Chantelle Nicole Designs Giveaway

{sponsored giveaway} Meet the beautiful and beautifully blessed with talent, Chantelle.  She joined us on the Two Peas blog in August as a blog sponsor and I'm so glad she did...because her products are amazing!

Chantelle designs handstamped gorgeous jewelry.  Stuff that is pretty enough to wear for a night out and sweet and sassy enough to pair with your favorite jeans and t-shirt.

One of my favs is the leather cuff bracelet.  I think I'd have my hubby and I's anniversary date stamped on it...as a reminder of our family foundation.  {have I ever told you we were married on Valentines Day?  Sweet, I know...and easy to remember!}

I love this necklace too...too cute to wear your kids on your neck.  Or your dogs, whatever babies you happen to have!  I just think these are stinking adorable!

I was so drawn to this locket.  I love the rose but then browsing her blog, gasp, I found THIS!

Something new she has coming out...don't you love the little rose with it?  I'm not one to shy away from color, ahem, clearly...so I love the pop of color the rose adds!

Chantelle is super busy with a new house she and her hubby just bought...and they have even started a new blog to record their renovations adventure on the over 100 year old - arts and crafts style? - home.  It's a fabulous little nest and it will be really exciting to see how it all transforms.

Well, lucky you today!  Chantelle has been sweet enough to offer our Two Peas readers a chance at a $40 gift certificate to her sweet little shop.

To enter is simple:

1) Go and visit Chantelle Nicole Designs shop and come back here and tell us how you would spend the $40 gift certificate!  1 entry

2) Follow Chantelle on her blog then come back here and leave a comment telling us you have done so.  1 entry

3) Because I LOVE her leather cuffs...tell us, what would YOU have stamped on your bracelet.  1 entry

3 chances - super easy!  This giveaway will be open until Tuesday, August 31st at midnight, EST.  I will choose a winner via random.org and post the winner after Tuesday.  Ok, on your mark, get set...go give Chantelle Nicole Designs some love!!

Thanks Chantelle and best wishes for success in all you do!

xoxo,

Trish

Two Peas in a Pod

Sewing, planning, writing, prepping...so many things to do before we launch big with our sewing pattern line.  This weekend, we had our big photo shoot with the awesome of awesomeness photographers, Britt Lakin of Britt Lakin Photography. I love Britt because it's like she gets inside my head and totally sees in my minds eye what I was dreaming for the shot.  For every single item, 16 or so, we prepped and set a "scene" for that shot.  Plus lifestyle shots to be used elsewhere for marketing, etc.  In all...it was a lot.  It rained, we had models, here, there, in town...it was crazy!  But fun in a great way!  Can't wait to tell you more about the great mud river and how we almost "lost" Britt to the muddy mess!  Soon, I promise!

I'll keep updating with more of our progress as we go along...plus I have a little tutorial coming as well for a quick and easy maxi dress!

xoxo,

Trish

Making Summer last...

We usually take a summer vacation but this year...it just didn't work out.  The girls and I were both sad to miss the beach as this is the first time since they've been born that we couldn't go.  (Um wait...maybe second, I think we skipped the year Sprout was born too). So we decided we would stay home and do loads of fun things.  And we did...my feet are still aching from all the walking and my thighs...enjoyed the pizza and pop and other goodies we had as well.

One of the things I liked best was that I got to sleep in my own bed every night.  And I didn't have to pack.  And there weren't any long drives...well, except to Cincinnati.  That was a couple of hours.  But it was a fun week.

A few of the things we did included a boat ride down the Ohio River.  It was a lunch cruise and it was yummy.  Sprout ate a ton of food!  And perhaps two pieces of cake...or at least licked all the frosting off of two pieces of cake.  "Banjo Bob" played old time music and gave us a lot of history about the area.  It was really nice and the kids loved it.

After our lunch cruise, we hit the Newport Aquarium.  The shark tank...SO COOL!  The girls even got to pet a shark!  Who pets a shark?!?  That's crazy!

One thing the girls had been looking forward to for weeks and weeks was WEDNESDAY.  We had decided to let them get hamsters but not until our vacation week.  So Wednesday, we adopted Poppy and Daisy.  I am now somewhat regretting this decision.  They are so excited and love them.  Me...they are cute and the novelty has already worn off, soon after the stink.  It's mild but the big one, Daisy, stinks.  Sigh.

