Baby Onesies

Inspired by the super cute designs that my friend, Christy, made a few weeks ago, I embarked recently on another item on my to-do list... baby onesies...

I have mentioned before that I attend MOPS - well it starts up again soon, and my role in our group is to plan the creative activities - as well as do the table centerpieces and gifts for new babies that are born during the year. We have a little basket of gifts that the moms get to choose from, and one of my jobs is to stock it. After last years' onesies - I was asked to make more for this year... here are the designs I made the other night. They make me itch to have a baby around here to dress!

anywhoooo... tomorrow night is another sewing eve with the gals... we're going to be working on more baby items. Can't wait to see what we end up with. I'm off to get some more blank onesies tonight.

this one was a new technique... i did a little machine embroidery on it. see the spiral on the inside of the heart? i like how it turned out.

Christmas in August (Jen & Vic: don't read, FAMILY SPOILER!)

Please don't call me crazy... Let me explain myself first.

A few years ago, it was my first Christmas as a retailer. It was also one of my first Christmases where I wanted to handmake my gifts... I did what most people do, and waited until after Thanksgiving before I began making my gifts (quite normal)... but I didn't realize that when you are "the store" that people come up to you wanting to shop up until the last day before the holidays... which left me up until 3am every night in December, trying to ship out orders, make my own gifts, and make special orders as well... I was exhausted and miserable that final week...

So each year, I've found reasons to start earlier at working on my gifts... (i.e. having a baby, being very pregnant, planning for different holiday boutiques, blah blah blah). And now... it's August. And the school year is approaching. Which also brings with it about 11 family birthdays between now and the holidays - even after last week... ... And we've got a few final steps to complete before we're certified foster parents, which opens up a whole new can of unknowns... so ... my Christmas fever has begun. Which is kind of fun for me.

I've instructed my sisters to not peek, unless they want spoilers for their girls' gifts this winter... we'll see what they do. But I thought I'd share it early, since now is a good time to get this stuff on sale. This summer, I made my kiddos some personalized beach towels with the same technique that I use for the bath towel gifts... they are super super cute, so I decided all the nieces and nephews needed them. This IS California, after all, and beach towels come in handy much of the year. So here's what they are getting... By the way... if you are going to buy beach towels, do it now, they're on sale, and they aren't easy to find the rest of the year.

so... armed with my trusty HeatnBond, here's what I've been making.