Day 7...a hat for you, Angel Love Art Quilt for my Mom

First - odds were pretty good on our post for Bows and Blossoms and their wonderful giveaway for this adorable hat.

Our lovely random number generator - and Deb - this little lovely is all yours.  An email is on its way to you for your mailing address.  Thanks so much to all who entered and visited Suann at Bows and Blossoms.

Don't forget - there is still a few days left to win this from me over at Where Women Create

Second, today my plan was to do nothing.  So I wandered down to my sewing room after church today to do some nothing and got this made.  This is on its way to the winner from my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway.

And then I got around to making my Mom her Christmas gift.  One of them at least.  I wanted to make an art quilt wall hanging.  My first attempt - I was happy with how it turned out.  I found a bag of old lace and stuff in my craft box from my high school crafting days and loved some of the vintage findings in there.  I have a whole big bag of really old lace.  So cool.

I used fabric scraps, old vintage lace, ribbon, yarn, buttons, beads and a piece of vellum.  I set it all on a piece of fusible fleece interfacing first to act as a glue for the base and then kept adding things on top.  Then I did a variety of stitches - kind of like a crazy quilt - all over the place.

For a first attempt, I'm pretty happy with it and I know my Mother will love it 'cuz she's my Mom and its like hanging my drawings on the refrigerator - she always loves what I make for her.

xoxo,

Trish

Day one of my 14 Days of Doing Nothing Before Christmas...

On the 1st day of my 14 Days of Doing Nothing Before Christmas...my true love gave to me...a plate of chicken and stuffing. Ok, not what you were expecting.  But my hubby did make dinner last night and it was pretty good.  And if you recall, he asked me to try and not do "anything" for 14 days.  He wanted me to just relax with no deadlines or rushing around or delivering orders or whatever...I thought I'd blog about my 14 days to see how good I do.

On day 1:

• Took the kids to school
• Stopped at the coffeehouse where our art guild displays for sale items and set up my display.
• Stopped at Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte - Venti size.  Had to do it.  It fills my tummy with happiness.
• Stopped at McD's for a yogurt parfait and fed it to the baby.
• Took care of business for our rental property.  Of which I wish would be struck by lightening and burn to the ground.  Long story - someday I'll share that "brilliant" business idea of mine of buying this place so I wouldn't have to work full time.  Brilliant...not so much.
• Stopped at thrift store.  Bought 4 sweaters to make this

• Went home.  Ate lunch. Made 12 of these upcycled wrist cuffs / coffeecup cozies.
• Went to work at my "office on campus" for 4 hours.
• Home.  Baby in bath and to bed.
• Made 16 more wrist cuffs / coffeecup cozies.

I think I may have a problem.  That was only day 1.  I mean, there weren't any BIG projects in there.

And I did find this at the thrift store.

This is a Pendleton Vintage wool coat with a real rabbit fur collar.  In the thrift store.  It's in like new condition.  Crazy.  Just beautiful.

I wore it this morning but someone told me they thought it was worth a lot of money.  Is it?  It's really cute.  But I could sure use some Christmas money so I'm going to list it on ebay and see what happens.  I'll keep you posted.

I'll be back with "Day Two" tomorrow.  So far today - I'm doing much better at doing "nothing".  (wink! yeah, right!)

And these little wrist cuffs / coffeecup cozies - these along with a gift card to your local coffeehouse would make a super teacher gift or for a friend, etc.

And I'm going to list some over in my etsy store shortly for $2 plus $1 shipping.  A few more complicated ones will be $3.

DON'T FORGET!!  Go here to the previous post and leave a comment to win this adorable bucket hat from Bows and Blossoms.  AND you can still enter to win a purse, ipod accessory bag, owl pin and pattern from me over at Where Women Create until December 14th.

How's your day going so far?  Hope it's a good one!

xoxo,

Trish

Sewin' with my hands tied...

...well, not exactly tied, but let's say very full.  Here's where being a twins Mom comes in handy.  I have a plethora of experience of doing things one handed or no handed and gettin' stuff done.

I'm often asked, "How on earth do you do all that you do?!".  And my answer is...I do not know.  For serious.  For one, I have a super helpful husband who cooks dinner without being asked, cleans my kitchen, um, quite frequently, and spends a whole heck of a lot of time with our kids.  The rest of my house...yeah, that...not so much organized, or clean.  As my Mother said last week when she was here helping, "your house is clean...underneath all the stuff that's laying around".  You know, the 7...oh yes ladies, SEVEN tubs of clean laundry in my bedroom that are folded but not put away.  Yeah, that's "how on earth I do all that I do" (wink! wink!).  It's called, just shut the door when company comes and hide the messes.

SOOOOO....I was prepping for this "craft show" on Sunday...one of my first.  And prepping lots of product and conferring with SuAnn, a fellow crafter who teams up with me frequently on events, and giving myself a serious ulcer in trying to get EVERYTHING done.  Let me backtrack...

Thursday before this event, I had the GREAT idea that we should go to the Zoo for the Wildlights preview night for zoo members.  (I HEART our Columbus Zoo!)  It was a school night, sort of raining and I thought, nobody will be there.  This will be great!  Um, apparently, EVERYONE else had this exact same thought because it was wall to wall people.  Kind of a bummer.  We got our photo taken with Santa.  Well, little pea is barely in the frame as she has this terrified look on her face and is trying to escape.  You can see my hands in the picture holding her back trying to get her to stay next to her sister for a quick photo.  I love it!  It's so funny!  Traumatic for her?  Oh, maybe slightly :>)  No!!  I'm just kidding!  She was fine so long as Santa was a good 10' away or so...close up, not so much.

Many people that night left their manners at home.  That was a bummer too.  Case in point.  We went in to sit with our little ones and eat some packed dinner as well as a couple of things we bought there.  No tables.  Packed.  One table was getting up to leave and we went over and asked to have their table.  They were very nice, said yes, and we sat our two older kids down and then some grown adult, his wife, and their 3 teenage children came over and LITERALLY took the seat out from under me and my husband and said they were sitting there.  I was dumbfounded.  What do you say?  This guy was clearly a jerk.  He's teenage daughter said, Ma'am, would you like this seat?  She saw what her Dad had done but I was too ticked.  I said no thank you and we stood behind our kids and just took care of them.  I can only imagine what must be going on in this guys life for him to think that he would bully some woman with a baby in stroller and two small children for a table.  Really?  But you know what?  Coming home in the car, for as much as my husband and I were "not happy" about our experience, our kids were talking about how they got to touch a sea star, see a shark, and they loved the "real" toy soldier that was marching around and posing for photos.  They didn't even notice it was crowded or the bad manners from others.

They just knew they got to go to the zoo on a school night and see the lights.  That made all my anger go away...they are such good kids.  With no prompting they both said, "thank you for taking us to the zoo".

Spending time with family comes first but that also meant my window for prepping was smaller.  But get it done, we did!  And here it is...

Well...that's pretty much it for this post.  I'm mush brain with thoughts of turkey and family all coming here for four days and...did I mention my house is a mess?  Oh, I must go start loading up bins and hiding my mess!  Happy Turkey week...

ps Up for a giveaway?  Kaye over at Miss Print is giving away a Hazel Hipster pattern...and her blog is fabulous.  Go check her out and follow her adventures.  You'll be glad you did!

xoxo,

Trish

Craft Addict Rehab...

Ok...so here it is.  I wrote an article for a magazine and submitted it.  It was rejected.  And.  After rereading this later - I can see why it was rejected.  Let's just say, I had been spending a lot of time out in the sun.  BUT.  I hope you might find something useful in it if you currently or are planning on selling your crafts...here it is.

You hoard fabric.  Your drawers are overflowing with notions.  You keep buying more fabric when you have no inkling what on earth you will do with it.  It’s so pretty, how could you possibly say no?!   Come on, just one more yard.  What could it hurt?

