Preschool Sunday

This little peanut loves color, ruffles, twirling, and pink!

So I shouldn't have been surprised when we came up with this combo.  I told her that for her special "Preschool Sunday" program we would design a dress together.  Here is a glimpse of our creation.

The straps are fully adjustable and pull through a buttonhole in the back.  They tie up in the sweetest little bow!

Miss Evy also insisted that she needed coordinating ruffle pants.  She chose this pink polka dot fabric.  I love that it will go with so many of her other dresses and tees this summer.

The perfect outfit for the girl on the go!

I have a feeling that my little assistant and I will be working together quite a bit when her brother heads off to Kindergarten next year.  It was such a treat to spend some extra time together.  Hopefully she'll learn to love to sew just like her mama and grandma!

Pssst.....this super cute combo is just too good to keep to myself.  It's available now in my Etsy shop!  Just click HERE.

The Kitchen Reveal....finally!

It's been a whirlwind 10 months for our family.  Last Spring, we made the decision to move to my hometown.  There was a beautiful country property adjacent to my parent's farm that we had the opportunity to buy.  Hill and I have always said that our ideal home would be a ranch, with a walkout, in the country.  Well....we got it!

We spent the summer working on the outside and after much planning....and replanning finally started remodeling the interior in October.  Between kids, construction, and Lois Pearl I just haven't had time to blog about what we've been doing.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll try to bring you up to speed!

First, we'll start with the kitchen.  Here is what it looked like when the previous owner was still living in our home.

It was a "U" shaped galley style kitchen.  Traffic in the home came in the back door and right through the main kitchen area.

The kitchen flowed into the Hearth Room and had an adjacent eating area.  The back wall of the Hearth room had a bank of 3 large closets...and lots of paneling.

Here is the kitchen now, taken from the same vantage point.

The wall that had been on the right just beyond the island was removed, along with a portion of the hallway ceiling.  We now have a nice, open living concept.  Perfect for entertaining!

I love that the microwave is hidden down low.  Now the kids can make their own popcorn!

 It's amazing what a difference removing the paneling and painting the ceiling, walls, and trim has made!

*Note the sleepy Weimie in the picture.  Spoiled??

We owe a huge "Thank You" to Gary West at Great Kitchen and Baths in Muncie, IN for designing such a great family space for us.  

It feels great to be in our "forever" home!

A Birthday Surprise at Kelsay Farms

For The Bug's 5th birthday yesterday I told him that I had a day of surprises planned. He was so excited!  We started off with lunch at our favorite spot, Jimmy Johns, and then headed just south of Indy to Kelsay Farms for a day of fun outside on the farm.

The kids were so excited when we pulled up and they saw this giant Bale Mountain.  This is every kids dream!

We toured the milking parlor, where our wonderful friend, Amy, was giving the tour.  Amy and her husband Joe have been great friends of ours ever since our Purdue years.  One of my favorite things about our Indiana Ag friends is that no matter how much time passes, things always seem to stay the same.  Amy, Joe, and their three children all work on the farm, along with the rest of their family . This year, the farm is celebrating an amazing 175th anniversary!

After the milking parlor we checked out the barn where the cows get to hang out.  The kids thought it was so cool that the cows get to take naps on water beds!

One of my favorite parts of the farm was getting to see some of the babies.  This sweet little calf named Sprinkles let the kiddos snuggle right up to it.  She even sucked Nate's finger.  He learned all about how calves don't have top teeth.

We made sure to check out the corn maze, and big and little tractors.  It's amazing how BIG farm equipment is these days!

The rides on the Moo Choo Express and the hay wagon were big hits too!

We finished the day with a wallow in the corn pit & milkshake.

Finally we picked some big fat pumpkins that will make great Jack'O Lantern in a couple of weeks.

If you are interested in experiencing the Kelsay Farm Tour, be sure to check out their website.  They are open all weekends through October 28th.

www.kelsayfarms.com

Whether you know a lot, or a little about farming, I promise that you will learn something new and have a ton of fun while you're at it.

