New post!!

The Sugar On Top child's chef hat tutorial and pattern are now posted on Sewing In No Mans Land. Hop on over and check it out. While you are at it switch your subscription. Believe me I know it is a pain but I will not be posting updates on here much longer :)

Imported goods from Timor

Alright! I have finally imported all the posts from this blog over to the new Sewing In No Mans Land. You can now find all my old posts, patterns and random ramblings (what I know you really tune in for eh, eh?) over there. You can also subscribe down at the bottom if you would like with google reader/ friend connect. Hope you will follow along because next I will be sharing the pattern for this super cute Chef's hat. Yup, you got a sneak peak here first!

Childs Apron Tutorial over on the new blog

Hop on over to sewinginnomansland.com to check out the new tutorial! And there is a giveaway! Woo hoo!
Here is a little sneak preview of the post. You need to jump over to see all of it and download the pattern and enter the giveaway!

Ughh, I have been dying to get this post up. But I promise to make it up to you at the end of this post with a giveaway! This weekend we moved, yet again, and well, our friends invited us to their gorgeous cabin and when someone invites me to a cabin I drop everything and go. So, a lot of this went on:



One of the things I often received emails about is having to download page after page of patterns individually, the other is having the pattern pieces themselves be dotted lines to save on printer ink. Well I am happy to say I have fixed ONE of those things and am diligently working on the other. You can download the pattern for Evie's Apron here all in one download! Yeah it was really easy and I am so glad I have fast enough internet to make it easier for ya'll to print patterns :) Once again this pattern is loosely based on Sassy Little Sisters apron. I just feel like this version is a lot simpler and straight forward. I also love that I was able to make each apron out of two correlating fat quarters and some white fabric I had laying around. This was the only way I was able to afford making them all out of either Amy Butler , Joel Dewberry or Heather Bailey fabric :) Evie's (an exact copy up for sale in my Etsy store HERE) was made from some Heather Bailey Fresh Cut fabric that I LOVE.



Once you have printed out your pattern, taped it together and cut out your fabric as directed on the fabric, fire up your iron so it is ready when you need it. Ya'll know  me and my love of irons ha!

1. You should have 8 pieces

2. Take your two pocket pieces and lay them right sides together.

3. Stitch around outer edge leaving a small opening so you can flip it right side out. I like to leave the opening on the top where it is straight so then it is easier to sew shut.

Evie's Apron

Be sure to bookmark, subscribe and follow the new blog over at sewinginnomansland.com or simply click HERE. This is a copycat post from the new site and probably will not look as good here haa!

Evie's Birthday Apron

During my extended break from craft blogging we were able to celebrate Evie's second birthday! Woo hoo!



I wanted to do something smaller that the kids would love but did not involve a TON of planning or execution on my part ha! We decided to book a local farm and have the party there. The kiddos would get to milk a cow, go on a wagon ride and get bags of food to give to the animals.



The plan worked like a charm. While most of the adult attendees hunkered down in the party room with the yummies, I had a blast just hanging back watching the kids run wild on the farm.



We got Evie's cake and cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. A local bakery that I attribute 100% with me catching back up to the normal amount of weight I gain during pregnancies. They are just around the corner and open way to late ha! Everything else was purchase from Shop Sweet Lulu. Oh my goodness, do they have THE cutest party items. I especially love the pushpop treats and glass bottles. We filled them with mini cupcakes and chocolate milk perspectively, yum! Evie, being 2, isn't in the swing of the whole birthday thing and refused to blow out her candle and then was shaking with excitement while opening presents.



This time I had become wise to the fact that it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to be a mommy running a birthday party AND get good pictures if you are the photographer. I either run around and never get to talk to guests and friends because I am behind the camera the whole time, or walk away with only a picture or two proving there was a party ha! Luckily my favorite photographer, Leah Miller, is here in UT and she was willing (even though she had JUST had a new baby two weeks previously) to come and document the excitement. She did SUCH an amazing job! That is how, for the first time ever, I am in a picture at my own cuties party. Granted I am sweating bullets and over 8 months preggy, but hey, I'll take it!



I thought it would be cute instead of party favors to make all the attendees little "milk maid" aprons. The boys got a bit short changed in this aspect of the party but to be honest I don't think they noticed. In a rare twist for me I purchased a little apron pattern from a company I am thinking (and hoping) is a momma sewer based company. I must admit after making one I had to tweak several things and in the end just made my own pattern. If you would like to purchase the original pattern, you can do so HERE (where it is a few dollars cheaper then at the fabric boutique I bought it at). The company name is Sassy Little Sisters and I believe they have a line of patterns to choose from. Or you can come back and download the pattern I created and follow along with my tutorial that requires only two fat quarters, some plain white fabric, a bit of velcro and two buttons! I always love supporting other mommas so please check out the original pattern here and jump on over to Leah's site if you are in need to to die for pictures, which come on, who isn't?

TADDAHHHH!

Here it is folks! The BIG news! After lots and lots and lots of work Sewing In No Mans Land now has a .com!!!! I am so excited about the new site!  I hope you will take the time to jump on over HERE or go to sewinginnomansland.com/blog/ and check it out. There are some fun announcements and fingers crossed a fun new layout. I will post a copycat post here for the next bit just to ease people into it. My hubby is concerned that readership is going to drop like a rock ha!! I would like to prevent that hence the easing into it. Thanks for all the support!!

Hello? Is anyone still there?

