You Go Girl!

I'M SO HAPPY SALE!

Sun is shining. Birds are singing. Trees are blooming. Bees are buzzing. And this little slice of heaven is supposed to continue ALL WEEK long. I'm so happy I might lose my freakin' mind. Wait. I don't want to do that. Let's have a sale instead. All pillowcases in my You Go Girl shop are 20% off through Mother's Day, the best holiday EVER invented. Find my shop here. Use coupon code TWENTY at checkout. Happy shopping. Toodles. I'm going outside to frolic.

PS--Good light (a.k.a. a lovely spring day) really does make pictures better. Look at the lovely color in the photo. No photoshopping. Honest. My photos for my etsy listings are wanting for light. Pretend they are bright and lovely. Okay?

About that Blanket Stitch

About that blanket stitch...

Thanks so much for all your comments and suggestions regarding the blanket stitch on the Posh Pillowcase. I tried almost all your suggestions. Here's my take:

Skip Stitch Blade: Ummm. No thanks. Some people love this blade. My insane battle with perfection would not allow me to embrace this blade. I did not like the holes it left in the pillowcase. In fact, I have a pillowcase that will never leave the house. It will probably be repurposed into wallets or some such thing.

Sharp Hook: See Skip Blade above. 

Single Length of Yarn (photo above): This was a viable option. The yarn did not tangle and was easy to pull through the fabric even when it was a long length. A single length of yarn also seems to provide an adequate foundation. I personally do not like the look of the single length as well as the doubled yarn.

So what is my new solution? Sew the blanket stitch with a shorter-length doubled yarn in two separate pieces. Start your stitch as you normally would in the "pocket" by the seam. Sew around to the other seam ending in the "pocket". Remove your needle. Thread the second piece of yarn. Join your second length of doubled yarn to the first. Continue around the pillow case and join to your original yarn. You end up with two knots instead of one. I'm okay with that. This is probably only make sense to those of you that have tried the tutorial. So sorry if you are reading and wondering.

Now if your head is hurting from reading my drivel and you've decided to NEVER EVER EVER try to make a Posh Pillowcase, I have good news. I just listed ten new pillowcase in the shop. Woo Hoo!

Happy day,

Cassie

 

Wallets of Different Kind

I had a custom order for a wallet to match this purse. Out came my fabric friends. I dove in, mixing and matching patterns galore. Oh, bliss and heaven. Piles and piles of fabric dancing around me. When I finally crawled out from under the mountain of fabric, I couldn't make just one wallet. No. I made three. I made one to match the purse and two others just because I was in love with the fabric combos. 

Here's the matching wallet, inside and out.

And here are the two that I couldn't resist stitching up. Introducing...

Who Gives a Hoot:

And, Little Miss Red:

I like to open these two wallets and find the little peek-a-boo friends inside. It tickles my fancy. 

The two peek-a-boo wallets are in the shop just in case they tickle your fancy, too.

Happy September,

Cassie

 

Coin Purse Line Up

 

I took a little break from my hook to stitch up some zippered coin purses for a friend's wedding. This project was fun, fun, fun. Fabulous felt, flowers, and floss. Mmm. Mmm. Mmmmmm. She only needed ten but I couldn't stop. I've fallen and I can't get up. I mean, I'm stitching and I can not stop. I put the four extra coin wallets in my store, just in case you can't live without one. 

I best go. There are 10 thirteen-year-olds, yes TEN, 4 boys (gasp!) and 6 girls in my back yard. They were saying something about starting a fire. Perhaps I should be out there.

Later friends,

Cassie

Baby Bloom Hat

I sure wish I had a model for this little crocheted hat.  My picture doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid. I am dying to see what it looks like on a real baby. I'm telling you the truth. This Baby Bloom Hat is sweet as sugar and soft as dandelion down. I'm sure a wee little chick-a-bee baby girl would look like a delicious gumdrop wearing it. Who doesn't love a gumdrop? 

I had no one in mind when I made the Baby Bloom Hat. It's just that my divine Baby Bunny yarn wouldn't quit calling my name...Look at me. Look at me. I am so soft and yummy. You know you love me. I finally gave in and grabbed a hook. Now I have a very cute hat without a home. It's living in my shop right now. It is sized for a baby, probably 3-6 months old. Hat, anyone?

I just read what I wrote in the first paragraph. It sounds like I think I am all that and more. Not so. It's just that this hat is all aqua and red and little and sweet. I just want to eat it up. The cuteness makes me want to squeeze something. Hard. I feel like Agnes on Despicable Me...It's so fluffy sweet I'm gonna die. Watch Agnes at the end of this clip. That's how I feel.

 

But any one could make a Baby Bloom Hat. Truly.

Little Posh Seeks Loving Home...

The pile o' posh is finished. Pictures have been taken. Shop listings are updated Adoption opportunities are available for three posh pillowcases deserving of loving homes.

Introducing Ms. Blush and Ms. Jade Flower Power. The two Flower Power gals are anxious for homes to call their own. Ms. Blush and Ms. Jade are friendly, attractive, and exceptionally good with children. They want a home where they will be loved and admired for both their beauty and functionality. They are happy to stay together, but willing to part ways and keep in touch on holidays and birthdays. (Not really. Just kidding.)

