Alligators, Snakes and Mosquitoes -- Oh MY!

Just in case you weren't aware, we in Central Florida are being inundated. Snakes, alligators, fire ants, mosquitoes -- all things that are standard Florida fare have morphed into ridiculous problems. A man died yesterday because fire ants floated into his Seminole county home and stung him into anaphylactic shock -- bet you didn't know that fire ants count swim, huh? National Guardsmen are watching alligators float down state roads (!!) and snakes are having field days... apparently even the squirrels and rabbits are angry.

But the worst, the worst of the worst, are the damn mosquitoes. I'm literally a captive in my home. It doesn't matter what time of day I go out, even 2 pm in the hottest sun of the day, I get swarmed by about 25 mosquitoes. They swarm in my home, in my porch, and now we're even fighting them off on the inside. I hate them. Where is Orange County? Why aren't they spraying for mosquitoes -- we're drowning in them out here. Thank god all my animals are on Heartgard because my poor puppy has about 100 mosquito bites on her back... when this is all said and done we'll be lucky if we have any blood left. I haven't even gone jogging in a week -- so much for running a 10K this weekend... I'm lucky if I can finish my 5K in 30 minutes.

Argh!

Well, thankfully, being stuck inside does have a mini silver lining. I've cleaned my house from top to bottom, read my son about 1.3 million books (well... not different books, just the same damn ones over and over again until I can recite them by heart...) and worked on stuff for the business. Sometimes it's really tough to get anything done since my entire work station is a small, old computer desk sitting in the middle of my already-crowded office. I can't just shut the door in the evenings when Mr. Made By Moms is playing with our son. Anyway, I've actually overcome the house and the toddler enough to do some actual work! WOO HOO!!! My sewing tends to go in trends -- one week I'll sew all blankets, the next all bibs... I call this period my "onesie opus"

I've recently fallen in love with Joel Dewberry and his Aviary line -- especially the almond/orange/brown. I've made up a onesie and I'll be adding blankets, pillows and even a bib to the line, so look out for that. This onesie is done... I'm thinking about trying to find brown onesies, but even the bulk outlets because of the sheer number of onesies I'm working on.don't seem to have a nice shade of chocolate brown... I'll keep looking because a long-sleeved brown onesie or infant shirt would look FAB with this fabric.

I'm also working on holiday onesies... I've included a few work-in- progress ones... The candy canes are done in white felt, hand painted with red paint and stitched with a silver metallic thread. They are ADORABLE. The pumpkin and reindeer will be finished by hand embroidering around the outside and filling in some details on the inside. I can't wait to add the ornaments dangling from the reindeer's antlers!!! The pumpkin was a little difficult to do because I cut out individual ovals to create the ridges and getting them all to fit together nicely has been a chore... but I think it's turned out very cute -- perfect for the fall season. In addition to these, I'm working on an adorable ghost (my favorite, right before the reindeer) and a gift-wrapped present. I might even add some mistletoe to my list, but I'm not sure if that's Christmas overload.

Last but not least, I'm making political onesies to go with my bibs!!! A donkey and elephant made in red, white and blue felt, stitched with red and blue thread and then hand-embroidered with white thread as a finishing touch. They'll be AWESOME for the election year and even after (when you want to show which pony you backed!!). I'm even thinking about embroidering Obama and McCain's names on there (perhaps even "NObama" as one of my friends says).


Thanks so much to everyone for reading my blog! It's been fantastic growing our business and trying to get it off its feet. We just sold a hand-embroidered quilt on Etsy and we're looking forward to more purchases in the future!!!

Thank you, also, to all the members of Etsy FEST and the Orlando Arts Team for being wondrously supportive and fantastic people. I can't wait to meet you all!