I am thrilled that Shannon, owner of The Cotton Penguin, is a huge supporter or local mompreneurs. She 

ordered a dress from me for her daughter's birthday and was really happy, so happy that she asked if I would make a dress for her to carry IN HER STORE! That's pretty huge for me and I was absolutely up for the challenge. 

I don't typically make multiples of the same dress, but in the retail world it's kind of a necessity to do that. I wanted the dress to still be unique and so I decided to chose a fabric combination that I would make available only at The Cotton Penguin. I fell in love with this Nested Owls collection from Adornit Fabrics. Isn't it just the perfect combination of whimsy and fall? I wanted something that would work with our crazy weather here and so the Perfect Peasant Dress made sense- short sleeves work for the current warm afternoons and it can easily be layered with a long sleeve shirt  and leggings or tights when the colder weather moves in. This would be seriously cute with little boots...I might need to make yet another visit to Target for a pair for Amelia (It just opened two days ago and I've been there three times already).

I finished the dresses in time for the ECMC Pop up Fair in the Valley last weekend and handed them over to Shannon. On Monday she posted a picture on her Facebook page and I felt a little shiver of excitement seeing my dress up for sale.

photo credit: Shannon Sheilds

Shannon asked me to make something else for her (another post to come) and I went to her store to drop off her order. Walking through the door I was greeted by my creations!

 

I can't even tell you how it made me feel to see the items that I had worked so hard on placed up front and center in this great local business! It made my day. 

I know, I know- that is one adorable dress and no I can not make you one in that combination- unless you order it through Shannon. Go ahead- buy it here! ( And please do buy it- when she sells out she'll have to buy more!!!)

Make over time!

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A few months back I won a blog redesign courtesy of Sew.Craft.Create. Heidi has out in a great deal of time give my Babblings a fresh, new look. It's still under construction and I will be updating content on various pages so please bear with me.

1st Day of School

A Mother's 1st Day of School Prayer
~ Author Unknown

I wonder what you are doing now

And if everyone is treating you kind,

I hope there is a special person,

A nice friend you can find.

I wonder if the teacher knows

Just how special you are to me

And if the brightness of your heart

Is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking of me

And if you need a hug,

I already miss the sound of your voice

And how you give my leg a tug.

This.

This was written by the mother of another free spirited boy. Well said!

http://hellobandito.tumblr.com/post/60152005540/my-little-wild-thing

It Feels Like Fall

Yesterday I bought a Pumpkin Spice Latte, nothing says fall quite like that drink.  The air is crisp, the sky is dark and the last official long weekend of the summer has been cold and drizzly. No beach, no sunset, no swimming in the pool.

I've spent hours reorganizing fabric and sewing supplies, removing too small clothes from dressers and rearranging my new kitchen cabinets. Spring is never the purge season for me, when the leaves start falling, the extra stuff in my house starts flying out the door. I guess it helps that the change of this season means tank tops need to be put away to make room for sweaters and shorts make way for their longer cousin...the pant and last but not least the return of the dreaded sock. Feet around here just want to be free to hang out in "flops" not stuffed into shoes. Maybe its our way of clinging to the summer as long as possible knowing that the rain boots and winter boots aren't that far away.

It's a little more emotional making the switch of the seasons this year. My baby is starting school. As I tucked him into bed tonight and we read "The Night before Kindergarten", I started to tear up. I know my boy is ready. He knows his letters, colours, shapes, numbers and can write his name. He thinks he can read and will charm the pants off any teacher. I'm not naive enough to think that I won't ever have a chat with the teacher, Oz is a very typical almost 5 year old boy after all.

 I'm not quite sure how Wednesday is going to go. I'm going to bring my tissues and cross my fingers that I don't break down into a blubbering mess in front of my boy (or the other moms). I'm grateful that I will be there and will get to capture his first moments at school. His first day of school A² Designs request is a new tie with the fabric he picked out himself so this momma is off to sew that up for him. If the weather is nice tomorrow our personal family photographer will help us capture this milestone.

This little man drives me crazy some days and there are moments I just want to rip my hair out; but there are more days that he melts my heart and makes my sides hurt from laughing so hard. I'm in trouble with this one for sure!

I'm so not ready for this...

The Heart of the Home

I am a Newfoundlander.

If you know anything about Newfoundland, that statement brings a lot of stereotypes, and many of them are true. I speak a little faster, cook whenever anyone is in need, cook way too much for almost every gathering and host parties in my kitchen.

The kitchen is the heart of almost every Newfoundland home. The kitchen is where the wood stove was located and was the warmest room in the house. People gathered there for its functionality and we still gather there now even though our laundry is done in the basement, the heat is evenly distributed through out the house.  Knowing how important the kitchen is in my culture, my friends were a little surprised when my husband and I bought a house with this kitchen:

One friend actually looked at me and said "well...it's nice but you did see the kitchen right?"

We painted the kitchen walls and cabinets for a inexpensive update and as we rebuilt walls and installed new floors throughout the rest of the house, I kept dreaming of the possibilities of a dream kitchen. My home improvement budget has been chewed up by unexpected issues such as no insulation in the basement and heating issues through out the house. My dream kitchen seemed like it was just that..a dream.

And then this happened:

We're into week 2.5 of this project and I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait to share more with you including some great tutorials to give you a champagne kitchen on a beer budget :)

Happy Labor Day!
Lisa