Turtle Dove pattern in the shop!

I'm done, I'm done! Here's the second ornament in the Twelve Days ornament series, Turtle Dove. (Here's the post for the first set, Partridge & Pear.) I'm really happy with the way this turned out and I'm still loving the Sulky stabilizer which makes this handmade ornament series so so easy to make. If you can handle basic embroidery stitches you can totally do this project, and do it well.

The key is the Sulky Printable Stick 'n Stitch (formerly known as Sulky Printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy), a wonderful felt crafting stabilizer. You simply print my ornament pattern on the water soluble stabilizer, adhere it to felt and then embroider right through it. No tracing or transferring complicated embroidery patterns by hand. Outstanding! Read through this earlier post to learn more about how the process works. I've listed some sources where you can purchase the stabilizer in the pattern.

You can purchase this instant download Turtle Dove pattern PDF in either my Etsy or my Craftsy shops. Go to the listing to get more details on the pattern itself. I hope you enjoy it!

what we're up to

We are enjoying our summer school break! I'm busy sewing up ornament samples and tweaking the patterns for Turtle Dove, French Hen and Colly Bird. The picture above is wool felt that is drip drying in my laundry room. (Pre-soaking the felt is an important step that ensures your embroidered creations won't shrink when you soak off the Sulky stabilizer!)

You can see that after a quick press it's back to looking exactly like it was before the soak!

While I'm upstairs banging away at the patterns, Thing 1 is learning to touch type. She's doing really well! She's also reading The Hobbit to gear up for her first year in a homeschool academy starting in September. Middle school, here we come.

Thing 2 is busy playing Monopoly with her Equestria Girls. I'm sure there are some educational benefits to that. Economics. Math. Real estate. Funology.

And in other news, my Schmoopie bought me a bike! It's the kind that you can sit upright on and has a bell. Ding! Just like the one I loved during my family's brief move to Holland. And my favorite part is the huge, cushy Oma seat. Aaaaahhhh. I've been having fun riding the bike trails around here with him. I forgot how much I love to ride a bike. It's the one athletic ability I have.

new pillas for the living room

Late to the party with summery pillows but even so I forged ahead. I'll just bring them out again next spring. I don't think the wild combo of prints works as well with my decor as I thought they would, but they certainly are cheerful. The fabrics are mostly economical Premier Prints cottons.

The 18 inch square covers are simple and quick to make: just two 19 inch square fabric pieces sewn with a 1/2 inch seam allowance and a 16 inch zipper on one side.

ok, last go at summer jim jams

The last two stragglers from my stash crashing pajama makin' palooza. It's been difficult to get a snap of them since they are always being worn. We stay in our jammies a lot around here. Sorry for the lag but we got busy and then made a little trip out of town to Cincinnati/Petersburg/Lexington. (Thank you, Jessica, for all the great big city recommendations and if you ever make your way across the river and down to Lexington go to Wallace Station for lunch and then go here and get some chocolate covered potato chips and chocolate covered grapes. Alan, thanks again for turning us on to these gems! It was great to see your family.)

This plaid seersucker for the youngest is another modified shorty set based on the Simplicity pattern from this post.

This unfortunate pattern pairing of the Swedish print and the red gingham seemed like a good idea at the time but yikes. The top is actually a Wiksten tank (XS) that I altered a bit for my oldest. I got bored with making the other top and I figured once I worked out the Wiksten mods for her that I could make her actual public clothes. We do occasionally leave the house. I had to add a last minute lace insert at the neckline because I didn't bring it up enough. And that's it for the jammies!

Twelve Days ornament enthusiasts: I'm currently knee-deep in the Turtle Dove, French Hen and Colly Bird ornament patterns and making great progress!

awesome birthday mixtape!

Allergies? Clogs? Ratchets? All awesome. Because EVERYTHING is awesome! It's time to wish my very first baby girl a happy birthday. She's twelve. Which means she experiences everything with varying degrees of embarrassment.

As I popped this custom mixtape CD in first thing this morning and played it at tooth vibrating volume to serenade her, she shuffled out of her bedroom (wearing her handmade jammies) and rolled her eyes. She also gave me several scwinchy-faced mean mugs as each new song came on, so in the language of twelve year olds everywhere I know it was a huge success! Awesome.

*Late note: This CD has been worn out since this morning and she is singing the songs to herself as she putters around the house. Awwww. (some.)*