A foxy sort of day...

It started off with the post about Nigel and his awesome shirt... followed by my buying more of the white fox print for my own foxy garment and then finished by this little "Foxy Lady" craft with my girl Aelyn.

Aelyn turned five this past Saturday and today I set out to stitch something with her. She did quite well. She chose this fox from an older issue of Molly Makes that we have on our iPad. I printed it at 150% rather than the 200...and cut out all the paper pattern pieces for her. We pinned the pattern to the felt together. Then she cut around the paper while I helped hold it all steady. I cut the smaller pieces as they were much trickier. Than she wanted the foxes eyes to be blue and open rather than closed as theirs were and she also insisted upon limbs ;) which the original design was without. She first glued the little pieces to the face. I stitched the flower stem for her. She than stitched around the tail and body as I held it and help guide her along. She then stuffed it as I held and stitched it closed. We did it all in three sittings through out the course of the day and finished it just before bed time. Concluding with a photo shoot were she surprised me with her knowledge of depth of field. She sat the fox on one end of our dinning room table and went around to the other saying "take a picture with me here".... I said "I won't be able to see you very well back there" and she said "but I want to look small!"

Being that I studied a bit of photography way-back-when, I felt very proud at that moment. Proud of her thoughtfulness. Her composition. Her stitching. Her craftiness. And her adorable smile! (My only wish is that I'd gotten my real camera out instead of being silly and using my hipstamatic... but perhaps she'll let me take another photo tomorrow with the window open and the sunlight...)
Tonight she sleeps with her new friend.

Foxy Five and Fun!

G'nite foxes!
April

Beautiful woman and gifts for Baby.

As many of you already know we are expecting another shoppe baby. Due very soon (ANY DAY NOW) is my second little girl, Camilla.
With both of my babies I've been so blessed by the wonderfully crafty and talented women in my life. Handmade gifts are the greatest!!

Just last week the ladies of the shoppe took me out to one of my favorite local restaurants for a before baby dinner. We sat and ate and shared stories about birth and they gave the most gorgeous gifts for baby!

Janelle, who arranged the whole evening, made a sweetly embroidered sack that held precious knit baby leg warms to warm her chubby baby legs this fall

Emily made the baby fun nesting baskets that the big sister is already trying to claim! She says the baby can carry the littlest ones and she'll carry the bigger two and they'll go shopping! :)

Sheila gave us those supper cute patchwork blocks, that Aelyn is also playing with, stacking up and knocking down. I can see my two girls having lots of fun with these... AV says she'll teach the baby how to build. 

And Mary made us the fox quilt I've longed for since seeing her first one that now hangs in the shoppe as a sample of the class she teaches.

Thank you all a million times over! If my emotion doesn't come through in this post please know that I cried when I got home and shared your creations with Jeff. You are truly beautiful woman.

My love to you all,
April

A perfect day to stay in and sew!

Happy Snow Day!


♥
Aelyn & April

What are you working on?

This little dolly is for Aelyn, the shoppe baby, who's really not such a baby any more. She is even helped sew the arms last night, well set on my lap while I sewed them that is :)

We are making a Princess and Prince. Using the Wee Wonderfuls Kit, Chloe and Louise pattern for her Princess and Eddie from the Wee Wonderfuls book, for her Prince.

Tell us what's on your sewing table...

"You will wear it."

This darling little Oliver and S Jump Rope Dress was made by my mom, April's grandma, Aelyn's great grandma, Ruth Pennel.

Ruth does an amazing job sewing anything she sets out to do. She is a very busy quilter but makes us samples a couple times a year. The details on this one are so sweet and her stitching is impeccable.

Aelyn loves to carry this dress around the shoppe on the hanger, hanging it in various places. She's always arranging our little dress samples. They really are hers.

Aelyn is the real owner of the shoppe. When people come in the door she says, "Customers!" One day we heard the cash register drawer open seemingly by itself. She had pushed a stool up to it, climbed up and keyed the appropriate button. She wanted to get her hand on some cash. But she'll be ringing up customers soon. Maybe when she's 3.

