alittlesweetness

Flora and Fawn Blog Tour

Hello!  I'm thrilled to have been asked to take part in the Flora and Fawn Blog Tour!  This fabric is gorgeous in color, detail and design and has the most beautiful deer print that I just adore! My talented friend, Amanda Herring of Amanda Herring Design, is the artist behind this pretty collection.  

I chose to make a dress for my daughter and couldn't be happier with the results.  Best part is that my daughter loves it too!  She thought I probably wished I had a dress like this when I was a little girl.  Yes, I would have!  It's so cute!  Do you feel like it's near impossible to find a cute girls dress at the store lately?  I'm so excited to add this to my daughter's very small dress wardrobe.  The pattern I used is by my talented sister, Talia Puthoff of Honeydew Kisses Boutique, and it's called the Coralie Dress.

   

It was a little cold on the evening we took pictures, so my daughter is trying really hard to look like she's warm!  Thank goodness she really does love the dress and is the best helper!  

Isn't the deer print to die for!?  

I love this darling pink print I used for the sash.

The necklace was a happy surprise.  I happened to get this at a Riley Blake designers event and it couldn't have worked more perfectly!

The gray polka dot knit fabric is a Riley Blake Designs basic that was exactly what I wanted for this dress! 

I added the ruffle onto the bodice on my own.  All I did was create a very simple ruffle, no hemming, and then sewed it directly on top of the bodice before attaching the sleeves.  Sew easy!! 

 And a cute picture of my daughter because I love her!  

Thank you Amanda for letting me do this fun project!!  It made me excited to make another dress!

~Tasha 

granny

This granny quilt was always intended to be my daughters 'baby quilt'.  I just happened to have started it when she was about 2 and I've finally finished it just after she has turned 4.  At least she has it to keep for forever now.  :)

On purpose I used lots of floral fabrics, little animals and little girls.  :) 

When Ava was a baby, her nursery was red, pink and aqua, so I kept with that same color palette, but adding gray. 

I used Annie's Farm Stand pink circle buds for backing and Lecien basics for the binding. 

I'll give you a hint what else I've almost finished too.....

I can't wait to show you more of that one too!  :)

For now though, I'm going to stay in these pj's and snuggle my daughter up in her new quilt.  We need it.

Happy Monday!

:)

a country picnic party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Ava's 4th Birthday.  As most of you know, she came after 4 boys in our family, so of course I loved the opportunity to do something girly here.  We keep a lot of birthdays simple around here, so it's been since she turned 1 that I put together a party for her.  To be quite honest, I tend to get a little overwhelmed with the party planning process, so I'm generally just fine with the simple option.

However, with Ava being 4, she's very aware and definitley wanted a party.  I totally admit, I did take advantage of the fact that she is still little, and unaware enough that I picked the theme, instead of letting her say she wanted a disney princess party.  I'm sure that will come soon enough and I'll be stuck!  ;)  (Yes, my daughter loooooves the disney princesses and I don't fight it.)

My inspiration for this party was the fact that Ava also looooooves strawberries!  Like a lot.  So that was that.  A country picnic party is was!

Plus, it took some of the overwhelming out of it for me since I already had paper items that I had previously made for customers.  This made it do-able for me... I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  My boys liked giving me a hard time and said things like...."oh you mean your party mom"....assuming I was wanting to do this for myself.  Couldn't be more inaccurate.  I truly was only doing this for Ava.  I tried to explain, they didn't listen.  

Don't get me wrong, I thouroughly enjoyed doing it for her.  What made it better is that she helped with EVERY little thing and she was so excited.  Ava takes "mommy's little helper" to a whole new level.  Not helping is not an option.  Trust me. 

But enough chatting from me....on with some pictures.  :)

The little awning was inspired by a Mandy Lynn party and was super simple to make.  Once we figured how to make it work, it really only took about an hour.

With a vintage dresser as a buffet, it really made the sweetest little set up.  Not to mention the little cutie standing next to it. ;)  

It really was quite simple as far as the food and decoration, but it worked for us. 

Ava helped me make a simple bunting out of my Farmer's Wife blocks, twine, mini clothespins and fabric strips.  Took us like 20 minutes.

