Dells' Angels
(title runner-ups for this blog post: What the Dell? and Where the Dell have we been?)

When it came time to plan Sophie's 8th Birthday celebration, I once again turned to my tweeps. They've always had great suggestions for me in the past and this time they did not disappoint. Sophie told me she just wanted to do something special with the family. My tweeps brought lots of suggestions to the table, but what won in Sophie's eyes was a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells. She spent some time surfing through their website, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all their amenities... so off we went!

As soon as we entered the lobby, the Christmas spirit was in the air. It was so beautiful there! Sydney kept saying it looked like the North Pole.

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The girls quickly found their favorite spot and chilled out with their dollies while daddy checked us in.

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They squealed with delight when they saw their sleeping quarters. It was a little log cabin built inside our room complete with bunk beds, a flat-screen TV and a gaming system!

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They had so much fun! There was even a third bed in there, so on our first night they invited me over for a slumber party. :) Fun, fun, girly fun!

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The next morning, after breakfast, the girls were treated to a mani & pedi at the lodge's kid spa, called Scoops.

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It was pampering to the max! All of their products were ice cream flavor scented...

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They got sparkles on their fingernails and got to pick out their own princess tiara to keep...

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The pedicure station looked like an ice cream sundae...

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And all of their memorabilia was also ice cream themed...

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All this talk of ice cream got them craving the real deal, so we headed directly to the lodge's ice cream parlor (which by the way, had a Starbucks too, so mama was happy!)

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There was tons of swimming and playing in their incredibly HUGE indoor water park...

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On Thanksgiving day, the girls put on their Holiday dresses and we made an attempt at shooting our Christmas card. Not sure if we succeeded, but it was still fun...

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Sophie even shot a picture of us that is not half bad (those are very far & few between):

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On Black Friday we did a little shopping and then headed to Chicago where we met Jon's family for a b-day dinner at Greek Islands. Sophie picked this restaurant because they serve grilled octopus... yup, that's my girl! Here she is eating her favorite dish:

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Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday! This week I was thankful for having this special time to relax with my sweet family and for not having to cook & clean (I'm sure they were thankful for that too!) :)
Daaaad! Mom's playing with my dolls again!

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I admit it: I've been getting in touch with my inner child lately. These mini-MODKID outfits have been so much fun to play with, but I can't take credit for them. You guys may remember Valerie Haberer, who threw that awesome Open House & sewing contest at her store, Sew Much More, back in September. Well, Val ended up sewing some samples for my Quilt Market booth and surprised me with a miniature version of my Ava pattern, which we immediately dubbed mini-me. We took her to Market (to sorta feel out the crowd) and the squeals of delight could be heard all through the convention floor!

So here is the deal: MODKID IS GROWING! No, I am NOT pregnant. But I have birthed 10 sewing patterns and 2 fabric collections in the past 9 months without as much as a day of maternity leave. Soooo, in order to grow the company while still keeping my sanity, Jon and I decided to hire our first ever licensed designer. Val brings many years of experience to the table, plus she is probably the only person I've met that rivals my creative OCD. She is creative, focused, meticulous and a perfectionist in every sense of the word.

Let's learn a little bit about Valerie:

"I've been sewing for as long as I can remember. I began making doll clothes out of Kleenex when I was a kid for that leggy fashion doll so popular! I started making dolly clothes for my youngest daughter over 12 years ago. And, even now, every time she comes home from college, I try to make dolly a new dress. Because dollies look sweet in just about everything, making clothes for them is creative and always puts a smile on my face! And, making matching dolly clothes from the Modkid patterns is way too much fun! Hopefully, you'll agree!"

We are so excited to add Val to our creative team. Just you wait, in addition to the mini-MODKID patterns she is also working on a few other super cool surprises to add to the MODKID line-up. I can't wait for you to see our January 2010 sewing pattern release!

