spring cleaning (in the summertime)

We never did quite make it around to our official spring cleaning this year. Too busy. But this week we've started taking it one room at a time, scrubbing and reorganizing as we go. Are we the only family that has dust elephants (not bunnies, mind you) underneath our furniture?

Don't forget, our free shipping offer ends at midnight on July 4th! Use code SUNNYDAYS at the checkout.

XX us

laundry day.

We like simple things. Like using an old teacup instead of the not-so-cute plastic thingy to scoop out our powdered laundry detergent. Just because we can. It makes laundry days more fun, don't you think?

love, the Long ladies

color is fun.

Midwest Modern 1 and 2, Dolce, Essential Dots, and American Retro are unified by shades of pink, yellow, and orange. So happy!

We love color. All kinds of color. Color everywhere. A lot of people ask us about mixing up different fabric collections… can you do it? And we just say, why, of course you can! The main thing is to keep a tight color palette. Here are two fun examples we wanted to share you!

Blues and greens and turquoise, with a splash of yellow…
Plain Jane, Mod Girls, Garden Party, Dolce, Love, Bell Bottom, Pretty Please, Park Slope, Darla, Simply Sweet, and Nicey Jane. Pretty fun, don't you think?!

Fabric-mixing like this works really well for home decorating and wardrobe planning. And for happy scrappy quilts like Eleanor's. It keeps things from looking too "matchy-matchy"! We love pulling different bolts off the shelves, just to see what happens. Want to come over and play color with us? Do you have a favorite color palette?

love, the Long ladies

It’s just that time of year again!

Guess what we did early this morning? And guess what we're making for dessert tonight? (With Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream, of course.) Well, forty-four pounds of blueberries ought to fill the bill for our fruit crisp cravings. What are your favorite blueberry recipes?

love, the Long ladies

good times.

We always have such a great time when we visit our grandparents in Indiana. It's really like going to another home, away from home. (Hi Nan & Paps! We LOVE you!) As promised, we wanted to share some fun pictures from our trip! You wanted to see them, didn't you?

We ate some of these while we were away. Well, quite a few of these actually. Mmm…

And we visited one of our new favorite shops — The Secret Garden. So much inspiration there. We were just sorry to have to miss out on their annual French Flea Market!

Of course we had to have pizza, too. At one of our favorite places. Big thanks to Aunt Amy and Uncle Greg for treating us all!

We spent some time at the park, but didn't teeter-totter as much as we used to.

We dripped our ice cream all over the place…

And stopped to smell the flowers.

How does Nan manage to keep her flowers alive, anyway? We've always wondered about that. Apparently, none of us inherited her green thumb!

Then we topped it all off with a family cookout, where we ate marshmallows complete with ash-coating. Because that's the stuff memories are made of.

Yes, we had the best time ever! What's your favorite kind of vacation?

XO the Long ladies

Refresh.

It's time for us to say good bye… just for a little while. We're taking some time off for family and picnics and smores and shopping and playing in the park. Other things, too.

Anyway, we wanted to let you all know that we won't be shipping orders out till June 18th. We'll miss you!

XOXO the Long ladies

The Long girls, in the spring.

AnaClaire… all the details!

First off, we'd like a big THANK YOU and lots of hugs to go to our beautiful models – Natalie, Becca, Rachael, and Bethany – and to their wonderful sisters for their willingness to take so many fun pictures for us. We love you girls! (Visit our friends the Coghlans at their blog, Life in a Shoe.)

Now, we promised details, didn't we? About all of the AnaClaire options? Well, here you go!

~girls sizes 2-14 are included in one pattern envelope, along with full-size pattern pieces (printed on sturdy paper) and fully illustrated instructions.

~$14 (and we'll ship it for free if you pre-order now!)

~jumper comes in two lengths – below knee length or ankle length (all of the options are included for either length)

~optional apron

~back ties (if you like)

~pockets in 3 sizes

~your choice of hem style: with a band, a ruffle, or plain

~button-and-loop back closure,

~or ribbon tie back closure

~slightly squared scoop-neck bodice with empire waist

~simple A-line skirt

~no buttonholes, no zippers (which basically means the whole jumper can be constructed during one naptime)

Bethany…