Back to School goodies!

My girls' first day of school was yesterday and with it came a new milestone for our family. My oldest, Sophie (or Sophia, as she likes to be called now... sniff, sniff), started Junior High! I can't believe my baby (don't tell her I called her that) is a BIG GIRL now.

To commemorate the grand event, I shot these pictures before they left for school yesterday. The girls wore the newest MODKID knit patterns, The BREEANN Top and the MELANIE Dress (available now in our Etsy shop), which were actually named after their BFFs.

When I posted these pics on Facebook, I got tons of questions about how I did those giant numbers the girls are holding. I just made them up real quick in Illustrator and cut them onto card stock on my Silhouette Cameo machine. Since a few of you requested I made these available, I have these now live on my Silhouette store:

But, now onto the patterns...

A few weeks ago I sneaked peeked our BACK TO SCHOOL collection on Facebook, and both pattern designs were met with lots of "oooh's and ahhh's" and "when can we get these?".

Well, your wait is finally over!! We have just released the BREEANN and MELANIE patterns. And here's a little bit of info about each...

MELANIE

This adorable and comfy dress is designed to be sewn with knits, and features a sweet A-line silhouette and some oversized side pockets for all her treasures. Our pattern includes three sleeve length options so it can take your girl from the warm Summer months through the chilly Winter days.

  
BREEANN

For the tween/teen crowd, we've designed this hip hooded top that features two sleeve variations -- fitted and flutter. We paired that with an oversized kangaroo pocket and a yoga waistband, for the perfect top.

See lots more photos of both patterns in the shop listings.
Again, both patterns are available NOW in our Etsy shop.

Sweet Goodbyes

This morning we sent our girls off for their first day of school. It's always bittersweet for me because they are here usually all Summer long (except for their occasional visit to FL) so I am so used to hearing their pitter-patter and their chitter-chatter all day long but its precisely that pitter-patter and chitter-chatter that makes my productivity titter-tatter. So now, more than ever I'm so looking forward to some peace & quiet around here so I can finally hear my own thoughts (and hopefully they'll materialize into something).



Sophie is joining the ranks of the big kids at her school as she enters the 3rd grade. She loves her new teacher, Mrs. Cox, and was happy to see a lot of her old friends in her new classroom.



Sydney thinks she's a big girl now... going to Kindergarten in the "big kid's school" and all... but she'll always be my baby. Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Cummins.



Of course, I had to take the "first time I sat at my desk" photo. I'm such a sap! But, come on, how could I not? She looked so happy and proud!



The outfits the girls wore on their first day of school are part of a new sewing pattern coming out this Fall, so yes, folks, you are getting a bit of an early sneak peek here. You'll love this pattern as it comes with a myriad of options... you can seriously make about 8 different looks with it! Here are a couple of photos I took last week for the pattern booklet:





Soooo... since we've been doing a heck of a lot of sewing lately here in the studio (in between all the chitter-chattering), we've also amassed a big heaping pile of knits scraps and even some quilting cotton scraps. They multiply by the bucketfuls each day and are taking over every surface of my work space so I'd love to bid a "sweet goodbye" to these scraps and send them off to a good home. I'm sure we'll have more than 1 bag by the end of this week but time will only tell just how many...

Leave me a comment below this post and we'll randomly pick 1 or more winners by the end of this week! (and don't forget to leave a way to contact you, even if it's a clickable link) Good luck!

And sometimes I sew for fun...

It's not all business all the time around here. Sydney had her school recital last Thursday. She was asked to dress like a peasant woman from Abe Lincoln's time. I hope I came close to it... (Thank goodness I had all this vintage fabric and trims on hand.)



She had so much fun with her BFFs...



And we had a great time watching her belt out her Old Abe Lincoln song. She practiced it so many times at home we all knew it by heart...



This is by far my favorite pic from the evening!



Don't forget to enter the Mommy & Me Giveaway below. Still a few days left. Also, the Where Women Create magazines are being uploaded to our website as we speak. Check back tonight if you want to get your own signed copy! Limited availability. ;)

Eight going on Sixteen



WOW! I seriously never anticipated such response to my knits announcement. My inbox has been flooded with questions and I can't even keep up with the Twitter and Facebook comments. THANK YOU! (I mean it!) And to think for a while there I was afraid I'd be the only one in the world sewing with these! Well, you proved me wrong. Can't wait to see what you guys sew up.

For those of you who have expressed some apprehension about sewing with knits, NO FEAR! Knits are easy peasy to work with and you'll be so amazed as to how fast you can complete a project because you are cutting out so many steps you'd normally do with woven fabrics. From time to time I will post tips, tricks and tutorials here on the blog. And I must also mention that my new knit patterns come with full knit-sewing instructions for the beginner.

So, now on to the topic of this post... my "big girl." She seldom models for me anymore because she seems to think it's not "cool" (who knew?) And she thinks most dresses make her look "like a baby" (geez, I thought she was my baby!) She pretty much could live in an old pair of jeans and a rugged tee (who's child is this anyway?)