The Columbus Zoo is amazing.  The animal exhibits...fabulous.  But we didn't go to the zoo to see animals.  Because our zoo also has a golf course, huge water park and an amusement park area.  We went for the rides.  We never ride the rides at the zoo.  Because we go to see the animals.  But this week, we went JUST to ride the rides for once.  And to see the new polar bears.  Both...wow!  So much fun!

I think I rode the elephants at least 8 times with Sprout.  Um, the girl is like the energizer bunny.  Never stopped.  Never fussed.  Loved every minute.  Until about 5pm.  Then she totally just passed out in her stroller.  So cute.  Woke up 30 minutes later asking to go back on the elephants.

But for the Gardener and I, the Polar Bears were amazing!  You can view them from underneath or from the water surface...they played, they chased fish, they stuck their head in a bucket.  I was standing like 3 feet away from a polar bear.  3 FEET!  It left me speechless...squeeling and laughing with delight but no words.  Just...wow!

It was fun to watch the girls have such a great time.  Watching your kids just enjoy themselves, smile, laugh, run, play, ask for things and we said yes, yes, yes, all week...it was really nice.  Really joyful.  Really blessed.  How are you making your summer last these days before school begins?

xoxo,

Trish

{party girls}

I love making things for events for special little people, don't you? Recently, I had the pleasure of making my Carol Jane dresses for a client whose daughter was celebrating a birthday and she wanted her baby sister to have a coordinating dress.  These Carol Jane patchwork dresses fit the bill perfectly with an initial monogram and accessorized with one of my little hair flowers to boot.

The Carol Jane dress sewing pattern has 7...SEVEN...versions of a simple dress that you can make and I can't wait to share them all with you!  (we have a BIG photo shoot this weekend for all the pattern covers!  eeeee!!)

Just look and sigh...because, I don't think two little girls could get much cuter than these two!

Sausage fingers

Can you see me? {muffle...muffle...snip...snip...whir...whir...tossing fabric....} How about now?  I realize it's kind of crazy in here with all the cutting and stitching and the ipod playing in the background and the iron steaming and the hair pulling and all...and that stuff is kind of thrown all over the place.  That's me in front of the machine...where I've been sitting for a very long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.

The two peas spent the week at my parents house.  Local Grandma came over to watch Sprout.  And I spent many hours this week holed up in my sewing room - sewing like mad.

Friday I...wait for it...Friday I sewed...are you ready?  Ready?  18 hours.  Ok, Maybe 16...I did stop to eat and I did sit down for about 20 minutes while I waited for my friend Kristen to come over.  I texted her at 8pm something like, "I am losing my mind.  Busy?  Please come to my house.  I need reinforcements.  Please.  PLEEEASE!".  Being the wonderful friend that she is, she called me immediately and said, "What's wrong?".  I shared with her my insanity and that I couldn't even see to thread my needle anymore and she zipped right over.

As I sewed over a tube in a pillow I wasn't supposed to for the 3rd time at around 2am, Kristen says, "don't make another stitch unless I say so."  You know how drunk drivers weave all over the road way?  That was me...sewing all crazy and haphazardly.  I was losing it.

Why the insanity?  Did I mention before that I'm working on a line of sewing patterns? We are actually working on 14 different patterns, have applied for, been accepted and paid for a booth at the International Quilt Market in Houston in October and are gonna JUMP!

I have had such great response from the trunk shows I've been doing the last few years that I'm taking many of the things I have been making for years and years along with some new things and putting them all together in patterns so you can make your own.  I mean really, I only have so much time and so many hands...I was finding it impossible to keep up with all the orders and requests.  So everyone...getcha a sewing machine and learn how to sew!

This first batch of patterns will have some home dec items, functional items, a quilt, lots of bags and some kids clothing.  A pretty fun mix that I hope everyone will enjoy making and using.

But I have to admit...my fingers feel like fat little sausages and now that all the samples for the pattern covers are done...I'm stepping away from my machine.  For a few days at least.  We are taking a little staycation this week...gonna go to some water parks, and the zoo, and tour around Cincinnati a bit.  I can't wait to have a break.

{I swear, I know other people work really hard...but my husband and I work like 15 hour days everyday.  Day jobs, kids, chores, business stuff...its so exhausting but in an exciting, anticipatory kind of way.  This is something totally new for us and I, love having him be fully on board and working with me.  He even comes down here and says, "I've designed a new apron..." and proceeds to show me some crazy strap thing that only a guy could come up with...that I'll probably have patterned for Spring :>)  Ha!  Ha!}

Next week, the marathon photo shoot.  Britt of Britt Lakin Photography who makes my heart swoon she's so awesome, is gonna come hang at my house for an afternoon.  Last night, Carla (our awesome business partner, family, friend, spiritual mentor, fabulous cook - more on her later this week) and I mapped out all the shots and made a quick trip to the store for a few props.  This morning, the gardener woke up at 5am to finish painting the playhouse.  It has a fresh face for all these photos for next week and it looks so cute!