You start to make excuses for why you must have yet another yard to add to your mountainous stash and then, it starts.  The dreams.  Colorful, crazy dreams of you being surrounded by fabric and buttons and cute little spools of ribbon and the house – an eerie silence falls upon it and your find yourself, free of distractions.

You dream about sewing the most delicious little quilts and skirts and handbags, gulp, dare I say, uninterrupted.  You wake up only to find the imprint of your seam ripper on your face where you fell asleep with your head on your cutting table because you were sewing late into the evening after everyone had gone to bed.  It was just a dream.

Unusual?  Strange?  Not for a craft addict.  And the first step is to admit you have a problem.  Admit, you can’t let a week go by without stopping into your favorite quilt shop.  You can’t let a week go by without sewing a few stitches.  If you go more than a few days, the shakes and ticks start and you find yourself sneaking back over to sit at your sewing machine.  Just a few stitches…I just need…to…sew…a few…more stitches…and then I’ll be…ok.  Really.  Just let me sew…a few more stitches!!

The next step is to believe that there is a higher power that you can turn over your addiction to, restore your sanity.  Yeah, right!?  Who are we kidding?  Once a craft addict, always a craft addict and there is no shame in that!  Higher power?  I’m thinking, like Etsy, Ebay or a local craft show!   There comes a time when you might want to undo a little of that guilty fabric hoarding habit.  There are lots of ways to make your habit into a guilt free obsession thriving business.

Seriously now, you love to craft and love to create for friends and family but there really are some very simple ways to get your addiction hobby to pay for itself.

Local shops

When I first started creating handbags and accessories, I found that our local coffeehouse would allow me to set up a little space inside to display my wares.  For a nominal cut of the proceeds, I was able to make a fair amount of spending money for the month.  I was able to go out with my girlfriends for lunch, maybe buy a new outfit, guilt free, using the money I made from selling my crafts.

Here are a few things to consider when considering selling at a local shop:  Will they purchase your crafts from you at a wholesale price or carry it on consignment?  A wholesale price is generally 50% of the retail price.  For instance, if you make a handbag that would retail at $50.00 then typically, you would sell it to the shopkeeper for $25.00.  Does that allow you as the crafter, enough payment for your materials and labor that went into creating the item?

Some shopkeepers may be wary of new products or simply don’t have enough funds to carry a large amount of inventory.  One way to offer your product to them, almost risk free, is through consignment.  A contract is agreed upon between you and the shopkeeper that states the inventory being offered, a start and end date if necessary of displaying your wares, and a statement of responsibility about what should happen if your products are damaged while in their possession.  The shopkeeper gets to offer your product for sale without purchasing it.  You decide on your consignment price while the shopkeeper is welcome to mark up your item to whatever retail price they wish.  Since they do not own the inventory, often they are willing to mark up only 25% or so and this allows you to get a few more dollars for your product over offering them at wholesale.

Etsy and eBay

Etsy.com and eBay.com are a few of the better-known websites that allow you to set up an online store.  Etsy is a wonderful option because it offers only handmade items.  Their fees for listing are very affordable and the site is very easy to use.  This is a storefront site meaning that customers can visit your site and make a direct purchase, no bidding involved.

Ebay.com conversely is an auction site where you can list an item and people may place bids on it.  The drawback is that the fees are a bit higher.  However, I don’t think there is anyone who has not heard of eBay.  Your chances of getting a higher volume of visitors viewing your wares may be slightly higher on eBay but there is an increased cost to you for that as well.  Ebay also has the option of setting up a storefront and you can offer items at a “Buy it Now” price where no bidding is necessary.

A little hint to drive traffic to your online store; list your items frequently.  For instance, say you have a potholder you’ve made and you have 12 of them to sell.  List them separately, on different days.  Here’s why.  One of the ways both etsy and ebay are searchable for customers is by “recently listed items”.  By frequently listing your items, customers will see your items come up first and then, hopefully, find themselves in your store.

You’ll need to have a PayPal account to accept payment and you’ll have to stock up on shipping supplies.  An excellent way to get repeat customers and word of mouth business is that “first impression”.  You can purchase inexpensive tissue papers and ribbons or use fabric scraps to wrap your customer’s purchases like a gift.  Include a little note and thank them for their business.  Who doesn’t love to receive a sweetly packaged little item in the mail?  Those personal touches go a long way for sustaining your craft addiction sales.

Arts and Crafts Shows

Sometimes, if you have created enough inventory, you might want to consider entering an Arts and Crafts show.  Typically, there is an entrance fee and that gives you a spot at the show to display your wares.  I personally have found these to be either great or a huge flop.  It depends on the weather, the customers of that one day, and who else you are competing with at that event.  They can be long hours but it can be a great way to introduce yourself to new customers in person.  People love to meet the person who crafted the item and so you may find wonderful success selling in this venue.  I have found that if you create a nice variety of items with a wide range of price points, you’ll have a little something for everyone.

Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Selling your wares really can be quite simple and allow you to continue on with a guilt free addiction to crafting.  Rehab doesn’t have to be painful – it’s really rather exciting and satisfying to self support your hobby and maybe a bit more.  Who knows?  You could be a budding superstar like Martha Stewart or Amy Butler.  You’ll never know until you try!

Happy Crafting!

(ps I found another interesting article that you might enjoy if you want more info - check out indiefixx here.  Do you have a good experience or advice you'd like to share?  Please leave a comment to share with all of us...I'd love to hear what you are doing or trying in sales)

(pps  blog reader Denise who owns Feather Your Nest had some retailer insight...she left this in the comments but I didn't want anyone to miss this so here it is again.

Good article Trish. As a retail store owner, I’d like to comment on the consignment percentage, few retail store owners will put items in their shoppes and take only a 25% fee. There are many “hidden” costs in operating a brick and mortar store – credit card processing fees alone can be as much as 5% plus a per transaction fee so if the purchase is made with plastic (and 90% are these days) that’s 5%+ right off the top. then there is the tissue and bags to put it in, insurance, electric, heat and the cost of employees to sell it… it all adds up. Any product that is put out on the sales floor has to earn it’s keep for the square footage that it’s occupying. Generally, store owners that take on consignment do it because they don’t have the cash flow to purchase the product out right from the artist. Net profit on few products is 25% so any shop owner that takes a 25% consignor fee is not doing good business for themselves. That said, some places like a coffee shop, that is not in the retail business, might take a smaller percentage like 25% because it’s not space that would be allocated to retail sales anyway, they might use it as a draw to bring customers in, or as shop-ertainment for their customers.

If I were a crafter wanting to sell my product without selling at wholesale prices I’d look more at renting booth space at a craft mall. Those places are in business to make their money off booth rentals and a smaller percentage of the sale to cover processing costs.

Blowin' in the breeze...

Indian summer has made its way here finally. A light breeze has been blowing.  The kids have been able to go out without a coat.  And the farmer from across the street who passed away a few years ago, his boys have been harvesting all the corn lately and we can see their barn again and all the way across their field.

'Tis the season to count your blessings and I have been counting mine.

Blessed to have a healthy family (while I sit here and type this with a runny nose, cough and killer headache - but the kids, all but the littlest one who is sharing my goop, are all well).

Blessed to have a roof over my head today.

Blessed to have a refrigerator, well, not quite full of food.  I need to grocery shop.

Blessed to see the sun shining today.

Blessed to have a car that runs and places to go to.

Blessed to have a big backyard (5 acres - ahh!) to look out upon and enjoy, and enjoy, and enjoy.

Blessed to have friends and family who love me and who I love dearly.

Blessed to have a wonderful teacher for my girls this year who is helping them to make forward motion.

Blessed to have a God who forgives me when I screw up because I do it all the time.

Blessed to have a husband who cleans the kitchen without asking, takes care of kids constantly, and loves me unconditionally.  Very very blessed.

