alittlesweetness

Been awhile....

It's been a very long while since I last posted here, but my little summer break kinda extended over just a tad.  During the summer the opportunity came up for us to move to Arizona and so we went for it.  Our life became much different and focused in a new direction.  A wonderful little whirlind began for our family....

We arrived in Arizona at the beginning of October and so far we are loving it!  We've enjoyed the new sights and warm weather.  The kids are slowly adjusting and hopefully they've all had a little fun here and there.  We've explored new places to eat and shop, gone swimming at the neighborhood pool, played at the parks, spent lots of time with family and we're all getting to know some new friends. 

I love these pink flowers everywhere in our neighborhood!

You can tell by the color of our skin we haven't had much sunshine in the last....oh 18 years.  It'll take us some time to catch up.  ;)  Or maybe not.  We're a fair skinned bunch. 

I confess, when my family is swimming, mostly I stitch...

I've been happy to see that there are trees here that get some fall colors.  This is at a park in our neighborhood. 

I'm slowly getting the house situated, but we still have some boxes hanging around, pictures to hang and closets to organize. Ug.  But we're enjoying it.

 These went up as quickly as possible!

It's still took me some time to get around to sewing and I was so eager to get back to it when Camille started her Round and Round Along on Instagram....

I love how my top turned out and it was just what I needed to get back in the groove.  I'm waiting on backing fabric so it'll be a bit before I'll get to finish it. 

Meanwhile, I decided to sell some fabric on Instagram and I had fun creating little bundles....

I'm working on packaging them up right now and they'll all be sent off to their new homes tomorrow!  Thank you everyone who bought bundles from me!  It was really fun and I appreciate it.  :)

I'm looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving this week and then I'll be back next week to show you what came in the mail for me a few days ago.  I can't wait!!  ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tasha

P.S.  If you want to follow me on Instagram where I post almost daily, I'm tashanoel1.  :)

simple twin bunting blankets

A few months ago we had the cutest little baby twins join our extended family!  Even better, it's a boy and a girl and they are simply adorable and sweet. 

These fabrics are from my line The Simple Life, with a few others from my stash mixed in. 

Girl bunting baby blanket....

I decided on a simple design, but with just the right amount of extra cuteness added with the patchwork strips between the sections of bunting fabric. 

My extra fabrics included some Pam Kitty Love, Doohikey Designs, Annies Farmstand and Lecien.  ( I think I'm right on those...) ;)

Inside these soft little blankets, I added a piece of white flannel for a bit of added weight and to help stabilize the minky backing.  I love adding binding to blankets and I wanted to quilt it, I just didn't want the stiffness of batting.  Especially with these being small blankets, I wanted them to be cuddly and wrappable.  I did a very large stipple on these as well.  Which was also very quick...each blanket only took about 15 minutes to quilt.   

My daughter really loves helping in any way she can when I sew.  Taking the pins out after I quilted was the perfect little job for her.  She's 4 now and we've talked alot about how to handle the pins. 

If you look closely, she was sorting them into color groups as she went.  Her own idea!  :)

She also likes to be up close and personal.....oh, and silly too. 

She was very excited to get these blankets done with me before the twins got too big!

Me and baby girl...(these were a couple months ago)

Me and baby boy...

They are growing so fast, but they are still tiny since they were preemies.  Doing great though!

Here are some cute pictures Kerri took when they were newborns....

How cute are they?!?!

Cuter than my blankets for sure!!

;)

Thanks for stopping by my loyal readers and friends! Even when I disappear, you seem to re-appear and  I appreciate it very much.  ;)

I feel a giveaway coming on soon....

Tasha

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.

 

news from the shop! {cyber monday}

I hope you have all enjoyed the beginning of the holiday season so far!  We loved our Thanksgiving break so much!  We celebrated with dinner at our home with lots of family and saw Wreck It Ralph beforehand (which was great btw!).  A little shopping, a couple of activities and lots (and lots!) of relaxing made it simply fabulous!  Life is not perfect, but there are always blessings to count and for that I am so very thankful.

I've got my Christmas decorating underway.....more to get done this week.  I'm feeling simple this year, so we'll see, but this is it so far....

As for the shop news, I'm really excited to be getting my paper items back in the shop!  I was having some printer problems, but also decided for a while that I didn't mind the break, so I didn't scurry to get it back and running.  But I'm ready now and so it's back!  yay!

Here's a tiny sampling from the shop of illustrations and embroidery patterns....

For CYBER MONDAY, please enjoy 20% off your entire order by entering coupon code CYBER20 during checkout.  Yay for coupon codes!  This coupon code is only good for today, but no worries, I'm promising at least a couple more sales by Christmas.  :)

Happy Monday!

quilt market ~ fall 2012

I know, it's about time already!  I've been in some serious recovery mode since I got home and I'm not sure I'm done yet either.  With Halloween and now a few sickies in the house...me being one of them, I barely have my things out of my suitcases!  For reals.  So please forgive me....once again...for my super slow behavior.  And in advance, I apologize for some bad photos too.  Sadly, the Iphone didn't measure up quite like I had hoped.  Next market I'll have to haul the real camera!

