The Top Posts of 2014

This year I was having trouble wrapping my brain around the whole Round-up of 2014 thing. Last year I had fun doing The Best of the Worst 2013 where I pulled out all of the bloopers from 2013's photoshoots. This year I was planning to skip it because I couldn't think of anything new that wasn't an overwhelming task. Let's be honest, now that I have myself a busy toddler and a baby under 1yr, time is not something I have in excess. So today when I was scrolling through my newsfeed during a shockingly long streak of uninterrupted free time, I came across the idea of rounding up your top 7 posts in 2014- Readers choice. I love it! What a great way to show you guys what YOU like and also to get some insight into what makes this place fun for the readers. Shall I venture to say this is definitely going into my thought process about goals for 2015?? 

7. Project Run and Play: Let's go to the Movies

I had so much fun creating this Satsuki costume! While this entire outfit made me smile, it wasn't one of Lily's favorites. In fact, when we went through her clothes each week to pick her outfits, it would often get passed over. I couldn't really get her to tell me why she didn't wear it, she just didn't. Now I have it sitting in my sewing room waiting to find a new home.


6. Sew Geeky- Studio Ghibli Totoro Dress

I looks like I'm not the only Totoro fan out there, eh?
Skye also outgrew this adorable number. So sad!

5. Fox Lovey 

What does the fox say?! As much as I despise that song, it's catchy. I end up singing it to Skye each time we play with her fox lovey, and that's pretty much a daily event.  

4. Pattern Parcel #5- The Mimi Dress in Blue

Now THIS dress has gotten wear. Not only does she love having a pair of leggings that are made from the same fabric, but she loves having an aster cardigan in coordinating material (with a peekaboo of this fabric on it!). She wears them ALL. THE. TIME. and I couldn't be happier about it.

3. Sew Geeky- Marvel Vs. DC

Another Sew Geeky post on the favorites list? Yesssss. Geeky things are so much fun! The backpack is still going strong. Today the kids played "Kiki's Delivery Service" and instead of GiGi the cat, it was Archer the brother who went with KiKi aka Lily Mae. He wore his Batman backpack all over to deliver packages with her. :)

2. First Day of Summer Romper (free pattern)

I was so excited to offer my first free patterns this year and thanks to you guys, they've been a total success. This pattern had over 450 views!



And that leads me into my #1 most viewed post of 2014...

1. DIY Best Bottom Diaper (free pattern)

With a whopping 1,183 views- this free diaper cover pattern has blown the other posts out of the water. When I began cloth diapering with Archer, I didn't have many people rooting me on. The reactions ranged from skeptical to disgusted. Thank goodness my husband was on board because my confidence was low and my patience was right there with it. I had no idea what cloth diapering entailed and may have given up if I hadn't found a community of cloth diapering mama's to ask questions. With the help of my husband, we maneuvered all the way through potty training with them and have started our second journey with Skye. The least I could do to give back to all those mom's was create a diaper cover pattern to help them sew DIY covers that worked perfectly with their inserts. Part of cloth diapering (a big part) is saving $$ and this pattern allows you to stretch those dollars even further!


So what will 2015 look like for me? For The Life of a Compulsive Crafter? For Mae & Co.?

Well, I wish I could say for certain where I'll be a year from now.

For now I plan to forge ahead- to continue blogging because it's pushed me to not only become a better writer and seamstress, it's also helped me to manage my time better and make amazing friends with similar interests.

For me personally, 2015 will be the year of not being preggo. lol I plan to spend this year enjoying my family as it is right now, and to give myself a bit of break from trying to figure out whether we'll want to have more kids. I'll leave it at "not right now", and be at peace with being active in 2015. Possibly join another softball team since I enjoyed playing so much between my last pregnancies. Or maybe try something new? This will also be a big year personally, because we've moved onto the farm. While we did own the farm last year, we spent the first 6 mo. (March - September) renovating the house and we had to completely ignore all plans to update the land, to grow a garden, or to raise animals. These things just couldn't be done until we were able to live on the property, and that was both sad and difficult for us. This spring will be amazing and BUSY, we'll be building a new chicken coop, doing demo on many of the structures that are around the property now, planting a HUGE garden, and getting a cover crop planted in the fields to prep for the orchard. We also promised Lily a treehouse, so that cannot be forgotten.


Lastly, 2015 will be another bright year for Mae & Co.
While I just started my company at the end of 2014, it's been a big leap into many arena's at once. I began selling on Etsy in my shop.  It's been slow getting started, and I'm learning a lot about promoting myself online, but it's been rewarding. In fact, the lull of my Etsy shop start up got me looking into finding different avenues for selling my items- and led me to offer my clothing/items in a local brick and mortar shop as well. That alone pushed me into a new level of production that I had never encountered. I had real deadlines and real customers and a real PAYCHECK. I have enjoyed it quite a bit and will be looking to expand my local presence this year. I also started getting my name out locally by getting involved in local craft fairs. I've had a blast meeting other Iowa makers and will continue looking for these opportunities.

Whew! For planning to avoid a wrap up, this post is ending up to be quite sizable!
But before I go...
I truly hope that 2015 is a wonderful year for YOU, all my readers, and that you will continue to show my blog love. Thank you for each moment you took to read my posts and an even bigger thank you for taking time to comment when you saw something that inspired you. Without the encouragement of you all, I wouldn't be driven to think bigger and better each and every year.

Happy 2015!