Meg in her hat

Hi Everybody!

I had to share this great pic of Meg Barker in her hat. Isn't she gorgeous? What fun to see her in one of my hats! She is a published and famous scrapbooker, afterall. :)

Samson

This is Samson. My last post had his big sister, Olivia. Isn't he sweet? Look at that perfect skin. I used different brands of yarn for this hat. The weight of the yarns are similar so I didn't need to to a gauge (I'm not the gauge type). I like using different brands for the same project...it's a surprise when the project is complete. Thanks pics Jenny!

Olivia

This is Olivia in her winter hat. I've been using fabric buttons this season. I love them! I found some that are much easier to attach so my fingers don't get raw...a big bonus. I'm not the thimble type. :)

Blue Sky

Hi there! I, along with many, many knitters am completely in love with Blue Sky and all they offer. Kathy, at Shepherd's Choice, has the best selection of their yarns. I love to go in and just feel all the different weights and marvel at their colors. I think Blue Sky is the yarn company that truly "gets" color and executes well. I made these hats for a client that had a couple baby showers to attend. The two colors together have been popular this season.

Emma!

This is Emma debuting my Urban Beret. The hat she is wearing is a small woman's size. Emma is 3...it's a bit big for her in the back, but I think still wearable. I like how my hats can be worn by Mom and daughter. If your house is anything like mine the hat is the last to go on and is usually grabbed at the last, hurried second. It's worth it not to have to find a specific hat and just grab whatever is within arms reach.

Those scratches on Emma's face were, no doubt, from she and her big bro wrestling. :) Her Mom and I spent a lot of "crunch time" before Christmas getting all our craft projects done. Emma and Fin were good sports, playing and keeping themselves busy.

Silly Boys...

I had to share this pic of our family photo shoot this year. Fin was being a tiger. Apparently this is the facial expression of a tiger in between roaring during a photo session. We were laughing so hard. I'm sure by this time next year he will have grown out of pretending to be a tiger, so it makes this picture even more special. Today, our neighbor, Bella came over to get some help with her knitting. Right when she sat down Fin was at it. I tried to explain roaring at her means he likes her. He was crawling on all fours like he does...she had the most puzzled look on her face. Priceless.

Mandy took our pictures, of course. :)

Brand New

I know I've said this before...when I see brand new human beings wearing something I made it makes me melt. What a compliment! Can you even stand how perfect these two sisters are? They are identical...and even get to have 2 older brothers. Thanks to Momma, Bethany, for sharing the picture!

Karsen's 8th Birthday

This is Karsen. She was lucky enough to go to Mary Poppins on her 8th Birthday. I smile every time I see this picture! It's fun for me to see one of my hats part of her big day. She looks perfect in that color, doesn't she? Her flower is the new jersey type I've been doing. I love how the less it matches the better it looks. A red or brown button would work great too.
What a lucky girl.

It's really me!

Hi! Wow, it's been too long. So much has been going on. My poor blog has been neglected. First, I wanted to let you know that I've been getting reports that my susieknits@comcast.net e-mail is not working properly. You can e-mail me @ smacu2@aol.com instead.

I have been working away on many, many hat orders. Thank you for keeping my hands and mind busy! It's been crazy & fun.

Soon, I will have all sorts of hats and flower pins for sale at Mandy Birdwell's studio. You are welcome to purchase my things there. I am also doing at-home parties now. If you are interested in hosting a party send me an e-mail at smacu2@aol.com. Turn around time for all orders is 4 weeks.

I am also participating in a gift boutique in Edina on November 12th from 5-9 p.m. There will be only hand-made items for sale. Come get your holiday shopping done and see all the amazing things local women create!

November 12th, 5-9 p.m.
Centennial Lakes Centrum Bldg.
7499 France Ave. S.
Edina, MN

OK. Enough housekeeping. On to the fun stuff.

Gavin, our oldest, has been begging to be an actor. It's unclear if he even grasps what that means. However, he wore me down. I put together some of Mandy's photos and today we were off to an agency I'm familiar with in downtown Mpls. The owner of the agency seemed to like him right away. She asked him if he would want to be in a TV commercial. He said, "Well, I'd rather be in a movie." Then, she went on to explain to me she thought Gavin could be very busy and wanted to know if I was up for all the driving around the city. Before I could answer Gavin piped in, "Will I get my own office?" I just about died laughing. You could hear my Mother-in-law snickering outside the door. What a silly boy! Love it.... Here's some of the Mandy pics we shared. Of course they LOVED her work!

Some great new Mandy photos....

Does God make cuter kids?!??! I love how blond they are. That's very foreign in our house.

Jayden's wearing one of the fabric flower pins I did the other day. It's from an old shirt of mine that I shrunk. I was playing on my sewing machine and came up with a pattern. It took a couple tries to get it just right.
This hat and flower was made from some scraps I had lying around. I bought the fabric 50% off at Mill End. I wish I would have bought the whole bolt!
I love how Mandy thought to put all these colors together. It's a gift she has. She's not only a photographer but a stylist as well.

Matilda Jane Clothing and Susie Knits

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a good first day of school with all your kids!

We are having an open house at Mandy Birdwell's new Northeast Mpls. Studio this Sunday, September 13 from 3-7 p.m. Come join us if you can! Kids are welcome, of course.

Matilda Jane Clothing will be on hand as well as my hats. It's a great excuse to make your way to Northeast Mpls. to check out Crafty Planet too, if you haven't already.

If you can't make it and still want to place an order or be part of Mandy's special offer contact Beckie at ralilly@hotmail.com or call her at 651-605-5944.

Thomas

This is Thomas brand new! Thanks Momma Leah for the cute pic.

I'm am off to the lake tomorrow with the boys. My hubby has a very busy stint at the State Fair coming up. After many years experience with this time of year we get out of town...out of the way. Hopefully A will be able to come home to a nice, clean, quiet house. A beer and some channel changing will gear him up for his next shift. I've gotten so nice in my old age. :)

All sorts of stuff.

Here's our dog, Chloe, in all her glory. She sits by my Mom's garden at the lake and waits for the chipmunks to make an appearance. Almost 13 and she's still kickin' it.
I've been noticing a lot of purples, pinks, and oranges together lately. I love it! This will be one of the flowers I offer this season. I found a glue I really like that helps the fabric stay firm. It gives the flower pin a little more integrity...always a good thing.
This is my new favorite craft tool! I found this bobbin holder at Gruber's in St. Cloud. I wish I would have picked up a couple more. I carry it around with me when I'm sewing and knitting. It's compact and perfect for on the go. I keep it with all my knitting tools now. Whomever created this BobbinSaver is a GENIUS!
I've been doing some sketching this summer. I like the idea of combining knitting with sewing. After being inspired by Matilda Jane Clothing, I thought it would be fun to create a layered ruffled hat with all sorts of different fabrics. I came up with this sketch...as you can see I never got to the colored pencils part! Life interrupted my process. :) My sketch book has peanut butter smudges, coffee spills and spots of watermelon juice on it. There's evidence of what I was eating and drinking on each page. :)

Some very cute kids!

This is Brekka. Her Mom told me she's been using this hat all summer. Didn't mean for her to have to do that! :) Glad she got good use out of it though....
This is Peyton and Kinsley. Their Mom makes great earrings, so we traded. It was like a shopping spree. I rarely buy jewelry these days...it seems to be an expense I forgo. I had so much fun looking through her creations and picking out the ones I wanted to take home. Thanks Kate!

This and that...

This is Graham the other day. We were going into the YMCA and I couldn't resist snapping a photo of him. I had an outfit laid out for him (the same shirt with the shorts that go with it). He wanted to wear his soccer shorts instead. I gently (ok, maybe not that gently) told him the brown shorts work better with the shirt. He yelled, "YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF MY SHIRT!!!"
This is Fin the other day. We have been going to the doctor a lot lately and so Fin's nap usually suffers. I've started leaving blankets in my car and this one came in handy. He slept the whole time.

Can't believe it's already August...

Keenan! He was born Tuesday. Isn't he sweet?!? Look at how crisp and clean that onesie is! They never stayed like that for long in my house.
Mandy's latest...love these. She just gets better and better.

Feeling a bit of "technology overload"...

Hi Everyone! I'm letting technology stress me out a bit. Doing my website, Ravelry, Twitter, my Blog, Facebook, texting...I've gotten out of control. I'm in the in-between generation where we didn't grow up with computers, but are adjusting quite nicely. It's not natural for me to constantly be figuring out how to do this and how to do that on the computer, Blackberry, T.V., ...blaa, blaa, blaa. I do it because it gets me to where I want to go. Except I'm still sitting here in my P.J.'s and really haven't gone anywhere today.

These little guys know how to live! I'm going to take some pointers from them and turn everything off today. Join me?

Happy Travels

The gardener and his tree from seed. He started it on a school field trip this spring. We decided to take a pic of it every spring. I love how he's hugging it. That's him to a tee. Oh, and sorry about the messy kitchen. That's me to a tee.

I was cleaning out my computer the other day and came across this pic of him when he was 2. Oh my goodness...it all happens too fast. Love that curly hair...

I will be on vacation until Monday, July 6th. Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Gus

Hello sweet, beautiful, fresh, baby boy! You are too cute for words.

Rebeckah's Hat

This is Rebeckah. Her Friend, Rachel, ordered this hat for her for her birthday. I made 2 flower pins so she can mix and match depending on what she's wearing. This style hat is great for Moms since it's loose enough not to flatten our neatly done hair. :)

Thanks for the great picture, Rachel! She's the perfect model. :)

Friends

Then...
...and now.


These two have always been buds. They really don't have much in common, but they seem to have a really cute connection with one another. Graham still says they are going to get married and live next door to each other. :)

Some more...

Some more Mandy shots...

These pics will never get old! Check out Mandy's blog for the entire video to music.