I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Well, not a jet plane, but I am taking a weekend vacation. I'm heading to my home state of Georgia for a three day weekend. Now, as with every trip I take anywhere, I do my best to plan it out and try to cram as much stuff into as little time as possible. While gone this weekend I'm going to spend time with my grandmother (who had a a meeting with a surgeon today to schedule a lumpectomy on her breast today), attend my 10 year high school reunion, attend the funeral of one of my high school teachers who was a big influence in my life, and pick up my son from his grandparents house. I'm going to try and get together with some friends and have a night on the town, but we'll see how my schedule is looking at that time,
I've been able to get some sewing done this week. I participating in the Summer Sewing Swap on AG Playthings, and then today I signed up for a Sewing & Craft Swap on AG Dollhouse. My assignment for AG Playthings is perfect for me. As soon as I read it I had the perfect fabric in mind and I mentally started mixing and matching patterns. The cutting is done, and 3 out of 5 pieces are done. I should receive my AG Dollhouse assignment when I get back into town Sunday night.
With each Sewing Swap I participate in, I like to make something that shows off the techniques I am good at, but I also like to throw in a "never tried this before" technique in there too. So far, for the AG Playthings assignment, I've upcycled a tee shirt into undies, and I've used my new ruffle foot to make pleats. The verdicts: I still don't like knits, and I am going to need a lot of practice with my ruffle foot.

Well, off to finish packing my bag!

Summer Sewing Swap begins!

The other day I received my assignment for the Summer Sewing Swap on AG Playthings. I can't give too much detail, but I am super stoked about it. What I found really funny (in a good way) is that I asked for a 1940's outfit, and so did the person that was assigned to me.
So, the fabrics have been picked out, the patterns to mix and match have been picked out, and then the cutting began today.
Cutting out fabric is the hardest part of sewing. My hands and wrists have been hurting me a lot lately. Naproxen and Ibuprofen have been my best friends over the last few weeks. I have some padded braces I wear on my wrists/hands at night, and that helps since it keep me from curling my hands and wrists up while I sleep. I also use my paraffin wax to help ease the pain my hands.
 Now reading that last paragraph, you would think I was an old lady, right? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'll be only be 28 in 2 months. So, it looks like I have about 60-70 more years of this. Really? Well, that just sucks.
My grandmother is almost 83 (she'll be 83 the day after I turn 28), and she still sews, crochets, and knits. About 10 years ago she was forced to retire from over 50 years of being an RN due to her back giving her problems. So now, she crafts during the week, and sells her wares and creations at a flea market on the weekends. She has arthritis too, and I know her hands give her trouble too, so I'm going to quit my bitching and just suck it up. Besides, the more you use it, the less it should hurt, right?
So, at the moment I'm taking a break from leaning over my table cutting out my fabric, but my back is feeling better already, so I'm headed back to the desk.
Maybe I can get my sweet hubby to do some of the cutting for me today. :)

Now available in Canada!

So, over the weekend I got an Etsy message from another member asking if I would be willing to ship to Canada. I didn't have it available on my listings since I wasn't sure how to calculate it. Well, I got it all figured out, and I now ship to Canada! I ship USPS First Class to Canada since shipping via USPS Priority is at least $20. For the United States I still prefer to ship via USPS Priority Mail.
So, the member who contacted me had good reason for it, she wanted 4 of my outfits. So on Monday afternoon I dropped off the Nutcracker Fritz costume, the Medieval inspired princess dress, the Polo shirt and pleated skirt set, and the 1824 Southwestern set.

I've been working on a new Popover Dress pattern from Oliver+S. My first attempt came out too snug since I didn't adjust the scale when printing. That error resulted in a Pop Her Head Off to Pop it Over Her Torso Dress instead of a Popover Dress. The end result is still cute, but I'm going to offer it for slim 18" dolls like Magic Attic and such.

Here it is on my "skinny" AG Elizabeth (the newer ones are slimmer than the older ones):

I think I may just cut the back open and insert some Velcro so it's much easier to get it off and on.

Going to try to get the opposite fabric version done this week, and will post it if I do. During one of our storms over the weekend I was able to get several items cut out, so it will be much easier to get things done this week since all I have to do it reach into my In Progress box and pick something.

Until next time...

Not only did I.....

Not only did I finish the Harry Potter robe the other day, I got it listed on Etsy. And not only did I get it listed on Etsy, but I listed two other items from my inventory too.

Check it out: here!

I had planned on listing the shirt and skirt set as separates, but once I put them on the doll to model, I kind of liked them together. Hopefully they'll sell easier together than separate. Hopefully something sells!

I also picked up a new free pattern from Oliver + S, and am excited to try it out. I got the pattern printed out, but now the hard part comes: picking a fabric.


Sorry for the short post (I'm sure you're glad though since I'm usually long winded). I'm off to get to work on the house, take care of the kids, and try to escape to my sewing area today.