Biting the Bullet.

OK. I am doin' it. I purchased the domain name a while ago, and just signed up for hosting. I will be working on the new site soon, and with any luck, there will be a new Acme Baby Co. site, separate from Etsy, and all grown up.

There will be new fabrics, and old patterns; a lovely combination if I do say so.

Look for it soon.... www.acmebabyco.com

Sweet Vintage Inspiration!!

Oh Katie Jump Rope! I love the name, the coordinating patterns, everything about this line by Denyse Schmidt! I especially love the names of colors like "fairway" (green) and "colonial brown." They are rich, satiny and just plain fun and spirited. I want to make everything out of this stuff!

Martini Anyone?

These are beautiful. Amy Butler has yet another fabulous line of fabrics, and this design is hands down my favorite. It has also proven to be rather popular on the Etsy site. Here is the version in the color called "mustard."

Fabrics, Grougeous.

I haven't blogged anything for a while, and this is why. I have tons of beautiful new fabrics available at my Etsy shop, Acme Baby Co. Tons of the old Amy Butler Lotus, some of the new Midwest Modern (the Martini design is my fave), quite a few prints from Joel Dewberry's Chestnut Hill and some Mod Girls from Jennifer Paganelli. Please come take a look and tell me what you think. I will be getting even more fabrics in a couple weeks so it is well worth it to keep checking back. Enjoy the fabrics. :)

Realistic Shoes.

For any of you out there obsessed with good shoes, here is one for the record. Gucio Shoes makes practical yet beautiful shoes for baby and toddler. There are very minimal differences in their three shoe models. I *mean* that; the only differences are no holes, holes, bigger holes - for the amount of breath-ability/type of weather.

While there seems to be some difficulty with their website including where to find them, don't let that discourage you from tracking these shoes down. We have owned more than one pair of these and found them to be a breath of fresh air - tired of the clunky-plastic athletic shoes you find at so many stores, even the stores that are dedicated just to children's shoes (we wont mention any names). The soles are very flexible and the uppers are all leather, and the seams are stitched on the outside, so there is nothing to poke or dig into baby.

The larger sizes (24-28 French sizing) are double-soled, for more stability. They do have a great sizing chart for picking the right size, as well as a plethora of pleasing colors. No cotton-candy pink with flowers here. You get rich and calm yet happy earth-and jewel-toned colors such as olive, navy, chestnut, heather, ginger, aqua, and yes, "natural."

What I really like about the great variety in color, is that I have a four-year-old. If your four-year-old is anything like mine, she needs to have some (all?) say in picking things out. So, if I choose the shoe, I might be able to put it past her by letting her pick the color. Crafty, no? ;)

Anyway, go support a work-at-home dad and his ingenious design for a healthy shoe.

Made in Poland. Very reasonably priced.

Recycled, Handmade, Simple

Peaches and Nips is another mother-owned company on Etsy, and they make these really cool baby-hammocks.

What seems to be unique about this hammock is the wood structure: how the design allows the hammock to "gently move up and down, back and forth, and side to side."

Also, not only are he fabric portions of the hammocks bohemian-cool, they claim to use 90% recycled materials in all their products, which I find very useful to those who are environmentally-conscious.

The wood portion is made of Poplar, which is supposed to be a very strong hardwood, making the design even more well thought-out.

Lovely.

Retro Cool. No, Really.

One of my chief complaints about "retro" stuff, is that it is often intermixed with cheap-o, not-so-cool, not-really-retro stuff. Not the case with Liliconfetti. Their shop is well put together with darling and sweet things for kids big and little.

Arthur the Bear Creature is particularly cute: "He enjoys socialising and likes foreign travel. He also loves drinking peppermint tea late at night and gardening. His favourite thing in the whole world is ballet dancing but he appreciates other forms of dancing too!"

And, who can resist a cute little squirrel mouse pad?