The Two Year Nursery {or 2 1/2...whatever}

When I had my twins, I had their nursery partially done before I was put on bedrest while pregnant.  Once they arrived, well, let's just say they were roughly 5 by the time I actually completed their bedroom.

So I'm feeling quite accomplished that in fact much of Sprout's room was done before she arrived.  I had a handful of things left to put up on walls and well, at age 2...2 1/2, they finally all found their way to their intended place.

Want to peek?  I'm super sentimental for sure when it comes to decorating.  I like to mix old and new together.  And I like to craft little special touches too.

Above, you can see, I made Sprouts crib sheets.  Her Great Grandma made the quilt on her rocking chair (out of whatever she had on hand which was usually old clothes).  And I made the little quilt on the floor.

When I was 16, I didn't ask for a car.  I asked for an antique dresser.  I grew up hanging with my parents every weekend in antique stores.  And I loved these dressers with the marble tops.  This, this was my 16th birthday present.  Wait a minute!  No, it's not actually.  The dresser I picked out and was "given", my Mother loves.  And I wasn't allowed to take it with me when I moved away from home.  So, she bought me this one to replace it.  I love it just as much Mom, thank you.  And now, it's serves as a beautiful dresser for Sprout.

On top of her dresser sits my little night light from when I was a child (the girl sitting atop of the mushrooms), a photo of her sisters, the Two Peas, when they were babies, a lamb pin I made for my husbands Grandmother, a tin measuring cup I keep her hair clips in, and a tea pot that my great grandmother (Sprouts great-great grandmother) loved and had in her home.

My Grandmother, Beatrice, stitched this needlepoint picture.  This was given to me long ago and I just had it stored away.  Until Sprout, and then I knew of the perfect spot for it in her room.  It reads, "To love and be loved is the greatest joy on earth". I adore this piece of work from my Grandma Bea.

The Irish Blessing, of course.  My Irish heritage is something I treasure deeply.  This blessing sat on a shelf in my sisters room for as long as can remember and long after she passed away at the age of 15.  This hangs in Sprouts room and I often read it to her.

I'm really not very good at decorating so this attempt at hanging a shelf and adding the bird decal - totally winging it!  A mix of old and new here, the letters of her name strung by a ribbon (hidden by the photo here - my hubs doesn't like me to share the kids names so I've "cleverly" hidden it, wink!).  You can see, I have a few of her baby photos in my frame and still a few more left to add...

A simple handmade valance made by me from some Waverly fabrics.  Want a tutorial?  It's seriously - a no brainer!  Really easy!

A salvaged piece of quilt my Mother framed for each of us kids.  My great grandmother made this gorgeous blue and white quilt but it has since detoriated greatly.  This was a great way to save a bit of it and preserve it.

And another spot of handmade by me.  A Pocket Full of Posies Banner - Sprout loves this!  You can find the pattern for it here.

So that's the tour.  The nursery that has been 2 1/2 years in the making.  Very simple.  Lots of sentimental items.  Old and new and handcrafted and BURSTING with love!

I'll leave ya with this bit of good cheer for a Monday - Gussy Sews has a big old fat giveaway day going on over on her blog.  Loads of fabulous things and you could win a big old fat shop credit to the Two Peas store over there.  Hop on over throughout the day as more get added all day long and have fun!

xoxo,

Trish

Junior Ranger Party

The Two Peas recently turned 9 and we had a hard time deciding what to do for a party.  We finally were able to come up with the idea to have a "Jr. Ranger Party" and invite all of their friends to come along on a winter hike, etc. You could do this theme anytime of year and gear it for boys or girls.  We were lucky in that the two peas Dad happens to be a park ranger and the boss at the park where he works so we had "built in expertise!" for our event.

Invitations

A scrapbooker I am not.  I did have some scrapbook paper on hand and a few other do-dads.  I cut the paper and added some cardboard to the inside.  We decided we would stick to a nature theme.  I sewed on scraps to make a butterfly on the front and used some tags to write the number 9 and the two peas names.  We also personalized each invitation and put an initial sticker with the name of the girl being invited on the cover.

Cakes and Cupcakes

We had two parties.  One at home with family.  One at the park with friends.  For our friends party, we had cupcakes that I decorated with owls.  Yes.  Those are owls.  Kind of goofy looking.  I used gumdrops sliced in half for the eyes.  I put a chocolate chip in the middle of each one for the eyeball.  Then I sliced a candied fruit wedge thing in half for the wings.  And used Twizzlers rope for the talons and beak.

For our family party, we had owl cakes.  I used oreo cookies and chocolate chips for the eyes and the Twizzlers rope for the rest.

Decorations

For our family party, I just used some paper lanterns we had from our party last year. I found these in the wedding stuff from Martha Stewart  at Walmart in the craft section.  Near the scrapbook stuff.  I use them alot for parties.  I found the butterflys at our dollar store and pulled one inside of each lantern.

At our friends party, the ranger station was full of cool critters.

A balloon on each childs chair, bowls full of gummy worms on the table and we were all set.  Kept it simple.

Activities

For our friends party, the two peas Dad took everyone on a winter hike to look for signs of wildlife in the snow.  They were lucky enough to come upon a deer that was nestled down, they saw lots of birds and squirrels.  Hikes are easy to do.  You could ask your local park if their naturalist would offer a special hike for your group.  Or you could do it yourself.  Nature bingo is one fun hike theme.  Make a bingo card for each child and they have to search for what is on the card: a bird call, a large tree leaf, a small tree leaf, a nut that has been eaten on, something shiny, a bark rubbing, etc.

Once inside, we had some fun crafts to make.  Sticking with our nature theme...we used those fuse beads to make critters.  I had an owl, snake, flower and more as patterns for them to follow.  

We also made some pins to wear.  I twirled some crafty fur things (I'm not sure what they are called) into a circle, hot glued on a pin on the back and a little stick.  The girls then glued on the eyes, wings and a beak to make owls.

We planned our party to last for 2 hours.  We barely got it all in.  Another half hour would have been good.  By the time they hiked, crafted, ate cupcakes, rootbeer floats and yogurt tubes and opened gifts...we started to run out of time.

Party favors

I made a field bag for each girl.  A very simple bag.  Serge stitched and folding the top down to the outside, I put a decorative stitch around the cuff.  I put each childs name on the strap and appliqued and owl to the bag.  Each child got a monogrammed notebook to take on their hike and record their sightings.

It was a great party with very little preparation.  Easy to do, loads of fun.

xoxo,

Trish

Fingerprint Friday

One of the blogs I truly enjoy is the Rusted Chain.  She posted a Fingerprint Friday post and invites others to join in. When I fell asleep last night, I was thinking of the word "Trust" when I started to think about blogging today.

