The Handmade Dress

*** Maddie's fever broke yesterday morning! SIGH........... I feel so much better now. The doctor told us that her biggest risk of having another seizure was during the same virus, so we are breathing easier..... She is back to her old self now, you know, playing "lella" (Cinderella). Things are feeling more normal now, though we are not quite there yet. My Dad is much better too. I think we will all look at things a little diferently from now on. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I wish I could thank you all personally, I read every single comment and they all meant so much to me. I really can't thank you enough. I love you all! I will be back soon with some sewing and silliness. I'm just going to take a little more ime off to snuggle my sweet babies. Hug your babies today! ~xoxox, Samantha*** . Friday started out like any other day except I still had a lingering headache and nausea from the virus I had Wednesday and Thursday. I was determined t...

Last week my washing machine called it quits. LOL ! To tell you the truth I wasn't too sad to see it go. We were not on very good terms. It was one of those cheap stack ables that was averaging 2hrs to dry 1 load of clothes. Not good when you have this many people to wash for. By the way I think Maddie counts as at least two grown people with the amount of laundry she produces, but who would expect Cinderella to wear the same dress all- day- long? That's just unheard of! As usual it was a blessing in disguise . We found these scratch and dent at two different Lowes stores for $800! That is the price of just the washer! Here is the best part, it washes THREE loads at a time!!!!! And the dry time equals the wash time! This has changed my life, seriously, you know the rants I have had about laundry. I caught up about 10 loads, all the curtains, and even a couple of quilts IN ONE DAY! It was heaven on earth! OK, so yes I admit it, I am in love with my new washer and dryer. The...

(THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH) While the girls and I were inside cooking, a few weeks ago, the boys were outside cutting grass and cleaning up the yard. It has always been Tim's job (well..since he's been big enough) to blow the grass clippings off of the porch, but Ben had just bought a new blower and it was a little bigger than the one Tim has been using. IT WAS HISTERICAL! The new blower was so powerful that when Tim pulled the trigger it blew him in circles!!! LOL! I hope you like this one. What a sweet boy helping his Daddy with the yard work, no matter what the cost. LOL! Sorry it's a little blurry, it was so hot and humid my camera was fogging up.

First there was my sweet Daddy. There is no way to begin to describe this man. He's the perfect Dad, I'm not just saying that because it's Fathers Day, seriously, PERFECT. In my whole life I don't remember him ever telling me that I couldn't do something I wanted to do, ever. In fact he was always there in the middle of whatever I was involved in. When I was in Cosmetology school (it was a co-op in high school) he would come to the school on his lunch break and let me cut his hair, or let me pass off on some other crazy assignment! That mans hair has been highlighted, finger waved, curled, spiked, anything I needed it to do! He has had a french manicure, his toes done, eyebrows waxed, you name it, I put him through it! LOL! And he never once complained. When I was a little older I really enjoyed christian concerts. We would dress Dad up in baggy jeans, spike his hair with some DUKE putty, and give him some shades to wear and he would be right there with us jumping u...

Molly is in that stage of reading where she spells everything the way that she hears it. Well I don't really know what happened here, but seriously, I almost died laughing! Timothy comes in while I am cooking and says, "Wook mama, I have a letter for Maddie. For when her wakes up". I look down at the letter and see "B**b loves Maddie". Fighting back just totally losing it I ask, "What does it say buddy?" He answers, ""Sissy wote it for me, it says Bubba woves Maddie. You wike it mama?" And of course I look at him in those big blue eyes and say, "Yes, in fact , that's my most favorite letter you have ever got Sissy to write for you. I wish I had one just like it". So guess what .....Mama gets her very own "B**b loves Mama" letter. Yes mam! I'm a little sad that we have to start spelling in the Fall, I mean this is good stuff! I wonder if there's any way aro...

Tara .......... Bethany ...........and....Megan!!!! Each one of you get to pick a free pattern from my shop, including "Miss Madeline" and the embroidery design pack "Samantha's Hand Embroidery Designs 1, Birds and Blooms" Did you notice my new look? Well my sweet friend Donella did it!!!! She did an amazing job. She was so willing to make me happy with every little detail. She did ALL THIS for a very reasonable price. You can check out her Etsy shop here.

OK, so I totally missed the anniversary. It was in May and I just realized it. Oh well, we can party now! Lets start with a big fat THANK YOU!!!! I would have never kept on blogging without all of your comments, seriously. You gave me the motivation I needed to get to the one year mark. Had you all not been here cheering me on I would NOT have my own line of patterns and a book out! Every sweet comment, every encouraging word, every piece of advice was truly taken to heart. And I can now brag that I made it an entire year with out so much as ONE ugly comment. This has truly been a happy place to be. But it was more that that, you came at a time when I really needed something to keep me busy. I needed a new and fun distraction. When I started this one year ago my heart was still grieving deeply over the loss of my sweet baby 5 months earlier. I had miscarried just a week before my second trimester. You all, with your precio...

Dee from Bubba Chick Tagged me for a little game. Here are the rules. * Link the person who tagged you * Mention the rules in your blog * Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours * Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them This is going to be hard! LOL! 1. I REALY HATE FOLDING CLOTHES! I know you all think that you hate it too, but I think I'm a whole new level. I trade out with my friend Kim and she comes and folds while I sew for her daughter. Really, that bad! I should wear a sign: Will sew for folded laundry. 2. I can't be ugly to telemarketers. I feel sorry for them, so I let them talk, then I have to say "no I'm sorry I wouldn't be interested". Then I feel bad again for saying no. I can't just hang up. I feel rude. Ben can shut them down in a heart beat, but I can't. 3. I'm hooked on Diet Sunkist. We only drink water at home so I don't get it unless we are out...

To answer a few questions, YES the bird embroidery is my design and it will be included in the "Miss Madeline" pattern. It will also be sold in a *new design pack* with lots of other sweet designs. What do you all think of the picture of all the dresses on the wall? Do you think a picture like that be good for the cover of the pattern? I kind of like it. I also thought about the dresses on a clothes line. Thanks so much for your interest! You guys are amazing! So much for the wordless post huh?

I have come down with the virus now. Great fun. I'm a little better today but I'm still feeling pretty weak, so I'm just going to show a picture of this dress that I made for Molly. This will be View B on the new pattern. I made Maddie one (View B) too but I'll have to show it later. The one with the apron will be View A. What do you think of the name "Miss Madeline"? I guess I would feel bad if I didn't name one after her. Does it look like a Madeline? I also thought about Madeline the milk maid, or Maddie's prairie dress, Madelines apron dress? What do you think, do you have a better suggestion? HELP! LOL!

OK, yes there is some sort of theme going on here with my crazy family, riding toys, and holidays! This might just be the best ever! My cousin Jon has some mad skills with a sewing machine, let me tell you. He decided to build a HUGE slip-n-slide for Memorial Day, and boy was it big! Let me explain it to you sewing folk. He took massive tarps, sewed them together and got a blower (think those blow up bouncers that people rent for birthdays) and hooked that baby up. Then he found the steepest hill on his property and layed it out. There was a pool at the bottom for us to land in. It was perfect. (THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH) I know if you have ever read my blog you have already guessed it, mama had to ride, and this time it was caught on video. Did I mention that on Mothers Day I almost broke my foot riding in a go cart with Ben? Well it happened. You would think that I'd be scared, but no. My big tail keeps climbing on these contraptions with the excitement ...