sewing with minions

Unexpectedly, I've been sewing more commission items now than when I wanted to.  Before I really caught the quilting bug, I had a small Etsy shop with some little girls dresses, and I was hoping sales would pick up, but I didn't have the patience or get-to-itness to keep up my shop.  It actually takes a lot of time to post things!  I had some sales via my shop, but I let all the listings expire and now I pretty much ignore it.  However, I also have a FB page attached to my shop and that's where most of the action is.  I have a couple customers who keep coming back and they keep me as busy as I ant to be because now between mothering, teaching, and quilting activities, I don't have much time for commissioned outfits.

In the end, I have a hard time saying no, and so when people ask, I make.

This set of three outfits is for a set of sisters aged 12, 3, and 1.5.  These girls' mom makes chunky bead necklaces and she will be doing a photo shoot in May with her girls modeling her necklaces.  She asked if I would make a set coordinating outfits for her girls.  

I am in love with the pink dress and I really want to make on for my girls now.

I was also asked to make another chef set for another little girls birthday.

D loves to model these for me when I'm checking to make sure the ties are long enough.

On the quilting side, I was asked to join the Traveling Quilts - Canada group on Flickr.  Really, how on earth could I say no to such fun!  I started with picking out colours - navy, lime, and aqua - and then got going on what my starter blocks would be.

I went with a 12" paper pieced star (I completely don't remember what pattern this is!) and then added a couple of things I love.

I did sew them all together, but after doing so, I saw that other members left their blocks separate and I kinda thought that was a better idea.  However, I was in no mood to seam rip and so I sent them as a whole.  If any of you Traveling Quilt members are reading this, feel free to take my blocks apart to make things work.

Yesterday we were given instructions for our do.Good blocks and since they were super quick and easy to make, I whipped them out and sent them off already.  April is going to be a busy month for me, so the less I have waiting, the better.

On the home front, D, who will be 4 this month, asked if she could sew on paper.  After a few trial runs on my dots, she came up with her own design.  She proudly informed me that this is a Y.

The other munchkin is also keeping me hopping.  Such a blurry photo, but this is really how she is 80% of the time. 

If you've watched Despicable Me 2 this will make sense - We call K our purple minion. Really, she does the whole 'BAAAA' thing too!