check it out!!

once again, i have way too much to blog about to blog! so...i thought i would take this opportunity to tell you about a great giveaway going on over at a fabulous etsy children's pattern shop!! You can win three amazing patterns! the adorable little rompers in my shop and the little black and white polka dot bloomers and these adult size ruffle lounge pants are all items i have made from whimsy couture patterns! denise is amazing and her patterns are wonderful!! so go enter!!

busy!

so, i um... i guess it goes without saying that i've been vacant from the blog for a while!! but that vacancy means that i have been chickadee chickadee busy lately! what a crazy two months it has been since i opened shop! crazy, good crazy, but busy crazy nonetheless. too busy to blog. too busy to do much of anything except care for the babies and the husband and sew sew sew!

for a while i was trying to post pictures of every package i shipped out here on the blog, but i could only keep up with that for so long...then i switched over to posting those updates on the facebook page... so then the blog sort of became obsolete. but i have not wanted that to happen...and now it seems impossible to catch up! so i will just start over with our yesterday! 

my chickadee chickadee-d children took to the mall to hear our favorite local children's singer in concert at pottery barn kids!

 miss gail is the best and she had my lil miss dancing and jumping and twirling in no time!

 when the show sadly ended, the choo-choo caught the children's eyes! we didn't board, but still had fun watching it chug down the aisles!

 and here is one parting shot for you...we found our family tree today! {and the girls are once again in chickadee chickadee! (sweet pea is still dressed in her birthday party garb!!)}

 happy december, everyone! 

i promise more updates soon! now that i have put the etsy shop on holiday to finish all orders in time for Christmas deliveries and give myself a little bit of time to sew the girls' gifts, i hope to have a few more moments in my day to write!

well well well

i haven't meant to stay away so long! i have so much to update...tonight i figured i had better set to it before i just abandoned this tiny corner altogether, so let's rewind!

one reason i have been vacant from this little spot is that dear little ava, who i mentioned before here, passed away ten days ago. it was somewhat shocking and surprising to everyone even though many guessed the outcome would not be good. perspective comes as you watch journeys end and ava's story jolted me into a place where i needed to go... a place of evaluating what i am here for and what should be occupying my days and hours and minutes... it is still a work in progress...this figuring out if this shop is right for us as a family right now. i desperately want to hear the Lord say "yes, go for it! pour yourself into something that you love!" but i am not sure i hear His whispers saying that. yet. so for now, i am charging ahead, but with a contemplative spirit. babies are only babies for a season. sewing machines? well i am pretty sure they age quite well and don't change and grow nightly as my littles seem to do.
please take the time to read ava's mama's words today--her thought-provoking perspective is riveting...but grab your tissues first and get ready to hear an amazingly courageous mommy share how her baby's short life and its sudden ending are impacting the world!

i can't compose a decent segue from that update into the next big event from the two-week span since i last wrote, so here is the best i can do:

i participated in my first art fair.
it was great fun (okay, i can't  honestly say that all those long hours were truly fun as i burned the midnight oil for two weeks straight behind my trusty machines) to prepare and very fun to sit back the night before the sale, having firmly decided i was not going to sew one more thing, and take a look at all that the prior weeks had produced. i really couldn't and still can't believe that the next morning 48 chickadee chickadee pieces were on display at the art fair!

and on display they were--my brother-in-law joel made the most fabulous set for the shop booth out of branches and twigs he found in my parents' backyard!