I was soooo super glad to have my mom and sister come along with me to market!  I couldn't have done it all without them.  From setting up, to figuring out how to get to where we needed to go, to just having the moral support, friendship and someone to chat with....we had a great time!

I grew up watching my mom sew practically everything...dresses, clothing, dolls, pillows, home accessories and yes, lots of quilts and blankets!  I loved learning new little things from her along the way.  Cross-stitching, making little dolls, stuffing handmade ornaments, doing lots of crafts.  So truly I am so thankful she could be with me!  My sister, Talia, is such a talented sewist herself!  She creates and sews pretty much anything and everything as well!  She always makes her own patterns for clothing (and other things too) for her darling little girls, so I was thrilled that she was willing to create a couple of outfits for my display, which will be available in pattern form for purchase soon!

Here's me and Talia after set up: (super bad lighting!)

My mom and Talia during set up:

One side of the booth:

Kerri's quilt and a Marie Madeline dress!

Talia's dress and a quilt I made:

Amy's Patchwork basket and hexie pincushion!

Talia's overalls.  Pattern will be called 'Seraphina'. 

Talia's dress, Pattern will be called 'Amelie'.  I'll keep you posted on availability for both.

Lambie pillow and Happy Tree pillow

One highlight of my market experience was discovering that an adorable booth, Marie Madeline Studio, had used The Simple Life combined with Lecien's Flower Sugar to make their clothing!  The company, Marie Madeline, is a mother and her 4 daughters.  Just 3 of the sisters were there at market, but they are simply the sweetest and cutest girls you'll ever meet!  I was thrilled to see my fabrics used in such adorable creations.  Their booth won an award at market too!  Thanks Marie Madeline!!

Abigail, Me, Achaia, Apphia

Me and Achaia

Also, I wanted to thank Kerri (lovely little handmades), Amy (nana Company), and Heather (Vintage Grey) for making up some super cute things that helped make my display complete! I couldn't have squeezed in time for even one more teensy-tiny item, I was stitching on the plane!, so truly, I'm so grateful they were all so excited to help.  It ended up just exactly perfect!  Some of my pictures didn't turn out very well and didn't get used, so I hope to do some more photos of each of the items from my booth when I get a chance.  I'm sure they will each do some of their own too when they get their cute things back, so keep an eye on their blogs.  

(Although I'm tempted to see how I could keep all the cutie stuff for myself!) ;)

Check back later this week (hopefully, if I've fully recouperated!) and I'll post more of what I saw and who I met (and who I missed...waaaa!) at quilt market! 

Tasha 

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

WIP + a winner!

 Yep, I'm super late, but.....

THANK YOU so much for all of your wonderful comments!!!  I soooooooo needed to hear it all!!!  SO, today I'm choosing 2 winners instead of just 1.  I really want to send all of you some fabric!!  I DO, I DO!  :)  You are all so super sweet to me and I sincerely appreciate every little speck of it!!!

Okay...

First pick by the Random Generator was....#142 

Stina who said ...

Ahhh... Just coming home from pain rehab... And learnt...:0) you have to take time for just YOURSELF... Book in time for just you.. No others allowed...listen to a relaxing CD or some nice music... Make it cosy and just RELAX... Every day!!!! Remember to be NICE to yourself..you are the most important person in your life...:0) good luck and start relaxing..it's what I need to do!!! :0)) and sew in between..lol... And I have to say... You have the prettiest fabric ever!!!! :0)

The second pick by the Random Generator is #36...

c.teasley who said....

I can't wait to get my hands on your sweet little fabric. To make my life simple, which just came to me the last couple of years, I decided not to take things so seriously. My mother in law, a wonderful lady, told me over 30 years ago, "it won't matter in a year from now." How I wished I had taken that advice then.

You two, if you see this, please contact me!  :)

So, I've been a bit busy-er these last couple days than I thought I would be, especially since the kids went back to school yesterday!  A few loose ends I guess with new schools and figuring out daily schedules.  Now I've got a lot on my plate right now with work in additon to family.  It's perfect timing for me to be reading all of your wonderful thoughts, words of wisdom and ideas for simplifying life!  It sure gets crazy sometimes and it's great to be reassured to take time out to breathe and enjoy, and not feel bad when some things don't get done as quickly or at all!! 

