christmas wanderings

Things have been very quiet around these pages this month. That is to contrast the busyness and noise going on in my house! We have been blessed with a wonderful Christmas day and happy children and lots of time to spend together and enjoy a break from the usual. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas season and I will be back soon when things quiet down or at least get back to normal...

Peace & Love

new to the shop

New to the shop! Our pillows are here and cuter than ever. I think they are my new favorite thing to make. They look so adorable and were a big hit at all of our holiday craft shows. Each pillow is unique, soft and fluffy. Check them out over on etsy. They would make a great addition to a child's room.
We will have lots more listings of tees, pins and bibs over the month so keep in touch with us!

losing it...

No, not my mind.. at least not yet. But things, I keep losing the same things over and over again. I am starting to think this is more than mere coincidence. Take the little kid nail clippers. I swear I have bought about 142 pairs of these and yet I still can't manage to tell you right now where a single set is and have 3 kids with nails that are embarrassingly too long. I go to get them, where I swore I put them and gone, all gone. And then there are the pens and pencils that we never have. We go from having 4 boxes of brand new pencils to 2 that all are missing their erasers. Where did they all go? This goes well beyond the missing sock mate in our house and the list is growing of the items that I consistently cannot find. Like: hair bows, my chap stick, the tape, winter hats,my tape measure, that one recipe I have to have....
Is it just me? Is it a constant state of disorganization? Or is there a place we will all witness one day before we die where all these missing things are piled high to the sky waiting to be found?
Until then the list of MIA will continue to rattle on in my brain!

saturday , december 6th

Craft show season is just about over for us but we are excited for one more show tomorrow in Black Mountain. It is a fundraiser for my good friend Heather's Montessori school. The Holiday Parade is going on at the same time so the whole family can have a fun day in beautiful Black Mountain!

Rebecca and I are still busy sewing so we can have some fresh new designs for tomorrow's sale and fill up our inventory.
I laughed today when I told her over the phone that I just used my daughter's detangler to "style" my hair, my kids had 1/2 sandwich sent to school because we are out of everything in the kitchen and my 8 year old walked around this morning telling me he couldn't find any clothes to wear because they are all dirty!
When I get busy sewing , the house of cards that I keep balanced comes crumbling down! No worries, all that will still be waiting for me on Sunday...

open a book

Quick post today because I am dog tired from the craft show today, but I am just loving this print on etsy that I saw. The artist has some really lovely prints in her shop and very affordable. Maybe I should put this in the boys' room as a subtle reminder instead of my nagging about getting their reading done each night! And speaking of reading: our book club is currently reading The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. It is very good so far I would reccomend it.

Thanksgiving is already behind us and I can hardly believe it! We had a nice trip down to the NC coast for the holiday. The weather was a real treat (high 60s) and a break from the cold here in the mountains. I kind of hate winter so any chance for warmth I will take! We even went boating while we were there. Despite getting seasick and finding out that 2 of my kids don't have very strong sea stomachs either!

But it was fun nonetheless!

Tomorrow Olliekate is participating at the preschool craft fair at North Asheville Preschool if you are local and want to come by! It lasts for 2 days and another craft fair on our calendars this weekend in Black Mountain. Whew.. then that is it for a while and I can take a break, concentrate on family gift giving and get ready for Santa! Still have lots to do in that department too!

giving thanks

"we are likely to overlook our real blessings and fail to be thankful for them because they are small or because they appear to be trifling and ordinary. We are always richer than we think, we should cultivate the habit of being thankful for small things"

--A.W. Tozer

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are surrounded by family,friends and gratitude.

we heart etsy

Have you shopped on etsy yet? Well, you should because they really do have such amazing handmade gifts. I am all about making this Christmas handmade. Not just things I make so I have turned to etsy to get my list done. I can't show you everything I have gotten since you might be receiving it!! But I want to showcase some sellers that I think are tops!

Some of Olliekate's favorites: (but there are loads more wonderful sellers so go check them out, I bet you can find what you are looking for! Use the search box on the home page of Etsy)

Chocolate and Steel: silver jewelry

Say Your Piece: personalized ornaments

Bailey Doesn't Bark : pottery

YeeHaw: letterpress, cool cards

JD Wolfe Pottery: gorgeous!

