{olive and ollie giveaway winners!}

Heather from Olive and Ollie has the cutest shop and she is quite the rock star in the modern quilting world.  She was featured HERE and if you missed it, go check it out because she has an incredible eye for color and design. Heather offered 3 of you a copy of her PDF quilt pattern, Yield...and the winners are:

BETH

DALIA

An email is on its way to you girls - congrats!!

If you haven't already done so - visit the post from Monday and meet Jan DiCintio from Daisy Janie (and throw your hat in for a FQ bundle of her organic fabrics)

xoxo,

Trish

Q & A

I get asked a lot of different questions about crafting, sewing and more.  I'd love to do a post where I answer all of those questions...do you have one you'd like to ask?  Ask anything!  Ok.  Maybe not anything but...serious, ask away! Shoot me a quick email with your question at twopeasinapoddesigns at gmail dot com.

xoxo,

Trish

Custom Blog or Etsy Banner

I have been taking a class in Illustrator.  Previously, I would design, draw, sketch out my stuff - be it textile designs, etc and then hire a graphic artist to digitize, colorize and do all the work for me.

It's super expensive to do that.  And I wanted to be able to play around with it all by myself.  So, I took a class at our local Art college and have fallen deeply in love.

With Art School - love designing, communications - all that stuff.  Super fun.  I already have plans for the next two quarters for more fun classes in both fashion design, pattern drafting and also more graphic design.

And I've been looking for guinea pigs (hee! hee!)

Do you have a blog or an etsy shop that you would like a banner made for it?  I love using personal photos but I'm up for trying anything.  And I'm super cheap.  I'd like to offer up a simple custom banner for you, like what is pictured here, for $15.  It will include a banner and avatar.

I will only take two orders for now so if you are interested, hurry because I'm not sure when I'll do this again!

You'll find the listing over in my etsy shop. Can't wait to work with you!  Thanks for giving me a chance to practice!

{for love of nature}

"Here is calm so deep, grasses cease waving. . . . Wonderful how completely everything in wild nature fits into us, as if truly part and parent of us.

The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing.

The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and; tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love."

- John Muir

I love that passage from John Muir.  I first read his writings as a freshman in college as part of my environment and natural resources degree.  From a very young age playing in our creek in the backyard, running through the woods on my grandparents farm, and exploring as an adult - I have loved the quiet stillness, the colors, the smells, everything the earth has to offer.

Last week as Sprout and I were hiking, she must have said one hundred times, "What's that?!  What's that?!".  I lovingly obliged by pointing out all of the new sprouts; mayapples, cut leaf toothwort, spring beauties, garlic mustard, bluebirds and cardinals and chickadees.  We talked about the song that the rufous sided tohee was singing as he followed us, "drink your tttteeeeaaa".  She repeated everything I said and even the next day as we entered the woods said, "Momma, Momma, Momma!  Apple!  Apple!" as she pointed to the mayapples.  Sharing all of God's creation with my kids is as much a joy for me as a Mom as it was for me as a kid to share it with my father and my grandfather.

Go outside and share some of the splendor around you with someone you love - Happy Earth Day.

xoxo,

Trish

Giveaways, Giveaways!

Don't forget to scroll back and catch all the posts from last week! All of my birthday giveaways are open until Wednesday, March 31st!

In like a lion, out like a lamb...

xoxo,

Trish

Dan the Picture Man

Shortly after the twins were born, I got a phone call from "Dan the picture man" asking me if I'd like him to come out to our house to do in home portraits for our babies.  He offered a special deal for first time baby photos that I couldn't resist. He has been photographing our family ever since.  And in exchange for some more family photos he took of us recently, I'm writing this post to tell you how much we have enjoyed our experiences with him.  He photographs our family at least once a year and our kids have literally, grown up with him.

Dan will go just about anywhere to take your photos.  What I love best is having him come to our house.  He brings his lights, his screens - and for our baby photos, literally, we set up on our kitchen table with screens and got these shots.  How much more easy can it get for a Mom?

Special moments in time and photos taken in special places that mean so much to us.  A favorite shady spot in the summer time.  The apple tree where I gather apples from and make applesauce in the early summer.

We don't have to pack anybody up to go anywhere.  Dan comes in.  Sets up.  Is amazing with the kids and able to get just the right smiles to come out.  He packs up.  He's gone.  Quick.  Painless.  Priceless.

Dan is wonderful and I highly recommend him.  As a matter of fact - he has been kind enough to offer 75% off his sitting fees for any of our readers who mention "Trish Preston from Two Peas in a Pod".  He'll come to you (if you are somewhere here in Ohio - I suppose for the right price, he'd travel wink! wink!).  Come to your home, come to a local park (we've had photos taken at the hubby's park he works at and others around town) or you can come to his studio if you'd like.

