Podcast Help Needed!

Hi all! Mom and Dad bought me an IPOD

for my birthday a few months back and I'm finally adding a few things aside from what hubby had on his IPOD. I'd like to subscribe to some crafty Podcasts, but need some recommendations. TIA! : )Kris

Baby Carrier Sale!

Just a quick note to tell you all about a great sale I just found on my all-time favorite baby carrier, the Beco Butterfly: this isn't a picture of me :)
I'm a big fan of baby wearing and needed something super sturdy that I could carry Ben in - in the front AND the back. This one fits the bill! I've had mine (in Amy Butler's Spinach Imperial Fans fabric) for a few months now and use it almost daily. It's incredibly comfortable, and most importantly, Ben likes it :)

Euphoria Baby is having a sale on their Beco's until 8/31 - check 'em out!

Hope you all have a fun and safe holiday weekend! :) Kris

Hello my crafty friends! Hope you're outside a bunch trying to squeeze out the last bits of summer like we are! I finally broke down and got some Crocs and I have to say that I *love* them. They are abnoxiously pink and I think that's what I love most!

Truth be told, we haven't had much time out on the boat in the past month - NH has seen it's share of almost-daily storms and the lakes are up ~ 15 inches! They are saying that a wet fall and winter are to follow... AGH!!!!! I'm trying to stay positive :)

Anyways, I don't have any new creations to share - hopefully with the fall weather will come earlier bed times and later rise times for the kiddos... which naturally translates to more time for mommy fun at night.

I did pick up a few things though to read sometime soon (don't you hate how amazon.com sucks you in with that free shipping over $25 deal?! Get's me every time!!)


The top book is something that I've been wanting for a while, and as it was one of the oldest items on my "Wish List", I figured it was time. I want to make Sydney some knit clothes for the fall and have been a bit apprehensive - hopefully this book will help.

Want your own FREE copy? Stacy and I are giving away a copy at the start of Sept to one lucky contestant in our SKIRT SEW-ALONG! The sew-along ends on August 31, so you still have time!!!

The second book (a fabulous baby gift making book by Amy Butler) is chock full of fun gift ideas that span from beginner to advanced sewing levels. I doubt that I'll ever attempt to make a whole crib set, but I really do like the stuffies, cloth blocks and baby clothes. I definitely recommend checking this one out - who doesn't love handmade baby goodies?

Also broke down and picked up some of Heather Bailey's *GORGEOUS* Pop Garden fabric. I really wish I had the time to whip up a quilt with this stuff - it would be gorgeous! I'm not really sure what I'll do with it all - definitely will make some fun wet bags with many of the prints. Maybe a skirt for Sydney? (I'd actually love a skirt for me in the diagonal fabric which is the second one from the left...). And the jelly bean dots? Too stinkin' cute!


That's about it - my days are mostly filled with chasing the little ones around, and defending my finished goods from the littlest one :) He's fast!

Good night! :) Kris

Happy August!

Hi folks! Long time no blogging. Sorry! These past 2 weeks have been crazy, but fun. Hubby celebrated the big 4-0 last week and it's been what seems like party after party! When the actual day came, I think he was pretty much over it :)

Party #1 was a surprise party (CLAMBAKE!) down in MA that I organized with some old friend's of Frank's. Had a great time, despite the 98 degree day - thankfully they had a pool!

(picture courtesy of Sue)

Party #2 was the next day - hosted by our NH friends. The best part of this all was that he really didn't have a clue! I think it'll rank up there as one as his favorite birthdays.... it better! After that w/e of partying, my mom and sister-in-law (with her kids) came to visit for a few days, then we headed down to the Jersey shore for a bit to visit with my high school friends. Phew.... Busy!

I've also been working a bit around the house when I can - it's REALLY hard these days to get anything done when Ben is awake - he's almost 10 months old and a maniac. The non-stop kind of maniac that I've heard boys can be. Keeps me on my toes!

Here's my older helper (I repainted the front door and the door sides from dark green to black - muuuuuuch better).

Have also been working on Syd and Ben's room a little to help define their areas. They share the room - Syd in a bed and Ben in a crib. So far, so good.



I saw the idea for the bird mural in the book LAST- MINUTE PATCHWORK and QUILTED GIFTS (if you haven't checked it out, you really should - it's fantastic). The pattern for the birds calls for it to be hand appliqued. Okay - I'm a mom with 2 little kids and I don't have enough time to get my hair cut let alone applique. So, I just used double-sided fusible webbing and top-stitched it. I had an old corkboard and remnant fleece that I used to mount it. Pretty easy project. I think I will go back and make the birds all one color though... I think the silhouette effect would look better. Hindsight...

Speaking of birds, check these cuties out!!!


My crafty sister-in-law Sue made these (she made them for Ben's baptism in June - what a fantastic gift!) and I'm in love . I want them all over the house. Seriously.
If you'd like to make them, CLICK HERE for the tutorial by SPOOL SEWING. Beware - I've heard they are pretty addictive!

Have you tried Sandi Henderson's adorable Mariposa Applique pattern (the PDF link can be found at her right side-bar)? I finally did (a quick and easy birthday gift) and really enjoyed it - so much that I cut out 10 more sets to make for all of my little girl friends out there. Just need to find the time to make them all...


Hmm... What else... AH! I got a new toy! A snap setter! Been eyeing one of those bad boys for a while, and after having enough customer requests for things that would be perfect with snaps, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. So happy that I did! I now add snaps to my wet bag straps (so you can hang them off the stroller, etc), and was able to make a double wet-bag. Pretty cool. Also looking to make a new wet bag / changing pad combo.... stay tuned!


More news on the way - don't want to bore you all too much :) Stacy and I did decide to extend the skirt-sew along to the end of August (8/31), so if you wanted to participate, you still can! Check out the entries so far - there's some cute ones!

Before I go... I did find this funny ad in the paper the other day - if only my nails were a serious daily concern...

Bohemian Bertha Bird Bags

Try saying that one 10 times fast! :) Just got a bit of this fabulous new MM print in on Friday and it was calling all night to have some Wet Bags made with it - a definite new favorite. What do you think? It's up in my Etsy shop in case you want to see more pics. Have a great weekend everyone!

Things we're working on lately...

Gentle Touches

Catching the opening of the Day Lilies

Catching some fish



Having fun - New England Style :)
(we bought a little boat earlier this season and literally spent the entire weekend on it... ahhh....)

A perk to living in the Lakes Region - sure, we get a ton of snow, but we luckily also get this :)

Pssst....

Hi everyone! I just finished listing a TON of fabrics on my site - lots and lots of Joel Dewberry, some Midwest Modern by Amy Butler and a little more Lotus by AB as well. The Joel Dewberry is on sale for $7.15/yd! His fabrics are gorgeous - you won't be disappointed :) As always, shipping is free for orders over $50. Hope everyone's staying dry this soggy weekend! ~ Kris

Hot off the presses!

It's here everyone! Meg's new adorable Apron Pattern: The Lola (and Lolita) Apron Patterns - check it out! There are patterns for adults *and* children!

CLICK HERE to receive 10% off your entire purchase (excluding shipping) until July 5th from my website (note: I am closed for custom/sewing orders until Thursday of this week, but can send out patterns/fabric). Have a great weekend everyone!

The winner is....

SewFlo! I hope you enjoy the goodies :) Thanks everyone for participating in the Emmeline Sew-Along!

If you'd like to add the new Skirt Sew-Along button to your blog,

drop me an email at kristen@monkeyfootdesigns.com. Blogger isn't letting me type in the code into the text of this msg.

Have a great weekend everyone! We're finally having Ben baptized, so we're having a fun, family-filled weekend :)

Introducing... Emmeline!

Such the procrastinator yet again, but Emmeline is finished and is DIVINE! Such a cute and fun pattern! I decided to set aside Friday night to complete most of it and the plan worked. Finished up the strap/binding on Sat. night and was able to sneak some pictures today in between rain-drops.

Here's one side....

And here's the other:

A closer look at the first side - I added a pocket to the front of this side, using some of the left-over binding and a scrap of the flowers.

The pattern was pretty easy to make - it has several skills that I think are great for beginner sewers to try their hand at (gathering, working with the bias, hand-sewing). The only changes that I made were to add the front pocket (I like to have my cell-phone near-by) and to add D-rings to the strap (I don't like having things tied around my neck). I'm not sure the D-rings are the best solution, but I like them overall... any other ideas?