Trust that God knows what  is going on even when I feel like I'm spinning in circles.

Trust that God has a plan for me even when I'm feeling doubt about what steps to take next.

Trust that God will provide everything we need even when we don't know what that is at the moment.

So, I thought, the Rusted Chain Fingerprint Friday post felt like a good place to be today.  She writes:

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says: I can see the fingerprints of god When I look at you I can see the fingerprints of god And I know its true You're a masterpiece That all creation quietly applauds And you're covered with the fingerprints of god

My interpretation of the fingerprints of God is easy.  For everything I have been through, emotionally, medically and then some - it's so incredibly easy for me to see the fingerprints of God here.

My husband is amazing.  He can be romantic (when he wants to be : )  He is sensitive, sometimes too much.  He can fix anything.  And not just cars and stuff around the house.  He can fix girls who skin their knee and relationships that are off track.  He cooks.  He cleans, a little.  He does most of his own laundry.  He is an incredible father to our children and spends almost every waking moment when he is not at work with them.  He spoils all of us at one time or another.  He is incredibly forgiving.  And I can see the work of God in him all the time even when my husband doesn't see it.  He truly is the glue that keeps us all together and the foundation of our family.  In a house of all girls - we all adore the one man in this house.  Deeply, madly, truly, forever.

xoxo,

Trish

Zipper Critters

Looking for a fun afternoon project?  Cute birthday gift for anyone - of any age, heck they are so cute! Over Christmas break, my girls were looking for something to do and so we wandered up to our local fabric store and found this fun little pattern from Indygo Junction.

It is about an hour or less project and really simple.  My girls loved designing it and they use it to store their little MP3 players but they aren't really made to use I don't think.

They are more of a sit on the shelf kind of thing.

It's definately encouraged us to make some softies...the girls have been working on names, stories and all kinds of drawings to make up their own dolls.  I have a few ideas of my own too.  :>)  Not everything has to have a purpose - sometimes you can make something for no reason - just for the sheer cuteness of it!

xoxo,

Trish

Some days we just step over random blessings

I'm not really sure why most days, I don't take full advantage of what I've been given. I seem to just over look all these random blessings in my path. Are they really that random? I mean, God knows what He wants for us, right? I just seem to trip over them from time to time and mostly, pay no attention. I'm too busy packing lunches, making dinners, washing clothes, signing homework, responding to email, trying to pick up the house, running here, running there and I just don't see it.

Today, on my way to work, I was just daydreaming really. Staring off into the red taillights in front of me as we were stopped to get on the highway and this is what I saw reflected back.

See, I was daydreaming about the things that I sometimes move too fast to really enjoy. Like this morning.

One of the peas lost a tooth last night. This photo is actually an old one. But the tooth fairy last night dropped a load of fairy dust all over her bedside stand. And her bed pillow. And her sheets. And all over her hair and  some on her nose even.

Pea squealed with delight when she saw all of that and a pack of gum in her tooth bag.

Only it was 8am. And the bus comes at 8:20am.

And I had to get orders packaged. And I had to finish sewing 2 shirts. And I had to go to the post office. And then to work.

And I don't think I enjoyed the moment as much as I wished I had.

Random blessings. A delightful little girl losing her tooth - still delightfully believing in the tooth fairy. What a...delight. Truly.

So I was daydreaming on my way to work. Lost in those taillights. Thinking about what had transpired at home. And wishing I had a little more time to savor it.

xoxo,

Trish

Heavens to Murgatroyd!

OK, so I'm hanging out with the wee one getting ready to put her to bed and I say to her, "Heaven's to mergatroid child!". Seriously?! Where did THAT come from? Heavens to mergatroid?! So, that got me curious, and as I do typically each night, lock myself in the bath and step into a steaming tub and catch up on blogs on my iphone (that's right, don't act like you don't do it too,risky, yes but I'm very careful not to drop it in the water : )

So I'm googling, Heavens to Murgatroyd. Turns out this is a take on Heavens to Betsy - no one is quite sure who Besty was but the pink mountain lion, Snagglepuss, on Yogi Bear coined this twist on the original phrase. Then I keep reading and it says, of all things, that the pink mountain lion on Yogi Bear was gay. What?! Gay?! I didn't know that, did you? Of course, at the age I was watching Yogi Bear I suppose I didn't even know what it meant to be gay but I was shocked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that " (remember THAT Seinfeld episode) I just didn't know. I mean, he's pink and all but he could have just been all metro sexual kind of thing but, whatever.  He's a cartoon character.   So, now ya know and when you are playing trivial pursuit or something, you'll have that little odd fact about this phrase to tuck away into your memory banks. What that has to do with anything I'm not sure...

Moving on...been super busy catching up on party orders! I do home parties,

Trunk Shows I call them. You host a party at your house and then I bring all of my purse samples, and loads of fabric swatches and you get to build your own bag, or quilt, or bib, or dress, or skirt, or whatever...I make loads of

stuff. Anyway, its a blast (and you can host an online party too if you aren't local - hey, just email me twopeasinapoddesigns at gmail dot com).

One of the ladies ordered a patchwork skirt. Well, I was dying to try out this pattern I found here by Chelsea Anderson of Pink Fig. I love her stuff because it is SO easy and the results are amazing. So, here's my first try at this skirt from the mag. LOVE IT!  Want one?  They'll be loaded on my website soon.  (ohh!  Launching my dot com soon - you'll love).  Here's one more quickie photo from the iphone of an order from Julia's party...

And on top of all the sewing I've been doing...whew! we had swim team practice, practice, practice and then

championships and then banquet followed by a super fun

pool party. Really, that was so much fun to swim after dark with the kids! One of the Dad's DJ'd and it was such fun.

And check this out!  THIS is India from our office.  First of all, isn't she beautiful?!  Well, one of our student workers, Allison, has been teaching herself how to sew.

She took a tunic from her Mothers closet, laid it out and cut a pattern and made this shirt.  Huh?!  That's a girl with a great sewing future!  Don't you love this!  Now, the seams were a bit rough inside but  at the time she didn't have a serger.  Problem resolved, I sold her my old one at the end of the school year.  I can NOT wait to see what she creates next!  I think she did such a fabulous job!

Ok, breathe, breathe...is this like too much information for one post?!  I'll stop now, mostly because the gardener is at home with three kids and I'm sure tapping his foot waiting for my arrival home.  (no internet at home - have to schmooze it elsewhere to post - blah!)

So, next post - get ready!  I have a fun little service project for us!  I was reading this story in People magazine about a soldier who had asked for bedding from home to be sent because their linens over there stink.  I thought, all of us sewing goddesses that we are, lets sew up some pillowcases to send over!  Sound good?  Next post will be a pillowcase tutorial and my giveaway for August will be some fabric so you can make one more and send off.  I'll post their contact info and all so you can mail off your little bundle of soft love for a wonderful soldier to bury their tired head into at night.

