Pattern testing-Castle Applique by FABulous Home Sewn

One of the fun things I've recently discovered on Facebook are groups for crafters, like the one I mentioned last week and one for Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop.  I've been able to connect with SO many crafty people and have really gotten my creative juices flowing, I'm trying not to join TOO many, as I find myself spending too much time chatting and seeing things other people are making rather than actually making things myself, BUT the few I'm in are seriously awesome. A few weeks ago, Fenna of FABulous Home Sewn asked in one of the groups if a few people would be willing to test out her first applique pattern that she was releasing! I was so excited to get to help-I have a strange liking for applique, and anytime I can try out something new instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing I'm totally game ;-)  She created two different castle applique designs, aren't they cute?? 

Photo by FABulous Home Sewn

I decided to try mine out on a baby bodysuit to be given as a gift for a friend who just had a little boy.  It turned out great! Her tutorial was easy to follow and had some great pictures to help you along the way.  I feel silly that I never got to take any decent photos, we had crummy weather for a few days so this shot in my foyer was the best I could get (please excuse the tiny feet). Maybe once the recipient can fit into this I can get a cute picture of him in it to show it off better :)

The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to put stabilizer on the backside of the bodysuit, it wound up a bit wavy without it, but I was being a slacker so I skipped that step...shame on me!

Head on over to Fenna's blog post about it to see some other pictures from the other testers. I LOVE the tote bag version! If you want to pick this pattern up for yourself, she has it for sale at Craftsy, here. 

  

Things are gonna change, I can feel it!

So here I am again! And I really think I'm back for good this time-I mean it! Last we talked I was starting up my Etsy Shop, and boy has that kept me busy.  I've been having SO much fun, but it's definitely been a learning curve trying to figure out how to balance making things for the shop, feeding my family, keeping the house somewhat in order and occasionally showering.  I've finally figured out a good system and am feeling MUCH better about the whole thing.

I can't believe it, but my little is going to be 20 months next week, it seriously has been flying by, but she is at a super fun stage right now. I love watching her try to figure out the world, learning new things every day, and she's completely silly, keeping me laughing ALL day.

Here she is hamming it up for the camera at one of our last photo shoots. Adorbs.

I've also recently found a REALLY great group on Facebook for crafty bloggers, it was started up by the amazing Stephanie of Swoodson Says. I can't tell you how many awesome bloggers are in the group-but they are ridiculously inspiring.  We've got a bunch of fun stuff going on in the group, including a mystery challenge sew along that is getting started now that I'm really excited about.  I'm learning so much from these ladies, I'm so grateful that I found this group!

Anyway, lots to talk about later! What have you all been up to??

Announcing Grasshopper Lane Boutique!

Hey all, me again! Yeah I know, it's been pretty silent around here again, but for good reason! Remember when I mentioned that I had a few ideas up my sleeve? Well, it's finally become a reality so now I can tell you about it! I was having so much fun making dresses for my little girl but was running out of closet space for her, so I decided to open an Etsy shop so I can have an excuse to keep making them :)

My husband is friends with a guy at work who is a graphic design whiz and was kind enough to come up with a logo for me for the low low price or a batch of cookies, how cute??

Here is just a peak at two of the dresses I currently have listed, I have a super cute model ;-)

I'd say things are still under construction in the shop as I am figuring out better ways to photograph my products and what kinds of products to stock, but hopefully it'll come together soon and I start getting some sales. Please stop on by and let me know what you think, and if you are on Facebook, I'd love it if you "Liked" my page there, too!

So, what kind of fabrics and styles do you think I should try to stock? Any tips from those of who of have a shop of your own? 

A (kinda late) nursery reveal

So back in the day, I made a bunch of stuff for our nursery and promised to share it here.  My *plan* was to stop working a week or so before my due date (fully expecting little one to be late) so that I'd have time to finish things up, get organized, and take lots of pretty pictures of the new nursery all bright and shiny. Well, Someone had other plans, and instead of going in to work on my last day, I went in to labor! Needless to say, I never did get those bright shiny pictures of the brand new nursery.  I finally remembered to take some today, it is definitely not as neat and organized as it once was.  The diaper stacker is a little saggy, the shelves are cluttered, and the blinds are crooked because one of the strings broke and I haven't bothered fixing it, but that's life! So, as promised long ago, here's the nursery!

Back when I started envisioning what the nursery would look like, I was adamantly against it being too pink.  I am just not a super girly person and wanted something kind of girly but not over board, so I was planning on purple and yellow. I found some fabulous Kate Spain fabric that was perfect, but when I went to color match for the paint it was definitely pink.  I was in denial for a while and called it a "pinkish purple", but let's be honest here...it's PINK. And I love it.

This is by far my favorite part of the whole room. I love love love these fabic hoops. I used scraps of the fabrics that I used throughout the room, and printed some cute animal silhouettes and baby girl's initial to applique on some of them. They really add a fun touch to the room! Best part is I got these hoops at the thrift store for like $5 total, so this wall art was very close to free!