It is true. I have been a very very bad blogger as of late. I should definitely get a stern talking to. What is so hilariously ironic is I have probably been doing more creating in the past few weeks then I have in a long long lonnnnnnngggg time. By my count I have made:
13 little girls aprons
8 bridesmaids skirts
13 fascinators
5 neckties
1 engagement session
1 bridal session
1 wedding video
and one star wars tote bag for a little boy who is so excited for school.
Along with all this I have been plotting and working and staying up WAY to late and am excited that I am pretty close to revealing the new and MUCH improved Sewing In No Mans Land. Don't worry it will still be based around crafting (heavy on the sewing side) with all my patterns being free and downloadable (thanks to my Dad who bought me a sweet scanner for my 30 birthday) but now they will be better organized, faster to download etc. I also have one last surprise up my sleeve that I hope ya'll will like. But for right now I have to get back to that thing that has consumed my life for the past few weeks (other then being a currently singel preggy mommy constantly moving house) and that would be this gorgeous girl:

and her fabulous wedding. So, really quick, funny story about the bridal session I did with her. I have being DYING to do a photo shoot in a fabulous orchard but have never been able to find one. I see them in pics all over the place and finally after some serious internet scouring I figured it out. What we didn't count on was the overwhelming number of deer that would be wandering about. Well, apparently my lil 'sis has a fear of deer and just about died when a good 25 of them started stampeding towards us.

I thought they were amazing and was SUPER bummed I wasn't doing some sort of themed shoot of Evie in a red riding hood outfit HA! Bink (as I call her) was standing still as a statue, completely petrified. I will have to share the pic after the wedding. Don't want to give too much of a sneak peak just in case by some twist of randomness her fiance reads this blog... long shot but you never know :)

Photography Heaven

I don't know if I have mentioned on the blog before but my baby sister is getting married this summer. When she got engaged I had a mini mid life crisis. She is ten years younger then me and there is no one in between us.

I remember holding her as a tiny baby thinking about her wedding day. I wanted to make sure to get a photo session in even though she has an officially photographer

(Oddly enough I some how didn't think I could handle shooting a wedding I am part of 8 months preggers and with 3 cuties on my own ha!) One of the things I have absolutely loved about being back in the states is the overwhelming amount of amazing locations to do photo shoots.

Every where I look there are little "hidden" spots that are perfect for photos.

I talked her into donning a retro outfit I put together and after some convincing got her fiance to go with it. We used the red suit case that our mom brought with her from Ireland when she moved her to marry my dad.

When I told them where I was taking them I think they thought I was a little crazy. I described it as the "McDonalds parking lot by my in-laws house". We both drove the '68 Volkswagen beetle in high school so I thought it would be fun to incorporate it.

We had to do some funny ones

Since her fiance is quiet the jokester

It was a fun shoot and it was nice that they already had their official engagements so there was literally nothing to have but a good time :)

In other photography new Evie is turning two soon and I wanted to get some shots for her birthday invite. I made her a dress using the easy peasy Sweet Dress pattern.

I quilted together a bunch of fun fabrics to make it since I couldn't decide on just one.

I made her some ruffly leggings using some tiny remnants of ruffle fabric.

Of course it involved a cupcake bribe.

There are soooo many cupcake stores here it is crazy! Evie started doing this new thing when I tell her to smile. She simply tips her head the side and stares at me. It is hilarious.

I am pretty excited to celebrate and cannot believe how fast she is growing up!!

Celebrating and the BIG project

I hope you all have had as lovely a Fourth of July as we did!

We were able to swell with patriotism along side some of our old neighbors

and the wonderful family we were staying with.

and literally SHOVE yummy food into our mouths

The twins in the Cul de Sac had motorized Vespas.

Evie wanted to make sure Lola obeyed all helmet laws.

She was absolutely convinced this was the correct way to wear a helmet

We are lucky to have neighbors who own a party planning company so they go *wild* when it comes to fireworks. .

We got into our perspective positions

Finn apparently likes his space

When the fireworks started Finn freaked out with excitement

While Lola started crying and Evie rushed to comfort her.

Since the American Independence day is my favorite holiday it was a lovely way to spend the last evening with Daddy before he headed back to Timor

I am currently up to my elbows in various projects. One in particular is REALLY big and I am pretty excited to share. This weekend it is going to be completely tackled and I am hoping to share pics the beginning of the week. Ohhh I am so excited! Enjoy your weekend!

Reversible Summer Tunic

While things here are still a but crazy house wise (as in lots of bouncing around and a new found appreciation for packing super light ha!) I am glad I had been asked by the lovely ladies at I Candy Handmade to participate in their wicked adorable series of summer sundresses! If you haven't checked out some of the amazing tutorials you need to hope over right NOW and see all the yummy inspiration. I have been mulling the idea for this sundress over in my head forever.

I would lay down at night and work through how to make it and make it as simple as possible. I wanted it to be reversible and that took some serious thinking.

By the time I got my hands on a borrowed sewing machine I had it all worked out. I wanted to make them for Ruby and Lola our friends little girls who I have bluntly informed Sawyer and Finn they will be marrying (they also have an adroable little boy for Evie!).

We have been staying with thtem for the past two weeks and just absolutely adore them. This dress is made in 12 simple steps and needs no pattern! You can switch up the length and wear it as a tunic like Ruby:

Or lengthen it and make the back the front for a tunic dress like Lola:

I was so excited to do a photoshoot in front of this "abandoned ice cream trailer" that just showed up magically a few days ago right down the street.


It was kind of photographicllly frustrating though because I know a better photographer could do something amazing with it, I just didn't really know how to do it myself. Time for more classes! We had a blast making their over the top headbands.

Once we got to the farm we were taking the kiddos to that day they came right off ha!

 Anyway, if you would like to make the tunic simply click below and follow the simple steps.

If nothing else hop on over to I Candy Handmade and have a feast for your eyes!!