I had another bunting I had made for fall market, but never used, so finally it had a purpose....

I lined the table with a vintage sheet, a long piece of gingham and a few baskets and buckets holding paper items and fruit. 

The buckets were at Michael's... I was so happy that I didn't have to order them!

For lunch we had chicken salad crossaints, fruit salad, pasta salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and of course the kids could take pears, apples and strawberries from the buckets on the table....which they did.

I made the cake and to my surprise it was really good!

I just used boxed mixes, (devils chocolate and strawberry) but the frosting recipe (down further in the cake post) was from Bakerella!  Yum!

We had a couple different lemondades...

I had little side bowls of lemons, limes and mint leaves....

I got the little signs as a free download a couple years ago, but I don't remember where. (if you know, please let me know!)

I liked this idea I saw on Pinterest for drinks....ball jars, cupcake liners for lids and paper straws...We use ball jars every day for our regular drinking glasses so this was an easy one for me to do.  I got the cupcake liners and straws at Michael's. 

For an activity, the kids painted little flower pots and planted a flower. 

I raided my husbands old t-shirt collection and put those on the kids while they painted.  Worked great.  Unfortunatly I didn't get a lot of pictures of this. oops!  They loved it though!

For treat bags, I used another idea from Pinterest with paper bags, doilies and fabric.  I love any chance to use more fabric!

And of course we had present time...

Which made for one happy birthday girl!

And one exhausted mama....

But hey...if she's happy, I'm happy.

The End. 

Now I better get myself moving today because my parents are coming into town and I just might have some party decorations to put away first.  oops! 

P.S.  I have to say Thank you to my wonderful sister-in-laws, husband and my boys who helped me so much on party day!  I couldn't have done it without each of you!  :)  For reals.

 

yes, i'm still here....

I think I win the lamest blogger award, but I assure you, I'm keeping busy. ;)

This week my fabrics are arriving at shops so this is very exciting to me!  Especially with it being my first line.  It's also very strange, but I feel very blessed to be a part of such an exciting industry.  And although it's strange, it also feels very 'normal' for me to be doing this.  I've been drawing my whole life and have always had a love of creating.  I've sewn for many years, even back into my childhood.

My fabrics are a natural reflection of who I am and what I love.  I've always enjoyed drawing 'little girls' as my mom would attest to as they were always on the walls she says.  :)  My parents both are not surprised at all that my drawings consist largely of more 'little girls'.  Me and my sisters very often drew together with my dad's special markers.  We drew houses and families and yes, lots of little girls.  In pretty dresses of course.  :)  I loved children at a young age and loved babysitting, then worked at Kinder Care after high school with the toddlers and also was a nanny before I had my own children.  I've always been young at heart, (definitly don't feel my age), played with dolls way too old I'm sure (shhhh...), and I just love all things super cute.

If you want to find out a little bit more about me, I did a little interview with the Jolly Jabber about my new line The Simple Life, that you can read here!  It was really fun, thanks Jolly Jabber!  :)

In other news, I finally got my first real quilting sewing machine!  It's a Pfaff Expression 150 and so far I'm loving it.  I'm really excited about this one since I know it will last for many many years and give me the results and ease of quilting that I've been wanting.

Here I am testing it out....

Yep, it works!    

Which is a good thing with fall market just around the corner and I've been starting on some projects.  (If you're going to fall market, let me know!) 

Here's all my trimmings... kinda pretty huh?

I rearranged my sewing area so that Ava can hang out with me more comfortably while I sew, so here's a little table with my stuff and her stuff.  :) 

And see how I'm molding and shaping her correctly?

Happy Wednesday!

Tasha

first stitches...

Ever since Ava was born, I couldn't wait until she would be old enough to learn to sew and make things with me.  She's still not quite ready for a little machine, but I did finally buy her a little pink embroidery hoop and some tapestry needles.  They are large, have a blunt tip and perfect for little ones to use safely and easily. 

This was a really fun thing to do with her.  At the age of 3 and a half, she's plenty capable and can listen to instructions like....point down, pull, be careful, go slowly.  Things like that.  With just her and I at home, there aren't any other distractions either so I can focus on her.

