Afghan Marathon.

I just recently reopened after a bit of a break from my shop. Before I opened up I felt inspired to make everyone in my extended family afghans. The nice thing is that I can make gifts for them, and snap some pictures and list it in my shop as well. We just recently took a trip to Ohio from South Carolina with our travel trailer and five cute children. I was the passenger seat warmer and got some of these afghans made and or finished on our trip. I am also making several new hats to add to my shop for the upcoming fall and winter season. This includes elf, zebra, apple, pumpkins, unicorns and more. I am always so grateful for the privilege of selling things on Etsy. Here are some of my new listings!

Purple people eater afghan I made for my sister.

Orange and blue afghan I made for my nephew. These colors were his request, and this blanket has already been featured on a fall football treasury on Etsy

This was for my mom. It is hard to see in this photo, but the colors are teal and burgundy. Both of these colors remind me of the dangly earrings my mom use to wear when we were children.

This little baby blanket I made for my cousin who is having a little boy. The colors are aqua, light blue, and grey. This blanket was a big hit with my little boys also. My baby decided to crawl on it while I was taking pictures to gave a good size reference.

Here was my set up in the car for most of the ride. I can't wait to list the afghan I am making for my 3 year old son with these colors. 

Happy Memorial Day!!!

           Can I just say that I love my new neighborhood! We were able to get together today for Memorial Day and let our kids play while the adults got to visit and grill out. It reminds me a bit of get togethers on Little House on the Prairie which to me is pretty awesome!! I am so grateful for all who have served and are currently serving including my hard working Husband who serves in the U.S Navy. His dedication to his job and the uniform makes me so proud to be his wife! So, while my dear husband is away at work serving our country, I stay home and teach my babies and make lots of cool clothes for Sweet Home Boutique. Here is one of my new items, a sweet summer cherry dress available  in size XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL, and XXXL in my shop!

Cherries And Summer, They Just Go Together

I am working on a custom dress right now for one of my sweet neighbors. She is being whisked away to Paris with her husband for the 32nd wedding anniversary. How wonderfully romantic is that? No, I have never been to Paris, but thanks to her my dress will now go! The day she was over at my house getting her measurements taken we were strumming through some cherry prints, and came across the fabric below. She went with another print by Michael Miller in Fruit Basket, but after she left I kept looking at this retro kitchen like print. It kind of reminded me of a grandma tablecloth, and with that I decided I must have it in my shop. After the fabric arrived I could not decide whether to use it for women's clothes or children's. I thought for my personal taste it might be a bit much for a dress, so I sewed it up into a pretty flounce dress. 

  I also sewed up a red cap sleeve Tee (which to me looks like a modest tank top), and listed it in my shop as well. I am really excited that I can now sew knits with ease and professional seams. I guess that is one advantage of getting older...mad skills...

So, do you think wearing fruits and veggies on your clothes is a good idea or nay?

Spinning Out A New Purple Dress.

I have been working more with knits lately, and I am trying to find more ways to incorporate them in my line in interesting ways. Anyone can make plain shirts, skirts, and dresses, but to stay with my brand my clothing needs to have some stunning fabric. Yesterday after sewing cutting, and experimenting I came up with this dress.

 First I made a light grey cap sleeve top, and then attached a skirt to it with elastic thread.

 I didn't think that it looks complete so I attached a matching purple sash that can be tied in the front or the back.

I really really like this super comfortable dress. I had it on for pictures and was going to change out of it so that I could wear it on mothers day, but it was so comfortable I kept it on all day. So what do you think? Would you like to see more dresses like this with interesting fabrics in my shop?

I Am Back Again!!

                     So, where to begin. On the way home from the children's homeschool co-op I decided I would pull off the road and look at this new housing complex. It was a great trip and we were all full of oohhhs and ahhhhs, so I thought I would swing by the office and grab a packet to look at. While going up to the door I was ambushed by some selling agents who wanted to show me some houses, and the kids and I agreed that it would be loads of fun. One step in the new houses door, and we knew we wanted to move. So, here we are about 4 months later settled into our new home with new neighborhood friends, and a garden to boot. In the process of all of the hectic-ness I closed up shop again indefinitely. I found out right before our move that I was also expecting baby blessing number #6 and was over the moon excited. Everything was going great! We had our beautiful new home, baby #6 on the way, close to everything and then I started to bleed. Sure enough at 10 weeks pregnant I found that my baby had passed away. I lived in darkness for about 3 weeks after that, and was really thinking myself in circles over the loss of our baby. I knew I had to do something, anything to get my mind out of the tornado of my miscarriage. I would have tried anything, and all of the sudden the thought came to me to open my shop again. That was the best decision I could have made. I went from crying nearly everyday to lunging my mind full force into my sweet shop. When I opened it up I wanted to hug it. It has been my friend now for over 2 years. I have opened and closed it many times, but every time I come back it is so good to me. My customers are so good to me. In fact, my first week of opening back up was one of my most successful week ever on Etsy. I love Sweet Home Boutique.

