monkey doodle designs

Who am I?

2012-01-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

Clearly, I am not a blogger. I've tried, and it's just not my thing. I make no apologies.

I am a social media junkie, and you can find me on Twitter and Facebook. If you clicked on my Facebook link, you'll notice that I linked you to my personal page, not my business page.

Because I'm not there much. Yes, I still love sewing and creating, but I'm not doing a good job right now of marketing/selling my items. I have an etsy shop, but I'm horrible about adding things to it, and then no one buys anything because I'm not listing anything, and... it's a vicious cycle over there. I wish I had someone to photograph and list my items, because there sure are a ton of them piled up here, not making me any money!

So far, we have determined that I am not a blogger or a marketer, but I am a social media junkie and a crafter.

Last year I made a list of the things/jobs I do in my real life, and it was a diverse compilation.

I am a wife and mother
I am a homeschool teacher
I teach a homeschool class 1x/week for elementary school students at a co-op
I also do the accounting/treasury for that co-op
I work at a local University in the summertime, coordinating their challenge course program
I create items to sell online
I occasionally help draft/write up eBook patterns for the Tie Dye Diva
I help with costuming for local theater productions
I am a Cub Scout leader
I maintain a flock of chickens and (try to) help my husband with his garden in a desire to be more healthy and sustainable

And that's not even including the things that I want to do, like remodeling & decorating my house, traveling, reading, camping, building a self-sufficient homestead...

So this is who I am. I am Carol. And I do a lot of stuff. I do the things I enjoy, and when I no longer enjoy them, I try to eliminate them from my life.

I've been toying with the idea of closing down Monkey Doodle Designs for some time now, but I can't bring myself to do it. Somehow in my mind, if I don't have an official business, I can't justify my love of creating (and, let's face it, I need the tax break for the thousands of dollars I spend on supplies each year). I don't have a "niche" market because I love trying new patterns and designs. What I really need is a market where someone (preferably a lot of someones, and preferably someones with a lot of money) to come to me and say, "I want a [insert name of created item here]- will you make one for me?" That's the kind of work I thrive on.

(and for all of you Les Miserables fans out there, I am not Jean Valjean)

No ducks!

2011-04-10T07:59:00.001-07:00

Well, at least not the costume kind. I have removed all custom-order costumes from my etsy shop while I work on costumes for the upcoming Arts Alive student production of Les Miserables. So far, I have counted 133 different characters and some of them will require costume changes. Yikes!

Thanks for understanding. I plan to have several costume options available again at the end of the summer for Halloween 2011 orders

Disney x 3 and a prom dress

2011-04-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's me, the busy one! In addition to all of this sewing, I have also started a part-time job at Elon University, and subsequently enrolled my kids in public school for the first time ever (we have homeschooled their entire lives). My job is only through the end of the semester and I've always been curious about how they'd do in school (wonderful, so far!) Still, I do miss all the time I had at home to sew before I started working.

Okay time for the project wrap-up:
* the last-minute Sleeping Beauty dress (it wasn't supposed to look exactly like the Disney version)

* Donald & Daisy Duck costumes

* and a prom dress for a sweet girl, based on a paper doll dress she found online that was based on a vintage 1940's gown. Here are the originals:

And here's what I did:

Pretty dresses for pretty girls!

2011-03-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

No, I did not leave the planet, country, or state. It feels like I haven't even left my sewing room! I had noble intentions of writing up a fun tutorial for my 100th blog post, but then I got slammed with orders in addition to keeping up with life in general.

In addition to the 2 colonial girl dresses from my last post, I also made 3 boys shirt/breeches sets and one additional dress for the same family, one full boy's costume with the vest, AND then I costumed my friend's 4 kiddos with only a week's notice before their trip to Williamsburg!

Moving forward in history (only about 15 years), I made dresses for three beautiful young ladies who attended a Regency-style English Country dance. It was like I stepped into a Jane Austen novel! Here are two of the girls in their gowns.

After I caught up with those orders, I moved on to costumes for Sleeping Beauty Kids, starting with eight gorgeous, fluffy, pastel-colored tutus for the fairies. I was in cotton candy heaven! After a few other minor projects for the play, I was also drafted to make an 11th hour dress for Sleeping Beauty herself when the one they had fell through (still working on that one- pictures to come!)

Whew! Are you exhausted yet? I've got to get another Donald and Daisy in the mail before next week, then I'll be moving on to my next costuming project: Les Miserables Student Edition!

It's my 100th post!

2011-02-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

And I'm just going to be boring and give you 2 weeks worth of updates because last Tuesday (which it the day I told myself I was going to blog each week) the internet was out at my house. I nearly went insane. And I did, in fact, go to the McDonald's parking lot and sit in my car with my laptop and use their free wifi for about an hour. Thankfully, internet service was restored the following day, but my desire to blog was not.

So, in the past 2 weeks, I have:

* finished & shipped a Donald Duck costume to its new home in Utah where it will be a part of a school's 3rd grade play for many years to come.

* made 2 colonial girl's dresses for a family who will be visiting Colonial Williamsburg next month. I also made 2 pairs of breeches (knee-length knicker-ish pants) for the boys in the family, but I still need to get to their shirts.

* sewed 3 iPod touch covers for a friend in need

* made a really quick belt for myself yesterday when I realized I didn't own any belts (how does that happen, anyway?) but the outfit I was wearing needed one.

So now I have a few more colonial costume pieces to finish, and then I can move on to fairy tutus for Sleeping Beauty Kids! It is the first of 3 plays that I am costuming through June.

While my 100th post wasn't monumental, my 101st is going to be a great sew-along tutorial to make a little girl's skirt and matching dolly skirt in about an hour. I had lots of fun this afternoon working on it with my friend's daughter, Ashley, and her doll Isabella. Let's see if I can have it done by next Tuesday!

Clean up- everybody, everywhere

2011-01-25T14:39:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I embarked on a (seemingly) simple project: I was going to put labels on the cloth bins that hold each family member's hat, gloves, etc. And I wanted to use some cute little scrapbooking stickers that I am no longer using for scrapbooking. Except I couldn't find those stickers. That led to an all day purge/reorganization/clean-up of my sewing room. I eventually found the stickers. I got rid of a bunch of stuff that didn't belong in there. I found a lot of random, long-lost personal items (pocketknife, anyone?) And the room is still in a state of upheaval. Not quite as bad as this. And it doesn't look like this, yet. But I'm getting there.

Knit hat- done

Lion costume- done!

Ducks- uh. yeah, about those Ducks... I bought some fabric for them. That counts for something, right?

A Match Made in Heaven

2011-01-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to join the pattern-making club. My first pattern was the Peek A Boo Pleats skirt, which has been sold on You Can Make This for almost 2 years. I've also written up- to varying degrees of completeness- several other patterns that I don't really have the time or skill to finish up and publish.

Enter Jen, the Tie Dye Diva. She's an excellent pattern maker/eBook author, and was in need of some new patterns for her collection.

Do you see where this is going?

I am now authoring patterns for Tie Dye Diva! Jen has tweaked the Peek A Boo Pleats skirt pattern, and it's now available for sale in her etsy shop.

We've got several more patterns on the way, so stay tuned!

Cosmo!

2011-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Update from last week's projects: My Cosmo Bag is done! This was sort of an accidental project; I found out that JemJam was hosting a sew-along, and I thought "hmm, that's nice." Then I saw the fabrics a friend had picked out to make her Cosmo bag, and I really wanted to get involved. Why? I don't know. I think it might have been because I liked my friend's fabrics. And the fact that she pulled them all from her stash was certainly appealing. I began to wonder what I could pull together from my stash. But I didn't have the book, and I didn't want to buy the book.

And then I needed to order orange faux fur. Yes, you heard me right. 1.5 inch long, orange shaggy faux fur for a custom-ordered lion costume. All I can say is God Bless fabric.com, because where on earth else would I find something as amazing as what they sent me (and it was on sale, too!) But in order to get free shipping, I needed $35 worth of merchandise in my cart so... in went Amy Butler's Style Stitches.

Well, once that book arrived, it was all I could think about. It didn't take me long to select my fabrics, and I cut the pieces out while watching Pride and Prejudice. Gosh, I love that movie! It makes even tedious fabric cutting utterly delightful.

First of all, this bag is BIG. Like, pack for an entire weekend big. I've even seen pictures that people have taken of their not-so-small children in this bag! The worst thing I can say about it is that it took an absurd amount of interfacing (around 6 yards), because it went together very nicely after everything was cut out and interfaced. Upon the recommendation of a fellow sewer-alonger, I used plastic canvas to stiffen the bottom of the bag, which gives it a little more structure, and I also added a zipper to part of one of the interior pockets to secure things that need securing. Overall, I am really happy with how it turned out, but I'm not an enormous bag kind of girl, so I think I'll put it in my etsy shop. The very best part was that each and every component, even the interfacing, even the perfect little pink zipper and even the adorable vintage button all came from my stash. Yay me!

Other things I did this week:

1) Continued on the hat I started knitting for myself last week. It's about 70% done.

2) Made a yellow lion costume with an orange fux fur mane :o)

3) Cleaned up my sewing room a little more. Decided to evict the neglected scrapbooking supplies. Still not anywhere close to being ready to paint, and I have lots of other orders that will be taking up my time.

This coming week will be devoted to the Donald & Daisy Duck costumes that have been ordered, and then a monster clean-up from all the left over orange fur and white duck fluff before I move back to my good old woven cotton that does not shed all over me and my sewing room.

2011

2011-01-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

I'm off to a positive, creative start to 2011. I have decided to eliminate several things from my life that have taken away from my sewing and crafting time. I'm going to do better with blogging and sharing what I'm making, and getting/keeping my name out there in the creative community. Yes, it's January 10 and I'm just getting around to making resolutions.

My sewing room took a major hit due to lack of attention after my busy Halloween season, and I just spent the last week getting it back in working order. My goal is to get everything really cleaned up so I can paint the walls.

So far in 2011, I have:

1) Tested the Tie Dye Diva's new fleece mitten pattern

2) Sewed an Emmeline apron by Sew Liberated for myself! Yes, I am actually keeping it!

3) Made an art smock for my youngest son.

4) Bought Amy Butler's Style Stitches book to participate in JemJam's sew-along (Cosmo bag is already cut using stash fabric- yippee!)

5) During my TV time, I'm knitting a hat for myself using some yarn that matches my way-too-old ski jacket.

Whew- that's a lot for 10 days, and most of it was done since Friday!

I'm determined to keep going strong; I've got 7 costume orders to work on in the next few weeks, a huge stash to sew through, and I'm determined to get some new things in my etsy store, too. Check back soon to make sure I'm staying on track! I welcome encouragement and feedback on twitter and Facebook, too.

Saturday Stream of Consciousness

2010-11-13T09:32:00.001-08:00

I'm sure it's not a good idea to blog ONLY when entering a contest, but perhaps that was just the incentive I needed.

Halloween wrap-up
This year I sewed:
*5 Ducks (Donald or Daisy)
*4 lions
*2 Dorothys
*2 Princess Tianas
*1 frog prince
*1 peacock
*1 tin man
*1 scarecrow
*1 Glinda
*1 colonial boy

Those are my boys and niece as the Wizard of Oz crew. Who can resist a 2 year old Dorothy travelling with her posse of devoted older cousins?