Be good everyone!  School is back in session in 28 days!  Yippee!  (oops!  That came out like a shout of joy, didn't it?  That was sorrow - I will MISS the little ones terribly and wait at the window just watching for their return each day from school - after I do my happy dance!!  Just kidding - a little.  I just want to catch up on laundry - we've been playing and working a lot - not much house cleaning going on).

Ok seriously, I'm signing off - I'm writing like I'm on crack or something - get ready for pillowcase construction, ok!  Go getcha some fabrics!

xoxox,

Trish

{to be 8 and oh, so cute...}

Thanks for the emails and well wishes...I am on the mend.  Had to stop taking the antibiotics because the side effects were really bad.  Hives, heart stuff, dizzy - crazy.  But happy to say the infection is 85% or so better so I'm very happy about that.  What a disaster that whole thing has been.

The other day, I just wanted to get out a little and so we went for a walk in our downtown area.   We just live 2 minutes from our downtown and the girls love to hang out down there.    First, into Harvest Moon, the coffeehouse.  The day before, SafeAuto had been there filming a commercial.  Our downtown is very historic and cute and so they actually film a fair number of commercials down there and everybody loves the coffeehouse.  Anyway, if you are ever in our downtown , you must get a cup of their hot chocolate.  I don't know what they do to it but it is the BEST ever.  And Jane makes killer french toast bagesl.  All her bagels are great!

We walked over to the fountains.  And then waited for the new dollshop to open.  HannahGrace's Dollhouse .  The girls loved it!  You may just find some Two Peas little girl dresses and matching doll dresses coming there soon - I dropped off a sample with the new owners.  It's a fun stop in town.  Sidewalk chalk outside so they girls can draw and babies to hold.  Too fun.  Then we headed over to the thrift store.  We found an old working typewriter - as the girls said, "just like KIT's!".  Kit Kittredge of course, American Girl.  And an old style school desk.  Both a must for their playhouse.  And I found a green and blue compote dish to hold my bobbins while I'm switching out threads back and forth.  Our total purchase price, $10.  Not bad!

We sat a bit outside of the barbershop on the corner.  The girls were facinated to peek through the big window and watch the men getting haircuts.  The owner kept smiling at them and waved them inside and gave them each a sucker.  They were absolutely giddy!

I was pretty pooped after that since that was my first day I had been up in several days so we headed home.  Just kicking back and trying to let my body heal and do its thing.  Hope you are enjoying summer!  Don't forget, leave me a comment about your sewing mishaps - you know, skirts and that became shirts, etc.  I'm feeling kind of lonely in my demise - surely, you've had some funny stories to tell, right?  I have to find a photo of a shirt I made when I was 16.  My Mom thought it was wonderful - looking at it now, too funny!  And a dress I wore to Homecoming - classic funny stuff!  I need to find those and share...maybe later.  I feel a nap calling while baby sleeps.

Nap-nap!

xoxo, Trish

{i love the gardener}

I love the gardener.   I can say that because I do, truly, madly, deeply. The gardener, my husband, has been working hard lately at making sure we have a wonderful harvest this summer and fall. He has planted a variety of delicious vegetables for us and we can’t wait to enjoy them.

Food is one of those things that is really important to us. That sounds strange because, duh, like isn’t food important to everyone? What I mean is food quality. How food sustains us. Nourishes us. Takes care of us.

Maybe we’ve talked about this before but it’s been on my mind again lately. Food. On both sides of our family, we have a high rate of cancer. Not a good family history to have. I have always been pretty conscientious about what I feed us meaning trying to eat whole foods.

Fresh foods that I can identify. You know what I mean? Honestly, my husband and I are a lot more “junk food junkies” than I probably care to admit but we’ve been so careful with our children and what we feed them. I have tried to feed my kids quick crummy foods once in awhile out of convenience and dog-gone it if they’ll have nothing to do with it! They love sugar of course – ice cream, etc but they would so rather eat ice cream with strawberries on top rather than chocolate any day.

There is comfort in knowing that they know where their food comes from. They know the cows across the street are beef cows and they know the difference between black angus and jerseys. They know that local foods are better for the environment because they travel less distance, use less energy in getting from farm to our table. They know that fresh whole foods will make them strong and keep them healthy.

I was reading some reviews for a book from Mariel Hemingway called Mariels Kitchen. It looks like a great cookbook. She talks about how her husband was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and that with a strict diet he went into remission. Now, I don’t know that we can say that diet alone can “cure” cancer but it makes sense that the garbage we ingest can trigger things to go awry in our bodies. I think we’ve all read about girls going into puberty at early ages and finger pointing at hormones in our meat and dairy products or plastics. Doesn’t it make sense that the fewer chemicals, antibiotics and hormones we ingest – the purer the foods we eat, just keeps us healthier, right?

And so it’s something that is important to our family.  Seems like in our family, you are born with that passion for good food. We had some corn on the cob the other night and cut some off the cob to serve the baby.

She would have nothing to do with it! She just kept pointing at the girls who were eating their corn. So, I handed her an entire cob and with the widest mouth she just took a huge crunchy bite of corn! It was so funny! How did she know how to eat it? She loved it!

Tonight, neighbors next to the park where my husband is a park ranger called us at home because they had something for him to pick up. My husband came walking in the door with a HUGE heaping mound of organic strawberries. Unbelievable! Everybody dug in instantly, including the baby who couldn’t stop screaming for more!

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that I am relishing my twins being on swim team right now. An hour and 15 minutes of free time for me 3 times a week. I LOVE IT! I just sit pool side and read, chat with new friends, and read blogs on my iphone. I NEVER, EVER, ever never, never ever, get free time like that. 7 days a week, 18 hours a day usually, I’m doing something for someone, cleaning, cooking, changing diapers, nursing a baby, taking care of kids with homework and bath time and cleaning up toy rooms, and running a business, and being a landlord, and oh my gosh, the list goes on and on and on. And it’s no different than any of you, right? We all do it. Over schedule, over commit, multi-task til the cows come home. So swim team is the greatest blessing ever! And my girls are loving it.

I am rambling aren’t I? The whole reason I brought up swim team was actually because I’m reading a book called “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. She relates her families move from Arizona to Virginia and their foray into feeding their family with local foods as much as they can. It’s a great read and I very highly recommend it!