The crib skirt went through a few variations before I finally settled on a simple, slightly ruffled skirt.  I opted against making a crib bumper since they say those aren't safe for baby and went with this store bought breathable one that matches well enough.  I also decided not to make any crib sheets, I thought with the fabrics I had it would be way over kill, and also not exactly cost effective, so we went with plain white sheets which I think adds some nice contrast and goes with the crib well.

The changing table is an old dresser we had.  I painted it white and took the top two drawers out to make a shelf for these cute little baskets.  For the changing pad covers, I found some of that nice soft minky in green, pink and yellow at the thrift store as well and it worked out perfectly.  The hair clip/headband holder was a later addition after her collection started getting a little out of hand. I found that frame thing at Lowe's (I guess it's meant to be a wall panel accent?) It was on clearance for about $5, score! I attached some ribbons and hooks on the bottom, and voila! So adorbs.

So see that table runner? Sad story...I originally had not quilted it, thinking it was just a table runner so there was no need to. Well, let this serve as a public service announcement: If it is going in a baby's room, it MUST be washable! When baby had been home only a few days, we had an "incident" that required me to throw that in the wash, and well, it didn't end well...some of the seams ripped and of course the batting got all weird like it's supposed to, but totally ruined the look of the runner. I patched up the rips and quickly ran some wavy quilt lines to hold it together so it's usable but I actually really do not like it now.  Sad, it was one of my favorite pieces in the room before! I so wish I had a picture of it before it got messed up (ok, so I actually wish I had made it right to begin with...)

The diaper stacker and window valance are made using the fabric that started it all! It is hard to tell but the valance is trimmed with some pretty green crystals. I decided to accent with green to try to take some of the edge off of the pink, and I think it worked out perfectly with the little green in that print. I also made the roman shades, I did it the proper way so it took forever...turns out being 8 months pregnant and sitting on the floor hand stitching on a billion little rings is not a fun thing to do.  Next time I'm totally taking one of the short cuts I find all the time on Pinterest...

Well there you have it! I love how the room turned out.  I feel like it is nice and bright and fun for a little girl, but also something that she can grow with.  The whole reason I was inspired to start sewing to begin with was the dream of being able to create a nice nursery for my (at the time future) baby and I feel so satisfied that I was able to do just that!

Is anyone out there??

Hey strangers, been a while, eh?? This last year has seriously been a blur...the first few months of my daughter's life I barely touched my sewing machine! We were just so busy getting to know each other there was little time...and when I did actually have time, well, I was either a) too exhausted to care, or b) the house was in such ruin that it needed my attention first. I really don't know how some of you do it, keeping up with house, work, kid, blog, etc...hats off to you!  Now that the bug is more independent I have been sewing quite a bit, and among some other things I am having SO much fun making dresses for her!

Here's two that I actually have pictures of (albeit terrible cell phone pictures)...how do I not take pictures of these things?? I think I've made 8 or 9 dresses now...some are really quick pillowcase dresses using old t-shirts of mine, others are more involved with patterns like the first one pictured, but they are still so easy to make, and pretty difficult to mess up...perfect for me! I think the most fun is picking out the fabrics, though.  SO many cute prints just begging to be turned in to little outfits!

Anyway, hope some of you are still out there, I miss my blogging land buddies and hope to get back to it.  I have a few exciting ideas up my sleeves right now that I'll share once they become a reality (but ya know I can't share too soon because then I'll be held accountable and I still want to be able to back out at the last minute if I need to, HA!)

Pardon the Interuption...

Our little girl came August 1st, a few days early!! We are so overjoyed, loving every minute spent with her.  It may be a few days before I get back to sewing (but in case you were wondering, I did finished the nursery JUST in time :-) )

Blocks and A Preview

In between all the baby showering, cleaning, working and napping, I've actually managed to fit in some sewing.  June was my last month participating in do.Good Stitches, and even though I thought my blocks were going to be way late, I actually managed to get them out on time..go me!

For this month, Amanda of My Sewcial Hour picked one of my fav color schemes-yellows, blues, greens, whites and grays, so I had lots of scraps to work with.  The block we made is the Improv Chevron using this tutorial by Six White Horses.  If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I'm not at all an improv kinda gal.  I enjoy the look of it when other people make improv stuff, but my mind just doesn't work that way and I tend to struggle with it, so these were no cake walk for me. I do really like how they turned out, though, and I can't wait to see the whole quilt together, I think it will have such a cool look. 

Also at the end of June I finished up my tutorial for Rebecca's Christmas in July-I made some fun paper-pieced Christmas coasters, be sure to check it out in case you missed it!

I've had to resist taking on any other projects after these were done so that I could focus on my nursery stuff (I didn't even get to make my second bag for the Purse-Palooza! rats...though I did get my fabric, so mark my words, as soon as my nursery is finished, it's on!)  My feet have been getting obnoxiously swollen if I sit at my sewing machine for more than 30 mins-1 hour lately, especially after I've worked all day, so I'm having to do all this in pieces which is really annoying...Happily, it's coming together a lot faster (and easier...) than I expected and I'm just about finished.  I plan to share it all soon, but for now I leave you with this sneak peak: