And the Winner is......

I finished my errands, and after fighting with my daughter's laptop for a bit (she takes after my mom and manages to find every virus in the world and gets it on her computer), I was able to sit down and generate a number for a winner! I used random.org for a random number from 1-20(the number of blog comments). And I got ........13!

 

And that makes the winner..... Aid Castillo Misigoy!! Congratulations! And thank you to all you participated. I am hoping to do another give-a-way after the holidays.

Preparing for our Next Trip...and a give-a-way!

This month, my boutique group, Main Street Boutiques, had a Movie Night launch and I offered up 2 dresses to be auctioned off. The first was a beautiful Christmas dress made with a brand new pattern called the Lauren. I love this new pattern! It has so many possibilities...puffy sleeves, no sleeves, long sleeves, 3 different necklines, 2 types of aprons...It is awesome! The Christmas dress I actually made for my daughter for our upcoming trip this December, but offered to do a custom made one.

The Christmas tree is hand appliqued with several machine appliqued mickey ornaments and some mickey button ornaments! The bodice is the new Lauren, but the skirt is actually the Grace by the same pattern designer.

 

The back of the bodice has several rows of elastic for a better fit. I added length for a bigger bow, because I love long tails!  Two rows of ruffles on the back and a large bottom ruffle.

The second dress I auctioned off was an Aristocats dress. I found the perfect fabric for the dress and had to go with the Lauren pattern again. This time I used only the Lauren for the whole dress. The skirt has an apron with an applique of Marie on it. The bodice has the Aristocats logo on it.

  I have made several new shirts this month as I have been testing designs for froufroubyheathersue. She does great designs and I love her new line of Christmas characters.

Christmas Ariel!

Christmas Daisy

Christmas Minnie

Christmas Tink

My daughter has a new crush this month and it is Luigi from Super Mario. For her 9th birthday she wanted a Super Mario theme and she helped design this dress for her party. I think she will get plenty of use out of it!
  

Now, you have read this far and you deserve a reward! I am doing a give-a-way this month. I will make, for one lucky fan, 1 lounge set for a child from size 1-14!  Included is a pair of easy fit flannel pj pants and an appliqued top. I have several fabrics to choose from including Perry the Platypus, Tiana and Tinkerbell..along with some winter themed designs! The lounge set will be custom made to the winner's measurements and will be mailed within 5 weeks. 

How to enter!!! 
1. Like my facebook page: Sara Ashley Boutique
2. Share my Facebook page
3. Share my Blog
4. Leave a comment below. Be sure to include who you hope to have the free pj's made for!
5. On October 24th I will use the Random Generator to choose a number to decide the winner.

Thank you and Good Luck!!!!!

Summer Sewing Rushes by!

 This summer I decided to try out a design on a tech shirt. I am running the Princess Half Marathon in February at WDW and wanted a shirt to show I was training for it. I found a design someone posted on facebook and had a great friend digitized it for me and VOILA! Instant cute training shirt! I decided to do my first one on the back so when people are passing me (yes, slow runner here), they can read it!

New Princess Running shirt!

Close up of design.

Well, after posting a pic for my shirt on a running page on facebook, I got a ton of requests to make them! I have made at least 25 of them so far and am still going strong! I have also made them on different colors as the local supply of pink shirts slowly got depleted! Here it is on black! I like this one!

On a black shirt!

 I then got a request for a set of them for a bachelorette party! These came out so cute and I love the pics I got to see of them from the DL princess half!

Princes C2C Bachelorette Party!

  A special one for the bride to be! Hers had her future name on the back of the shirt!

Princess C2C Bacherlorette party bride shirt!

In between all the craziness I made myself a bag! I found this pattern on the internet here Great Bag Pattern. It has 2 zippers but were really easy to do (and I hate zippers!) I am planning on making a Disney version and a special version for DD.

