Great Gifts For Babies

This week I am getting ready to participate in The Merry Marketplace event put on by the Junior Service League of Valdosta, Georgia. Can you say "Wow, that must be a lot of work!"? Yep, it is but these shows are so much fun and I get to meet great people. Anyway, while I was deciding what to take, I got to thinking about displaying my merchandise. One thing I find hard to do with an online store is show how different items can come together and make a great gift. That got me to thinking...................Blog Post!

I didn't take pictures of all the items together because,
1. It was too dark when I thought of the idea. And
2. I like how the individual pictures can bring together a "whole" picture.

For example, look at this series of pictures: O.K., so you want a cute outfit for Christmas morning. First, take a red gown..........

Then add some adorable socks.........

Next add a big flower headbandor

maybe a polka dot cap. You could finish the outfit with a smocked Christmas bib............

or how about pearls!

Just think, it all started with a simple little red knit gown.

We can do the same kind of thing for a little boy whose daddy loves to hunt.

First take this cute convertible romper...........

add a matching cap (the two really do match in real life)

add a cute little bib to clean up drools and you are set!

It can be a daunting task trying to put together outfits when shopping online but that is where great customer service come into play. Shoot me an email, letting me know what you are thinking about, a price range, and I will gladly put together some suggestions for you!

Welcome To My Town - Thomasville, Georgia

Happy Veteran's Day! If you have read my "about" section, you know The Polka Dot Store.com is run out of my home. Running The Polka Dot Store out of my home gives me flexible hours and more time to be creative. I love my life and where I live. Today, I would like to start a series of posts sharing with you the unique things about the town I live in. Welcome to Thomasville, Georgia!

So, where is Thomasville, GA?


(image found at http://www.city-data.com/city/Thomasville-Georgia.html)

As you can see from the map, Thomasville is located in southwest Georgia about 10 miles from the Florida state line. The closest cities to us are Tallahassee, Florida, Valdosta, Georgia, and Albany, Georgia.

One of the many things Thomasville is known for is  its annual Rose Festival and Flower Show that has been held in the Spring (April) for the past 93 years. Here is a link to the 2015 Rose Festival. The streets downtown are blocked off and there is a parade, dance, arts & crafts, flower show, etc.


(image found at http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/03/14/35/837459/3/628x471.jpg)

This is just a little introduction to "my town". Now for a look at one of the things I have been working on this week for my Etsy Store, Monogram Elegance :

A set of six (6) organic cotton washcloths with a cute pink owl applique. I would love to have your comments on the following question, "Should I also list this set on The Polka Dot Store website ?".

Hug a veteran today and tell them how much you appreciate their service!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

As most of you probably realize, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Each year The Polka Dot Store gives 10% of our September sales to a charity that benefits children of this devastating disease. This year we will donate to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation. If you read my post from last year 2013 , you know one of my children is a leukemia survivor. Because of generous donors our whole family was flown to New York City. This meant people donated their sky miles for us. We were picked up by limousine and taken to our hotel in Times Square. Tickets were donated for Broadway plays, sightseeing, and places to eat. My son's wish was to go see a taping of The Emeril Legassee show for The Food Network. It was a blast! The smile on my son's face was priceless. Our ride to and from the show was another limousine ride. We felt like royalty. You can't imagine what this did for my son and our family's morale. These children and their families go through so much. It is so humbling and wonderful the sacrifices generous donors give so these sick children can experience a few moments of JOY! The staff at The Make-A-Wish Foundation worked very hard behind the scenes to make all this possible and we are so grateful.

Here are some pictures from the trip that hang on my son's wall in his home:

The lighting was bad when the pictures were taken but I wanted to share them with you anyway. Daniel was given a chef's jacket to wear at the show taping and Emeril signed it for him plus signed a cookbook.

I proudly display my gold ribbons during September and hope you do, too!