Sewing? Oh yes, plenty of that going on always. I have some new designs I’ll share with you next post. A new backpack that I STILL have not perfected (how in the heck do you attach the zipper placket to the gusset and not have any seams show?), a hobo bag, and a few other gems. I have trunk shows booked already for June, July and August. And I’m getting some great feedback and encouraging words from some of these textile mills. I’m very hopeful that I’ll have my own fabric line soon. Oh, so very, very hopeful. It can’t come a day too soon for our little family!

Always very thankful and in awe of God’s grace in our lives. Surrounded by miracles all around us. Ain’t it grand?

Xoxo, Trish

{more quilt market and try handmade}

My previous post I was on such a high from coming back from Quilt Market. And from that adventure, frantically, I have been sketching. And sketching. And sketching. What fun! I sent up more than 13 new designs to the companies I met at Quilt Market. Tomorrow, my illustrator and I are going to plug in my designs into a "virtual quilt" so they can get a feel for how my "fabrics" will work in a finished project. All good experience - whether I get a line or not. I have learned alot about the whole process. And now that it's all out there - I feel much more calm. Calm enough in that I started to book a few trunk shows for the summer. I probably have one or maybe two more I could do so let me know if you are interested in a late July or August date.

Try Handmade - have you visited this site before? Love it because they feature all handmade goods and it is amazing to browse all the wonderful articles. Right now - jump over there because they are featuring a sweet little tote I made in a giveaway. You have until midnight May 22nd to post a comment and be entered to win! Whoo-hoo! Go! Go!

WAIT! Don't go YET...I'm not quite done. I just wanted to share the little accessory bags going out to my April blog giveaway winners (sorry it's taken so long ladies - been so busy with market and "stuff"). I think they turned out nice - are ya likin the buckles as much as me?

Last thing - and THEN you can run over to Try Handmade. If you know me personally, you know I tend to get on my little soapbox about car seats. As a deputy sheriff, I helped to teach over a thousand 3rd graders in my county about seat belt safety. That is a topic that is very close to my heart.

When my twins were 7 months old we were traveling back from a family vacation and started off early in the morning. I won't go into all of the details but we had a very bad accident - we were driving a Ford F-350 crew cab with dual wheels - totaled. My husband was cut out of the car - I don't want to go into all of it but it was bad and I really thought I was going to lose him that day. Our girls were secured in their car seats and before we left on vacation I had them checked to be sure they were installed properly at our local fire station. Those girls had little bitty bruises on them and that was it. Thankfully, everyone eventually was just fine.

My soap box is not just about infant car seats. I think everyone is smart enough to know that kids should be in them until they are 4 years and 40 lbs. What most people do NOT know is that kids should REMAIN in a booster seat until they are 4'9 and 90 lbs. What you say? That's like a 5th grader? Yep, that's right! THAT is the NEW standard. Check it out...children smaller than that do not fit properly in just a seat belt. They ride up on their neck. They don't fit across their lap. And an ill fitting seat belt can cause serious internal injuries even in a crash at 30mph. My 8 year olds still sit in a high back booster because height wise, they fit safest in a booster. Not cool you say? How cool is it when your child breaks their ribs, has a collapsed lung, major organ damage and other life threatening injuries? Not so cool so my soap box - buckle up BIG kids and save their lives. If EVERYBODY does it, then my kids won't feel like a baby sitting in a booster. It's the safest thing to do and in Ohio, it's the law under age 8 to be in a booster. Over age 8, keep them in a booster until they reach 4'9 and 90 lbs. and always in the back seat. It's the safest thing to do for your children.

OK...'nuf said!

Now run over to Try Handmade!

xo to you and your kids, Trish

Off we go....

OK, so I have barely touched my sewing machine in the last couple of weeks.  I have had meeting after meeting with my design team about my portfolio.  Picking out colors and getting things just so...so...so, I have to confess.  I don't know what I'm doing.  This whole, "trying to be a textile designer" thing has my stomach in such knots.  I don't have a clue what I'm doing.  It's all one big guess.  I drew up some sketches, my wonderful girls - Sonya and Melinda (you girls ROCK!) managed this whole project, digitized my designs, and made me look way cool on paper.  Never in a million years could I have accomplished any of this without them.  And for as much as I have prayed about this process, about the path I am on - I have to believe I'm moving in the right direction.  Melinda goes to my church and we started chatting about this months ago and it has snowballed from there.  I just see God working in so many aspects of this journey and it's pretty darn amazing.  Whatever happens, happens.  I have faith that I'll be just where God wants me to be, what is best for our family.  But...I could sure use some prayers.  When I say my stomach has been in knots I mean like morning sickness anxiety crazy blah magnified like 20 times.  My heart is pounding the minute I wake up because I'm thinking about what I have to do that day for deadlines and orders and getting things out so I can make it to Quilt Market.  Very stressful.  Although, Thursday night before market, Carla (my husbands way wonderful Aunt who has been one of "the" buyers for a HUGE retailer for the last 25 years - she's been so supportive and calming for me) will be arriving early at our hotel and plan on a nice long relaxing meal out.  Rarely do I go anywhere without kids so I'm kind of looking forward to just a little night out.

This all started with Joan.  My friend Joan said, "you ought to do home parties" for my purse sales.  So she hosted a party for me at her house.  It went well and so it grew from there.  Then she introduced me to Jodi.  Jodi is another graphic designer guru who created my logo.  If you like my branding look, that is all thanks to Jodi.  She has this way of crawling in my head and getting just the right thing.  She designed my sewing pattern covers that will be out late this year.  She's awesome.  Then there is Suann - from Bows and Blossoms, who said I should look into this site and that site for website designs and hosting.  Saved me a ton of money (hopefully, I'll be launching the new site in the next week or two).  And there is Jill, one of my "best" customers who is turned into a great friend who shares retail therapy with me.  Barb who keeps me sane and lets my use her computer because "we only have dial up" at our house.  Crazy!  And Kris who helped push my business further too - and just has been a wonderful friend.  There have been so many wonderful people, friends, collegues and my sweet family - along the way that have helped push me along the path.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I love you guys - I am so grateful and incredibly blessed.  No matter what happens, I got friends and in the end, that's all that matters.  :>)  Ahhh...ok enough mush mush.

Just a few more shirt designs...the little onesies are $12.  Not up on etsy yet but eventually.  Email me if you're interested at twopeasinapoddesigns@gmail.com.  I HEART the little caterpillar one.  My girls are big on worms and the like so this is their favorite.

I'll hopefully have some positive things to report when I get back from Quilt Market.  I leave on Thursday.  I won't post again until after I get back.  Wish me luck!  I could sure use it.  I'll try to keep everyone posted on Twitter!

xoxoxo, Trish

{Our Easter parade...}

Where do I begin?  So much I want to share with you but so little time!  The girls enjoyed a great spring break last week and if you were following me on Twitter you know we headed out to the zoo...in the snow.  I love working at the largest university in the country - gives me a chance to network with loads of people and luckily, one of our alumni board members is a keeper at the Columbus Zoo SO, she was wonderful enough to give my girls a behind the scenes tour.  We got to see exactly what she does to care for the animals and a chance to see a grizzly bear, 2 alaskan brown bears and a cougar very close!  So cool!  No photos to share of that as we were not allowed to take any in the back areas but...check this out!

