Happy Birthday, Ashton!

Once upon a time there was a young Air Force couple stationed in a little Mississippi town.  They had not been married long when the young wife, she was only 22, you see, decided they should begin trying to conceive, convinced it would take a long time.  A month later she was pregnant, much to everyone's surprise yet delight!

9 months later, the first child and grandchild to a very excited family, was born.  It was not an easy delivery but two days later the young couple came home from the hospital.  Two days after that they moved out of their house for their first military flying assignment- the young pilot headed west while his wife and newborn daughter returned "home" to stay with grandparents for a few weeks. 

A month later, that sweet little girl got her first airplane ride and she and her mommy joined her daddy in a furnished apartment.  Three months later, the little family drove across the country to their new home. 

12 moves later, that little girl is now 23- TODAY!

 

Happy Birthday, Sweet Ashton Lee!

You showed us what it was to love someone more than life itself.
You have taught us to see life through the lens of joy.
You inspire us to be the best parents we can.
You encourage us to love Jesus more every day.

You are loved and admired by your three younger siblings, treasured by your friends, and have touched the world with your kindness and your talent.

We are blessed to call you daughter!

We love you to the moon and back!

The Sewing Room

Ashton's Attic is the brain child and business of my 22 year old daughter, Ashton.  About 6 years ago we lived in Virginia and she had an attic suite all to herself that was rather large.  Because of that space, she stretched out her sewing stuff and began sewing quilts for people.  Ashton's Attic was born and has been growing every since.  Now, each month she turns out custom T- shirt quilts for people across the United States.  From quilts for graduation and birthday gifts, to baby clothes quilts and ones made in memory of a loved one, each quilt is designed, laid out, layered, and quilted by Ashton alone.

As you can imagine, this endeavor can take up a lot of space.  A lot.  And we no longer live in Virginia with a large attic space.  So finding room for her business is often a challenge for Ashton and until lately, she has had her machines and such set up in our furnace/storage room.  Yep, we are nice like that.  Since Ashton is still living at home for a while, we decided to make some changes to our existing space to give her more room and a brighter, more cheerful place to sew.  After all, she is often at her machine 4-8 hours a day.

So the boys and I packed up our school room, relocated ourselves to another space in our living room, and let her do her thing.  It has been a slight adjustment for the boys, but so worth it to see her spread out and sew with joy and the sunlight streaming in.

Before-

New space! (And yes, she did move most of her current projects out for the pictures, because of Christmas and all!)

Maybe someday Ashton's Attic will have a storefront space of its own, but for now, we are blessed to have it, and its sweet owner, sewing in our home.  Sometimes the hum of a sewing machine is a glorious thing!

Blessings,

Ashton's Attic Reopens

I always love helping people promote their new businesses, but when it is my own daughter's, well, that makes it even more special.

I do not remember when exactly we discovered Ashton had a love for sewing.  I do remember that I made her take a home ec. class for school and one of the things she had to do was a quilt.  It turned out beautifully.

At the same time she also began sewing prairie skirts under the teaching of another homeschooling mom just for fun.  She hasn't stopped sewing since.

Yes, she has taken a few lessons here and there, but for the most part she is self-taught.  And determined.

She also had wonderful mentor and teacher while she was in school and working in their costume shop.  Once she graduated from college her love of sewing continued and she got a job working at a dry cleaners doing all of their alterations.  That job broadened her skills and allowed her to do private fittings, bridal alterations, and more.  Ashton also found a passion for teaching and has enjoyed teaching private sewing lessons to numerous students of all ages.

Now that we have moved and are settling in, Ashton has expanded her private sewing (in which she does clothes and alterations) and reopened her Etsy shop featuring quilts, with new branding for her business by Jamie Kientz, who did a wonderful job! You can see her work on her Facebook page and if you need any branding or design work done, I know Ashton would highly recommend her!

Ashton sells three kinds of quilts, T-shirt quilts, Memory and Baby clothes quilts, and Rag T-shirt quilts. I have to say, the rag T-shirt quilts are my favorite, they are so soft and cuddly!

These are just a few of the quilts she has done!

My first experience with a T-shirt quilt was years ago when I had someone make one for Ashton's graduation.  The irony, I know!  I sent a bunch of T-shirts away to a stranger and hoped for the best. Thankfully, all worked out well and other than the hefty price tag, I was happy.  It was then I realized how precious these quilts are with the memories they hold.  From graduations to baby memories to special events, each quilt tells a story to the one they are presented to.  A perfect gift!

So, now you have a name!  And a face!  And a mom's recommendation.  Go gather your shirts!!

