Recent Posts:

• Mercantile BOM Part 2 - Sewing with directional fabrics
• Meet Jessica!
• Kristin's Mercantile BOM: Part 1
• What Chamisa's Been Working On
• Meet Skye!

Recent Posts by Melissa

New Embroidery Patterns for Spring by Melissa on April 24, 2012 It seems that embroidery is really making a comeback lately, which makes me happy because I've always been a fan. It's great to see some fresh, new patterns out there. Some of our in-house designers have been bitten by the bug as well. Have you seen Mari's sheep embroidery on the Three Sheep Tote? Or Jenni's super-cute free embroidery patterns for her Sailor Girl and Boy pillows to go with our new Smooth Sailing collection? Ever since I saw Sarah Jane's "Make It Do" pattern at market last spring, I've had it on my to-do list. Being on maternity leave finally gave me the spare time to actually do it! Read more »

Cotton Lawn Tunic for Alice by Melissa on April 5, 2012 My daughter is extremely sensitive when it comes to her clothing. She flatly refuses to wear anything remotely scratchy or stiff, so she pretty much lives in cotton knits. She also runs hot, like most kids her age, and is always running around in shirt sleeves (or just undies) when the rest of us are wearing warm sweaters and jackets. When I felt our new cotton lawn fabric, I knew it would be perfect for something special for Alice. It is so whispery soft and lightweight. My new favorite sewing book, Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders had the perfect pattern, The 'O' Tunic. Read more »

Alligator Boxer Shorts by Melissa on March 16, 2012 When Jenni first designed the Alligator print in our Wild Ones flannel collection, I instantly loved it. I can't put my finger on it, but something about the print was begging to be made into boxer shorts. Then when I happened upon the boxer shorts pattern in the Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders book a couple months later, I knew I had to make them. Never mind that I don't know anyone who even wears boxer shorts! The fabric and pattern combination was just too perfect to resist. I decided to make them as cute pajama shorts for me. Read more »

Alice’s New Dress by Melissa on March 8, 2012 My three-year-old has become quite the girly girl recently (at least where fashion is concerned) and absolutely loves dresses; the twirlier the better!  When I saw this Urban Prairie Dress pattern with its empire waist and big ruffles, I knew I had to make it for Alice.  And what better fabric to use than the delicate prairie-inspired prints of our Sweetgrass Prairie collection? Read more »

Hello from maternity leave! by Melissa on March 2, 2012 Melissa here...I'm just popping in today from maternity leave to say hi to you all and to share the baby news and some photos. My little guy decided to join us a fashionable nine days late on February 1. He was 9 pounds 7 ounces and 22 inches long. No one predicted he was that huge! We've named him James Elliot.  And what better way to share some baby photos than with him snuggled up in a handmade swaddling blanket... Like Katrina, I also sewed up the Swaddle Blanket from Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders using Wild Ones. I chose the blue elephant print before I knew how huge James would be--now it seems fitting, don't you think? ;) Read more »

The joys of photographing toddlers by Melissa on January 16, 2012 When we made the photo samples of Sue's adorable Fox Hooded Robe and Alligator Hooded Robe kits in our Wild Ones flannel we all pictured cute photos of them on my 2-3/4-year-old daughter and Teri's 2-1/2-year-old son for the catalog. The kids are almost the exact same size and have had play-dates together in the past. Cute idea, right? Ha! What a pipe dream that turned out to be! We ended up with one photo we could use of Alice in the fox robe, no usable shots of Tyler in the alligator robe, and lots and lots of out-takes. Most of the funniest ones with parents half in the shot trying to wrangle the tots were deleted, but I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of the other out-takes of photography with toddlers. Read more »

Snuggly quilt for my little guy by Melissa on January 4, 2012 In just a few short weeks I’ll be welcoming a new little bundle of joy at home. I’ve been busy making him all sorts of wee little things and dressing up the nursery. I love our Wild Ones flannel collection, so of course I had to make him a quilt using the boyish colors from the group. Blue, green and brown is my favorite color combination, and I just love all the little animals motifs in this group. Read more »

Quilt Finish & Quilting Fun by Melissa on December 28, 2011 Have you all been able to sneak some precious quilting time into your holiday vacations? I know I’ve been enjoying some much needed vacation to finish up lots of projects. This is a quilt I just finished before Christmas that I started, oh, 2 years ago? Or was it 3? It’s called “Wonky Town”, and it’s now hanging proudly in my daughter’s room. It started out as me experimenting with Wonky Log Cabin blocks from ... Read more »

Taken Patiently’s Handmade Holiday Challenge by Melissa on November 11, 2011 I just stumbled upon this blog post contest over at Taken Patiently. She made a really cute tote bag from one of our Christmas Cheer charm packs. Photo from Taken Patiently. How cute is that? She’s giving away two more charm packs, and she’s got a neat giveaway for a $25 gift card if you join her Handmade Holiday Challenge. Head on over and check it out! Read more »

Designing the Slow Poke baby quilt by Melissa on November 7, 2011 I don’t normally do a lot of pattern designing around here, but with Urban Odyssey, I couldn’t resist. Blue, green, teal, and brown is my absolute favorite color combination after all! One of the prints I love in Urban Odyssey is the Metropolitan tonal print. I kept thinking how much the green one looked like a turle shell, and thus, the Slow Poke Baby Quilt was born! I named the ... Read more »