They grow up so fast!

My little Potty Girls are all grown up and demanding their very own MODKID wardrobe. The new ModGirls are hip, chic, sophisticated and just a tad Beyonce's Single Ladies. Stay tuned for a full MODKID Fall 2010 Pattern Reveal coming up in the next few weeks. Our testers are hard at work testing all versions of all patterns to make sure the sizing is accurate and everything sews up the way it should.



Of course, all of this sewing has generated a huge pile of scraps, so as promised here are the scrap bag contest winners... thank you for all the comments! Random.org picked #46 and #145 out of 153 comments.

Blogger #46
FeatherBunkle said...
Your girls look so cute for their first day back to school! My gals still have a few weeks of summer left and they’re living it up every chance that they can get.
As much as I’ll miss my older two girls during the days when they go back to school I am looking forward to having a quiet and (mostly) tidy house again! I’ll still have two at home to keep me company though so no tears!
9:01 PM

Blogger #145
Sew Pretty Dresses said...
Your girls are precious! I have one more year and my daughter(she is also my youngest) will be in kinder too. Sniff. I just got some of your knits to make some samples for a local shop. Girl they are SO HEAVENLY SOFT!!! Love em! I bought a little extra since I have not worked with knits to practice with. So exciting!
10:28 AM

Please contact me at your earliest convenience. You will each receive an assortment of knits and quilting cottons scraps from the studio. CONGRATS!!!
buzz

A few weeks ago I was buzzing around online, seeing what everyone was up to and I ended up drooling over all my favorite designer friends' Zazzle shops. Have you heard about this? You can upload your own artwork and they will print it on all sorts of surfaces, from shoes to bumper stickers. I think Heather got the ball rolling but before you knew it Tula, Melissa and Bari had their own cool shops too. So, since I succumb to peer pressure easily (and apparently I don't have anything better to occupy my time), I went ahead and started designing some shoes. I bought myself a pair of Hive lo-tops (cause I wanted to check out the goods before blabbing on about 'em) and OH EM GEEE they are so friggin' cool! I seriously have not stopped wearing these since the day they came in the mail!!!

hive-zazzle

I *heart* everything about them down to the hot pink topstitching throughout, which of course matches the hot pink laces and the little hot pink tab in the back. heeheee, I'm such a girl! You can get your own pair here. And if bees don't strike your fancy, no worries. I also have fishies, birdies, flowers and all sorts of other fun motifs to choose from.

So what else is buzzing around here, you ask?

Well, in case you've missed my tweets and FaceBook posts today, you really need to head on over to Sew Retro's blog, like NOW, because she is having an awesome giveaway in celebration of her brand new self-titled book. She has posted an interview with Kathy Miller (everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask!) and is giving away a signed copy of her new book, Sew Retro, and 5 (count them... FIVE) yards of any Michael Miller fabric you choose!

To enter to win this awesome giveaway, click HERE and leave a comment. Pick your favorite fabric (I know that's hard to do, but that's part of the game) and while you're at it give Judy Ketteler a shout out for the gorgeous book.

I know after reading the above, my little teeny giveaway will pale in comparison, but just in case you're feeling lucky, don't forget there's still time to enter your name to win a fat bag of knits scraps. Leave a comment and I'll pick some winners in a couple of days.

So, that's about all, folks. Oh, wait... while I was outside taking photos of my cool new shoes I noticed that most of my garden is dying a slow death but there were a few flowers still buzzing with life and hanging on to the the last drops of Summer. I figured it's only a matter of days before they join the others and even though I absolutely cannot wait for Autumn to arrive I wanted to capture a little bit of life today...

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So what's buzzing in your neck of the woods?
Sweet Goodbyes

This morning we sent our girls off for their first day of school. It's always bittersweet for me because they are here usually all Summer long (except for their occasional visit to FL) so I am so used to hearing their pitter-patter and their chitter-chatter all day long but its precisely that pitter-patter and chitter-chatter that makes my productivity titter-tatter. So now, more than ever I'm so looking forward to some peace & quiet around here so I can finally hear my own thoughts (and hopefully they'll materialize into something).

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Sophie is joining the ranks of the big kids at her school as she enters the 3rd grade. She loves her new teacher, Mrs. Cox, and was happy to see a lot of her old friends in her new classroom.

