Applique + Embroidery

Most of the time, when it comes to little girl clothes, we just can't help adding more to them. We bought these cute denim jackets at Target for some girls we love with the direct intention of fancy-ing them up a bit.

We were actually sort of pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do the appliqueing and hand embroidery on the denim. The flower is an applique included in our own rosa lea dress pattern — we just downsized it a bit via our printer/scanner. Since the jackets are different sizes we opted to make the flowers different sizes too, since we didn't want Emerson's jacket dwarfed by an extra huge flower. We chose to splash it up a bit by choosing colors (pink and lime green) instead of one specific fabric line.

Apphia wrote the names directly on the jackets with a water soluble quilt marking pen, and Achaia just did a simple back stitch with all 6 strands of floss (Lecien's Cosmo floss is some of our very favorite!). Ta-da!

We hope our girls love them! They are on the studio counter ready to be Christmas wrapped along with some yummy Lip Smackers (and we just saw that Lip Smackers is celebrating their 40th anniversary {since 1973}… how fun is that??)

Happy Thursday! xox

Bake Days

We took two days "off" last week to do our annual baking. As usual, we ate waaaay too much cookie dough (we weren't even hungry at meal time), listened to Christmas music non-stop, and got flour on everything.

Have you done your baking yet?? And, (of course) what are you making?

Hugs and kisses from us! xox Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah

Get Your Vintage Fix {coupon code!}

Liza from Better Dresses Vintage is offering a special coupon code for marie-madeline readers, so you can have your own fabulous vintage wearables!! Enter MMStudio10 to receive a 10% discount off your order from Better Dresses Vintage and/or Bee Dee Vintage (the sister site to Better Dresses Vintage where everything is under $100!).

Also, Liza wanted us to let you know that she is happy to combine orders from both sites, and refund the shipping costs from Bee Dee Vintage (all domestic orders always ship free at the flagship store)!

As you can see I (Achaia) am enjoying my 50s cashmere sweater too! I was looking for one JUST like this in stores/online, but was having no success… I was extra happy to find a vintage one (in a good color too. Mom always has told me that is very important…).

So, be sure to check the sites out!

xo ~ the Long ladies

Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah

About the House.

Having fun listening to real records on Dad's record player….

Plans for our Christmas table….

Custom orders to sew….

New wools and floss to use….

A decorated tree….

Delicious apple cider….

Braids….

What's going on at your house??

We hope you all have had a great week, and have a fabulous weekend ahead! Before we shove off, we need to tell you a few things — first off, Pam Kitty Love fabric is now up! It definitely is on the favorites-we-want-to-hoard list. We've had quite a few sewing orders to fill so our scrap drawer is bursting. Please help us out and get a scrap bag (or two)! And, last but not least, if you haven't already, don't forget to enter our giveaway!!

Hugs & kisses~ xox us

No-Sew Christmas Gift Guide — Under $25

If you're anything like us, you probably didn't expect Christmas shopping time to get here so quickly. We are just now trying to get our act together and pick out something special to give everyone. In fact, tomorrow is shopping day! So, in honor of that, we decided to give you all some gift ideas we love — all under $25. You all know how we feel about handmade gifts (we've talked about it before…), but sometimes, sadly, that just isn't as optional as purchasing something, so we decided to make this list of no-sew goodies.

1. adorable, whimsical Cath Kidston mug ~they have a variety of designs, but we're partial to this cowboy one

2. H. Rider Haggard book ~the revised ones from Christian Liberty Press are our favorites!

3. Multitude Hair Ties ~pretty, sparkley hair things are unbeatable

4. Amazon.com gift card ~every older kid in the family has one of these on their list. This is almost our exclusive go-to for movies and books. Of course, you could always skip the middle man and just get an awesome movie for them like this, this, this, this, or this!

5. Monogram Notecards ~let's personalize it, shall we?

6. Organic Lip Balm ~you can never have too many lip products, we are sure of it.

7. Make-up Case with compact mirror ~love, love, love

8. Crescent Crystal Pendant ~it's on sale, so hurry!

9. marie-madeline studio pattern ~what can we say? We're slightly biased that these are always a good idea.

10. flowery headband ~Etsy is a treasure trove for wonderful handmade gifts if you don't have time to make your own!

So sorry we were quiet all last week. We had out of state company for 4 days, and then a good friend over all day Friday. We want to say a huge thank you to those who ordered from us last week during our sale, and for your patience with your orders being processed. We're getting to everything as soon as we can!

Now, leave us a comment telling us your good no-sew gift ideas, or gifts that you would like to get!

Hugs and kisses~ Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah

PS… Achaia made the gift guide on Polyvore. She just joined, so go be her friend!