A Snowy Day With Lots of Fun!

I woke up this morning to an inch of snow on the ground but shortly after it began snowing for pretty much the whole rest of the day. Vic and I started off the day with a brisk walk around the neighborhood inviting all the kids over for a play day and hot cocoa. Then we made Eloise her first snow outfit in about an hour. Around noon we had about 20 kids in our back yard having a blast in the snow, building forts, snowmen, having snowball fights and sledding around. Eloise even joined us for a little bit. I think the funnest part for the children was running around throwing snowballs at all of us "big kids". Naomi and Suzannah came over too and we made raspberry snow cones and had another snowball fight. All the kids wanted to stay longer, but we ended the day around 3:00pm. We went and got a coffee then taught our one faithful sewing class student of the day. The exciting snow day ended with scrabble at Nate and Louise's house. I'm so thankful the Lord blessed us with the wonderful snow just when we thought Spring was here :) I'll have to post my video when I am finished editing it.

I don't think she was quite sure what to do!

Eloise in her Sherpa snow outfit!

more sledding

All the "older" girls of the bunch playin' together

This is definitely a typical Susie Ruth look. She didn't want to leave after so long!

Vic and Kaylee

Jeanne likes her shave ice!

It was much fun watchin' the girls push each other in the cars

It was so enjoyable to be with Daisy!

Philip was the best at sneaking up behind people and throwing snowballs

And there were wrestling matches

Dot takes a sled ride!

the kids all enjoy their shave ice from Miss Blanchard

Daisy likes playing with her cup!

Kaylee's enjoying her shave ice!

The floor is finished!!!

Friday afternoon we finished putting all the floor down in the shop. It is very nice to have such a clean floor and it makes our shop much more classy. In the meantime we've been busy with lots of sewing classes. We've started a new blog for our sewing classes so feel free to check it out if you get a chance. You can keep updated on what the girls are sewing and there are also some instructional videos and sewing term pages.

we have so much more room now

Our Exploratory Day!!!

Today was another one of those very exciting and adventurous day. To begin my Aunt Bev and Uncle Kevin from Kansas came to stay with us the last couple of days before heading to San Fransisco. My Aunt is an excellent quilter and therefore loves fabric stores. She's been longing to go to Fabric Depot so we took our opportunity.

here's Eloise on the quilt my aunt made for her

This morning at 9:00am we began our drive to Portland. After a fun 2 hour drive we reached Ikea and purchased a children's table and chairs for our shop so little kids can color or play at it while their mom shops or their sister has a lesson. We also found a children's wardrobe and shelving that I think will get soon for our "shabby chic" decor.

this is the table and chair that we got!

 After Ikea we headed to eat a scrumptious lunch at Harry's Deli then off to Fabric Depot. We spent the next 1 1/2hrs. searching through fabrics picking and choosing and just having some fun. In the mean time I received a phone call letting me know that our flooring was in! YEAH!!!!! After that we said goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle as they were continuing the rest of their journey to San Fransisco.

checkin' out some fabrics

Next on the list was Eeschank. This a sewing and fabric wholesaler. It is basically a hug warehouse filled with tall aisles of fabric, needles, button, threads, patterns and more. The great thing is you get wholesale prices, so we stocked up on some supplies which is great because they come in bulk amounts so we won't run out very quickly on our notions. (and we don't have to go to Joann's for it :) After a thrilling day in Portland we headed back home. We went and picked up the flooring and got to work. We've got about 5 foot section completed tonight and so tomorrow we can continue and finish it over the weekend. It looks so professional and clean! All the elements of our shop are beginning to come together and it's soooooo exciting! Well, that ends our day full of adventures. We certainly are very blessed.

here's the front room so far

vic's having some fun!

it's comin along!

Spring and Summer Fun...photo shoot...

Last week we got all of our spring and summer dresses finished and did a photo shoot. I love the designs (if I do say so myself) Well, please enjoy...and remember, if you want any of these dresses, we can make them in any custom size!

Our little models did such a great job! Kaylee and Daisy played very well together and had such an enjoyable time!

Eloise's Crib Bedding

While Nate, Louise and Eloise were on vacation Victoria and I decided it was definitely time to finish the crib bumper set for Eloise's crib. My Mom also made a coordinating quilt to match the bumpers. They didn't have a crib for a while but now they do so yesterday we got some pictures of Eloise restfully enjoying her crib bedding. The bright colors are so cute and Eloise really enjoys looking at all the colorful flowers. She is definitely a bright and cheery little girl!

Here's the whole set! - I think she really enjoys them

A closer look at the flowers

Instead of piping we found a cute trim to use around the bumpers

From the other side

This is the quilt my mom made her

and the matching valance

Here's the whole entire set

I love how she sleeps :)

She is so precious

The Tale of the Jeans...

It all started about 2 1/2 years ago, when sewing for us was just something we did in the evenings for fun...I will also boldly say, we were horrible at it. As most of you crafters know, projects come and go without getting them finished...you start one thing, then one day something else looks interesting, so you start that! Well, that's at least how it was for us...

All this to say, JEANS were one of these project that had gotten started and never finished. We found a vintage pattern for children's jeans and thought that it would be so much fun to make them. We got the pattern, cut them out, and, well, lets just say, they were in storage for 2 1/2 years...

Now we come to about 2 days ago. We had been talking about making jeans. Mostly because mothers had told us about how hard it was to find there 7 year old jeans, that didn't have crazy designs on the back pockets or didn't look little girlish... As we were talking we remembered the pair we had started in the attic. So up we went to search for them. There they were all stacked neatly with pattern pieces still pinned and instructions in envelope.

Veronica got to working on the jeans. Using "jean thread" and the "double needle for topstitching" and everything else we have learned about sewing in the past couple years, these jeans looked like real store bought jeans. Not to mention, a couple days ago the man from the store we bought our surger from told us we could "borrow" his industrial machine to try it out and see if we liked it. So we used that on the hem of the pants. In the end we were very happy with the outcome and had to show everyone we came in contact with! This morning even, one of my brothers came downstairs and saw them sitting on the table. As soon as he examined them he yelled up to us "I'm impressed! You made those? They look really really good, just like ones from the store! You should start selling them!"

Well folks, that's what we intend to do! So let us know if your daughter needs jeans, and we will be happy to make them!

Let's just say, I think it was better we waited the 2 1/2 years to make them, because they probably would have ended up in the garbage can, and would have not been presentable at all!  

The pattern

Here's what vintage pattern pieces look like

I love that zipper!

Top stitching...

The new Machine

Hemming on the new machine