Knot Dress in Orange

I finally was able to make the Knot dress in the orange fabrics and it turned out adorable. Now I need someone to order it in the cherry prints because that will be really cute too. Click here to see the choices.

And Don't forget to check out Jim's paintings he is amazing but don't tell him I said that.

"The Red One" and other paintings.

Cora and I (Jim) are in the process of adopting (As you probably know). To make extra money for the adoption she is making and selling dresses and blankets(See posts below). As my part in this endeavor I am offering up some of my paintings for sale.


These are acrylic paint on quality canvas. I finish them with a UV-resistant clear protective coat that should give them a long life. The canvasses I choose are stapled on the back, which allows them to go on the wall unframed. It also allows edge effects. Each one is an original. Each one is unique. I enjoy creating them and I feel art should be affordable.


"The Red One" SOLD!This one is sold, but if you would like something similar please email me I would love to paint you a custom space ship!! Don't hesitate to personalize your child's room
The first one is called "The Red One." It is inspired by one of my favorite childhood comic strips: Calvin and Hobbes. If you have a boy who loves space or has an adventurous side, this will be a perfect one for you. Since there is only one of each, the first person who orders it gets it.



note: edges.

Size:7.75"X 24"X 1.25"
Price: $50.00 plus $5.00 shipping in the continental US.
(I will ship elsewhere, but shipping charges may vary)

"Dragon Flies Gather"
Inspired by a family friend's love of dragon flies, this painting has three dimensional details. The wings actually have ridges where the veins are. This painting is one that continues to draw my eye three weeks after putting it on the wall. I employed a unique technique to attain the background, which includes tinfoil and luck.

Size: 11" X 14" X 0.75"
Price: $40.00 plus shipping.


"E is for..."SOLD!This "E" is sold, but I can make more!! Don't hesitate to personalize your child's room!
This is a monogram for a girl or young lady. I will accept requests for different letters and themes. I can make several of these custom to your little (or big) ones taste or decor.

Size: 8" X 8" X 1.25"
Price: $25.00 plus shipping.

"Lady Bug"
Because the Lady Bug is a common theme in the China Adoption scene, and we are also adopting from China, I submit this attempt which would be perfect on that little girl's wall. I plan to do more of these with different background colors.

Size: 8" X 10" X 0.75"
Price: $25.00 plus shipping.

If you have any suggestions for paintings you would like to see me try I am willing to give anything a go except for portriats.

To order either leave a comment on this post or Email the link above.

Recent Creations

I wanted to share with you the dresses that I have finished.

Emma in a custom pink peasant dress. If you have pictures of your girls in one of my dresses I would love to see them. Let me know if you will let me post thier photo's on my site I would love to start a gallery.

The Pink floral is very Popular! These are 2 of the 4 that I have made and I am currently working on another one. But take a look at the blue it is super cute as well.

A custom Cherry peasant dress and a Yellow and Orange Citus print! If you want a print that is not shown contact me and I can see what I can do. I love going to the fabric store and exploring new options!

Party dresses in the red flowers and pink, silver and black. These are size 8 the largest that I can make if you have questions about size email me your little girls height and waist measurements and I will let you know what size I think would be best.

I have several that I am working on now and I will post those when I am finished.

Don't forget you can order in the side bar and if you have any questions please feel free to email me!

The Dresses

I know this blog is named Blankets and Stuff. I started by thinking I was going to sell my blankets here or at least post about them here. Then I started my ETSY site. I sold a couple blankets but not a lot so I still need to sell blankets. I am going to keep trying to sell them because I think they are great. But since that time I have learned that I can sew clothes so I have decided to also make dresses. I have made a couple and I think that they are wonderful and I hope that you like them as well. So the stuff is going to be Dresses for now oh and maybe a painting or 2 from Jim.

So let me know what you think and if you interested I have created convenient (I hope) pay pal buttons in the sidebar. I have enough in each fabric to make 2-3 dresses so it will be a first come first serve basis. If you have any issues please email me using the link in the side bar. If for any reason I am sold out of something you really want let me know and I will see if I can get more.

All proceeds of these sales will be going to fund our adoptions from Burundi and China. So please help us bring our children home by buying a dress or a blanket or what ever else happens to pop up on this site.

Thank you.

Peasant Dress

Close up

Full length

Fabric Choices

$30.00 Sizes: 6 months - 4T
Order by using the paypal buttons on the side bar.
Please email me with any questions Larger sizes may be available email me for pricing and fabric availability.

shipping $5 for the first dress and $2.50 for each additional dress

If you are local let me know before you order and I can meet you to deliver

Knot/Apron Dress

Front

Back

New Choices! Unfortunately my local store has stopped carrying a couple of my fabric choices. So I have selected these new options and I know they will be adorable. As always email me with any questions.

Fabric Choices

$55.00
Sizes: 6 months - 4T

Order by using the paypal buttons on the side bar.

Please email me with any questions
Larger sizes may be available email me for pricing and fabric availability.

shipping $5 for the first dress and $2.50 for each additional dress
If you are local let me know before you order and I can meet you to deliver

The Party Dress.