I really feel like there was more, but it's been a long time since Halloween and I've tried to put the memories of the related sewing mayhem out of my mind (I am STILL sweeping up duck fluff and lion mane fur!). I wish I could be as successful getting rid of all the lingering candy at my house, but eating it myself is not exactly working towards my goal of dropping a few pounds. Oh well, it's the holidays, right?

So once again, here I am with an excuse about why I haven't been sewing. Really, it just LOOKS like I haven't been sewing because I haven't listed a lot. I have actually beens sewing quite a bit.

My new obsession is aprons. I made my first one about a year ago, and intended to keep it for myself but it turned out so cute that I couldn't resist listing it (money > clean clothes while baking... that's a greater than sign up there. Yes, there is math in my Saturday blog. Don't sue me). I bought some adorable Pillow & Maxfield fabric for my birthday and intended to use it to make myself an apron, which I would for real keep this time. But, well, it turned out too cute (and I decided that the particular pattern that I enjoy making is not very flattering on me. And we all know that baking should be about looking good!) so I will be listing it as soon as I get pictures. But here is one that I made, love, AND took pictures of! You can love it, too, and buy it. I plan to go crazy with this particular pattern because A) it is adorable, and B) it is great for using up leftover scraps that I cannot bear to part with. To this day, I am still lacking my own apron. Maybe I should try making one with fabrics I don't like so I'll want to keep it. At any rate, keep your eyes on my store because I have lots more to add!

But the point of this blog was that I love fabric and I love free things and the fun & friendly Melanie from Above All Fabric has given me the opportunity to get fabric as a free thing! First of all, I have to say that I adore Melanie. No, I've never met her and now she's going to think that I'm some kind of weird cyber-stalker, but she really is amazing. Her fabric selection and customer service are perfection, and she always has some kind of great sale or promotion going on. Hands down, she's got the best online fabric shop around. Did you know she even has a wish list feature on her site? I am filling my list up since Christmas is just around the corner. Imagine a Christmas where all the packages were filled with fabric! It's a blissful thought, isn't it? So I'm telling you about the wish list, giving me the chance to win some free fabric. And if YOU blog about it, YOU can be in the free fabric contest, too (details here)! Yes, your entering the contest does decrease my chances of winning, but it's the giving time of year, so I'm giving you a chance to win, too (3 of us can win- let's make it be me and two of my friends. I just won't say who, and you can pretend I'm talking about you!)

Did you miss me?

2010-09-06T08:09:00.001-07:00

Hi, my name is Carol, and I used to sew.

Here are some of the things I've been doing since you last heard from me:

Sewing costumes for Arts Alive's production of The Robe.

Coordinating summer programs for Elon University's Challenge Course.

Starting up a non-profit homeschool tutoring program- Archway Classes.

Being a single mom while my husband traveled for work all summer.

Vacationing at our parents' homes in Virginia Beach and South Carolina.

And reading- oh, reading! I used to read all the time and stopped when my oldest was born because I just didn't have (ie, make) the time for it. But this summer all of my boys can read and now I can read, too! My fare has mostly been tween & adolescent fiction (Mysterious Benedict Society, 39 Clues and Hunger Games series) and I love it!

Now that I am done with most of the above activities, I have time to sew again (HOORAY!) and my list is long! A quilt for a sweet little boy diagnosed with cancer, testing womens knitwear patterns for a friend of mine (I can't wait to show you the results!), and sewing LOTS of Halloween costumes are all on my list. And then I found my stash of Halloween fabric and I *really* want to make something with it now, too!

So I just relisted all of my ready-to-ship Halloween outfits in my etsy shop and am offering free shipping on them to anyone who tells me they read about it in this blog post.

Sewing for me!

2010-04-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

I never sew for myself.

Let me take that back: the few times I have tried to sew for myself have been disastrous, so I just don't do it. Here are my problems:

1) I usually sew for kids, so when I cut things to be my size they look enormous (and I don't want to feel enormous)

2) Commercial pattern sizes are so bizarre. It bugs me that based on my measurements, I need to sew a size 12 or 14 for myself (everyone go check your patterns to see how small I am, LOL!). It just doesn't seem right. Then, inevitably, if I cut and sew the size that the pattern suggests I should wear, it ends up being too big!

3) I am too picky about how things fit and get frustrated if something I'm making for myself doesn't turn out the way I want it to. Then I get mad that I wasted all that time and fabric on something I am never going to wear...

See what I mean? It just doesn't go well.

But last week I ordered some gorgeous fabric from Above All Fabric, including this pretty print from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market line. In my mind, I was going to use it to make a little girls dress but the scale is much larger than I anticipated (the flowers are about 6" in diameter) so I had to scrap that plan. I love this fabric so much that I decided- not without a great deal of trepidation- to make something for myself. But what? I had just over a yard of fabric to work with. An apron seemed like a good option, but it's too pretty to just wear it in my kitchen. I decided I would squeeze a skirt out of this meager yardage.

I looked at just about every pattern out there and settled on this one. I chose option J which called for 1 7/8 yards of fabric, but I knew that I would be shortening it by a few inches and could use a coordinating fabric for the parts that don't show. I was determined to make it work (get it? make it work? and it's a Project Runway pattern? okay...)

Start to finish, it took me less than 4 hours (including a few interruptions from the kiddos). The pattern is very straightforward and would be easy for a novice seamstress. I wouldn't suggest it as the first pattern you ever try: it does require a zipper which can be kinda tricky, but it would be easy enough to try for your first zipper project.

And with no further ado, here it is! Maybe a tiny bit shorter than I would have liked, but pretty darn good for the limited fabric I had. My favorite part is the contrasting gingham-esqe fabric that I used for the yoke and pocket linings. And the fact that I found a zipper the EXACT color of the fabric.

sharing the love

2010-03-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

I discovered Back40Life on etsy a few months ago and have swooned over her gorgeous vinyls ever since. But alas... every time I end up with money in my PayPal account, it ends up being spent on fabric. So when she offered a $25 giveaway in her shop last Friday, I happily entered and even more happily- I WON!

There are LOTS of things in her shop I would love to have for myself, but one of the things I had to do when I entered was comment about my favorite thing in her shop. Well, the first thing that caught my mind was actually something for a dear friend of mine. Here's the story:

My friend's husband had a vasectomy shortly after the birth of their 4th child, and as the months went by afterward, she became increasingly upset that her family was "finished." Knowing that ALL things are possible with God, she followed Hannah's example in the book of 1 Samuel and prayed that God would send them another child. Lo and behold- she did conceive again 2 years after the procedure, and she knew without a doubt that she would be having a little boy. She knew right away that she would name him Samuel, and he was born 10 months ago looking more like his daddy than any child I have ever seen! He is such a sweet miracle baby.

My friend is moving into a larger house this weekend to accommodate her larger family, and Samuel is going to have his own nursery. I know how special this verse is to her, so I am choosing to use my Back40Life credit to purchase this vinyl for Samuel's new nursery.

If YOU would like to win something, I encourage you to become a fan on my Facebook page- I'll be giving away a $34 credit to my etsy store on the 17th!

Monkey gets a Makeover

2010-03-06T13:38:00.001-08:00

For quite a while, I've been needing some work done on my little monkey logo. But graphic work is scary in my mind. Who do you hire? How do you know if you will like the artist, or their work? And most importantly: how on earth will I pay for it?!?

As fate would have it, I met a wonderful new friend a few months ago who does- you guessed it- the most amazing graphic design work! It has been such a joy working with Andie Freeman of Wowhouse Designs. She is just opening her etsy shop, but you can see more of her work on her website. She's also got a cute little etsy shop called Scribbles and Nibs.

Be sure to pop around my various social media outlets (over there --> on the sidebar) to see the many versions of my monkey's makeover!

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

2010-01-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who commented hoping to win the adorable modkid dress bag pattern. You ladies have some fun travels planned! The lucky winner (who would like to go to Australia or on a Disney cruise with her bag) is Jennifer Bailey! Jennifer- please contact me with your shipping info.

As far as travels go, I was able to go on a brief journey of my own yesterday- I took the older boys skiing for Finn's birthday! It was their first time skiing (and my first time in over 10 years) but we all did great and had perfect weather.

And as for the chicken dinner, well, I'm about to look up some new recipes for my crock pot. We've got a winter storm heading our way this weekend and I need comfort food when it's cold outside. Stay warm, everyone!

Testing, testing...

2010-01-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, when we were both new to the boutique sewing world (on eBay, back in those days...) I "met" Patty Young of modkid fame when we were both members of Adagio Bleu Studios. It has been amazing to watch her career take off since then- if you haven't seen her fabric lines or patterns, you are really missing out. They are amazing!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a tester for her newest line of patterns, and just before Christmas I received a box full of fabric from her latest collection, Flora & Fauna, along with the rough draft pattern for the dolly-sized modkid dress bag! Her pattern books are so beautiful and easy to use- full of colorful pictures, helpful tips, and easy-to-follow steps. While this was a more complicated project (it involves zippers, grommets, and gussets, oh my!) the conversational tone of her clear instructions helped me create a gorgeous garment bag. Wanna see it? It's the turquoise hummingbird one on the inspiration gallery page.

What about you? Want to try it?

Like I said, this is not a pattern for beginners, but if you are an experienced seamstress you should give it a try. I am going to give away one copy of the modkid dress bags pattern which includes instructions for both the dolly size bag I made and the larger girly bag (shhh... I'm not a girly girl but I may have to make one of these for myself!) If you'd like to win a copy of this pattern, just leave me a comment telling me where you would like to travel with this garment bag. If you'd like to promote this giveaway on your social media of choice (twitter, facebook, etc.), feel free to do so! I'll be randomly choosing a winner on the night of my son's 10th birthday (this Thursday, January 28).

Proud Mama moment

2010-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

My 3 boys usually dread going to the fabric store, and sometimes I bribe them by promising to buy them fabric to make something like pajama pants. I also make them entertain themselves at the pattern table by looking through Simplicity and McCall's pattern books (Halloween costumes are their favorites).

A few months ago, Finn (who will be 10 in 2 weeks) expressed interest in sewing something himself. Not wanting to squelch his creativity, I bought him a pattern (Simplicity 3553) and allowed him to pick out fabric to make his own pajama pants. He found a royal blue tie-dye fleece that he loved and I went with that since it would mean we wouldn't have to worry about finishing any seams. I had him read the instructions and take his measurements, and the pants got cut a few weeks before Christmas. And then they sat in my sewing room for a month.

Fast forward to this week when our local Chik Fil A was having a pajama party night and kids wearing pajamas got a free kids meal. Finn didn't want to wear any of his store-bought pajamas (too embarrassing), so I encouraged him to sew the pants he had started on last month. I got out my old/back up machine and gave him a brief tutorial on how to stitch forward and reverse and keep your seam allowance correct and let him go. It was nerve wracking (would he sew through his finger? would the seam allowance be even?) but I realized that this was HIS project and I needed to let him experience the success and failures that come with sewing. Yes, the seams got a little wobbly at times and he did poke himself with pins frequently, but in the end he had a great fuzzy pair of pants that he was proud to have made himself.

