Easter In Thomasville

How was your Easter weekend? We had a great one! The weather was beautiful, church service was good, and all my children were at home. Smiles all around! My grandson wore a very special outfit first worn by my son when he was about the same age. Here is a picture my husband took before church.

Don't you must love that sweet face! Can you believe that outfit is over 25 years old? The shirt is made from white linen and the pants are a blue cotton fabric.

A friends granddaughter wore one of my girls pink dresses from when they were little. It looked just as good this Easter as it did over 20 years ago. The reason we call it heirloom sewing is simple. If the outfits are taken care of, they will last for generations!

How about some pictures of my Easter decorations? Here goes............

Finally, I asked my husband to take a picture of my children and me. I decided to show you a fun one!

Thanks for joining me at Behind The Monogram!

My New Favorite Cookie Recipe

Normally, all my posts are sewing related or show products from  The Polka Dot Store. Today I have something different for you....my new favorite cookie recipe.

Don't they look good! Well they taste as good as they look. It started with a recipe by Paula Deen and I tweaked it to fit my taste bubs. Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

•  1 1/2 cups butter, softened
•  1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
•  3/4 cup sugar
•  3 large eggs
•  1 tablespoon vanilla
•  3 1/2 cups flour
•  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
•  1/2 salt
•  3 cups oatmeal
•  12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
•  1/2 cup white raisins (optional)
•  1/2 cup toffee chips (approximately) (optional)
•  1 cup chopped pecans (approximately) (optional)

Place ice cream scoop size mounds on a lightly greased cookie sheet. You can also use a piece of parchment paper  or a Silicone mat instead of greasing the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.

*Note: you can mix and match the ingredients marked "optional" or leave them off. Personally, I like to use all of them if I happen to have them in my pantry! Yummy deliciousness! This makes a LARGE amount of cookies.

Here is another picture of the cookies:

Enjoy!

Heirloom Sewing - My First Love

Welcome to Behind The  Monogram! I know many of you are snowbound, but earlier today in south Georgia the temperature was 87 degrees. Yes, shorts weather! Now it is raining and getting cold. Two exciting things are happening to Thomasville, Georgia this week. We have what is called "First Friday Night" here in Thomasville. It is just as it sounds, there is a celebration, street dance (Swinging Medallions this week), and shopping at our participating downtown shops on the first Friday night of each month. Thomasville is really lovely at night. Here is a picture I took a few weeks ago outside Sweet Grass Dairy while downtown at a meeting with friends:

This is the store front at Sweet Grass Dairy.

The second really exciting thing happening is that HGTV is in town shooting an episode of "Restore America". One of the old homes on Monroe street is getting a makeover. Since I drive within a block of it every day, I shot a picture from the car to show you. These guys are hard at work and it is lunch time!

The HGTV crew has been seen at different locations doing interviews, eating lunch, and taking on location shots. Pretty cool!

O.K., enough rambling and onto the blog topic. Since the first of the year, I have been trying to make time for one of my passions, Smocking and Heirloom Sewing. If you have read the "about me" section of the blog, you know I have been doing smocking and heirloom sewing for over 30 years. I've taught it and done custom sewing using the techniques. Life and has been crazy the past few years (can we say 5 - 10 years) and I haven't been able to find time for it. I am so excited to be enjoying it again! Here are a few of my latest projects hoping to make an appearance soon on the website:

Smocked Imperial Batiste Baby Dress with Scalloped Hem

Smocked Roses Daygown with Tatting

Smocked Heirloom Daygown made with Imperial Batiste and French Lace

There are more projects planned and I look forward to sharing them with you later! Until next time, remember to shop at The Polka Dot Store for the finest quality baby gifts and accessories.

Shopping Online

Hi, everyone! It is a beautiful day here in south Georgia. The temperature is a little cool but the sun is out in all its glory. I took a picture of my view as I sit here writing this post.

I think a lot about my customers experience on my website. Ease in navigation (founding your way around), page load time, and checkout experience are all very important. Here is another discussion I have in my head; How can my customers easily put together outfits with items selected from different pages? O.k., so I haven't figured out how to have multiple or coordinating items grouped together. I do my own layout and coding so it takes me a little while to out how to do something new and different. :)

Here are some pictures of outfits I put together and took pictures of for you.

This red gown, polka dot cap, and velvet bow socks would make a great Valentine Outfit. You could add a monogram, name, applique or saying on the gown.

                                          Boy "Take Me Home" outfit.

Blue dot onesie with pale blue cap, pants, and socks.

Dinosaur Set and Socks

Dinosaur knit top, pant, and socks by Mud Pie.

   Cute "Take Me Hone" Outfit.                        Pink Lamb Outfit by 3 Marthas

Little Pink Lamb appliqued Onesie, burp cloth,
and panty. The panty has the same appliqued
lamb on the back seat as the onesie and burp.

Pink gown, paci clip, cap, and booties.



 Adventure on the wild side

Pink polka dot onesie, pink knit
pant, elephant paci clip, adorable
socks.

              Only the outfits by 3 Marthas and Mud Pie are from the same manufacturers. The rest of the pictures show a combination of items from different manufacturers and how easy it is to coordinate them together.

I hope this post helps get you thinking about how to pair up different items to make an adorable baby gift. As always, if I can help in any way, please let me know. You can find all these items here .

January 2015

Hi, ya'll! Nope I have not disappeared. I am still here. Just haven't posted in a while. It is on my list to post more this year. "What have I been up to?", you ask. Bookkeeping, bookkeeping, and more bookkeeping. I have to admit, I put off doing my books until the last minute. Even with all the b.....keeping, there has been time for some fun "stuff". One of my favorite things about having The Polka Dot Store.com is getting to build the designs and run the monogram machine. I am still mesmerized by the monogram machine, a.k.a. "Big Bertha".

Blankets have been the top sellers this past week. As you may know, Little Giraffe blankets are top of the line luxurious blankets for your special baby. Toddlers and grown up alike cherish these soft touchable products. The first picture is the Blue Moroccan Chenille Blanket stitched in medium blue thread with Arial font.

This is the gorgeous Pink Moroccan Chenille Blanket stitched in Sea Green Thread using the Jester font.

Creme Faux Fur Blanket by Pickles Journey (Scene Weaver) looks great monogrammed in Steel Gray thread and the Jester font. This blanket is temporarily out of stock but will be available soon.

There are so many different weights for blankets. One of the most useful is a single layer flannel blanket. This one by Swaddle Designs can be used for swaddling, sun cover, stroller cover, tummy time, or a light weight summer blanket. Moms also use it as a nursing cover. The monogram is Elegant stitched in light pink thread.

All three of the blankets featured above can be found here .

One of our all time best sellers has been the Waggles Lovie by Bearington Baby shown here monogrammed in the Blackboard font in Pecan color thread. Yep, he is adorable! 

                            

I hope you have enjoyed seeing of the recently personalized items available at The Polka Dot Store.com. See you again soon! I promise it won't be as long between posts. wink, wink.

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