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Sydney thinks she's a big girl now... going to Kindergarten in the "big kid's school" and all... but she'll always be my baby. Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Cummins.

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Of course, I had to take the "first time I sat at my desk" photo. I'm such a sap! But, come on, how could I not? She looked so happy and proud!

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The outfits the girls wore on their first day of school are part of a new sewing pattern coming out this Fall, so yes, folks, you are getting a bit of an early sneak peek here. You'll love this pattern as it comes with a myriad of options... you can seriously make about 8 different looks with it! Here are a couple of photos I took last week for the pattern booklet:

penny-sophie

penny-sydney

Soooo... since we've been doing a heck of a lot of sewing lately here in the studio (in between all the chitter-chattering), we've also amassed a big heaping pile of knits scraps and even some quilting cotton scraps. They multiply by the bucketfuls each day and are taking over every surface of my work space so I'd love to bid a "sweet goodbye" to these scraps and send them off to a good home. I'm sure we'll have more than 1 bag by the end of this week but time will only tell just how many...

Leave me a comment below this post and we'll randomly pick 1 or more winners by the end of this week! (and don't forget to leave a way to contact you, even if it's a clickable link) Good luck!
Squeezing...

...the last sweet and juicy drops out of the Summer before school starts, that's what we've been doing. Today I had a to-do list as long as the State of Illinois, but since we live here in the frigid Midwest and we know all too well that our days of galavanting in the sunshine are numbered I turned off my 'puter and spent the afternoon doing just so.

The girls donned their brand new swim gear in anticipation of their new season of swim lessons.

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Sophie is an old pro, a regular fish underwater, just going back to hone her diving and backstroke skills.

swimming2

Sydney on the other hand has always been a little too afraid of the water, so much so that she flunked her last swim placement test because she wouldn't even put her feet in the water. Well, not today. Not sure what came over her but the minute she put on that swim cap and goggles it was like she became someone else. Within 10 minutes she was swimming underwater like a cute little mermaid. She even begged me to take her to the deep end so she wouldn't accidentally touch the bottom (I seriously had to clear my ears because I wasn't sure I heard her correctly). And no, we didn't get any pictures of today's momentous event because I didn't want to chance my big camera getting splashed. In hindsight, I should've brought the point & shoot, but in my defense I never in a million years expected to be needing it for THIS!

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Between you and me, this is what the power of sheer determination can do. She desperately wants to pass her next placement test so she can be accepted into Lane 1 with the other "big kids." If she flunks the swim test again, she has to go in a "nervous beginners" course with the "babies" (as she calls them, they are really kids of all ages, but she doesn't want any part of it). See. there's nothing wrong with a little pride and vanity every now & then. ;)

Oh, another good thing that happened today was that I finally got the chance to use my Sun & Surf Tote for what it was intended for, instead of traveling around with me on my WDTs. And... the girls brought their matching water bottle carriers along too.

swimming4

Aren't these cool?! They were made for us by the über-talented Ariel Yoder. Get your own here. I personally think she charges too little for them, so you may want to take advantage before she changes her mind.

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WDT, Part 4: Iowa
Sew Many Things, Clinton, Iowa

(scroll down to see my "Hemming Techniques for Knits" videos!)

I've spent this whole week recovering from last week's tour of the Midwestern "I" states of Indiana, Iowa and Illinois. It's funny how much work accumulates and how many emails pile up when you're gone for just a few days. Well, you already saw how we got Barbified in Indianapolis. Next, we headed West to a quaint little town in Eastern Iowa, called Clinton, where I continued my World Domination Tour. Clinton is the home of Sew Many Things, a wonderful independent quilt shop owned by Stephanie Nickles, who I met at Quilt Market back in May.

As soon as I arrived I came to the realization that I should've brought the kids along on all my WDT appearances. It was one of those "A-HA!" and "DUH!" moments. They completely stole the show (in a good way) and took the pressure off poor ol' tired mama.

Sydney sported her new Maya dress that I made as her "back to school" outfit...

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And, Sophie wore a tunic version of a new pattern coming out in the Fall, called Penny (more on that later). The girls helped me pick out door prize winners...

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Yes, I know I get a little too excited when other people win stuff...

