Emma's Holiday/Winter Dress

A while back Prudent Baby posted a darling tutorial for a long sleeved peasant style toddler dress. When I saw it I immediately thought of the red polka dot material that I had bought on a whim (and cuz it was on sale) a few weeks earlier. I knew that, even though she already had several cute dresses, Emma had to have a polka dot one.

This pattern is really easy and so cute! Each time Emma has worn it she has gotten more comments than for anything else she has ever worn (of course, that might have something to do with the curly little red pig tails, too). It's one of my favorites now, and I have plans to make a bunch more - in other fabrics, of course!

I'm linking this to a few of these fun and crafty blogs. :)

my darling and her new hat

Emma Grace has a new hat. And she like wearing it - because it's pretty and she looks so pretty when she's wearing it. :) (so nice not to be having battles about wearing a hat anymore!)

Really, she loves it (although that's hard to tell from this picture)!

I made the hat using the Petite Beret pattern from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies. It was a very easy pattern to work (although I still need to learn how to make an invisible seam when I'm finishing - maybe you could teach me Leah?) and the sizing was quite accurate.

I used a bit of super soft bamboo yarn for the hat band - so it would be soft and cozy against her face - and then cotton yarn that I re-purposed from a sweater that I wasn't wearing anymore for the rest of the hat.  My mom had given me a small hank of red wool tapestry yarn last fall, and I used that for the trim.

running in the park :)

The hat took about a week's worth of free time to make up, and I'm so glad that she has it to wear with her little coat now. She's such a little darling. <3

I'm linking this to some of these blogs - they have some really wonderful organizing and Valentine's ideas up!

just a little something

I just listed a new garland in the Etsy shop - the Hearts By The Yard garland. <3

It's $8 and super sweet:

"A lighthearted and romantic decoration for any time of year, this garland is made of paper hearts sewn together and would be lovely accenting a wedding, party, bedroom or nursery!

Made using paper hearts cut from vintage book pages and white cardstock, the garland is stitched together with white thread into a piece of bunting that is over 8 feet long.

There are loops of cream ribbon sewn into the ends to use for easy hanging."

handmade Christmas, part III

I made several jars of Lemon Curd to go with the tea towels that I gave as gifts this Christmas, and they were a huge hit!

Lemon Curd - makes about 1 quart

6 lemons
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
6 eggs, beaten

Zest 2 of the lemons.
Juice the lemons to get 18 Tbsp juice.
Combine the zest with sugar, lemon juice, butter and eggs in the top of a double boiler over medium heat.
Stir frequently until thick, about 20 minutes.
Pour into jars, cool and refrigerate.

This is a family favorite (my grandma used to make it every year for her church's Christmas tea) and is delicious on scones, toast, waffles, pancakes, crepes ... pretty much anything!


I'm posting a link to this on some of these blogs. :) 

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2010 was a good year. A very, very good year. It was a full one, too!

 In January I got Emma's closet/my craft storage area organized.  It was so nice to see it all tidy. :)

 In February I opened my Etsy shop. I had high hopes but no real idea of how well it would do!

I made Emma a little blue skirt in March. 

I posted my first step-by-step tutorial in April, a flower pin.

May saw me in full nesting mode - wow, there were a lot of things getting done around here! There were the Chalkboard Storage Jars, the Hanging Votives, Moses Basket, made room for baby #2, and my February Sweater to name a few. And another highlight was that some of my projects were featured on other blogs - a fun first for me. :)

June had the biggest and best news of the year - our "little" Ian was born.

In July I added international shipping to my Esty shop (and have since mailed things to England, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Canada!), wrote a post about growing your own ginger, and posted photos of the blanket that I made for Ian.

One of the highlights of August was getting my flower pins featured on the front page of Etsy. :) I also posted a tutorial on how to make your own cushion covers, photos of the sweater I made for Ianhttp://path-less-traveled-market.blogspot.com/2010/08/bench-cushions.html, and about organizing my recipes.

September saw me sewing for Emma and a bunch of custom orders, winning a darling dress for her from Back Country Drive and joining the Kids Clothes Week Challenge to name a few things. That was a busy month!

 In October we took a family vacation and when we got home I got another custom order, this time for a fabric garland. It was so popular, both here on the blog and in the shop, that I ended up writing a tutorial on how to make your own.  :)

 In November I (finally) joined Twitter, hosted my first giveaway, finished Ian's hat and sweater and a bunch of other things that got jumbled together into one post.

And in December I posted about painting wall words,  making an ironing board cover, and my most popular post yet, making tea towels as Christmas gifts.


Yes, it's been a very good year. Thank you all for reading and joining me! I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us this next 12 months. :)