So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when she said she liked my Abigail pattern and wanted me to make her one. After I picked myself off the floor, I offered to make her 1 or 20 with the fabrics of her choice.





She even agreed to a mini photoshoot... if she could pick her own accessories! How could I refuse?



And... as icing on the cake, she decided to wear her new Abigail to her school concert Monday night. There she is in the back row, where they put the "tall" kids (that was never my issue! haha)



Ahhhh! Life is sweet! :)

Yup. It's definitely Autumn.



My favorite season of the year and it completely snuck up on me. I chaperoned a field trip for Sydney's pre-school class this morning to a local family-owned pumpkin farm. We all had a great time, despite the frustrating start of my day. If you follow me on Twitter you know that my SUV's keyless entry system decided to fail on me at the last minute and the car pretty much went on shut down mode. The alarm started blaring and all doors locked up. No matter what button I pushed, they would not open up. Finally it occurred to me to check the back/trunk door and it opened for me but that meant that I had to crawl through the back of the car while the alarm blared away in the parking lot of Sydney's school just to get to the ignition... good times!

After the field trip was over, I decided to drive straight to Jon's work to see if he could figure out what was the deal with this darn car but of course the car was at its best behavior in front of Jon. ARGH! Made me even more angry! Those of you who have ever worked in the corporate world will sympathize with me when I say that it was just like when your computer starts acting up and you call tech support but it acts perfectly fine when they show up. They always look at you like you're either dumb or crazy and mutter something under their breath like "user error"... blech!

But I digress, the field trip was such a wonderful experience for the kids. They got to watch a movie and munch on some popcorn...



We took a hay ride and saw a corn maze and a pumpkin field...



It cracks me up that every time I point the camera at Sydney she strikes a pose (I have her well trained, eh?!)





But actually my favorite pictures of her were the more candid ones...





They saw farm animals...



Played on the hay stacks...



And in the soy bean mounds...



Took a [very wind-blown] class picture...



And even got to take a pumpkin home... hmmm... which one should I choose?!



OK. This one!



Next up will be Halloween pictures. YIPPEE!! This year, after a very frustrating and unsuccessful trip to our local costume store where all we found was a bunch of poorly-made over-priced CRAP, I decided to make their costumes from scratch. Both girls had very specific and detailed requests (hmmm, I wonder who they get that from?) Sophie will be going as a witch and Sydney will be Tinkerbell. I didn't have time to make myself anything new so I'll just grab an old costume from the closet. Check back in a couple of days for pics!

What are you and/or your kids dressing up as this year?

Back To School!

I apologize for my bloggy absence. It's not like me to leave things unattended for such a long period of time, but this week I have had very little spare time and so some things had to be put on the back burner.

For the most part, we've been preparing for the BIG DAY... back to school! So, I wanted to share some pictures with you.

Tuesday night (Aug. 19th) was our "meet & greet" session in which all students had to bring in their supplies and meet their new teacher and future BFFs. Sydney's was first. I made her an appliqued pillow to bring to school for naptime. She loved it. It made me feel good.



Here she is pointing at her name taped on the table. She is so excited to be going to "big girl school"... and mama is excited to have a few hours each day for herself. ;)



Next, we headed over to Sophie's "meet & greet." Sophie is in 1st grade now, which means no more naps so she didn't get a mama-made pillow. I will make her one for her bedroom anyway because I had so much fun creating Sydney's.



And, of course, we had to get a similar picture of her pointing at her name taped on the table. I know, I'm such a dork!



But today was the BIG DAY! The girls got up earlier than usual and were dressed and ready to go with plenty of time (no, I won't get used to that because I know it's only a matter of days before I'm back to my usual routine of yelling at the top of my lungs every morning for them to m o v e i t). But today, it was nice to actually have a relaxed morning and have time for the token mailbox picture.





Sydney wore one of her favorite MODKIDs and while walking from the car to the classroom I got asked 3 times where I bought her outfit at. That felt good too! :)



So, now I am hoping my life will return to a less chaotic state. I will have 3 hours each morning of peace & quiet, so I hope to be able to accomplish a lot. I usually can accomplish a lot even with screaming children all over me, so just imagine!

As for the fabric restrikes... they pretty much came & went. I didn't share pics, as I had promised, because there was not much to share. I thought I was actually getting some fabric to fondle, but I only received tiny little swatches that I had to approve and send back to the mill right away for final production. I should receive yardage here in about 3 - 4 weeks and then the angels will sing.

This Friday we leave for a 3-day weekend in St. Louis, for the other BIG DAY... my sister's wedding! WOOOHOOO! Last time I checked, my bridesmaid dress still fit, so I hope that's still the case (I guess I should stop snacking on those dark cocoa covered almonds, eh? so much for my sugar-free diet!)

See you all next week!