Holiday hangover

2010-01-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

I think that's what I have. Holiday hangover. Holidays are fun at the time, but when they're over, you feel awful and usually have a big mess to clean up.

Compounding my holiday hangover is the (temporary) expansion of my household. My cousin is in the process of moving to NC from Florida, and she and her daughter are temporarily living with us while they look for a home. We love having them so even their long-term visit (they arrived 2 weeks before Christmas) hasn't been too disruptive except in the sewing arena.

You see, their bedroom is the room formerly known as my sewing room. Everything sewing-related got boxed and put away (most of it in a somewhat organized fashion) before their arrival and hasn't seen the light of day since. I almost feel like I am the member of some kind of 12 step program. "Hi, my name is Carol, and it has been 3 weeks since I sewed."

So that, along with two 4 hour Christmas trips and the putting away of decorations and all of the new Christmas presents (all in less space due to our house guests), has me feeling a little hung over.

I wish I could take some Tylenol and sleep it off.

The good news is, they found a house to rent today and will be moving in at the end of the month. Maybe things will settle down then.

Or maybe not.

The X factor in all of this is my husband's job. They told him on Christmas week that his position had been eliminated (nice, huh?) but the company would like to transfer him to a different location. The location of this location is yet to be determined. Selling our house to move in this real estate market seems like a nightmare to me, so we are praying that something opens up locally for him.

This was my very long blog of excuses about why I haven't posted or listed anything new in a while.

Almost famous

2009-11-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, my boys were invited to do a photo shoot for the educational supply company Carson Dellosa. I had actually forgotten all about it until my friend brought me a catalog- and my sons and I were in it!

Alas, that catalog isn't online (I'll try to scan some pictures in later) but I did flip through one of their online catalogs and found another shot of them here.

This one has my middle guy in the olive green shirt and my oldest in the red

And then my little man in red here with my middle guy still in olive green. Okay, so that one's just the tops of their heads. I'm still a proud mama!

Trying to reason with Hurricane Season

2009-11-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hurricane season technically doesn't end until the end of November, so Ida came along decided to be one of the only storms to even come ashore this year. I'm usually pretty fond of hurricanes. I mean, how many natural disasters actually give you several days notice that they are coming? But I digress...

Hurricane Ida made landfall briefly in the Gulf Coast and then sent all of her rain up to North Carolina and Virginia. We are on day 3 of rain, high winds, and general misery here. The big difference about having a hurricane in November instead of the summer is that it is COLD- I think today's high was only in the mid 40's. Power outages have been sporadic in our area; luckily we have not been affected. The creek in our backyard is very high, but not this high.

Since it is miserable outside, I'm going to share a few random things that have made me happy of late:

1. I'm a winner!

Melanie of Above All Fabric is one of my Twitter friends, and she recently had a giveaway for some Quilt Market Goodies on her blog. I was lucky enough to win this amazing FQ collection of Sandi Henderson's new collection called Meadowsweet. It's not even out in stores yet, but there are 17 gorgeous cuts of fabric in the peach colorway on my ironing board, waiting to become something spectacular.

2. Knitting

Much more portable than sewing, and easy to do while catching up on the TV shows that keep piling up on my DVR. I'm currently addicted to making little rolled brim hats for American Girl dolls and matching ones for the girls who love them. I'm taking a bunch to a local craft market tomorrow, but will have some up in my etsy store soon.

3. Patterns

I am currently working on 3 new eBook patterns to debut right before Thanksgiving. Two of them are perfect for Christmas gifts- stay tuned for details! I've got so much going on inside my head right now; I wish there were more hours in a day for me to get everything done.

Speaking of which, I've spent way too much time on this post already...

104 days of summer vacation

2009-11-03T12:07:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen the TV show Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel, you should- it's hilarious. And it has catchy songs- trust me, we own the soundtrack. So when my boys decided that's what they wanted to be for Halloween, I gladly took on the challenge. The results aren't quite perfect, but considering that I didn't have a pattern to work from, I'm pretty pleased with the results.

In other crazy costume news, I was just asked today to make a whale costume for a teenager for a play. A whale, people! Seriously? I have no idea where I'd even begin...

I'm going to spend some time cleaning up my sewing room since it became quite disastrous in there during the costume frenzy last month and I'm also working on a few new patterns that will be perfect for the upcoming holiday season. While I take a break from new listings, be sure to check my etsy store more more destash items- I've got lots of fabric and patterns to get rid of, and who knows what else!

Almost done!

2009-10-29T14:04:00.001-07:00

I'm almost finished with the boys' Halloween costumes. The theme this year is... drumroll, please... Phineas and Ferb! All four of them (including the biggest boy of them all, my husband) are HUGE fans of this Disney Channel show. Of course, there are no sewing patterns for Phineas and Ferb (or their pet platypus, Perry) so I had to construct everything myself. Perry is a mash-up of my animal and Donald Duck costumes that can be found in my etsy store. The hardest part has actually been locating a brown fedora in case he wants to shift into Agent P mode! We found a great black one at Target which I briefly considered spray painting, but then my middle guy started wearing it around the store and he looked so cool! I didn't want to ruin an awesome hat! So, Perry will be sporting a black fedora this year. Deal with it.

Phineas was easy- commercial patterns helped me crank out a striped t-shirt and cargo shorts in no time. My Ferb will be wearing a store-bought short sleeve button down shirt, and I was able to modify an overalls pattern to make his quirky high-waisted pants.

And then there are the heads...

I learned a lot last year when I used felt to make the Animal mask for our Muppets theme Halloween, so I decided to try my hand at designing my own mask patterns for Phineas and Ferb's heads. Phineas is so angular; it was pretty easy to assemble. Ferb's head mask awaits me tonight. I'm thinking it may end up with an oatmeal canister inside it. Wish me luck- I've got less than 24 hours left to pull everything together! I'll share pictures tomorrow when everything is done.

free at last, free at last!

2009-10-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, almost!

You see, I have been VERY busy with Halloween costumes since my last post. The grand total for the year is 13 so far: 3 Donald Ducks and 2 Daisy Ducks, a Mickey and Minnie brother & sister set, a polar bear, a black & white cat, 2 Felicity gowns and matching doll dresses, Piglet, and a blue dragon. Now it's time to make my kiddos' costumes, but I'm not quite ready to say yet what they're going to be. I'm doing most of my updating on Facebook and Twitter these days. My Facebook posts are mostly business related. Twitter, well, that can get pretty random. Leave me with a cell phone to publish my thoughts in 140 characters or less, and you never know what you're gonna get!

Okay, that's all. Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive. And show you my super cute little guy modeling the blue dragon, of course :o)

Cheap costumes (or, why to buy handmade)

2009-09-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

No, not from me. It's just a warning about what is out there in the world. (by the way, this cool logo can be found on t-shirts in phippsart's etsy shop)

My friend's daughter is in a play, so she went online to buy a renaissance-y costume. The young lady for whom the costume was purchased is a tall-ish slender 11 year old who usually wears a junior size 0/1. The costume they purchased was an adult/misses "one size fits all." Hello: one size does NOT fit all! That must be the most ridiculous clothing phrase I've ever heard. This dress was ankle length on the girl (who is 5'2")- what would it have looked like on a woman who was 5'6" or taller? The dress was made of stretchy crushed panne velour (to look like velvet) so I guess it could have accommodated up to a size 8 at best; but of course the young wearer of the costume was swimming in it. So her mom called me to the rescue.

A wise seamstress friend of mine once told me she would rather make a new dress from scratch than do alterations on an existing dress. She's smart. I should have heeded her advice. But I like a challenge.

So I took the dress up in the shoulders and pinned some very large darts in the back (fortunately, the fabric is very forgiving so I can get away with making somewhat sloppy alterations) and took it home to work on it; knowing that I would have to seam rip the top of the sleeves and reset them once I adjusted the shoulder seam.

As a boutique seamstress, I am very particular about the insides of my garments; everything is pressed, serged, neat, and as professional as I can make it look. Well, apparently "professional" is not the standard for ready to wear costumes. Some of the sewing techniques used inside this dress were just absurd. And the quality of the fabric- ugh! I could not even undo the seams without it pulling holes in the fabric. At one point, I thought I was going to have to make a new dress because I messed this one up taking it apart, but I just took a little extra in on the seam allowance.

All this to say: you get what you pay for. This costume probably cost around $30, and I'm praying it makes it through all 6 performances (and a week of dress rehearsals). I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to be called on again in the coming weeks to repair inevitable snags in this dress. Yes, handmade almost always costs more, but I have found it is nearly always worth the extra money for the trade-off in quality, originality, and passion that goes into the item created. So this year, as you start thinking about Halloween costumes and Christmas presents, if you're not going to make something yourself, I encourage you to buy from a local artisan or one of the thousands of talented sellers on etsy. You'll be glad you did, and so will the recipient of the gift.

(stepping down from my soapbox now)

Technology & Texas

2009-09-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Howdy, Y'all! I'm goin' to Texas. Yee haw!

Those of you following me on Facebook or Twitter have already heard my excited and rambling posts about this. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm taking a weekend trip to visit my favorite sister-in-law in San Antonio, as well as visiting some of my best boutique buddies including Goosie Girl, The Fab Store, and Living with Lindsay. I haven't seen them in almost 2 years, so I am *super* excited about this trip. Plus, I am getting away for a weekend without the boys and hubby. You know I adore them, but sometimes I just need a break!

In actual sewing news, I'm not the only one with a birthday this month; these two lucky little girls got to go to Disneyland for their birthdays and I was honored to be able to make these darling princess Farbenmix Feliz dresses for them. Their mom tells me they constantly had people stopping them to ooh and aah over their dresses, and even Princess Aurora herself commented that the dresses were nicer than the ones her fairy godmother made!

I'm staying very busy in my studio working on Halloween costumes. So far, Donald Duck has been the big hit of the year with three ordered so far! I'm also working on a Daisy Duck, a Mickey and Minnie Mouse brother/sister set, and a lovely lavender Felicity gown. There is still time to order costumes- check out what I have listed in my etsy store, and don't forget that I love to take custom orders, too!

86 days til Halloween... are you ready?

2009-08-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

I know most of you are thinking Back to School right now, but I've got to think ahead to Halloween. It's my busiest time of year when people are shopping for costumes!

And since my studio is nice & clean (okay, not *quite* as clean as it was a few weeks ago, but still very workable!) I had some time to make a few new Halloween outfits: this fun Halloween skirt made with my Peek-a-Boo Pleats pattern, and also a vibrantly decorated Vida jumper. You can find them, and more to come, in the Spooky Wear 4 Halloween section of my etsy shop.

Also, check out the new Destash category in my shop- I'm loading it up, slowly but surely, with a wide variety of fabric, patterns, beads and more at great prices. Let's get it out of my sewing room and into yours!

I encourage you to order your costume(s) early because I am only committing to 3 costumes every 2 weeks thru October 11. That means only 15 lucky customers will have a Monkey Doodle original costume this year (and I just got my first order before I could even post this, so I'm down to 14)! I can do just about anything you can dream up, so don't be limited by what you see listed in my Costume Shoppe category. Convo me with your ideas, and I'll quote you a price. No word yet on what the Monkey Doodle boys are planning to be this year, but I'll share pictures once they decide.

in case you haven't noticed...

