The Handmade Dress

...but somebody's gotta do it. My hands are stained from all the pattern drafting. They somehow look ten times better in this picture than they do in real life. My hands have a gray tint to them. LOL! Occupational hazard I guess. Have a great weekend friends! I'm going to to try some hand sanitizer, sometimes that works.

Molly has decided to homeschool her children, and I have told her that I support her decision completely. I also told her that I would help her in any way that I can, including babysitting from time to time so she can have some time to herself. I really believe she is a natural! Just look at how well behaved all of her children are. They are clean, well dressed, and seem to be enjoying learning from their mama.... I do believe they are quite socialized too! She is also thinking of having more children.... Did I mention that I love this kid to pieces??

It's getting deep over here! I have hit that stage of all-out-work on the Miss Lily pattern. Even when I am sleeping I am dreaming of one detail or another....a way to cut sewing time here or to illustrate a step there, talking to my favorite advisers (you know who you are) about decisions that have to be made this week.....It really is exhausting and rewarding all at the same time. Today we got out of the house a bit to visit the printer for more Miss Madeline patterns (are we really in the SECOND PRINTING of that pattern?) and to visit a few sewing shops. It may be hard for some to believe, but I don't really get to fabric shops very often. I usually go only out of necessity, like today, when it's time to re-stock the shelves. I'm such a home-body! It hit me today while I was out shopping that I had not shown a picture of the bigger Miss Lily on Molly. How did I miss that? Probably because Molly is so shy behind the camera and Maddie is the one always saying ...

I can't give an exact date but I can say I'm moving right along on this dress pattern… I am a little behind schedule (when am I ever ahead?) but I'm still hopeful that you will have Miss Lily at least two weeks before Easter. I finished up another sample today just in time for a photo shoot with one of my favorite models. Here are a few of the pictures of Madeline modeling Miss Lily…..You can find more picture HERE on Flickr. PS. The boots were her idea. I'll bet you already knew that ;)

He stood in the bottom drawer to turn on Veggie Tales for Maddie.... He came out of the wreckage with: two scrapes on his back a small bump on his head a sore foot and a very important lesson learned ......an understanding of why children shouldn't climb on furniture. Thank God for watching over my stubborn boy while he learned his lesson!! He must have sent angels to protect my baby! This is the only piece of furniture in the room that wasn't bolted to the wall (because we didn't have this dresser when we did that). It was so terrifying! Thank God he wasn't trapped....he must have fell to the side when the dresser started to tip over. I have a feeling this dresser will be fastened to the wall before dark tonight.

:: the warm sun :: an old quilt :: play clothes :: three happy children :: a borrowed baby Almost-Spring-time naps.....it's hard to stay inside on days like this....

I admit it! LOL! I can't even tell you how many times I have told Timothy to stop climbing on the furniture since he was 8 months old. I've done everything, but still he gives in to temptation every now and then. So when I heard his call for help and Molly say that he was stuck behind the dresser, I did what any "tough love" mama would do... I grabbed the camera and made up my mind to make him sweat it for a while before I helped him out! LOL! As usual it didn't turn out as I planned, but it was so funny! He was stuck behind a big dresser that is bolted into the corner -by the way, we bolted it to the wall after he pulled it onto himself climbing in the drawers when he was 18 months old -so he had room to sit and move around since the dresser is caddy-cornered, but not enough room to be comfortable. He said he fell behind there while he was climbing on top of it! Did I mention I had already told him twice whithin an hour of this happening to stop climbing?? I ha...

I'm a little under the weather today, and needing something cheerful to look at while the children play outside. This is what I came up with... Just a little happiness for the table. If you want to make your own see below.... :: I just cut out some leafs from fabric scraps. (You can find the free template HERE on my tutorial page. Scan down to the bottom of the page and you will see it.) :: Hot glued them right onto this little branch. :: Added three (already made) crochet flowers. (If you don't have any see below) :: And displayed it on the table along with some of this weeks findings....lovely rocks. If you don't have crochet flowers just laying around (like some of us crochet freaks) you could use yo-yos with a button glued in the middle, fabric flower shapes cut out and layered. Flower yo-yos would be cute too. Or you could whip up the crochet ones using this tutorial . (or you could just skip the flowers....) I'm thinking this could even be a cute lit...

I have a brand spanking new hand embroidery design pack, “Birds and Blooms”, out today. There are over thirty new, fun, fresh designs included in this new design pack (including small and large designs). The “Birds and Blooms” design pack is available now in the shop as a PDF instant download for just $6! Some of you may remember when I first mentioned these way back in the Summer.....Well at least they're done now right!? LOL! I also added a bonus design from the Miss Madeline pattern (pictured below). Happy stitching everyone!

From the very beginning of our homeschooling adventure Ben and I knew that we would sort-of ride the fence on having a curriculum and unschooling. We like to mostly stick to our regular school books, but break from them every so often when the children show a special interest in something. This time it was rocks. I first noticed the interest in Timothy, he has always been a collector, but lately he has been overly interested in rocks. For example; the other day Maddie put rocks from the driveway in the hubcaps of my van. Yeah…. in the hubcaps. So the next time we left the house there was this terrible noise going down the road! Ben pulled over to have a look and Tim said "Oh yeah! Maddie put wocks in the tires!" Ben looked, and sure enough, a big "wock" had been wedged in there. He fished it out with a stick and jumped back in the car and Tim says "where's the wock? Dad, I need that wock". LOL! He needed that rock. Yes, Ben got back out and gave him ...

I love a good list! I make them all the time to keep me on track throughout the day. So today I'm going to post my list. All of the men are in the mountains "roughin-it" so all the girls (Rae, Lily, Iris, and my kids and I) are headed to Martha's house (my mother-in-law) for the weekend! It's going to be such a blast! Flavored coffee and hazelnut creamer will flow like water, we will probably still be up giggling long past midnight, and the kids will be as happy as pigs all piled up "camping" in the living room floor. Fun stuff! Here is the list....(Just click on the list to enlarge it :) And, yes I always start the list out "Project"-something-or-another....It makes my list look so cool.

Yay! I got a makeover! Once again Donella has stepped in and made me look good! I got a new banner, avatar, shop button, letterhead, thank you postcards, the works. If any of you are looking for someone to give your blog or website a new look, she is your girl (and her prices are the best I've seen!). It looks like I may not be here much for the next couple of days. Tim is sick with a tummy bug and Ben is leaving for manly hiking trip to the mountains. Mama + sick boy -Daddy support = Very busy and possibly nutty Mama You know the drill, everyone just survives. LOL! So I'll see ya when I see ya ;)