Thank you to everyone who entered the “Sweets From Smeeks” giveaway!  The winner is:

If you haven’t received an email from me…email me and I’ll give your the prize details!

This next giveaway is open to EVERYONE!!  I had so much fun making this, it was inspired by this dress that Kathleen made.

I’m calling it the Tuxedo Ruffle Set.  The bloomers are made of a medium weight blue shirting fabric, trimmed in a red bias tape.  I love the little ruffles at the legs and the tuxedo ruffle on the top!

The outfit will fit a 6-9month sized baby, the leg elastics are loose and will not leave marks on baby legs!  The onsie ruffle is accented with 2 white flower buttons.

To Enter:

1. Leave me a comment
2.  for an extra entry post this button on your blog, and leave me a second comment telling me you’ve blogged it.

copy & paste the code:

<a href=”http://heatherhalesdesigns.com/blog/winners-tuxedo-ruffle-giveaway/”><img src=”http://www.heatherhalesdesigns.com/images/july_button.jpg”></a>
Winner will be announced Saturday July 24th.

it is dangerous for your waist line to be my friend…. Coconut cupcakes, made with this recipe- used coconut milk instead of regular milk & whipping cream and omitted the cocoa powder.

Finished a birthday gift for one of my friends daughters.

We also bought her a fun melamine plate and sparkle cup to go with it.  I’m betting lunch will be more fun when you get your own special plate and placemat!

Now I’m off to try Jennifer’s meatball recipe!!

and made this for the Urban Home Goods Swap….should be arriving in my partners mail box any second.

I’m really liking these “simplicity” pillows and plan on making more in the future.  Any color suggestions?

Also- for those interested, I did find a dress!  I bought this in white, perfect with a nursing tank and a aqua blue shrug.  I’m thinking of buying this one too.

First, though I need to get a swim suit before I head to California.  Normally I swear by Lands End suits, but this year I am not impressed by anything they’ve got.  Also, I’m at the point in my life where I would like to wear “boy shorts”, love me some extra coverage!  Been scouring the interwebs and not finding what I want.  Where do you get your suits from?

I’m totally loving the ruffled and petal-like tee’s that are in this season.  I’ve been drooling over some of the ones I saw at J. Crew and thought, “I could do that”.  Before I made one for myself I thought I would test one out for my daughter.

I ended up making 2 identical shirts, one for my daughter and her friend.  I picked up the green tees at Walmart for $3 and then snagged a pink t-shirt at Goodwill for a $1; $7 total to make both shirts!

I took the pink shirt from Goodwill and cut out circles using a canning jar lid, I used about 12 circles per shirt (I added 2 more circles to the shirt pictured after I photographed it. I folded the circles and hand stitched them to the shirts.  I thought about making a tutorial for these shirts, but there are many good ones already out there.

I’m happy with the way the shirts turned out and will be making one for myself soon (which really means sometime before july)!

This week has been crazy.  I have accomplished so much in the last 3 days that I feel like it should be friday; but its not….it’s only Wednesday night.  And the laundry is still waiting for me, but I did get the floors partially mopped, so take that messy house!

As I run around like a chicken with its head cut off (good word, who came up with that little idiom?!), the irony is not lost on me that I created this pillow embroidered with the word “simplify”.

Its in the shop, if you too need a gentle reminder to slow down and simplify.

work flow.  i hate starting and stopping.  i’m one of those who can ignore everything and finish a project in a day.  however, my kids…they don’t like that approach.  I always feel I am having to start and stop projects; which if i’m being honest, tends to play with my motivation.

Here is today’s project.

drafting an overalls pattern.  I got as far as cutting the fabric before I had to stop.  Wonder how long it’s going to take me to finish these?  They will be for the shop…hopefully a whole new line of overalls in the next few months will appear.

Yesterday was a good day!  My husband took the older kids for some hiking and I started accomplishing LOTS of things on my “to-do” list.  I also slipped away to Merchant Square where I found a vintage brooch and sewing pattern.

Thanks to some Dr. Pepper I was able to stay up until 1am and finish these little beauties!  They are for a local event happening next week at Smeeks.

Now, if only I could have convinced the children that we should have slept in until at least 9am.  sigh…perhaps I’ll nap with Babers today!

Sewing for little girls is really fun, you can add extra touches to make your pieces special….things like bum ruffles!

I used some Japanese fabric that I had been saving and paired it with some of my Bubble Gum Basics.  I modified the rise on these (because the last time I made them the rise was WAY to high), but I went too far i guess, as the rise is now too short!  I will be unpicking it tomorrow and adding a casing out of the polka dotted fabric to bring the rise up a bit.

I still think they turned out super cute!  Next up, the little one needs a jacket…i’m thinking linen with embroidery.

an easter dress for the baby, (yes, I know easter isn’t until april).  Still needs a hem and some buttons.

girl scout cookies…i’m hiding a box just for me; shhh, don’t tell.

an afternoon spent at the bowling alley & having Auntie join us for dinner!

“The pediatrician checked her this saturday morning and said she looked better than 99% of the other RSV patients he was treating and that she was ready to go home.  Her lungs are clear (as they have been the whole time we were there) and her mucus levels were better.  He is confident that if we suction her at home before feedings she will do well.  She will have a residual cough for about another 10 days he thinks and wants to see her in the office on Monday.

I am grateful to be home, a bit nervous, hope that I can keep her healthy and keep the big brother and sister germs away from her!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and well wishes, thank you for the meals and the phone calls.  It is so humbling to have such wonderful friends and family, thank you again.”

That is the email I sent to family & friends yesterday after babers got home from the hospital.  To say this weekend has been an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement.  I fluctuate between giant tears running down my face to feeling competent and able to care for my family.  Really, I am completely overwhelmed at the thought of caring for a sick newborn and two other kids.

She is doing well today, keeping her feedings down and eating a bit more than yesterday, I currently have an arsenal of milk in my freezer!  This afternoon while the little one slept:

husband: “oh you are sewing”

me: “no, this is needle therapy”

It felt good to sit alone with my thoughts and to stitch.  These are meant to be conversation heart cookies, I stitched them up as a special gift for a special friend. Here is my tutorial for basic felt sugar cookies, you can easily adapt it to hearts.

thank you again for all your prayers and concern…