I'm Back!

So after Sister's party in March, my blogging stopped. My hubby and I decided to sell our home in California and move to Arizona. It has been a crazy and hectic few months, but we are settled and are in love with our new home and our new town! Once things settled down, I whipped out my sewing machine and settled in to do some serious sewing. Are you ready?!?!

Winter Wear Designs EBTKS Henley and FMA

Earlier this year, I agreed to participate in a Winter Wear Designs blog tour. And then life happened. Our family was hit with a horrible flu bug, then we decided to move to a new state so we had a house to fix up and sell, a new job to find, and a house to buy. During this crazy time, my machines and fabric were packed up and only recently did life slow down enough to get them back out.....and boy did I miss my sewing space! 

So, without further delay, here is my Winter Wear Designs Post! For the tour, I chose the Everything But the Kitchen Sink Henley and the Beep Beep FMA (Free Motion Applique) patterns.

Sewing for my little guy just seems to be a little extra tricky, cute girl patterns are everywhere, but boy patterns are just harder to find. When Winter Wear Designs released the Everything But the Kitchen Sink Henley (EBTKS), I was so excited! A shirt pattern perfect for my little guy with fun accent ideas! For Brother, I made one using the following: the slim option, long sleeve, and a functional V Henley. 

The pattern has clear written directions and color picture directions of the steps. Due to all of the different options, there is an index with the options and page numbers which helps eliminate extra scrolling. 

This pattern is so fun to plan and sew up! The only difficulty I had was with making the functional V Henley was that the woven fabric didn't have much stretch and I wasn't all that careful cutting the opening out of the main front (completely my fault!). But it was easily fixed with some hand stitching after the first wash. And a mental note to cute carefully so the pieces match up. 

For a little extra fun, I decided to try my hand at FMA. When I bought my new machine last year,  I also bought a free motion foot for my machine. This is only my second time using the foot, but boy did I have fun! My stitching is a little wonky, but it turned out cute and by the end my stitches were getting more under control.

The Beep Beep FMA Pattern was a perfect introduction to free motion applique. The steps are very clear and the color photographs illustrating the steps helped so much! I can't wait to make more designs!

Here are a few more action shots from our hike:

We went on vacation here once, on the drive home said, "wouldn't
it be fun to live here?" and hubby and I figured, why not?!?!
Hence the spontaneous move.

My little guy may be 3, but he is totally
my snuggle buddy!

His "binoculars" are always out
(and apparently always breaking).

A few months ago I made an EBTKS Henley for a friend's daughter. On this one, I did the faux v henley, 3/4 sleeves and sleeve tabs. Didn't it turn out sweet?

Toddler Art Party

It's been a little quiet on my blog lately as I have been working so hard on getting ready for Sister's fifth birthday party. My sweet girl had had a very specific party theme in mind: Fancy Nancy Art Party. She based this on the book Fancy Nancy Aspiring Artist (affiliate link), which is her current favorite book. Who is ready for some pictures?!?!

The original plan was to have one main party on Sunday, but she came down with a flu bug. So on Sunday only the grandparents and aunts came over to love on her and enjoy the food we had catered. Then on Wednesday, her best friends came over for an art party!

Last year for my birthday I received the Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew (affiliate link) from a dear friend. Sister and I simply love looking at the projects and dreaming how the projects will turn out! The art smock is one of her personal favorites and she had been asking me to make one for her for months.

For Sister and Brother's art smocks, I used the pocket pattern from The Cottage Mama Sew Classic Clothes for Girls (affiliate) book. Sister simply adores the large pocket and having a pocket to hold all her supplies.

When the Michael Miller Color Me fabric was released, I just knew it would be simply perfect for art smocks! I purchase almost all of my fabric from Whimsical Fabric and solid fabrics are simply top notch from this shop. The Riley Blake and Art Gallery solid fabrics are superb to work with and the colors are amazing!

My original plans included a darling shirt and capri set for her birthday, but I ran out of time to get those completed. However, my favorite bow designer, Little Bow Pat made me this simply adorable bow that matches the theme of the party perfectly!

Her bows also come with a coordinating accent clips, but I just couldn't figure out where to sneak it onto this busy hairstyle! The coordinating clips are perfect for girls growing out bangs or girls with toddler hair that requires a second clippie to help hold fly-aways.

Now onto the pictures!

The art smocks also came in handy when it was time to color Easter eggs! I found a really neat low mess egg coloring tutorial that I think will for sure be our new tradition for the next few years. Set up took about a minute and clean up took 3 minutes at the very most.