Stop by the sew-along to see everyone's Emmeline's - there's so many cute ones! Don't forget that the skirt sew-along starts tomorrow! The prize will be one copy of the fabulous book - Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics. This one has been on my Amazon wish-list since it came out - looks great!

I hope everyone had a fun Father's Day!

Here's another iris pic for you, and a new one of my little spider friend.
He's starting to grow on me...

Some Iris Love

They don't bloom for very long, but they are glorious while they are here :)

Beauty and the Beast
(can you see the clear spider?)

Let's talk about skirts...

Why, prey tell?

They are the next project for our sew-along! Stacy and I are both in major need of some post-baby skirts (she *just* had Easton, and I was pregnant last summer... the summer before that had just had Sydney... you get the picture) and thought this was the perfect summer project for us all! It doesn't matter what pattern you use - I'm going to try Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirts (in the same fabric as the cover... so unoriginal, but I'm a sucker for the Seagreen Coriander).


Two other great patterns are the CUTE SKIRTS pattern and HIP SKIRTS pattern by Favorite Things. I made the following 2 skirts last year for friends and used the CUTE SKIRTS pattern for some basic pattern ideas and construction.



The Sew-Along will start on Monday, June 16th and run until July 31st (a good, solid 6 weeks!). Lots of time for pattern and fabric selection :)

Signing up for the sew-along is super easy! Sign into FLICKR and go to the GROUPS heading. Type in Monkey Foot Designs and Stacy Sews Sew-Along under the SEARCH button to the right (located under "Find a Group). When our group comes up, you'll see "JOIN?" a few times on the page - click on that and then follow the prompts to join. Once you have a picture to share, just add it to our group (see THIS LINK for instructions). Also, please feel free to post any questions to see if we or other group members can help. I found that this was really helpful with the Sophia Bag! We are up to 57 members and we hope to keep growing :)

Now, I didn't forget that Lisa tagged me what seems like forever ago... here's her rules: link back to the person who tagged you, post these rules on your blog, share five unimportant things about yourself and tag three people at the end of your entry. Here we go!

1) We do not have a microwave. We *had* one, but it died a couple of months ago. I thought about what we really use it for... heating up baby food and heating up coffee. Sure, the occasional left-over might get thrown in there, but not enough to make it count. I thought we'd try and make a go of it without it, and I really don't miss it! I let Ben's food defrost on the counter or in the fridge, and I'd so much rather have a fresh pot of coffee any day! The best part is having more room on the counter!

2) I make ~ 90% of my baby food (hence the need for thawing - I do the ice cube tray thing to get perfect portions). It's really not hard at all and is so much cheaper (except for pears and peaches - those are a wash). If you haven't tried to, but want to, here's a great link to start: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

3) When I was in 8th grade, I qualified to go to the National Cross Country Championships... they took the top 20 finishers and I was #20, but only because the girl in front of me tripped and sprained her ankle. I still feel awful about that.

4) I do a crazy-good impression of Roger Rabbit saying "PLEEEEEASE EDDIE!". My trick is my big lips. It's not pretty to watch, but it's good for a laugh!

5) I started sewing ~ 5 and a half years ago. Wanted to make some things for my wedding (gifts, etc.) to try and cut costs, and to put more of a personal touch to the whole affair. I never in a million years thought that I'd love it as much as I do! The sad thing is that I had the machine lying around for a few years (Mom bought it for me so I could do some hemming, etc.) before I ever even opened it. I seriously had to go to a one night class at the Boston's Adult School to learn how to thread it!

I'm going to tag Em, Dalia, and Bekah! Have fun & let me know when you post!

Fiddle-dee-dee

Ever have these yummy thingies?

Before we moved up here (NH), I hadn't had them either. They are Fiddleheads and they are deeeeelish! They are just found up around Maine/NH during early spring, so we grab them while they are here.

"A Fiddlehead is a fern so young and new that it hasn't yet "unfurled" and opened its leaves. The end is still curled in a tight spiral, ready to unroll as the sun warms it and it gathers strength and size. This spiral shape reminds many people of the end of a violin, hence the name "Fiddlehead."
"
We just sauteed them with some garlic and olive oil, but upon reading more about them tonight, I have since learned that you really need to boil them or else you might get exposed to some un-named food borne illness. It's been a few hours and we're still fine (phew!).