Can't wait to share so much more with you in the coming months as this all starts to fall into place...

xoxo,

Trish

Life only gets clearer...

Each passing year, it seems like my life only gets clearer. What I thought I knew at 20 was like what I knew in the 1st grade.  Just beginning to let all of this new knowledge soak in.

What I thought I knew at 27 is worlds apart from what I knew at 37.  At 27, I had just gotten married, quit my job, moved to a new city and for the first time ever, left my little apartment life I had become secure in since I was 20 and lived in a home that was my very own with a yard and a garage and my own washer and dryer.

When I turned 29, I had two amazing little sweet peas blessed to my care.  I don't know how we managed but somehow we did.  I learned a lot.  I learned that when my Mom and Dad tell me they love me, that the kind of love they are speaking of fills up the space of the whole world.  I never knew how much my Mom loved me until I had a child of my own to love.

When I turned 34, I made a lot of stupid mistakes.  I thought I knew what I was doing but the truth was I was so completely lost.

Now that I'm less than a year away from 40, I feel like I can finally see all the pieces of my past fitting together to lead me to this place.  The journey is so important.  Without the lessons, the learning, the making mistakes, the successes, the trying new things, expanding and pushing myself, working hard...without my husband, my children, my family...the journey wouldn't be worth any of it.

From where I stand now, I can see why God chose my husband for me.  He is forgiving, and passionate, and giving, and the best Dad ever to our girls, he believes in me, supports me, fixes things that break, takes care of me when I'm sick, dreams big dreams with me, and never lets me go.

My children have these amazing endless imaginations, good spirits, positive attitudes, huge smiles all the time, good eating habits (ha!), and a faith relationship with God that I can't even begin to comprehend.  I don't ever remember having a relationship with God like my girls have at this age - the depth of their understanding in faith inspires me.

If I had gotten to where I wanted to go when I wanted to get there - I would have missed so many important things along the way that have taught me about myself and what I can and can not do.

It's a forever kind of journey and so I guess, I'll just keep enjoying where I am and appreciate what looking back does to remind me of how far I've come as a wife, mother, and as ME.

xoxo,

Trish

{A New Orleans Summer Wedding...}

Several months back, I was neck deep in making dresses for a summer wedding in New Orleans.  Remember this? Just the other day, the bride sent me a few snapshots.  I was so excited to see the dresses on the big day - I think they fit perfectly for a summer wedding in New Orleans, don't you think so?

These dresses are Pink Fig patterns and we adapted them to work for the wedding by changing up the hemlines and adding some additional details, etc.  I think they worked really well for the occasion and the best thing of all...they can be worn again and again for church and other special occasions.

I had intended to announce our  Lisa Leonard giveaway winner yesterday...but as life would have it..."something came up".  Last week, I got horribly sick for a few days with a nasty awful cold something or other.  Then one of the peas got sick.  And we both got better somewhere around Monday.  On Monday, Sprout fell off of a dining room chair.  Which seemed not to be a big deal but turns out she may have had a toddler fracture...and so I spent time running her around to the doctors office and then over for scans.  Came back negative.  Good news.  Then the other pea came down sick.  Then we had a swim team breakfast, a final practice, our swim team Championships, then I got sick again with fever for two days, then Sprout got a fever and they thought maybe her leg was infected so I spent last night with her at the hospital while that was all checked out.  Today...today all of us are well.  Sprout's leg is fine, not great, but the second round of scans still showed negative fractures so not sure why she is still fussing over it.  She still has a fever but she seems to be doing much better.  And the peas are better.  And life is almost normal here.  Whatever that is.

Breath...ok, and so that's why I didn't get everything updated.  Old Mr. Random Number Generator...choose #8, Celeste.  Congrats Celeste!  Have fun shopping over at Lisa Leonard Designs.  And thank you to everyone else who participated.

And THANK YOU Lori, for featuring my pattern on your blog this week. LOVE HAZEL - go share some love with her, please?!

xoxo,

Trish

Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway

{this post sponsored by Lisa Leonard Designs} Have you had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Leonard?