Blessed to have all of you who support me, cheer me on, and help me to reach my goals.  I sincerely appreciate you all so much - you'll never know how very much your support means to me.  I always feel the hand of God pushing me when my friends around me help hold me up.

And I've just been pondering those things lately.  And counting my blessings...

And I was thinking of all of that while I was looking at these, blowin' in the breeze...

Blessed.  Blessed.  Blessed.  Yes I am.

I think I'll add these aprons to the list of "things to make into patterns". Did I mention I have a new pattern out? And did I mention that if you blog about it and link back to me that I have TEN of these patterns I'm giving away.  That's a lot...just sayin...so if you want to enter the giveaway...just blog about the new Sprouts patterns, link back and leave me a comment that you did so.  On Sunday, November 22nd, we'll pick a random TEN winners to get a free pattern.  I would be so appreciative.

Or maybe you want to just leave me a comment about your blessings.  I sure would love to hear them.  Helps me have a better day to know you all are doing ok out there and enjoying your life and blessings.  Please, do share.

I'm really just rambling now...I think it has something to do with my half open eyes because my sinuses hurt so much so I'll just sign off.  I hope you all are enjoying this quiet and busy season.  Take the time to count your blessings.

xoxo,

Trish

Hipster pattern...coming soon. Pattern tester(s) needed.

What is this?

It's like having a baby.  All this preparation.  And decisions to make.  And finding props and the sort just the way you want them.  It's not as easy as it looks.  Writing a pattern.   Sheeshzz!

I wanted to write this as a PDF pattern that would be super easy for you to follow.  Step by step.  Loads of actual photos.  Not a single line drawing.  That way, you get the idea of what it looks like in real life.

I have it out to a few pattern testers and I could use one or two more.  Interested?  You have to supply all your own materials but you'll have a super cute little bag in the end.  Anybody interested?  Let me know.

And for the masses waiting to hear about the Halloween giveaway...the whopping two of you that submitted - well, missprint, it's you.  A little treat bag will be on it's way to you shortly.  Thanks to you both for giving us some ideas for our party this Friday.

I have a fun tutorial for a hair barrette I did...and more fun things...saving up for the new Typepad blog when I'm ready...slowly but surely.  I need an assistant.  Need to get those peas internet savvy quick!

xoxo,

Trish

T-shirts, t-shirts, t-shirts

Do you sew?  These are so cute!  And easy.  Use some stitch witchery, or steam a seam, etc and cut it out just a bit smaller than your applique.  Apply to your -shirt.  Stitch.  That's it.  With each washing, the edges will fray and create this cute vintage look.  I'm having fun designing new things all the time...here's a few that are now at Harvest Moon Coffeehouse in Canal Winchester.  Grab one while you can!

And I'm so happy to report...I know have INTERNET access!!  Yeah!  Yeah in that I have access.  Boo, in that it is expensive so please, go to my etsy site, buy a few shirts so I can keep blogging!  My dial up just wasn't doing it and it was getting really old running into town all the time to use the wifi.

And because I know have internet, I have very slowly started to get my dot.com working.  So, pop over and take a peek.  I don't have a lot going on over there but I do have some things loaded in the shop.  I hope to work on it more later, ahem, this year.

Don't forget, I'm still looking for ideas for our Frankenstein's Laboratory.  (see previous post).  I have some goodies for someone - we'll choose a random person from the comments and mail out our Halloween package to you.  Comments will close Oct 21st so bring 'em on!

Happy Hump day!

xoxo,

Trish

Mooahhhhahahah! (insert evil laugh here)

Did that spook ya?  My evil laugh and all?  It's a pretty good imitation, right?  I mean, I totally had ya thinking that like Count Dracula was right behind you didn't I?   OOooo!  I so love Halloween.  It is my FAV.OR.ITE holiday.  I just love it.  Love that it happens in the fall.  Love to think about Halloween costumes and what we'll put together.  Love the parties we have every year.  Love, LOVE, love LOVE LOVE it!!!

As a matter of fact, the day after halloween, I go out and scurry up anything that is left over in the store Plates, napkins, cute little trinkets for goodie bags and the like and I load them all up into my "Halloween Party" bin and put it back into storage.  Each year, I am all set with loads of fun stuff for our party and purchased at usually 75% off or more!  Mooahhhahahah (rubs hands together)  Love bargain shopping!

I have an entire Haunted Village.  You know how some people have Christmas Villages (ok, I confess.  I have one of those too - complete with skiers and snowboarders that move - you'll have to wait until Christmas for that post).  I have these villages that all make sound and have motion.  Well before the girls get home from school, I have those things cranked on.  And enjoy them I do - ohh!  So much fun!

And I love decorating around my antiques.  My old clock works perfect for Halloween decor don't ya think?  Complete with owl, black leaves, and rat of course!

A few years ago, I crafted some pillow covers for my couch.  I found some adorable festive fabrics.  Searched for this fringe trim in black over in the home dec section.

And then out of felt, I cut the shapes, used stitch witchery on them (because what else would you use at this time of year for applique with a name like that), and then did some decorative stitching on top.  Hello?!  Cute and so easy.  They are an envelope style.

That couldn't be easier.  Measure your pillow form size.  I add usually about an 1.5" to 2" to each side measurement.  Your front panel is one piece obviously.  Your back panel will be in two pieces.  You won't those pieces to overlap by about 3-4" so cut two pieces, accounting for seam allowances so you can create a nice clean hem on the edges, and cut them to fit for your rear panel.  Make sense.   That's all there is to it.  With right sides together, make sure your rear panel has your edges finished that will be exposed, and that they are overlapping enough, and stitch all the way around.

If you want to add trim like I did, you'll want to sandwich that inbetween your layers.  It will lay in this order, panel one, trim, and then panel two.

I know, I know.  Not really the best instructions.  Go here for a real tutorial on how to make these style covers.  They could not be easier, seriously!

Got any good ideas for our "Frankensteins Laboratory"?  We did one a few years back and the girls have requested we do it again.  I set it up on the kitchen counter and use a big black garbage bag that is shredded to hide what is behind the bags.  We did grapes for eyeballs.  Spaghetti for brains.  And a wig for hair.  But I need some new ideas this year.  Help me out!

And for helping me out...drum roll please...I'm gonna send you one of Halloween treat bags!  Just a lightweight little tote a little one could use to collect their candy in or you could put a cute Halloween gift in it for someone, like me, who loves Halloween better than their birthday.  (hint! hint! I know my husband reads this and if you are reading this right now, I sure would love that new Wacom tablet we talked about....what a lovely Halloween gift that would be for your dear sweet hard working wife who adores you - is this thing on?  hello?  Did ya catch all that?)  Sorry about that diversion...he does secretly read.  He says he doesn't ever read my blog but then he'll blurt something out that I shared and I'll say, "ahh, so you DO read my blog".

Where was I?  Oh yes, help me out with some ideas for Franks Laboratory and the two peas will pick a favorite idea and we'll send you a bag - heck, maybe a few other goodies too.  Ya never know.  We'll pick a favorite on the 21st of October and mail out your package on the 22nd so you'll have it in time for Halloween!

Can't wait to hear your ideas!

Last but not least, my September giveaway...lucky name out of the hat was Lise from inthepurplehouse.blogspot.com.  Send me your mailing address and a key fob and lanyard is headed your way.

xoxo,

Trish

Little Pea...meet the ocean. Ocean, this is little pea.

I was working so hard so that our family could enjoy a little R&R.

If you are also a mompreneuer like me, you know that there really are very little days off.  I work at the university 3 days a week and then 4 days a week, into the wee wee hours, I'm sewing, designing, sketching, blogging, filling orders and on and on and on...

So, I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to go to the coast for some rest and fun.  AND I didn't even bring my sewing machine with me, can you believe it?!  A true break.  So rare.  I'll share more later from our little trip

but here's some evening photos of our littlest pea meeting the ocean.