***UPDATE: Hubby ended up having some pretty bad GI issues later that night.... I only ate ~ 6 or so of them, but he had ~ 30... definitely boil them first! ***

Hope you're all enjoying some spring sun! We've got some nasty flies and mozzies here, but we're trying to get out when we can (windy days are fabulous!). We bought Sydney a bike the other day and she's slowly getting it - we'll keep trying!



**Quick reminder! The Emmeline Sew-Along entries need to be in by June 15th. I posted the prize tonight on the Flickr site - it's not too late to enter! **

Finally!

It took 3 months, but the Lecien MY FOLKLORE fabric that I ordered is finally in!!!!! It's absolutely adorable, and I think that I just may need to order more :) I posted it today on my website - there have been lots of inquiries about when the order was due in, so I think it'll go fast. Check out these cuties! You can find them on my site HERE.








Lisa over at The Girl Indie Blog tagged me to share 5 unimportant things with y'all... I'm *really* going to have to think for this one. I'm running out of quirks! Stay tuned!

This and That

Hello everyone! I'm a bit shocked to realize that it's been 2 weeks since I've posted. Bad, bad blogger...

Here's some photos from what I've been up to since being on last. Pictures are always more fun than words :)

Made a fun tablecloth and napkin set for a friend's daughter to use for her tea set (used Ginger Blossom fabric - cute!)

Had to make something else with the Linen Morning Glory Fabric, so Sydney got some new duds to wear to Auntie's graduation from Simmon's on Sat (pardon the pics - lighting isn't very good at midnight!). Congrats again Lin!

She HATES to pose...

Made this bag for a wonderful EBAY customer named Charlotte - I forgot how much I enjoy making these!

(no... I don't lie down with the camera for these shots - my camera has a cool hinged lens)

Made some bib and burp cloth sets for Megan, a friend of a friend, for some of her friends. Had a lot of fun with these as well - a great break from wet bags.
This is another 60-80 wet bag month, so that's honestly where most of my sewing time has been going. We had a run of gorgeous weather as well, so we finally got to play outside! Found this little gem though... It's a hornet hive and is literally over a foot and a half long. Hubby and I are too scared to touch it, so we pretend that it's not there (and hope that a bear will think it's food!). We had a HUGE black bear in our yard last weekend (per the neighbors). Scary.


Hmm.. what else... Celebrated Mother's Day with 2 home cooked meals by Hubby and was able to clean the upstairs of the house while he watched the kids (for me that's a BIG thing!). Also had a birthday last week that was pretty uneventful. Ben has been having some rough nights, so all I honestly wanted to do all day was catch up on sleep. Made for a relaxing birthday!

Melody tagged me forever ago to share what's in my bag... Here we go! I carry a black GAP diaper backpack that I bought from someone in Canada (found her on Craigslist). A friend has this bag and LOVES it... I have to agree that it is, hands down, the most functional bag I own right now.

And yes, I feel like a sherpa.

Top pouch is perfect for a cell phone and some form of lip goo. I have "full" (aka BIG) lips so I need to keep 'em moisturized.

The back part has a neat pocket too - perfect for a reusable shopping bag and Joanne's coupons. The bag also has 2 side pockets that are great for water bottles and snacks.

Unzip the top and you'll see that it's pretty much stuffed.

Here's the bag after everything was dumped out... wow... I carry a lot of stuff! We went to the science center in the morning, so this is a perfect example what I have for a morning out. Snacks for Syd and Ben, 3 wet bags - one to put dirty diapers in, one for dirty bibs and one to hold my misc "stuff", toys, more lip goo, wipes, burp cloths, science center info, and diapers.

Business cards, pens and mints. The true essentials.

Random last little tidbit - the past few weeks I've been REALLY into these:

When the kids go down for nap, I spoil myself with a yummy sandwich made with a whole wheat wrap, hummus, cheese, turkey and avocado. Heaven :)

Will be back soon with more - it's late (again)!

OH! One last thing... Stacy and I are extending the Emmeline Sew Along deadline to June 15th. Don't know about you guys, but this month is flying by!