"My desire is to create simple, lovely pieces that can be worn with jeans or your little black dress.  I want each piece to be meaningful.  Our custom jewelry is hand-stamped with your kids’ names or a special phrase or verse.  I love to touch my necklace throughout the day and reflect on my husband and my sweet boys."

Lisa is the designer of all things shiny and fabulous...seriously, you've most likely seen her gorgeous jewelry before across blogland.  Can you hear the swooning?

Lisa has been generous enough to offer one of our Two Peas readers at $50 gift certificate for her shop!  Yikes!  How awesome is that?!

Here's whatcha gotta do to enter the giveaway:  THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

1)  Visit Lisa's shop and take a look around.  Come back here and leave a comment on your favorite item.  (one entry)

2)  Tweet about this giveaway THEN come back here and leave a separate comment that you have done so.  (one entry)

3)  Blog about this giveaway THEN come back here and leave 3 separate (but duplicate, yes, that's ok) comments with link. (two entries)

4)  Follow my blog and leave a comment that you have done so (one entry)

5)  Fan my Facebook page at Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs (one entry)

WOW!  That's six possible entries for this giveaway!  Good luck!

{This giveaway will close on Friday, July 23rd at midnight EST.   A winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Saturday, July 24th. }

Hodgepodge...that's kinda my schtick

I'm a scrappy kind of sewer. I like to use a lot of color.  Patchwork.  Scrappy.  Rough.  Imperfect.  I like it that way.  For Christmas in 2008, I made my parents a scrappy quilt.  Just a throw quilt to use in front of the telly at night or in the car while they travel.  My Mom handed it back to me a few months ago because a couple of the blocks had pulled apart.  (pats self on back...way to go Trish).

It was December 22nd and I was still sewing away at this quilt.  I stayed up until 3am one night just so I could sew kid free.  My parents really liked it so I felt bad that it had pulled apart.There and over here.  See?  That's where the blocks had pulled apart.  Is there a legit way to patch these?  I have no idea because I'm not really a quilter so I did what I do and got more scrappy with it (as if it weren't scrappy enough already).  I thought if I put some kind of square block on them that first of all, they would have to be pretty big to cover the full tear.  Second, I thought, it would be so much like the blocks that to only have a couple where the tears were would make the whole quilt look odd.  SO...I frequently revert back to dots.  My logo being the peas, I try to replicate dots in a lot of things that I do.  And that's how we came upon patching with dots.

But I couldn't do just two...I had to do more over the whole quilt to "even" them out.  Luckily, my niece was here last weekend.  She wanted me to do some dorm room sewing for her and so she stayed the weekend with us, watching kids so we could have a date night and then sew for her.  (Dang, if I only she lived closer.  I could SO enjoy that at least every other weekend...it was great to have her around but she lives an hour and a half south of us.)

Anyway, once I patched it...um, everyone loved it in our house.  My niece slept with it.  Everytime I lay it down, the kids come running to snuggle up on it or under it.  I really need to make one for ourselves I guess.  Well, see there?  Sprout...running from the playhouse like she had "quilt radar" when I laid it down to take a photo.

A perfect summer afternoon, napping on a quilt in the shade.  Mom...I'm just sayin', not sure this quilt will be making it back home to your house anytime soon.  Sorry about that.

Join me back here tomorrow...for a lovely sponsored giveaway from Lisa Leonard designs.  So many lovelies to choose from - one lucky reader will get something wonderful!  Come back and find out more tomorrow...

xoxo,

Trish

Danielle...from just a jump north from Columbus, helped me test the Patsy Ann.  I'm not sure how I got so lucky as to have so many fabulous women volunteer to test for me but Danielle is one of those amazing women who I wish I could be more like...

"Joint heir with Christ, Wife to an international man of mystery, Mom to 5 home educated blessings, for sanity time I run and sew. Have yet to figure out how to combine both passions into one :) And while I love sewing and like running, the thing I am most passionate about is being a great wife and mother. I delight in the ministry God has given me in my home. When I married I neither cooked or sewed. But the learning curve was worth it and I am now passing these life long skills along to my daughters and "mom" friends."

Ok Danielle, I have an idea.  You've seen those little handheld "sewing machines" "As advertised on TV", right?  So, for small projects, you know, like a pillowcase...get it all pinned before you go, take that hand held machine...viola!  Sew and run at the same time.  Genius, I know.  Thanks for your help Danielle!