2009-07-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

I am HORRIBLE about updating my blog.

Nothing new to report. Well, maybe. Last Friday, for the first time in I can't remember how long, I had nothing that I HAD to sew. All orders completed & shipped, sewing errands for friends & family dutifully completed. So I spent the weekend cleaning up/out my sewing room. Which probably hadn't happened since last year. I sew in a 7' x 7' area that was a walk-in closet in its former life. Everything else spreads out into the room that accompanies said closet. And I do mean EVERYTHING.

Take a look at what I tackled on Saturday morning. And Saturday afternoon. And Saturday night. And pretty much all day Sunday. Isn't this horrendous? I am so embarassed to show this to you! But it's much better now... but not quite photo ready :o)

Star Spangled!

2009-06-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to discover my Stars and Stripes Forever set was featured in this adorable treasury by RoughMagicHolidays. Hooray for the Red White and Blue! (There's still plenty of time for me to get it to you by the 4th of July; it's ready to ship in size 5/6!)

Customer cuties

2009-06-14T17:28:00.001-07:00

One of the rare treats of an etsy seamstress is to actually see her items on a child. I make things and send them to various homes across the United States (and sometimes the world!). Sometimes the parents remember to leave feedback for me; most of the time they don't. So it really is special when a mom takes time to share a picture of her child wearing something that I made. Here are a few pictures I have received lately.

Don't forget: all ready-to-ship items in my etsy store are still half off for the rest of the month. Tell your friends!

Also, if you really want to know what I'm doing and thinking, you've probably discovered that my blog is not the best place to find me. I'm doing good if I post more than once a month! I invite you to follow me on twitter and facebook (link over on the right sidebar... I'm too much of a commitment phobe to choose a username over there!)

Ready to ship for half price in June!

2009-05-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, etsy friends. I want to buy more fabric. I want to make new things. But I have a lot of things that are already made, waiting for new homes.

So here's the deal: during the month of June, if you buy something in the ready to ship girls or ready to ship boys categories of my etsy store, I will refund HALF of the price to you. Yes, you read that right- all ready to ship boys & girls items are half price in June! All you have to do is ask nicely for your half price discount when you check out. It's a win-win situation: I'll have less inventory and more money to buy more fabric and increase my inventory again. And you'll get a really cute outfit for an unbelievable price!

If you're reading this in May and you've had your eye on something, now might be the time to buy it before someone snatches it up in June. Tell your friends! And tell them to go to my blog and sign up for my mailing list so they'll know about all my other great promotions, too!

Dressing the dolls

2009-05-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

You can set your calendar by it: the first week of May, my friend Deborah gets stressed out. Why? because she is the director of Arts Alive Studio and the first of May means one month until production time. This year's acting performance is The Hiding Place, which they have done several times before. No need to make an entire set of costumes like last year. This year's clothing crisis is for the ballet, of all things!

The production they are doing this year is based on the children's book The Best Loved Doll. I've never read it, but the basic plot is that a little girl gets invited to a party where all the guests bring their best-loved dolls. The older students are the party guests and the little ballerinas are their dolls.

I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to look at a dance costume catalog, but they are FULL of amazing costumes of every shape, size and style you can imagine. Unless you are my friends Deborah and the ballet's author/director, Nicole. They had a very specific look in mind that just couldn't be found in any of the catalogs they checked. A sweet, vintage girly look. So they decided to make the costumes.

Deborah, bless her heart, is making pastel leotards and matching skirts for the older girls who are the guests at the party. And based on the sample I saw last week, they are just as nice (if not nicer!) than store-bought ones. The dolls will be wearing dresses in a color that matches their owners' leotard. Deborah had done the rough construction of each of the seven dresses, but needed someone to "fancy them up." Would I be able to help with this?

Heck yeah!

On Friday afternoon, I picked up a bag loaded with pastel loveliness, lace & ribbon and given free reign for embellishing the dresses. Yippee! I culled through my stock of vintage patterns for ideas and have knocked out 3 of the 7 dresses already. Here's a sneak peek of an apron I made for one of the dresses:

Falling off the wagon and climbing back on

2009-04-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've noticed that a week went by without anything new popping up in my store. Perhaps you haven't. Either way, I noticed, and here's the story that I'm sticking to:

I love to sew, and I don't want sewing to become stressful or just something else to squeeze into my very busy day. I don't want to ever feel pressured to make something, and that's how I was feeling last week. I ran into 3 days that were slam-packed with things to do from dawn til dusk (and beyond dusk, I'm usually catching up on recorded TV shows). And then I ran into 2 days of blissful weather where I needed to wind down from the busy week. Then yesterday- slammed again. Today, not so much :o)

I'm happy to say that things *look* like they're calming down a bit in my schedule (but you know how deceptive looks can be...) I actually started working on this dress last week, but between finishing up customer orders and everything else going on, I only got to finish it this morning. Ta da! Lilo's Luau, size 3T (or a top fo a slim 7/8), ready to ship.

I have 2 more Williamsburg costumes to list, one for girls and one for toddlers. I'm still waiting on pictures for those. This weekend, my boys costume was chosen for a treasury highlighting the anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride. The treasury has ended, but you can see the link here on Jane's Glorious Hats blog. Thanks, Jane!

What About Your Friends?

2009-04-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed to have a great supportive group of online designer friends- the ABSD street team on etsy. I have known and worked with many of them for over 3 years, and am constantly amazed at the new things they come up with. Since I didn't think of anything exciting to do for my 2 year anniversary on etsy (and, honestly, I didn't even list anything for probably another 6 months after I joined, so the anniversary thing is not a big deal...), I am going to dedicate this post to the recent creations of my awesome friends.

Tip Top Applesauce makes the most adorable baby hats EVER! This one was featured on an episode of TLC's A Baby Story! I love getting to those cute little babies wearing her hats almost as much as I love checking out her new designs!

My friend Lindsay hasn't had much time for sewing lately... she's been too busy blogging! Check out Living with Lindsay for some amazing decorating ideas that don't cost a lot of money and can be done by just about anyone!

Several of my friends have recently completed new eBooks... check out The Pretty Baby Boutique's Sami Dress pattern. Did you know the Tie Dye Diva does more than tie dye? These are two of her latest patterns- aren't they adorable? But don't stop there- her shop has even more patterns and ready to ship creations as well!

Les Tissus Bows just completed a tutorial for her fabulous raggie bows. She's also hosting a fun contest on her blog- pop in and check it out!

Those are just a few of my friends... this was a fun post and I'll do it again to highlight others, but in the meantime you can find all of our listings by searching ABSD on etsy.

Here fishy fishy...

2009-04-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Last night, I made this super cute knit set for etsy. I haven't made anything from knit fabric in a long time that I almost forgot how fun and easy it is to work with! How cute (not to mention COMFORTABLE!) would this be for a summer beach trip? The sample listing is size 3T, but I will make it in any size from 12m-5T in this listing. So although I didn't list it last night, I made it last night and listed 2 things today, so I'm still up-to-date with my April Challenge. Only 17 new things left to list... yikes! Does that number seem overwhelming to anyone other than me?

Peek-a-Boo Pleats!

2009-04-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited that my first eBook is finally finished and listed in my etsy store! You can find it right here, but if this one happens to be sold already, don't worry. I'll be re-listing often and you can just check my store to see if it's in stock. Youcanmakethis.com is also reviewing my work, and I hope to be selling on their website soon!

I've already got an idea in mind for my next pattern, but may have to wait until the April Challenge is over before I find the time to work on it!

Twice the magic

2009-04-09T16:34:00.001-07:00

Since I missed out on one day of listing this week, I am making up for it with a double listing tonight!

For any little girl who is heading to Disney (or wishing she was), I have made this Magical Vacation sun dress! There is a sample listed in size 4, and a custom size listing for any size, 12 months though girls 8!

I also noticed that my 2 year membership anniversary on etsy is coming up on Monday. I'll be thinking of something special for the occasion and welcome any ideas you may have!

Hanging my head in shame

2009-04-08T10:59:00.001-07:00

Sigh. I din't even make it a full week! I went to bed last night without getting a new listing up for my April Challenge, and actually woke up at 4 am thinking about it :o(

To be fair, I have been very busy in and around the house. I am working on orders for a customer, celebrating my baby's 5th birthday today, cleaning the house for the in-laws' arrival this weekend, administering end-of-year tests to my older boys, and other general daily duties. I think I will try to get TWO things done and listed today.

On Sunday night, I listed this custom sized boys colonial costume (girl and baby versions coming as soon as I get pictures!). They're great for school plays or trips to Colonial Williamsburg. On Monday, it was this cute citrus lounge set in size 3/4. Wish me luck for TWO listings today!

Day 4- Saltwashed

2009-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

The colors in these fabrics reminded me of the saltwashed hues you see on houses along the North Carolina coast. Wouldn't this be a darling set for your beach vacation this year? Capri and butterfly top set, size 5/6 here in my etsy store.

I'm done and it's not even 4:30! Maybe I'll get a head start on tomorrow's outfit. But more lifely, I will take my pillow out back and take a snooze on the trampoline while I smell the freshly cut grass. It's a gorgeous afternoon here!

Pay it Forward Friday

2009-04-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

There's a great little thing on etsy called Pay it Forward (PIF) where you list an item in your store for only the listing fee of $.20. It's a great way to offer something unexpectedly nice to someone out there, and all the lister asks in return is that the recipient list a PIF in their etsy store, or do something nice. Pretty simple concept, huh? If only the rest of the world were this nice :o)

I head a REALLY long day that involved me making some very kindhearted decisions this morning before I fully woke up. In the span of less than 30 minutes I had committed myself to coaching my son's t-ball team (even though I know nothing about t-ball) and offering to watch my friends' 5 children, along with my own 3, at her house all afternoon. Needless to say, that didn't leave me very much time for sewing and I was very worried about failing the April Challenge on only day 3! So I pulled out this little jumper I made last year when testing the eBook for my friend the Tie Dye Diva and listed it as a PIF in my store. Happy Friday- the few minutes of it that are left!

The jumper is a girls size 6; you can find it here if no one has snatched it up already. The pattern is available for sale in eBook format in the Tie Dye Diva's store (link above).

And speaking of eBooks- I finished mine yesterday and it is off to the testers. Yippee!

Spring sparkle on Day 2

2009-04-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Day 2 and I'm still going strong :o)

This skirt is covered with fun sparkles and will come with a pink tshirt or tank top with butterfly applique. It is 14 inches long so will fit a range of sizes from 3 or 4 up to 6. I will make the shirt in the size you choose. Check it out here in my etsy store!

Designer ADD and the April Challenge

2009-04-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been having a bit of designer ADD of late. I have tons of fabric and ideas, and every time I wander into my studio I seem to get overwhelmed. I'll pick up a random fabric and cut 3 pieces of a pattern before I get distracted and move on to something else. Obviously, this does not result in many finished projects. Add to that the fact that I just got back from a week and a half road trip with my boys and was rushing to finish up customer orders before that, and, well it's been a LONG time since I've added anything to my etsy stores.