 In August I went to NC to meet a bunch of friends that sew. Some I had never met IRL before but have known for years through the Disboards and facebook. I had a fantastic time! During the meet we exchanged AG doll outfits. This is the one I made for the swap! It is a doll version of the Feliz, but much easier and less time consuming!

Also in August I participated in a launch on facebook. I made 2 outfits for the launch. This first one I actually sold 3 of! It is one of my favorite dresses so far. There are 6 princesses on the dress and each princess has her fabric displayed before her!

My other launch outfit is this great Star Wars set! It is a swing top that is closed in the back, and a  patchwork twirl skirt! This one didn't sell yet and is still for sale! 

I am working on a new running shirt design and some new ideas! Come visit me on my facebook page at Sara Ashley Boutique! I will be having a give-a-way coming up and details will be posted here and on facebook!

And I sew some more!

Recently, Sara Ashley Boutique participate in a great launch with other boutiques on facebook!  It was a ton of fun and there were some great outfits sold! 

I wanted to make something I have never made before.  A few months ago, I scored some great Haunted Mansion fabric on a destash board.  I had been hoarding it trying to decide what to do with it. Well, I finally decided to try a strip work dress using some great designs by Froufroubyheathersue! She has some of the best designs! 

This dress has 9 appliques!  That's right!  9! It features all 3 hitchhiking ghosts, the widow, some flying ghosts and the HM sign! And some great fabrics! 

 I had some Rapunzel fabric left over from our Disney trip and I found this cute purple fabric that reminded me of the lanterns from the movie.  So I threw together this cute insa skirt with an appliqued top.  I love those princess cameos!

And of course it had to have ruffles on the back!

Another great fabric find!  I found this on clearance and have been hoarding it since.  It is the prettiest princess fabric I have ever seen! I love the flowers all over it! This is the precious dress and had great puffy sleeves and a bow on the back! It is a size 4 (it is a little short on my 8 year old.)

Great bow on the back!

Currently I am working on another Haunted Mansion set, then I am off to work on a new Star Wars set!  I love the new Star Wars fabric that Joanns is now carrying.  I bought almost a whole bolt of it!

New Outfits!

We recently took a trip to Disney and of course my princess needed some new customs too! Even though she is 8, she still loves all things frilly and girly!  I love that I can sew for my little one still! 

First, we had to repurpose a dress I made years ago.  It became too small, so 2 years ago I redid the bodice to a larger size.  This year, I decided to just make the bottom of the dress into a skirt and add a top.  I think this skirt still has plenty of life left in it!  It has over 100 squares of fabric and 26 of the squares have embroidered characters on it!  

Next up we needed something with lots of ruffles, the color blue and Cinderella!  I love the Feliz, even though it takes a ton of fabric and time to complete. My princess decided to go with Minnie as Cinderella and Mickey as the prince.  I love this Sisboom fabric and had to use it with the dress!  She got sooo many compliments on this dress at the parks. And she even managed to keep the front clean!

 Check out all those ruffles! 8 rows of ruffles!  2 different Sisboom fabrics! And a lot of work!

Now, you may know that Phineas and Ferb are appearing at Hollywood Studios now.  WEll, we are big fans of the show!  We watch it together!  You can even catch me and dh watching it when the kids are in bed!  So, I had to make a Phin and Ferb outfit and I found another great Sisboom fabric online that I loved! This is an insa skirt and it features 6 of the characters from the show. (Doof and Candace are not pictured here)

Rapunzel is now my dd's second favorite princess so we needed another princess dress. This dress features Rapunzel, Pascal, Flynn, Maximus and the tower!  And we love how Pascal is in his special dress from the opening song! Rapunzel LOVED this dress at the park!  

Back of dress!  

We love Epcot and I found these cute children from around the world appliques.  Added some Micheal Miller fabric and it was perfect!  We had complete strangers come up to us in the park and take pictures! It was a little odd!