I've been really trying lately to not compare myself to all of the amazing talent I see online.  So many darling projects, beautiful homes, amazing designers,  yummy food to make!....  which I LOVE seeing and it helps motivate and inspire me in my own life.  I think alot of it is so great, but I've had to not let it get me down if I don't accomplish the same things as quickly or at all.  I'm kinda slow sometimes.  (oh ya, you already knew that!)  With 5 kids, ages 3 - 15, it gets tricky (and sticky!) around here.  Attending to what the teens want and need and then making sure the little ones get the attention they deserve and need and want, it's a balancing act in itself.  Let alone the managing of the home and family life and everything under the sun that goes along with that.  Jeepers!  A girl can only cook, clean, play with kids, work and do errands so fast!!  I love sewing and crafting, decorating, shopping and doing absolutley nothing productive sometimes, but it's hard to get around to that!  Isn't it?  I literally loved reading every single comment about taking time out, keeping things simple.  Not just where and when we are able, but also making it a point to stop ourselves and do that thing that helps us be better!  Again, thank you so much for the great advice and wonderful ideas.  Keeps it all in perspective! :)

Okay, enough of that!

Now for my WIP!!! 

Speaking of slooow and not worrying and fretting over not getting alot done with my sewing lately....I've managed to make one lonely hexie flower and am brainstorming ideas for a project. 

(Little hands are always nearby...)

I'm hoping it'll turn into something cute!

Happy Weekend!

Tasha

road tripping hexie stitching

Our family enjoyed an end of summer road trip to Montana, where my parents were raised and I was born.  I wanted to see my Grandparents, who I haven't seen for many years and are at the end of their life here on earth.  I was so happy to visit with them and also let my kids see them too.  My grandpa (their great grandpa) told the kids stories about his cowboy days, showed them his chaps and spurs and branding tools, and they loved it.  Definitly worth the trip.

All along the way, everywhere we went (that I could) I took my little suitcase of hexies. 

It really helped with the car time and it was the perfect thing to have when we were in the outdoors and the kids were playing.

For example...While they did this....

and this....

I was able to do this!

My parents came with us everywhere we went during the week, which was so great to have the extra company.  I loved having all the attention on me and my family!  :)  Plus, my mom ooh's and aahh's at all the little sewing projects I show her.  The best confidence booster!  :) Thanks Mom!

One thing my mom gave me while in Montana, was this gorgeous vintage quilt that my other grandma had.  She passed away about a year and a half ago.  My mom almost gave it away, but couldn't ever do it.  Then, finally she knew why...that it should go to me. Thanks again Mom. ;) 

I love it so much!  Isn't is so cute!?!?!  It's in really good condition and hand stitched with pink thread!  SEW CUTE!

Our family loved being in the outdoors and doing some fun things around town as well.  Montana is so pretty...we loved every minute!

We also loved our first taste of Cafe Rio and went back a 2nd and 3rd time!  All of my family has lived around a Cafe Rio except us, so we've only heard about it and my family has made it for us before but this was our first real restaraunt experience.  YUM-O!!  I want more. :)

So...Back to hexies. 

By the end of our trip, I actually got a lot of hexie stitching done....at least for me.  Kerri had made me a cute little stack of hexies on our beach retreat so that really helped me have a good collection to work with.  Thanks Kerri! ;)

And I still adore my little needlebook from Amy.  Thanks Amy!  I always get compliments on it.  :)  Go to Amy's needlebook tutorial if you want to make one.  The hexie flower above is made with 3/4" hexies.  

These are tiny 1/2" hexies.

Lastly, I'm so proud of myself for figuring out (sort of!) instagram.  Finally!  On the way home I did my first little photos and it's so fun!

See my traveling in the car photo?

Now how cute is that?  And it was certainly entertaining enough for a road trip.

Come back next week and I'll have some fun news to share!  ;)

Tasha

the beach..

I just got back from a fabulous and relaxing beach retreat with all the adult girlies (and one sweet little baby!) on my husband's side.  And it was SOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!!!!

It was so amazing to sit and relax and stitch while enjoying the beautiful ocean right in front of me!

My spot

Cute 3/4 inch hexies.....love this size!

Kerri and I in our stitching spots as the sun was going down....

We did a little photo shoot together and decided red, aqua and white should be the colors to wear.  Shocking, I know!  ;)

Here's all of us!

Here's me.  (I know, a little cheesy, but we were having so much fun!)

Me and Kerri

We also loved being silly and dancing on the beach!

Basically, we did whatever we wanted!  We shopped at cute little antique stores, watched chick-flicks, had a campfire, watched shooting stars at 1 am!, stitched and sewed, stayed up late, slept in, painted our nails, relaxed, played, took pictures and giggled and laughed all weekend....it was wonderful!  It's amazing what a little 'girl time' can do!  Such rejuvenation and memories created.  I loved it!!  (Can you tell?!?!?)

I'm ready for next year!

*sigh...*

Tasha  ;)

p.s.  i'll be out of town again all next week, so the shop will be closed!!