Work hard to play hard...

I'm having one of those months.  One of those months in which I am literally chained to my sewing machine.  I'm not sure I could possibly show you the shear amount of STUFF coming out of the Two Peas studio lately.  It's a lot. Like a bazillion key fobs and wristlets and bags and t-shirts.  Ohhh, t-shirts.  Which is what I really need to be doing right now.  I have 3 shows coming up AND we have some serious fun planned for this weekend.  I have GOT to have everything done and out the door so I can relax a bit.  I can not wait!  Seriously.  Can. Not. Wait.  Somebody.  Unplug.  My.  Iron.  I'm just about done!

I said I shared with you some of the other little outfits I had made for my girls for school and here's a few.

The skirt and pants pattern is Simplicity 4206, Sewing Pattern for Dummies.  And let me tell you, it is seriously extremely easy, very few instructions / steps and really quick.  I think they turned out cute.  I added the ruffle to the bottom of the pants and I added bias tape to the hem of the skirt.  But if you want an easy quick pattern, this is it!  Loved it.

Wish I had more time to share all of the other goodies going on here but I just don't!

I will leave you with a fun quick tutorial though!  I started teaching my series of sewing classes, my very own Two Peas Sewing Bee...and one of the projects we made was a lanyard.

So easy...here's what you need:  key ring and lobster claw clip to hold a key and your id badge.  I found these in the jewelery supply section of JoAnn Fabrics.

Cut one strip of fabric 2" x 32".  Now, if you want it longer - add a few inches to the length, maybe 34" or 36".  Press wrong sides together in half.  Then open it back up.  Press wrong sides together each half to the center creating your own piece of bias tape.  Again, press.  Make sense?

Sew down each side of this strip.  Then add your key ring to one end and your clip to the other end.  You want to make sure your strap is straight and then fold your ends over your hardware towards the center about 1 inch.  Bring your ends together, lining up your raw edges of each end so that they are even.  Your raw edges are now folded to the inside.  Sew, following your side seams, down each seam, across just above your raw edges so that you have sewn a square and completely encased your hardware and hidden your raw edges.  That's it!  That's all there is to making a cute little lanyard!  So easy, start to finish, 15 minutes!

OK...I SO have to get back to my machine and work on shirts!  Have fun making lanyards!

xoxo,

Trish

I want to be like Oprah

OK... it's not that I'm a big Oprah fan or anything but what I mean by that is her philanthropy.  I've often thought, selfishly so, how cool would it be to have that kind of money to give away?  She changes so many lives with her charities yet she receives so much in the pleasure of being able to do so.  The old saying, "it's better to give than to receive" - it's so true, isn't it?

I think it's that way with handmade things too.  I mean, selfishly, I love LOVE LOOVVEE to give handmade gifts and love to make things for my business because I put so much effort into the design and creation of each item.  I LOVE it when someone receives it and they are just thrilled with it.  I get so much out of giving and making for people that it is quite an addiction.  Is that selfish?  Sometimes I think it is.  Do you feel this way too about creating for others?  It feels so good - it's such a joy, isn't it?

But this morning, on my way to work, I was listening to the radio - I typically listen to our local christian station, 104.9 the river, and started thinking about this whole philanthropy thing.  As the mother of 3, my ride in to work is typically the ONLY time I am ever alone.  I enjoy these rides to and from work because it gives me a chance to just think.

For my business, I have always said I wanted to do it in such a way that my business becomes a blessing.  Now, I know, in business - it should be all about business and forget any emotion.  Donald Trump didn't build an empire thinking what "good things" he could do for the world, just how to make himself a buck.   But come on ladies, don't we all want to feel like what we do somehow makes a difference?  Touches a life?  Leaves a legacy?  How can I do that in this industry?  In my day job, it's rather simple.  I work in higher education, I work in the environmental field and I get great satisfaction out of working with students to create these amazing futures that help to build a sustainable environment for us all.  Love it.  But how do I do that in other facets of my business life?

In the past several summers, the two peas have used my scraps to cover journals and sold them at our local coffeehouse.  They got to keep $1 from each book they sold and donate the other $4 to a charity.  One year it was our local Children's Hospital, one year to a friend of theirs for her walk for JDRF and the other year it was St. Judes.  I loved these projects.  They learned so much from creating and giving and they learned how good it feels to give.

Lately, it seems like we have had our attention drawn to all kinds of kids and families who are in need.  We have a local boy, same age as the two peas, just diagnosed in August with Osteosarcoma.  I was sent a link for this little one who was shaken by his day care provider at 5 months of age.  A family from our twins club has been caring for their twins who came much too early, they have been in the hospital since their birth last November.  One of them got to come home about a month ago, the other is still in the NICU, spending almost the entire first year of life in the hospital.  Last week, I was asked to participate in a charity event for dEBra which is an organization for children with fragile skin.  I was thinking of these children as I was driving in this morning and saying prayers for them.

But for the grace of God, I have three healthy children.  I am very blessed that I do not know the heartache and rollercoasters that go along with a sick child.  Not really.  When my littlest pea was in her 22nd week during my pregnancy, I was told she had markers for Downs Syndrome.  They wanted to do more testing but I refused.  I couldn't change it, nobody could change it.  We would love her no matter what the outcome.  She was added to our church prayer list and our pastor brought over a prayer quilt someone had made for her.  This quilt was at church and each person tied a knot on the quilt and said a prayer for her.  My hubby, the gardener, laid this quilt over me while I was in labor and it brought me immense peace to know that those "prayers" were on our little girl.  As soon as she was out, I asked if she was ok.  Our doctor said, "She is perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  I don't think she has downs".  It wasn't until her 2 month checkup when I tearily asked our doctor if she was really ok that she told me, I could stop worrying.  She was really doing just great and really was perfect.  What a blessing.

And so as I'm thinking about these kids, their families, my business I felt like God was telling me that if I wanted to add philanthropy to what I do that this was it.  As our business grows, I hope to be able to do more and more, but to start, I'm so excited to tell you that 5% of each trunk show will go to our local childrens hospital.

If you host a trunk show and you have a childrens charity, I will gladly work with you to donate your show's proceeds to your charity of choice, like JDRF or others for kids.  I feel like this is the time.  Even when we have such a "tight belt" at home, I feel like even this little bit can be such a big wonderful thing.  Especially now.  I encourage you to think about what "little bit" you can do too at this time.  If we all have just $5 or $10 to spare this month, share it with a charity because right now, they are being hit so hard with losses in income.  And they do so much good for those who are hurting.  But for the grace of God, I have three healthy children.  What little bit I can do, I will do and I hope you will join me in doing so.

Of course, I wanted to also share with you some of the excitement of the past week.  Back to school and wow, we were all excited.

The two peas really love school and our littlest pea surely enjoys having some time with just Mom or Dad.  The two peas were very excited to have me make them some back to school outfits.  I had a lot of fun making them.  I was like a little fairy...made the outfits after they went to bed and hung them in their room to see when they woke up.  They were so excited which is such a good feeling for me to know that their favorite outfits are something that I made.  See, that selfishness again.  I love making things for my girls!  Just love it!  I have a couple more I'll share with you later.

Hope your back to school week went well.  Did you make anything new?  Do share!

September is a super busy month.  I have two trunk shows - including the one charity event, and branching out to a kiosk at the Tuttle Mall the last weekend of the month.  I'll be quite busy and so I might be MIA a bit from the blog this month.  Keep in touch though!

Thanks for all your comments this last month.  I promised that our August giveaway winner would get a stash of fabric for making a pillowcase (how are you all doing on those by the way?) and KimH...thanks so much, you'll be receiving that stash soon.  The two peas are getting quite accustomed to pulling names out of a hat and think its fun to do each month!

I haven't yet decided what to do for September...how about a back to school themed giveaway?  We gave our new teachers a lanyard and key fob and so I think we'll make that our giveaway this month.  Keep the comments coming in.  I love to hear from you!