                 Some things with my shop have changed. Since our move I no longer have our wooden privacy fence that is the background of many of my pictures. We do however have a beautiful neighborhood that I am exploring to find a good place for pictures. We have a nice tan color garage door, that I know lacks creativity, but I thought it created a nice non distracting background for my clothes so my first new items were in front of my garage.

I got a little more adventurous with my next piece and walked over to the neighborhood gazebo to snap some pictures.

Today I completed our mother/daughter dresses for family pictures next week, so my girls and I grabbed the camera and explored to find a good place for the pictures. We decided that a bridge out in the woods over a creek was a really pretty spot, so this is what we came up with.

I will say I love the green of the woods. I was born in the woods, and my earliest memories of exploring the lush green of the forest and the trees. So every time I am out in the woods I feel like my soul is nourished! So what do you think of the new backgrounds for my clothing? Do you have a favorite one? Do you think I need to keep looking? I look forward to getting more items made and listed in the coming weeks and months.
                                                    

Etsy Front Page And New Products!

I am was so excited to be on the front page of Etsy a couple of days ago. My shop views in that day alone were over 4,500,  and this is with only 128 items in my shop. I also packed up and shipped out my first wholesale order to Texas this weekend. I can't wait to hear how my things are received in Texas, I think it will do well!

 

This is the skirt that was on the front page of Etsy, this has been my second time being on the front page, and it is such an exhilarating feeling!

I had January goals for my shop and so far I have met most of them, and there are still 11 days to go. My goals were to have 1000 Facebook fans (done), have 1000 shop admirers (done), make it to 200 sales (I am currently at 195), and get 150 items listed in my shop (I am currently at 130). I am just so excited about all of this.

So, during the past week while I have not been updating my blog,  I listed these garments.

This is an ivory and damask dress, that I LOVE! I actually bought this fabric to make a belt, and after seeing it I quickly ordered about 6 more yards. I think it is just so gorgeous. I also have this same dress already cut out for girls that I need to sew together. So, I will also be adding this dress in another mother daughter set.

  This black and white chevron tunic I made as a custom order for one of my customers. I just loved it so much I decided to put it on a dress form, take pictures, and list it in my shop. It has already proven very popular with selling 2 in the past week.

Here is another funny story. I was going to make this little girls dress very simply. In my design process I apparently sewed on the the wrong skirt pieces that made the dress to short. I did not want to take it all apart again, so to add length I made a yellow ruffle to place at the bottom. I actually think it turned out way better than my original plan!

With my leftover black chevron I made a classic A-line shirred waist skirt. These skirts are so comfortable and cute!

 And that is where I am in my shop. There are a lot more exciting things coming up that I will update soon!

Women's and Children's Clothing

So, my first 3 dresses were already made by me, but had horrible pictures. I had my husband follow me outside today to photograph me and this is how it turned out.


Red Chevron Dress...

 Denim Wrap Dress, Sweet Heart Neckline, and V Back, I love this dress!

 Turquoise linen dress

 I have also been building up my girls section to my shop. I am almost at 20 items, and once I hit 20 I will start to build up my boys line. I do have 3 boys, so it is worth my time to invest in awesome designs for them and my shop.

 Here is an awesome spring dress with trees...I LOVE the corset back!

 Basic Chevron skirts with shirred waist. They come in a variety of colors...

Bird (sparrow) Pillowcase Dress

 Pink Peasant Damask dress with big pink bow

 Yellow Chevron Dress with puff neck, so couture!

I also listed the ruffle pants in my shop that they girls are wearing. I think they are so cute, and I am going to add a lot more colors!

Well, that is all, I wanted to update everyone on all of my new (and redone) listings in  my shop. 

Back to sewing!