This is the cafe at the zoo.  See anybody else there?  That's right...when it's 20' windchill and snowing - NOBODY goes to the zoo.  We saw two other people there all day.

Here's the girls in the "jungle" with a researcher!  Ha!  And some cool looking birds we saw in one of the aviarys...where it was WARM.

The flamingos were out...

The manatees and sea turtle at the aquarium section...

And so on to Easter...we went to my parents house which was fun.  The girls got these really cool little jackets for their American Girls from the sewing room of the easter bunny, aka The Doll Closet on etsy.  Really cute!

And they had a blast!  I have to say, they looked BE-AU-TI-FUL in their easter dresses.  They turned out really well, if I do say so myself!  I got the pattern for these from PinkFig.  I used the Lily pattern and had to adjust some because my girls are a size 8 and the pattern only went up to a size 7.  I added some extras on the ruffle, etc.  They LOVED them!  If you are looking for an easy EASY to use pattern line - PinkFig is it!

OK, so I never did get them to stand very still for a photo but here's a few portfolio shots...you get the idea!

And then...I've had quite a few orders for dresses lately.  I have some already listed on my etsy page. But here's a peek at a few..

And matching ponytail ribbon explosion thingy whatevers on their way to etsy soon...here's a peek at just one of them...

Does the baby look happy here?  Poor thing!  Her sisters love her TOO much!  Well, lots of photos, not too much text.  Since Easter (yesterday) one of the peas has been diagnosed with whooping cough.  She doesn't look sick does she?  Exactly why we had no idea...since all she had was a nagging cough.  Our AWESOME doctor caught it and well, things are now quite hectic in our house so I'll be back next week with an entry about handmade stuff!  (I noticed at my Moms, my sisters - dang!  I make a LOT of stuff cuz it's all over their house from paintings to placemats! More on that next week!)

I'll leave you with one last little cutie - my baby's first Easter.  Next week she celebrates her first birthday.  A very special little day.  She was born on April 25th - the same day as my oldest sister.  My oldest sister  died when she was 15 from complications from mono.  My baby being born on her birthday was quite special.

God bless - hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday!  Ciao, xo Trish

AND DON'T FORGET...post a comment and you'll have a chance at our monthly giveaway!

Introducing Baxter Bunny and the newly redesigned Hipster!

Here he is!  Baxter Bunny.  (And don't miss the new redesign of my hipster found at the end of this post!)

I hear it all the time. You’d love to be able to make something but you can’t sew. Or you don’t have time. Or you are completely creatively and craftily illiterate. This project is FOR YOU!

This could not be easier but everyone will think you spent hours stitching away on this little guy. You CAN do it! I know you can! And it takes very little effort so everyone can do this!

Please note, Baxter Bunny is not designed for small children and he does pose a choking hazard.

Baxter Bunny © Trish Preston,Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs

First, here’s what you will need:

• · Scraps of fabric (you could also use flannel, maybe some old flannel sheets or pillowcase you aren’t using anymore or you could use felt / felt squares that you might have from other kids craft projects) On my project shown here, I used a cotton fabric that I lightly interfaced with fusible fleece to give it a bit more body – the fusible fleece is easy to find at your fabric store – even Walmart has it in their fabric section.
• · Steam a Seam (optional) You only need about 2 square inches of the stuff.
• · Scissors
• · Needle and thread
• · Batting for stuffing
• · Buttons for eyes

I hope this pattern prints ok for you...it should fit on an 8 .5 x 11 sheet of paper.  Baxter stands roughly 7 inches tall.

1.  To start, you’ll want to gather all of your materials. Using the pattern, cut 2 of each for the body, ear lining and pocket.

1. 2.  If you are using the cotton, I fused interfacing on my pieces to give it some oomph! Interfacing is easy to use. You only need a small amount and you can skip this if you want. But just cut your interfacing a little smaller than your bunny body pieces and with the glue side facing the wrong side of the fabric, fuse with your iron.

1. 3.  Using the Steam a Seam, again, easy to find in your fabric / craft stores – it’s used for appliqué. Follow the directions and cut out your ear lining and fuse to the ears. If you want to skip the steam a seam, you can just use a running stitch to attach your ear lining.

1. 4.  Next, create your bunny face. Find two old buttons and attach for the eyes. I used two that didn’t perfectly match in size to give him some character. Cut a little nose out of your fabric and stitch in place. Then stitch on some whiskers and a little mouth.

1. 5.  For the pocket, lay your pocket right sides together with the wrong side of the fabric facing out so you can see it. Stitch across the top of your pocket. Turn right side out and press your seam so it lays nice and flat. This will give you a nice clean edge on top since you’ll want to fill the pocket with a treat!

1. 6.  Pin your pocket to your bunny’s belly. You will have raw edges on the sides of your pocket. Next, use a blanket stitch to stitch the pocket on.

7.  Blanket stitch. I love this stitch. It’s fun to do and it’s quite easy once you get started. Working from left to right, bring your needle from the right side of the fabric (the top) and point your needle out to the edge. Keep the thread from the previous stitch under your needle and pull through. It’s hard to explain but I hope the photo and the text together show you how. Practice on a separate piece of fabric before doing it on your project if this is the first time you’ve done a blanket stitch.

1. 8.   Now pin your bunny together, wrong sides together, your right sides facing out. You will have raw edges. Blanket stitch around your bunny leaving an opening for stuffing.

2. 9.  Stuff your bunny and make him good and round!

1. 10.  Finish stitching up the opening and you are done!

All together, I think this project took me about an hour to make. Hope you enjoy making it and send me your photos of your Baxter Bunny and I’ll show them off here.

Congrats to our giveaway winner!  She will receive the newly redesigned hipster just ripe for Spring!  The new pocket panel on the front is angled and has the perfect little pocket down low for your iphone or other device and then the larger side of the pocket could hold a water bottle or other gear.  It also has 2 interior pockets and a magnetic snap closure.

The new hipster is available now for custom orders.

And finally -  giraffe print "platterpurse" on it's way to Marysville.  Love this print!

Happy Easter all!

Ciao, xo Trish

Giveaway and another year...going, going....