Front

Back

Fabric options

$40.00

Sizes: 6 months - 4T

Order by using the paypal buttons on the side bar.
Please email me with any questions

Larger sizes may be available email me for pricing and fabric availability.

shipping $5 for the first dress and $2.50 for each additional dress
If you are local let me know before you order and I can meet you to deliver

Something New Coming

So a few new things on the way! I have been working on some little girls dresses that I am really happy with. I hope to be able to sell a few actually I already have and I am really excited about that. I also have some local leads that I can't wait to explore too bad I have a day job too. I am also going to be sportin' a new look!! woo hoo! Diana has some big plans in the works and I am super excited about that so check back in a few weeks to see the brilliance. The name will stay the same, honestly because I started with blankets and someday I may change it but for now stuff covers dresses, right? I will post some more blankets here as well as I need to sell everything I can to bring home those babies, oh and get a referral but that will come in time right? OK am I asking too many questions for a blog that no one follow YET? So here is the first dress. OK this particular one is already sold but if you are interested in one like it email me or leave a comment, I will post more as I can and when the big grand opening happens I will post on my other blog since I am pretty sure no one reads her anyway.

Oh and Jim also has some goodies in store that fall under the stuff category! Did I mention that he is an Artistic Genius?!!

Look What I Can Do

Last week I got these great patterns from Portabella Pixie and I have been dying to try them out. So I decided to make this little party dress. What do you think? It went together pretty quick I was impressed and the instructions were so easy to follow. I have some other fabrics on the burner to try next!! Stay tuned or and please ignore the fact that I can't tie a pretty bow to save my life, there has got to be a youtube on that right?

Davids outfit

I had high hopes of making something for all the kids for Christmas but then time got away from me and I barely made Davids outfit for his birthday earlier this month. It was fun and other than some trouble with the snaps I think I did Ok. I need to practice more with a zipper foot. Here are the pictures

Front

Back

Detail (sideways sorry)

And the best, a little big but super cute right?

Weekend Project

I have been dying to get in my sewing room and it is a complete disaster. We just don't have enough room to store our projects and and craft supplies. We do use them but we don't have the space. I would never post a picture of the room because it is so embarrassing, in fact I threatened my husband that if he took a picture of me in that room and blogged about it there would be sever consequences.

So I decided to forget the mess and do something anyway. I bought some small pieces of fabric a while back to try some things with and so I made a lovey sized rag quilt. One square is Minky i wanted to make sure that it would work Ok before using it in a larger version. It worked out great. I would not do a lot but a few squares are fine and the softness makes up for the limited ragginess.


Front


Back


close up of the Minky square


I got it done this morning and I did do a little cleaning up and organizing but did not get very far, maybe next time.

Save the Hand Made Items

(cross post with waiting for little miss blog)


Like many of you I like to buy handmade items. I find them unique and more special than mass produced items that are everywhere. I even have a small Etsy shop where I sell flannel blankets and pillow cases that I have made. I had hoped to do a few more craft items this year to sell so that we can earn some money to help with the adoptions however, while surfing the net today I found that this might be in danger of become illegal on February 10th. This is when a new law goes into effect that states roughly that all items sold for children under 12 or 13 must be tested for lead and have proof of such a test. That means that I would have to have test each print of blanket that I make and there is no way that I could afford to do that so that makes my blankets illegal. All the hand made clippies that we love so much for our little girls will be out of the question. No more hand crocheted and knitted sweaters and baby blankets. Things like the the monster that Jim gave me for Christmas and decorations like the beautiful butterfly that Jim's sister gave Little Miss for Christmas last year will no longer be available unless they are proven to be lead free.

This will also apply to consignment and second hand thrift shops. That means no more buying children's items, toys, and clothes second hand. I know many parents out there that have to clothe their kids with second hand clothes. Who can afford to buy everything new? I know I won't be able too. I understand that it is important to keep our children safe but from what I have seen of law it goes too far.

Please take a look at these sites and decide for yourself. I am no expert on law and I hope that I have misinterpreted things. However if you come to the same conclusions that I have, please vote, sign the petitions, write your congressman or what ever else you can do to make this law more reasonable. I hate to think that we will not be able to buy and sell handmade and second hand items in the future.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/?e

http://coolmompicks.com/savehandmade/

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

http://sites.google.com/site/handmadetoyalliance/

My Latest Creation

Here is the blanket that I have been working on for my secret pal. This is the first rag quilt that I have done. I really enjoyed it and although I am my worst critic I will do another one eventually. It takes alot of fabric so I will have to wait for flannel to go on sale again to make them affordable.
Here are the pictures from all stages. Sorry I missed the cutting stage.
Laying it all out.

Above is pre-wash and below is post wash.

Pink Butterflies

$16.00

Shipping : $5.00 for the first blanket $2.50 for each additional blanket. If you want to combine shipping with anything else let me know.

Pink Dragonflies

This blanket is a little smaller it is about 33 x 40 inches.

$15.00

Shipping $5 for 1st blanket $2.50 for each additional blanket if you want to combine shipping with anything else please let me know.

Turquoise Flowers

SOLD