And now that I'm talking about changes to the company, I should also mention another big change. You guys all know how much Jon (here he is modeling the bee tie I made for him) has helped me out pretty much since I started this crazy endeavor of mine. Not only is he an amazing source of moral support but he has also been there to help out with whatever I need, whether it's website updates, booth building, studio remodeling, heavy lifting, you name it!

But now that our company is growing exponentially, Jon has completely taken over our fulfillment department. He makes sure all orders go out in a timely manner and keeps our website up to date. This allows me more time to create and manage creative partners, which lately has become a full-time job. So, if any of you retail customers ever have a question regarding your order, need a list of distributors or would like your website link to be added to our textiles or patterns page, you can contact Jon directly at jjyoung@modkidboutique.com.

So, that's it for MODKID news right now. Stay tuned for the full pattern reveal coming soon! I'm also preparing a super fun giveaway before the Holidays, so please keep checking the blog.

Happy Turkey Day!!
And sometimes I keep my promises...

I bet you thought I was gonna keep that Halloween post up until Christmas, eh? Well, I fooled you. I've plunged back into full work mode after a few days of r&r following the madness of Quilt Market. Full work mode around here pretty much means very little sleep and infrequent blogging, tweeting or talking. I work late into the night, am crabby every morning until I have my caffeine infusion then I work, work, work till the kiddos come home... and then I work some more. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

But what prompted that silly title up there is all these post-market little flip cam videos of me that keep popping up here & there. I always cringe when these come up because, 1. I hate the way I sound on tape and 2. I never know what kind of crazy things I said or promised on video because it's usually all a blur for me.

Case in point, last Spring Market, Ms. Sandi did a quick little flip cam interview of me in which I apparently promised I would do a pattern or a tutorial or something on that lollipop quilt I had hanging up on my booth. Well, as you all probably know, that never happened. Between designing a new fabric line, a whole new slew of patterns, doing a little remodeling, and taking care of household duties it just got pushed aside. And to be perfectly honest, the pattern needed some major tweaking. I did those pinwheel shapes in a hurry and fudged with them until they were right (on fabric, not on paper) but I never really sat down to polish up the pattern and make it sew up right... so that's that.

So, as you can imagine, when this new flip cam video showed up on Boutique Cafe (shot by the lovely Bari J.) I watched with trepidation to see what kind of crazy things I promised this time. Well, I was so pleasantly surprised when I realized I am actually following through on all these promises!!! Yay me!

Check it out... I mentioned doing a pattern for the Hummingbird Quilt (DONE) and a pattern for a Pillow Trio (DONE) and even a pattern for the Mini-Ava (DONE, and more on that later!) All of these patterns and more are part of my January 2010 release. Most are on the way to the testers this week and I couldn't be more ecstatic!

So, see... sometimes I do keep my promises! ;)



Oh, I have so many new things to share with you! We've added a couple of new members to the MODKID team and I will be doing proper introductions here in the next couple of weeks. We've also added a whole new slew of pattern testers that are eager, willing and able (haha). Things are shaping up great for 2010!

And since I'm here now and don't know when I'll get another break to blog again, I thought I'd share some awesome findings from my MODKID Flickr Pool.

I spotted this adorable Nina set yesterday and the sewist, who happens to live in Malaysia, even blogged about it!

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Loving these Frida and Sydney sets from Creative Works By Ann:

Frida top by Modkid

Sydney top by Modkid

Sydney top by Modkid hood view

I seriously gasped when I saw this breathtaking version of my Kyoko pattern by NanaKidBoutique in Abu Dhabi! Add a ruffle here & there and... VOILA!

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Mary Abreu of Flourishes posted this fun, colorful version of the Sydney Hooded Tunic modeled by the sweet Miss L.

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And last, but certainly not least, check out this super fun Kyoko made by Melanie of Above All Fabric. LOVE IT!! Check out the pattern review she posted on her blog on this Kyoko and on her Sophie 3-Way Pants.

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And there are tons and tons more where these came from. Check them out! And please post your own if you want to share with us. :)
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