http://twopeasinapoddesigns.site.shutterfly.com/

A new share site I started to show off my portfolio! And I just added 28 new items to the gallery plus info about Trunk Shows.

Check it out!

I have found myself daydreaming lately of the beach...my favorite spot on earth. I've been visiting this place since I was 2 years old and this year, we didn't go because of our new baby. So today, I started searching for good deals to take a trip down late this fall. Hopefully, we can make it happen because all I can think about is just sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand and reading a book - the smells, the sounds, the wind - how it feels. Ahhh...just dreamin' of the beach. We spent last Thanksgiving at West Palm Beach and Disney while I was early in my second trimester. Nice but I love "my" beach in NC. I think I can only go about 6-9 months before I feel a physical need to be back at the beach - a need to be recharged by what nature offers there.

You'd think I'd be doing more than just daydreaming at this moment. My parents have my girls for a few days. It was SUPPOSED to be a few days off for me but instead, story of the life of a parent, it's been less than that. I drove them down south yesterday and when we arrived - of course, my one daughter had a fever by the time we got there of 103'! I left one of the twins with my parents, took the other one home. A 3 hour round trip. Next day, she wakes up fever free. Get ready to make the trek down south again to my parents and she spikes a fever late in the day. I give her Motrin, warn my Mom she's still got some fever and take her anyway. She was dying to go and see her sister. Another 3 hour round trip. So, today, almost kid free (the baby is only 3 months so she's pretty easy!) I should be cleaning house, laundry, post office trip, sewing notions shopping and grocery shopping but instead...I'm daydreaming about the beach and looking up what deals on houses they have and what is available. Again, ahh.....the beach.

On the "production" side of my life...I've been working on some accessory bags. I made a couple of accessory bags with the snaps. I also have a new style of a wristlet I've named for my friend who suggested the style so she'd have a bag to hang on her golf bag. It's called the "Joans out to lunch with the ladies" wristlet - I took a stash up to the Harvest Moon Coffeehouse for sale last week. I'm going to work on more of the wristlets this week. I'll post some photos later of that.

Right now, "trash kitty" is doing her howling at the front window routine...cue to go feed her.

To the post office

I woke up this morning and thought I'd get one more bag done and take the whole load to the post office. However, waking up was one thing I didn't do very well today. I did get a tote made. I did get everything packaged here to go out to the post office. I just didn't actually make it out the door to the post office today. And I found out, I have a legitimate excuse for being lazy!

All day today, from the 6am feeding of my 3 month old through the afternoon, after every feeding, I felt like falling asleep with her. And did...after 3 of her feedings. She only nurses 6 times a day so...really, uh, I slept a lot. Took a nap after the 6am feeding. Slept about 30 minutes out on the hammock this afternoon while my "two peas" played on the slip and slide. And then, because my studio is the coolest room in the house, I fell asleep down there after another feeding. My studio doubles as our guest room so I have double bed in there...love it! Sew, sleep, watch tv in there. I even ate breakfast in my studio today.

Anyway...I woke up and continued to read my book, "The Baby Whisperer". It says, if you're sleepy after nursing, it's because you're dumping a hormone called oxytocin. Who knew!? I'm not just lazy - I have a real tangible excuse for sleeping all day. I LOVE it! Guess what the book said to do to remedy it?! Sleep! Again, LOVE IT!

Funny thing was, when I came upstairs after napping again - it was 5:40pm...everyone in my house was asleep. One of the "peas" was in the family room , asleep in a chair, the other one was laying next to her Daddy in bed, they were both snoring. Needless to say, being blurry eyed yet again, this has been the year of "take out" dinners. Horrible to say but we eat out almost twice a week. Tonight was no exception - some mediocre Chinese food from the local takeout (when what I really wanted was some lettuce wraps). Between a rough pregnancy and then the newborn, cooking has not been at the top of my list of accomplishments. My new years resolution that I'm resolving now in July - go back to what we used to do - eat out once or twice a month, not a week. Ugh...can't wait for the "homegrown" goodies to start coming from the garden so we can munch on fresh, good food!