my twin sister allie added some adorable upcycled dresses (lil blue boo style) to our collection and my mom contributed as well by handcrafting lots and lots of lovely little girls' beaded bracelets! so it was a family affair...and all ten of us pitched in on that crisp fall saturday morning! 
the art fair was held in conjunction with my niece's preschool's fall festival...and while there were tons of cuties in costumes running around, a shiny firetruck and an awesome choo-choo train to board and ride...not many of the mommies or daddies came to shop... so...it was kind of not that encouraging of a way to break into the art fair scene. i do want to give it a whirl again, because it was fun to meet the other vendors and talk to passersby about cheerful clothing for kids!
and in the week that has passed since the sale, i wish i could say that i recuperated and rested, but who am i kidding? there is no rest for the weary (errr...small (more like teeny tiny!) business owners!).
i have managed to remain diligent in updating the facebook page with orders as they shipped out, so you can take a glance back through the posts there to get an idea for what chickadee chickadee customers have been ordering of late--basically lots of rompers and lots of ruffles!
i will show you the holiday line i have been working on...and i am glad to say it is almost finished! i have one more skirt to finish tonight that will join and coordinate nicely with the merry and bright polka dot twirly skirt and then i have a few hanukkah  pieces sketched in my mind that i aim to finish by thursday! so here it is--colorful, fun, festive! i thought of my own two girlies and how i like for them to coordinate but not be too matchy matchy...all of the pieces go seamlessly together and would be ideal for family pictures and party-going as a group!

 

~and one more exciting update...chickadee chickadee is going global...well, not really, but i sent my first overseas order off today! these rompers are heading to australia--i still can't fathom a place where summer weather begins in november! nonetheless, these amy butler lotus and heather bailey nicey jane themed rompers will be ideal for climates just now experiencing heat waves!

(and this, my friends, well, i thought you might enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at my film set! haha! me, my dinky point and shot camera and my living room ottoman...and of course a greedy, grabby eleven-month old that we'll just go ahead and dub sweet pea!) some day... some day i will actually hold in my hands a nikon serious stuff camera and someday i just might be able to take more quality photos of my wares!

okay, and all four of you (wait...make that three, since i think that i somehow am a follower of my own blog! haha!) can get excited about two things--
~a tutorial on how to make a fun craft (that even the uncrafty can master!) for/at a baby shower
~a chickadee chickadee giveaway (not hosted here though! head to the ever-so-fabulous fabulous fun finds blog  tomorrow and enter every day to win!!)

and now i leave you with some happy fall photos...

we're working on her craftiness!

 and this one...can you tell she is crazy???

and shamefully (i hang my head), i did absolutely nothing to create their costumes this year...i simply dressed the girls in these old navy numbers i scored last year for $1.24 each and walked out the door. next year, i will resume my halloween homemade costume sewing streak. but this year i was totally content to let a mega chain so all the work!

weekend in the workshop

i am so thankful for my husband--he took the girls saturday morning so that i could give undivided attention to sewing and orders. i was able to get a lot accomplished--i can't even imagine how much i could get done if i had more than just naptime and from 10pm-12am to sit behind my machines every day! i finished four pairs of denim ruffles, three birthday number tees, one big sister shirt, nine boys' tees, one ruffle skirt and one corduroy ruffle dress (that i am in love with and seriously secretly hopes does not sell at the art fair i am participating in this weekend for my niece's school!)...and i cut out many more things in prep for sewing this week.  by far my most favorite thing that i made this weekend was this little set...

  

my oldest daughter's friend's older sister and the best friend of my little neighbor was diagnosed with stage four cancer in late july. i wanted to help bring smiles to the family faces again even for a few minutes. i made small little things for the kids in the summer but wanted to do something more for little ava. this isn't much but i am excited to pass it along to her. ava turns five in two weeks and one of my first customers through the etsy shop (and actually a family friend of ava's daddy come to find out!) suggested that i make her a birthday tee and something matchy for her favorite doll. this was the first time i sewed for a doll and it was a lot of fun (i wonder if customers at the etsy shop would be interested in coordinating outfits for daughter and doll--something to think about and get feedback regarding i guess!!)! lil miss happens to have the same or similar doll as Ava--lil miss calls hers affectionately "baby with the stripes" since her original outfit was multi-colored and stripey, but Ava, i hear, calls her baby "straw baby" (sp?)! hopefully ava and straw baby will enjoy their new outfits and headbands!

 all in all, it was a great weekend with family and with my sewing machines!!