I finally figured out my instagram account! It is as fun as everyone says. I admit that so far it is a lot of baby but I swear I will be sewing again soon! Come and follow me at @gingercakesews. Continue reading

I don't know about you but I start thinking about summer vacations in January! Now is the time to sew up! Two of my summery patterns are on sale are this week! If you don't already have these 2 favorites, it's a great time to buy them up! Continue reading

I have been losing a lot of baby socks lately. On our Washington DC trip, strangers kept coming up to me and either handing me fallen off socks or letting me know the baby was missing a sock. Whoops! Socks don't work so well to keep baby's feet warm but these little shoes do the trick. I cruised Pinterest to find a free pattern but then just decided to search on Etsy "baby shoe pattern PDF" and this great pattern by Petitboo appeared in the results. They are adorable and totally functional. The clever construction makes them fully lined too.... Continue reading

It always feels great to complete a quilt. Even the simple versions of quilts that I make! I love how this one turned out. Cal was ready to celebrate too... I made this by using a 1/2 yard of six solid fabrics. For inspiration I visited this site which is great way to guide you for mixing solids. I never would have thought to add the navy and it really makes the whole quilt pop. Cut the 1/2 yards of fabric in 18" x 18" pieces (each color will make 2 squares for a total of 12 squares). Match up... Continue reading

I bought a stack of solids and finally starting cutting into them using this method. It's really cool to try if half square triangles interest you! I love fun sewing tricks, don't you? I enlarged the fabric pieces to 18" x 18" since I wanted bigger triangles. The baby enjoyed chewing on the fabric pieces as Cal and I messed around with a quilt design. She is getting big! Almost 5 months already. My original idea was much more random piecing (like this) but my 5 year old was really interested in making a pattern. I am feeling a little... Continue reading

Last year we went down to the Smokey Mountains but this year we stayed a little closer to home and took the educational route. Washington DC is only about 5 hours away from us and we have friends that live close to the city. We had a great time! I will admit that parking is tough and the METRO is super expensive for a subway, but once you get on the Mall, the DC experience is fantastic. Our ambitions we pretty toned down- Travis and I aimed for only a couple of spots on each of the 2 days we... Continue reading

Since I am having the bunny sale this week, I was trying to think of a way to make more versions of the pattern. In the past I made the bunny smaller by printing it at 65%. You can read about those here. Very cute! I have gotten lots of emails by sewers saying they are excited to use the pattern to make bunnies for the easter basket. I thought, why not make Bunny the easter basket?! This was surprisingly easy and fun. I thought it would be perfect for the baby this easter too since she is obviously not... Continue reading

Head over to the shop to get your bunny pattern for just $5! Starting today and ending next Friday, March 22, 2013. P.S.- see that cute stripe background? That is a photoshop freebie from Pugly Pixel. So great for spring! Thank you Katrina. Continue reading

My sweet little Marion is almost 4 months old. She is precious but the girl can slobber! And spit up all over me and her clothes several times a day. My other babies were not big spitters/ slobberers so I always looked a little sideways at the moms whose babies had bibs on all the time. I found a small bib pattern I drafted years ago that worked great for her size and should be good for a few months at least! This has been saving me from changing her clothes like 10 times a day. Also, I try to... Continue reading

It is not spring here yet! Yesterday we had a foot of snow- thick heavy late winter snow. The kids were home for school and Travis spent most of the day home too- and outside with the kids. I needed to make myself a new bag but I couldn't quite bring myself to use bright spring fabrics. I know in another month I will be more inspired but for now, this is my March bag! It only has a hint of spring... This is Noodlehead's 241 bag. Great pattern! The green is a thrift store find- I think it's a... Continue reading

Baby Books! Love em or hate em? The pressure of filling them out makes me aprehensive. I am fine with the initial info about when baby was born, what was happening, what the birth was like, etc. It's just the follow up that gets me! All the other kids have half filled baby books- great at the beginning and then lots of blank pages! Life gets in the way and I forget to stop and fill out baby book info. This is where my big girls will be helping future Marion. They are PSYCHED about the baby book. Fabric used:... Continue reading

Yeah!! The pattern is ready and in the shop. No big surprise that pattern writing and testing takes a lot longer with baby in the house but I am proud of myself for finally getting it done! I love this project mostly because it is so useful. I have used mine a bunch of times already and it works so well! I love folding it back up and doing the cute tie. The tie is awesome because you can stuff it with diapers and wipes and don't have to worry about it being too full to close up. Also, you... Continue reading

