spring is on its way!

some photos taken a couple of weeks ago as the kids had fun playing in the melting ice rink!











love the late afternoon light slanting through the trees
the exuberance in their movements
the joy in simple things

Chilling out in Aspen!

Last week was school break so we headed to Aspen, Colorado to see family & ski! Unfortunately I only had my point & shoot camera and there was no SD card in it so I only got a few photos but thought I would share them with you.






4 out of 5 - missing the tween! too cool???


DH plays as hard as the kids! On the terrain park with a broken hand from the week before skiing back east!



Oh Yeah!!!

One funny story to share - from the time we were young my grandparents had instilled in us that when you travel, you should look nice. So....I took a bit of care choosing my outfit - nothing too fancy, but no sweats. All went well until the plane touched down at the Vail airport. It was after midnight east coast time and our youngest dozed in the seat next to me. I pulled him onto my lap while the rest of the plane emptied out....before I knew it or could stop it I was greeted with a warm wet feeling on my leg - yep...I had been peed on!

Luckily I had a change of clothes for everyone in my carry-on so I scooted us off the plane & into the restroom to change. Unfortunately, to minimize the space the clothes took up in the carry-on, I had packed my pajama pants as my change of clothes. This meant I got to walk through the Vail airport in cheetah spotted flannel sleep pants! Sorry Grandma & Grandpa! I was just glad the camera was still packed.

I told you it was addictive.........

softies that is! My baby brother recently turned 30 so I wanted to make him something special for his birthday. His wife is living in Paris for the semester as she works on her doctorate and he is very lonely back in Brooklyn so I decided to make him some company. I emailed my SIL and asked her ..."If you were an animal, what animal would you be?"

Fortunately for me, she answered "a cat" - not sure what I would have done if she had answered something more challenging or obscure - cat I could handle!

So I set to work and came up with LuLu - the Parisian Kitty :)









She was a hit with Ben! I just forgot that he had to take her home on the plane...not sure how he explained that as he had not checked any bags - whoops!

Flight of Fancy Collection

I have listed a new collection of skirts on etsy using a fabulous new line of fabric from Paula Prass of Michael Miller. I even have yardage available over at Betty's Closet on etsy if you want to try your hand at your own fun designs.

Meet the newest member of the gock's frocks family....

Ai-Li

She was inspired by my customers & friends who have adopted from China...she is one of my first forays into the word of softies and WOW - I can see how this could become addictive!




I started with the red polka dot body...planning to add a removeable skirt. This led to the wrap around tunic!




Then as I was tying her shoes for her...she is still learning how...I thought they resembled ballet shoes - in which case she needed a tutu!


So as I was sewing up her tutu I figured she needed something to carry her tutu in to dance class so I whipped up a little side sling bag and a hat to keep her warm on her walk!


she is available in my etsy shop or visit my flickr account to see more goodies from our photo shoot - she is a great little model!

I thought she would be perfect for a gotcha day celebration or other special occassion...I am planning on making more as this was So much fun to do!

A plea for Help!

As I'm sure that everyone is aware, Australia is currently experiencing the worst natural disaster in it's history - Huge Bush Fires


Hundreds of people are dead. Entire towns and communities have been destroyed.

It's destruction on a scale that most of us can't even begin to imagine.

A shop has opened on Etsy that is taking donations of items to sell. All proceeds from the sale of these items goes to the Australian Red Cross.

If you have an item you can donate, or if you would like to purchase something to help out, go to OzBushFireAppeal. Contact Emma if you're interested in donating or do some shopping to help out our Australian friends!

A Work of Love...

Back In December I volunteered in my daughters class at school to work on a special project with the kids. I have long been a fan of another blog called The Toy Society and decided to do something similar with 23 third graders!

The kids had a working session with a local animator and then drew out a pattern to make their own softies! I came to school armed with fleece and a sewing machine & set-up shop in the back of the room!

Over the course of 3 weeks we worked together to create softies designed by each child. They wrote an introduction to their softie and then a note was enclosed with each one to be left at a drop spot with the softie as they do in The Toy Society.











the kids were So excited to work on this project and I loved the chance to do something creative with them. Most of them have dropped their softies by now & we are just waiting to see when and who finds them!

get inspired yourself and check out The Toy Society blog!