Posts for category ‘Blog’

My dear friend, Mary, has joined up with www.BringEliHome.com to raise money for a very worthy cause. Eli is the victim of parental kidnapping and is being held illegally in Turkey since 2010. Sara, Eli’s mother, has been fighting to get him home ever since.

Well, like I said, Mary has joined with Sara to raise money for her travel and legal fees through the sales of her crochet hat pattern, the Bring Eli Home Hat.

Besides being a fantastic cause, it’s also a fantastic hat pattern. Here’s me wearing my fuchsia version (which Mary made). It’s a perfect casual hat, awesome for bad hair days, and very very versatile. I plan on making one to use up some rainbow wool that I have left over from a previous project.

So, check out the links. Say a prayer, and buy the pattern or make a donation. I can’t imagine being away from my sweet girls for a week, let alone a year. Let’s help bring Eli home.

We went to the wedding, and it was a blast. Paula was a beautiful bride and would have been so, even if she were wearing a sack. It is such a blessing and a joy to attend a wedding where you feel like you are taking part of something very special, and that the couple really wanted to share it with you. The whole day had a handmade touch and you could feel it in the air. I’ll have to share more pictures of the reception and decor later.

But any who, here’s the dress!

Paula and Jason had their ceremony on Paula’s grandparents’ farm, so she wanted a casual and comfortable feel. But of course she wanted to feel pretty, too. Her dress is an all over lace, with a cotton lining. It has a draw string waist band, tightened with a grosgrain ribbon. The simple a-line silhouette was lovely on her, and really suited the atmosphere.

The neckline and cap sleeves were really important in Paula’s vision of the dress. I really love the way they turned out. I had to trim along the lace in order to get the detail on the v-neck. It was worth all the time with my scissors. So delicate!

And here’s a shot of the back. She wanted a scoop back neckline with the lace overlay. It’s just a hint of detail. I think it gives just a bit of daintiness to the overall look, definitely making it more than just a tunic.

I’ve got to say, I love this project. I loved the shared creative process, and being allowed to help bring her vision to light. I really hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks, Paula and Jason, for letting me be a part of your BIG DAY! It was a real pleasure!

Amy asked me to share the inspiration photos and the pattern I started with for my friend’s wedding dress. She sent me this one first:

Then she sent this, which is where I got the idea for the full ruffled cap sleeves (which I haven’t shown yet, but will):

And this is the pattern we chose to work with, though in the end I ended up changing almost everything about it:

I’ve had legitimate reasons not to post lately. Beside the girls finishing up summer, and a week of vacation, I took on a project that really pushed me to take my professionalism to a new level. Not to mention the new level of creativity.

Inspired by my few friends who’ve taken their interest in photography and turned it into a wedding and portrait photography business, I took on my first commissioned wedding dress project. My friend Paula was wedding dress shopping, and her sister joking/half-jokingly suggested she ask me to do it. I’ve sewn many many baby slings and gifts for their family in the past. So I asked to see some inspiration photos, determined the project to be within my skill level, and said “you sure you’re just kidding, cause I can totally make that.”

And thus it began. We shopped for a pattern to alter. I altered that pattern to match Paula’s vision. Then I put in the hours, and hours. In the end, I couldn’t have been more proud of my work, and Paula really looks stunning. Here’s a sneak peak of the hemline, can’t show too much before the wedding!

And here is a shot of the fascinator which I threw into the deal, modeled by my sweet nearly five-year-old daughter. I have no idea what her hair style plans are, so I don’t know if it will be worn or not, but I loved her color choices for the flowers and I wanted to throw something together with more color.

After the wedding next weekend I’ll be sure to share some better shots. And just in case anyone was wondering what the fee was, I charge $25 a hour for sewing, and Paula purchased the fabric.

Ohio readers! Be notified! This has been the best year for local peaches I’ve ever experienced. They are sweet, juicy, ripe and cheap right now.

I got about 3 pounds from Bauman Orchard last week and they nearly fell apart in my fingers while eating them. The girls went through all three pounds (with a little help from me) in about three days. And today I was the lucky recipient of a handmade tart from Mary Contrary, which she made with local peaches from the Lock 3 Farmers Market.

This is a directive: go eat local peaches now before it’s too late!

Note: We ate the tart and peaches so fast that no one got any pictures, so that there’s a tantalizing shot I borrowed from sxc.hu.

I’ve been composting for the garden for years, but I was using this make-shift system of tossing everything compostable into one of two trash cans and kinda rolling them around every so often to get them turned. As you can imagine, this system was a major fail. I never had compost at the beginning of the season, and by the end of the season the cans got so heavy it was really hard to access the compost I finally had. Something needed to be done!

So I got three untreated (as far as I can tell) oak pallets from someone who didn’t need them anymore and put them to work. I cut them with my hand saw into three 4′ x 4′ squares and nailed them together like this:

Then with the 1 1/2′ x 4′ pieces left over I nailed one to the bottom half of the open front, and just stacked the second piece on top of the bottom piece. It’s held on by a bungie so that I can easily get in and out of the composter to turn it and shovel compost out. Already my compost is breaking down more quickly, and it just looks so much better! Yesterday I found Olivia pulling dandelions on her own and tossing them into the bin, so it’s basically a win-win-win-win situation now. Plus, the whole project cost me a whopping $2 for nails and 2 hours time! Unbeatable!

Akron/Cuyahoga Falls locals should put this date on their calendars. June 24th from 9am-4pm there will be a Barn Sale (as in buying things in a barn, not buying barns) at my good friend Mary Beth’s Portage Trail Barn.

Mary Beth is a crafter/repurposer extraordinare! There are items to fit anyone’s fancy, whether you are a cottage crafter or a hipster.

I’ve been eyeing her aprons and flowers. Those are right up my alley, and I’m in need of a new apron to match my new kitchen.

Sub-titled: Much Belated.

But we went right from Easter to Crafty Mart around here and I had a hard time keeping up. I think I missed a week’s post. Sorry about that. Those of you who follow us on facebook (link over there ——->) know that I have decided to scale back my posts to once a week. Therefore you’ll probably find more info in each post and I’ll be able to spend a bit more time with my kiddos.

I tried my darnedest to get some good pictures of the girls in their Easter Dresses. But, goodness, it is really hard to get three children to stand still. It’s even harder to get three girls who love their spinny dresses to hold still. And yet even harder to get them to hold still in their spinny dresses long enough for a clear shot in indoor lighting because it was about 40 degrees and raining. Blah! But this will have to do!

Olivia’s is my favorite. I spent the most time playing fabric against each other for her dress and I gathered the under skirt to make it much fuller and princessy. Since hers is the biggest each girl will get the chance to wear that dress, so it got the most attention to detail.

The other amazing thing we did this Easter was head over to Rob’s parents’ house to dye eggs the Martha Stewart way. We wrapped them in cut up silk ties. They turned out absolutely amazing. We had so much fun seeing them when we unwrapped them I think we dyed at least 3 dozen eggs. Maybe 4. It was a real shame to eat them.

Or the Momme and Poppe Shoppe.

Saturday the 30th from 10 to 6 you can find me doing my thing at Crafty Mart. I’ll be selling things from my Templeton Line, again. And adding a couple of new items for the men folk, as the theme is shopping for Mother’s and Father’s days.

And I will be having a special guest at my booth! My twelve-year-old Sister-in-Law, Emily, is an art prodigy. She’s going to be selling her own original art in coloring book form. I am so excited to be involved in the beginning of what is going to be a very bright artistic future for Emily. Her designs for the book have not been released yet, but here is a quick teaser of her talents.

See you there!