alittlesweetness

still here!

Yep, I am still here!  My life hasn't been too exciting lately, just taking care of the day-to-day things.  I've enjoyed doing things like making dinner and walking to the park with the little one's.  Sometimes I just feel like I need to be more available and a break is in order.

Like enjoying ice cream cones on a warm Spring evening....

and watching my son do his stuff and the skate park...

I also wanted to take the opportunity to make some baby blakets for babies in need, so I was able to round up a few friends from church to get that done and it was wonderful and fun!  (Thank you ladies!)

I took pictures in about 3 minutes and 27 seconds flat, so they aren't the best, but the blankets were super cute....

and super cuddly with fluffy, snuggly backings...

MMM!  They turned out adorable!

Since then, my 9 year old broke his arm while also doing his stuff at the skate park....he's also a rollerblader.  He always wears a helmet, but this time left the wrist/arm guards in the car.  (of course!)  We enjoyed getting Menchies frozen yogurt after a Dr. appointment...especially him...look at that bite!

yes, he ate it all!  (and needs a hair cut...)

I'm also thankful I was able to help my sister, who has needed round the clock help since she had back surgery a few weeks ago.  She has 4 young children, and she can't do any bending, twisting or lifting anything over 10 lbs for 4-6 weeks and she's moving slowly.  I stayed for a couple nights this week and will go another day next week.  Unfortunatly she lives a little over an hour away, and with the kids in school I can't be there everyday, but thankfully she's getting the help she needs. 

I loved holding this little fella, the one I made the quilt for.  I thought it would be a good time to get some photos.  :)  He's simply sweet and adorable!

For the most part, that's been what I've been up to!  I'll be getting back on track shortly though and hopefully have some new projects to show you.  If you're waiting for orders, I'm working on it.  ;)

Thanks for peeking in!

Tasha

*Edit* P.S.

I also went to this most adorable and amazing party with Ava!  Take a looky....it's so cute!  :)

easter dress

I know I've been a major slacker lately!  Sorry!  I have to admit, I've been enjoying the low key, taking-the-day-however-I-feel-like-it method.  Feels great sometimes, doesn't it?  Oh yaaa. 

So, back to reality, I have a few things that need to get done, and back to the computer I am!!  Not without showing you the little Easter Dress I made for Ava first though.  ;) 

My main inspiration and desire was to use some Riley Blake Chevron....aqua, of course!  I got mine from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.  Then, because I knew I wanted to be able to use several fabrics, I thought Sandi Henderson's Knot Dress would be perfect.  Especially since I already owned it.  Even perfect-er! (p.s.....I don't see that pattern for sale anywhere...???)

For the other fabrics, I used what I had on hand.  Hard to do since I don't normally buy large cuts of fabric.  So, a little give and take is necessary.  For instance, at first I wanted the top to be the pink flowers and the bottom to be the yellow flowers, but because of the amounts available in my stash, I needed to switch those two up...but I love it!  I knew if I got a pink top to go underneath it would give me that pink near her face that I wanted. 

I love the chevron straps!

I used a vintage sheet for the apron, trimmed out with Lecien Flower Sugar and Riley Blake crocheted lace (ask Kerri if she has more white). 

And, not to bombard you or anything, but here's a few pic's of Ava wearing her dress.  The sun was very bright, so sorry they aren't the best technique wise, but I'm happy to have these anyway. 

I love this one of her because she was absolutely focused for a minute on just this one dandelion that caught her attention.  So sweet!!

A good reminder to stop for a few minutes, be still and just take in the precious moments that we have with our loved ones, our life, and the world around us. 

Hugs. ;)

Tasha

spring snow

We were so surprised to see snow falling yesterday morning and it continued for about half the day.  Ava was bringing me mittens before I knew it!  Usually I like to see snow, but that's during the winter months.  When it's suppose to be Spring though, not so much.

On the positive side, I did enjoy watching Ava think it was the best thing ever! 

She thought it was pretty funny to throw snow at me!