Now, the photos came out a little grainy but the smile is unmistakable.  Meet Megan from the Newlywives. Megan and her cousin Emily are newly married, both to Matt's and are the blog authors at the Newlywives.   Their blog, well, it's as much fun as Megan looks here!  Fun!Megan was kind enough to give the Madison bag a test run and she made up this cute version in brown.  She even patchworked the strap which is a look I love!  Thanks Megan for testing and go visit her and send her some love (she has a great posts on gardening, cooking and I LOVE the posts they've done on handmade weddings.)

If you've made up the Patsy Ann Apron Top (or plan to before August 15th) be sure to post it over on my Flickr page.  Everybody who has posted a Patsy Ann project over there by August 15th will be entered into a drawing for a $25 shop credit to Two Peas.  (ohh...how cool!)

Patterns are about all I've doing lately.  Well, that and hanging out at the pool.  The girls are on swim team at our city pool this summer and I do always look forward to it because practice time gives me an excuse to sit poolside and sew, chat and swim with Sprout for several hours a day.

I really had the best of intentions of being really organized this summer and getting so much done.  But, I think I've given in to the reality that life with kids is very unpredictable.  I mean, I knew that before but, the more kids you add to the mix, the more "stuff" that happens, literally, every day.  The best laid plans, fall apart daily it seems like.  I've put out the call for help to many of my friends to help me with sewing orders, testing, trying to do all these things.

The truth is, this business of mine, is really important to me.  I guess I feel like after my husband and I have served in careers in service to others in law enforcement and education, we deserve to do something for ourselves.   There is nothing good in life that doesn't come from hard work and sacrifice.  And we work really, really hard.  All I really want is to take care of my kids and worry about how to do that  a little less.  Clothe them, feed them, make their life a little easier.

Is that too much to ask?  Isn't that what we are all trying to do everyday?

xoxo,

Trish

These girls can rock it...

I know!  Right...so these girls came to my sewing class and went TOTALLY WILD!!! Nah!  Just teasing...but there is a good story behind this photo.  See...last month we had a fun little Two Peas Sewing Bee that was making basic pillowcase dresses with a few tiny Two Peas tweaks.  One of the girls made a dress that was size 10.  Well...see here...she's holding it up.  See?!Doesn't it look like it would fit a grown woman?  Well...that's what we all thought too!  So we totally convinced her to try it on and told her it would be so cute on HER!  Um, yeah, so size 10...not so much converting to a full grown womens size.  And thus...she kinda got stuck.  This is how we ended up with our "Girls Gone Wild" version photo from our Sewing Bee up there.  (mind you these are all iphone photos - excuse the quality - I edited them as best I could)

Well, we DID have a good time at the sewing bee and commented about how "cool" we all were for spending our Friday night out with the girls...sewing.  Because sewing is...so cool.  I mean it's totally, the hip thing to do these days.  All the cool kids are doing it.  Wanna try?

Well, here's your chance.  We have another sewing bee class coming up on Friday, July 23rd at 6pm.  We will be making the Patsy Ann Apron top and a matching doll apron to go with it.  Registration and fee info can be found here.

Now, I have to leave you with these images because they will melt your heart.  One of the Moms left before we did our group shots but she sent me these of her darling modeling her finished dress we made in class that night.  Seriously!  Could you eat her with a spoon or what?!

Do you LOVE the matching hair bows?  Me too!  She has a Facebook fan page for her bows now...you have to see all her cute little creations she's made.

If you wanna try out a basic pillowcase dress...just ask.  I do have a PDF version of my basic pattern that are available (for a small fee...I know, what?!  Not free?  My husband is gonna make me stop all this crazy sewing stuff if I don't start showing something for the oodles and oodles of time I spend doing it!)  Really, $3 you get a nice full color PDF pattern with all my hints for making a basic single panel dress.  Not the ribbon in the casing kind...I have a different twist to it.

(...and I promise to add more freebies soon....there's a few over there.  No, to the left sidebar, under tutorials.  Even a nice purse pattern!)

Come sew with us if you can or if you can't sew "with" us...sew along and share your projects over on my Flickr page!  Did I mention there might be a "sale" going on with one of my patterns currently?   And maybe a giveaway or something like that...hint! hint!  (you. might. want. to. look. at. my. Facebook. fan. page.  I'm just sayin'...you might...)

Happy Summer Sewing,

xoxo,

Trish

Heartfelt thanks...

I am Regina Helmer, owner & creative mind behind SandDance Designs. I am a wife and SAHM. I have been married to my wonderful and supportive husband for almost 7years. My life is more blessed by having two toddler girls, ages 1 & 3 years old. My girls are an amazing source of inspiration in my designs.

I currently have a shop on Etsy (a must see!)

