guest posting

Hey! I'm a guest blogger for Melissa over at the Polkadot Chair today! Go check it out!

Lily's birthday present

This is a quick outfit I whipped up for my daughter's friend Lily. It was her 5th birthday party and her Mom is always so sweet to comment on how cute the clothes are that I make for Nora Kate, so I really wanted to do this for her. And of course, Lily is just a doll! The shirt was purchased from Target and I appliqued a flower from the fabric. Quick. Easy. Great gift.

This skirt was so easy and fast because of the fabric design. Using Patty Young's double border daisy design from her latest line of fabric, flora & fauna, this skirt was a breeze. I literally just cut a main panel from each edge of the fabric, showing the daisy border, sewed them together on the sides, hemmed the bottom & gathered the top. I then cut 2 ~5" x 19" strips from the middle of the piece of fabric (light green dots), sewed together on the sides, attached to the main skirt at the gather, turned in to make waist band, added elastic waist & tag, & voila. easy, cute, skirt. I think the double border daisy design comes in 4 colorways. You can buy them here from Melanie at Above All Fabrics, one of my favorite places to buy!

Another use of the daisy border design was in a quilt pattern I tested for Patty Young back in December. I blogged about it here. I used a solid piece of the daisy border design in the mustard colorway for the background of the quilt as her pattern directed. It was a great way to have a quilt background with a lot of interest, but was so easy because it was not pieced. Great fabric, and great pattern, especially for beginning quilters.

Easter 2010

Easter Sunday was great. A day to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the glorious gift of the Resurrection! We celebrated by going to church, then coming home for a quiet family lunch, just the 4 of us. Later we went to a neighbor's house for a cookout. It was a nice day.

This year, for the first time, I made Nora Kate's Easter dress! It was truly a labor of love. I enjoyed every minute of picking out the fabrics, adjusting my pattern to fit what I had in mind, sewing it together, etc... I made this pattern back in the fall, drew it out on paper, cut it out, the whole 9 yards... I made a dress with it that she wore for our family pictures that we had done in November, then I used it to make a 'princess dress' for her for Christmas. I have to say that I LOVE this pattern. It is very simple, and there are so many variations that can be done. I also want to use it to make a top. Would like to 'go' somewhere with this pattern, hopefully in the future....?!!

I used Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric for the dress, all except for the line of pink polka dot on the front which was a remnant of another fabric I had. I also made her hair clip, my first (and oh so fun!)

The only thing I was disappointed about was that I had originally planned to make my son a coordinating tie out of the stripe, but didn't get to it. As it was I just finished the dress on Saturday night. He had told me that he didn't want to wear a tie and wouldn't wear it to church, but would wear it for pictures. So, I knew it was going to be a battle that I didn't want to fight anyway. I may still make it and take him up on the picture thing....

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Oh, and if you want to win some of this beautiful Nicey Jane fabric of your own, go enter Ruth's Sew Love Fabrics giveaway on her blog! She's giving away a cool Heather Bailey pattern with fabrics to make it!