And of course, she loved eating it.....

See ya!

 

Brrrr....that post just made me cold.  (sorry if it did you too!)

Next week I'll have some new artwork for the shop that doesn't have anything to do with winter or being cold!

Tasha

baby quilt

Last week I was able to get a baby quilt done for my new-ish nephew.  And what a cutie he is!  My sister is more on the modern style, so I geared the style of the quilt more towards that. 

I literally had 10 minutes (or less!) to hurry and take photos, so forgive the lack of creativity and the crease down the middle from being folded up before hand.  (Normally I would've tried to get that out).

My sister had mentioned to me that she liked the MM Bikes fabric and the japanese Elephants.  She said she liked the blue and gray combo with a little red, for winter since her baby is a winter baby.  She likes things more simple and not a big polka dot fan, so I resisted using noticeable polka dots.  I did use some tiny ones. (sshhhh!)

Making things for other people is great because it really does give you the go-ahead to do something you might not otherwise do as far as fabrics and the style the project is.  It's always a pleasure knowing you really tailored the project to thier liking.  Although I really fretted about the placement and different widths of the fabric for this quilt....I love how it turned out and I think it matches my sister's style.  

I think next time we go out to see them I need to get a picture of the baby and quilt together, don't you think?!  

Better than just a picture of a rolled up quilt!

Happy Weekend!

Tasha

P.S.  all of the fabrics came from Kerri's shop!!  THANK YOU Kerri!!  :)

 

snowing and sewing

Snow has finally visited us, so we've had an interesting week.  The kids have been home so there is lots of winter clothing items draped and hanging everywhere, all over the house.  Every coat, hat, sweatshirt, pair of jeans, pajama bottoms, mittens, snow boots, snow pants and sox.

And I mean Every. Where. 

Throw in a lot of sewing by me and a blueberry waffle breakfast and you've got....well...you can imagine I'm sure. (a super big mess)

One thing I've been working on is my Vintage Bow Tie quilt, inspired by this one.  I've got the top all finished now, so I'm hoping to sneak in the quilting and binding in the next couple days. 

The little bow ties are so simple to make and they are fun because you can think up a ka-trillion different fabric combinations to use. 

I've made a small size because I think I just might hang it up on a wall somewhere.  Although I keep wondering if I should have made it bigger, like a lap size.  Hmmm? 

For now, time to get this place pulled together for another round of snow clothes and sewing. 

Bring it on. 

Tasha

around here....

Goodness Me, it's been a little bit of everything around here lately!  We enjoyed Thanksgiving here with some family, then out of town for the weekend to visit more family (tons of festive crafting there!) and since being home we've been on to the Christmas decorating, hot chocolate drinking, getting orders done (me!), working on secret things (shhh...a little longer), organizing things, working little by little on the kitchen, and even though I woke up feeling yucky today, I'm finally getting to some holiday stitching...which I'm super loving!!!  It's about time, don'tcha think? 

I decided I wanted to stitch my little Christmas Angel in all red...I can't wait to see how she turns out.

I just love sitting down with my little pile of stuff and being able to stitch away.  Happiness.

If you want to give her a try too, you can find her in my shop as a pattern now, as well as the Winter Pixie.  I'm hoping I'll get a chance to stitch her too.  We'll see!

Speaking of Pixies......

Isn't he a cutie?!

I'm simply delighted to be arranging this little collection of adorable vintage pixie figurines that belonged to my Grandma, who passed away this year.  When my mom was going through her things, she knew right where they should go.  I adore them so much and they'll always remind me of my Grandma Carlsen. 

I finally figured out that this one's peculiar pose (below) is so he can hang on the side of a dish.  CUTE!

I think he's a sneaky one. 

And now for more of the 'around here' part of the post.....

I had to giggle one night when my boys lined up to dish up there Little Ceasars Pizza....there they were....in all their Red, Pink, and Aqua glory!

(Do not, i tell you, Do NOT notice the empty milk jug on the counter or other messy looking piles in the background)

You'd think I was their mother or something!  No, really, I think these colors must be programmed into their brains as well....it's genetic! 