I love to make clothing for infants & toddlers. I believe in making clothing affordable for the everyday and unique for the special days. Every little girl should have clothing that reflects her own spirit. I started sewing because I was really disappointed with the mass produced cookie clothes most retail chains sell. Why can't toddlers be stylish too???

I have a passion for fabric and sewing, more like an addiction :) It really excites me to look at a bolt of fabric and start to imagine a design concept, trims and patterns. I really enjoy using vintage patterns and giving them a modern spin and making them current.

It is a blessing to be able to share a craft that I love so much.

Thank you Regina for testing - your input was fantastic! - Trish

I'm a stay at home mom to two (a 5 year old boy and a two year old girl).  In the sewing world, I'm still a newcomer - I've been sewing for less than a year, but i love it and sew as much as possible.

I was  a music major in college (voice) but I worked as an insurance underwriter for lawyer's malpractice insurance before my son was born (yeah, talk about a switch).  I love musical theatre (it's so fun to be someone else for a short time, it really helps you appreciate your own life) and take part in community theatre whenever I can (which is usually about once a year).

I love reading Dusty's blog - she always is trying new stuff!  Stop over at her blog and say hello!  Thanks Dusty for your help in testing!

I do have several more patterns coming down the pike...if you are interested in testing, keep an eye out.  I'll be asking for help soon!  AND are you a Two Peas Facebook fan?  You might want to check out the fan page...for a coupon code for the Patsy Ann Apron Top featured here!

xoxo,

Trish

A Little Piece of Daddy or Mommy...close to my heart

For many families...they will be celebrating the 4th of July as a single parent.  They have a spouse who is serving our country and find that while we are all enjoying our freedoms that make America great - they are juggling everyday to take care of the house, the kids, work and worry and wait until their soldier comes home. Last week, my cousin Annette mentioned that my "Little Piece of Daddy" post from Earth Day would be a great project for those families.  What a perfect way to keep Daddy close then for a little girl to wear one of her Daddy's shirts.  My girls loved this project when we made these for just that reason.  It was a way to be close to their Daddy.

I thought it was worth repeating the first project I shared plus a new one with a t-shirt I made up last week.  These are both really quick.  Really easy.  And your kids will love more than anything that they get to wear something of Daddy's.

This camo t-shirt actually belonged to one of the Peas.  To make it into a dress for Sprout, here's what I did.  First, I cut the sleeves off and followed the outline from one of her tank tops to give the armholes a correct curve and size.

That will help you get the sizing down to a fit for your little one.  I saved the sleeves.  I cut the sleeves into strips, sewed a gathering stitch in hunter orange across the top (I say hunter orange like I meant to use that thread...I actually just didn't feel like changing the thread colors plus I like a little pop of color on the camo) of each strip and pulled / gathered it to fit on the front of the shirt.  I made 4 total strips.

You can see the top two strips I used the part of the sleeve that had the hem.  The next two were left raw.  It's knit, it won't fray much so it's ok to leave as is.  (and I'm a lazy sewer...I was going for the "a dress in 20 minute" look)  I layered each row just under the last row until all 4 rows were sewn on.

Then I wanted to add a couple of little roses.From the sleeves I cut off, I cut a couple of strips about 1/2" wide.  Starting in the center of my rose, I stitched right down the middle of that strip, slowly, and kept pulling and turning into a circle.  As I sewed, I kept moving my last row out of the way so as not to stitch it down or over it.  With my stitches down the center of the strip, you pull up the two sides to create your "petals" of the rose...make sense?

Then, with right sides together, I serged the dress from the bottom of the armhole down the cuts I had made to pull the dress back together.  I left the armholes raw meaning I did not hem them or anything - just cut and left them.  They roll in a bit on their own and it looks just fine.  That's it.  A new dress in minutes...

Now, what dress is not complete without a cute pair of boots, right?  Sprout has great fashion sense.Now, another method is to use a buttondown shirt of Daddy's and make it a sleeveless dress.  Here, I added ruffles and some additional fabric to the bottom to make a skirt.  {click on the photo and you'll find the 411 from the original post on this shirt dress}Thank you to all the wonderful men and women who serve our country in the military.  Thank you to your families for the sacrifices they have made so that you can serve to keep us all safe.  Freedom isn't free and everyday, our family thanks you for giving us our freedom.  May God bless you and hold you in the palm of His hand and carry you safely home.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

xoxo,

Trish

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Just chugging along, trying like mad to get everything to print and move it out... Are you a retailer brick and mortar or online and would be interested in carrying my patterns?  Please email me for wholesale order information.

