Snails and puppy dog tails

So we now know that baby #2 is a boy - yeah :) We'll have one of each, which is great! Now the problem, it's seems like there's so much more variety and fabric for girls clothes now I'm on the hunt for boys clothing options. Maybe this will inspire me to make some new peices. I have a cap and and a tie pattern from Leila and Ben which has great modern kids patterns but I need to find more. I made the cap for a friend in the summer in a great modern seersucker plaid fabric.

I suppose it's an opportunity to create some of my own as well for the clothing peices I just can't find on my own. All of my friends with boys say there is defintiely a lack of good boys styles out there but it's always hard for them to articulate just what exactly they're looking for. They'll just know it when they see it I guess.

Holidays, new patterns and new jacket

Well my brain has started to take me into holiday season already. I don't want to put up any decorations until after my daughters birthday on the 6th as I'd like to keep a clear separation between Christmas and her birthday. But...that doesn't mean I can't be ready for right after that.
I want to create a nice skirt, blouse and jacket for Christmas I just bought a great new pattern from WholeGrainBaby for their reversable swing coat and can't wait to make one!
I also bought a nice pattern for a comfy yoga outfit from a fellow Toronto company HeidiandFinn I think I'm going to want one in my size too!

I have one new listing for the Jitterbug Jacket a great bolero style jacket that is great over short or long sleeves and dresses up or down. I'd like to take it to another level and add more embelishments, that's another project I'm working on. I would love to try felting, I've been reading about it and watching uTube videos so I'll dive in one day soon :-)

Fall vacation and studio tour

Well I'm getting ready for a week at the cottage. I LOVE fall up there. I can't wait for a fire at night to take the chill off and warm cups of soup and tea. Plus it's the annual Studio Tour weekend up there so I'm looking forward to being completely inspired by the fabulous artists that live and work up in the beautiful north full-time.

I'm currently working on a personal project, my daughters bedroom for her 2nd brithday. I'm making curtains and pillows and a quilt, I may also try a floor cushion or two. Now that she has a baby brother or sister on the way she needs to move into her 'big girl' room and get settled. I hope she likes it :)

Fall is here!

There is nothing that invigorates me more than the first few crisp days of fall. It makes me want to run away to the woods, light a fire, warm up some tea and wrap myself up in a cozy blanket to just stare at the nature outside. What can I say I absolutely love fall! The family has a weeks vacation up at the cottage in a few weeks so it should be perfect fall weather and I don't think I've ever been this excited to get up there. Hopefully I'll find lots of inspiration up there, we plan to do little day trip and will likely visit other artisans and parks.

So since I'm on the fall kick I should share some of my photos of fall items from my photo shoot. I absolutely love how they turned out, now I just need some more buyers! :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7221894

Free swatches from Spoonflower

So Spoonflower http://www.spoonflower.com is having a free swatch day on Aug 20th. It's on my calendar and I'm ready and waiting.

I've ordered swatches from here before as I'm working on a little project that will require custom designed fabric and Spoonflower is just the place to do it.

It was super easy to do, I just uploaded a design pic and chose my fabric then a week or so later had my swatches in the mail. Now I don't know if that's cost effective for bulk orders but it lets me test out my ideas on a small scale easily.

Photo Shoot

So last week I had my first professional photo shoot for kids clothes. It was fantastic!

I totally meant to bring along my camera and take behind the scenes shots but it remained in my purse as I rant around doing wardrobe changes :) We had booked an hour in a local park and the process was pretty much what I expected although very exciting. I had one 4 year old and one 18 month old, both 'borrowed' from friends. Moms came along too of course but Alana my photographer took control and got to work with pictures and poses.

It took a little while for the poor 18 month old to warm up to all the people and camera and refused to let go of her snack cup, but that's what kids are like at her age. I didn't bring my own 18 month old only because I figured I'd be too busy doing other thing to watch her and have her in the pics, and I was right. I'll be sure to use her in the future ones though!

First week of August I get to go and look at my photos and then I'll be able to share some.

TGIF

So I still have my day job and have been working my butt off at night to create some fall items. I finally feel like I'm creating some things that are 'new' and 'me'. I hope others like them. I have booked a photo shoot next Wednesday to take some pics of these items to use through fall and into early winter.
I'm SO excited to see how the pics will turn out. Alana from Alana McClure Photography http://www.alanamcclurephotography.com/ has been great is getting ready for the shoot so far and I think they'll be great!

I have a 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old which I'm 'borrowing' from friends and think I'll have 2 outfits for each. I won't make everything they wear as I really need to streamline but I'm trying to come up with cohesive looks.

One look is in the browns, oranges and greens and looks like it will be big this fall. The other look will be greys and greens, I'm still working that one out.

I'll be sure to share the photo shoot experience with everyone

Too many lines

For anyone that has found the fabulous Ottobre magazine out of Finland, you may know what I'm going through today. They have the most fab designs and it's packaged up so well. But...when you want to actually get in there to sew something the pattern is the daunting. There are 3-4 patterns on one sheet all in different colours and overlapping one another. Wow. I'm seriously going crosseyed looking at this. Once you get through the pattern it seems to be okay. I've made a few things already but it really takes motivation to start on the tracing.

Well I'm going to carry on and in a week :) when I'm done tracing I'll let everyone know.

Crafters ritalin?

Do they have Ritalin for crafters and sewers? I think I need some. I'm all over the place with things I want to create but feel I should concentrate on just a few key things and make them really superb. But you also have to do what you love right, and when I see a new fabric and get inspired I just have to run with it. I LOVE cargo pants for myself and so have started with a new pattern for girly cargos. I'm going to play with some fabric combos and sizes now.

Right now I'm trying to find my 'voice'...that's what writers do, what do sewers do??? Find my 'stitch'? Naw, I'll work on that. Anyhow I'm obsessed lately with the Quit your day job entries on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/tags/quit-your-day-job/ everyone on Etsy seems so much more talented than me. I figure maybe with some hard work I can be half of what some of these people are :)

Okay well off to work on my day job. Blah

A little hippy

So I have a few great tank tops that just don't look right now. The 'girls' change a little after having a baby :) I didn't have the heart to throw them out so I trasnformed them, upcycled them, into little tops and dreses for Myah Papaya.

Guess I should have taken a before picture though....

First post

Well at the suggestion of a few others I've started this blog. I create. I always have and get a lot of kooky ideas, some turn into actual 'things' some just hang out in my idea book. I really started creating more after the birth of my daughter as I wanted to create kewl and different things for her.

So...I'll get my butt in gear and post some pics and start posting some of my projects and ideas and see where that goes.

I wonder how many blogspots have an entry called "first post" probably thousands...how unoriginal of me.

I'm working on new fall items (yes fall as it will take a while to ramp up) for my Etsy shop
http://www.papayastudio.etsy.com/