Something for the kid in all of us....

Nope, not candy or toys or clothes. Though I wouldn't mind one of each in that order right now ;) But wildlife....ah, the beauty of nature and the things we can discover online!!

I recently made a boys hoodie of a hooded falcon (note the subtle match-up ;) Anyhow, what I never mentioned was I was once fortunate enough to hang with one of the most noted American Falconers (yes, there are such things!) and watch one be released, where he later caught a bird that was released just for him, and gobbled it up for a quick snack. (note my look of fear next to him ;)

It was unreal. They can swoop at about 200 miles an hour and apparently they have vision 30 times better than we humans.

Anyhow, I was recently introduced to a few web cams of falcons and owls and wanted to share them with you. Finley thinks they are adorable. I do too. Except for when they bring home some live creature and chew it up and regurgitate it to their young. But I digress and probably grossed you all out! Sorry about that, but I am giving you your fair warning. ;)

Peregrine Falcon Cam

Owl cam

Enjoy!!

Giving is the best way to receive....

“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing” Hindu proverb

I've always been a giver. Sometimes a little too much ;) I'm the girl who roots for the underdog, cheers for my opponent, and will give whatever I can to help someone that I know is in need. My parents grew up with very little, especially my late-father, and the amazing stories he's shared about how people helped them out in their lives really inspired me (I'll share those another time!)

Most of you probably don't know, but I have a job. A job job; or work work.... Meaning I work outside of sewing :) I manage the philanthropic activities of a large private Family Foundation, plus some other stuff. :)

So, the reason I mention this is (I get to the point eventually, stick with me!!) ...I was inspired by my amazingly talented friend Ashley when I saw her list her gorgeous dress on eBay to raise money for our online friend Jane's and her daughter, who organized a team called Anna's Bananas in order to raise money for Down Syndrome Association of Delaware.

Well, I had to do something too to help out team Anna's Bananas! Now I didn't think I could raise quite so much per dress on eBay, so I decided I would sell a few items in my shop each week, where 100% of the sale would be donated to Team Anna's Bananas! But wait, there's more! (Feel like you're watching an infomercial?;) I asked my generous boss if he would match my sales, which I was hoping might be about $100, and he did even better! He's donating an additional $250 to the effort!

So...time to start shopping for a great cause! I am listing my first item (below) for Team Anna's Bananas today and as the week goes on I plan to list more in my etsy shop.

Thank so much for being a part of a great effort. :)

Yesterday you met my serger...today is a Serger Tutorial!

I read a serger tutorial once online, and for the life of me I cannot find the link.

Well, it seems that many of you are sewing addicts, just like me, so I thought I would share my favorite serger tip: What to do with that long piece of thread that hangs off your seams!

I used to snip mine, and then they would fray. Then I started knotting them, but I'm no sailor. Now here is what I do, it's so easy!

So here's the culprit...long serger thread:



Go find the biggest needle you can find. One that isn't all sharp and pointy. I use a size 22 tapestry needle. Then stick it under/through the seam you just finished sewing:



Bunch up your long thread at the end, rolling it between your fingers a few times in order for all those threads to fit through the needle eye:



Pull your needle through, so that the long thread tail goes under all that stitching and comes out the end:



Snip close to the end:



Add Fray Block or Fray Check:



Tada! Seam is finished, long thread vanished, and no chance of it ever coming back to haunt you!



Hope this little tip helps you!

A conversation with my serger....

(Yes, I speak with inanimate objects, a habit I picked up during pregnancy)

Me: "Good morning Charlie."

Silence. Menacing silence.



Me: "I've missed you. Look, I brought you back a rock from Sedona."

Charlie "Harumph"

Me: "Hmmm, I also brought you back some new knits."

Charlie "Oh?"

Me: "Yeah, look!"



Charlie "You left me for 5 days, all alone in this house, with nobody around to hang out with. You think that's good enough?"

Me: "Well, I thought about you a lot. I actually brought you more knits, but I was going to wait to show you these another time..."



Charlie: "Whoa, is that for me??"

Me: "Yup! There's more!"



Charlie "I love you, Shari"

Me: "I love you too Charlie. Next time I'll bring you even more knits, plus some new thread and maybe even a new needle."

And they lived happily ever after......until Charlie broke a thread ;)

A letter to you dear blog....

Dear Blog,

I am so sorry I have neglected you these past few days. Although I must admit I am typically slightly obsessed with you and have spent many sleepless nights thinking about you....well, right now you are on the back of my mind, and I hope you will forgive me. I have been busy.

So though you have been replaced by something else for a few days, you are still on the back of my mind. Plus, I have been inspired. I have a vision of new dresses and tees based on this. How could you not be inspired here?

So please forgive me. I will come back to you soon and lovingly labor over your HTML and settings. I will even bring you a rock back from Sedona.

Your friend,

Shari

And the winner is!

Thanks everyone for entering my first ever giveaway!! I wrote out all the names in order to include the extra entries and custom orders this morning.

Check out my fancy high tech methods ;)

And then went to Random.org:

And here's the winner!!

Congratulations Susan!! I'll email you :) And thank you everyone for making my first giveaway so great! We'll do another one soon :)

For those of you who didn't win, I don't have any skirts in the shop right now but I plan to make more next week when my mum leaves town! I do have 2 dresses in the shop now...one for the itty bitties and one for the older little girl! You can see my etsy shop here.

Have a great weekend!
Shari

Don't mind the gap....

I had a custom order to work on today for a boys tee. I had been saving this awesome tee to cut for something special and when this custom order came in last month I emailed them the tee image and asked if they liked it. They did! So it's been sitting in a basket, just waiting to be worked on.

