Southgate Crossing Farmer's Market

 Today I'd like to take a minute to share with you one of the local places that I have my 18 inch doll clothes setup at!  The place is called Southgate Crossing Farmer's Market, and it's an incredible Amish built building!

Southgate crossing was built in the early to mid 2000's to be a Farmer's Market and the first phase of a larger amusement venue.  While the other phased didn't end up taking place due to an economic downturn in the area in 2008, this beautiful building stands proudly within the quaint countryside.

Here in Northern Indiana we have some large Amish communities.  And it's these lovely Amish people that had a hand in building this beautiful building.  From what I have heard there was not one nail used in making this building.  Instead it was made using pegs!

Here is a photo I snapped from the front of the building on my way inside today.  Although this picture doesn't do it justice it gives you a little idea of it's size and beauty!  (It was really cold out today and I was in a hurry to get inside.  So this picture will have to do for today)  

Also, to put the size of Southgate Crossing into perspective I have been told that it is approximately the same height and same width as Noah's Ark was, but is about 10 feet shorter than Noah's Ark.  (There are times, when it's warmer out, that I've stood and looked at the building thinking about how that is approx. the size of the ark that Noah and his family would have been on with all the animals!) 

Let's go inside this incredible building!

As you walk through the main doors, you come into the center of the building.  One of the first things you'll notice when you look up is the beautiful wood beams and the 3 floors with wood "fences" around the second and third floor.  You may also see people standing on those floors taking in the breathtaking beauty of it all!

The first floor of the building has a variety of goods including; multiple eating places from local businesses, boutique clothing, a brewery, and a large selection of Vintage items!  The vintage area takes up close to half of the first floor, so if you love vintage items you'll want to check back regularly to see what items the vintage vendor have brought in to sell.

Once you've browsed the first floor it's time to head upstairs.  There are two large beautiful staircases you can walk up, or if you prefer there is an elevator that can be used.

On the second floor, half of the floor contains handcrafted treasures from talented sewers, painters, artists, etc.  It's on this floor that you will find my booth, TracysDesigns1 18 inch doll clothes!

Today my mom and I were there to change out some of my products and redecorate.  We had it decorated for Christmas and New Year, but now it was time to change things over to Valentine's doll outfits!   (Can you believe it's time to starting thinking about Valentine's day, already?)

After a few hours of work today, we have new decorations hung (lots of hearts), and new Valentine outfits available!  Lots of doll clothes with red, pinks, and whites, and everything from dresses to leggings to ice skating outfits.  Whatever you doll needs to enjoy this winter season!

One of the nice things about this farmer's market is that there is one central location on the first floor to pay for everything you want.  Instead of needing to have a lot of cash on hand like when you shop at local craft shows, here you can grab a basket, do your shopping and then pay for everything at once.  And of course they also accept credit cards, so you don't have to carry a lot of cash if you don't want to!

But you might be thinking, I like the craft shows because I get to meet the crafters who make the items.  The good news is, a few times a year Southgate crossing puts on craft shows, so if you come during those times you'll get to meet some of the crafters themselves!  The next craft show scheduled is February 10, 2024.

Is that all that's going on at this farmer's market?  I'm glad you asked!  The answer is No!   In addition to all the good food and wonderful products, they also have activities going on throughout the week!

On Tuesday nights they have line dancing lessons and then on Wednesday nights they have line dancing.  So, if you're new to line dancing you can take classes to learn on Tues. and then put when you've learned into practice on Wednesday nights!

Maybe dancing isn't your interest.  How about a Concert every Thursday night?  Yes, that's right, most Thursday nights (starting on February 8th) there is a concert by Quentin Flagg who performs Rock and Roll music from the 50's, and 60's along with some Country music and Gospel music!  Come and check out this fun concert that's only $6.00 per person!  It's from 6pm to 7:45pm. 

Would you like more information on Southgate Crossing?  Here's the link to Southgate Crossing's website!

From a Doll's Prespective

Hi Everyone, it's me Kellie, the American Girl Doll!

 Hi mom's and grandma's, I'm back to tell you what I get to do today!  I hope it gives you ideas for fun things to do with your daughter/granddaughter and her doll/s.

I'm going to bake something!.  Today I got a fun and pretty new apron to wear and now I want to bake something so that I can use the apron!  I debated between baking a cake, or making sugar cookies.  Then again maybe an apple pie would be fun to make!  What do you think I should make?   What would you make with your daughter and her doll?

Well, I have a sweet tooth, so it's got to be something sweet and tasty. :) 

Hmmm..... okay, I think I've decided on the sugar cookies!  They sound really good, and I have my very own new rolling pin to roll the dough out with!  Plus, this way I can have fun decorating them with frosting, which I couldn't do with the apple pie.  Yes, I could decorate a cake, but I'm hungry for cookies!

I will use heart cookie cutters!  I found a set of tiny heart shaped cookie cutters that are great for me: doll sized!!

 Since I'm going to make sugar cookies, that means I will also make buttercream frosting and dye it shades of pink and red (well red is really hard to dye frosting but at least a really dark pink that's almost red!).  

First I'm going to mix the ingredients for the cookie dough and roll it out on the kitchen table.  I took the table cloth off the kitchen table, and washed off the whole table.  Now I'm going to use my rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough.  Then it's time to use the cookie cutters! (Yay!) These tiny cookie cutters come in a few sizes of hearts, so I'm going to make some in each size!  I carefully cut the dough using the heart cutters and then gently peel them off the cutter and place them on the greased cookie sheet, so they will be ready for mom to put in the oven!