They seriously choose their own clothes!

And this is seriously how they pose when I tell them I want a picture....

Like for reals. 

These boys, as crazy as they are and as crazy as they make me (...at times, they each have a sweet side too) they really simply melt my heart...like crazy! 

It's totally CrAzY around here....

So I better get back to that heavenly-ly, relaxing, peaceful stitching while I can....

(Here I come little Christmas Angel!)

(Cuz it's about to get crazy....okay, I'm done)

Happy December....  :)

Tasha 

a little FYI {a very boring title}

Did you all have a fun Halloween?!  I really enjoyed my day yesterday getting everything ready for the night of Trick-or-Treating.  I had the kids go super simple on costumes this year and mostly we rounded up things we already had.  They were great sports about it!

Here's Isaac and Austin....a hippie and a punk rock ninja zombie!

Ava wouldn't have anything to do with a costume, but her fluffy skirt and knitted hat worked!

Peace Princess???

We have an excrutiating amount of candy from one of my older boys....anyone have any good ideas for slimming down the piles?

With Halloween gone, (I can't believe it!!) I've been thinking about the shop for the Holiday Season.  That's where the FYI part of this post comes in! 

Firstly, I've been working on a few things that I think will be some cute and fun additions.  One new illustration that will be going to the shop shortly is....

Christmas Angel

I think I'll do some options for hair color, so keep that in mind if you like her.  :)

Also, I have added 'Window Shopping' as as a pattern now! 

I had a few requests, so went ahead and did it even though I haven't had a chance to stitch it up myself.  So, if you do end up purchasing it, let me know how it goes as a pattern....if there is anything that could be changed.  I'm going to be enlarging my pattern when I do make mine, since it has a lot of details to it.    

Here's another FYI:  Fabric!

Alot of you know I've been selling my own fabric designs, printed by Spoonflower, in my my esty shop for almost a couple years now.  I've had a wonderful response to my fabrics (at least to me!) and I'm so grateful!  It's been a lot of fun for me to see others create their own projects with my fabrics.  So thank you all!!  When I do alot of fabric though, it can make things a little crazy for me on the homefront, so at times I've taken it out of my shop or just done orders by request.

Here's the important part.....(for some of you)  ;)

For the Holiday Season I won't be keeping the fabrics in the shop.  If you are interested in fabrics for Christmas gifts or projects, I'm leaving them in for the rest of the week,  maybe some of next week....depending, (?) but then I'll be pulling them for the remainder of November and December.  That way I can focus on family needs for the Holidays.  Plus, keep in mind that the fabrics are Pre-Ordered, printed by Spoonflower, shipped to me, then I ship to the customer, so it definitly takes a few weeks (sometimes less, sometimes more).

If you don't know anything about my fabrics, my Little Red Riding Hood and Many Mushrooms fabrics have definitly been popular, as well as the Favorite Dresses.  All of which I've been selling for almost a couple years now. 

I've always loved this little dress I made for Ava....cute for gift giving!

And this sweet skirt....

The Many Mushrooms fabrics are perfect compliments to the Little Red Riding Hood fabric....

Please keep in mind that Spoonflower fabrics are digitally printed and do fade with multiple washings.  I recommend using them on lightly worn or lightly used items and decorative items.

Once again, thank you for all the fabric support, please let me know if you have any questions about it, I'm happy to help.  

Speaking of fabric.....I'm having a blast looking at all the Quilt Market photos from around blogland!  Yum-O!  Too many to name, but I'm definitly liking a bunch!

Now, what to do about all this sugar in my house!  EEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!  (I'm gonna make myself sick.)

Tasha

super heros

This past weekend we celebrated my son's 6th birthday super hero style!  We kept it simple by inviting just a few friends, but I did have a little fun with the party planning and details.

My son is all about super hero's so it was the natural choice for him.  For inspiration and ideas I went straight to Pinterest.  Just search 'super hero party' and you'll see what I mean.  Boy, do I love that place!

