Fabric Giveaway Winner

Yep, I went old-school with names in a hat.  And what a cute little hat it is! (Which no longer fits on baby girl's head btw)  I'll be in touch Andrea.  Either tonight or tomorrow look out for an email from me.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Life And Free Fabric

*Giveaway closed*

Life, my friends, is crazy.   I know you've seen posts like this from other fellow sewing bloggers who've had babes recently.   So here's yet another.  I have no time to sew! Boo hoo hoo... [insert mini pity party here].  And I hate it because not only do I love to sew,  I so enjoy taking part in this little community as well.  I enjoy the inspiration, the sharing, the feedback and the give-and-take.  I love participating in it.  Unfortunately, I will be participating on a much smaller scale here for a while.  As you do when you have small ones it seems.  I have been able to keep up with my blog reader for the most part.   I read blogs on my phone while I'm nursing or rocking sweet little Jane to sleep.   Sometimes I have to speed-read when I'm behind because I really don't want to miss anything.  I have so enjoyed living vicariously through you all and the awesome things you've been sewing.  If you've noticed I'm not commenting as much, that's why.  It's hard to comment on a phone.  On a related note: Does anyone else have trouble with Disqus on their iPhone?  Every time I try to comment in the Disqus form on my phone, it disappears.  I doubt that there is anything wrong with Disqus.  It could just be part of Apple's conspiracy to make me upgrade and spend more money on my gadgets.   I have an ancient iPhone 4 (said with sarcasm there).  We also have an old Macbook, so we are doubly screwed with out of date operating systems at the moment.  We'll have to purchase an upgrade soon.

 

There seems to be some animosity between Jane and Mr. Octopus.

I'm back at work, three weeks now, and I can't explain how hectic my day is.  I start at 5:00 am on the dot and I get to sit down finally around 10:00 pm.  And then I usually remember how I have to wash bottles or do a load of laundry before the next day.  It's daunting to think about a whole school year of this to tell you the truth.  I've asked myself many times how I'm going to keep it up.  I've had a few moments of calm here lately, though.  I'm hoping I'll find a balance soon.  Being a working mother is not something you can prepare yourself for.  I thought I knew what I was taking on, but I wasn't truly prepared.  I miss my baby something fierce during the day and I've cried almost every morning after dropping her off before work.  So I'm spread a little thin at the moment and my emotions are on the surface.   But like I said before, I'm hopeful that some balance will come soon.  I see glimpses of it on the horizon :)

Ok, end of the pity party now.  It's not all work and no fun in these parts.  There is plenty of play, too.  It's impossible not to be happy when you get to wake up to this every morning.

She is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever, I tell you.  She is now four and half months old and full of giggles and smiles and drool.  Lots and lots of drool.

Several weeks ago, the lovely Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic sent me an email out of the blue to tell me she was sending me some fabric.  She told me she wasn't taking a "that's okay" from me, that she was sending me something and that was that.  She is giving away more fabric to other fine folks as well.  I love the pledge that she made.  See, that's what I love about this community.  There is a generosity that you don't see around other communities like ours.  I think Carolyn sensed I needed a little pick-me-up and pick me up she did.  She also told me I was special.  Carolyn, I bet you say that to all the sewing bloggers ;)

I got the package the other day and it was such a treat.  In an effort to keep my karmic balance in order, I am going to give away some fabric, too.  Do you folks like free fabric around here?  I hope so.  I am going to give away one piece that Carolyn gave me, along with a few pieces from my own stash (which shall not be photographed... eep).  But don't get your hopes up about that black and white polka dot (sateen, Carolyn?).  I already have plans for that.  Leave me a comment below and make sure I can get in touch with you by email if it's not connected to your profile.  I will choose a winner by random number.  I'll ship anywhere.   Once the winner is chosen, then I'm going to look through my stash and pick a few pieces.  If the winner is someone I "know" I'd like to try and pick things that I think you'd like.  It won't be stuff I'm just trying to de-stash, I promise.  M'kay, sound good?  The only catch is that you have to be patient with me and shipping.  It may take me a week or two to get everything together and get to the post office.   I'll leave the giveaway open until this Friday, September 6th and I'll choose a winner on Saturday.

I've also been remiss in thanking some folks for sweet gifts they sent to me and Jane over the summer.  Amber from so I sewed this... made me the most adorable little baby dress out of some super cool batik fabric for Jane.  It was such a thoughtful gesture and you know I'm a sucker for a funky batik. And almost she fits in it now! (She's really not a big baby, in case you were wondering.)  And Phillipa at Gloria and Me included a copy of Growing Up Sew Liberated when she sent a couple of 60's patterns I won on her blog, which was very thoughtful and kind as well.  I am very excited about making up those bubble pants for Jane.

