My Favorite Panty!

I have to disclose that I have not been asked to give this review.

I was in Target yesterday and searching through the underwear.  I hate buying underwear.  I can never justify buying the cute ones that are $6 each or more.  I always get the prepackaged ones, and unfortunately, that means I settle for ugly patterns and colors.  I'd be better off with plain white, but that's boring.

So I happened upon Fruit of the Loom "My Favorite Panty" boy shorts.  I don't usually wear boy short undies, opting for bikini instead.  What attracted me to them is the lack of elastic.

I've made my children tons of undies and I would love to make my own.  But there aren't any simple patterns that I could find free or cheap.  So these screamed... tutorial!

This morning I donned my first pair of "My Favorite Panty" boy shorts.  AMAZING!!!
They are MY FAVORITE!!  They're so comfy you don't even know they're there.  I think the package even says that!  So true!

Here are a couple of pictures:

Being the frugal shopper that I am, I've already searched the internet this morning to see if I can find them cheaper than Target.  I believe I paid just under $8 for a 3-pack.
I can't find them anywhere!  Not even the Target website!  I will most likely pick up another pack if they have anymore.  This was the only one on the rack!

But, it is my goal... This weekend I will make my own undies!!!  And I'll be back to share what I accomplish!

Until then!
God Bless your day!

Fleece adventure

So Mother's Day Weekend, I took my mother-in-law with me to Shepherd's Harvest.  We didn't have much time to look around because we had to attend my mother's graduation (her masters degree!) that afternoon.  I did, however, manage to purchase 2 fleeces.

So I had 2 fleeces at home and 2 new ones added.

Now, for many that would be enough.  But I found a great shepherdess in Hastings and she was willing to send me fleeces.  I got 4 more.
I also found 2 Border Leicesters on revelry to try.
And a revelry friend had access to rare Hog Island fleece, so I got one from her, loved it so much that she's sending me another.

What's that make?
1 Jacob
1 Cormo/Merino/Polwarth
1 Targhee
1 BFL cross
2 Border Leicester
4 Merino
2 Hog Island
That's 12 fleeces!!!

So I've been busy washing fleeces ever since!  Once they're all washed, they'll be stashed and I can work on them at a more leisurely pace.  :)  I'll post pics when I get them washed.

Fiber, Fiber, Fiber!

On Monday I washed some suri alpaca fiber.  I left it to dry and yesterday afternoon I began preparing it.
With the help of my Ravelry friends, I decided I would flick card it and save the fluff left behind for hand carding.

So here is the washed and dried alpaca:

Here is what it looked like after I flick carded it:

And here is about a third of the fluff left behind:

It started out as one pound.  So I'm curious how much I will have after spinning it.  I hope to do a little of that this afternoon!!!

A pic crazy post!

So while I haven't been posting, what have I been busy doing?  Creating!  So here's a recap of some of the projects that have kept me busy!

These were some of our favorite Children's Place pj's and we were so sad when M grew out of them.  So I cut off the feet and wrist cuffs and added new cuffs to both.  She loves them!!!

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I took out all the clothes I had available for upcycling and got to work.  I took this women's shirt and made an adorable tank using this TUTORIAL.

M loves it!

It was so adorable on her, I made one for myself (pics to come).

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I knit two sweaters for our little girls.

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My new love, Laura!

And my first spun yarn:

Some more yarn:

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Princess Dresses

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Knit Newborn Sleeper

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A Charlie Hoodie for me.

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What playdate would be complete without matching Mario shirts?

Made with the Charlie T pattern.

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A silly hat.  Actually, a sunhat on a silly girl.

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Longies:

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Trainers

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A Knit T



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Halloween Stitch Markers made with polymer clay.

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God-daughter hats

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Charlie Hoodies:

And now my computer is acting up, so that will have to be all the sharing for today!  :)  Hope you enjoyed!!!



I'm back!

After a long, well needed break, I'm back!

In the last year, I've been able to take on a new job as webmaster for our church & parochial school website. It's a great part time job. It's allowed me to use my digital creativity to produce a functional and user friendly website. It's over at www.christlutheranzumbrota.com
Check it out!
Every summer I plan to redo the templates to give it a fresh new look for the new school year.

I've also joined a "planning group" at our church. Our Ladies Aid disbanded, and we hope to create a new Ladies Ministry that will incorporate ladies of all generations. There are so many duties that the Ladies Aid performed that are still needed and there are many new ideas for fellowship that need to be added. It's a wonderful blessing to be able to contribute to this important group!

I've aquired a spinning wheel and LOVE HER!!! I named her Laura after her previous owner. Spinning yarn is a calming and rewarding talent for me. Our children love to see how the fiber turns into yarn and love even more when I knit something with it! It's an amazing process!
I'm also learning how to prep fiber! I've purchase a bit of alpaca and was given a large bag of wool for Christmas.

Sewing and slowed down some, but not gone away! I still love taking fabric and making a beautiful product. I have some recent sewing to share soon.

Currently I'm working on revamping the blog and gearing up for business again!
I hope to offer hand spun yarn, hand knit items, and hand made items, including diapers! I still have a tote full of diaper supplies and many customers asking for more.
I want to stock my etsy store (www.tailenddesigns.etsy.com) and I've got a few items on consignment down at BeeLighted in Zumbrota, MN. http://www.beelighted.com/

Thanks for reading and WELCOME BACK!!!!!

