Busy, Busy, Busy...

Mom has been busy! She has been hard at work preparing for our show in November. Check out some of her newest creations with minkee and flannel...

Some minkee squeakers

Some sweet minkee bears, my girls love these!
Love these two sided flannel blankets (we call the ke-kes, that's what my kids have always called blankets) with rick-rack! These are awesome and super soft!

Hats, lots of crocheted hats. All of my girls have several of these and wear them all the time. So cute and perfect for fall. My mom can never sit still, even when she is watching TV she is knitting and/or crocheting.

So here comes November, we get an extra hour of sleep tonight, maybe I should stay up and sew and try to help my mom out with some sewing. With lots of travel lately and keeping up with four kids I haven't gotten much done. Good thing half of Lizzy's Biz is in extra high gear. Will be posting new pics of lots of aprons and pillowcases soon.

Happy Halloween, try not to eat too much candy!

One Day I'll get a quilt...

So it has been forever... well not forever only since last December that I posted. A new day and a new commitment to posting. We have so much to tell you about, so much we are working on and so much we want to share.

So share I will. What have I done all summer? Well, between ball games, gardening, taking care of horses and dogs, chasing after two "2" year olds not much. I mean not much sewing. Now my mom, Oma the more ambitious sewer of Lizzy's Biz has been busy. Man I wish I could keep up. To my defense she is now retired and can sew all day or until her little heart desires. So I am going to brag about her for a bit.

My mom and I are best friends however we are not exactly alike. That is probably why we get along so well. We might fight too much if we were exact and we seem to balance each other out quite well. I sew, and I sew ok. Mom sews and she sews great! She is such a perfectionist! Everything is about as perfect as can be and her work is amazing. So a little time for show and tell...

She would not brag but I will. Here are a few of her most recent creations. The pictures really don't do them justice. She entered them into a quilt show and did very well. The one on the left has a gazillion yards of piping, which is hard to see. She has a Disney room, which my kids love to spend time in where this quilt rests. It was machine quilted with Mickey Mouse ears, bows, hands and is simply adorable. The one on the right was a batik quilt which she gathered fabric from a bus trip she took. 47 ladies, 10 different quilt shops, 4 states, in 3 days, now that's crazy!

So Mom has lots of quilts, when I say lots I mean lots. She hoards them, doesn't give a one to me. I would love them, cuddle with them, appreciate them but I have still yet to get a quilt my mom has made. Now don't get me wrong she shares her quilts. She makes them all the time for my her grandkids and others just not me... yet. Do you think she will read this and feel guilty? I know one day I will get a special quilt just for me which I will cherish. I shouldn't be too hard on her. One day I will spend a day taking pictures to showcase her quilts. I may steal a few while I am at it, I have my favs!

Here is another one she has been working on;

Mom made this one for her sister in North Dakota. It really turned out awesome and the detail is amazing.

We are working on many new things which I will try to showcase at least one a day as we prepare for a show we are doing in Iowa City, IA in November. This will be our first and we are super excited! We plan to do a giveaway next week so stay tuned!

Traditions are Had, Memories are Made!

When I was a little girl around Christmas my mom would drag my brother and I to a half dozen stores looking for just the right candies. Gum drops big and small, Necco candies, the right colored M&Ms, red hots, candy canes..... we would spend a whole day just buying candy, and what sounds like every kids dream, we would get home and she would not let us eat any of it.

Then the smell of gingerbread began. For days she would make sheets and sheets of gingerbread cut with precision! Days of gingerbread baking and the best part, the gingerbread scraps right from the often. Then the sounds of the mixer making tons and tons of frosting, the glue that holds it all together.

The construction began. House after house, a precious assembly line. the candy all lined up in separate bowls. As my brother and I would try to sneak candy... "Get out of there"! Some years she would make 25 or more gingerbread houses. Some as gifts, some to be sold. Mom would load up two and take them to our school classrooms. Our house usually took stage as the centerpiece of the table and we couldn't touch it till Christmas day.

Finally Christmas day would come and along with the gifts we finally could devour the gingerbread house and eat as much candy as we liked.

This has lasted as a childhood memory and this year it all came full circle. My mom decided to have a day of gingerbread houses. Again, she spent days picking out the right candies, made mini houses and larger ones. Each grandchild could decorate one and each child my sister-n-law and I each got to try our had at a larger one. Wow, what a mess, but oh what fun. The kids did a wonderful job, even started a new tradition with adding a fire pit! The kids loved it all so much they are even thinking of ideas for next year's houses.

This time she told the kids, "Have as much candy as you want"! Wow how times have changed from a mom to a Grandma (Oma).

The day ended in lots of hugs and one big sugar high!

Can't wait till next year.