The guilt set in today, and I cut out the rest of the pieces to go with 3 that I cut out 2 days ago, and found that in a matter of hours, I had a completed item. I was so pleased with my little jumper and embarassed at my laziness that I issued myself

THE APRIL CHALLENGE

For the month of April, I plan to list at least one new item in either my Monkey Doodle (kids clothing and costumes) or Bibidi (all things baby) stores on etsy. This is a HUGE challenge for me. I am optimistic, but not positive I will succeed. I'd love for you to cheer me on as I sew- leave comments if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see me work on! Also, since most of my listings will be OOAK's, I have to ask you to bear with my not-so-great photography skills. Believe me, all of my effort is poured into sewing your outfit, not photographing and photo editing :o)

So without futher ado, here is the entry for April 1 (no foolin!), a fun little dog and cat themed Farbenmix Vida jumper, size 3T. You can find it here.

One month later- status check

2009-03-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

From last month's post:

I've also been sewing a custom Feliz dress for one of my favorite customers,

helping a 12 year old girl create a Regency era dress for an English Country dance she is attending (think Jane Austin!),

sewing costumes for 4 children who will be visiting Colonial Williamsburg in period attire {these are being worn in Williamsburg this week; I'll have pictures when they get home},

and working on my first eBook pattern. Here's a sneak peek of my finished item- book will be ready soon!

I'm taking a week off to head to Florida with my kids, but plan to list some great spring specials when I return!

Cole's stuffed "animal"

2009-02-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

Going to the fabric store with 3 boys in tow is an unfortunate reality for me. Because we homeschool, I am rarely without them. Some fabric store trips are better than others; we've had some pretty good ones lately because I have learned that offering a Krispy Kreme donut as a reward for good behavior works wonders. Sometimes, they are happy to help me locate a fabric if I give them a swatch and say, "find me something this color." Pattern books are usually a big hit; I can usually get away with a good 10 or 15 minutes while they look at the Halloween costume section, and now I can give the older boys an assignment and ask them to find a particular pattern in the drawer for me.

During our time in pattern land this week, Cole discovered a pattern that he *had* to have. And when they're on sale for a dollar, I generally appease such a request. The last such request resulted in me making this parrot for Finn. So this time, Cole got his pattern and 1/2 yard of fabric-of-his-choosing. After 24 hours of unrelenting begging, I helped him make his creature last night. Here is the chronicle of his "animal."

Here are the fabric and pattern he chose.

The pattern gives several options for which body, ears, arms, and legs to combine; here is his combination after I addeed the felt mouth with hand-stitched teeth and button eyes.

After I stitched the body together, Cole dutifully stuffed his little guy for nearly 10 minutes before he got bored. I finished the stuffing & sewed him up, resulting in...

A happy Cole, and his "animal" named Crazy.

Spring flowers are blooming

2009-02-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've created anything new, due to the CPSIA crisis that is now, thankfully, resolved. It's been pretty cold and gloomy around here (it is winter, after all), so I decided to make something nice and spring-y. Using the very last smidgens of this cute Michael Miller daisy print, I created this one of a kind set, size 3T. You can find it here in my etsy store.

I've also been sewing a custom Feliz dress for one of my favorite customers, helping a 12 year old girl create a Regency era dress for an English Country dance she is attending (think Jane Austin!), sewing costumes for 4 children who will be visiting Colonial Williamsburg in period attire, and working on my first eBook pattern. Whew! Guess I should be spending more time in the sewing room and less on the computer...

Call the cops...

2009-01-24T17:31:00.001-08:00

'cause we're about to commit a felony!

Next week, over a hundred talented ladies (and possibly a few gentlemen!) who will be out of business as of February 10 due to the new CPSIA legislation are gathering for a final launch on eBay. We're hoping to draw even more attention to the cause of independent small-business crafters who will be impacted by this ill-advised legislation. So make sure you search boutique felony on both eBay and etsy next week- this could be your last chance to buy custom boutique for a long time... or ever!

Halloween... a whole lot late!

2009-01-15T07:10:00.001-08:00

Life is finally settling back into a normal routine after all of our holiday celebrations & travel, and post-holiday clean up. With the CPSIA legislation becoming effective on February 9 and no loopholes in sight for Monkey Doodle Designs (or other homemade clothing & crafts), I've had to seriously consider what direction my business is heading in.

While I took a diversion for a few weeks of making bibs for my niece (for sale on my new etsy account, *bibidi*), I received several costume requests from local and online customers. And that made me remember- I love making costumes! Part of what is really important in the world of custom boutique sewing is creating your niche... something that I have not been very good at previously. I love to make EVERYTHING- new Euro patterns for girls, purses, boys tee and shorts sets, applique, jewelry, etc. So while I don't plan to stop dabbling in clothing altogether, I will be changing my focus for Monkey Doodle Designs to a stock of costumes that I can keep stocked in my store, and add special OOAK seasonal clothing as I have time and desire. I currently have 3 in my etsy store, with 2 amazing girls Narnia costumes underway.

With all of that out of the way, let's talk about Halloween, LOL! My new computer is set up and fully operational and the missing photo editing software has been returned and installed. So without further ado, I would like to share my very, very belated Halloween photos with you. Meet the Muppets (and a cute little tuxedo cat)!

A Treasure Trove of Pink Grapefruit

2008-12-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

One of the fun features of etsy is the treasury, where you can look at collections of 12 items that people put together. Sometimes they choose groupmates' items, or base it around a color, or an object. Those are the collections that are rotated for feature on the front page. So pretty and fun to look at, and I know they help sellers get views and sales as well.

Anyone can make a treasury, but my computer at home is somehow incompatible witht he process; I've tried 2 previous times and get frozen up/locked out in the process.

I'm up in Virginia Beach for the holidays and was lucky enough to score my own treasury AND have a computer that I could assemble it on! So, without further ado, here is my treasury based on one of my favorite scents.

Have you hear the one about the CPSIA?

2008-12-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

So apparently there is some new legislation on the books that would drastically effect not only my business but literally hundereds of thousands of other small artisan businesses nationwide.

Imagine if every item that a local crafter makes for a child-- whether it be a hand-carved wooden puzzle, lovingly stitched quilt, or custom made children's clothing item-- suddenly became illegal to sell without being tested for lead and phlatlates.

It could be a reality based on this new law in the works.

I'm all for keeping my kids and everyone else's kid's safe, but some government safety regulations just drive me nutty (like the fact that my 7 year old still has to sit in a booster seat, but I digress...)

Usually I don't get involved in this type of letter-writing campaign stuff. I prefer to think that legislation this stupid can't pass, but, well, I've been wrong before. So just in case, here is a document that you can read to learn more about the proposed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) legislation, as well as information about who to contact with your comments about it

CPSIA- Read How/What/When HERE

Decked out for the holidays!

2008-12-18T18:09:00.001-08:00

Well, in real life the Christmas decorating spirit has passed me by. I only decided last week to actually get a tree and decorate it, and lights on the outside of the house just aren't happening. It's an awful lot of work for such a short holiday season when we're already way too busy, right?

But when something cute and easy comes along, count me in!

Isn't my blog ADORABLE?!?!?!?!? A friend of mine pointed me to The Cutest Blog on the Block who offers up hundereds of free (that's right FREE!!!!) backgrounds for your blog. Go choose one today, and then another one tomorrow. They're all so cute, you'll have a hard time deciding which one to use.

Like I mentioned above, I have been busy finishing up work at Elon (I'm done until next summer), tutoring, shopping, attending parties and sewing. I got a fun request a few weeks ago for a Daisy Duck costume for a little girl's Christmas present, which I finished up and mailed yesterday. And now.... aaaaaaaahhhhhhh...... I will relax and turn off my machine for a week or so. My shopping is done (I think, but I always seem to keep buying things anyway), so now I will use all of my newly found free time to clean up my sewing room. Ugh. Not a fun job, but it always feels so good to get it done.

So in case I don't check in again before Christmas, I hope you have the merriest of times with friends and family this season!

The computer is here!

2008-12-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings from my new computer, a big black Dell beast whom I've named Darth Vader, LOL! It's not really new; just new to me. A gracious friend pilfered it as a university outcast and sent it to me. In a giant 50 lb box. Which the UPS man left sitting in front of my front door (um, hello? How am I supposed to get out with a giant 50 lb box in the way?) Once I finally hauled it inside, the joy of packing peanut and bubble wrap removal began, thanks to my boys.

I got everything set up and connected, but the computer kept telling me cryptic technical messages which I did not even begin to understand (note to the world: hand me down computers do not come with manuals, start up disks, etc.!) Fortunately, I have a computer genius of a friend who texted me through my crisis and by the time DH got home, everything was up and running. Yippee!!!!

Now about those photos of things I've been working on: I did get a LOT of pictures loaded onto this computer last night but I have NO idea where my photo editing software is. I looked in a few obvious and not-so-obvious places, developed a huge compulsion to throw away all of the junk in my house, considered this a sign that I need to upgrade and buy a new version of Photoshop, and eventually gave up and went to bed. I have a feeling it's in a very obscure and random box that I would never think of looking in, so unless it is in the boxes of Christmas decor that I have been unpacking, I'm not likely to uncover it anytime soon. I think I took a little *too* much time off on my Thanksgiving vacation last week, and now the reality of cleaning the house, preparing for school, decorating for Christmas, etc. are beginning to settle in. Until them, I am editing a few in my photobucket account, of all places, so hopefully I'll have something to share tonight or tomorrow.

Been a long time

2008-11-28T17:11:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am still around, and still sewing! In the past month and half, I have been busy with Halloween costumes and custom orders, and have LOTS of pictures on my camera to prove it! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to upload them due to my computer problem.

But... my new computer should be arriving on Monday! It has been a long and at times very annoying wait, but hopefully it will all be worth it. In honor of my new computer and Cyber Monday, I will be having a special sale in my etsy shop

In a new, special category, you will find lots of Christmasy clothing, jewelry, and more! Most of it is ready-to-ship so you can wear it all December long! And if you like something you see but it's not the size or style you need, I'll be happy to talk to you about creating a special item just for you! Check back often; I plan to add new items as fast as I can get them sewn!

And to REALLY make things special, I am offering FREE shipping on all purchases (even custom orders!) during the month of December.

This sale is part of the Adagio Bleu Studios Designers' Street Team Promotion, Search ABSD in tags/titles for all of our team members sales!

Cyber Monday is coming...

2008-11-28T16:58:00.000-08:00

After you've feasted with the family....

and after you've hit the malls...

thats when the REAL fun begins!!

Monday, November 30th, is "Cyber Monday"

Do your Christmas shopping online
with Adagio Bleu and save big!

Our Etsy street team members are having an
AWESOME Cyber Monday Sale in our shops!

Search ABSD on Etsy for all of our sales!
or...

Click here to check out our BIG Cyber Monday Sale!

a post without a name

2008-10-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, bloggy friends! Have you missed me? I have missed you! It's been a sad two weeks, computer-wise, here in Monkey Doodle land. You see, my computer crashed and burned a few weeks ago. Well, only the fan did. Everything else could be salvaged, so DH dutifully took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy to clean everything iside the box (I am oh-so-technical about all things computer, LOL!) and replace the fan. That was the plan, anyway.