Are you a home sewist and would like to purchase one of my patterns...thank you so much!  You will find them added as available in my etsy store.  You'll find an easy link to my store over there...no, over that way, to the right...yeah, see it?  The etsy button...go click there to be whisked away to the land of etsy...a place of all handmade goods by amazing artists from all over the globe.

{a recipe for fun...}

Mix well and add two very busy little swimmers on swim team plus a toddler in tow and you have a summer that is whirling around us as fast as can be...promise I'll be back to share much more about all these little snippets soon!

Enjoy these lazy days of summer!  {stop in over at Etsy it Up...you might find a birthday giveaway or 19! that you want to enter including something from Two Peas...}

xoxo,

Trish

Summer Sunday Bag

Say hello to a few amazing crafters...

Continuing on with "holla" out to my girls who helped test patterns for me.  Geniune, lovely, creative and talented describes these ladies.  I love to see what they are coming up with next and watch their adorable kids grow.

Paige Hill is the talented lady who works in marketing for Where Women Create, the magazine.  We "met" online almost a year ago now.  Paige has been a really great supporter of my art - offering me features on both the WWC blog as well as inviting me to guest blog on the Creative Connection Event site. This fabulous event that is being put on by WWC is full of the most awesome stuff ever.  Session after session with fabulous artists who get to craft along with.  I'm still crossing my fingers I can go (it's in September - I'm also hoping to hit up Houston in October for Quilt Market so not sure I can leave the gardener at home that much.  Men don't multi task for long very well.  A day, maybe.  More than one...I worry about his sanity).

Paige is a fantastic artist herself and a published author.  Her version of the Patsy Ann Apron top included ric rac, a posie and more.  See her blog for all the details!

KIMBERLY VOJACEK is another wonderfully talented pattern tester.  Kimberly doesn't blog or have a shop - she just sews for her own children and was so kind to help me out.  Kimberly shares a little about herself with us..."I am a mother of two beautiful girls, 8 and 10 years old.  I work part-time for St. Stephen's Community House as a Volunteer Coordinator.  Most of my time is spent with the girls and their many activities.  I do enjoy crafting - scrapbook, cardmaking, cross-stitching, sewing, and my new craft, crochet!!  I am very passionate about raising my two girls to be compassionate, independent and responsible women.  I believe that being their mother is the most important job I have!"

Nikki Rainey is also known as "Madame Crafty"... a name her husband has bestowed upon her and for good reason.  She is all kinds of crafty and shares a bit about herself here...

Nikki Rainey has been a military wife for almost 14 years and takes her home business with her wherever she goes with her Army husband.  Family is most important to her. Her business includes everyone in the family and makes it possible for them to spend most of their time together.  She has been teaching various craft and quilting classes for over 10 years. She has her own quilting business, NikKitty Quilting & Design , as well as a beading party business. Nikki and her husband just updated their long-arm quilting machine to one of the uber-cool Gammill Statler models. Nikki likes to blog about her quilting and blogs about it here on her blog.  She enjoys pattern designing as well as customizing other patterns.

Two Peas in a Pod was her first experience pattern testing for someone else. Always in the past someone has been pattern testing for her.  She says this experience was a lot of fun!

Her husband likes to make quilting tools out of wood. He makes seam rippers, stilettos, crochet hooks, and also nice writing pens on his lathe. You can see his work in their etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/nrnoodle

Nikki tested the Madison bag for me...and hers is so cute.  You'll have to pop in over here and tell her so yourself!

I still have a few more wonderful friends I'll be featuring over the next couple of weeks.  Can't thank you all enough for testing for me - I'm very blessed to have your input!

xoxo,

Trish

{a heavy heart}

It's been a strange few weeks as of late. I want to be a glass is half full kind of girl but mine has soured milk in it and it's making me look over my shoulder and say, "hey, who put this here?  This isn't good".

Started with best friends of ours announcing they were divorcing.  Felt like a sucker punch to the gut.  Totally didn't see that coming.  Just decided they'd be best friends to one another but just wanted different things.  No hard feelings.  Just wanted to move on.  My heart is heavy and grieving for the loss.  The first one of the week.