Have a great week everyone!

xoxo

Trish

A life well organized

My life? Well organized? I hear people comment to me all the time “I don’t know how you do it?! Work part time, run a business, make all this stuff. You must be so organized”. Far from it.

Since I was a kid, I have never, ever been “well organized”. I wish I was but I’m just not. My Mother used to take pictures of my room and the crazy get ups I’d wear (I was big into thrift store shopping as a kid – the wilder the outfit, the better!) and she would claim she was going to save them to show my children someday. Yep, that day has come and my kids think it’s a good laugh. As I get older, I think I’m better able to accept this about myself. That I’m bound to a life, well, maybe not so organized.

I mean, for years, I have emptied out closets and drawers, bought great little containers, and tried to color code and organize by size. And it works. For awhile. And then, before I know it, I have piles of stuff, just stuff, all over the place. And my kids, well, they are just like me. “Two Peas,” I say, “what IS THIS?”, pointing to a pile of bottle caps, little silk rosettes, ribbon and rubberbands. I’m usually told of the latest craft idea they have and how they need to keep all those things because they have an idea for later. Sound familiar? Holy moly! How many times have I said that one! “But I keep this ginormous bag of scraps honey because I have this great craft idea for later and I NEED them!”. Oh surrre!

I guess this “confession” stems from the sermon I heard in church this past Sunday. It was all about confession and how getting things off our chest will make us feel better and that God still loves us for who we are. So just because I can’t find the Brownie field trip permission slip, again, or maybe I’ve lost track of my work keys because I switch purses so often, again or I let the laundry pile up to the sky – hey, God loves me anyway and there’s SOME solace in that. (ok, I do have some heftier confessions than that but those are between me and the big guy). I mean really, wouldn’t all that organization just stifle my creative thinking anyway?! That’s what I keep telling myself at least. I mean, all that clean space, totally overrated, isn’t it?

Ok, another confession. I do still keep trying for organization. I say, I’ve accepted it yet, I do keep trying. In fact, last week while the two peas were off visiting Grandma, I took a break from my sewing machine and my day job and cleaned house. I mean, finally got piles of stuff put away, swept away the clutter and pretty much sanitized the main living portions of our house. To tell you how bad it had been for so long, the two peas came home and oh’d and ah’d about the clean spaces. And they’ve been home for almost a week now, and they have totally kept up with the clean space idea. They’ve been cleaning up after themselves brilliantly. They even asked me to pick up a few things because “they wanted to keep everything clean”. Ok, ok, ok. I get it. When an 8 year old tells you that, I guess I realize that the clean space helps them too. A clean organized space for them helps them to feel safe, relaxed and calm. It does the same for me. So, if you come to my house, it may not be the most organized. I may not have everything “show ready” but it will be creatively organized and a little bit cleaner than it has been. It works for me. Because let’s face it. A life well organized, well, I’ve made peace with how well I can organize.

On other news fronts, have I mentioned here before how our baby pea has a hair obsession? I mean, sees a stranger walking by with long hair and screams out for them. Of course, they stop and say, “oh, such a cute baby” and she knows she’s got them. She reaches out the arms and of course they say, “oh my! Do you want picked up? May I?”. Hook. Line. Sinker. She’s got ‘em. She’s up and instantly the girl has got her fingers twirling through this strangers long locks. It’s bad. It’s her baby crack. But, slowly she’s transitioning into a new obsession. It’s shoes. I mean, we all knew it was coming. She’s a GIRL, hello?! Of course, she no doubt would love shoes someday I just didn’t think it would happen this early. She’s not particular. Anybody’s shoes. My husbands. Mine. The two peas. Shoes found around at the pool. Flip flops. Heels. She’s not picky. She wants to put on her sun hat, put on a giant pair of shoes and suck her thumb. That’s pretty much a good day for her. A life well organized or cutie patootie days like these? I’ll take the cutie patootie days thank you very much.

A few new things heading out of the studio. Making some progress on patterns. Had a product photo shoot yesterday and more to come as I’ve narrowed down my projects to a set of three that I think you’ll enjoy. And so much more on the horizon.

New designs I’m working on to complete my color stories with my original portfolio and hope to resubmit before the end of the year. So that’s what’s new with us in a nutshell. How about you?

Xoxo,

Trish

**Bloggers Note** Oops, I did it again!  Oh yes, left for work this afternoon and forgot my work keys, again.  Shheeez!

last hurrah!

It’s been on my to-do list, honest it has. I meant to update my blog. I meant to get on here and announce the July giveaway winner. Really. I did. But, well, it’s just that school starts soon. And I know, I often hint at the fact that I can not wait for that day to come because, I’m about to lose my mind BUT…I will miss them, honest.

So, the two peas, wee one and me, we’ve been hangin’ at the pool, spent a day over at our most “awesomeness” zoo and now, the two peas are doing their rounds with my family. I heard today that they went to the waterpark and an Indian mound, tomorrow a different waterpark and a trip to the putt-putt course my niece works at…sounds like a great “last hurrah” before school starts.

While they have been gone, all of 24 hours now, I have sorted their play “nook”. Our house is really tiny so they don’t have a play room, just a corner. I gathered enough garbage out of that wee little corner to fill our entire kitchen size trash can. Tomorrow, my boss was kind enough to let me take a last minute vacation day so I could maximize on their absentness and continue with the purge – moving on to their room. Feels rather nice to finally have at least a few rooms of my house, cleaned out and well, finally actually, clean. See, when it’s summer time, our house isn’t clean. Ever. Seriously, I’m working, the hubby is working, we play as much as we can and the house, well, it kind of falls apart over these few months. So, I’m looking forward to getting some order back around here in time for school to start.

We last left off here chatting about pillowcases for our troops, right? Ah yes! So, I got some great brown flannel with white polka dots and then I thought, it’s kind of hot over there. Flannel? Maybe not so much. I’ll have to see what cottons I have in my stash. Anyway, ladies, here it is. A great little pillowcase tutorial offered up by “Little Birdie Secrets”. Super simple and looks fantastic when you’re done. I mentioned an article I read about a foundation that was collecting such things. You’ll find them here at Operation Bedding. Or maybe you have a family member or friend who is serving you’d like to send your cases off to. Make ‘em up, send ‘em out and then share your photos and a shout out to who your pillowcases went to here. In the comments section, leave your comment and a link back to your blog or site to share your completed projects. I’d love to especially see who they are going to, first names or whatever so we can remember these very special folks in our prayers and ask for their protection and safe return.

More fun things to share with you! I’m going to be offering some sewing classes! Yahoo! What fun! If you are local to Columbus Ohio – we’d love to have you. The “Two Peas Sewing Bee” is a series of beginners classes. 3 classes offered September 10th, October 8th and November 5th. The first class we will be doing a bunch of easy quick projects – projects to help you get more familiar with your machine and build your confidence. They are also great projects for you to replicate again and again for Christmas gifts (you know, Christmas is coming sooner than you think!) The second class, we will be making a cute little skirt and doing an appliqué on a t-shirt. Our third class, we will be making one of my

easy peasy little hipster bags. You can sign up for one or all three classes but you have to hurry because we only have 6 seats for this class. If you’re local and interested, email me at twopeasinapoddesigns at gmail.com for registration information.

Thanks so much to my uber Mom friend Barb, who is allowing me to offer this class in her uber cool craft studio where she hosts her “Stampin’ Up” classes. Love ya Barb! You’ll love her craft studio – I could get lost in there and craft for weeks!!! So much fun stuff – if ever I need anything on a moments notice, I call her!

And here’s the best part about “The Two Peas Sewing Bee”…Quilthome.com has been kind enough to offer a 10% discount to my registered students to get your supplies. LOVE Quilthome.com. Those ladies have THE best service ever! I swear – I place an order and from Washington state to Ohio, I get my fabrics within 2-3 days. Very fast service! They are just wonderful to deal with and when you log on to their page, always check the right hand column because they always have something on sale and a coupon code posted there. Love them! (Thanks Heidi!) I have other favorites too but I’m a big fan of theirs, for sure.

