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You those patterns that the moment you see them you know you must not only own but sew immediately? It is love at first sewing sight. The Haven Acres Mini Collection (20% off no coupon needed through 2/15) from Jennuine Design was such a pattern for me. Most animals Boston is pretty timid around, but horses are a different story entirely with them she is at total peace and relaxation. You might say she is a bit horse crazy, in her defense it is in her blood.
Recently, Boston celebrated her 3rd birthday and I wanted to do a photo shoot to celebrate her fun personality and this interest of hers. I choose to photograph her at my Grandma's & Grandpa's ranch, it is because of them we learned how to ride and always had horses to use.
PS. If you are wanting to jump to quick tips about Photographing Kids & Animals Safely please click here, scroll to the bottom of the page or you could look at all the cute pictures of Boston in her cute new outfit on your way down.
First up is the Haven Acres Blouse. I have to admit this one was probably the one I was least excited about because Boston is a bit of a knit top girl but then after stitching it up I really came to adore it. And Boston must have as well because she was very committed to leaving it on all day (something we rarely see around these parts any more). I love these sleeves they have great movement for busy little ones and the wrist is gathered but loose enough to be very comfortable. And as the weather continues to approach spring I can see adding at least one short sleeve version to Boston's wardrobe.
I really love the placket on the baby sizes. I am tempted to stitch one up for Silly Sally in the near future because they really are So Darling!
The neckline bias is explained well through very clear diagrams that would make it clear, and perfect for a confident beginner even if you had never used bias tape to finish a neckline before. The keyhole facing gives beautiful results each time. I love that the elastic waistband is completely enclosed so it won't rub on your little ones stomach. It is really a quick sew for those delicious light weight wovens you have in your stash. I think it would be a such a cute top to take to a baby shower, it really would stand out against all the traditional bodysuits.
For Boston's top I made the size 3T, I didn't add any additional height but I did do my hem at 1/2" instead of the 1" in the pattern. 
15 sizes on Haven Acres Blouse Pattern newborn-12Y (reg. price $.54 per size - sale price $.42 per size) = $8 reg./$6.40 sale until 2/15
She loves dressing up and playing pretend with her brother, the Sweet Pea Cap is darling without being too costumey. I am a rookie of hats I was so pleased with myself when I finished my final cap with how professional it looked. I used the facing piece in the rim of my hat and I love the stability this gives the hat. My hat is a size Medium, but I probably would have been safe with a Small. I just wanted to make sure that no matter how I did her hair it would fit without any fusing (she has a tendency to be a bit of a threenager from time to time). I knew it was a successful sew when her older girl cousins both already requested matching hats for their birthdays.
5 sizes on Sweet Pea Cap 3M-7Y+ (Head circ. from 17-21) (reg. price is $1 per size - $.80 per size)= $5 reg./$4 sale until 2/15
The Dressage Leggings are my personal favorite of the Haven Acres Collection. I have tried and owned other leggings patterns but after sewing several versions of the Dressage Leggings I can safely say not all leggings patterns are created equal. I love that Jenn has put in both a high rise on sizes newborn through 3T for cloth diapers & a regular rise for sizes 2T-12. In addition to the dressage style she has also added in a basic legging pattern. I am grateful for this additional pattern pieces because after making this pattern I would have a hard time using any other legging pattern. I love the use of flat felt seam on the dressage line. It makes it very comfortable for your little one to wear.
I loved watching Jenn's commitment to getting this pattern perfect as we as testers went through 10 versions of the leggings together (the other patterns had several versions but not even close to the amount of tweaking she had to do to get the perfect legging pattern, her patience and critiquing these pieces was astounding). For Boston's leggings I did a mix of a 2T width and 3T length, since her waist is in the 2T measurements and she is a 3T height. The way the pattern is nested this is not difficult to do even on the dressage version.
17 sizes on Dressage Leggings newborn-12Y (reg. price $.52 per size - sale price $.42 per size)=$9 reg. price/$7.20 sale until 2/15
Each one of these patterns comes with professional diagrams & print by size options (something that makes me want to jump up and down with glee each time I use a pattern that has this).