Come back often! I will be having a grand re-opening with a drawing before the month is over!!!

Americana Longies

This was my most recent Custom Order. The mama who ordered these came up with the design herself. Her husband was returning home from a tour of duty and she wanted something special for their daughter to wear. They turned out amazing.

Some recent sewing

I would like to share some recent sewing. Last week I made an awesome duffle bag. We used it last weekend for a quick overnight and it fit our pj's and a change of clothes for all 5 of us!

Next, I made an outfit for the neighbor's new baby.

Today I made PJ's for our oldest daughter.

Where does the time go?

I found myself swamped with custom orders this last year, mostly diapers. I was barely able to sew a few pieces for my own family. Of course, the holidays came and I wanted to give some handmade gifts, but ran out of time to make them. So, a new year, a new leaf!

This year I will limit the amount of sewing I do for others. I will still knit with wild abandon though! I'm able to do that in my evening down time. :) As well as car trips and hanging out outdoors. :) I also have a lot of projects that I'd like to do for my family. There are so many awesome patterns for Little Ones out "there" that I figure I'd better get to sewing, or I won't have little ones to sew for anymore. :(

2011 will bring about a more relaxed atmosphere here. I'm looking forward to the change.

(I do have to say that I still hope to stock some items on my etsy from time to time.)
As always, if you need anything from me, just ask!

I'm still here!

It's been a crazy spring. This early spring-like weather has my head in a tail spin! It's inspired me to organize and clean, sew and create! I've taken on LOTS of new projects as of late. I will get some pictured soon.
I am closing my hyenacart (hyenacart.com/tailenddesigns) and opting for etsy to sell my project overflows. So head on over to my hyenacart, use code "byebye" without the quotes to get 10% off my already low prices, and free shipping!

Trainers!

I just wrapped these up yesterday. They are trainers with a little absorbtion but no waterproof layer. So cute!

Just finished!

This is a newborn set done all in cotton. So soft and squishy and machine washable!!!!

It was a pleasure knitting this up!!

Book #2 Multiple Blessings by Kate Gosslin

This was a quick read. I finished it in a week.

I liked it. It was nice knowing that they actually had humble beginnings. I am a Christian mom and like her many references to God. However, if you are not Christian, it might start to get on your nerves.

The writing itself seems, I don't know, too planned. It's hard to explain. You want it to sound like she's talking to you, but it sounds like she and co-author, Beth Carson, thought out every single sentence. At times that was annoying. I wanted more of a convo. That's just me.

It's a great story. It's really too bad that the vow between Kate, Jon, and God is now broken. Her book makes it sound like she's a devout Christian and while I don't know or claim to know what went wrong in their marriage, seems like breaking that vow would be really hard for a Christian. I'm sure it was.

If you like the Gosslins, give the book a read. Love the pictures, wish there were more!

Challenge...

I've been so busy lately with projects, I've decided to add another to the list! :)

I've challenged myself to read every book in my house (minus dictionaries and the like). I always accumulate books with great intentions. If they don't keep me interested past the first page, I move on. Well, now's their chance! I vow to read each and every last one of them! Even the boring ones. So, the challenge starts now with the completion being Christmas of next year.

So, here's the first on the list. This isn't a boring book. Joy Fielding is actually one of my favorite authors. Her books just flow for me. I read her latest, "Still Life" just last month. Great read.

"Charley's Webb" is proving to be a fast read. We had a 1.5 hour drive today round trip and I read over 100 pages. When we returned home I realized how much I had read and was shocked. The story flows so nice it hardly seems I'm reading. Love it! Can't wait to get to read more tomorrow.

Hudson Hat for K

I whipped this up for K for Christmas.

Current Customs List

Today, here's how the customs list looks:
1. Little Leg warmers
2. 6mo sweater
3. Longies (waiting for yarn.)

Customs

Well, I thought I should give an up to date list of customs!

1. Leggings. I'm hoping to wrap these up by the end of the weekend.
2. Pinwheel Sweater. I plan to start this the first part of next week.
3. Christmas Longies.
4. Ridinghood sweater.
5. Crochet Leg warmers for my niece.

There ya have it! I just keep pluggin' away! :)

Kids all have their H1N1 Vacs!

Yay! I've managed to get all three in for their H1N1 vaccinations. :)

Sposoeasy All-in-one diapers

These great AIO diapers are on sale this week only! Go to Nicki's Diapers to get yours!!

http://nickisdiapers.com/catalog.php?category=613

Car Seat Redo

Okay, so I bought a gender neutral car seat when K was born. Worked fine. We didn't find out her gender, so it was what we needed. Well, now Mojo is here, 100% girl and I couldn't stand the gender neutral fabric any longer. So, I recovered it! This was an entire weekend project. I had to disassemble the original car seat pad and shade, then attach my new fabric and reassemble it all again. I also made a cover to go over Mojo and keep her warm.

I'm so glad I did it!

Here's the old cover (taken out/off the car seat itself):

This is it all taken apart:

Here's the finished seat and shade:

Here's the cover to keep Mojo warm:

Stitch Markers!

I've started making snagless stitch markers! They are beautiful and amazing. I love coming to a stitch marker now!