Spooky!

Here are some pictures of Julia's super fun Halloween outfit...no, this is not her "costume," but something cute and fun to wear leading up to Halloween. Since I've been without my embroidery machines, I tried my hand at what I call "Scraggly App." The appliques were all done by hand (many tiny pieces of fabric!!) and are meant to fray as the items are washed/worn. The skirt is made from a pair of cut off blue jeans, again with an intentional frayed look. I enjoyed this project so much that I intend on doing a couple others for upcoming seasonal outfits.

What do you all think??

Catching Up and the Demise of Gus & Gertrude

Wow, where do I begin? If you'll notice the date below, it's been quite a while since I've last posted. There are three major reasons for that...

As many of you know, both our children are ill quite often. Typically, they have "minor" illnesses, but tend to have them in "major" ways. Because Julia has been sick so much and really should have grown out of a lot of that...and because she's been having headaches/abdominal pain, we began doing "additional testing" during the summer. If you'd like to read more about all that, you're welcome to check our family blog for details. To make a very long story as short as possible, both children have recently been evaluated by a pedatric ENT and a pediatric allergist. They are both scheduled to have surgeries within the next 3 weeks in hopes of ending quite a lot of their illnesses. If the surgeries do not make a drastic difference, we'll be headed to an immunology specialist next. Making a long story very short...one of the reasons I've not posted in a while is because I've constantly been taking one or both kids for testing or appointments.

Again as many of you know, I've had major internet problems this summer. That halted quite a lot of my work this summer, both in actual sewing/embroidery and in computer updates. Since about mid-August, I have not had any additional computer/internet issues. Hopefully my phone call to Windstream's corporate "unresolved complaint" department put an end to my internet problems for quite a while. The service technician who came out and *finally* fixed our problem (after another guy had come 3 times!!) was very pleasant. :)

Finally, I've had to say goodbye to Gus and Gertrude. They have been faithful companions and hard workers, often working late into the night without complaint and with little reprieve from the demands of their boss. Gus and Gertrude were sadly placed into the hands of the burned out machine deliverer this morning. They will be greatly missed and fondly remembered. Translation: A freak electrical storm just prior to Hurricane Gustav managed to destroy the memory boards in both my embroidery machines and memory cards for my embroidery software which put an immediate halt to any sewing/embroidery I could dream of doing. I have been without embroidery machines for about 6 weeks now. This morning, I was able to hand off my old machines (aka "Gus" and "Gertrude") to the insurance adjuster in return for a check to replace my machines. I hope to order new equipment tomorrow and have all kinds of new toys to play with sometime next week.

That being said, Julia will be having surgery on Monday. My return to work will depend on how she does and when she's well enough for me to get some sewing time. Grant will have his surgery on October 20th. Once they are both well, I'll truly be back in business, hopefully better than ever with brand new equipment!!

Finally, Sweet Pea's is finally getting a major update. I am working on updating the website with new fabrics and embroidery. I'll be consolidating quite a lot of the website to make the decision process easier for customers and not so overwhelming to look through. I'll also be adding my creative outlet...I am designing photo cards/announcements as well as blogs/blog backgrounds. My prices are extremely competitive to most "popular" card printers and the blogs are fun!! I'll try to post more about this newest creative outlet in the coming days!

Until then....

Vacation, School, and Back to Work!

Just thought I'd update everyone on what's going on around here...

We'll be on vacation next week, getting home just in time for our baby girl to start kindergarten. I plan on being "off" until after her first week of school, then will definitely be getting back into the swing of things. I have lots of website updates to do, plus some super cute new patterns to try out for fall & winter! Stay tuned!!

Enjoy the last of your summer vacation!!!

Gus and Gertrude are burning the midnight oil...

Okay, so here's a little of my quirkiness...my embroidery machines have names. "Gus" is the older of the two...the name comes from the days of Julia enjoying watching Cinderella. "Gertrude" is the younger sister to "Gus"...at the time, Julia thought it needed a girl "G" name, and that's all we could come up with. Silly, I know, but Gus and Gertrude have their own personalities (ha!)...and having names has not only made it easier to remember which parts go with which machine, but the names have personalized them a bit. A wee bit. Just enough to keep me from chunking one out the back door when it eats a project! So, enough of my quirkiness...at least now you know "who" I'm referring to in the title of this post.

G&G have been working hard today. I've just finished up for the day, about midnight-thirty-ish and thought I'd post a couple new pics before going to bed. Since I'm at the computer editing photos without little helpers. :) This week has been mostly embroidery...several things that are old faithful repeats, like my husband's work shirts, but I have done just a couple new things.

Be on the look out next week for a couple new outfits...I've had a new dress pattern for a while that I'm dying to try out!! So cute!!

Happy Friday!
Paula

P.S.--Julia's only 5, but thought she HAD to have a keychain...for when she has keys herself. This is hers below, that's why it doesn't have a ring on it.

Little Somethings....

A little something new...

I've made keychains in the past, but haven't done any in a while. Paul's mom and Granny have keys that look almost identical and have a hard time knowing whose are whose when it matters! So...I've made keychains for them to distinguish the two. I've had a couple requests from friends for keychains lately and will do those today. I'll add those pics when I get a chance...

Have a great weekend!

Paula

This Week's New Project

This fabric is gorgeous!! It's extremely feminine and extremely bright, busy...wild! I was unsure about using it for a baby set, but really like the way it turned out. Hopefully the new Mommy will love it! I also made a 3M size pillowcase dress and bloomers, but in the rush to get the dress to it's new owner, did not get a picture of it. I'm so sad about that because it was adorable!! Maybe I can talk the gift-giver into getting a picture of the baby wearing her dress for me?!

Have a great weekend!

Paula

Re-Thinking :)

Welcome to the new and improved Sweet Pea's Blog! After much "re-thinking," I've decided to change my bloggin' approach...I decided it unfair to expect my customers to want to stay up to date with my family, so a new blog is born! Please check in often to see what's going on with Sweet Pea's! I plan to do my best to keep the slide show at the right updated with new items as they're created!

Paula