#16-#25 ... soooo far away

Seriously, how do  I get so far behind?  I need to make myself a BLOG NOW day lol.  So I have been successfully chugging along at my 100 items and I wanted to update you.  I won't drown you in pictures though, so I will tackle a few a time this week!

#20

  On tap right now... #16 - #21 !

#16

#17

#18

#19

#16 and #19 are variations on that head scarf from the first 15.  Both are done in one piece instead of a back tie, and #19 is a knit.
#17 is another variation on the Baby doll toys from the first 15 as well.  Connor really loves Despicable Me, so he was so excited to get his own Purple Minion. 
#18 Don't laugh... its 10yds of homemade bias tape -- don't judge - that stuff takes FOREVER
#20 I needed a new key fob, and I have all this Dr. Who ribbon sitting around, so it was time to break it out.

ANDDDDD The highlight of this post... #21....

 Recognize the Candy Castle Patterns Peppermint Swirl Dress?  Well we all know how awesome the twirl is, and how much Inara loves her other one, so when Rebecca said "tester call for sleeve add on!" I jumped.  I did the short sleeves with elastic at the bottom option... Here's a close up..

Inara picked her own fabrics for this one, and I was so proud watching her studiously switch fabrics in and out and lay them out in the order she wanted them in.

Since she's weirdly sensitive with clothes, I've been doing linings in soft knits lately, and I did the same with this one.  I used a super light, slinky knit that was like $2/yd at Walmart, and works awesome to line things. 

The sleeve elastic is perfect too - fitted, but not tight and doesn't bother her at all.  Another win from Candy Castle, in my opinion.  The add on has a variety of sleeves included and works on both the Princess and the Peppermint Swirl.  Maybe I can get myself caught up enough soon to do another Princess dress.

 You know it's a win when she is a cooperative model (and rockin her heels)

#22 - #25 are testers that haven't been released yet, so we will skip them for now, and pick up with #26 when I chat with ya'll next!

85 left... and Dolls Dolls Dolls!!!

Well one week into the new year, and I have finished 15 items... the upside is that there are only 85 more to go until I can shop again, the downside is that I STILL have 85 more to go until I can shop again.

#7

So I wanted to keep you all posted with a quick update and some awesome news ... here are items #5 thru #15

#5

#6

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#5 Playhouse Dress from Fishsticks Designs
#6 Mini Butterfly from Ellie Inspired
#7 No Pattern - nightgown and head scarf
#8 Monsterbunz from Opulent Monsters  Basics in Fleece (Ignore the TERRIBLE print placement ...sigh)
#9 Monsterbunz from Opulent Monsters - size small for a customer - so tiny <3
#10Monsterbunz from Opulent Monsters
#11Connor modeling my new headscarf .... how throwback is this thing?  I LOVE IT 
#12 Satin hair cap... who knows ... I was just trying new patterns...
#13 Baby Minions!! Adapted from free tutorial from My Funny Buddy
#14 Mini Sandpiper from Ellie Inspired
#15 Mini Swimsuit from Ellie Inspired

So I am totally loving the Ellie Inspired doll patterns, and I totally jumped on her sale to pick them up before they were no longer available as stand alone patterns. 

Now, I decided to add a couple of constraints to myself for this as well...
1.  I will purchase NO MORE THAN three patterns between NOW and when I reach 100 items
2. Only items made from stash fabric will count, once made from custom bought fabric, don't go on the tally.
3. I am capping my "notions" purchasing at $25 until I reach my 100 items as well...

Today I spent $0.40 on needles, $0.50 on zippers, and $0.75 on doll joints, so I have  $23.35 left...

I also want to participate in Project Quilting this season, so lets hope I can pick up a new rotary blade and some velcro and stay within my budget, lol.

<accepting all quilt shop and fabric store gift cards>  <looks pathetic> Seriously, I am going through withdrawl, how silly is that??

OKAY, so my AWESOME announcement before I head to bed... I've been totally loving these doll patterns, and I have 3 more cut out on the table ready to go, and I posted them on the Ellie Inspired Facebook Group and my friend +Kimberly Odell  likes to talk me up (she seems to think I'm cooler than I am, shhhhh don't tell her the truth).... the end result is I just signed a mini contract with Ellie Inspired to work with them to sew doll dress samples!! She'll take all the awesome pro photos and tag my little shop (shameless plug:  Mermaids n Mudpuddles) and direct people to me who want to buy her gorgeous patterns sewn up!  So be on the look out! I will be adding custom doll dresses to my shop!!  (Many of which have matching girl outfits!!!)

Thanks for sticking with me for this journey and hopefully there is much more to come!!

Miley and Stashes... (random right?)

Happy New Year!  Both littles actually made it up till midnight, and though I was very excited to see the Times Square show and ball drop, Inara was just mostly confused.  Her primary Concern was that Miley Cyrus was not in a "bathing suit" as usual.  Which kind of cracks me up, because she was very upset that she had pants and a coat on, and I realized that she really did think that all her weird half-naked outfits were just fun bathing suits.    Say what you will about Miley, but she sure soothes and calms an overly tired toddler (oh my gosh -- :( he really isn't a baby anymore)

After the Miley Cyrus concern, Inara's next point of concern was WHY they were dropping a ball in New York City, and what that had to do with it being a new year, and what impact that actually had on her.  Obviously I had no good answers to this barrage of questions, but I'm finding lately that I rarely do have answers that satisfy her.  Today, I completely ruined coloring time... MOM YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!!  What I did was color Ariel's necklace pink, and that was wrong of me, BECAUSE the only thing I was supposed to be doing was coloring the background of the picture blue....

Anyways.... so new year, new projects.  I'm really excited to start working on orders again, in fact... here's the fabric for my first dress order of the new year...

BUT I'm also super excited about this group one of my Facebook friend's invited me to.  It's called Creating 100 items or more and the concept is as follows... from the point that you start... (for me that was yesterday), you are not allowed to buy new fabric/or whatever craft medium you work in (unless for custom orders) until you complete 100 items.  This does not include finishing items (buttons, zippers, etc) AND finishing of UFOs is encouraged.  Daunting right?  Maybe one little stash shot will show you why I really need to do this...

The really messy shelf is Inara's stash lol

So I'm  really excited, and I'd love for any of you who have a stash to work through would come join too and post your progress!  The group of women so far is diverse in what they sew and tons of fun to hang out with... there are also random tutorials posted by various members as we find cool things to use up scraps and other things for. 

So I will keep you all posted on my progress too... AND to get things started... here are my first 4 items!

#1 Monsterbunz basics (Opulent Monsters)

#2 PJs Mini Snug as a Bug PJs (Ellie Inspired)

#3 Infinity scarf Order

#4 Infinity Scarf Order

I'm way behind some of these wonderful women, but I'll keep going, and I am determined to see this through!  Wish me luck!  And Happy New Year to you all!