The reality was, they called us a day later to say that while they were cleaning it some statich charge built up and fried the motherboard. Yikes! As you may have guessed, I really don't know much about what is inside that big computer box. And don't even consider telling me ram and gig numbers. My eyes will glaze over faster than a Krispy Kreme donut. Computer numbers are like a foreign language to me, and my semi-fluency only extends bits and pieces of Latin, Spanish, French, and Zulu (that's a story for another day, my friends).

A fried motherboard, to me, sounds like a REALLY bad thing, but I have been reassurred repeatedly that my pictures and files are all still "alive" and somewhere in there, but for all intents and purposes, the box is dead.

Luckily, my boys have a computer that is also connected to the internet.

Unluckily, it sucks, which is why it is theirs and not mine. It's very temperamental and freezes up at the most inopportune times, like when I'm in the middle of a long post (I've got my fingers crossed that this one is going to make it!) and I have to restart it seeminly 20 times an hour. Not a happy Monkey am I.

Nor a very rich Monkey, otherwise I would have impulsively bought that cool new touch-screen computer I saw at Best Buy last weekend. So here I sit, and wait, and type on the old crappy computer.

It has cut down on my internet usage significantly, which is a good thing because I have been doing a LOT of sewing. Halloween time is here, and I have been working on costumes out the wazoo. I'd show you, but, well, that would hurt the brain of this very sensitive computer. Someday soon (I hope!), there will be a post overflowing with pictures of the many lovelies I've created lately. But until then, just imagine a tuxedo cat for a 2 year old boy, and Animal from the Muppets for my 8 year old son (with Gonzo & Kermit joining him soon).

Butterfly Feliz

2008-10-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

My soon-to-be seven year old is spying over my shoulder as I type the title of this post.

"Fleas?"
"No, honey, it's feliz like in the Christmas song, Feliz Navidad"
"So it's about Christmas?"
"No. Feliz means happy."
(looks disappointed) "Oh"

I guess looking at pictures of my Frosty Anna jumper in that last post got him in the Christmas spirit.

But alas, no Christmas just yet. I did, however, just list my first Feliz dress (fabulous pattern by Studio Tantrum/Fledge) on etsy. I picked up this gorgeous brown butterfly fabric from Michael Miller this summer, and layered it over top of the kiwi green Garden Tour print. This apron jumper is so carefree and fun... why wouldn't it be called "happy"? Especially with ruffles cascading down the back. Love those ruffles! You can find this one ready to ship in size 4/5 at my etsy store, and I'll be listing a custom size one later tonight.

Resells and a relist for Halloween and Christmas!

2008-09-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

The holidays are upon us in boutique-land, which runs about 3 months ahead of the rest of the world's calendar! After taking a few months off from eBay, I am joining up with my friends at Avalon Boutique for their "A Caroling We Will Go" launch. This reversible Farbenmix Anna jumper with a snowman theme was part of my Holiday 2007 collection, but I liked it so much and it was such a prefect fit for the launch that I had to bring it back for one last hurrah. So, here is FROSTY, available in sizes 2-8, only on eBay this week!

We're cleaning out the Halloween bins here in Monkey Doodle land and have decided to list the costumes I made for the boys last year. All three are available: the leopard is size 7/8, the tiger is a 5/6, and the little lion is a 3T(all the details are in the listings). We only wore them for trick-or-treating last year, and they are in like-new condition. These are also great for everyday dress up and school plays! You can click here to see all of my eBay listings this week!

Pixie hoodie

2008-09-17T19:05:00.001-07:00

Last week I mentioned that I have been working on a pixie hoodie. I won an alchemy bid on etsy for a customer who wanted a hoodie made out of a Hanna Andersen dress she found at the Goodwill store. The dress had some minor flaws that made it unwearable, but the knit fabric was perfect to cut into for sleeves & a hood. It is such a bright & whimsical print, so we decided to go with a pixie applique on the front. I am thrilled with how it turned out, and this project has also given me new ideas about where to shop for fabrics!

Cinderella and the Cat

2008-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Not a new fairy tale. The first of my Halloween costumes for the year.

Please excuse the icky pictures. I was in a hurry to get the package in the mail and didn't bother to play with the settings on my camera.

The cat is super soft & fuzzy, and my whole studio is now covered with faux fur crumbs!

This is the truest representation of the color. Shiny satin is hard to photograph!

mid-September update

2008-09-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've had family in town for the past week and since my sewing room is also the guest bedroom, I had to stash all of my stuff in boxes and bins and now have the dreaded task of unpacking and reorganizing things. Remember this day? Let's just say that's a FAR cry from what things look like now.

In the midst of all the mess, I have been working on some etsy Alchemy orders which I should be able to post by the end of the weekend. I am reconstructing a dress into a hoodie for one customer, and the other project is costumes for twin girls- they are going to be Cinderella and a cat for their 6th birthday party and Halloween!

Speaking of birthdays, mine is next week so I've treated myself to an early present!

My old phone was SO old-- it was a replacement for one I lost 3 months into my new contract, so I had to buy a "cheap" one which is never very cheap when you're not buying a 2 year contract with it. It was one of those old "candy bar" phones without a camera, games, ringtone, texting... all the good stuff. Kinda like this one. I love my cute, cool new phone!!!!

Now arriving in California...

2008-09-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

This trio of dresses, for the same customer who commissioned me to make these Lobster Luau dresses. This one has black and white variations on the front and back

And I love the idea for the dog bone straps on this one

She will be appliqueing a groovy guitar on the front of this one

And the randomly generated number is...

2008-09-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

no, not 888,888,888. I don't have *that* many mailing list subscribers, LOL! Just plain 8. An esteemed position held by none other than Erin . Congratulations! I'll be contacting you soon to get details for your princess' lounge set. Thanks to everyone who signed up for my mailing list as a result of this contest. It was lots of fun; I'm sure I'll do another one soon!

In other news, I just popped over to my email for a minute while I was writing this post, and found out I had a sale on etsy! Woo hoo! I really like etsy; it's so much easier to list things over there (not to mention a LOT less expensive!) and you never know when something is going to sell. It's always a pleasant surprise :o)

Where's the Ark?

2008-08-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

We're on day 3 of rain here in Central NC. It's left over from Tropical Storm Fay which drenched Florida last week. Today, we had tornadoes added to the fun! We were under a watch for a while this afternoon, but fortunately had nothing happen here. Nothing except rain, that is!

We have a creek in our back yard, about 50 yards from the house and 5 feet down in a ravine. It usually moves along at a slow trickle. But when we get rain like this, it runs down our street (we're at the bottom of a hill) and overflows the banks of the creek. I would say at least 60% of our back yard was underwater... and that's pretty significant because we have an acre and a half of land back there! I let my two older boys put on their boots and walk out there with me, but the water was WAY over the top of their boots! Here are some of our funny pictures from tromping through the flood:

And this one was really insane... this is in front of our neighbors fence:

They really were standing on their feet- I promise!- in about 30 inches of water!

Boo! on etsy

2008-08-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

I just listed this set (size 5/6) on etsy. I love the fun & vibrant colors :o) Find it here.

There's lots of sewing going on in my studio right now; it's a wonder I can keep it all straight. I am working on 3 Vida dresses for one customer, a new Studio Tantrum/Fledge Feliz dress just because I want to :o), a halloween dress inspired by this summer's Narnia movie, and I have an alchemy order waiting on construction! It's nice to have a different project to move on to if the current one isn't going so well! New pictures when (if!) I finish something :o)

2008-08-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

What a cool surprise! I woke up this morning to find that I was one of the top ten designers this week on Designer Roundup. It was a great way to start my Friday... hope yours is awesome, too!

This is what I do in my other life

2008-08-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

So about 2 months ago (wow, has it been that long?), I told you about my summer job. I have really had such a good time with it. Most of my work has been behind-the-scenes, in the office duties. Every now and then, I'll get to go out to the course and facilitate a low ropes group. But this Friday was the big day... the unveiling of our high ropes course!

I never asked exactly how high, because truth be told, I'd rather not know! But this picture might put things into perspective; I'm 5'3".

On a high ropes course, you wear a seat harness and are tied into safety cables at all times. The things you do 40 feet up in the air are the same type of things you'd do down on the ground on a low ropes course... except they are 40 feet in the air! Therein lies the challenge! At the end, you take a giant zipline down to the field where you can set your feet on solid ground again.

I have been facilitating high ropes courses for 14 years (whoa, that sounds like a LONG time; I am not that old. To be fair, I was only 18 when I started!), so even though heights terrify me, I feel 98% comfortable doing this type of thing because I know all the safety features of how it works. Friday was just a "playday" for our staff; several of them were new to this, and with the course being new, too, we had to give it a test run. Unfortunately, we got off to a late start and I didn't get to go up :o( Luckily, though, we have our first group coming out next Friday, so maybe I'll get my chance to play then!

Mailing List CONTEST!

2008-08-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Starting on Sunday night, I will be listing a handful of Disney resells, and that will be my last hurrah on Ebay, I think. Things are going very well for me over on etsy, and I am happy in my new home over there.

In honor of my big move, I am sponsoring a mailing list contest! Go over there on the right and sign up if you haven't already, because one lucky winner will receive a FREE custom lounge set for a boy or a girl! The drawing will be September 1, so you have plenty of time! Tell all your friends, and cross your fingers... your kiddo could be sporting a FREE Monkey Doodle Designs lounge set as they head back to school this year!

2 more for etsy

2008-08-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make etsy my headquarters from now on. Life on eBay just ain't as grand as it used to be :o( I'm enjoying learning all the ins & outs of etsy, and am adding new things to my store on a daily basis. My new obsession is reading the alchemy page where people request to have items made for them. I've already put in 3 bids for projects... wish me luck!

So, newly listed in my etsy shop are these ready-to-ship Halloween cuties. The first one is a sample skirt that I made 2 years ago. It's size 24 months/2T and priced to MOVE! No bidding & waiting... just go over & buy it!

This one is a 3 piece set full of yummy appliques, size 5

Halloween is coming to esty!

2008-08-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

I have decided to list my Halloween items on etsy this year. No bidding, no waiting... you want it, you buy it! There is a link to my store over there on the right.

Here are my 2 newest additions:
Ready-to-ship spider guy set, size 3T. This one is so cool; the black fabric has glow-in-the dark spiders printed on it, and I have topstitched the pants and shirt with glow in the dark thread. Your little man will endlessly be rushing into dark closets to see himself glow!

Two years ago, my kids decided they wanted the whole family to dress up as Disney characters. Mickey was easy enough to find for my little guy, and I bought Goofy for my husband (how appropriate!)at the Disney store. I, the boys insisted, HAD to be Minnie Mouse (if you insist, boys...) so I made that costume for myself. My oldest wanted to be Pluto, but a Pluto costume was nowhere to be found, so I had to invent that pattern. My middle guy, always the one to choose a complicated costume) insisted on being Donald Duck. I found an out-of-print pattern, and this is what I accomplished!

It was intimidating at first, but I love how it turned out! This one is listed on etsy as a custom- you pick size 3-10, and I'll have it in the mail to you within 3 weeks! Daisy Duck listing and more Halloween clothing coming soon!

What all the well-dressed dogs are wearing...

2008-08-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Webkinz dogs, that is! My boys are crazy about their Webkinz... and dressing them up online is not always good enough for them, they want their REAL animals dressed up, too.