I also went to Etsy and found some cute printables at Cocoa Mint for making the invitations and printing papers for decorations.

Cute huh!

I also used these free printables, but now I can't find where I downloaded them.  sorry!  If you want them and can't find them either, let me know, I'm sure I could send them to you. 

Here are a couple of the free ones on the cake:

For the cake, one of my older son's and I tried using fondant for the first time, so our logo didn't turn out the best, but the birthday boy loved it! 

I also found these cute little baskets that I filled with 'Super Snacks'.  The kids loved them!

And who doesn't love some oreo truffle pops?!?!!?!

For fun, I found this great idea for an easy scavenger hunt, which the kids loved.  

My son helped out alot on this game, which I really appreciated!  Each clue had a superhero there to be collected.....

And they loved finding the rest of the frozen super hero's at the end....

Although the birthday boy got to keep all the super hero's, there was plenty for all the kids to play with and then they also got their goody bags too....no one seemed unhappy, so I guess it worked!

Silly boys!

And happy super hero's too....

The best part for me though was while I was setting up and getting the cake done, Austin kept coming over to me and hugging me, saying 'I'm happy' and 'I love you Mom!'. 

Now what's better than that?  I say, not much. 

Tasha

back to life

 

Ava and I sat and had a divine little breakfast moment together this morning.  With all the boys off to school, we had fun arranging the flowers, mixing and sipping up juice (i taught her how to do 'cheers') and gobbling up some oh so yummy eggo waffles.  With peanut butter of course.  (You really should try it!)  ;)

Ava really is all girl and loves doing this stuff.  She loves to be right in there, definitly has her way and say!

She loved using a tiny version of my mason jar!

As you can see, my counter chairs are red now! 

Over the long weekend we did quite a bit of home improvement/projects.  Sanding and painting the chairs was one of them. 

Here's my oldest having the time of his life. (Not!)

I've done alot on my bedroom finally, getting it all painted, painting my dressers and my hubby's ripped off the old mouldings so we can put up new white pretty stuff. 

I painted.....

While Ava slept on my bed.

So, all in all we stayed pretty busy.  It's definitly a work in progress though, so no great photos yet.  I've got some ideas for my bedroom that shouldn't be too far fetched, so hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures soon. 

For today, I'm opening up the the shop and here we are.....

back to life!

Enjoy!  ;)

Tasha

a break

We enjoyed a short break to Spokane where the majority of my family lives....mainly it was to pick up the boys from their visit with cousins, but it was a perfect excuse for some down time and play time for all of us. 

One of my favorite things to do there is to visit Greenbluff where the farms are plentiful.  This time we had a super yummy lunch, followed by super yummy ice cream cones, followed by super yummy cherry picking. 

It's amazing that even teen-age boys that complain about going to Greenbluff, end up having such a great time they have to be stopped from picking so many cherries.  Simply amazing.  ;)

We actually went with lots of cousins/relatives, but I got a little lazy with my photo editing. (Sorry to unpictured relatives who were picking cherries with us).

Note to self....take more group shots.

Here's some of the kids enamoured with a little preying mantis we noticed hanging out on the owner's porch.  Such a nice lady, letting it crawl all over her so the kids could get a closer look.

I'm not one for bugs or anything, but I did think this one was pretty cool. 

Another fun day was visiting Riverfront Park where there is pretty much something for everyone.  The older kids went on some rides and longboarded through the park, while us mommies and daddies took little ones on the carasoul and to play in the water fountain. 

Austin loved getting soaked!

(Again, lots of relatives with us, just lazy photo editing from me).

Of course, in between outings, the kids always love swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's too.

So, here we are...home now and about to start up the new school year in a few days.  I can't believe the summer is gone!  I have to admit, I am looking forward to a little routine though.  

Translation:  kids at school = time for some Farmer's Wifing for me. :) 

It's about time, don't ya think!?!

Have a happy last few days of summer! 

Tasha