Moving Again

We finally found our new home! Let's hope this is the last move for a VERY long time. I know that Isaac and I are over this transient lifestyle, I can't even imagine what the lack of stability is doing to poor Devon. We took her to see the new place on Friday, and she went nuts running all over the place....she's gonna love it! I'm super excited to start shopping around for idea's on home decorating (probably going to have a lot of post's on that from here on out) I don't know if I'm going to have Internet access for awhile (so I might have to disappear for a few) but we'll be back soon and I'll be working on new items for the shop while we're away! bye bye!

Family

Devon and I took a little road trip south, to visit with my parents. It's about a 2 hour drive and Devon slept the whole way there...nice! Isaac had to work. So he couldn't come along, but he spent the night at a friends house (that has an entire room devoted to gaming) so I think he was ok with it. Devon had a great time (as did her mommy) she met new friends, made new discoveries, and still had a little time left over to model our newest piece, the Country Mushroom Patch halterDevon's new discovery, the happiness of playing in sand. By the look on her face, I would say that it's sheer joy bordering on insanity (funny how she and Bik Wu have almost the exact same facial expression) We'll be moving back to Southern California, and be living by the beach. Guess I know what we'll be doing for the rest of our summers...
My mom knitted Devon the most adorable teddy bear! She also gave us a hand embroidered, beautiful quilt (adorned with the cutest little cherub scenes) My mom is ultra crafty (she can make anything) and she has the local insiders tips on the best places to get gorgeous fabrics and trims. She took us to a shop called A Stitch in Time, located in the historic Governor Ferguson's home. It was beautiful, but very old and in great need of repair (even the street was still hand laid in brick) Which is, unfortunately why this boutique is closing it's doors, but I was very happy to have the opportunity to check it out before it's gone. My mom has always been very supportive of our Etsy boutique, and bought us some beautiful trims and an amazing, dusty blue corduroy fabric (that will be in our shop this Fall) My new discovery (while shopping around) was Oliver + S. They make the cutest, contemporary sewing patterns for children that I've ever seen, and the packaging is genius! I wanted to get them all (just for the adorable, cut-out paper dolls).
My parents still live in the same house that we grew up in. I was just a little older than Devon is now, when we first moved there. These pics of her (in the patio that I used to play in as a child) stir up a lot of old memories. It's so cool to be able to still visit the same places, and see how much they've changed over the years. We took a walk around the neighborhood (I used to bike all over that place as a kid) Everything looked strangely familiar and at the same time brand new!

These are some great ways that my mom and dad have made memories into beautiful home decorations.....the memory of a cardinal that built a nest in their backyard...

...the sand from all the different beaches that they've visted together..
...BTW, Devon slept the whole way back home too :)

Milk

...just got the new issue of Milk Magazine, which I'm convinced is the cutest children's fashion mag...ever. It's French but comes with English texts....

LOVE this little French girl who has the cutest "bratty" look...the detailing (and color) in this children's frock is amazing...LOVE the origami triangles at the hem!
normally, I'm not a fan of giant bows, but this one works so well (since it's a muted pallette) and the model is adorable...

I REALLY want to make Devon a playhouse bunkbed! I would have gone nuts for this room as a little girl:)

Why am I so Messy?

I'm totally over it! So, I'm doing some serious Spring cleaning before I plunge headfirst into my next project. This is my Juki, my workspace. It's an eye-catching mess, a colorful jumble. I've always been very clever about disguising my messes. But, since I tend to neatly stack unorganized piles of "whatever," they never stay "neat " for very long..........

What I really have a lot of trouble keeping organized is my huge, ever growing pile of trims... mainly ribbons. I found this great storage idea from Candice Palmer's ribbon storage 101 I also like the idea of color coordinating everything and sticking them into glass jars, but I need more shelving for that (Devon can reach most of our table tops quite easily now and she absolutely LOVES to play with my ribbons and fabrics) The rest of the loft needs help too. I guess I've put off decorating (since I thought we would only be living here for less than a year) but looks like we'll be here for awhile longer. Might as well make it easy on the eye ;)