Joom: very cool pillows

Pretty In Posies:Felt flower hair clips for those little girls on your list

handmade holidays

We had such a great time yesterday at our first annual handmade holidays home show! It was so great to be there with other amazingly talented women artists and crafters. The crowds turned out as well. We were quite busy and all our efforts raised almost $500 for our local women and children's shelter!

We have been doing Olliekate for almost a year now and it was really great to have local people be able to see in person what we are always gabbing about! Sewing and creating are such great outlets for me that it was rewarding to hear compliments and make some sales too!

Thank you to everyone who came and showed their support. We hope to do it again next year! We will be doing 2 more local holiday shows as well. Email us for details if you would like to come!

on the calendar

From SarahJane Studios

2009 is peaking it's head around the corner, believe it or not. I have seen some great calendars on etsy lately. Some are so pretty, they are more like works of art! Here are some of my faves. I plan to gift these to a few people on my list this holiday. Go handmade!

Ilee Papergoods

Pistachio Press

new at olliekate

Olliekate is getting cozy. We have designed new appliqued pillows to add to the line up. These would be great for a kid's room, a nursery, a playroom or even your couch perhaps?!

I just love how these are turning out. I can't wait to debut them this weekend and we will be putting them in the etsy shop soon as well.

holidays with amy butler

Amy Butler has a bunch of free holiday patterns on her site right now that are so cute, and they don't look all that hard as well. Here are a few of my favorites that I hope to try. I think this would make a fun girl's sewing day project! We could all work on them together...what do you think? Check out the site here.

tagged

A busy week behind us and another on the way. Lots of sewing getting done for the Handmade Holidays show this coming weekend and all the usual day to day as well. Kevin has been in Arizona with my camera and I miss them both! In leu of new pictures...

Lisa Leonard did a recent post where you open your photo program and choose the 6th file and then the 6th picture and see what you get. This is what I got: this was the picture I used for our Christmas card in 2005. See they really do love each other! OK, now you’re tagged!

november

We had a fun halloween and then spent the next day at a local farm just relaxing in the warm November weather. Sunday was my birthday and I got treated to an afternoon of sewing with good friends, lots of chocolate and a wonderful dinner made by my family. It was perfect.

November is off to a good start. Let's hope today proves more of the same for our country!

Happy Halloween!

A weekend ahead full of very excited children, lots of candy, a party at a friend's house and ending it with my birthday! Whew, it should be a fun one! Happy Weekend to you too!

little dancing girl

I was inspired by this little tutu tutorial (say that 3 times!) over at the Disdressed blog and had to try one for Kate. It is so adorable, my husband said he thinks I like it more than the 2 year old does! All this girl stuff is fairly new to us after having 2 boys, and the tutu is definitely the girliest thing that has ever gone through my sewing machine! But it was fun. It has 8 layers of pink and purple tulle and is reversible. It ties like an apron with purple grosgrain ribbon. So cute. The tutorial is easy to follow and does not take long if you want to make your own.

So with 3 Olliekate craft shows coming up in the next month, don't ask me why I am sewing up tutus!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

So you know I love this little blog, Grosgrain. This woman is really talented and so generous in all the giveaways that she does. I am loving these little skirts she just posted. Thinking of making some for Kate, but I entered the contest too just for fun. Check it out.

On the Dot Feature

Olliekate was featured today at On the Dot Creations. This is a fun little blog we have had the pleasure of appearing in once before!

"On the Dot Creations . . . The Blog is just a little spot on the World Wide Web, devoted to showcasing great polka dot designs"

Julie features lots of etsy artists with great new designs. I have found several great sellers by stopping by her blog. Thanks Julie for positng our kite tee!

Happy Weekend!

biltmore in the fall

It was a perfect fall weekend to head over to Biltmore House for some outdoor fun. We hardly ever go inside the house when we visit because there is so much to do outside. The gardens were gorgeous with mums and roses and then off to the lake where we saw horses, geese, lots of bamboo to run through and even a grey heron. We were also treated to a bluegrass band at the winery. If only we could just live there too! Well, at least it is only a short drive away.

he won! he won!