Missy

Some fabric combinations for childrens aprons

Some new fabric combinations...

We have been trying to put together some new fabric combinations for some kids aprons and decided to post the photos here. Feel free to add suggestions!

Hugs from Iowa

Missy

Finally something for the ladies!

We have been talking about it for awhile to get some women's aprons listed... Finally we got some! Mom has been hard at work and has put together three new ones. Both of the following aprons were also made for little girls and would be a super cute mother and daughter set.


Thanks to my friend Melissa for being my model. Doesn't she look super cute! She just started student teaching this week and will graduate next spring with a degree in elementary education. Lots of love to all those who educate our children! She is so good with my kids, I'd love to have her as my kids teacher!

So, I fell in love with an apron that I told mom she just had to make. This is it...

However... I found out in order to sell this wonderful apron by Sew Liberated we must first be approved than purchase a license. So for now, I think I must just keep this one for myself. (Thanks Mom!)

We also plan on doing our first giveaway. Planning on a child's apron maybe even a matching doll apron??? Suggestions?

Until then check these new ones out on our Etsy site! Happy weekend to you all, I think the babies are waking up from their morning naps. Love it when they wake up!

"There aren't enough days in the weekend." ~Rod Schmidt

Girl's sewing day!

Every year my mother-n-law (whom I love dearly), takes her son and her three oldest grandson's (9 yrs) on a boy's trip. This year they headed to Oklahoma City, my husband and son the cowboys loved every minute. They didn't get back till last night so the twins Natalie and Hailey, Gracie and myself decided to head to Oma and Papa's house for a sewing day.

I had an idea for a holiday "List Taker" and I needed to task my mom with some new aprons. If you haven't tried these or these you must either try them or head over to our Etsy store where we just listed some ready made ones. JCasa aka Jennifer has created these super fun projects and Jennifer has allowed those who purchase the pattern to sell the items. Super sweet! I don't know about you but the Holiday's get crazy and I have a million lists so we decided to make a holiday version.....

Then we decided to try JCasa's newest pattern the Child's coloring wallet. So much fun to take in the car, take to Church or to give as gifts. Gracie has a birthday party coming up to go to and i thought this would be such a fun gift!

The best part... spending time with my mom. Life gets so busy and I talk to her about 3-300 times a day but just spending the day in the sewing room with her and my three little girls is so much fun. Gracie loves to go through Oma's fabric stash and pick out her favorites. She found a purse and started loading up goodies to take home. Even though we had lots of toys for Natalie and Hailey to play with they still liked to play with the tape measures, pull fabric from the shelves and get into the baskets of yarn lying around. My mom has a super cool craft room customized by her husband, Ray. I'll tell her to take pictures for another post.

Mom and I also made some cute change purses however Mom learned from my mistakes and hers turned out perfect and mine... let's just say I won't put that one for sale on Etsy...ever! The fusible interfacing got the best of me.

To end our day, Gracie, Natalie, Hailey and I traveled home to find two of the most wonderful men in the world, my husband and son. They had a wonderful trip but were glad to be home. As I tucked my son into bed, I laid there with him asking about his trip. He told me about the Cowboy Museum, the stock yards, Toby Kieth's restaurant, eating too much food and getting sick, and then said, "I really missed you and the girls". He is turning into such a wonderful young man. Oh, I almost forgot Hailey took her first steps this weekend! Super cute with wobbly legs and all. They grow up so fast.

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."-- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

We love Pink Fig Patterns!

The Nie Nie benefit sale has been a great success. The last sale is Monday, the 29th at 7PM, PST. To read about this family is amazing their faith, strength and courage is remarkable and I think of them often. It has made me think of many things in a new light and they are teachers to us all. Continue to read Stephanie's sisters blog; http://blog.cjanerun.com/. She is an amazing writer and wonderful sister and continues to share the progress of the family during these times of both joy and sorrow. We continue to say prayers for them all.

My mom just made the most amazing set for Gracie. We got all of the Pink Fig Patterns (http://www.vintagechic.typepad.com/) and they are amazing. My mom just finished The Lily Top, The Bella Pants and The Girly Stripwork Skirt. Her patterns are very easy to follow and are so cute. Gracie loves the skirt and had to wear it to a birthday party tonight (three 4 yr olds getting their hair and nails done, followed by pizza, cake and ice cream). She used Heather Bailey's new line of fabric again, Pop Garden and Bijoux. I am working on the Lily Top and Bella pants and can't wait to finish. We will be listing these on Etsy so keep an eye out for them soon. Chelsea at Pink fig Patterns plans on releasing some new patterns soon including a cute jacket and vest which I can't wait to get my hands on. Here are a few photos...

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself." ~ Lucille Ball