Just don't forget to mention our blog to receive your discount.  I promise, you'll be so pleased with the results!

xoxo,

Trish

Day two of the 14 Days of Doing Nothing Before Christmas...

Day Two...

• Took kids to school
• Stopped at coffeehouse to pick up owl pin for teachers who placed orders.  Did I happen to mention my kids are selling these and giving a dollar from each one sold to our Childrens Hospital.  Would you like one?  Leave us a comment if so...they are handpainted by the "two peas" themselves.

  

• Blogged.  Loaded items to etsy store.
• Watched TV...see that's "nothing"!
• Washed all the bedding from all 5 beds and changed all the bedding.
• Cleaned house and watched more TV.
• Stitched more wrist cuffs / coffee cup cozies after kids went to bed.  I'm mostly just enjoying stitching.  What is it about the blanket stitch that makes you want to go on and on and on and on...it's fun isn't it?

  

And just a reminder of our giveaways here and here.  A wonderful little girls hat from Bows and Blossoms and an entire package of goodies from me including a bag and other fun things!

How's your day going?  What are you doing to get ready for Christmas?  What are you giving as teacher gifts?  I could use some more ideas for the end of year...

I think I'll go watch birds in the backyard for awhile and thank God for days I can stop and just be quiet in the moment.

xoxo,

Trish

...and the crowd goes wild!

Relaxing after our family festivities over the weekend - I was blog hopping and stopped over to visit Patty Young in her MODKID Boutique. ...and my kids went wild!

Patty apparently has a new licensed designer working for her and she will be putting out these to die for outfits for American Girl dolls.  My girls instantly said, "Mom - I want one but I want YOU to make it - I don't want to buy it".  Well, hello?  Beyond making little pillowcase dresses for dolls - I've not ventured into this so we'll have to see about that...those tiny little arm holes and all, looks a little challenging to me.

After drooling all over these new things to come from Patty Young...I hopped over to visit with Etsy Team Columbus. You know, all the talented folks from the local area.  I found lots of things to drool over and add to my Christmas list - here are just a few - there is SO much more to browse over there!

Many of these etsy sellers are having sales - so you'll have to browse their shops if you are looking for that special something this holiday.  Each photo is hyperlinked to their shop so go take a peek!

I'm excited about this coming week - because there will be loads of giveaways......over at Sew, Mama, Sew.  Get ready because this is such a fun event!  You'll want to stop by and visit their blog to get the full list of who is participating and by all means, hop back here because I'll have a little something wonderful to giveaway myself.

Well, I'm still so full of turkey, turkey sandwiches, potato soup that I can barely fit my lap top on my lap...so I think I'll go take a nap.  That should help!  :>)

See you all back here on December 2nd for the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway!

xoxo,

Trish

Fun and funky-ness in a quick handmade gift...

Fun and funky-ness go hand in hand, do they not?  Ever since I was a kid - I'm all about the fun and the funky.  While blog hopping the other day - I came upon this over on the "Where Women Create" blog.  I happened over here via Paige who asked if it was ok to include me on their blog roll and I'm loving both Paige's site and the  WWC site too. What I found that was so fun and funky was Amy Flynn's FOBOTS.  Seriously.  These are so dang fun!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the fobots on her mantle.

And if anyone in my family is reading this like I know you do...HUGE HINT...I would LOVE one of these for Christmas.  I really would like the whole lot because I think they look so stinkin fun all together but I would be happy with one...to start....my...collection because I totally see me collecting something like this.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  Ok, I'll stop gushing about these now.  (*editors note* we just browsed her available fobots - and did not realize how much they were.  I would still love to have them all but I may have to wait, or sell or car or two.  So worth it - her work is amazing!  Really imaginative!  How she sees those faces in all of those parts - wow!)

Speaking of fun and funky...I have an idea for you to create some funk for yourself.

Some bright bold floral hair barrettes or pins to be exact.

You'll need some faux flowers.

You'll need a hot glue gun.

You'll need a little bit of ribbon.

You'll need some fabric scraps.

And you'll need some hair barrettes or pins (I found mine at JoAnn's in the jewelry making section).

These would make great easy teacher gifts or Sunday school teacher gifts.  Seriously...I made SIX of these in 20 minutes.  20 minutes!   I mean, this is super easy and fast and really quick for a gift or add a cute scarf to it and you have a great gift.

Preparing (mentally) for winter...

As I write and schedule this post today, it's our last day on our vacation to the east coast.  While my parents took the big peas into town on the mainland and little pea is napping and the gardener is happily watching cable TV (because we have no cable nor internet access at home) I decided to take one last walk down to the beach and sit by myself at the waters edge.