Frantic Friday

I was awakened this morning by the sound of Sydney screaming her little head off Daddy, Daddy, Daaaaaaddy! as she pounded on the front door. I didn't panic because this has happened before, just usually not this early. It was 6:45 am and I was enjoying my last few days of sleeping in before the school year begins (I don't ask for much, people!) Sydney gets upset when she wakes up after Jon has already left. Jon works out in the mornings before going to work and sometimes Sydney wakes up before he leaves and they have a few minutes of QT before he takes off. That usually involves Jon playing with her, giving her breakfast and then setting her up to watch a movie so that Sophie and I can sleep in a little bit longer... and I love him for that. But not this morning. Apparently she had just missed him and watched him drive off from the front window, so I spent the first half-hour or so of my day trying to console my frantic 3-year old... waaaaaaaah!

Just to give you a glimpse of Sydney's personality... if you follow me on twitter you have already seen this, but for the rest of you who don't I thought it was worth repeating. This was her a couple of days ago:

Me: Sydney, could you please pick up your dirty dishes.
Sydney: Sorry, we're closed!

She's 3, people, threeeeee! Yup!

But aside from my rude awakening, the rest of my day promises to be just as frantic as the first few minutes. My 2nd strike-offs (a.k.a. restrikes) arrive today. And just like last time, I have a tracking number from Kathy Miller but I promised myself I would not stand like a dork by my door pacing for these all day. Maybe any other day would've been OK, but not today. And that doesn't mean I'm not excited about them. I am. Not like my loss of all bodily functions that occurred last time but still very excited! Can't wait to see the new & improved ANDALUCIA (the way I intended it)... I promise to share some pictures. :)

It just so happens that today I have a frantic day scheduled. Yep, I somehow managed to leave all things for the last minute and now it's all piled up. I have to turn in Sydney's pre-school registration papers as soon as the school opens (which should be in a few minutes) together with a check so large that my hand actually shook as I wrote it. Gulp! Then I have to drive across town to turn in my Gym registration papers because my Free trial membership is just about over and I don't want to go a day without working out. Only 7 days left till the wedding... I can't slack off now! And then I have to drive to the other side of town to register Sophie for the next session of swim lessons which starts in just a couple of days.

Then I have to meet a refrigerator repair man back at the house sometime between noon and 3. Don't you just love that? Jon tried replacing our water filter and just in the motion of him pulling the old one out and inserting the new one, it just decided to stop working altogether. Lovely!

I'm hoping the restrikes will arrive sometime between noon and 3 also so I can actually kill 2 birds with one stone, because at some point today I also need to take Sophie school supply shopping. Yah, loads of fun!

But before I leave you I did want to mention some awesome resells I spotted on eBay. If you have or know a little princess who wears 18M, 2T or 3T clothes and is in dire need of some adorable, pre-loved MODKIDs, don't miss these great deals offered by some customers of mine.


Off to start my day. Hope your Friday is less frantic than mine.

Meet & Greet and a Sneak Peek

Today was Sophie's "Meet & Greet" at her Kindergarten. Pretty much we went in for an hour, met the teacher, toured the school, put away all of her supplies, asked questions, met the other students and got familiarized with all the procedures. Sophie was so excited about this day, even though tomorrow is the "official" first day of school.

At Target this past weekend, Sophie announced to me defiantly that she would NOT wear MODKID on her first day. I was heartbroken to say the least but I knew this day would come sooner or later. Well, I always encourage individual thinking in my kids and I applaud their decision-making skills, but I guess somewhere deep inside I was hoping she would "decide" to wear one of my originals.

So, up we went last night to her room where she would pick out her "first day of school outfit" ... NOT A MODKID, she reiterated. I was holding back the chuckles and smirks when she came out of the closet holding this dress. It didn't have a tag on it because I made it as a sample for her to wear so I never put one on... or else she would have recognized it as a MODKID right away. Even though she cannot read yet (because she's only 5), she can recognize my logotype every time.

The meet & greet went great! She was the best dressed kid at her class and a few of the moms commented on her outfit (which of course made me extremely proud). :)

Now we are back home and I am getting ready for and amazing launch that starts tomorrow. You may have seen the teal & tan logo on my sidebar that reads "INDELIBLE". Well, if you haven't heard about it, let me fill you in: I am joining 50 other ebay designers in a launch that showcases the scrumptious fabrics of Joel Dewberry. The man himself has joined us on the board to say hello and chat a bit. It has been an incredible experience to be among such talent and such amazing women. I have seen a lot of sneak peeks and let me tell you, you will be blown away. Eva and Michelle have done an incredible job at leading this group and I just cannot wait until tomorrow when all of our listings will be up.

So, tomorrow, search "Boutique Indelible" on eBay to see all the gorgeous pieces that will be up for auction. Here is a sneak peek of mine. > But I guess if you want to see more, all you have to do is click on my Flickr Badge >>>>>> over there >>>>>> on my side bar. :)

See you all tomorrow!