The Handmade Dress

From our very entertaining drama queen! I hope your day is full of big smiles too! xo, Sam

You know what they say, "try and try again". Well that's just what I did. I made one of each, took notes -I hate when I don't take notes, because then I can NEVER remember what I did and then I have to do the whole process over again, that's why I love Ravelry- and it worked! The size up fit Claire's pudgy little feet perfectly! Now I think I'll just go ahead and make the other to match  and work on that baby gift this evening. The new baby won't be here for another month anyhow, right? My Ravelry notes are HERE (and I made those public, so you don't have to be a member to see them).   Ahh...there is such a sense of satisfaction when you've found a pattern that works for you after the "try and try again" stage. And the best part about this pattern is that I think I could have it memorized pretty quickly. I'm going to get to work on these now and I'll be back to show you a whole pair soon! xo, Sam

THANK YOU! You guys always come to the rescue! I looked at all of the suggestions and read through the patterns a bit and this one made the most sense to me (it has a construction picture:). I changed up the pattern just a smidge, you can see my ravelry notes here , and I LOVE it! I can totally see this being my new go-to pattern. This one turned out perfect for the newborn size because it was a little snug on Claire. Now I can work on my baby gift! And after that's done Claire needs a pair of these, one size up, in this same yellow with a blue dress to go with them.....or maybe a pink dress? Or red! No it has to be blue.....

(Picture borrowed from Ravelry ) I need help from my knitting friends. I tried these booties yesterday, for a new baby boy that's coming soon, and they were just way too big for a newborn. Do you guys know of a pattern that is similar to this that works better for newborn feet? I would also like something that is seamed because I'm sooo slow with DPNs or majic loop. Got any ideas? Thanks friends! xo, Sam

Since before my little angel was born I knew that if she was a girl I would want a pretty car seat. I really like pretty infant seats because in those first few months they get used so much.... in stores, restaurants, church....One night a couple of weeks ago, after I got home from my job at the church, I started to work on one. I needed some sewing therapy after those long emotional days after the tornadoes. I just used fabrics that I had because there was no time for shopping then. I had this quilted table runner that my mom gave me a couple of years ago, and scraps of my all time favorite line from Moda by Urban Chiks. I bought a pattern for a seat cover, but I was disappointed to find that I would have to cut apart my old cover and use it as a pattern. I really just wanted a pattern so that I wouldn't have to think about it. I definitely didn't want to cut up my old cover because Miss Claire is a spitter and an extra car seat cover is needed from time to time.

It feels like it has been years since Easter! So much has happened and we have been so busy, that I feel like I need to get caught up. This week has really been the most "normal" that we have had since the tornadoes came through. This weekend I even did a little sewing -that I will try to show you in the next few days along with Easter dresses!  Today I want to share some of the pictures that we took the day our little angel, Zoe, was born since so many of you have prayed for them and sent gifts. What an emotional day! The day before was so full of fear, worry, and heartache. Daniel, Cristina, little Luke had been through so much and we were just so thankful that they were all okay, that we were all okay . I'm telling you, I've never been so happy for all of us to be together under one roof in my life! You take those things for granted until something like this happens. When I finally laid my head down at 3:00 that next morning to go to sleep, the thought o

Last night I was getting a little video of Claire babbling and I said "Hey" and she answered "Hey". The kids were taking baths when it happened but when I showed them the video they thought that it was the hillarious thing they had ever seen! They want to send it in to Funniest Home Videos. So cute!  It feels good to be posting something happy today! xo, Sam 

Wow. Today is really the first day since the tornado that I have been home. I've tried to write at night when I got home from the church a few times but I couldn't put any of it into words, I thought it was because I was just so tired emotionally and physically. No, it's just too much. It's heavy. In the past two weeks I've been with hundreds of people who have just lost everything, some have lost family members, I've hugged a mama while she cried about losing all of her kid's pictures, I've loaded supplies into cars with no windows and seats covered in glass, I've hugged and cried with people who have lost loved ones, I've handed formula to a mama who had been out and she cried.....the mamas get me. There are army trucks and National Guard men everywhere, cars on the road that don't even look drivable, it's like a war zone. My heart hurts when I see these areas of mass destruction and the people who have lost so much, then on the other