I have to brag on my hubby for a second. Last night was this big awards gala dinner for the Parade of Homes. And guess who won the GOLD award for his category?? Non other than Longview Builders!

Kevin had to go up on stage and give his thanks and got this glass trophy, but most of all I think the rocognition for what an awesome builder he is was the best! Here are some inside shots of the house. It is prettu modern on the inside because that is what the homeowners like but the outside is total craftsman style.

vote!

Early voting started today! Get out there while the lines are short. and make your vote count!

photo shoot

On Monday we had the pleasure of having Deb Abramson come over to do a photo shoot at our house. I have not had pictures taken by a photographer since Kate was a newborn so I thought it was time. Deb is a fellow mom from our school and very talented. She made me and the kids feel so comfortable with a camera in the room. I wanted shots of them being kids. Not all dressed up and unnatural, you know? That is her style and it was just what I was looking for ; capturing this time of childhood and wonder that fills their days. She spent the afternoon at our house and from the sneak peek she sent me, got some great shots. That last pictures of all 3 boys was taken when she was actually leaving and they began to jump on daddy and go crazy. That is a very common scene in our life, I am glad she snapped it real quick and captured that!
She has a great website over here. Check it out if you are in the market for some new shots of the kiddos. New pictures has crossed a bunch of people off of my Holiday gift list. Now you know what you are getting grandparents!

Web site

Blog

oops

We have 2 grocery stores near us. The one that is really close is also really old and not very nice and if you go too late at night...well you just don't go late at night. The other one is all cushy and has a Starbucks, everything is brand new. But it is farther. So anyway, this evening while the boys were at soccer with dad I needed to run out to get groceries, but had a splitting headache and was not in the mood to be out. So we ran over to the close Ingles and got a few things to get by on until we can go to the Shangrila Ingles later in the week. No big deal.
When Kevin asks our 2 year old later what we did while he was out, she says " we went to the crappy Ingles, not the nice one!" I swear that is exactly what she said. I must have been talking out loud to myself! After laughing our heads off because come on, that is kind of funny in a 2 year old voice, I thought I better watch the other things I say when I think she isn't listening!!!

home tour

This weekend and next are going to be busy for us and I wanted to share. My husband is participating in the local Parade of Homes. He is one of the builders who will have his latest project judged and the public is welcome to come tour the homes on Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 for the next two weekends for free. He has just finished up this custom home for a nice couple who will be moving into it in just a few weeks. If you are in the Asheville area, you should check out the parade of homes. It is really a fun time to see inside all of these great houses and get lots of good ideas. So wish us luck, because it could be good for business and maybe he will even win an award!

Here is the link to the parade info and a map to our house too:

Asheville Parade of Homes

Oh and our website is almost complete. I have been working on it for the past couple months with our web designer. Check it out here!

Have a super weekend!

lazy days skirt

A new skirt for little miss using just about the easiest pattern I have tried. You can find the pattern for the lazy days skirt (it's free!) over here. I made it in no time out of a very fine whale pink corduroy and a brighter pink grosgrain ribbon. I am sure more of these will be on the way next spring!

lessons learned

Today I learned that 2 small legos, a teeny tiny hair barrette and a pen cap can indeed cause your fairly new Whirlpool washer to flood and your pump to indeed stop working! Thank you kids for filling up those pockets and giving me yet one more thing to remember! Oh, and one more person to write a check to for fixing it!
Here's to a week of everything working like it should!

perfect weekend

We had the joy of spending 2 uninterrupted days of sewing for Olliekate this past weekend. Let me say, it was just wonderful. It was amazing how time just flew on by but both of us got a ton of things sewn for the upcoming holiday shows we are paricipating in locally and to put on our etsy shop. I even made each of my own kids a new shirt that thankfully got 8 year old approval, which is not easy to come by! A weekend full of great conversation, yummy food and piles of fabric **plus a couple of good chick flicks** is just what I needed. I feel recharged and more on track.

The kids and dad got to go down to Charlotte for our annual trip to the Renaissance Festival with their grandparents so everybody had a great time, not just mama!