*Note to self, kiss the gardener to thank him for his hard labor! Love fresh veggies!
Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs

C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

Here are a couple of bags ready to go to San Diego for an order. The tote is going to a fantastic woman who works at the naval hospital in San Diego and works with the soldiers returning from Iraq. She thought her guys in therapy would get a kick out of her carrying a bag in camo!. She's a pretty amazing lady and I hope she loves her new bags ;>)

I hate zippers. I’m not ashamed to say it. I’ll say it again. I hate zippers. I really have this love hate thing going with zippers. I love them on my bags. I hate putting them in. They quietly taunt me as I pull and struggle to line things up and put everything in proper order. In the end, I’m victorious but the process is enough to kill me. That’s how it will happen, I’m certain. My husband will come down to my studio one day and find me slumped over my sewing machine…one hand gently across a zipper, in the other hand, grasped tightly in my fist, my seam ripper. The look on my face will be…teeth gritted together and my eyes in a rage. And then he’ll know…it was… it was…the zipper!

Ok, photo one. The pile of thread that went in and back out of Jens bag. More seam ripping than I care to admit to. Photo two, the bag that Jen will, and I do mean without hesitation, MUST, either will to her sons future wife as a priceless heirloom OR be buried with, clutching in her dead hands to take with her into the next life because with the amount of stitches in this bag, it will most definitely last her through at least 9 lives.

Let me share with you my day. The day that will be known from here ‘til eternity as “the 12 hour zipper day”. So, I took my lovely girls and their girlfriend to daycamp at our church. I then met my wonderful husband at our local coffeehouse and we shared a veggie wrap that was, oh, so scrumptious. We sat by the front door and had a front seat to chat with everyone coming in. Chatted up the local jeweler, saw our accountant, talked to one of the lifeguards from the pool. My husband and I parted ways. He went to run some errands. The baby and I went home to start sewing.

I text my friend Jen and tell her I’m starting to make the purse she ordered and asked if she wanted to come over and keep me company while I make it…fully assuming I’ll be done with it in time to pick up my kids in the afternoon from camp. About 11am, I get started. Jen shows up around 1pm. In that two hours, I don’t even get the whole purse cut because I had to feed the baby AND the crop duster buzzing the house…ohh, that’s a whole other story…but it took up some of my time and started my endless hours of frustration.

I get fully immersed in making the purse and I’m quite proud of myself at first. Check out the front of it…nice, eh? Cute little pocket on the front with a snap flap. Love the use of the bias tape for trim – looks sharp. Then it was time to go get my kids. Pick them up and leave them at their friends house for an hour and a half – I continue sewing. I start in on the zipper. ..or I should “the zipper”. Sew a seam, tear it out, sew a seam, tear it out. Gussets don’t line up. Strap is twisted. Don’t catch a piece of fabric. There’s a gap. I lost count of how many times I tore out the seams. No exaggeration, I think it was 20 times along the zipper area. Did I mention I hate zippers? Yeah, so seriously, we take a break and Jens family and mine head to the local Skyline for a 5 way fix. Good stuff. (LaRue, if you’re reading this – I know you’re drooling. Mmm, skyline, coney dogs, cheese and onions…mmmm).

Come home, Jen follows and we start again. My husband is left alone to get the two grubby ones who were in camp all day, cleaned up and off to bed. The crop duster returns. I’m imagining a machine gun mounted from my studio window so I can shoot it down. Buzzing the top of my house for a total of two hours today – big sigh and a shake of my head and a few choice words hurled his way in the sky. I tear out the various seams about a dozen more and more and more times. A couple of whip stitches here and there and finally, 9:30 ish at night…the purse is done. Did I mention I hate zippers? Some day, I will be the master of zippers and when I am, I’ll remember this 12 hour zipper day and how it took 5 years off my life and I’ll just throw my head back and laugh. Not. I told Jen she better just put stuffing in the bag and make it look like she has it full of her junk and carry it in her car so that everytime I see her, she shows me how much she is totally lovin’ this bag. Vera Schmera! Two Peas rule!

Lately, I have been a terrible wife. Just had a baby, cranky, moody, just unappreciative of all the wonderful things my husband does. Last night, was no exception. One of my daughters asked me about a dish... I was too lazy to get it, and so I told her to get one from the dishwasher since I had not unloaded it since they were cleaned. Much to my delight, when she opened it, it was empty.

Just after that, my other daughter came in from being outside with her Dad, and said, "for you Mommy from Daddy". It was this rose. He had just watered the plants outside and it still had water droplets on it that looked like tiny diamonds. Simple pure pleasures that make me smile and feel all warm inside. When I think about what heaven will be like one day, moments like this are how I imagine it. Simple pleasures, warmth of love, acts of kindness so good they make me cry. (of course, that could also be my raging hormones but this husband of mine - I love him and love God for bringing him to me.)

Here's innocent Olivia, who mostly laid on the porch within 4 feet of the blue jay while he ate for hours at a time. She's 16, just bones and fur, and could care less about anything unless of course it's on our dinner table. Turn your back for 2 seconds and she is either on the table or in the trash digging out whatever leftovers were tossed.