Almost gone! First, a giveaway and the time is almost gone! I have a sweet little spring hipster (see the fabric selection in the previous post) waiting to find a new home. Post a comment or send me an email and we'll put your name in a hat for this little bag. The winner will get their bag shipped out to them next week. SO COMMENT NOW!! OK...and so, another year has come and gone. I celebrated a birthday last week and I'm not exactly thrilled at the aspect of moving ever so closer to...gulp, 40. I mean, really, 40?! I still have a few years left but it's out there, looming ahead and just waiting to snatch me up into its clutches. So when I woke up to yet another birthday this week, I have to say I was not feeling all that chipper about the day.

I went off to work and sat in my office in silence most of the day. Our students are off on Spring Break and so most of them are out sunning on a beach somewhere or hiking in the mountains. Nothing exciting about the day. Just an ordinary day. But wait...

I knew something was up when I called my sister on my commute home. She said, as we were about to sign off, "have fun tonight with everything". What everything? What are you talking about? She says, "oh, I don't know." I asked her, what do you know - did you call my house? She said, I might have called your house. Just have fun, ok. Smiling to myself, I pull down our street and promptly lose cell connection (you've heard me groan before about all of this right? We have no internet, no cable and very intermittent cell connection from our house. Drives me nuts!).

I pull up to our driveway and I wonder...why has someone marked the trees? They had tape around them - or so I thought. When I actually pulled in I realize that my entire driveway has crepe paper strewn from tree to tree that goes back and forth blocking the entire length of the driveway. My twins are standing in the doorway yelling "drive through it! drive through it!" and jumping up and down laughing and screaming as I drive slowly through all of the paper and get to a garage that is equally covered! Too fun!

I enter into our house - same thing! A combination of crepe paper, christmas garland, easter decorations and birthday balloons everywhere. They had a delicious lasagna dinner waiting for me compliments of my MIL, and a cake that had dots (?), yes those are my favorite polka dots on there, and my "birdies" that I applique on various things. The girls did the design work and I think it was quite clever. They presented me with a new hummingbird feeder, garden gloves, a bracelet and earrings, and my hubby gave me a dozen roses. I have to say, my blah, blah, blah birthday turned out to be the best ever. I "heart" my family - especially my husband. All that effort meant a TON to me...thanks.

Also this week - just pure random-ness here - Sprouts hair has been wild. Crazy! She's been sporting this crazy hair all week and I keep wetting it down and it pops back up! Too funny. But with her hair getting longer I can finally really use the barrettes I bought from Suann at Bows and Blossoms. They stay put - well - when she isn't pulling it out - and I love this one with her initial on it. Suann makes uber cute things, super great price and SUPER fast shipping. Check out her site here because she has some of the cutest new things for Spring.

Coming up next - bunny tutorial!

A little something you can handstitch for the easter baskets or decorate your table with or just love on! Fun!

Ciao! xo, Trish

Happy Little Chefs Birthday Party 101

I know it’s taken me awhile to get back to sharing all the details from the girls party. I have had a lot going on. Dealing with a husband who has been in training a lot lately and our crazy schedules. I mean, seriously, he came home with band-aids on his wrists because they got cut up while they were in defensive tactics practicing handcuffing. Playing a bit rough aren’t we boys? I’ve been working like mad on fabric designs and trying to decide on what to present for my first line, planning for Quilt Market including things like little giveaways, booth design, and of course, product! I have an appointment with one of the fabric companies on the first day of Market to present my designs so I’m super excited that truly, this Fall, I may have my very own line! That would be a dream come true! And the baby, well, she finally got up and crawled this week and started to pull herself up to a stand all within days of each other. So, keeping up with her just got a whole lot harder. So, as I do all day while I’m working either on campus or in my studio, I’m usually listening to music on my iphone. Quite frankly, as my husband says, I’m addicted to it. My iphone is never far from my hand – I do love it. And I like to share what I’m listening to because it inspires me and keeps me focused through the day. Lately it’s been Mercy Me and one of my favorites of the week has been a song called “Bring the Rain”.   I love this song, especially when I have had an especially trying week, and it just makes me feel stronger. You’ll love it, check it out.

Little Chefs…oh yes! The twins had a great 8th birthday party. I’ll give you my “Party 101” details on what we did and maybe you’ll find some ideas to use for the next party you host. First, we sent out invitations on little note cards that looked like recipe cards and said something about good food, add friends, mix well for a great birthday celebration. We added 3D cupcake stickers to them.

For each girl, I made them an apron and an apron for their American Girl doll.  (You can find your own on my etsy site).   I just used up scraps from my scrap basket and other old fabrics. I added a pocket for each girl and appliquéd their initial on the front panel. As each girl arrived, my girls gave them their aprons to put on.

Once everyone was here, we got started on making our lunch. I used little Dixie cups to put each serving of ingredient for each girl. We made chicken enchiladas and I just brought out each ingredient one at a time and had them add, mix and then stuff their tortillas. We put them in one big casserole and then left them to bake.

While lunch was cooking, we decorated cupcakes. I had purchased treat boxes that held 4 cupcakes per box. We had mounds of different types of candies and frostings so they could decorate their treats. I must say, a lot of candy did not make it to the cupcakes but got eaten instead! They loved getting to be creative. I gave them a few ideas and they were off and running. I had set the table with 2 sets of tablecloths. The bottom layer was a vinyl tablecloth we keep. The top was a plastic disposable table covering. When they were all done with the baking and cupcake decorating…I left the entire mess on the table and just wrapped it up in the table covering and tossed the whole thing. It was great! Then, underneath, I had a nice clean table ready for lunch. The girls went off and played for about 10 minutes while I set the table and got the rest of the food out.

I had just a simple centerpiece which consisted of wooden spoons with the chicken enchilada recipe attached. This was one of the favors the girls took home. I also had playdough thinking we would make mini treats for the dolls but we ran out of time so they just took that home with them. I had treat bags to pack their aprons in as well that had cupcakes on them and pretty much their favors were their apron sets.

After lunch, we did an egg relay race. They had to balance a plastic easter egg on a spoon and go on a course through our house. They were nuts doing this and had a lot of fun. We opened gifts and then they played out in the girls playhouse for a bit and that was it. 2 ½ hours went by really fast and my girls said they had a great time.

So as I sit here trying to write this I can hear the baby up in her bed, NOT sleeping because she has just learned to stand and so guess what she’s doing besides sleeping…oh yes, standing in bed and talking. I can’t even lay her down, she instantly rolls over and grabs the rails to pull up. Any suggestions? This is short lived right because it’s a new trick? The other two are running around this afternoon avoiding chores. Of course, they are grounded today for being sassy yesterday and so today they have no privileges and have to clean all day. I’ve never seen anyone procrastinate or drag out a task longer than these two – their little “craft” area looks like a bomb went off. And when I told my little pea this, she said to me, “So! SO does your room!” Man! This is why they are in trouble for the sassing! Actually mine is quite clean right now for once…but I do need to get back down there.

