Melissa and Doug on Zulily

Hey, guys! I wanted to give you a heads up that Melissa and Doug will be on sale at Zulily today at 6am PT which is a bummer because I don't live in that time zone and I"ll be at work when the sale starts :-(
Their stuff goes fast so if you love that brand of toys as much as I do, then you might want to act quickly.   I'm planning on getting something for Bunny from the sale as soon as I get access to a computer this afternoon. I'm pretty much done with her Christmas presents already, but I can't help myself! Besides, I could always start stocking up gifts for the next big day in her life--say Valentine's Day or her birthday?  Anyway, I digress.  Go check it out!
Happy shopping!

Senior Photos of my Sister

My large family is a family full of talents and we all kindly share them with each other. One of my sisters is  a cake decorator, and she makes everyone's cakes.  Another works for a phone company, and gets the younger ones phones.  Yet another is a hairdresser and cuts and styles all of our hair.  My job is generally to do the artistic things such as sew things and take photos.  With my youngest sister graduating this year, she asked me to put the latter of those things to work for her senior portraits.  This is some of what we came up with together. 

Bunny's Village Frock

I saw this dress on one of the sewing blogs I was perusing the other week and fell in love with it.  Problem is, that it is not longer available, as you'd know if you just tried to click on the link.

So, I googled it, sure to find SOMETHING I could go on to make it for Bunny, since I had decided upon first sight that it was a dress I MUST make for her.  

 I came up with lots and LOTS of pictures of cute Village Frocks (that is the name for it) made by many sewers who were lucky enough to get their hands on the pattern, but no pattern. 

So, I decided I'd draft my own.  I've done it before and it seemed feasible enough.  So, I sorted through all the google images I found looking at shapes and construction as I started drawing plans for my own version of the Village frock.

 It was while doing that that I discovered this, similar pattern. 
And I even found a tutorial--that might be helpful to someone. 

With these resources and a tutorial on making your own Bias Tape, I made Bunny her little Village Frock using fabric I'd found years ago on clearance at Walmart that I'd been dying to find a use for ever since.  I'm pretty pleased with the results.  And she got more compliments on this dress than she ever gets.  It was especially a hit at my sister's bridal shower.