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So glad to see others do too! :)

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The lovely Stephanie Nickles had a wonderful display of sewn items made with my fabric by her students and customers. Everyone was so warm and welcoming.

WDT-Iowa-1

While I chatted away with the lovely attendees after the presentation, Jon took a few shots around the store....

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WDT-Iowa-6

Thanks Stephanie and everyone at Sew Many Things for making us feel right at home! :)

During the presentation, Jon showed the "Hemming Techniques for Knits" videos that we showed at Quilt Market last May. And guess what? He has also uploaded them to YouTube for your viewing pleasure (awww, ain't he nice?!) :) Here ya go:

COVERSTITCH:



ROLLED HEM:



LETTUCE EDGE:



FAUX COVERSTITCH:



ZIG-ZAG:



Happy sewing!!
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

We loaded our brood in the car and drove East yesterday to meet up with Paula and her lovely brood in Indianapolis for a day full of Barbie fun at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Yes, I know there are other exhibits there but we spent pretty much 90% of our time in the Barbie area... are you surprised?

indy2

Paula and I were immediately drawn to this wall of inspiration. Cool, eh?

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The kids had so much fun playing pretend in all the Barbie exhibits...

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Taking phone calls...

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Modeling... (that's Jennifer and her son Wyatt in the back taking pictures of supermodels Amelia and Sydney!)

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Being paparazzi...

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Draping... (a la Project Runway)

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Hmmm.. that's not half bad, eh?

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Posing...

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Running... (This was our view most of the day since Sydney and Amelia became BFFs instantly. After all, they are both "five and a half," as they would have you know.)

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Ridin'...

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And crusin'... (possibly one of my fave pictures EVER! Check out how comfortable Wyatt is with "the girls", haha)

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It was a BLAST and Sydney's already asking when she can go see her BFF again. :)
Meeeeeoooooowwwwww!
(that's me letting the cat out of the bag!)


Thanks for giving Jon such a warm welcome on his blog writing debut last week. I'm hoping your words of encouragement will give him the confidence he needs to take over more often when I'm in this state of craziness.

Soooo, I've just been given the green light to make the big announcement so without much further ado: I AM WRITING A BOOK!!! With WILEY!!! WOOOHOOOO!

iamwritingabook

Sorry, that's about as much as I can say about it at this point. But I can say that I am super excited that the folks at Wiley took such an interest in me and even more excited that they thought my idea for a book (right down to the title, which, again, I can't share at this moment) was as cool as I thought it was. eeeee!

In addition to reading a bazillion contract pages and signing on the dotted line til my hand cramped up, I've also been working on a whole new set of sewing patterns, due out this Fall...

new-pattern-teaser

And when Jon said "up to her neck in cut up fabric" he wasn't kidding! Here's a little snapshot of my studio floor right at this moment. I'm somewhere under the pile of ModBlooms, I think.

my-studio-floor

Oh, and I've also been proofing tons of strike offs for my next fabric collection... also to be released this Fall. Here's a little sneak...

sanctuary-teaser1

I truly cannot wait to be able to share this collection in its full glory. It is my most sophisticated line to date and showcases some of the best drawing I've ever done... plus it has the widest range of print sizes of any of my existing collections... pattern sizes range from a teeny-tiny 1/2" to a full 24" repeat, and everything in between!

So, now that the cat's finally out of the bag hopefully you'll believe me when I say that things are about to get CRAZY around here. I know I say that every time but this. time. it's. for. reals. YO!

As if book-writing, pattern-making and fabric-designing wasn't enough to fill up my day, I'll also be doing a little bit of traveling, this time around the lovely Midwestern "I" States of Indiana, Iowa and Illinois. Tomorrow I'm headed to the beautiful city of Indianapolis where we'll meet up with the lovely duo of Paula Prass and Jennifer Storey for a little R&R with the fam. On Friday, I am continuing my WDT in the city of Clinton, Iowa where I'll be giving a lecture at Sew Many Things (holler if you're coming!). And finally, on Saturday, we are all headed up to Chicago to spend a little quality time with loved ones before school starts.

OK, OK, since I'm feeling happy and grateful, I'll give you a one more teensy tiny fabric sneak...

sanctuary-teaser2
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