Here’s a quilt I made this morning and a purse being sent out tomorrow for orders. I’m working next on one my patterns – cute little kitty cat thing. I’ll show you that sometime soon! Within 3 weeks, I’ll have 3 patterns ready to go out to testers and I have only a few bodies to edit and test for me. If anybody else is interested in being a pattern tester for me, let me know asap! Ciao, Trish

The race is on...American Girl "closet makeover" contest!

So we are off and running on this idea of inspiring you to clean those closets and convert them into a great play space. I had to add new photos of ours. You know my kids didn't have school last week because of the snow and ice...missed 4 days of school. (deep breath. finding my happy place...hot cocoa in hand, ok...I'm there). My girls were hard at work rearranging things. We have new beds (don't ask where all the stuff is that was on the shelves - most of it is in the babies room. They said they don't need those other toys anymore. Shocking, I know.)

We have new bedroom spaces complete with their dog house and cat house

and a new kitchen space. Looks good doesn't it?

Well, I started on making the aprons for their party. These are the doll favors and then the big girls get matching aprons. I'll post those later.

Not only will the super Mom who posts a comment / photo of your makeover get that cute little bag, we are adding in a special little apron with a Valentine theme. Hurry though because the "closet makeover" contest will end on February 7th.  (See our last few posting for our "closet makeover" contest)

I can't believe they are turning 8 years old already...this was taken when they were 2. They are still just as adorable and sweet and the greatest miracle we could have ever wished for. Thank you God for entrusting their lives into my hands and for these days we have to share and delight in all that they are. They bring such much happiness to our lives. (especially when they are in school - I'm just kidding...sort of! :>) !

SO...that's it! Get to work!!! And hey...if you want to buy your own set of party favor aprons, you're in luck! I have a listing on my etsy site. You can buy individual aprons or the whole set for a discounted price! Have fun with your makeovers. The "two peas" can't wait to see the results!

Big Mac Attacks and American Girls

OK…so you know how some days are like a roller coaster? That’s the day I had yesterday. Up. Down. Up. Down. Exhausting because I’m Irish and I typically have a short fuse so I was really tired at the end of the day. Tired anyway because ah…hello?! The baby, still waking a lot at night. Whole other story. Let’s begin. I have a special place in my heart for Big Macs, Big and Tasty’s…burgers and fries in general. And of course, Coca Cola. Fountain. I can do canned drinks but will drive out of my way to get a fountain drink. So, baby(s) #1 and #2, the twins. I gained 36# while pregnant with them. A week after they arrived, I had lost 31#. I thought, THIS is great! Baby #3, the singleton, I gained a “gulp”, 45ish#. Whateva. A week after she arrived I had lost…10#. And gradually I lost 3# here, 2# there…really slow. Mind you, I didn’t lift a finger to exercise. Not watching what I eat so I was content to think that eventually, when I was through this baby stage, I’d get back to my mountain biking and hiking regime. At 16# over prepregnancy weight – I stalled out. Stayed there for months.

Then 7 weeks ago, the baby starts teething and revs up her nursing demands greatly. My appetite goes crazy. I’m eatin’ big macs and whatever other garbage I can find…love cheese, breads…just eating in general. Favorite entertainment. I get on the scale yesterday. GASP! Prepregnancy weight on the nose! Bingo baby! I’m lovin’ this. I can eat whatever I want, do nothing AND lose weight. This may possibly be the greatest moment in my life. Seriously, you’re jealous, aren’t you? (smirk! Wink! Wink!) This was one of the up’s of the day’s roller coaster.

I decide to pop over to campus and work for a few hours. I have an event coming up next week. I wanted to clean off my desk which had a mountain of mail on it and I needed to make 2 phone calls. I decide to take the baby. I have my office all set with nursery stuff so off we go. She does great the first 30 minutes and then decides, um, today, I must be held by Mom or I will scream and annoy everyone in the office. Ugh! She never acts like this. Truly. She’s an angel. This was quite rare. Do you know how hard it is to type on a computer with a baby in your lap? It looks likoljlkjsfdk like thisdkjlkjda. Looks like that. Yep. Then crisis. An invoice unpaid. Who ordered what when where’s the PO? Dang, spent 30+ minutes figuring out the company double billed us and they were at fault. And then, a bank statement for a student organization – they had charged over the course of several years, $560 in “service fees” and we now owed them $4. Seriously?! Theft I cry and call the bank to straighten this out on behalf of our students. Baby still demanding Momma, desk still piled high with mail. Phone calls not yet made. After 2 hours and 40 minutes, I get my phone calls made and leave my desk a mess and leave. This was the down.

Head over to Ann Taylor LOFT. My favorite store. I was meeting up with my friend Jill. Jill had tried on a pair of pants I was going to return to LOFT and she loved them and wanted to buy them. They were more on sale than when I bought them so we were meeting at the store for me to return and Jill to buy them at the reduced price. Ladies, do you love deals?! Ok, brace yourself. I bought them on clearance for like $23. Jill paid…drum roll please…$4.88 PLUS 25% off that price. Oh yes…you heard correctly. We both start digging through the clearance section and doing a happy dance. I find THE deal of the day. A gorgeous deep blue with bell sleeved suit jacket. Originally, $119. On sale for….$7.41. Are you kidding me?! This was the big top of the hill coming down the roller coaster thrill of the day. A little retail therapy does wonders, doesn’t it? Insane good deals over there. This was the Whoo hoo of the day! I know, you are all giving me virtual high fives right now, I feel the vibe. It’s a good thing.

Then, I get home, get an email from my graphic designer with the cover options for my pattern line. An up moment. I heart them. They are perfect. My husband named the line (top secret for now! :>) and we both love the designs. The down side, to get started, the initial run of these will actually put us in the hole. It will take 3 prints before we break even and start to see a profit. Down down down. We decide to stop on the tracks and take a break to figure this one out. Anybody got any good business advice for us? It’s gonna happen…we just need to do a bit more planning.

Problem is, Quilt Market is right around the corner. May. We may not make it. The next market to try and get signed by a distributor is in the Fall in Houston. Way more expensive to go to. Hmmm…we’ve said it before, please pray for us as we figure out where we are being led and what to do with this business. I feel like we’ve hit a wall at full speed. End of roller coaster. That was the “Big Mac attack” of my day.

