......  Since I am no longer dog-sitting, I've been able to sew more and knock a few more items off my list.  And now, I'm unveiling the results of the Quilt Challenge!  To jog your memory, I started with this: 

 

The first blanket was for this special boy:

The second blanket is for his precious little sister:

 

With all traces of the scary woman removed, the fabrics actually made some nice blankets.  When I asked the little guy if he liked his blanket, he said "It's precious!"  That's pretty deep for a 3 year old!  To wrap it up, I leave you with the picture of the week:

Getting in the Spirit

I managed to finish one blanket this week so far, still working on a couple of others, but it seems that sometimes I always underestimate how long it will take to finish.  Time flies when I sew!

If you know me, you'll know that I love photography almost as much as I love sewing.  I got a chance to practice my skills at little photo shoot for some family friends for their Christmas photos.  It was a perfect day in Old Town Spring and with two cute kids, we really had a fun time.  Although, I do have to say, it can be tough getting good pictures of squirmy active kids!  Here's a peek at my favorites:

The Queue

Somehow, I've amassed a small queue of projects...I was putting off the blanket in my last post because I was dreading the applique, but now that I've gotten over that bump, I've got a few blanket orders and even an order for a dress.  I've got my work cut out for me this week!

I went shopping with my friend Eddie, who is commissioning a blanket for a friend.  I introduced Eddie to the fabulous world of fabrics at High Fashion Fabrics in downtown Houston.  It was fabric heaven!  After alot of searching and brainstorming, we came up with a fantastic design idea.  This time, I'm not leaking out any clues about the design, but I think if all goes well, it might be the coolest blanket yet!  Here's a peek at the fabrics:

Also, a friend of mine is asking me to make a pillowcase dress and matching shoes for her niece.  Here are the beautiful fabrics for that dress:

Conquering the Machine Applique Monster

::edit:: You might have noticed that I posted this post and then removed it and am now re-posting it.  Well, note to self, make sure to wait until after the blanket is given as a gift before posting it.  Don't want be the one to spoil the secrecy of a gift!

This week, it's just me and the dog again as my husband's out of town.  I've got a few orders lined up so I've been pretty busy sewing away.  I've been working hard on conquering the skill of machine applique.  This blanket sat on my sewing desk for a long time simply because I was waiting for some motivation to try and machine applique the letters on.  The thing about machine applique is that you only have one shot to get it right - you can't start and stop in the middle of a letter.  So if you get all the way to the very end and make a mistake, you have to take it out and start from scratch.  I've had some frustrating experiences with some trial appliques, and had been using hand applique for awhile.  The problem with hand applique is that it is very time intensive.  So, I was pushing it off till the last minute, but I needed to finish it today so I finally tackled the blanket.  I think it turned out pretty well and I'm very proud of it!

I had some left over fabric and decided to make a few extra gifts for my friend:

On the dog-sitting front, things have been getting better.  Last week was rough and the dog was very close to being banished from my house for "leaving her mark" several times on my brand new carpets.  In the last incident, we caught her in the act and gave her a good scolding....I think she got the point.  So, she's been on her best behavior the past few days.  Hopefully that will stay until her owners come to pick her up!  Thought you all might like to see a pic - she's really cute, but she sure has some attitude!

Getting Creative

This week I've been home dog sitting while my husband's been away on business.  So I've been able to spend some time sewing, although not as much as I'd like since I've got to spend time with the dog and keep her happy as well.  I've never been a really big dog person, but my husband is, so I'm working on warming up to the idea of having a dog.  Some days I make some progress....and some days I don't....we're watching the dog for 3 weeks so I've got plenty of time!

In the mean time, I've been working on some new items to sell and have come up with this bib and burp cloth set:

I had made a little blanket out of the doggie print for a friend and decided to go a little further and make a couple of burp cloths and a bib as a gift.  I like making smaller items because they are easier to maneuver and take less time to make.  I really like how they turned out, but it's funny to think that all these will do is catch spit up and spilled food...they're really just personalized designer rags.

I hand embroidered the baby's name on the set.  I've been reading up on hand embroidering and trying to improve my stitching and the variety of stitches I can do.  I really like the way hand embroidery looks.  Maybe one day I will invest in an embroidery machine, but for now, hand embroidery is the cheaper (although more time consuming) alternative.

And to top it all off, I just couldn't resist making these with some scraps of fabric to include in the gift.  They are just too cute!

To make these, I used a pattern from a fellow crafter's site and have made quite a few pairs since.  I can't sell them, but I sure do love making them as gifts for other people.  Perhaps one day I can spend some time developing my own pattern for little shoes and can start selling those.