Trash kitty as we call her. We grilled out chickens one day and tossed the bones outside in the garbage. Late that night, thinking raccoons were getting into the garbage, my husband chased off whatever was making noise around the can. The next day, we head off for the afternoon and return around dinner time. I notice that Olivia is not doing her usual meow in the front window, go to the back, meow from the back porch, repeat every 3 minutes for an hour, nap, start over, routine. So, about 7pm, I go looking for Olivia. My instincts said, start with the trash can. I open up the lid, and inside was a bag in shreds, contents everywhere, and the greasiest, nastiest, looking gray cat you ever saw. Trash kitty...that's what we call her.

This is Rosie. Rosie the barn cat. Rosie loves her world - lots of birds to prey on. I recently bought Rosie a bright pink collar with a bell on it hoping to save a few of those birds. She's learned how to pounce and not ring so much.

The last two weeks there has been a blue jay that frequents our front porch where Rosie and the other cat, Olivia (I'll post a photo of her too) eat their yummy vittles. The blue jay apparently likes cat food because daily, he would show up for hours at a time taking one piece of food at a time.

Last night, the garage door was left open. I woke up when a thunderstorm started and found it open and closed it. It was dark. I didn't look around for any cats, etc. Hey, it was 4am.

This morning, I am ready to head out with my 7 year olds and baby in tow and found that Rosie, the barn cat with the bright pink collar with the bell on it, has left a "gift" for us in the garage, right in the doorway. It was...the blue jay. Apparently, Rosie had enough of his stealing her food and decided she'd put him 6 feet under. He was intact but dead - obviously a murder with meaning...left as a calling card for any other of his blue jay friends that might think about stealing her food. I guess that won't happen, eh?

Such a peaceful scene, isn't it? This is the wallpaper I have on my desktop at work. Speaking of work, the newest addition came with me to work today and I just had to share with everyone - how cool is that?! She's hanging out, talking to me right now and I should be working so this will be short but I had to share...

I think this is a fantastic idea - babies at work. Everyone in my office just smiles when they walk by my office - one bonus. Two, she's super happy because I'm right here to take care of her as soon as she needs anything instead of some stranger she doesn't know. And three, what a money saver! No daycare costs. Moms unite! Check out this link and encourage your employer to allow babies at work. http://www.parentingatwork.org/

Gotta run...an explosion in her pants just went off!

Today I was feeling a little sluggish but still managed to get one of my orders done from the party I did on Friday night. One of the women ordered this crazy colorful stroller quilt.
This was so much fun to put together. I think it turned out great - I'm tempted to keep it for myself!
My girls were trying to quilt with me...they were picking up my scraps and laying them all out for quilts for their strawberry shortcake dolls. I showed them my quilting foot on my machine and talked about seam allowances and pressing the seams...they just wanted me to sew them together. :>) Sometime soon I'm going to show them how to sew on one of my older machines. No doubt, they will be better sewers than me by the time they are teenagers. They are already both fabulous designers. Em especially has the knack for being incredibly creative.

Excited to get to my other orders this week - my friend Jen ordered a great purse with this bumblebee and ladybug print. I'll share it here when I get to it this week.

Tomorrow, back to my "real job" and the girls will be at daycamp all week with a friend. I actually look forward to work knowing that I get to bring my newborn with me. I feel so much more productive because my mind is not wandering missing her so! This baby phase is gone so fast - I don't want to miss one moment of it.

Two Peas in a Pod enters the blogging world!

Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs is blogging! Yea!!

I have been thinking about creating a blog for for awhile now but as with everything else...yikes! Who has time!? My friend Jen convinced me that NOW is the time and so today...I enter the blogging world!

I hosted a home party last night and had a great time with other women who were fantastically excited about fabric like me! One of them introduced me to a new website http://tonicliving.com. Super cool fabrics here!

I created this bag for Jan Kish of La Petite Fleur in Worthington, Ohio. Jan has been featured, I think, on every major television morning show and in tons of books - she makes the most amazing cakes and cupcakes! She made these fantastic cupcakes for my daughters baptism last week. Jan travels with her cakes and creates them on location so I made this bag for her to carry her baking gear. I love this retro kitchen print! And the dots! I can't say this enough...I LOVE love love LOVE dots!

I have a busy week ahead of me - I'll be starting to fill those orders from the party last night. Can't wait to start on the baby quilt that was ordered. I'll post a photo of it here when it's done! Loads of color - yummy!