I finally, finally, am nearing the point of getting ready to release a few patterns of my own. I have a product photo shoot later this week and hopefully before the end of Fall, I will have something ready to go. Local at first, and for use in my class, but I’ll probably offer them up on etsy and my dot com later on.

And last but not least. My monthly giveaway. Crystal, my dear twins mommy blogger friend – your bags WILL come, I promise. And for July, a little mini notebook cover – goes to…drum roll please and a random drawing courtesy of whatever the wee one pulls out of the hat, “vallovesherboys”. Sweet! I’ll be sending this little book ‘o’ love your way soon. For August, a stash of fabric for you, cut and ready to cut to make your own pillowcase. Free fabric – what could be better!

So, signing off to go do some more cleaning while I can! How good it feels to purge!! And did I mention? The “homegrown” of our name – well, really enjoying it at the moment. The gardener has done well this year. I picked 30 yellow and red tomatoes today and a huge bowl of cherry and grape tomatoes. To die for, seriously! Any ideas how to preserve them? I heard I should freeze them whole to use in sauces later. Any other ideas? I could hardly hold the baby back while I picked, she was eating them so fast – all that acid, not so good on her bum. I had to block her from getting into the vines and she was getting so mad :>) Just like her sisters! The two peas eat tomatoes whole, like an apple, love ‘em! Hope you’re enjoying your harvest too!

Xoxo, Trish

143 days until Christmas!

AHHH!  Ok, so 143 days SOUNDS like it's far off but it's really not!  Especially when your days are scheduled tight already from here until then!  I have a few more trunk shows to get through and a weekend at the mall at a kiosk I'm sharing with my Bows and Blossoms friend in September and THEN a vacation, oh yes, finally!!  AND THEN, I'm done with custom orders as of October 31st.  I want to be sure to have your orders back to you by Thanksgiving and then I want to

relax with my family over the holidays and start working on my book.  (OHH, too many things going on around here - still tweaking my fabric designs - still chatting with textile company reps and hoping to pitch a book idea I've been kicking around for awhile).  Oh, did I mention?  I'm hoping to teach a class too at a new sewing studio opening in town.  More on that later...

So the jist is...that is you want a custom order, now is the time to start thinking about that and place your order soon!  I've been working on some great little skirts lately so if you're thinking "back to school"  - you gotta check out these patchwork skirts and add a cute little peace sign tee shirt to go with it.  Love it!

Later this week I'll post that pillowcase tutorial, but just sayin...check out new stuff over in my etsy shop and bookmark my new dot com because pretty soon, it will be fully loaded and ready to go.  I'll be putting less stuff in my etsy store towards October and more, ready to go items over there in the dot com store.

Catch ya later!

xoxo,

Trish

Heavens to Murgatroyd!

OK, so I'm hanging out with the wee one getting ready to put her to bed and I say to her, "Heaven's to mergatroid child!". Seriously?! Where did THAT come from? Heavens to mergatroid?! So, that got me curious, and as I do typically each night, lock myself in the bath and step into a steaming tub and catch up on blogs on my iphone (that's right, don't act like you don't do it too,risky, yes but I'm very careful not to drop it in the water : )

So I'm googling, Heavens to Murgatroyd. Turns out this is a take on Heavens to Betsy - no one is quite sure who Besty was but the pink mountain lion, Snagglepuss, on Yogi Bear coined this twist on the original phrase. Then I keep reading and it says, of all things, that the pink mountain lion on Yogi Bear was gay. What?! Gay?! I didn't know that, did you? Of course, at the age I was watching Yogi Bear I suppose I didn't even know what it meant to be gay but I was shocked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that " (remember THAT Seinfeld episode) I just didn't know. I mean, he's pink and all but he could have just been all metro sexual kind of thing but, whatever.  He's a cartoon character.   So, now ya know and when you are playing trivial pursuit or something, you'll have that little odd fact about this phrase to tuck away into your memory banks. What that has to do with anything I'm not sure...

Moving on...been super busy catching up on party orders! I do home parties,

Trunk Shows I call them. You host a party at your house and then I bring all of my purse samples, and loads of fabric swatches and you get to build your own bag, or quilt, or bib, or dress, or skirt, or whatever...I make loads of

stuff. Anyway, its a blast (and you can host an online party too if you aren't local - hey, just email me twopeasinapoddesigns at gmail dot com).

One of the ladies ordered a patchwork skirt. Well, I was dying to try out this pattern I found here by Chelsea Anderson of Pink Fig. I love her stuff because it is SO easy and the results are amazing. So, here's my first try at this skirt from the mag. LOVE IT!  Want one?  They'll be loaded on my website soon.  (ohh!  Launching my dot com soon - you'll love).  Here's one more quickie photo from the iphone of an order from Julia's party...

And on top of all the sewing I've been doing...whew! we had swim team practice, practice, practice and then

championships and then banquet followed by a super fun

pool party. Really, that was so much fun to swim after dark with the kids! One of the Dad's DJ'd and it was such fun.

And check this out!  THIS is India from our office.  First of all, isn't she beautiful?!  Well, one of our student workers, Allison, has been teaching herself how to sew.

She took a tunic from her Mothers closet, laid it out and cut a pattern and made this shirt.  Huh?!  That's a girl with a great sewing future!  Don't you love this!  Now, the seams were a bit rough inside but  at the time she didn't have a serger.  Problem resolved, I sold her my old one at the end of the school year.  I can NOT wait to see what she creates next!  I think she did such a fabulous job!

Ok, breathe, breathe...is this like too much information for one post?!  I'll stop now, mostly because the gardener is at home with three kids and I'm sure tapping his foot waiting for my arrival home.  (no internet at home - have to schmooze it elsewhere to post - blah!)

So, next post - get ready!  I have a fun little service project for us!  I was reading this story in People magazine about a soldier who had asked for bedding from home to be sent because their linens over there stink.  I thought, all of us sewing goddesses that we are, lets sew up some pillowcases to send over!  Sound good?  Next post will be a pillowcase tutorial and my giveaway for August will be some fabric so you can make one more and send off.  I'll post their contact info and all so you can mail off your little bundle of soft love for a wonderful soldier to bury their tired head into at night.

Be good everyone!  School is back in session in 28 days!  Yippee!  (oops!  That came out like a shout of joy, didn't it?  That was sorrow - I will MISS the little ones terribly and wait at the window just watching for their return each day from school - after I do my happy dance!!  Just kidding - a little.  I just want to catch up on laundry - we've been playing and working a lot - not much house cleaning going on).

Ok seriously, I'm signing off - I'm writing like I'm on crack or something - get ready for pillowcase construction, ok!  Go getcha some fabrics!

xoxox,

Trish

{how a skirt becomes a shirt and other tales of seams gone bad}

Sigh. I should warn you, if you have a weak stomach, some of this post may not sit well with you.

So, I've been sick for about a week now. Pretty dog gone sick. Remember back when I said we had been working to clean up a rental property we had? Well, the house was completely flea infested. I didn't know this of course until after we'd spent a day in there working and I came home with like 50+ bites. Horrible. Very very ItChY!! (never EVER never be a landlord - so not fun).

And remember back when I told you all my Dad had had a heart attack and was hospitalized? And I went to visit him? I had all of those bites raging at that time. And I must have scratched them while I was there - and picked up germs on my hands and introduced it into my leg. And contracted MRSA. Totally, totally disgusting and probably the most painful thing I have ever had. More than having 3 babies. Seriously. My entire leg swelled up, I could hardly walk, it throbbed, burned, ached over my entire body and I would share more details but really, it's just gross. They surgically opened it up and it's getting better but man, I have been out of my mind this week. If I've emailed you or talked to you lately and it all came up jibberish and the like - I've not gone mad, just under pain meds and pain.  I was already a bit of a germ -a-phob before this happened as my friends can attest and THIS has just thrown me over the top. Blah-ick! Next time I go to a hospital I will have on full coverage shoes, socks and pants that totally cover my legs, wash 20 times and then put on hand sanitizer and more.