For a while, I got away with simple grosgrain ribbon collars with snap closures. Then the clothing requests came rolling in. "Can you make Shoeshine a pair of jeans and a black shirt?" I developed a prototype pants pattern a few months ago, which I have since lost in the chaos that is my sewing room. And the clothing rage was forgotten (hey, it's too hot right now for them to be wearing lots of clothes, anyway. They've got fur!)

Then yesterday, as I was cleaning the house, I suddenly felt the NEED to crochet a sweater for a Webkinz animal. Don't ask... it doesn't take much to distract me from housework! So I grabbed some yarn and the nearest available model and spent about an hour creating my own pattern. I think it turned out pretty well, don't you? This is Annie and Little Sunshine, modeling their new sweaters.

Now all the other dogs are jealous and want them, too!

Back to school

2008-07-24T11:23:00.001-07:00

Here's the thing about designing childrens clothes (or, I guess any clothes, really): you have to think 2-3 months ahead. It's the end of July now, and I'm already panicked that I've missed the boat on Halloween and need to move on to Christmas.

But that's not what this post is about.

Even though most kiddos aren't heading back to school for another month, you've gotta have the perfect outfit for day 1, right? And there's no sense in waiting until the last minute to get it. So here are 2 great ready to ship twirl skirt sets to send your little girl back to school in style. Click the names to visit the auctions on eBay

School Friends, size 4/5 (over there on the right)

Bookworm, size 5/6/6x

Turning Japanese

2008-07-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

Whew! I've been busy with work and little weekend vacations and haven't had much time for sewing! I did recently list this little set, ready to ship size 3/4, made from imported Japanese fabric. I have a few other kawaii (it means "cute" in Japanese) sets in the works, so keep your eyes open if you like this one. Wouldn't it be too cute for back to school? And versatile, too: it comes with jeans and a skirt! Click here for the auction.

Lobster Luau

2008-06-22T10:26:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I had a fabulous customer ask me if I would make some Vida dresses for her daughters. She sent me a box full of fabrics and her ideas... and the result was this Lobster Luau! Here are a few quick pictures I snapped before I sent them on their way.

In His Steps costume pictures

2008-06-20T06:18:00.001-07:00

As promised, better late than never! Sorry for the cruddy photos; I'll be getting some nicer "official" ones from the production later.

Here's the suit I labored over

And the pretty green outfit

These two are cast photos, so you can see the costumes in context.

Excuse me, is there a monkey in the office?

2008-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

It seems like it's been a long time since I wrote on my blog, but it's bene a really long & busy week for me.

On Friday, I went to work. Huh? Yep, work. For the first time in over 8 years! DH pointed me toward a position at our alma mater, Elon University, for a part time, summer-only job in the same department where I had worked as a student! I am coordinating the Challenge Course (also called a ropes course) and having a blast when I'm not feeling totally overwhelmed. I have to get ready for several groups coming in the next 2 weeks, and the people I need to talk to always seem to be out of the office! I've been working all week long, and learning how to juggle my schedule as a working mom so I'll have more time for my family and my sewing, too.

The big production of In His Steps was last weekend, and the costumes were just to die for. I'll put a few pictures up when I get them off my camera. Have you ever had that feeling of emptiness when something is over? I totally felt like that on Sunday. No last minute costume details to take care of, no running downtown to check on things at the theater...

Sis Boom, part 1

2008-06-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with costumes and life in general this past week, that I'm running a little bit behind with my Sis Boom listings. Here are the first two:

Ready to ship, size 18/24m/2T

Ready to ship, size 5/6

As with all of my creations, I welcome custom orders in different sizes or fabric combinations!

a hard lesson to learn

2008-06-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

The big production of In His Steps is this weekend, and I finally got my last costume finished up last week. It was the coat from this pattern, probably the most difficult construction I've ever done. To add to the stress, the costume was for the head costumer's son, and she's a professional seamstress. He's 6'4", and is one of the leads in the play. This coat was gonna be noticed! Yikes! I took it in to the studio last week and left it because she wasn't there. And I didn't hear from her. Uh oh. I got glowing reviews on my first two costumes, and then nothing. So I finally got up the nerve to ask, and the sentence began with a long, drawn-out Southern "weeeelllll..." Not a good start. Apparently in my concern for constructing such a huge garment, I forgot to pay attention to the nap of the black corduroy I was working with. Fortunately, the problem areas were limited to one cuff, and the tail section. But I was crushed. I felt so stupid for not noticing! And under the stage lights, it was apprently to obvious for him to wear it. She was very gracious about it, and told me not to worry, but it bummed me out for the rest of the day. The way she was initially talking about it, it sounded like the whole thing was a loss, and she would be scrambling for a new, very important costume piece at the last minute.

Today, the coat is back in my hands. Thankfully, they had extra fabric, and I am going to rip apart and redo the wrong parts (by tomorrow!) I'm chalking this up as a life lesson, and this experience has served to provide me with valuable instruction. It's a mistake I will hopefully never make again.

Patriotic Pride!

2008-05-21T05:45:00.001-07:00

Here's what I've been working on in my little monkey studio this past week:

Ready to ship, size 2/3/4 (it's quite roomy on my barely size 2 model!) Bow & bracelet are included in the auction!

Ready to ship 4 piece set, size 3/4

Ready to ship, size 5/6

I loved this one so much that I decided to offer it as a custom for the boys! Sizes 2-8

The boys' sets are for Planet Boy's Patriotic Parade Launch (search PTBYRWB on eBay)

Now it's back to the costumes for the play... it's less than a month away now! As soon as I'm done with Jordan's coat, I can dig in to my gorgeous new Bell Bottoms fabric for Adagio Bleu's Sis Boom Celebration. Okay, I've had enough early morning fun with the linky button this morning. Off to find some caffiene!

Monday... Wednesday... what's the difference?

2008-05-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

I really did plan to list these on Monday, but it was so windy over the weekend that I couldn't take pictures! Then the editing process took f-o-r-e-v-e-r on my slow computer, but alas! Here they are! The much anticipated sister sets to Enchantment, which I listed last week. The yellow eyelet set is size 18/24 months-2T, and the squirrel set (skirt made from those TDF Full Moon Forest fabrics!) is 5T. Click on the names to visit the auctions on eBay.

Enchantment

2008-05-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I was given some smaller pieces of this mosaic print fabric by a dear older lady and I have been mesmerized by it ever since! There are so many amazing colors and patterns in it! I finally found a use for it as the focal point for my latest Vida dress, which is one of a kind & ready to ship, size 3T. I have it listed here on eBay for the Summer Soiree launch sponsored by my design group, Adagio Bleu Studios. On Monday, I'll have 2 coordinating sets listed, including one with fabrics from my most favorite fabric line ever, Full Moon Forest by Tula Pink. I can't believe how well it coordinates with my mosaic fabric!

Sis Boom Celebration

2008-05-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

If you are a serious sewer, you are probably familiar with the amazing fabrics of Jennifer Paganelli, designer for Sis Boom. The designers of Adagio Bleu Studios are helping her kick off her new fabric line, Bell Bottom, with a HUGE guest launch on eBay at the end of the month. Jennifer herself will be donating a few items made from her fabrics, which will be auctioned off for charity. We are so honored to have her participate with us, and so excited about this launch. Leave me a comment if you would like more information, or are interested in participating!

A new pattern for a great cause

2008-05-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

So much to tell you this morning, my bloggy friends! First, I would like to show off my newest listings. I was invited to participate in the Boutique Angels guest launch this week- all profits go to Big Brothers Big Sisters. I started mine at only $.99, so there's no excuse not to bid!

Both are one of a kind, ready to ship. Click here to see the butterflies, size 4T, or the frogs, size 2T.

Now, about that adorable pattern! It was designed by my friend Jen and her pal Katy for YCMT. it's called the Four Quarters dress, and it's such a fun & versatile pattern. I'll be making these all summer long!

Speaking of YCMT... I am working on my very first eBook for them! It's still in the publishing process, but I'll be sure to let you know when it's available. You'll just have to wait to see what it is ;o)

Gumball

2008-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

I've got another new listing up for Faeryhill's spotlight launch. This one is another one of a kind (aka, using up my stash) dress made with the Farbenmix Vida pattern. I just love how versatile it is! The dots reminded me of gumballs :o) It will fit sizes 3-5; the measurements are in my listing, which you can find here.

I took a picture... it will last longer!

2008-04-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those Saturdays where you wake up and have nothing on the slate.. very rare around here! I decided to organize my sewing room a little bit, which, of course, turned into an all-day affair and is only about 30% done! Still, I thought I'd share some pictures of my workspace. DH built this for me in a 6'x6' walk-in closet. My biggest accomplishment was sorting all of my trims, zippers, rick rack, needles, ribbon, buttons, etc into individual containers. Next week, I'll have to go through all of my fabric and patterns, which will take considerably more time!

My favorite find of the day was this cute monkey picture that I picked up at Target for $3.24!

Hi Jesse, if you're reading this :o)

Pink Panda Purse!

2008-04-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

The girls of Faeryhill are foing a super-fun launch called Polkadot Spotlight and invited me to participate. I have oodles of dotty fabrics in my stash, so I gladly accepted. Then things got busy and the launch got closer and I had no inspiration to make anything for it. And then *poof* what appears in my mailbox one day but a box containing, among other things, this darling Japanese import fabric! Not a lot of it, mind you... just a piece that was small/large enough to challenge my imagination. Because of its heavier texture, I knew it would be perfect for a little purse, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out! So, here it is, the pink panda purse.

Where have I been the past 2 weeks?

2008-04-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

I've been busy on the homefront with what seems like an endless stream of soccer games and baseball practices, but I have managed to squeeze some sewing in, because--Hallelujah!!!--my machine is home!

I completely forgot to share this little ready to ship gem with you when I listed it on Friday. I came across this Disney princess fabric in my stash and it just screamed at me to make something with it. Screaming fabric is not a nice thing, so I gave in and whipped up this little Farbenmix Vida dress, size 4/5. It would be perfect for a Magic Kingdom vacation trip(can you tell how badly I wish I was there?!?!?) You can see it here Several of my groupmates made coordinating pieces; you can find them all by searching ABSD

Remember this pile of fabrics? Here is what they became!
Next, I get to work on a suit for a 6' 4.5" guy! Yikes!

The waiting game and In His Steps

2008-04-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

After nearly 2 years of faithful service, my sewing machine blew a fuse and had to be sent of for repairs. This was two lonely weeks ago and I am still waiting for the service center to call me. Meanwhile, I've been getting by with my back-up machine, and antiquated Pfaff hand-me-down from a friend of my MIL. But it just doesn't do all the cool stuff "my" machine does.

I'm also waiting on some out-of-print patterns that I ordered; they shipped today so *hopefully* they will be here by this weekend. They are for play costumes that I mentioned what seem like 100 years ago. Well, first of all, I was on the wrong side of the turn-of-the-century; the play is set in 1896 (late Victorian) instead of the 1910's Edwardian era, which means the styles were totally different. The funnest (yes, I think funnest is a word!) aspect of the design is that this was at the tail end of leg o'mutton sleeves being in fashion, so the costumes for the very fashionable ladies will look something like these.