The “American Girl” part of my day…this is a long post, sorry. I have a lot to get off my chest (heave a sigh). My girls have been saving money from birthdays, first communion and Christmas plus allowance. They decided they wanted to buy themselves a new American Girl doll. Ok, so if you have kids into this you know, this is not cheap. The doll they want is $95. I have a $10 coupon to use. And we offer to give them $10 for their birthday in February. That puts one peas within $2 of having enough money and the other pea within $4. They beg to do laundry. I pay them 50 cents per basket. The dolls they picked out arrived yesterday and I put them in my closet. They are super excited.  The peas share a bedroom and they each have a ton of American Girl stuff already. We talked them into giving up some of the million toys they had outgrown and to clear off the bottom of their closet and they could “build” a “bedroom” for their dolls, hang pictures on the wall, etc. So here’s the result. My husband added some Christmas lights we were going to throw out to light it all up. They LOVE it. And now, several of their friends have decided to do the same. Cool idea, eh? Anyway, the jist is, I’m proud of them for saving their money to buy their own doll. Proud of them for doing such a super job at earning their allowance by working around the house. Proud of them for respecting and taking such good care of what they own. They are really good girls. I don’t know how that happened but they are surely, super special little things. I heart them big time :>)

And now, today…is the first morning in a LONG LONG LONG time I have had no real pressure to do anything. Of course, I have an order to do an entire baby set.  Large bag, nursing cover, diaper wipes case, changing pad. No biggie…I’ll get it done this weekend. It’s for my husbands cousin. I can’t wait to show it off to you later. I picked pretty little pink French wallpaper and stripes print with birds for their brand new Laura Jane. AND I just sent out a few things from some older orders…here’s a peek at one of them. I’ll get the rest loaded over on my portfolio later. Dial up…stinks. Can’t wait until someday we actually get internet service out here “in the country”…ohh, puulease!

Gonna also load a few "ready to go" items over in my etsy shop later. Check it out!

Ciao, TRP

Bows and Blossoms

This is Suann's uber cutie little girl.  Suann lives up in Marysville and has this awesome hairbow business.  I couple of posts ago, I put up a photo of my little one with a hairbow...this is one I purchased from Suann.  They stay in even in super fine baby hair. Anyway, Suann ordered a mommy and me purse set from me and I added in with her purchase a little dress for her daughter.  Suann made this adorable bow to go along with the dress.  I love it!  I love being able to find things handmade and made locally.  So share this link with your other "mommy friends".  When you order something from Suann - she sends it to you in this adorable little box, wrapped so pretty - it's like getting a gift!

As the snow falls outside my office window here on campus, and my baby is talking to her dolls on the floor here...and the big sisters were just dismissed early from school...I'm thinking we had better wrap things up and start heading home while we still can.  I love LOVE LOVE snow but hate driving in it, especially when I have the kids with me.  I think the baby could stay here all day - she gets loads of attention from everyone that walks by my office door...and the students think its funny that my office is set up like a nursery.  Hey, it works and everybody is happy!

Happy Snow day all!

Ciao, TRP

Bib Mania!

My hubby and I went on a little frenzy today with bibs for our baby! We chatted last night at bedtime about the designs and then this morning everybody chimed in on just how the different appliques should look. I cut about 5 different designs and pieced it all together. Then we tried to put on the snaps. Shhheeezz! I think we busted about 10 of them before we gave up. SO...we dropped our older daughters at an afternoon birthday party and took a trip over to the local fabric shop for a pair of pliers designed to put on snaps. Hoping to catch a bite out to eat, we headed to the local wine bistro...not open. Then over to our old favorite, Village Wines, also closed due to renovations! And...we don't actually drink alcohol but our favorites happen to be wine bars, both these places serve amazing food! Next try, a local mexican eatery and it was open. We gobbled down a ton of chips, salsa and some mighty big burritos. Yummy! Hit the spot...oh, yeah, back to the snaps!

We get home with our new mighty pliers and my husband goes to work on the bibs. SUCCESS! We got the snaps on all of them and tried them on our little cookie monster! Too cute!

This gorgeous fabric with the heart I appliqued is a line called Andalucia by Patty Young. I love this designer...she has a fun blog and I love the surprise of colors from this line. I'm totally going to swipe her latest birthday party idea she posted for her daughter. She did a super fun cooking party and made the guests aprons, chefs hats and oven mitts. With my twins birthday next month, I'm thinking I may do the cooking thing and the aprons. Chefs hats and mitts...a bit too complicated for me :>) But, follow this designer. She's got fun ideas!

Anyway, the whole family enjoyed this process and my twins want to be sure that we bring their favorite, a brood of fat little birdies on orange dots, to church tomorrow. They think she should wear it all day, not just at meal time! I listed several on ebay and eventually, I'll get some up on my etsy site and my dot.com, whenever I get time to finish setting it up! I"m still working on finishing up some orders from Mary's party - kind of wierd because I lot of the fabrics are on backorder so I'm stuck waiting for them to come in to finish up.

So, what do you think of the fat little birdie? Cute isn't he? You should have seen my husbands idea for this applique...whew! He's a good artist but...I'm a better designer I think!

Ciao, TRP

Sock Monkeys

Remember sock monkeys? I love them! My daughter saw a kit for making one and so I gave it to her for Christmas. The box said for 9 and up. She’s 7. So, she asked and asked and asked and asked and asked and asked and asked and asked…you get the picture, asked non-stop on Christmas day for me to make this for her. So, I get it started and have her help. Ahh…9 and up? Hello?! I was ready to gouge my eyes out making this thing! Sock knit is not the easiest thing to sew. Trying to turn the tiny little narrow arms and legs right side out…man! Of course, then he has to have a sleeping cap. And slippers. And his own little teddy bear.

Now that he is made though, we all love him. And want more! We’ll be on the hunt for more to add to our lonely little guy to start a collection. Besides old vintage ones…anybody got any ideas where we could find others?

I mentioned the other day that I was working with a graphic designer to turn my patterns into a marketable product. I’m really excited about this whole process. We discussed the packaging, product photos, and names. My husband and I came up with a great name for our first line…you’ll have to stay tuned in and wait for their debut to find out what it is! Garden theme of course.

I honestly didn’t get much of anything done today. I sketched designs some and painted a few. The hubby has a nasty head cold as does the baby. The baby barely let me put her down today. She just wanted held and cuddled. Even though she was a bit cranky, it sure was nice to cuddle all day and just relax. I so very rarely get to do that. We just enjoyed watching the snow fall most of the day…and listened to my husband blow his nose every few minutes. I sure hope I don’t get it because I am a terrible patient. I hate being sick.

Tomorrow is Friday but I’m not ready for the weekend just yet. Kids home and all. I need a few more uninterrupted days of peace and quiet. I think this whole sleep deprivation thing with the baby is starting to catch up to me. I could sleep for a week in my wonderfully cozy flannel sheets in my big king size bed. Ohhh…can you tell it’s just about bed time. Thinking about sleep already. I seem to think and talk about sleep a lot lately zzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Ciao, T