As a thank you to Carolyn, Amber, Phillipa, and all you awesome people out there in sewing blogland,  I made this video.  Actually I was multitasking when I did this.  I wrote a grant last year for eight of these Hue Animation Studio Kits for my classroom and they just came in the mail.  I am planning on doing a stop motion art lesson with my fourth graders and I had to test out the cameras.  It was so easy, people.  I've done a stop motion video before if you remember the couch I upholstered, but I won't go in to detail about how I made that video.  It was cumbersome and just dumb, really.  Since then I haven't been able to get the idea of teaching an art lesson about stop motion out of my head.  I even tried it with my art club last year the roundabout way.  It wasn't successful.  These Hue cameras are awesome and I'm really excited about teaching this lesson now.  I promise I didn't just buy the cameras for me to play with ;) Only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the quality of the photos. The color is off as it is with document cameras it seems. But for our elementary school purposes they will suit us just fine.


Thank You from Liza Jane on Vimeo.

Thanks, guys.  I'll be popping in from time to time when I can.  Hope you'll stick around with me!

Little Dress Kits Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Tabatha Tweedie!  I can't wait to see your sweet little one in those car dungarees.  Look out for an email from Little Dress Kits.  Thanks for playing, everyone!

Little Dress Kits Giveaway

Gone are the days of me zipping out of the house to pick up some notion I need to finish a project.  I can't tell you how hard it is to get baby Jane out of the house.  It takes a couple of hours of planning and making sure I get the feeding schedule just right.  And it never fails- as soon as I get my act together, load up all of her stuff and snap baby Jane's car seat in the car, she poops.  Then we're back inside to change a diaper and start over.  It's like a comedy routine.

Katie of Little Dress Kits contacted me a few weeks ago to try out one of her kits and offer a giveaway.  (That's my kit creation above, complete with a drool spot a la Jane.)  I was so excited because it had been about six weeks since I'd been out of the house and to the fabric store.   I'd only been dreaming of sewing and starting a new project.   I was stoked to learn about her business.  Katie started Little Dress Kits to provide beginner sewists with everything they need to create an article of clothing from a pattern.  No reading the back of a dress pattern, trying to figure out what all the terminology means and then searching the fabric store for all the right materials.   Little Dress Kits offers sewing kits that include all materials to make clothing for babies and toddlers.  Everything, my friends.  Fabric, pattern, thread, buttons and any other notion needed.  I always seem to leave the fabric store without thread when I start a new project.  No chance of that here.  And one of the most genius aspects of her kits are the pattern pieces.  They are adhesive.  You peel off the pattern piece and stick down on your fabric.  No pins required.  My mind was blown. 

   

I requested the Sweetheart Dungarees Kit.  How adorable is that little pocket?  It was the pocket that swayed me.  J and I giggle about pockets on baby clothes.  What do babies put in their pockets?  Binkies?  Blocks?  Spare change?  Anyway, I loved the blue corduroy and red gingham combo.  And the heart buttons, of course.  Super cute.  I just realized from my photos that I left off the ric rac.  Will have to remedy that!

 Ok, it's way big on baby Jane right now.  But, gah!  How cute is this baby?  That dimple in her chin just slays me.  We're not sure where that came from, either.  But I love it. 

  The kit came with all the supplies I needed.  I only had to supply the sewing machine and the time.    Katie offers a variety of kits aimed at different sewing levels.  The Sweetheart Dungarees Kit is a level three kit, but truly I think a beginner could get by just fine.  The instructions are fantastic and super in depth.   I did make one change.  I change a lot of diapers.  I mean, a lot of diapers.  So I added snaps in the crotch seam instead of sewing it up.  I did add to the seam allowances to accommodate the snaps; a half inch to the front and a full inch to the back (sorry that's not metric!).  I added more to the back crotch seam to allow overlap to the front.  Worked like a charm.  Also if you are wondering about sizing, this is the 0-6 month kit.  I realize it's big, but she'll grow in to it.  Probably sooner than I would like.  For reference, Jane is about twelve pounds right now.

Guess who wants to sit up like a big girl?