I spent a great deal of my youth on horses and around farm animals of all shapes or sizes. I thought it might be fun to come up with some quick tips for photographing kids & animals safely. I will mostly be directing my advice to specifically to horses but many of the tips can be used with other animals as well.
5 Quick tips for Photographing Kids & Animals Safely:
1. Know the personality of the animal you will be photographing.
Some animals are stunningly beautiful but due to personality or breading they might not make the best candidate for a photo shoot. If you don't know the animal personally you will want to ask these questions of the owner: Are they high spirited? Do they scare easily? Are their situations that make them uneasy?
An example of this is in my youth, I had a horse that was very good natured and a joy to ride she would run for hours, her gate was smooth and while on her you felt as though you were flying. She was very obedient and took commands easily. For all her strengths she was very afraid of arenas and shyed quite easily with loud noises or crowd; even though she was the fastest, prettiest horse I ever owned I was not able to use her in riding club or other public events. This was for both of our safety and enjoyment. You will want to get a feel for the spirit of the animal long before the photo shoot and if possible have the child spend time with the animal before the camera is going to make sure their personalities work well together.
The animal I used for this photo shoot is named Pet, she is a miniature horse not pony (I personally don't prefer the temperaments of ponies I find them much to stubborn). Pet has a very calm and easy disposition. I liked the idea of using her over a full sized horse because she is not large and she does not make large movements. Boston has been on full sized horses before and never had a problem but this has been with two adults on either side, I knew that I wanted my photo shoot to be more interactive and less scripted than what it would have had to been with a larger animal. With an older kid easily a larger horse would have worked with a similar photoshoot, again taking into account the disposition of the horse.
2. Clear your schedule on the day of the photo shoot. 
A popular quote in the horse world (but I feel like it applies to most small children as well) from Monty Roberts is, "If you act like you've only got fifteen minutes, it will take all day. Act like you've got all day, it will take fifteen minutes." You really need to keep a zen calmness to your photo shoot for everyone's safety. The animals and the children will be able to feel your tension if you are trying to push a deadline. This uneasiness at best could ruin your pictures but at worst could put the safety of the child or animal at risk.

This is an example of Pet and Boston getting to know each other. See how up in Boston's space Pet gets, she is getting a sense of weather she is friend or foe. While this was happening we were coaching Boston on what Pet was saying by sniffing her.

Don't worry if you have to take a few minutes to let the animal and the kid get acquainted, horses get their sense about people by smelling so have the child put their hand flat near the nose of horse, then let the horse be the one to come smell. After this you might encourage the child to blow softly into the nostrils of the horse (only do this if your child is comfortable with it), this gentle blowing is very similar to horse to horse to communication and is a great way to put the horse at ease. You will want to talk to the owner about this before doing it because some horses are a little nimbly and you don't want your little one getting nimbled at.
I really didn't stylize my pictures I just let the two of them do their thing with a little directed movement on locations in the pasture. I had my mom help me get them to the right position in the pasture so I could make the pictures. I don't think it took me more than 20 minutes to photograph this session and 15 minutes might be a better estimate.

3. Have a knowledgeable assistant(s) to help you keep everything calm. 
I am usually one to do photo shoots with just me and my kids while the hubby is at work, sometimes this is a little crazy. But I knew going into this photo shoot to be safe it was not one that I was going to do alone.
My mom has grown up around horses and without her help this photo shoot wouldn't have been possible. She helped me prepare the horse for photo shoot and was just outside of the frame (in the riding pictures she was the one hold the lead rope) whole time to keep Boston safe. If Boston held the rope wrong where Pet could have dragged her, Mom quickly corrected the problem. If for a second we would have noticed Pet get uneasy she would have been there to swoop her to safety. Jo helped watch Ryder so that he wasn't adding distraction to the session, which takes me to my next point.
4. Minimize distractions. 
Other animals or people could be distracting to the safety photo shoot. We moved Pet into an empty pasture with no other animals, often times animals can get each other rowdy (much like little kids at a play place). You are more likely to monitor their behavior if they are on their own. A good sign of how the horse is feeling is the direction their ears are facing. If they are frontward facing they are usually at ease, if there ears are pinned back they are very stressed and if they are moving front to back quickly they are uneasy. It would be very easy to miss these subtle signs if there were distractions.