The second loss came days later.  Do you remember not long ago, back here...where I was sharing with you that we had a friend we were helping to care for with terminal cancer?  His wife was not / is not well.  She really didn't have the capacity to advocate for his care in the end and we tried to get social workers to intervene as they could to make sure he was comfortable and cared for properly.   I'm starting to think maybe his wife has Alzheimer's because her behavior has been erratic and mean and down right, kind of crazy.  She either has called here to yell at my husband about silly things like, the fact he didn't gas her car up (that still had half a tank full) on a Sunday afternoon like she wanted.  He offered to come at 8am the next morning to do it but that just made her mad.  But she has called here at least twice to yell at him, curse him and then hang up on him for not coming right when she called saying she can't depend on him for anything.  He'd call our friend and say, "Good Morning, this is Mr. Preston..." and "click!".  So odd since she has doted over our family for years and years until her husband got sick.  And like a switch, she just turned on everyone.  She's hung up on neighbors calling to ask how her husband was, responding with "ain't none of your damn business" and then "click".  She started to become very unpredictable with her temper with our friend.  Nursing staff was worried.  I know she must be scared about being alone and her own failing health but she made it very difficult in the end.  She had every nurse on pins and needles and cursed at all of them and at her husband every time she saw him - he'd call our home everyday upset, in pain, and crying for help.  It just wasn't the way you want the end of your life to be.  I think we helped him have some bright spots and gave him love and attention he needed since he had no children of his own.  We made him part of our family.

The one night about 3 weeks ago, when we just decided after supper to go and see our friend and take the kids turned out to be a good decision.  He was still up and on his feet.  I wrote this after that night...

"One of the peas said in a whisper when we were there last night, “can I ask Bob if I can give him a hug?”.  The gardener said, I think he’d like that.  Go ahead.  And so she asked, “can I give you a hug Bob?”.  He said of course and they both got tears in their eyes.  One of them 9 years old, the other almost 90.  I know there’s a heaven but the real human part of me can’t help but to still be frightened about the end."

Bob went on to heaven yesterday morning.  He was a good man, a good friend, and our family will miss him.

The first thing one of the peas said to me when I told them, "Mama, that's a good thing, right?  He's in heaven now and he's all better and happy.  Right?  This is a good thing, right?".  Comforting words from a 9 year old whose next sentiment was, "Does this mean NOW we can play with his wheelchair?".  It's been sitting in our garage for the last 2 weeks since we took him to the hospital and they've been begging to sit in it and push each other around.

God's peace Bob.  Your work here is done.  You did good.  Rest and be well.  We will see you soon.

xoxo,

Trish

Beautiful Blooms

Maria is many things. A chemist by trade with an MBA.

A stay/work at home Mom to 4 children whose ages range from 2 1/2 to 7.

A beautiful talent.

Maria tested the Patsy Ann Apron Top for me recently and I adore how cute hers turned out...check it out here.  She has a great eye for making accessories that the two peas squeal over.  Like what you say?

This set is awesome! Embroidered name on the pocket and a really cool organizer to go with it. This would make such a great baby shower gift!

Click on any of the photos and you'll magically transported to Maria's Beautiful Blooms shop on etsy.  You must take a gander as well as visit with her on her blog and take a moment to say hello for me, won't you?  Thanks Maria for testing for me!

xoxo,

Trish

{Lori lives to sew} or something like that

Lori swears she's not a "bag girl".  "Claims" she's not very good at sewing purses so she was excited to give my Madison bag a try to see if she could do it and she felt she might have some good feedback for me since it wasn't something she was experienced with.

Lori of "Love Hazel" started sewing regularly when her son was just a toddler.  Many afternoons, she would sit down with her grandmother, Hazel, and listen and learn to quilt.  I think that's one of the things I love about sewing is that it is truly a connection to our past.  A skill we pass down through generations and keepsakes we create that are treasured.

Lori has created many treasures.  She is a wonderful seamstress of all things girly.  This little dress she whipped up with no pattern - just followed a similar shirt from her daughters dress and figured it out along the way.  {ps Lori, I would like one of these, exact same fabrics, tunic style, size 8 for ME...please}.

Lori has a huge heart and is passionate about working with people who have are differently challenged (some would say disabled...but I like to just say they are differently challenged.)  Her biggest passion, aside from sewing and fabric, is being a wife and mother.  Which she does with grace and style.

Thank you Lori for helping me and testing patterns from my Sprouts line.  Visit Lori's etsy shop where you will find fabulous goodies to make your own and of course, check out her blog for delicious eye candy.

{Remember meeting Sarah B last week?  Sweet wonderful Sarah has also blogged about her adventures in pattern testing for me.  You can find her version of the Madison bag here. }

The Madison bag will be available this month...JUNE!  And I'm so excited that there are MORE MORE MORE patterns coming down the pike from our Sprout line including some home dec items.