Vintage Bicycle Ride

I have been in a vintage kick lately. I love to use vintage fabrics. It makes the item one-of-a-kind and I feel better about not adding more crap to an over crapped out earth. A few weeks ago a lovely friend of mine gave me two ginormous boxes of vintage finds from her stash. There were a few craft magazines from the 70's in the box too. I am going to have to take some pictures of these magazines. Flipping hilarious. Part of this stash was this unbelievable bicycle fabric:

I could make out with this fabric, I love it so much. (Pardon the hideous plaid cover on my sewing table.) Fun, no? I also made an apron with these same fabrics. This is definitely one of those items I will be sad to see sell. I get attached to my fabrics. They are kind of like my children. Only the fabric doesn't talk back. Or spill juice on my carpet. Details, schmetails. 

I miss sleep

After the birth of my second child I just assumed that I would be able to sleep the night through by the time she was three.

Who the heck was I kidding? Okay, to be fair she does sleep through the night a good part of the time, but then she goes through spurts, painful, agonizing spurts where she does not sleep. Last night (this morning?) I rolled over, just shy of 2:30 am to find a pair of big blue eyes staring at me. I don't know about you, but waking up to someone staring at you is just creepy. Or maybe that's just me remembering the year I had a stalker ex-boyfriend. Whatever.

"Mommy, I want to lay down and cuddle wif you."

"Mommy just wants to cuddle her pillow sweetheart."

I put her back in bed, give her a cuddle, turn back on her music, and go back to bed. I get all cozy and comfy again and am just about to fall back asleep when I feel those eyes back on me.

Rinse, lather and repeat. I am TIRED. Someone go get me a Diet Coke IV STAT.

Crafty Spaz

So, here's the thing.

I am a bit of a spaz when it comes to art projects. I call it crafty spaz. You may call it a lack of an attention span. Whatever. Potato, pahtahto.

My main seller at all my fairs and on my Etsy page are my little girl dresses. Only I can't stay focused enough to make the same dress 8500 different times and stay happy. I have to make something new. This is the same thing with jewelry making and drawing. I can only stand to make things for so long and then I have to stop. Thankfully my love of fun fabric at least keeps me interested in sewing. I just have to broaden my horizons to make new and fresh items. It's the only way to keep up my craft mojo. If I don't then you'll just find me sitting on the couch with a package of Oreos and NCIS reruns. And possibly drooling. Oreo cookie drool is not pretty people.

Which brings me to these new dresses:

Applique fun with a touch of embroidery! Weeeeeeeee! Oh the possibilities. I'm really digging the one color dress and having the applique being the shazam factor. I made this in a 4T. I expect it will sell at my 4 (4!) fairs I have lined up, but if it doesn't I am so making my daughter wear it. That's my prerogative as a mother and as a crafter.

Things that scare me

Seeing that Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I would create a (not so) spooky list of things that randomly scare me (and may or may not be sewing related).

1. Buttons. Dude, the whole button hole making thing scares me.
2. Sewing knits. Double needles. Shudder.
3. Spiders bigger than a nickel. 'Nuff said.
4. Pinworm
5. Sewing with knits.
6. Toddlers on sugar highs
7. Man colds
8. Car repairs
9. That bad smell in the refrigerator you just can't find.
10.  Paper cuts. Dude, they hurt like a mofo.
11. Pleated pants
12. Socks with sandals
13. Those socks that have toes separated. I'm sorry. My toes were meant to touch each other.
14. Bugs with lots of legs.
15. My sewing machine breaking.

Care to add to the list?

New Fabric

Most of the time I use my funds from my Etsy shop to pay bills, like 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time I use it to restock my supplies. I will admit to having amassed a huge fabric collection, but I still have to work to keep up with what is fashionable. Last week I went to fabric.com (love) and purchased some new bag fabric:

I have enough for maybe 2 reversible bags. I cannot wait to make them. They will be fabulous, with a capital FAB! I have my first fall craft fair next weekend, the 28th and 29th. I will not be putting any new items up on Etsy until after the fair as I am having trouble keeping my stock up. (Also, on my cutting table is an Elvis Bag. Total awesomesauce.) Squeee!!!!!!

Boo-yah

So, my lovely sweet daughter decided it would be fun to come down with a 102 fever. Why? I have no clue. She's three and refuses to wear blue jeans. No one understands her. The fever finally disappears after two days and then she breaks out in the mother load of hives. HIVES. I've never seen a hive in all my 32 years. Safe to say, I know what they look like now. I don't do hives. Just like I don't do fungal infections, pinworms (gag me), and lice. The girl had to go and make me a liar. Hives, of the unexplained variety. Doc said just to give benadryl. In the meantime my kid looked like she was mutating or played is some radioactive alien ooze. Shall we list the ailments of this summer courtesy of both my children? Oh why not, it will be FUN**:

Reaction from injections placed into my son's plantar warts that earned a trip to urgent care due to the random WTF is going on with your foot syndrome. Also, it was Sunday and the doctor's office was closed.

Daughter gets viral pneumonia that takes a month to go away.

Daughter gets a random UTI.

Daughter gets a weird and out of the blue fever.

Daughter gets covered with viral hives. And yes, the benadryl took care of the hives for the 6 hours the benadryl was effective. Then they reappeared again. Of course THEY did.

Due to the above reasons I will be more than happy to have someone whisk me away on a private jet to some lovely sandy beach location where gorgeous men served me fruity alcoholic beverages with those adorable little umbrellas in them. I'm not asking for much. Really.

Fine. At least send me a giant bottle of Calgon.***

** This post is brought to you by lots and lots of sarcasm.
*** Do they even make Calgon anymore?

Bags, bags, and more bags

I have been really into making tote bags lately. I love the comfort of them. They have a touch of structure to them and hang nicely on your shoulder. The straps aren't too long. I think I am in love. Plus, I have been using a duck fabric (think canvas), as it helps give the structure a regular cotton wouldn't be able to do.

I also love that they are reversible - change when your outfit changes! This is a medium sized tote - about 12.5 x 13. I am planning on adding a larger tote to my line, like a beach sized tote. So much fun! Woot!