One of the down sides, the baby is being treated with a topical antibiotic as a preventative for some odd looking spots on her legs. She's otherwise just fine. And everybody else here seems to have escaped the wrath of this evil superbug but we still have a few more days to be sure.

One of the days I was sick, I thought, ha ha, I thought I'd try to sew for a bit. I found a tutorial for a skirt here at Just Deanna, her Girly Twirly Skirt. Seemed easy enough and I thought it was well written and illustrated. However, in my daze I gathered and gathered and attached and sewed and when I got all done I had this big pouf where it should not have been on the top tier. I had one of my girls try it on and my husband and I looked at it and just scratched our chins. "Hmm, lift your arms honey", I said. And zip zap, hey! Now it's a shirt! I added a couple of straps and both girls loved it. I call it, the schkirt, pronounced shhhhh-kirt. In the end, days later, I discovered that the bottom tier you are to cut TWO of each. I cut ONE. Yeah. That would do it. The moral of the story. Don't sew while sick or you too will experience "seams gone bad".

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I did manage to not screw up adding some ruffles to a pair of jeans and an applique to a tshirt for a friend.

My June giveaway was a set of repurposed market bags which went to Crystal, new Mom of twin girls. They'll be on their way to you shortly Crystal. For July, I thought I'd giveaway one of my mini-notebook covers so you can take notes on the fly in your sewing room, etc. And this month, leave a comment about a sewing mishap you've experienced. Or if you don't sew, just any old project gone wrong kind of story will do.

Still laying around with my feet up. And slowly on the mend. Only me. Only weird little things like this happen to me. Shhheez! Hope all is well with you and yours. Looking forward to commiserating with you on your "seams gone bad".

xoxo,

Trish

{when grizzlies attack}

Wow, cool title huh? I bet you think I’m gonna talk about bear attacks and stuff – ah, sort of…

The other day one of our student workers was covering the front desk for our receptionist and she was reading a book about the “grizzly man”. Have you heard this story? The guy who “lived” with bears for like 16 summers in Alaska before being mauled to death by a rogue bear. Anyway, it got me thinking about my very own experiences with grizzlies and I thought I’d share a few with you.

My first job out of college and out of the police / ranger academy was working front country patrol in the St. Mary district at Glacier National Park in Montana. I’m looking pretty spiffy here in my outfit, ain’t I? Oh yes, me and all the newbies there that season thought we were IT! Fresh from the academy, ready to arrest everybody for anything. That’s a whole other story. And an amusing one. But this post is about bears. One morning, I was opening up the road –( if you’ve ever been to Glacier, the “Going to the Sun” road closes at night to keep people from driving it and dying. Seriously, scary road. It has some serious drop off that if you were to just veer off ever so slightly, “see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!”. ) Anyway, first thing in the morning, I drive up to Logan Pass, open up the gates, check everything out, started to come back down and STOP! Smack in the center of the road, right on the double yellow lines, a steaming pile of bear poop. Really?! I mean, really?! What was that bear thinking? “I’m crossing the road, wait…I feel the urge, I’ll stop right here in the center of the road and ahhhh, yes. Much better. Moving along now…” That bear had to have been just feet away. I kept waiting to see how long it would take for someone to drive through it and it was like a good hour and a half before I found it smeared across the road.

Within the first 10 days I was there at Glacier, one of the kids working concessions in my district was out late at night, a no-no, down by the lake – you know, where the bears like to hang out, and was mauled. A bear just picked her up and her friend made a bunch of noise and turned on the flashlight. The bear dropped her and she was fine but for the rest of the summer at parties, she’d lift her shirt and say, “wanna see my scars?”. I mean, who wouldn’t?! Get mauled by a bear and have cool scars and an awesome story to tell for – ever. Ok, the responsible ranger in me says I shouldn’t say that’s cool but you ranger types out there – you know it is!

There were actually 4 maulings the season I was there. The last one I had, the guy worked at the hospital in Kalispell. He didn’t want to fly out – most injuries we had of a somewhat critical nature would be flown out because our closest hospital was like an hour plus drive. So, he convinced the ER doc to let his buddy drive him to the hospital and he’d drink water all the way in lieu of an IV we had started. Mind you, at this point, the sow he surprised with her cub had put at least 3 good puncture wounds into his back and he had all this fluid building up around the wounds. He said he wanted to use the restroom before he got on the road and we got him up and down he went. I was holding c-spine on him and when came to, he looked at me and said, “Sorry – I thought I was ok”. I said, “That’s ok, the chopper just landed” and he laughed a bit. He knew all the flight nurses and he was in great hands. The flight nurses have a special bear patch on their flight suits. Each time they pick up a mauling victim, they get a paw print added on. One of the nurses was so excited and told her buddy, our patient, “you just earned me my very first bear patch!”. He was happy to oblige and honestly, as with all our mauling victims, all of them were nothing but loving towards the bear that had hurt them. They knew that in one way or another, they had unintentionally caused the bear to defend itself and they actually felt privileged to have had the experience and live to tell about it.

That was probably the best ranger job I ever had. I worked in law enforcement for over 12 years and worked for national, state and municipal parks. But Glacier with its million acres of wilderness, search and rescues, drug arrests, bear incidents and in general, weird little enforcement incidents that went on, was just a blast. Never boring. Never the same thing. Wildlife and mountain top views were breathtaking and amazing every single day. Besides the four maulings we had, we also had a plane crash, several search and rescues, lots of wildlife incidents including a bear capture for a rogue bear, a wildfire, a kidnapping…there was always something.

My husband would like to retire in Montana and so I imagine, when he does in about 3 years, we’ll start thinking about heading west…for the summers at least for a bit. I’m still pretty partial to Ohio. Love Montana but it IS a different world. When I first arrived, I found out there was no speed limit during daylight hours, you could drink and drive – just not be intoxicated, and you could carry a firearm just about anywhere you wanted to. You talk about culture shock for a Midwesterner girl from the suburbs. Ha! But it was truly, truly awesome.

Maybe I’ll share some more ranger stories another time.

On the sewing front, still working on new designs. Had a wonderful customer request a special backpack for a trip to Disney. (this is like her 3^rd bag from me in two months!) Darn backpacks! I really need to just break down and buy a pattern but NO…I do everything from scratch and then go NUTS trying to figure it out. I determined, there is NO way to put it together with the zipper and all and NOT have seams show on the inside. Can’t be done? Right? Or can it? If you know of a way – for the love of Pete – please tell me! After calling upon my friend Barb for “a sewing emergency”, we decided to just serge the inside seams and I used bias tape on parts of it. The outside looks cute anyway! The inside was fine too but I’m a perfectionist so to my eye, eh, it was just ok.

And I redesigned my St. Mary Hipster. Same issue. Gussets, zippers – we don’t work well together. So I ditched the gusset panel. We are all much happier now and I rather like this bag. This is one of two bags that are orders from my girls teacher.