Thanks Amy for a great day!

What I Learned

Since my last post, I've had several questions about my method of putting the quilt together.  Here's a quick list of tips that I found to be super helpful.

1.  Once you have your blocks pieced, and have laid them out just the way you want them, take a picture!  I took a quick pic on my phone, and referenced it when piecing the blocks together.  It helped ensure that I didn't sewing any of those little houses upside down!

2.  Press as you go, and then press again.  If you want a crisp quilt with blocks that line up in the end, be sure to carefully watch your seam allowances and press them well.  I used a 1/4" seam allowance, which is pretty standard.  Here is a good tutorial for learning to line up all those blocks.

3.  I used Dritz Adhesive Spray to make my quilt "sandwich".  Here is a great tutorial on this method by A Quilt is Nice.  This eliminated the need to pin it all together, saving loads of time.  Everything held together extremely well while I quilted, and my needle didn't gunk up at all.

4.  After quilting, I trimmed all of the edges to the same size, and then did a quick straight stitch all along the very perimeter of my quilt.  This keeps everything secure when you get ready to bind.

5.  I used a walking foot to stitch my binding onto the top of my quilt.  This helped keep the bias binding from stretching.

6.  To secure the binding to the back, I used a simple whip-stitch.

And that's it!  Sounds simple huh?  Now what should I quilt next?

Quilt for a Cause

One of my goals for 2012 was to complete my first "real" quilt.  I've tackled baby quilts  in the past, and cheated a bit on the binding.  This year I felt like I needed to teach myself to make a true quilt, piece it, sandwich it, quilt it, and bind it all by my big girl self.

With so many shows over the past couple of weeks, I was ready for a little break from dresses, and it was the perfect time to tackle my quilt idea.  My ever overflowing scrap bin was calling my name, so I set to digging for the perfect pattern combinations.

I following this great little pattern tutorial by Diary of a Quilter.  It was so fast and simple to cut out and piece.

The fabrics that I chose are super soft Michael Miller and Riley Blake prints.  I used the softest cotton batting in the middle.  Someone is going to love snuggling up with this pretty piece on cold winter nights!

The quilt will be raffled off this weekend at the Megan S. Ott Foundation annual Kickball Tournament. Proceeds will go directly to families of women and men battling breast cancer.  What a wonderful cause, and a great excuse to try my hand at quilting!  

Fall 2012 is Here!

Thanks to Lauren Lewallen Photography we have beautiful pictures of the newest Lois Pearl pretties!  We met at a local park and had such a good time playing dressup with four darling little ladies.  They all walked away with apples, suckers, dresses and smiles!  Lauren did such a great job of capturing not only the outfits by LP, but each little lady's personality too!

Love this chevron!  Miss Layne is so cute eyeing her apple.  She was really just thinking about throwing it :-)

Lo is a model in the making.  So sweet and polite!

These two sisters could not be any more darling together.  They had such fun playing dressup!  My little dolls for the day.  Their mommy, my good friend Kimberlee, has an amazing blog.  It's all about crafting, cooking, and fun mommy stuff!  Be sure to check out Hanging on By a Thread!

The apples were a huge hit!

Layne's dress in this shot is a favorite if mine.  It's just so feminine!

This one has her little model poses and smile down pat!  Seriously, gorgeous!

Anyone who can get even a hint of a smile from Evy for a picture is a big winner!  I'm might be a bit obsessed with this picture!

Check out these pretties and more in the SHOP!  

And be sure to check out Kimberlee's blog, Hanging on by a Thread, and the amazing Lauren Lewallen Photography!

We're all so excited for fall around here!  Check back soon for a list of my fall shows!

Giveaway time!

The beautiful weather here has put me in the mood for a giveaway!  

Head on over to my facebook page, and share for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind dress in these gorgeous designer prints!