A Match Made in Heaven

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!

2011

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.

What About Your Friends?

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.

Pay it Forward Friday

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!