As I sat there, I began preparing mentally for what lies ahead of us in the coming months.  The Farmers Almanac has predicted that this winter will be a particularly brutal one.  I love winter.   I love snow.  But after about 3 months of it - I'm ready for the next season and that doesn't always happen for us in the midwest.  Sometimes winter lasts more like 5 months and that quite frankly...is a bit much even for nature lover me.

So, back to me and my beach chair, and the ocean.  As I sat there, I kept taking little mental pictures.  With my eyes open, the waves crashing, the sun just dancing on top of the water, the seagulls just hanging in the air.  Then I'd close my eyes, and listen to the water on the shore, take deep breaths of delicious fresh sea air.  Open my eyes, another snapshot, the pier, my toes in the sand.  Close my eyes, another deep breath.

And I kept repeating this over and over again thinking - this is where I'll come when the snow gets too deep and the chill in the air too cold and I get tired of bundling up three kids to go outside.  I'll close my eyes, that James Taylor song, Carolina, will play in the background, and I'll be back here, in my chair, smelling the wonderful fresh warm air and digging my toes into the sand.  Ahh...winter.  Bring it on.  I'm ready.

xoxo,

Trish

Oh! Oh! New Stuff! Love new stuff!

OK...just loaded some fresh stuff from the garden up on my etsy page.  Must see!

Now, I'm almost caught up on all my orders.  One left to go and then I'm on to dresses galore and stocking up for my weekend at the Tuttle Mall.  Yee Haw!

Hope you have a great weekend!

xoxo,

Trish

143 days until Christmas!

AHHH!  Ok, so 143 days SOUNDS like it's far off but it's really not!  Especially when your days are scheduled tight already from here until then!  I have a few more trunk shows to get through and a weekend at the mall at a kiosk I'm sharing with my Bows and Blossoms friend in September and THEN a vacation, oh yes, finally!!  AND THEN, I'm done with custom orders as of October 31st.  I want to be sure to have your orders back to you by Thanksgiving and then I want to

relax with my family over the holidays and start working on my book.  (OHH, too many things going on around here - still tweaking my fabric designs - still chatting with textile company reps and hoping to pitch a book idea I've been kicking around for awhile).  Oh, did I mention?  I'm hoping to teach a class too at a new sewing studio opening in town.  More on that later...

So the jist is...that is you want a custom order, now is the time to start thinking about that and place your order soon!  I've been working on some great little skirts lately so if you're thinking "back to school"  - you gotta check out these patchwork skirts and add a cute little peace sign tee shirt to go with it.  Love it!

Later this week I'll post that pillowcase tutorial, but just sayin...check out new stuff over in my etsy shop and bookmark my new dot com because pretty soon, it will be fully loaded and ready to go.  I'll be putting less stuff in my etsy store towards October and more, ready to go items over there in the dot com store.

Catch ya later!

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

{Deep breath...close eyes...finding my happy place}

OK...so super Mom I am not.  I find myself most days wearing many hats and balancing spinning plates and somehow, something always seems to crash.

Case in point.  Last week, I had just come back from a week off to work on rehabbing a rental property we own.  Way behind on stuff - for my day job, not sewing.  I had a lovely new student worker start with me.  Wonderful!  Wonderful to have help and she is just a peach!  But, on Tuesday, I got called away to go out of town.  My Dad had a heart attack and had surgery.  Not so wonderful.

He's home now and recovering, thank goodness.  Nothing else happened last week accept taking care of the kids and keeping updated on him.

So lots of plates got dropped and broke.  Today, I started out cutting orders and as always, began to "multitask".  Do you know what multi tasking is?  It's doing too many things at once and completing none of it.  Ugh!  So I am cutting orders for bags and the like and two lovely little fabrics landed side by side.  Well of course, they were SCREAMING to be cut and stitched together asap.  You know, just a quick little bag.  Mind you, again, no pattern and it drives me nuts.  Do I know how to make these bags with the circle handles?  Uh, no.  But my friend Kris has been making them and said they are easy and I could whip it up in no time and she even showed me how.  Check out her cuties here.

Yeah, like 2 hours later I finally finish mine.  Hello?  Is there a tutorial out there somewhere on these cuz I could use one!

While doing that I completly fused a giant piece of interfacing to my ironing board.  Fabulous!  This was because the baby was fussing and not taking her nap and I was very distracted.

Let's see what else...my house looks like a nuclear bomb went off.  I have laundry piled up to the roof tops.  The counter top is covered in school papers from summer school.  The dishes are never all done.  I haven't caught up on my blog.  My website, my dot com, is not done yet.  My husband is feeling neglected.  My kids are feeling neglected.  My work has been neglected.  Argh!  I can not multi task.  Deep breath.  Heavy sigh.

And so, my goal this week is to just stop.  Take a breath.  Schedule my days better and try to do my best on ONE thing at a time and complete that ONE thing until it is done.  Very hard for me.  I'm a spaz.

