look mom, real sewing!

i have to say that my absolutely favorite part of crafting and creating handmade things is the pure thrill that comes from taking a pile of supplies:

and making them into a lovely little something:

i finished this little sundress for my niece all in one afternoon. it was the one finished project i ended up with out of my three day memorial day weekend. (that's not to say the only project started, of course, but the only one finished). a few glitches in the plan aside, it turned out pretty much how i expected/wanted it to. now we'll see if it actually fits her, since the only semblance of measuring i did was hold up a piece of the ribbon across a dress in the store that was a size 2t in attempts to make this one turn out size 2t. at least the ribbon straps are adjustable. hmm... we'll see.

now if i can just get my little studio elf to quit "helping"... see the pretty pink fabric in the above picture? she ate a good six inches off one side. the nice white spool of thread? yep. ate it. no more rope toys for you dog! (or maybe i could just quit leaving supplies within her reach).

i used to be scared of the sewing machine... couldn't really tell you why... but i feel like i have conquered it (the fear, not the sewing machine. you still never know what a sewing machine will spit out at you next). i was proud of myself for finishing this entire little dress without having to call my mom in tears because the bobbin had run out of thread and i didn't know how to take the bobbin out, much less reload it with thread and put it back in. and the sewing machine, from what i can tell, seems to have escaped the project unscathed.

my sweet husband matt read my last post about all the craft supplies i am craving, and today a package arrived from stampington with mica tiles, pendant forms, and a silver box of tiny tins! so now i have no excuse not to get busy creating... except for the fact that i have a new list of things i absolutely need. but we all know how that goes.

i've decided to do a little spring cleaning in the shop... i keep making things and then liking them so much i want to keep them, which makes the things that do end up in the shop feel like leftovers. so i've got lots of new things and i've pulled some old things to remake them... i hope to photograph them this weekend so that i can start posting them throughout the first week or two of june. i also need to do a little tweaking on the shipping rates, which is not the fun part, since usps has raised prices again. i'll post a little announcement when it's all ready to be unveiled.

i've also got thoughts swimming around about the possibility of launching a secondary little shop... ellebee baby, for all things bibs, baby afghans, crocheted hats or maybe booties, etc... but there i go again, biting off more than i'm ready to chew! more on that later.