She needed alot of help, but at the same time was getting the hang of it.  It's more tackling the fine motor skills here, like holding the hoop with one hand and pulling the needle with the other.

The more she did it, the better she got at it.

And she really loved it!

I thought it was so cute that she was licking the floss to try to rethread at one point. 

When we were all finished, she grabbed the supplies and said she wanted to sew again.

She also decided she wanted to hang her embroidery on the wall.  :)

And of course, she needed some tape for that....

Don't know where she could have gotten that idea.....??

Happy Stitching!

Tasha

Grannies and Annie

Today I finished up my Granny squares and I'm super excited!  I'm so glad I didn't let this one go on and on and on.  Yes, it's been known to happen. 

All 20 Grannies done!

The Grannies were so fun to put together and with needing only 20 blocks, it went pretty quick.

Now, time to get cutting the sashing!

I can't believe summer is going so quickly.  I think because of our move and a couple work related things for my hubby and I, we got a late start.  One little thing that Ava and I did a couple weeks ago was going to the Children's Theatre nearby to see the musical Annie. 

Annie was (okay...and still is!) one of my all time favorite movies.  I have no problem enjoying it anytime any of the kids want to (or agree to) watch it while I sew or make cookies.  I love it.  When I was young, my siblings and I would have contests to see who could sing "Dumb Dog" the best.  My parents owned a Dairy Queen for a little while, and we would sing in the microphone after closing when it was time to help clean up.  We always did our helping.  (I think). But we sang too.  Not that ANY of had/have decent singing voices, but we managed pretty well when it came to singing Annie songs.  

We had a wonderful night.  It was the first real mommy-daughter date we've had, just her and I going to a specific event that only the two of us could truly enjoy...and she was completly captivated the whole time!....it was perfect. 

Grannies and Annie. 

The End. 

Now, time to clean up and eat real food. 

C-ya!

Tasha

16 down...

I've been making some good Granny progress and I can finally see that this could be finished this summer.  I'm hoping...I mean VOWING...to get all my blocks done so I can sew them together during an upcoming beach retreat.  (I can't waaaaiiit!!!)

I've got 16 done and I'm loving it.  At first I was a little worried about my color choices, since lately I'm really also loving the addition of greens and yellows to my favorite combo of red, pink and aqua....(like I'm doing in my Farmer's Wife blocks, and some here, which I have ever so seriously neglected!).  I'm making this quilt for Ava, since I haven't done a baby quilt specifically for her from me, like I've done for all of my boys.  Her nursery colors were red, pink and aqua and even though now we are about to start decorating a toddler room for her and I may include the extra colors, I wanted to keep with the same nursery color scheme.  It just is so reminiscent of the colors I loved when Ava was born.

I have included gray, which I didn't do in her baby nursery, so I'm breaking the rules a little here....but shhh!  Anyway, aside from all that jibber-jabber, now that I have a bunch of these grannies done and I can see how it's turning out, I really love it!

I've really preferred putting a fussy-cut square in the very middle.  To me, it makes each block seem more complete and adds that extra cute touch I want for this quilt.

Now, just 4 to go!  Yesssss.

C-ya!

Tasha

wild thing and sweet thing

Wild Thing is officially finished!! yippppppeeeeeee! 

A couple weekends ago, Kerri and I were able to have a little sewing time when our hubbies went camping with all our boys.....we have 8 of those between the two families!  We took the 3 girls with us to dinner and shopping and then watched girly movies while we sewed.  It was really nice to have the quiet time and get our quilts done!

Wild Thing is a really fun pattern by my darling friend Camille of Thimble Blossoms.  I love how my quilt turned out!

Lately, I've gotten a few cute pictures of my little sweet thing, Ava, and experimented around a little with different looks in photoshop. 

These 2 are Pioneer Woman's B&W....

This one below is Pioneer Woman's Heartland (i think??)

These 2 colorful ones I used the Pioneer Woman's Boost.

This is my favorite new little outfit I got from Target for Ava.....LOVE!!!!

Pretty sweet if you ask me!  ;)

Have a great week!!

Tasha

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