I did get this pretty little wall quilt done for a customer to hang in her nursery.  Isn't it sweet?

And I did design a new bag lately.  I call her Savannah.

So let's make a pact Moms.  Let's slow down.  Eat ice cream.  Enjoy the pool.  Let the house be dirty.  Let a few plates fall to the ground.  And enjoy the summer and our families before they are gone.  Kids grow too fast.  Seasons change in a blink of an eye.  I just want to sit on my porch swing and watch the trees sway in the wind and listen to my kids laugh.  Laugh while they are folding laundry and putting away dishes.  Oh, wouldn't that be nice to have some help?!  : )  I'm working on them...

Hope all is well with you!  If you've been waiting on packages from me - I had lots of giveaways going out - they should be on on your doorsteps any moment.  They went out last week.  Hope you love them!

Best,

xoxo  Trish

{Homemade is best...and a little easy Mother's Day tutorial}

OK, so last week when I was visiting family for Easter, I started to notice that everywhere I looked - um, there was stuff I made hanging around. Little paintings, a fabric covered journal, quilts, stockings made from my great grandmothers old raggedy quilt, napkin rings, placemats and of course, purses. I'm really all about this handmade thing - it truly is a wonderful gift when you can give someone something you made by hand (or something someone else made - something unique - you get the idea!)

SO...here's a cool idea for you crafty types for a Mother's Day gift for YOUR Mother - a set of placemats and napkin rings! Seriously, easy project. Here we go:

Materials needed - the obvious, sewing machine, thread, etc you'll need fabric (see below), fusible interfacing and prequilted fabric.

Pick 4 different fabrics (I picked some Amy Butler dots to coordinate with some vintage kitchen prints I found). For each placemat, CUT four 5" x 14.5" panels.

Using 1/4" seams, piece your panels together. Press your seams open. Next, cut a piece of fusible fleece interfacing to fit on the rear of your front panel. Cut it 1/4" smaller all the way around than your front panel. Following the instructions with your interfacing, fuse it to the wrong side of your front panel. This will give your placemat some extra oomph and keep your cotton panel looking crisp - in my opinion.

Once you have your front panel complete, use it as your pattern to cut a solid rear piece from your prequilted cotton fabric. I used a cream color - the same I often use in my purses - sound familiar?

With right sides together, pin and sew with 1/2" seams. Leave an opening for turning. Turn right side out. Top stitch. I also typically add some "steam a seam" to my opening just to make sure it stays shut. That's it kids! Done! Now repeat for the rest of your set of placemats you want to make.

Napkin rings are loads of fun when you use old buttons. My parents had given me an old tin that belonged to my grandmother full of buttons. I glued some of the pretty and larger ones to magnets and gave those to my family. For the rest, I cut a piece of wide elastic just big enough to fit around my napkins. Then I stitched buttons galore until the elastic was fully covered. I warn you - it takes a lot of buttons to cover one and it actually took me several, several hours to stitch all of these on for 6 rings.

What a great gift set. My Mom still loves hers and I loved seeing them adorn her table last week at Easter. Even my kids were impressed. "Did you make these Momma?" Ah, yeah. Hope that gave you a good handmade gift idea.

A few more dresses and embellished jeans went out this week and a cute little tie tote that my girls gave to their girlfriend for her 8th birthday. These will be finding their way to my etsy site pretty soon.

Lots of orders being mailed out this week - thanks to my neighbor Barb for helping me cut everything! We need to do that more often because we never did get to our banana split desserts!

Don't forget - just a week or so left on this month and our April giveaway will be done. The two peas will be picking a comment out of a hat and we'll be sending you, the lucky winner, a way cool, patchwork accessory bag with an awesome buckle...I'll share that photo with you later next week.

Keep Spring coming - I'm begging for the sun and warm breezes to start coming every day instead of snow, rain, sun, snow, rain, rain, rain, sun...we just need some SUNNNNN to stay in O-H-I-O for awhile!

xo - 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!

{Happy April Giveaway...and May and June....}

We had so much fun giving away a new bag in March we decided we are going to give something away EVERY month!  Post a comment anytime during the month of April, May, June...you get the idea...and my "two peas" will pick a winner each month to receive something from our studio. Last month, we gave away a cute little {hipster purse.}  For April - oh, I just got these sweet little rhinestone buckles I'm going to add to an accessory bag - you'll love it!  I'll post photos later (after the Easter dresses for the twins and baby are done!).  Odds are good you'll win!  Last month, only 4 people commented / emailed me out of over 200 hits on the blog so...go! GO!  Let us know what you're thinking!  And maybe you'll get a nice little surprise in your mailbox at the end of the month from us!  Thanks for stopping in!

Ciao! xo  Trish

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