 

Felicity Redbloom is a vibrant personality with blossoms that will light up any room she is in. She is looking for a happy home with a nice soft bed or an overstuffed chair for her to relax upon. She has enjoyed her stay with the Flower Power sisters in the land of You Go Girl, but is anxious for a space of her own.

 

Charm and Poppie Butler have already been adopted into a stable and loving environment.

 

They are joining Miss Daisy Meadowsweet at an undisclosed location. 

We miss them already, but wish them well.

If you would like to welcome a little posh into your home, click here for details.

I know. I know. This isn't much of a post. It is a shameless self-promotion of my little Etsy shop. But, you see, I have fallen deeply in love with a technological gadget. I've never fallen for technology before. Wii? No thanks. Blackberry? Yikes! Kindle? Nope.  When it's right, though, you just know it. The Apple ipad whispers my name and teases me mercilessly. Oh, sweet ipad, I have a crush on you. I am stockpiling a pile of shekels in hopes that you might be wooed into my home someday. Oh, please. Oh, please. Say you will come live with me. I adore you!

Pretty In Pink

I love pink. Even after five baby girls, I still love pink. I've always loved pink. You know how they make up silly predictions about the future of senior classmates in high school yearbooks and school newspapers? Well, when I was a senior, the speculation concerning my destination was that I would become an interior designer for the White House and paint the Oval Office pink. This love affair with pink is long standing for me. Recently, I had a request for a pink Zippy Wallet.  Oh, goody! Pink! I started pulling pink off the shelves of love. Here are the results.

First up...A little bit of pink from Olivia's Holiday.

  
Inside is a yellow stripey.  Not sure where this fabric came from but I use little bits of it a lot.

Next, I put together a wallet using some of Sandi's red and pink Poppy Parade.

   

Inside? You got it. My favorite fabric EVER. The Full Moon polkie by Ms. Butler.

 
The third one I put together was this little lovely using some pink Farmer's Market...

and some more Full Moon polkies.  This time in green. Christina chose this wallet. I don't blame her. The pinks in this fabric are positively beauteous. 

Pink, pink, pink. It gives me warm fuzzies. I really love it. How 'bout you?

Sometimes...

 

Sometimes I do get a thing or two accomplished. My big bathroom is all clean and my You Go Girl store has a few things in.  Woo Hoo.  All this productivity on the same day makes me dizzy.  Or maybe I'm dizzy from the anticipation of a girly summer sleepover. Tonight six giggling twelve-year-old girls are sleeping in our new garden shed that has been decorated with streamers and balloons for the occasion. Every imaginable form of junk food has been purchased. Sleeping bags are unrolled. Movies have been carefully selected. I love summer. 

Tootles,

Cassie

Noodlehead Clutch

 

Have you tried Noodlehead's gathered clutch tutorial? I highly recommend it. It's a dandy. Ms. Noodlehead (a.k.a Anna) is also offering a gathered clutch pattern for purchase if you wish to sell gathered clutches in a store or at art fairs.  How cool is that? Thanks, Ms. Noodlehead.

And speaking of stores... (How's that for a lame segue from one paragraph to the next? I do what I can. lol!) I know that in my last post I promised lunch bags in my Etsy store. Well, when all was said and done, I only ended up with two bags left, the yellow Cherry-O bag and the green Umbrella Love bag. The bad news is there are only two bags and I don't want to stage a photo session for two bags.  The good news is that I will make some more now that prom, eighth-grade promotion, birthday season, and the end-of-the-school-year busy-ness have come to pass. Promise. Cross my heart. Hope to die (not!). Stick a needle in my eye. (It could happen.I'm just that awkward tricky.) There will be lunch bags, pillowcases, and zippy wallets in the store soon.

Tah-Tah-For-Now~

Cassie

Lunchbag Line-up

I'm still committed to my promise to beautify the world of cold lunch. I've been working on this little stack of lunch bags all week.  A few of them are spoken for, but the rest will soon be in my Etsy shop; the shop's been empty, neglected, and sad, sad, sad for weeks.  Oh, I am a sorry excuse for a shop owner. I wonder if Etsy ever kicks people out.  LOL!

Before I can list these little beauties, it must STOP raining so I can take some decent pictures.  I snapped these pictures in the little window of sunshine we had yesterday. Please come back, Mr. Sunshine.  I miss you.

 

Today I am baking cheesecake.  My big girl is turning seventeen today! Can't. Believe. It.  Next year she will graduate from high school on her eighteenth birthday.  That day will be a doozy for me.  I get a little throw-up in the back of my throat when I think about it. I am NOT ready for that. So today I choose to only think about now and celebrate this moment. It's a good day.

Later,

Cassie

PS- Several have asked for the lunch box pattern or a tute.  I don't have either. One night when I was trying to sleep, the hamster wouldn't get off the wheel in my head. Thanks to the hamster, I know how to make lunch bags, but I still don't know how to create pdf patterns on my computer that I could share with you. I will consult the hamster to see if I can find a way.