Now here is the best part.  You, my friends, have a chance to win a Little Dress Kit yourself!  Katie has kindly offered a kit to one lucky reader.  All you have to do is hop on over to the Little Dress Kit website and tell me in the comments which kit you would like to make.  I will choose a winner on Sunday, July 14th.  If you would rather go ahead and order yourself a kit or two, Katie has also offered 15% off using the code LJSEWS15 for the next week. 

Thanks so much for the opportunity to try out one of your kits, Katie!  It was perfect timing for me and baby Jane.

Win-Win

Ok, I just have to say- holy cow, that was fun.  

That was a wildly successful giveaway post, mostly due to it being posted on A Fashionable Stitch.  (Thanks, Sunni!)  I was worried that I'd hear crickets when I hit publish the other day, but I had a hundred comments.  How cool is that?  Fun stuff.  J thinks it's funny that so many people around the world have now read about the beetle.  And baby sloths.  The internet is a crazy (and fun) place.  I've been google searching all the baby animals you guys mentioned all weekend.  I have to say, baby llamas are pretty darn cute.  And, of course, puppies.  I have to concede to puppies.  Ok, well all baby animals are cute.

Anyway, let's get down to business.  Originally I was going to put everyone's name in a hat and draw one out, but...  Instead I did the old random number generator.   The screen shot is kind of silly, but here it is anyway.  I excluded two because one commenter didn't want to be entered and one was a double comment.

 

Gillian, I'll be emailing you shortly.

The beetle has packed his bags and has his party hat on.  He's ready to go.

;)

I crack myself up.

Thanks, everyone for entering.  I've said it once but I'll say it again- the sewing blogiverse is pretty awesome.

Give It Away Now

*Closed*

If you can make it through this post,  you'll be rewarded with a giveaway.  This is like a blog obstacle course of randomness.

First up, look at this crazy beetle.  

 The photo doesn't do justice to the size of this thing.  It was huge.  J found it at work.  He scooped it up in a plastic cup and covered the top with a napkin and rubber band.  His work commute takes an hour.   During the car ride home, the beetle ATE THROUGH THE NAPKIN AND ESCAPED.  That's like my worst nightmare-- having a killer beetle loose in the car with me when I'm unable to pull over.  Anyway, he put it in the cup holder and closed the lid (lucky there was a lid) and was totally excited to show it to me when he got home.  J, I love you, but I don't share your excitement for big scary beetles.

Moving on.  So I'm on summer break.  Hands down the biggest perk of being a teacher.  I've actually been off for two weeks now and I've done nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I spent the first week of summer growing moss on the couch watching HBO on demand.  I only took breaks to go outside and water things.  What is it about too much free time?  I've turned in to a sloth.  I think I do better when I'm really busy.   I know, I know.  You can roll your eyes at me.

 

I've been better this week, though.  I am taking an oil painting class in the afternoons.  It's been a few years since I've taken any sort of art class.  I am really enjoying it and soaking it all in.  I think I may even be motivated to begin a painting that's been in my head for awhile...

Speaking of sloths, have you seen this baby sloth video? 

There are actually several clips of those baby sloths doing different things from an Animal Planet TV show.  They may just be the cutest baby animal ever.  I'll fight whoever disagrees.   I am seriously contemplating saving money to go to Costa Rica just so I can go that sloth sanctuary.  Watching baby sloth videos is another byproduct of too much free time.

And finally, the end.  You've made it to the reward.  It wasn't all that random, was it?  I thought I did a pretty good job of linking it all up. 

My friends, I am an idiot.

I hurried off to Hobby Lobby the other day for their Simplicity pattern sale to buy 1880 for Sunni's sewalong.   I bought another pattern, too.  Only I came home and discovered that I already bought both patterns a month ago.  So I want to give them away, both as a single prize.  They are both the upper size range, 12-20 I believe, uncut and in factory folds.  I didn't want them to be unused and unloved.

No rules to this giveaway.  Just sharing the love.  Actually, I hope someone wants them.  I'll feel silly if no one is interested.  I've never done a giveaway before yet I've really enjoyed winning other people's giveaways.  I shouldn't be so selfish.   Leave me a comment with your email address if it's not already attached to your profile.  I'll randomly pick a winner on Sunday, June 24th and email the winner for her address.  I'll mail it as soon as possible in case the winner would like to keep up with the sewalong.   I'll send it anywhere in the world.

And if you can tell me a baby animal that's cuter than a baby sloth, I'll throw in something really spectacular.  Something truly extraordinary.  Something that will make you the envy of the neighborhood.

Wait for it......

You're very own scary beetle!
Hopefully it won't eat through the envelope.

Just kidding. 

We set it free in case you were wondering.