You can see her quilts at her Etsy Store or on her Facebook page, and see what else she is up to on Pinterest and Instagram 

Blessings,

Ashton's Fall Capsule

Hello! This is Ashton, and I'm back with yet another capsule wardrobe to share with you.
First, I have a confession. When I first decided what months to put in each capsule "season," I had September, October, and November as fall and December, January, and February as winter. Well. You might have noticed that I'm posting this at the end of September. That is because I just switched my wardrobe over Friday. That is because it was still hot way back in the beginning of September. That is because...I honestly don't know. Anyway, after doing some thinking, I realized that SD is actually a fairly cold state compared to most places, including where we are moving next (see this post if you missed that announcement). So if it is too hot to wear fall clothes here, it is definitely going to be too hot to wear fall clothes elsewhere. Thus my confession. I made a mistake, and have decided to mend my ways. Thus, my new and improved capsule schedule looks like this:

Winter: January, February, March
Spring: April, May, June
Summer: July, August, September
Fall: October, November, December (as a reminder, mom does two capsules instead of four)

OK, now that I have that off my chest, let's get down to the actual capsule. This capsule is probably the most unique of my capsules in terms of how different it is from my "look." Mom actually said to me, "I like your fall capsule. There isn't as much blue or plaid." I'm still trying to decide how to take that but she is right, there is hardly any blue (I know, right?!) and only a handful of plaid pieces. This capsule will also carry me through the most varied season temperature-wise. Right now it very warm here (in the 70s and 80s) and I will still be wearing this capsule in December, when it is COLD. I will let you know how that goes.

So, for fall I have:
11 shirts
5 pairs of pants
9 skirts (4 church, 5 everyday)
3 dresses
5 sweaters
2 vests
1 jacket

Total: 36 items, my smallest capsule yet!
Again, this doesn't count things like exercise clothes, old sweatshirts I wear around the house, or accessories or shoes. It also doesn't count camisoles or the plain long-sleeved layering shirts that I wear under everything when it gets cold. I do have quite a few of those, but since I can't wear them as shirts by themselves I'm not counting them.

Let's talk numbers for a minute. I looked back and my spring capsule was 50 items, while my summer capsule was 37 items. Obviously there is no perfect number and everyone and every season is different. That being said, I live where it gets COLD in the late fall, winter, and early spring, and I am a firm believer in wearing more clothes then, especially because I am usually cold.

And finally, the least wordy part of this post! My friend Sarah and I put together some outfits for you to see!

Until winter, 

Ashton

Linking up with friends-

So Sew

Believe it or not, I do actually do more around here than clean and homeschool.  Well, not very often, but sometimes.  And since I am single parenting for the moment, I am trying very hard to find a few minutes a day to myself- or at least to my own projects.  Aside from 34 Weeks of Clean.  You know, to maintain my sanity and all.

So I have rediscovered the sewing room.  It is usually covered with Ashton's projects (she is a paid seamstress after all) but she is also a pretty good sharer.  She carved out a space for me in her "new" area so I was determined to get back to one of the things that brings me joy.  My goal has been an hour of sewing a day.  I admit I have not been able to meet that daily, but goals are good to have right?

To spur myself on, I bought a 365 day Quilt blocks calendar.  I love it!  Each block varies in degree of difficulty and there are several sizes represented.  To give myself some breathing room I decided to only do the days with 8 inch or 10 inch blocks.  I completed 12 this month!  For someone who hasn't sewn in a while, I am pleased.

Here is a sampling-

In other sewing news- of course, Ashton!  She is busy doing her daily seamstress work, was blessed to be able to bustle a wedding dress for a friend, and is working on a quilt or two of her own plus refashioning wedding dresses to sell.

Yes, refashion.  Like this one, where she has taken the skirt off one and is layering lace on it.  It was a project I admit I was skeptical of, but boy is it exceeding my expectations.

She also has two dresses at the dry cleaners that will be ready to go soon.

And about three in the works.  She loves restyling vintage dresses and hopes to soon be able to start blessing brides-to-be with new and amazing dresses.  Keep her mind if you know someone that might be interested.

And she surprised me with a few new pin cushions just for fun!

That's about it from here- just wanted you to know that this homeschooling, clean-crazy mom does have at least one other interest.  :)  Crazy, I know, but true!

Do you sew or have another hobby you love?  How do you find time in your busy day to get it done? Really, I would love to know!

Blessings,

Sewing to Summer: May Projects and a Confession

First, the confessions-

Hi, I am Michele and I am a sewing failure.
Or maybe, Hi, I am Michele and I am a sewing wannabe!

Either way, you get the point.  Once again, my little fingers have been busy doing just about everything BUT sewing.

Ashton's little fingers, on the other hand, have been busy once again.

Good thing, or else this would be a really boring post!

She has been hired by one of the local dry cleaners and is doing alterations almost daily!!  She loves every minute of it.

The embroidery project finally became a shirt -

She made a shirt for her sister -

See?  Ashton - yay!  Momma - Fail!

Blessings,