Appliqued Shirts

Wow, I didn't realize it has been so long since I posted. Well, no time like the present! It is the middle of August here in south Georgia and it was 91 degrees outside today! Let's just say it was hot and muggy. My grandson had a birthday party this past Saturday and my daughter wanted me to applique shirts to give for the present. She found a great deal on shirts and told me it was a construction theme birthday. After looking through my MANY designs, I realized I didn't have any construction designs. So off to my favorite online designers I went. Planet Applique has great designs and I found two there that I liked. The third design is a Bible verse design from Applique Corner . They have great designs for the Christian Faith. Here is a finished picture of all three shirts. Please excuse the quality of the picture, it was taken in terrible lighting.

Even though, I stayed up to 1:00am stitching the appliques, I think it was worth it. They turned out great!

On a lighter note, what do you do when you find a flaw in a towel and it is too late to send it back to the manufacturer? Why, monogram it for my grandson, of course! Isn't this frog character hooded towel adorable with his name on it?

My grandson loves the character hood and the little triangle pockets for this hands. Really, the towel in way cuter than in the picture. You can find other adorable hooded towels at The Polka Dot Store

Heirloom Easter Sewing

Welcome, it has been awhile since I've posted. Spring has been crazy busy! We celebrated Easter with family in Auburn, Alabama. Church, great food, and good company made for a perfect day. My grandson who is two loved finding hidden Easter eggs.

Several months before Easter, I planned and started working on two special outfits. The first outfit was for my grandson and I decided to make a cute sailor outfit. With fabric I had on hand and a pattern by Children's Corner called Michael I began my adventure. Since Max is only 2 1/2 years old, the colors pale blue and white seemed like  good choices. White royal twill was used for the shirt and blue satin ribbon was used to trim the collar. I started out trying to use bias tape and wasn't happy with the look so I switched to ribbon. The Michael pattern is a very easy to sew pattern and I have made countless outfits with it. The shorts have front pleats and an elastic back and were made out of blue pique. Mother of Pearl buttons were used to close the back of the shirt and a blue pique tie accented the front of the shirt. My daughter completed the outfit with knee high white socks and navy/white saddle oxford shoes. Adorable!

The second adventure was an adventure in heirloom sewing. If you have read previous posts, you know this type of sewing is one of my passions. Last summer a friend of mine became a grandmother to a beautiful little girl and we started planning her 2014 Easter outfit. Can I just say "Fun"! The little girl's mother decided on pink fabric and ecru lace. I used Child's Wedding Ring Dress by Chery Williams as a guide to make the dress.

Pink Swiss Bearissima Batiste by Bear Threads, LTD was the perfect choice for the fabric. Several different widths and styles of Bow Lace were used on the dress. I'm not sure where the lace was purchased. Here is a picture of the materials I selected for the dress.

The scallops on the collar and dress were attached accented with machine hemstitching and lace attached to it. I have an old hemstitch machine made in 1946 that is used to stitch the hemstitching. This is the only stitch this machine makes! Two needles and two bobbins are used to make the perfect stitch. Here is a picture of my machine.

Any hoo, here is the finished product and a picture of the precious little girl wearing the dress.

Entredeux beading, ribbon, and lace edge finished the sleeve edge. The outfit was completed with a double-faced satin pink hair bow.

Best of all,  a picture of the dress being worn by a precious little girl on Easter.

I had so much fun making these two outfits, I am sure I will be sewing on something new again soon.

Heirloom Sewing Inspiration

For some reason this time of year I get the "itch" to do some heirloom sewing. As you know if you've read my profile, I have been doing Heirloom Sewing by hand and machine for over 25 years. Yes, that makes me old but only in the way I look. LOL. Any way, I have a board on my personal Pinterest page called "Heirloom Sewing". As you can guess, I post beautiful pictures of garments that I love! I'm also noticing a trend. People are using ecru lace on their garments more and more instead of white lace. Both are beautiful but trends come and go. Below are some examples of pins from my board.

Note: These are not my pictures.

I think I'll make a daygown out of blue fabric and ecru lace. Next, I have to design how I want the daygown. I'll keep you posted on the fun!