Here is a little something I have been working on. It was only a matter of time before I started with some baby ideas! I wanted a changing pad with the diaper & wipes pocket attached. She is getting chubby! 3 months old tomorrow! The pad folds up nicely to fit in your bag~ I like the ties but I also made a version with a flap. The flap was nice but the ties are more fun to me. What do you think? The best part is that the pockets are attached and you can put your wipes directly in.... Continue reading

Here is the craft I am doing with Cal's preschool tomorrow morning. I admit I was a bit of a grumpy baby coming up with this. First, I waited until this morning to make my plan. Second, I kept waffling about my plan. Third, I had to haul Cal and the baby all the way to Micheals! But now I am happy and think the kids will like making these boquets for their moms. What do you think? Are the craft mom for your kid's party? It is just cupcake liners (3 per flower), pipe cleaners, shredded paper to hold... Continue reading

Anne has decided she wants to be a fashion model. And a veternarian. And a scientist. For now, she is just silly. This is the Banyan Tee from Patterns by Figgy that is part of the Sew Fab e Pattern Sale. Have you bought your bundle yet? Continue reading

Today is the 1st day of the 1st ever Sew Fab e-Pattern Bundle Sale and giveaway, sponsored by The Southern Institute and Fat Quarter Shop! Over the past eight weeks a lot of behind the scenes work has taken place to bring you this amazing bundle of ePatterns from several of the top pattern designers and bloggers in the sewing and blogging world. The result is a bundle of 18 PDF sewing patterns that you don't want to miss. For one week only, ten pattern designers have come together to bring you 18 of their best PDF patterns, valued together... Continue reading

Here is a sneak peak at all the patterns in the sale!! Continue reading

Coming next week! From February 4th- February 11th... the first ever For one week only, ten pattern designers will be joining together to combine 18 of their best PDF sewing patterns (valued together at over $139.00) and selling them to you for the incredible price of $24.95! That's over 80% off of the combined retail value! That wasn't a typo! For less than $25.00 you will have the chance to purchase a library of resources to get you started on several great projects that you can sew over and over again. The designers that are joining this sale are experts... Continue reading

Did you all see that Rae has a new pattern called the geranium dress? She gave out the 0-3 month size as a freebie and I had to try it out. This corduroy is from a dress that used to be Anne's when she was 4. Isn't it so sweet? That Rae knows how to get me hooked since I already bought the big pattern too! Well worth the $10 investment though, don't you think? Continue reading

A couple weeks ago, my friend Amy Frank asked me if she could use the Lola Owl Sewing Pattern for a class she is teaching at the Studio at Contempo in Boalsburg PA (near State College). I said yes (of course!) and please send me some pictures. I have heard from past customers that girls this age love to sew up Lola and I wanted to see some proof! I wish I could have been there to take this class too! I bet these girls had a blast sewing up their bags. You can almost hear all the giggling and... Continue reading

Miss Marion is already 2 months old today. It has gone by fast! She is so so sweet. I made this Kimono from a vintage pillowcase a few months before she was born. I put it on a month ago and thought I had wasted my time making it since it was so big and looked all bunched up. I tried it again today and found it much prettier. Why do we forget that our babies grow so fast? The pattern is from a vintage layette set. Some of it seems insanely impractical with all the tiny bias tape and... Continue reading

Anne turned 7 last week. I won't give my usual "time marches on" speech but I am feeling it. She is a precious girl ~ happy and sweet and full of generosity. She also has a new side to her that Travis and I are noticing. Her big sister likes to be ready for the bus EARLY. Like 20 minutes early. This is not important to Anne and she is showing a strong aversion to being rushed. She waits to put on her coat. She lingers over hugs to the baby. She slowly ties her shoes. She wanders around looking... Continue reading

I don't regret following the popular crowd either. The Tova Top is awesome and worth all the hype. Such a cute shirt. It even looks OK on my post pregancy body! The hardest part is dealing with all the pattern pieces and that wasn't even all that bad. I made a practice version first to make sure I wouldn't mess up on my nice fabric (Anna Maria Little Folks Voile). Come on friends! You can join in with the cool kids too. You will be happy you gave into the peer pressure. Related articles Bunnies and Price Tags Infant car... Continue reading

We had many project brewing in 2012 (mainly Miss Marion!) but last February, on a random snowy weekend, we took our sledge hammer and began a major home improvement project on our bathroom. We had a strange configuration in our master bedroom that included a teeny tiny bathroom and a smallish closet and a large "dressing area". It was an annoying waste of space. What followed was about 10 months of mess, labor, mistakes, victories and lots of good learning. The above icky pictures are how it looked for many months as we made small bits of progress and grumbled... Continue reading