For the first time ever, we visited Universal Studios.  We only went because we are all Harry Potter fans. I got REALLY lucky and found some HP fabric!  And I love this cute appliques of Harry, Ron and Hermoine! 

We had a really great trip even if the princess got Strep Throat halfway through.  A midnight trip to the urgent care and she was feeling soo much better by the next afternoon.  Antibiotics really do work wonders! 

Bags, Towels and Dolls!

As Christmas time approached this year, I kept adding items to my to-do list!  It never seemed to get any smaller..  I think next year I will start my Christmas to-do list a few months earlier! Some last minute gifts include this bag set for my sister in law. This is another Rosetta bag.  I love this pattern. It goes together so easily!  I also make her a matching tissue case and a cell phone case.

My daughter bought some towels for her grandma (my mother-in-law) and I told her I would monogram them for her.  We found this awesome font that matches her bathroom and I did the towels in her first initial.  She loved them!  I can't wait till our next visit to see them hanging up.

After I made the girls their pjs, I decided I needed a pair!  I have worn these every night since Christmas eve!  They are my favorite pj's now!

Finally, dd really wanted some new clothes for her AG dolls.  I refuse to pay the outlandish prices for them that AG wants, so I whipped these up on Dec. 22!  Nothing like cutting it close! Matching pjs for Kirsten.

A reversible A-line for Kanani!  I finally cut into my beautiful Jennifer Paganelli fabric!

 Other side of A-line.

A cowgirl outfit for Kanani.  She got a horse for Christmas!

A princess outfit for Kirsten!

 And a Christmas outfit for Natalie!  The skirts are reversible!

Christmas Gifts and Customer Requests!

Christmas is getting close now and I have stopped taking custom orders, but I did tackle some last minute stockings for a friend.  She has one for herself that her grandmother made her when she was a baby and wanted ones made for her dd and dh.  She wanted the same style, but different fabrics.  I whipped these up one evening and I may have to remake ones for my family!  I did quilt them first and then embroidered the names.

As I was playing on the computer last week I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make some simple gifts for the other teachers I work with.  I needed some that I could whip up quickly!  I posted my dilemma to my friends and took the first response....pocket tissue holders!  So, I embroidered initials on some scaps and made these for the other 3 teachers and the director.  I may have to make some for family now!  And I will be offering them in my etsy store starting mid-February!

The other strange looking item is really neat!  It is a cell-phone charging station!  You plug your cell phone charger into the wall through the hole and it will hang there.  Then you put the phone in the pocket!  Keeps your phone off the counters and floors!  Great for traveling or for people like me who plug their phone in the kitchen where the counters are always a mess! I made these for my assistant and the other assistant who is also a close friend!

Another cell phone charger station.  I will also be offering these in my etsy store starting mid-February!

My next project were these cute camera/cell phone cases!  I love how they sew up and they are the perfect size.  I made these for my assistant and my friend.  My friend was able to fit her smaller cell phone and camera in the bag at the same time!  I can fit my android in it nicely too!  Look for these in my Etsy store soon!

I LOVE Christmas.  The decorations, the presents, the food, and just being with family during such a wonderful and blessed time of the year.  So, when my assistant commented to me that she didn't have a Christmas shirt I knew I had to make her one!  This came out so cute!

Finally I have some gifts for some very special little ones.  Last year I had the pleasure of teaching the cutest twin boys that I have come to love.  Their family is very sweet and I feel I became close with them.  They are moving back north and I was saddened to know I won't see them anymore.  Mom had to drive up by herself with 2 four year old boys, an 8 year old girl and a dog!  So, I made this cute colored pencil tote for the girl ( the boys each got one at the end of the preschool year last year.)

I also made these great I-SPy bags.  Inside the bag is a bunch of little items like buttons, coins, etc. There is also a card attached to the handle(not pictured) to show what they need to find.  I made 2 for them to share and hopefully it will give mom a little peace on the long trek back home! I also plan on offering these in my etsy store come springtime!