We are back from a very long and lovely vacation. My days were filled, but nothing really got done, which is just how it should be.  Swim, eat, nap, swim, and watch cable.  Perfect. There are so many beautiful parts of this huge country that I haven’t seen yet.  The midwest is sorely underrated.  Seriously, stop flying over us and come visit for once. I think it’ll be another week before I’m back up to speed. Do you always want to move where you vacation? No matter where it is you go? oh well.  Home is isn’t too bad either.

And why is there a picture of Country Living magazine up there? Because holy crap I’m in it, that’s why. It’s a little sewing tip* passed down to me from a wonderfully crafty lady.  The blurb is pretty small, so I forgive you if you can’t find it (unless you are related to me, then you have to go out and buy it and read the whole thing and tell all your friends too).

have a good week!

*edited to add the tip:

If a pin is a little dull, run it (carefully) through your hair. The tiny bit of oil it picks up will help it glide through your fabric with ease.

I picked up two suitcases in the last few weeks.  The big one from the trash and the little one from the good thrift store (not the one with all the hipster employees that snag all the good stuff).  The big one doesn’t look so exciting, but it’s yellow with white polka dots on the inside.  I left it open in the sun for a couple days and all but a little of that old basement smell is gone.  They are both for dress up, which is big in our house these days.  Inspired by the book The Creative Family, I made a little area in the kid’s room especially for dressing up.

There hasn’t been too much action there yet, but my daughter tends to put absolutely everything on at once and that gets a little hot in the summertime.  A couple times I’ve found the little one sitting in the chair right in front of the mirror having his snack.  It’s pretty damn cute. These are old, trash picked mirrors and it’s probably a bad idea to have them in the kid’s room, but oh well.  Our house is so small I really have no choice but to always have my eye on the kids. They will crash and break and then we’ll put something else up. In the meantime, it’s bear slippers and tutus on your head (and nothing else).

I’m still working on things for the shop.  I made a few pairs of pajama pants out of pillowcases for the smaller set (sizes 3-6 months, 2-3T, and 4-5T).  Making pjs out of vintage sheets and pillowcases is the way to go.  They are so soft and so perfect for the summertime.  So hop on over and check em out.

This is what all those little things on my desk became–a toy bag for little people. It’s up in the shop along with another toy bag (puzzles) and there are more on their way.  This week was making stuff for the shop week and though I’m pretty excited about this new design, not much more than that got done.  I only ventured down in my studio about half of the evenings I was supposed to–I’m a crappy boss to myself I guess.  But there are somethings cut out for the shop that I really want to finish (city skirts and county skirts too!), so I’m just going to keep at it next week. After that we’ll be off to the middle of nowhere on vacation. A whole week! without the internet! I’m guessing there will be cable in the cabin so that kind of evens out the time suck factor. There will also be an enormous lake so I’m not expecting to get much done, but that is the point of vacation anyway isn’t it?

on my desk. wednesday.

This was supposed to be the fourth moustachioed plush (the others are here) but I just can’t decide if I like it or not.  It was definitely a pain in the butt to make. It took forever to try to make the face at least a little three dimensional and after I gave up I realized how I should have done it (though now I forget) and then all the fussy cuts.  He does have a little body that’s done and his legs are in pieces, but I just don’t know if it’s worth it to put him together. His face is so flat that it reminds me of a tiki doll. The moustache helps–it’s a bushy Tom Selleck number–but I still don’t know. What do you think? Should I sew him up and put him in the shop or scrap it and start over?