Santa's Workshop

Merry Christmas, from the North Pole!

Ok, so it's really Michigan, but it's (finally) pretty white and very cold... Doesn't that count?

The weeks leading up to Christmas found me busy in the sewing room with customer orders. A couple years ago I made some "Vera Bradley" inspired sweatshirts that went over big.  A former student contacted me to order one for her mother's birthday, and so I opened the door for additional orders...

I figured that as long as the supplies were out (and I had extra blank shirts), I might as well make a couple for the kids' teachers. I drew up a new design, using reverse applique, which turned out great!

And one for Grandma, as she is always cold and didn't have any "hometown spirit wear". Oops, no picture on this one. Came out of the machine, and went into a box for wrapping ASAP. Am I alone on this (bad) habit?

DH has always liked the look of the embroidered letters, and asked me to do one for him... minus the Vera Bradley print. Out came 4 more sweatshirts, one for him and each of his full-time firefighter shiftmates.



I used tackle twill for both letter layers, and these pics don't show the detail of the embroidery, but it's the same alphabet with a running outline. His firefighting friends on Facebook seemed to like this design, so I might be looking at more orders soon!

Add in a pretty skirt for Miss Princess for the holiday parties (oops, missing a pic there, too!) and a 10 shirt order for a local fire department, and that would be the Santa Sweatshop Workshop business!

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The sewing room has gotten a good clean-up and organizational once-over, so I'm ready to make myself something pretty finally! I cut out a pretty purple top, and am about to head downstairs and have some "me time". I hope your holidays were equally "productive" and that your gifts were well received with smiles and appreciation. In the wake of the terrible tragedy that took place in CT, it seemed rather "silly" to hand my kids' teachers a sweatshirt and batch of cookies as a "Thank You" gift. These ladies (as have nearly all in the last 4 years) don't just "teach" my children. They encourage, and support, and love them, which makes my kids want to work harder and do better work. Little Man is a 1st grader, and born the same week as one of the boys lost at Sandy Hook. Mix in the fact that I am also a teacher, and the last few weeks have been... tough. Add in the Christmas Eve shooting of the firefighters in Webster, NY... such an end to 2012. Sorry for the tangent, but I sincerely hope that 2013 has better things in store for us all. I'm praying that it doesn't start with a fall off the "fiscal cliff"! It can only get better from there, right?!?!