I know, you are wondering – “so what about Quilt Market?”, did you get signed?! New fabric line coming from Trish? Yeah, touchy subject, ok. I had three companies respond strongly to my work, made requests for original sketches and to see some things worked into a virtual quilt and other requests. I heard back from one company thus far who said they loved my stuff – and it was too similar to some new things they have coming out. But they invited me to resubmit because they said they were impressed with my work and they’d like to see more. Ok. Then the other two – still no word. Had positive remarks about what I sent and was told I’d be hearing from them soon but no word. They say no news is good news. I’m thinking that’s not the case here. I realize it’s not been quite a month yet but…I’m reading about others who were also at market and already signed, I’m thinking this was not my time. Everybody told me, it takes 2 or 3 tries or more to get into the industry. SO…I’m still working away on some new sketches, digitizing them, and working everything into small groups within an entire collection. I presented “everything” I had originally but I didn’t have it grouped or put into colorways even though I had a color palette selected and shown. I showed everything by patterns. It was beautiful but I think hard to imagine in a collection. The work, the prayers, the hopes, the dreaming at night, the desire continues. I’d be lying to say it doesn’t bother me one way or the other but it does. I really want to move in this direction. And I just will continue to pray and listen and be patient. When the time is right, everything will come together. I want it NOW but it’s not up to me. I did only hit up like 5 or so companies so there are other options…I’ll keep shopping my stuff around. Keep up prayers for me, for my family. It’s a complicated, time consuming, money consuming, emotionally draining process. Pick me ups much appreciated. And I’d be glad to return the favor…

Our house is enjoying the first bits of harvest – carrots and sugar snaps. Hope you’re enjoying good stuff too.

Best,

Xoxo Trish

{Bad blogger, baaaddd!}

I know, I know...I've gotten behind.  I'll blog more later...I promise. The girls are in swim team which is very time consuming with practice in the morning and the evening and quite frankly, they are just home.  Enough said...right?  I mean, I'm making full out fancy lunches to keep them fueled for practice and really, my only "me" time for sewing, which is really for everybody else as I'm working on orders, is during nap time.  Of which, I am blessed to say that around 2pm, the baby, AND the twins AND the hubby are all usually asleep for a good hour or so.

I'm doing trunk shows again this summer and I'm making a new top to wear to these shows.  I got this pattern from Sew Serendipity and I picked out 3 fabrics from Amy Butlers Daisy Chain line to go with it.  I'll share when I get it done...you can see the baby is my little helper, reading at such an early age and helping me to figure out button holes.  yuck, right?!

And I did get a slew of those notebook covers done for my girls teachers just in time for the last day of school.

I have a handful of new bag designs I'm working on.  A hobo bag that my friend said it looked like the snap flap on it was a maxi pad - oh thanks Renee : ) SOOOO I'll be reworking that little design into something um, a little more pleasing of a shape.

Also trying out new ideas for backpacks.  Had a vision last night of how to put a zipper top on it but it would actually be on the front panel...hmm, gonna try that one out tomorrow.  Cross my fingers it works.

When I get a bit more time, I'll post more and share more.  Hope the start of your summer is going well.  Keep in touch and don't forget our monthly giveaways!  Set of market bags this month from recycled fabrics - Go Green!

xoxo, Trish

Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day

Love those giveaways...and right now there is a HUGE, JuMbO, BIGGGGG giveaway going on over at Sew, Mama, Sew (an awesome little store on line!)

There are a bazillion, cuz that's a real number don't ya know, a kazillion other awesome folks doing giveaways RIGHT NOW! From May 27th through May 31st you can visit the big 'o' list of giveaway hosts and enter to win. How fun is that? Super fun!

Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs is participating and to go along with our garden theme and being kind to the environment, we are going to giveaway an appliqued t-shirt and a farmers market tote.

To win is easy! We want to know what your favorite fresh wholesome after school snack is. It should use fruits or veggies and not a lot of ingredients - something tasty and good for you and something that celebrates natures harvest. Leave your best snack idea in our comment section and the "two peas" will pick their favorite. (heh! heh! heh! This is my sneaky way of getting some new ideas on what to make them!)

We will ship internationally so all you Aussies out there and beyond, jump in the fun here! Your new tee and market tote will ship to you no later than June 3rd.

Click here to find the Sew, Mama, Sew for the full big daddy list of giveaway hosts.

Have fun! And don't forget - EVERY MONTH - I do giveaways here and all you have to do is a leave a comment. Joy!!

xoxo, Trish

{i love the gardener}

I love the gardener.   I can say that because I do, truly, madly, deeply. The gardener, my husband, has been working hard lately at making sure we have a wonderful harvest this summer and fall. He has planted a variety of delicious vegetables for us and we can’t wait to enjoy them.

Food is one of those things that is really important to us. That sounds strange because, duh, like isn’t food important to everyone? What I mean is food quality. How food sustains us. Nourishes us. Takes care of us.

Maybe we’ve talked about this before but it’s been on my mind again lately. Food. On both sides of our family, we have a high rate of cancer. Not a good family history to have. I have always been pretty conscientious about what I feed us meaning trying to eat whole foods.

Fresh foods that I can identify. You know what I mean? Honestly, my husband and I are a lot more “junk food junkies” than I probably care to admit but we’ve been so careful with our children and what we feed them. I have tried to feed my kids quick crummy foods once in awhile out of convenience and dog-gone it if they’ll have nothing to do with it! They love sugar of course – ice cream, etc but they would so rather eat ice cream with strawberries on top rather than chocolate any day.

There is comfort in knowing that they know where their food comes from. They know the cows across the street are beef cows and they know the difference between black angus and jerseys. They know that local foods are better for the environment because they travel less distance, use less energy in getting from farm to our table. They know that fresh whole foods will make them strong and keep them healthy.

I was reading some reviews for a book from Mariel Hemingway called Mariels Kitchen. It looks like a great cookbook. She talks about how her husband was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and that with a strict diet he went into remission. Now, I don’t know that we can say that diet alone can “cure” cancer but it makes sense that the garbage we ingest can trigger things to go awry in our bodies. I think we’ve all read about girls going into puberty at early ages and finger pointing at hormones in our meat and dairy products or plastics. Doesn’t it make sense that the fewer chemicals, antibiotics and hormones we ingest – the purer the foods we eat, just keeps us healthier, right?

And so it’s something that is important to our family.  Seems like in our family, you are born with that passion for good food. We had some corn on the cob the other night and cut some off the cob to serve the baby.

She would have nothing to do with it! She just kept pointing at the girls who were eating their corn. So, I handed her an entire cob and with the widest mouth she just took a huge crunchy bite of corn! It was so funny! How did she know how to eat it? She loved it!

Tonight, neighbors next to the park where my husband is a park ranger called us at home because they had something for him to pick up. My husband came walking in the door with a HUGE heaping mound of organic strawberries. Unbelievable! Everybody dug in instantly, including the baby who couldn’t stop screaming for more!

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that I am relishing my twins being on swim team right now. An hour and 15 minutes of free time for me 3 times a week. I LOVE IT! I just sit pool side and read, chat with new friends, and read blogs on my iphone. I NEVER, EVER, ever never, never ever, get free time like that. 7 days a week, 18 hours a day usually, I’m doing something for someone, cleaning, cooking, changing diapers, nursing a baby, taking care of kids with homework and bath time and cleaning up toy rooms, and running a business, and being a landlord, and oh my gosh, the list goes on and on and on. And it’s no different than any of you, right? We all do it. Over schedule, over commit, multi-task til the cows come home. So swim team is the greatest blessing ever! And my girls are loving it.

I am rambling aren’t I? The whole reason I brought up swim team was actually because I’m reading a book called “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. She relates her families move from Arizona to Virginia and their foray into feeding their family with local foods as much as they can. It’s a great read and I very highly recommend it!

Sewing? Oh yes, plenty of that going on always. I have some new designs I’ll share with you next post. A new backpack that I STILL have not perfected (how in the heck do you attach the zipper placket to the gusset and not have any seams show?), a hobo bag, and a few other gems. I have trunk shows booked already for June, July and August. And I’m getting some great feedback and encouraging words from some of these textile mills. I’m very hopeful that I’ll have my own fabric line soon. Oh, so very, very hopeful. It can’t come a day too soon for our little family!

Always very thankful and in awe of God’s grace in our lives. Surrounded by miracles all around us. Ain’t it grand?

Xoxo, Trish