5. Be mindful of weather conditions.
Animals moods are greatly effected by the weather. I have seen this especially true with horses and wind. Horses frequently will run with large gusts of wind. Your kid will probably apperciate nice weather as well!

Hope you enjoyed the Haven Acres Mini Collection pictures as much as Boston enjoyed doing this photo shoot. I would say it was her favorite location photo shoot ever!

When I signed up I had planned for it to just be a Ty and I look, but I ended up doing the over ambitious thing and adding baby Sally to the mix. But I'm really glad I did. I blog for the pictures and so I'm glad to have these portraits and relationships to treasure and once again the awesome photography skills of Scary. If you can't tell we're all pretty crazy about each other.
I was able to size down the 12 month a little to fit my 6 month old. Luckily I was able use the original sleeves to make new sleeves. I also dissected the front pattern piece horizontally and added seam allowances to get a color blocked look and add an extra flash of color.  The bottom part I nearly doubled the width so that it would gather nicely. Sally didn't have any pants that would work with the outfit so I whipped up a pair of the Haven Acres riding pants that are currently in testing. I also made a headband using a soft 1/4" elastic and some knit scraps.
The first thing Ty did when she put it on her Otium Sweater was to stuff her cousins' toy Giraffe and Babbit (rabbit) in the pocket together and pretended to be a mama kangaroo. We're just catching a pretty bad cold and she has also used this cozy sweater to combat the chills.
I decided to pick my colors to give it an almost fancy baseball tee styled top. I wish I would've sewn the next size up, but I probably wont always feel like that as I continue to tighten up that tummy and hopefully lose some of that extra baby weight. I'm not super busty so I measured a Medium, but no one has a stomach measurement on sizing chart which probably would of put me in a large. I moved the location of the bow and took out some of the width so that it made the back show a little less for my personal preference. I really love this shirt. It's so interesting to look at.
This was such a fun pattern to sew up for each of this because it was easy to modify for individual preferences. Ty wasn't a fan of the hole in the back with the bow, but was in love the front pocket. I loved the bow, but didn't find the pocket ideal for me. I chose the bow for Sally because I know it's essential to have easy on and off tops. There's also the option of just a simple top.
Yep, I'm pretty sure this pattern is worth dancing for, but be sure you check it out for yourself and see what the other talented seamstresses came up with and maybe take a few moments to enter the giveaway.

As we mentioned before our momma always did Valentine's Day right with us kids to where it was one of our favorite holidays. We (Al & Scary) took the opportunity of participating in Girls Bundle UP! tour to show our love to our girls. Don't worry we have some boy love coming next month, but today is all about the girls.
Why bundle up? The Math...
Now let us speak honestly for a moment, we are not being paid to say any of these things we don't make any sort of a commission or affiliate sale from you purchasing the pattern. We were given the two patterns you see sewn up here for review, which is a fairly common agreement between bloggers and blog tours. But we have put our money where our mouth is and are purchasing 6 additional patterns from this bundle. Okay now that we are clear on that we can continue on with why we think if you are a mom of girls you should seriously be consider purchasing.
Over here at the Shaffer Sisters we love pattern bundles of all sorts; what an affordable way to pick up patterns. By our best estimations, over 50% of the patterns we own we have purchased through pattern bundles. Although, we think it might be closer to 60%.
Buying patterns as part of a bundle gives you a chance to snatch them up at prices you might never ever be able to see again. The full price on many of these patterns is $9-$10 in order to beat the $4.50 price tag for buying 6-7 patterns that would mean for some designers they would have to give at least a 50% sale if not higher. I don't know about you but we don't often see 50% off sales for many of these designers and we have a cunning watchful eye for picking up patterns.
Another thing we love about the Bundle UP Sale is you don't have to fall victim to the pattern you will never ever use. When we look at purchasing a traditional bundle offered by other sites we usually consider that there is always one-two throw away patterns that we will never ever sew, this brings up the total price of the patterns that we would actually sew. With the Bundle UP you have a choice of disregarding almost half of the patterns (you only have to buy 6 out of the 11 patterns to get the discounted price), so you get to pick and choose the ones that are up your alley. 
Our very favorite thing about the Bundle UP sale is the great size ranges that all these patterns have. We have passed on purchasing similar kids bundles out there because they didn't have great size ranges and though we sew all the time, sometimes it takes us a couple months (or don't tell our husbands, maybe up to a year) to get around sewing a pattern even though we are totally crushing on. These large size ranges gives you flexibility for life and the change in styles from year to year. When we consider a pattern we always try and figure the price per size. This helps us know what gives us the most bang for our buck on each pattern. To help you see what a great deal these prices/size ranges give you we have figured the price per size if you were to select from 6-7 pattern option at $4.50/pattern (if you purchase more than 7 patterns the price per size would go down).
Foo Foo Threads Adeline Knit Cardigan & Dress
13 sizes = $.35 per size

