It's always so much fun to give stuff away and thanks to Simplicity, I have the joy in giving one of you their very fun Bias Tape Maker machine.
Mary Beth you lucky dog - it's all yours!
Next up, Simplicity has these great project books full of fun patterns and plenty of inspiration.
And one last project book to give away...thanks so very much to everyone who participated in this giveaway! Hope you had fun discovering some new products.
Slowly but surely, our lives are getting a little less hectic. If you follow me on Facebook, I update there a heck of a lot more often only because I can do so from my phone in a jiffy. But if you don't, here's the latest shinanigans from our house::
One of the peas, sweet "E", competed in her county 4H sewing competition. She was awarded top model!
She sewed up a version of the Patsy Ann Apron Top using Sherbet Pips. 
I had to physically remove myself from the room after I would instruct her on each step to keep myself from interfering so that in the end, we knew she had really done it 100% all on her own.
She really has a knack for sewing (must be in the genes) and I'm so proud of her. I helped a bit with her accessories. Check out her super cute flip flops! 
If you know how to make these flowers then you can make these too! Word of advice, hot glue does not hold these flowers on. Nor does any craft glue that says it works on plastic. Nor does velcro sticky tabs. I found an industrial glue at our local hardware store - hoping that will do the trick to hold them! (the velcro sticky tabs did the trick through judging at least!)
Swim team for summer rec is officially over! Champs was this past week and sweet pea "L" won her heat in the 25 freestyle. She was so pumped because they actually award you your heat winner ribbon as you exit the pool. 
She was over the moon (nevermind 151 girls competed in this one event...and her time overall fell I think at 97th place). And they have gotten old enough now that I have to consult with them before I share info or photos about them here in this space. They both gave me the thumbs up to share these events and these photos on my blog.
I've been taking a fashion design course at our local art college...and I'm so excited because I'm learning so much about garment pattern design. I've been able to work from sketch to flat paper pattern and into finished garment (well, in theory at least - I'm still working on it). I can't wait to share these new garment patterns later this year.
I guess that's about it...all summer it's been kids, kids, kids...4H, swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, cleaning out the house (remember the garage sale? The aftermath led to me unloading over 15 bins of junk out of my house - my but that feels good!) and enjoying the very hot, busy summer with my family. School starts in about a month, in 3 weeks I'll be back in Cleveland working on segments for It's Sew Easy season 2 (Oh...I do have more to share in another post all about that!), and there are a slew of new patterns on their way.