Crazy [hair] week

WOW, I can't believe I've gone so long without blogging! This is quite unlike me. But I have a good excuse: I've been incredibly busy (and have some pictures to prove it!)

Last week was an eventful one for us. We went LIVE with our new website and within minutes of the announcement the sign-ups and orders started rolling in. We are so thrilled and thankful for the warm response our MODKID sewing patterns are getting.

I worked tirelessly managing orders all week and finishing up the editing on the patterns. A special thanks (with lots of hugs & kisses) to all my pattern testers for your hard work and dedication. I seriously couldn't have done this without you girls (and I will dedicate an upcoming post to the beautiful pieces you created.)

But it wasn't all work and no play last week. We had some fun moments too. On Thursday Sydney had "crazy hair day" at school so we had to get up extra early that morning to prepare this wacky concoction on top of her head:



Don't ask me where my focus was that morning. It was 7 am when I took this next picture and I am NOT a morning person.



On Friday, the girls helped me pick fabric and trims for a new pillow for their cousin, Asja, who turns 9 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASJA! I think this turned out so sweet! We used a baby wale cord that I had bought ages ago at Joann's and paired it up with two of my new aqua Andalucia jacquard ribbons, the Aqua Mod Dots and the Aqua Mod Blooms. Check it out:



We were also visited by UPS, FedEx and the mailman quite often last week, which was a fun distraction for sure. Among the packages we received was this sweet gift from my pal, Paula. I absolutely love the frames and immediately found the perfect pictures to put in them. Thanks, Paula!!



I also received a gorgeous print I purchased on Etsy a couple of weeks ago from an outstanding Canadian dollmaker. I fell in love with this doll the minute I saw her (I admit, it was mostly because I thought the resemblance to my Sophie was uncanny) but since I couldn't afford the price tag on the doll, I convoed the seller and asked if she could make me an 8" x 10 " print of Lulu. She agreed and here she is. She was sweet enough to send me a smaller print of a different doll that kinda looks like Sydney, so I can't wait to frame these and put them up in my office...



And last, but certainly not least, I received some Mezzanine restrikes from Michael Miller. These are just the ones that went back to the mill for color tweaks & such. There's more where this came from but I just wanted to give you another little sneak... (a full reveal is still in the works.)



PHEW, so that was last week! This week it's been all about patterns. I sent the electronic files to my print vendor on Monday and proofs came back yesterday. I told them I wanted to be involved in every little step of the process and approve every inch before going on press, to which they said they were actually thrilled about. Apparently they encounter a lot more mistakes on press when the customer doesn't take such an active role in the approval process... works for me!

Here are the proofs I received. They were absolutely flawless! The color was so brilliant... not a stitch (oh, wait... pixel?) out of place!



The pattern sheet proofs looked awesome too. I actually got a tad teary eyed when I saw them all spread out like this. I felt like I had given birth all over again! LOL!



I also received some folded mock-ups to check for page placement & such.



I'm scheduled to go in for a press check later on this week and I absolutely cannot wait! I wonder if they'll let me take a camera into the press room? This is old school for me. Back in the day, when I worked in the marketing field down in FL, I did hundreds of press checks, some of them at 3 a.m. (wearing my flannel PJ bottoms and coffee in hand!) So I know exactly what sort of things to look for. I have my lupe ready! :)