Freestyle Pants, Shorts and Capris by EYMM
19 sizes (plus bonus doll pattern)= $.24 per size

Girls Wideleg Pants by Jocole
15 sizes (plus bonus doll pattern)=$.30 per size

Lilygiggle Cecille Top & Dress
9 sizes=$.50 per size

Love Notions Jam Jams PJ's
9 sizes=$.50 per size

Penny Vintage Coat and Dress from Ellie Inspired
12 sizes=$.38 per size

Potato Chip Skirt by Tie Dye Diva
11 sizes (plus bonus doll pattern)=$.41 per size

Rachel Dress by Modkid
8 sizes=$.56 per size

Sisboom Gabriella Fae Dress & Top
13 sizes=$.35 per size

Violette Field Threads Annabelle Maxi
7 sizes=$.64 per size

Winter Wear Presh Blazer
11 sizes=$.41 per size

Annabelle Dress by Violette Field Threads
The Annabelle Maxi pattern is amazing! It's a show stopper with not too much effort and uses fabrics that everyone has access to. Most show stoppers require something more than cotton so it was exciting to see this. I found my fabric at JoAnn Fabrics, the pink floral and polka-dot fabric are part of the Keepsake Calico Collection and the white is Kona Cotton that I already had on hand. It took me at least an hour to decide on this fabric because I know Ty's preference is purple. There were no interesting purples in any of the cotton so I took a chance on this and hoped that the tiny hints of deep purple flowers would be enough to count as a success.
I was amazed how quickly it came together. The instructions are very clear about explaining how to piece it together to get get the chevron to match up perfectly. Being a quilty person, I was so excited to sew this one up. I always look forward to crossing over piecing and clothing to get a bold look. Ty's chest measurement fit on the 6T size (and somewhere between 5T and 6T on height) and so I sewed a straight up 6T dress. It ended up being too long so I put in a 1" hem. It was still dragging on the ground so I ended up shortening and moving in the sleeves. Now it's probably a little shorter than it was designed, but I find it perfect for the muddy weather that we're facing and the nearly white fabric near the ground.
Ty was in love with this dress instantly. She was only bummed that she had to wait a whole week to wear it so that we could get in the photo shoot. She calls it her Valentine Princess Dress. Now I'm sure she will only take it off for me to wash it. I'm excited about the extra length hidden in the hem because she can wear it for the next two Valentines and then pass it onto her cousin.