We set the timer when we put them in the oven, because we don't want them to burn.  And since they are so small they would burn quickly if we leave them in too long, so we are being very careful not to leave them in longer then necessary.

Next it's time to make the frosting! Yummy!  These sugar cookies are going to have buttercream frosting.  I measure out and stir together the ingredients.  After it's stirred up well, I divide the frosting into multiple bowls and then I add different colors of food coloring to each bowl.  It's fun to stir the frosting with the food coloring in it and watch the white frosting turn into swirls of color and white.  Then as I continue to stir the frosting it all changes into the color I wanted it to be!  It's so much fun to do this! 

Now to decorate the sugar cookies!  With some of them I'm going to carefully spread frosting on them with a knife and then put sprinkles on them.  But on some of them I'm going to put the frosting on frosting bags with decorating tip on the end to make fun star prints and designs on the cookies.  Mom helps me learn how to hold the bag correctly so that the frosting doesn't come out of the top.  With my mom's help they come out looking really pretty!  We used a few different frosting tips so that they would make different designs on the cookies.

The cookies all came out looking so pretty, and they were really good to eat!  We shared them with the rest of the family and everyone liked them!  Mom put some in a container so we could enjoy them for the next few days!  (But I don't know if they will last that long!)

As I make the cookies, I'm going to pretend that I'm back in the 1930's and cooking with Kit, because my apron is a retro 1930's style.  It covers the whole front of me, so I don't get flour and eggs, or frosting on my clothes.  The fabric has pretty butterflies on it, and the bottom is flared and a pretty pink!

Hi mom's and grandma's, as you teach your daughter/granddaughter to cook and bake, you can add to the fun with matching girl and doll aprons!  Yes, that's right, there is also a child's apron that matches the doll apron.  They can be purchased in Tracy's eBay store!  Within the store, go to the "Matching girl & Doll category to see all the matching outfits/items currently available!

Create heartfelt memories with your child/grandchild that they will cherish throughout their lifetime!  Sure, at the moment they won't realize they are creating lifetime memories, but in reality that's what is happening!  Have so so much fun baking and cooking together!

My First Blog

Hello everyone!
Welcome to TracysDesigns1 blog!  My name is Tracy and I am the sewer and crocheter for TracysDesigns1.

My grandmother on my dad's side was always crocheting and as I child I thought it was so cool to watch her creating beautiful items and wanted to do that too, so I started begging her to teach me.  When I was 5 years old, so finally agreed to teach me, and I picked up on it right away and have never put the crochet hook down!

My grandmother on my mom's side was always sewing!  She made from crafts, like sewn clowns all the way to making historical costumes (like pioneer dresses)!  It looked like so much fun that I wanted to sew, also.  At around 7 or 8 years old, my grandmother started teaching me to sew.

The more I learned in regards to sewing and crocheting the more I wanted to learn and grow my skills!  In high school I took sewing classes and that's where I first learned how to use embroidery machines!  Oh, the fun!  Since then I've also purchased a Cricut machine, and the fun continues!  I love that the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating fun, beautiful, and useful items.

I have been selling my creations on Ebay for many years and have now opened an Etsy store, so of course the next logical step in my creative life is to start blogging.  So here I am!  Welcome, again, to my blog.   

My goals for my blog is pretty simple: To share my love for creating!  So, if it has to do with sewing and/or crocheting you may find it here!  I also sell my creations, so there will likely be posts about selling handmade items, too.  Oh, there may even be some posts "from a doll's perspective", from time to time, as it's fun to make up stories about the 18 inch dolls and their lives!  I invite you to join me on this journey of creativity.

I shared with you how my journey of creativity started, now let me dive in a little deeper.  

When did I start selling my creations?  As a kid.  I don't remember my exact age of when I started selling them but I know it was before I was 12 years old, because that was how old I was when my grandmother and I started sewing cute little clown decorations.  Some people saw them and wanted us to make them some, then other saw those and wanted some, and before long we were very busy one summer making these little clowns!

Why did I start selling my creations?  

Sometimes I wonder if my family encouraged me to sell the items I made because I was filling the house up with handmade items and there just wouldn't have been room to continue to keep them all, yet at the same time my family didn't want to discourage my creativity, so selling became the natural way to go. 

Where did I sell my hand crafted creations? 

 Well, as a kid, it was mostly through my family's help.   After college, I started doing a few local craft shows and that has grown to doing many craft shows (especially since I'm now running my business full-time).  Then when Ebay started, I was really excited as it meant I could sell to anywhere, not just my local area.  Now Etsy how come about which is geared towards handmade products!  

Have you always made and sold the same type of items?  

No, that's changed a lot over the years.  As I shared above, the first items I mainly started with selling those clown decorations, but it's been a long time since I've created those.  Over the years, I've made (and sold) some embroidered items, like socks, bibs, shirts, and personalized hand towels.  I've also had fun with sewing period clothing, especially Renaissance dresses!  

Currently I sew cute and fashionable doll clothes that fits 18 inch dolls such as the American girl dolls and Springfield collection dolls.  (Edited 2023: to add my 18" doll clothes also fits the Our Generation dolls and My Life dolls!)

And in addition to the doll clothes, I also currently crochet cute and adorable Baby Shoes/Booties and Baby Beanie/hats. They're made from very soft 100% Acrylic yarns. Right now my sizes for the shoes range from Newborn to 3-6 Months, and the Beanies range from Newborn to 12 Months.

Please feel free to take a stroll through both of my stores (the links to my sites should be on the side of the blog) and see all the lovely creative items I've made.

Tracy