resales
I laugh when people say they’re envious of my thrifting luck. Here in the suburbs of Chicago the thrifting is sparse and crappy. You have to cast a wide net (garage sales, church sales, kids clothing/toy sales, thrift stores) and really dig. And dig some more. Dig until the child or spouse or unlucky friend you dragged with you is dying of boredom and desperate to be free. The only saving grace is that out here in burbage lots of what I think is cute the other moms think is crap so while they’re battling it out over gymboree and gap I can sneak in and grab the garanimals. After exhausting 3 clothing/toy sales this weekend and a library book sale I made away with a few things.
a few books
this one, Wolfie by Janet Chenery, is a really cute story
some more betsy books for our collection
a few dresses for Phoebe. the red one is far too frilly but I couldn’t resist that embroidered collar.
I’ll have to snap a pic of Oscar in that garanimals shirt later today, it’s pretty cute.
strawberry dress
Hey, thanks for all the encouraging and enthusiastic comments on my spilled beans. I’m more excited than ever that I made the decision to go for it. Things are really chugging along well and it’s well, fun. Which is amazing, considering how terrified I was to take on this challenge. Keeping everything in perspective makes it easier and having busy kids under foot seems to do the trick. Like right now we’re cleaning up from the visit from the stomach flu fairy which is disgusting beyond belief but somehow cleared my head from the stress and indecision about designs I was having earlier this week. Also switching gears always helps. I went a little Alexander Henry crazy over at Sew Mama Sew and I have Spring dresses for Phoebe on the brain. I just finished up a book project today that was driving me nuts so maybe I’ll reward myself with a little dress sewing tomorrow. Or, I may be barfing. Can’t wait to find out!
fun news on a rainy day
I’m not very good with big news but hey, did I mention I’m writing a book? Yep. A big ole book, a real one, full of doll and toy patterns. And it’s going to be a STC/Melanie Falick Books book, pinch me!
I’m happy to be able to spill the beans. I probably could have earlier, or waited a lot longer, but I don’t know what the protocol is. I’m always taken by surprise when I read people are writing books, shocked actually. It’s just seems like such a monumental project to take on. And that’s the shock and awe I wake up to every morning. No, really, it has been a lot of fun so far. Dreaming up projects and sketching and just sewing like a maniac, oh and can’t forget fabric shopping like a crazy person. It’s been awesome, but it is really weird not to be able to share. So I’m sharing! While I can’t really show anything I’m working on, I can talk in code and vaguely refer to things. I can gripe and moan when I’m stuck or ask for opinions or beg for pattern testers and man oh man, wait til you see the “design process”. I’m saving all my rejects in a giant bag. That ought to be good for a laugh when the book is out.
I’m about halfway through the designing/sewing/instructions part and then will come all the writing. You’ll know when that part comes because I’ll probably fall off the face of the earth except for some grumbled curse words on twitter now and again. But no, I’m optimistic. I’m just going to pretend like it’s the blog and write right to you guys and hopefully it’ll come together easy peasy. Do you think they’ll let me say things like easy peasy?
Tim’s doing the diagrams which look amazing so far and I can’t wait to spill who’s doing the photographs, so flippin exciting. So, ok, that’s it, my fun news. I’d better get back to it now.
(and psst, since I’m spilling now while I’m still designing… I do have
pretty much everything decided but if there’s something you’d you like
to see sneak in there, slip me a note)
Cat out of bag!
I decorate the world with color
Ready for another rousing round of “I had that doll!!” I didn’t actually have this one, I was just a smidge (ahem) too old for this gal but I came across her on ebay and couldn’t resist. She’s actually pretty cute, look at her sweet face. And the crazy 80s-ness of her. So awesome! If you press her hand she says all sorts of totally rad stuff like “I live in rainbow land with the color kids”. And her puffy rainbow space girl outfit. Too good to pass up.
Spring Cleaning Stitchette
Holy cow, it’s 59 degrees outside today. That’s almost sixty! Tim’s out there taking down the Christmas lights. It’s almost as if Spring is actually going to come. Maybe this explains the purging, sorting, straightening urges I’ve been having lately. It’s almost time for Spring cleaning! Here’s a freebie embroidery pattern to get you in the mood. You know, a little something to work on while we wait for Spring to actually arrive which here in Chicago will be another 2 months or so. This pattern was in the March (?) issue of Sew Hip magazine which is a new sewing magazine in the UK. I still haven’t seen it and I don’t think it’s available here in the US anywhere so I thought I’d put this up here for those of us who can’t get our hands on it.
Here’s the pattern and the instructions. Happy stitching!
phoebe’s sleeping bag
I found this old sleeping bag at the thrift store thinking I’d use it for the fabric but when we got it home I realized it was in perfect condition, no stains, no smells (amazingly!) and the zipper still works. So now it’s Phoebe’s new sleeping bag. She spent a good part of yesterday afternoon snuggled in it with all her dolls and animals and books, killing me with her cute. Thriftscore!