And this is the pile of fabric and trim that await me (and the patterns)

In case you are curious, the play these costumes are for is called In His Steps; which is a WWJD story that was written over 100 years before all of those bracelets & bumper stickers because trendy. This is a costume that I finished last week. No big sleeves; it is for a working-class character. It'll look better on it's intended wearer ;o)

Here, fishy fishy!

2008-04-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here are my latest sets, modeled by the adorable Ferry and Gavin of The*Edge*Talent. Their mom, Christie, did such an amazing job with the photos, didn't she? Both outfits are available in sizes 18 months-6.

Ferry's set

Gavin's set

Catwalk Cuties!

2008-03-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I listed anything new on eBay! I am so excited about my latest duo, a brother/sister set for the Catwalk Cuties launch! I was lucky to be paired with Jonah and Tessa, and their mom Erin. Aren't they adorable?!?!? Erin's pictures are just fabulous, too. My sets never looked so good! I will be remaking each set only once, in sizes 18mo-6/7. These are perfect for Disney vacations... can't you imagine your little one wearing this at the 100 acre woods character meals at the Crystal Palace?

click here to see this auction!

click here to see this auction!

My first tag

2008-03-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Beth of The Pink Tulip...how fun. Here are the rules!

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

*************************

1. I think it is so cool that Beth is living in Holland. I've only been there once, for a few hours in the Amsterdam airport. It was part of my 10 day trip of continental Europe during the college semester I spent in London.

2. I'm not a really picky eater, but I do have some major food quirks. I hate all members of the melon and cucumber families (except pickles), and don't like any creamy white stuff (mayonaise, sour cream, alfredo sauce, etc).

3. I like snakes. Well, one snake in particular. Her name is Rose and she's a beautiful albino corn snake who looks kinda like this; she lives at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro. I always get one of the volunteers to get her out of her cage when we visit.

4. The squeaky sound that styrofoam coolers makes when the pieces rub together drives me nuts! As does ice chewing and gum smacking.

5. I didn't take chemistry in high school because the teacher was this old scary mean guy who made kids come in before and after school and during lunch breaks to repeat labs if they didn't do them right the first time. And I didn't want those raccoon eye goggle marks on my face for 20 minutes after class was over.

6. I earned the Gold Award in Girl Scouting, which is the highest rank kinda like the Boy Scout Eagle Award, but, I promise you, much more work. My dad made me and my brothers a deal that if we each earned the top rank in scouting, he would buy us each a car. Nothing new or fancy, but a good deal all the same!

7. I don't pass on chain letters or forward emails, so I'm not going to tag 7 more people. Because, really, hasn't everybody already been tagged enough?

Pretending to be Jen

2008-03-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, everyone!

I got a little behind on my egg dye-ing this year; the eggs have been cooked since Tuesday, and we planned to dye them last night with my brother and his wife. Well, after a few beers and video games last night, the big people minus me weren't interested. So, we did them this afternoon instead. Actually, the boys probably wouldn't have even noticed that we never dyed the eggs, but what's the point in having 11 eggs (dh tried to use one for a scrambled egg one morning. oops!) at Easter time and not color them? Photos compliments of boy #2:

Then I was left with 5 cups of rich gorgeous egg dye. I'm usually a PAAS girl, but apparently Dudley won the rights to Star Wars Easter Egg kits, so Dudley it was for our family this year. This Dudley dye was really nice and strong, and I couldn't bear to pour it down the drain. Inspired by the amazing creations of my friend The Tie Dye Diva (please don't laugh at me Jen!), I decided to use Easter egg coloring to tie dye a kiddo tee shirt. Yes, I know it will wash out. But it was just too much fun not to try. And I must say, it turned out pretty decent. Even DH was impressed!

Of course, I was totally winging it and didn't have any rubberbands or gloves, so I tied the shirt up with kite string and used my bare hands for dyeing. And now they are a work of art, too. As is the end of my camera stap, which fell in the pink dye while I was photographing my hand, LOL!

I found my missing MP3 player

2008-03-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what happens when you clean up a room. Just wanted to update ya in case this post had you missing some sleep at night ;o)

Fashionably late (it's the story of my life)

2008-03-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

to the Ultimate Blog Party, that is! It sounded like a great way to meet some new friends, especially since I've only ben blogging for a few weeks. Gotta build up my friend list over there, ya know!

Welcome to my blog, new friends! I am Carol, wife to Matt, mom to 3 wild & crazy boys (ages 8,6, and almost 4. That's their picture over on the right), and soon to be an aunt of hopefully a girl. Random people (you know, like strangers in the grocery store) always ask if I'm going to try for a girl. I've decided that it would be easier for my sis in law to have a kid (fortunately, this jived well with her life plan as well) and I could borrow it from time to time. I say "it" because she's only 17 weeks along so I still have a few days to wait until we find out. I hope it is a cooperative child during the ultrasound. And of course, I hope it's a girl. If not, I told her she'd have to send it back. Just kidding (I think).

I'm also mom to a goofy 95 pound chocolate lab who likes to think he is a lap dog. His name is Mr. Noodle (do not let your 3 year old name a dog). Here he is in a very rare bit of central NC snow which all melted within 4 hours of this picture being taken because-- I'm not kidding-- it got up to 60 degrees that afternoon! We also have a handful of fish, but they're not so easy to photograph.

Some of my favorite things are remodeling projects and sewing. I love to make things... any things, really, as long as they are pretty. I sell my designs on ebay and etsy. I love to pretend that I can afford a trip to Disney World, my favorite smells are freshly baked bread and cut grass, and in my free time I tutor middle and high school math & science. If you'd like to know anything else about me, please leave your question in the comments. If you're on blogspot, log in so I can visit your blog, too, and if not leave me a link.

Bathroom pictures... almost done!

2008-03-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

A somewhat before picture (not truly before, when there was green carpeting, royal blue walls, and a dilapidated vanity)

And the same view, after (I obviously still need to hang the mirror!)

We hung beadboard paneling because the drywall was in such bad shape, painted it and put up crown & baseboad moulding. New laminate floors. New toilet, vanity, sink & light fixture. Storage cabinets along the back wall (another tall one to the left of shorty)

Not bad for under $1k! Put me on Trading Spaces, LOL!

And here's a funny picture of Finn while he was waiting for Matt to install the toilet :-p

and Found...

2008-03-05T16:38:00.000-08:00

Would you believe after only 20 minutes of looking that I found the missing Star Wars disc? Only, get this-- now we can't find the case with the other disc in it. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Lost

2008-03-05T15:47:00.001-08:00

Not the show. Can you believe I have never even seen part of an episode of it?

I'm talking about my stuff. I am CONSTANTLY losing stuff. 2 recent lost & founds are the cordless phone from my sewing room (the darn thing was MIA for about 3 weeks; I found it in a purse. A purse?!?!? Craziness!) and some yellow eyelet fabric. I swear I looked through every one of my fabric bins/boxes/drawers at least 3 times and couldn't find it. Then, a month later after I had long forgotten what I wanted it for, it appeared. Go figure.

New on today's new lost list (and I swear, I really could make a new list every day of things I can't find) is my MP3 player. It looks like this; let me know if you've seen it, okay? The sad thing is, I don't even know how long ago I lost it. Maybe a month? I keep forgetting I have it and don't use it as religiously as I should. Also missing is a story disc that C checked out from the library a few weeks ago and is due tomorrow. We have disc 2, but disc 1 is nowhere to be found. Who knows what random CD case it might have ended up in... or under whose bed... o in which toy bin...

And this is how my kids look for things: walk into room, do a visual scan,and come back reporting "I looked EVERYWHERE and can't find it." At which time I walk to the doorway of said room and immediately see the lost shoe/book/blankie without even looking. Maybe I'll go stare in some rooms and something will appear. Maybe something I didn't even realize that I had lost!

Finally!

2008-03-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

No, the bathroom's not finished. That would be nice, though!

I FINALLY got a new listing up on eBay. I've had this sweet little set finished for about 2 weeks and couldn't catch up with the little local model I planned to use. Well, she was NOT in the mood for modeling this morning, but, darn it, I needed to get this baby listed, so here is is, pouty face & all:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140212884515&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=004

I do have more fabric available to make it in a different size if you are interested, but you gotta let me know soon! Easter is less than 3 weeks away! Yikes!

Waiting

2008-02-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

In that very frightening blue picture, the bathroom remodel is on the left, and the big closet on the right is now my sewing office. Or, rather, was. Now it is the stuff-everything-in-there-to-get-it-out-of-the-way-of-the-bathroom-project room. Which would be frustrating at any time, but especially with a very early Easter and several almost complete Easter sets. Since I can't list them yet, I'll give you some sneak peeks.

Tomorrow is flooring day in the bathroom. Woo hoo!

Miami Mist

2008-02-27T14:09:00.000-08:00

It would be nice if I were in Miami right now; it's cold and windy here in Monkeyland!

We worked hard in the bathroom yesterday and accomplished this:

All the paneling is up, all of the outlets & switches have been replaced, and this morning the walls were painted a serene shade of turquoise called Miami Mist. Tomorrow we'll put up the trim and crown moulding, then it's onto the floors! Sorry I didn't get a better picture, but it's a very small bathroom and there's not much too look at yet.

What's in YOUR bathroom?

2008-02-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

We bought our current house in July of 2004. It was a foreclosure and in need of some MAJOR updating. Fugly doesn't even begin to describe it when we bought it. My friends always think I'm crazy when they see the houses I buy (this is our 3rd fixer-upper), but what can I say? I love an ugly (and cheap) house!

The majority of the remodeling & updating was done before or shortly after we moved in, but certain projects have fallen by the wayside. Like our half bath. It is part of the addition to our house, which is a long ranch. So imagine, if you will, looking at my house from the street: from left to right, you'd have bedrooms, main living area, the addition, then the garage. The addition houses my sewing room/guestbedroom/junk storage... you get the idea. And the poor little half bath was used as a closet for almost 2 years (sad, but true!)

Now is the time for our little bath's makeover. I wish I could show you the full, hideous before picture, but we did some minor repairs when we first moved in. This is the only picture I could find (the bathroom is on the left)

Now it is completely gutted and ready for lots of work this week:

100 years ago...

2008-02-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

We have a local studio, Arts Alive, that does the most amazing drama productions with middle and high school age kids. The program director is a creative genius; he writes the plays and builds the sets and then directs the plays. Whew! It makes me tired just thinking about all he does! One of the moms is a professional seamstress and she makes sure that there are unique, detailed, and historically accurate costumes for every performer in every play. I want to be her someday!

This spring, they will be doing a play set at the turn of the 20th century, in the Edwardian era. You'll be in the right era if you think about the costuming in Mary Poppins or Titanic. Or if you look at these pictures:

At least I think those are right; I'll have a better idea in a few weeks.

The thing is, the studio has never done a production from this time period before, so every single costume is going to have to be made, new! Here's where I come in! I will be working as an assistant costumer to help create costumes for the 52 (yes, 52!) actors and actresses, some of whom will have costume changes. I am so excited I could explode! Costumes are my very favorite thing to sew, and period costumes to boot? I am in heaven! We'll be starting in a few weeks after they get the production cast. Until then, I just get to think happy costume thoughts.