I decided to do a second boys hoodie tee at the same time. It seems there is such a gap in cool boys clothing! So here we go...2 new boys creations from today that I wanted to share.

And just to share a little anecdote too, because really, days are way better with an anecdote. I asked Finley what she thought of boys today. She said "I don't like boys." Pause. "Well, no, I don't like mad boys, because they're mad. But I loooove nice boys. So I guess I love boys."

Not so fast kiddo. ;)

Ever have one of those days?

Where in the end, you just have to laugh because everything that can go wrong does? It's been one of those! My serger decided to have a bad day too. That's a double whammy.

But, amidst the ridiculous amount of times I cut out a dress bottom today (that would be 5 times if anyone is counting. The first 3 I somehow, I have no clue how, messed up!), plus the time wasted trying to fix the serger, and then of course add to that that my child decided to throw up this morning (but felt completely fine! We must have been running around too much right after breakfast). Well, all that aside, there were some shining moments that felt oh-so-good. And that my friends, is what I will chose to remember from today; tax day (crap, I STILL have to file! Thank goodness for extensions!), my parents wedding anniversary, this gorgeous day in the middle of April.

1. When I dropped Finley off at school today, the new teacher said to me "You know what your daughter did the first day I joined the school? She took my hand and walked me around the playground and introduced me to all the children!" Wow. My shy child did that? I love it!

2. Picking up said child from preschool and taking her to a friend's house for a few minutes of play before nap, where impromptu performances took place. Plus I got to hear the kids have conversation. For some reason, I find nothing more interesting than listening to two 3 year old's talk to one another. Oh, and when they hugged and kissed, yup, that made my heart melt too.

3. I made this dress. And I love it. Can I say that? It's been a bad day, so please let me. ;) Plus the customer it is for says she loves it, and that makes me doubly happy.



4. I am healthy, safe and happy, and so are the people that mean most in my life.

I had a math teacher tell me in high school "You'll get farther in life with honey than vinegar, Shari" Ooooh, did that sting when she said it, but she's right dangit! Math teachers are always right.

How to play with prints and colors....UPDATED with final product

Color and prints are amazing things. Usually, they work together, even when you least expect it to. But it does take a bit of work to get there.

Some people have been asking about how I get to the finished product for my 'mosaics.' It's really a game of trial and error, and kind of like one of those sliding mazes. Eventually, the pieces fit. :)

Here's a pile of fabric for example. This one happens to be a mix of prints and colors. I typically tend to create stacks of pre-cut fabrics that are organized by color scheme, as well as other piles that regardless of color, have amazing prints. Then whenever I go to create a dress I pull out the colors that I am wanting, as well as some incredible prints. But lets say all you have is a bunch of miscellaneous fabric like I do below.



I go through it and pick out the squares (I know they are rectangles, but it just seems so much easier to call them squares!! ;) that 'speak' to me. Sounds hokey, I know, but that's how it is! ;) In this case I am making a size 5/6 skirt and I need 12 squares. So I pick a bunch out:



My next step is to start with the main squares. The ones that will be on the most visible spot of the skirt:



And start building from there:







So the above image, something was bothering me. I didn't like how the black and white print, and the floral print right below it with interacting. The reason is because the two prints are approximately the same size and intensity. The key when mixing prints is to mix small with large, or soft with bold when they lay side by side. This way they are not competing. If they compete, all you want to do is look away. Not a good thing. ;) So I switched it up a little:





Now I really wanted to use this Buddha print in this skirt, and so I altered my original main two pieces (the argyle/diamond print and the polka dots) to include it:



But gosh, now the polka dots didn't work! So I switched it up again....



The toile and the polka dots above were too soft together making that side of the composition a bit bland, so I switched it up again:



But I was determined to get that toile in there (even though only a sliver of it will show in the final skirt) so then I reached the final layout:



Well, I thought it was final. I usually step away from it for a few minutes and then revisit again. It needed a small tweak. I switched the bottom right two squares so that I didn't have two solids above one another.



Ta-da! :) And that, turns into.....





In art school they often teach you to turn your painting upside down and either work on it like that or just evaluate it like that. It's amazing how much that can help you see things differently! Though I don't turn these upside down, I do try to look at it with a fresh eye before sewing together...it's amazing how a few minutes can make you see things differently!

One imaginary Friend + One package = Pure Joy

Finley's been begging her imaginary friend (IF), Soren Lorensen, to write her a letter. I sent her one from her other IF, Evie, but it didn't seem to do. Then my wildly creative and incredible friend Ashley did this. You must check out her pictures of the package contents on her blog, they're amazing! I am still blown away!

Finley usually doesn't like having her picture taken, so we had to tread lightly. She also doesn't like to do things that weren't her idea first, so we set the package up outside on a blanket for her to stumble onto.

This was her reaction:

"For me?" She asked...

She shook it to see what could be inside...

And then we told her it was from Soren Lorensen.

Oh Happy Day!

She opened it up...

To find tons of treasures!

And we pored over every gorgeous little thing Ashley put into it. We read the incredible letters...

She was shocked to hear he left all his letters to her by mistake in his backpack! "No wonder they were late!" she said!

Elephants are her favorite (she sleeps with Harry Elephante, a stuffed blue elephant). She named this one 'Lumpy'

She made up a little game using the erasers in the packet, where we had to throw them and gather them from the grass...

She LOVED the origami paper and paper crane (one of her favorite books is about a little girl who makes a paper crane and names him "Menu" and he becomes her best friend because she hasn't any real friends at school)

We played with the little animal chips

She was like a kid at an Imaginary Friend Store ;)

It was a wonderful way to spend the morning...

Thank you Ashley, for making such an incredible memory for our family. We will cherish this forever and ever!! xoxo