Finding Balance

Happy Fall Y’all

Fall is my favorite time of year and I am looking forward to day drives up into the mountains to see the colors as they start to hit their peaks. Oh how I love living in this area this time of the year even if I am highly allergic to rag weed which loves this time of the year as well.

I know it has been a bit since I have shared what I have been up to. I think sharing my day to day fall household cleaning projects may not be anything you may have wanted to hear about. My organizational skills are not such that I could offer any good pointers and insights; however, my inspiration for fall cleaning came from Melissa over at The Little Gray House blog. That gal got busy and just kept going and I was so inspired that, I cleaned out 5 closets, reorganized my therapy room/sewing studio and general cleaning. My dining room is still crying out for a good dusting of the pie safe cabinet and such but I will be getting to that very soon. For my birthday my hubby gave me a Ladybug steam cleaner so needless to say, walls have been steamed, windows too, furniture, carpets and bathrooms. Now that the house is pretty much so in shape, I can’t wait until we clean out the garage and get rid of the things we no longer need and pass on. That is coming!!! Cleaning is not something that a creative person really enjoys but still is a total must for me to keep my creative energy flowing. Now that so much of it is done, I can relax and get back to sewing. Yeah!!!

In the last week or so, I have been able to steal away a few hours here and there to sew a bit. I made a dress for Doodlebug for picture day at school and just this morning I finished up this ruffle skirt for her to wear with her Ramona t-shirt that I found her a few weeks back.


This skirt was inspired by Makeit-Loveit Their version was made with knit fabric as the base and frilly fabric for the ruffles. I was curious to see what making an all knit version of it would be like so this is what I came up with. The color combo was selected to go with the Ramona shirt. It was a very fun skirt to make; however; a bit more time consuming that I had wanted with having to finish off and gather each ruffle but my Doodlebug loves her new skirt so, I am really glad that I made it. It is a fun an easy project and the Makeit-Loveit blog gives full details on the project and is very easy to follow along.

Since school has started back, I have been busy volunteering and sponsoring our Doodlebug’s first grade class. Our group this year is an awesome and lovely bunch of kids. I love being with the little people so much. I can’t tell you the deep, personal joy and satisfaction that I get from spending time with these kids. They have so many challenges in their little lives but they have such pure hearts and I can’t imagine giving up my time with them for anything else right now. It has truly been a bit of a conflict for me personally because in trying to start a new little cottage business and be truly successful, sacrifices are called for and I know that. I still think in the end, I will work out my business to match my commitment to these kids and this class. I don’t think I would truly be happy here working otherwise if I didn’t balance both. With that being said, hopefully you will understand why you don’t see more postings of my work. I am still trying very hard this fall to find a good balance but I know it is coming.

I did manage to hit a little country fabric store that was recommended by my friend Deb at Doggie Duds by Deb. You must check out her site if you have a doggie diva. She makes very adorable clothing for our furry friends. Deb told me about this very small town fabric store in a very old little city here in Tennessee. It was a couple hour drive from where I am at so, I called my mom and she drove there and we met for lunch at this old coffee shop restaurant that has wonderful country cooking. Nothing beats a home cooked veggie plate with cornbread and a drink for 3.75 and truly a country girl's kind of place.

After lunch we strolled down the street to the fabric shop and then hit a few of the antique shops. I could have kicked myself for not taking my camera. I had not been to this town since I was a small child and not much had really changed which it was like truly stepping back into the past for me. After our little stroll around town, we drove up on the mountain to a local apple orchard and picked up some wonderful apples, had a fresh fried apple pie and a cup of coffee. We sat outside in the orchard at a picnic table, talked, ate our pies and enjoyed the afternoon. It was a wonderful day with my mom and I had a great time. She and I have not had this kind of a day together in ages but we have to change that soon. We do have such good outtings together. The fabric store was a wonderful inspiration for the trip and I found some great pieces of fabrics but I loved getting to just spend a day with my mom enjoying what the afternoon offered us.




Not all of the pieces shown here are from there, over the weekend I also hit a sale at JoAnn’s and picked up a few pieces as well. Some of those pieces are in the washer as I write this. I do prewash every piece of fabric before I work with them but the photo is a small sampling of what is to come. I will be posting a few new outfits on the store front very soon using these fabrics. Also too, now that our weather seems to be cooling a bit, I will be screen printing several new designs that I have drawn up in the past few weeks. I am very excited about sharing those too and they will be on dresses as well as t-shirts on the store front.

Speaking of the store front, just an F.Y.I., in the next few days be watching for a Lily Field Designs’ Sale to be announced on Facebook. We will be offering a 10% discount code to use on any product that is featured on the store website. My technical guru will be setting up that coupon in the next couple of days so, if there is something there you would like to have at a discounted price keep an eye out. We are also in the process of setting up our Ebay account and I will be doing a few custom auctions up there as well. I will fill you in on all of that when we get the first ones up.

Well, I will say to you all many blessings and I will be posting new things very soon. I truly am a cottage business and oh how I long for a gardener/landscaper to keep up our front 7 acres and a housekeeper. Now wouldn’t that be something?

Blessings to you all!