Jam Jam Pajamas by Love Notions
For my Valentine's Day look I chose to make Boston some Jam Jam PJ's, I went to the store with one thing in mind and came out with these light weight slinky knits that are Boston's very favorite shades of pink. I thought that it would make the most comfortable pj's on the planet. I didn't realize that this pattern called for medium stable knit. I don't know if the lightweightness (let's pretend for a second that is a word) of the fabric made my pj's much larger fitting than they should have been.
Boston recently jumped in chest measurement to 21 inches and a height of 38.5" safely putting her in the 3T sizing but they seemed to fit her cousin who is in the size 5 better than it did Boston. We have sewn lots of Love Notions patterns here and have not seen this issue with sizing on her other patterns which makes me wonder if it was a mistake in my fabric choice.
I did make two modifications to the pattern; instead of cutting the bottom ruffles straight, I used my cake dome to cut a circle ruffle for a lighter feel (I used this tutorial here as a guide). I also did not hem the bottom of the shirt because with the extra bigness I wanted to make sure that when it fit her well it would still be long enough.  I embroidered little flowers all over the front bodice randomly to match her "mine" (her one and only blanket) and Minkee sheet. I did a bunch of embroidery one night when she was in bed and when she discovered it the next day she didn't want to take it off for me to finish. Luckily I was able to retrieve it long enough to knit interface the back side of each flower so the light weight fabric could handle the weight of the embroidery floss. Overall she loves them and I think I am going to have a hard time holding on to them until they fit a bit better.
I love this picture because many nights when we send the kids to bed and I poke my head into their bedroom I see Ryder sound asleep and Boston just looking out to the hallway listening to Slim Jim and I talking away. It's like she is afraid to miss a moment of excitement. I really don't know what I would do without this little spit fire. 

This post contains affiliate links. We only will affiliate with companies & products that we personally believe in and agree with their quality standards.

#findmein2015
As there was a month of silence from us sisters, I found myself able to find a little time to contemplate 2015 and what I hope to gain from it. Probably the biggest thing is that I want to find me in 2015. Since getting married in 2009, I have got to be pregnant in every year. My life is consumed with my family and I totally love it, but I want to make sure I'm being the example to my daughters of what a woman should be.
1. Be More Professional
I hope to wake up most days and get on some real clothes (not workout clothes, unless I'm actually going to workout), fix up my hair nice, and try to be that classy woman that Samson came to love. I want to treat motherhood like the professional I am. Every professional has to get up and get ready for the day before going to work and I should too.
2. Sew 2 Items for Me a Month
Part of getting out of the workout clothes and into real clothes is to make sure there's clothes in my wardrobe to wear. It's my goal to sew 2 items for me a month so that by the end of the year I will have 24 different articles of clothing in my wardrobe. This may seem excessive to you, but we've been in the poor college student status for over 5 years and had 3 kids so I'm limited on what I have left to wear that is appropriate for the life of a mom.
To start off this resolution I decided to make the Willow Wrap Dress for myself. It just came out on Wednesday and I was lucky enough to get to test it. Tami from Love Notions worked extra hard on this one and its corresponding top. There are multiple ways to mix up the neckline, but my favorite is the lower nursing accessible neckline since I'm a nursing mama and I love my dresses. The pattern includes an optional modestly panel, but I'm pretty partial to my demi top undershirt so I'll probably just stick to that.  If you can't tell from the picture below, I'm crazy about this dress.
The individual patterns get 15% off with the code 'willow' or the bundled pattern (dress & top) can be purchased for 25% off (no coupon needed for the bundle). These sales go through Sunday.
3. Happier and Healthier 
My final goal is just to "try a little harder to be a little better." Find more moments to laugh with the kids and dance with them to the princess station on Pandora. This final one probably has more to it, but I'm in the midst of figuring what it is.

What are your resolutions?

With Love,
Al

Hello, all we are finally breaking our virtual silence, the hustle and bustle of the holidays sucked us up and we got out of habit of being here. But don't worry we have some great things coming up in the next month and half. Happy 2015, hope you had a great Christmas!