Anyway, one day Aelyn had her hands on this little shirt waste dress and I asked her if she wanted to wear it. She promptly said, "No." Then April jokingly said to Aelyn, "You will wear it." Oh, the frustration of sewing for a 2 1/2 year old who has strong opinions on what she will and won't wear.

Well, April and I are secretly hoping that she will wear it. Spring is coming and we shall see.

Aelyn Says:

"hi"
"happy"and "Yuv you gammy"

In other words...
If you find yourself near the shoppe in the next few days be sure to stop in and say Happy Birthday to my Grammy!

Happy Birthday Anita

We yuv you!!!

Delivery

Yippy! The first boxful of Japanese fabrics arrived today. We oohhhed and awed while Mom quickly pulled them out. Each print was just as special as the next.
I always love being in the shoppe with mom but especially when we get deliveries like these!
I just LOVE Japanese!!!

And I think Aelyn might like it too.

Here she is taking her pick of the bunch :)

Ummmmm, wow!

The delicious fabrics were barely out of their plastic before being cut off their bolts. Emily Westenhouser, an awesome customer and talented creator of Umbrella Girl Productions, took the first few tastes.

And of course I couldn't go home without taking some of these new goodies for myself!
Oh man, I can't wait to sew them up. I must make a dress for AV with that adorable little deer print. And this blue beauty (the matryoshka dolls, above) needs be my new summer bag, with red and white polka dots on the inside.... smile.... sigh....

Okay yeah....
.......so I'm a little fabric happy.

What more can I say.

Happy Birthday SEW TO SPEAK!!! :)

She's One!!

As of February 5th Sew To Speak has officially been open for business for one year!
If you receive our e-mails you may have already read when Anita wrote "Someone asked me, 'Does it seem like a year?' and I said, 'It feels like 5!' "
While it has been hard work, I do believe that she would say it's been equally rewarding. She also wrote that "the wonderful part is all of you great customers. I love seeing you and sharing in the joy of sewing. You make my job fun and worthwhile. So thank you for a great first year!"

Getting her started early, Gammy teaches Aelyn to sew!

I want to join her in thanking you for this wonderful first year, but even more than that I want to thank her. Thank you mom for being so brave as to go for your dream, to open your own business and to walk through the fear that comes with taking a chance. And WOW, what an amazing result!
Of course I'm a bit bias, but I think our shoppe rocks! All the faith and hard work shows.
In this first year the shoppe's reception by the community has been awesome. It has certainly become a beneficial resource to our Columbus, Ohio sewers, even to sewers as far away as Suluda, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon (hi Shelly and Jane). People are coming to Sew to Speak for both leisure sewing and profession. Shoppers are being inspired and inspiring us in return.

The satisfaction received from making something to wear, carry, hold or just look at, something for yourself or for someone else, finishing something you're proud of, that you've invested time in, that satisfaction is indescribable. That is what I feel Sew To Speak has become, a place to find, learn and share in that satisfaction.

An adorable customer shows off her great tote made in Amy Butler fabrics.

Our friend Laurie in her beautifully made Joel Dewberry dress.

(just look at those shelves behind her... a little sparse in the beginning, but now
we sit around trying to figure out where we're gonna fit the 30+ new bolts of
Alexander Henry due in any day now..)

Precious Anna poses in her purple skirt made from one of our favorite
Kokka prints. And of course her doll needed one to match. :)

Laura came in to shop wearing her gorgeous Barcelona skirt she
made in Pat's class last summer.

To honor the first birthday we have a celebration planned for
Saturday, March 14th, 11-5
We will have a real birthday party with birthday hats, decorations,
great gift ideas and drawings where you could win a present.
We will draw a name every half hour from 11am - 5pm
and give away some great stuff.
So mark your calendar for March 14th
and come party!