We are starting the new year by reviewing awesome new pattern, "Bottoms up Pants" by If Only Designs (Pattern is available 25% off through 1/18/2015 no coupon needed). With a new addition growing in my belly I couldn't help but jump at the chance to try out this pattern. The pattern is designed to fit Cloth Diapers which is awesome because I am thinking I might give cloth diapering a go this time around. 
This pattern has a great size range for a baby/toddler pattern going from newborn to size 6T, which I can see as a real asset if your kids are as fast at growing as mine have been. It is designed to have a flat front with light/medium weight woven fabrics and can be used with a full waistband on sturdy knits such as sweatshirt fleece or interlock.
For my version of this pattern I had only a little bit of this fabric leftover from a dress I had made from Boston. I didn't want to have to worry about matching prints on the side seam so I overlapped the front and back pattern pieces and did a full elastic band. Then held my breath that I had enough as I tried to keep the chevrons level across both legs. I was exactly perfect but pretty good for off grain fabric scraps.

I was surprised that the pattern only uses a 1/4" inseam because most woven patterns that I have sewn have at least a 3/8" inseam if not a 1/2". I honestly was a little worried about such a narrow inseam but it ended up working to my advantage because I barely squeaked by with what I had on hand of the fabric. It ended up not being hard at all, I didn't find it difficult to finish the edge with a simple zig zag but it would be just as easy to serge right at the edge not cutting anything off. With the way the pattern is designed there is ample room in the seat that I am not worried about the back seam being stressed and tearing.
Silly Sally even decided to put them to the test by rolling all over the Living Room floor.

I think we better ask Sally what she thinks of her new pants?
I guess she likes them!
We are the last stop on the tour and if your on the fence about this pants pattern just look over all the other awesome pants that have been made on this tour with this pattern.  

It's the most wonderful time of the year when new pajamas and filled stocking are almost a requirement. This year to start off the season, I made these ruffled pj's for Ty using a pattern from Once Upon a Sewing Machine. They are running a sale through Saturday Dec.6 and you can get it for $5.00 (no coupon needed). Ty is crazy about these pajamas. Since I put them on her 2 days ago she has refused to take them off. They are the perfect mix of functional and girly. She loves the ruffles and flowiness.
My only regret in sewing it up is that I didn't make the skirt of the blouse about 3 inches longer. Ty has a fairly long torso and it doesn't quite cover her tummy all the time. It may be the way the flannel lays that adds to making it too short.
That being said, I love these pajamas. My plan is to take this two part pj's and turn it into two sets of pajamas. The top I'm going to add two more layers of flannel and do a solid hombre effect and turn it into a nightgown. Then I'm going to make a knit shirt to go with the pants.
Since they were ruffled pj's. I decided to go with that theme and do a banded ruffle on the bottom of the pants instead of a straight cuff. I'm glad I did the ruffles on the pants because Ty loves them. If you like this pattern, you should know that the fit on these pants are awesome! There's no weird puckers in the crotch and the length is perfect. I can't say the same thing for all pajama pants I've made in the past. It is currently my favorite woven pj pants pattern and I only wish the sizing went past size 6.
Because I'm a symmetrical kind of gal I did the ruffle on both the front and the back of the bodice. This was another small deviation from the original pattern. The back is finished off with a button enclosure. They are the first buttonholes I've done in a year since my Orchid Damask Coat for flip this pattern. Buttonholes on my machine freak me out. Although I have a one step button hole machine, if everything is not just right on it my machine ties knots. I only had to seam rip and redo buttonholes twice on this project.
I did love how the pattern said if buttons were too frightening you could always opt out and just use snaps instead. It seems like KAM snaps have been my saving grace lately, but since there were only three buttons I decided to take my chances.
The pajamas were made with flannel that recently got for 75% off so it definitely didn't break the bank to make. I'm really, really excited about these pajamas. I think they turned out awesome and I'm excited how well they were received by Ty. Lately she has been pretty picky about what she wears so its nice when she loves something enough to never want to take it off. If you don't have a little girls pajama pattern to turn to, this could be a really good option for you. It can either be used as a 2 part set or easily turned into a nightgown. I have another one cut up ready to sew that is going to be a nightgown with the pants shortened so that they are pantaloons underneath.
You should check out the other cute creations from this fun pattern if you like what you see.
With Love,
Al