The Handmade Dress

I think we have birds on the brain around here. We have been growing these little chicks in my living room for the last couple of weeks. They have a few more days before they are big enough to go out to the big pen. We hear their sweet little chirping all day. The girls and I decided they needed a new Summer outfit, with birdies of course! So this is what we came up with. I bought shirts for $2.99 at Walmart, added this sweet little applique-super quick by the way! Then I made a couple pair of shorts with a little coordinating ruffle. I love the pink and brown fabrics. Well since I already had it all drawn out, I wrote out the directions for a free pattern download. I have a new system for downloading patterns, it's much easier than before! Just click HERE (or on the word tutorials at the top of the page), click add to cart (pattern is free), follow the prompts to download. Can you tell I took these pictures after the girls wore them? LOL! Maddie's is on the right. The...

I got mine! Sew Beautiful came out a little before I expected so I had to get in gear and finish my shop, but it's done! I am so excited that I finally have that off my back. I have been up until 3am for three nights now and boy am I tired! The exciting news is that now all my patterns can be downloaded instantly after purchase. WHOO HOO! And all my freebies can be downloaded from my website now. If you want to see those go to "tutorial" at the top of the page and when you see the one you want click add to cart (the are not priced) and follow the prompt to download. I have the cutest freebie pattern that I hope to get out in the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to posting more often now that all this is done. If you want to look around the shop click shop at the top of the page or click HERE. Please tell me if you have any suggestions! Oh and don't even ask me how many times I have looked at that page! I am such a nerd. Molly thinks I'm famous. Poor...

I hope you all enjoyed the little dress pattern, I would love to see pictures of your projects! The winners for the book are comment #5 Debbie, and comment #22 Karen B. Please email me your address at mamacaffee@hotmail.com . The winners for the patterns are comment # 7 Angie, and comment # 27 Laura. I will email you these patterns this afternoon. I am going to be pretty busy this week with my brother in law Daniel's wedding- it's finally happening!- so I will not post again until next week. I have been tagged by my friend Lynn to tell you random weird things about myself. Since I have already been tagged and told weird things , I have decided to take pictures and tell about some of the random things in my house. This is Maddie's wedding dress. She is not in the wedding but she HAD to have a dress! I will tell you more about this dress when I come back next week (I will have a better picture too!). Easter dresses are almost finished! I will be able to finish them ...

I couldn't choose, I had no idea it was going to be so hard! I made Ben pick because I couldn't take the pressure. I know this, I have some amazing blog readers! This was so much fun (up until decision time!). So here are the winners...................... Sheila, my sweet friend, you won the book for the best comment! I don't have your email address to contact you so just email me your address. Oliver Rain , my blog twin, you were comment # 15 so you win the patterns! Thanks everyone for participating! (here are my sweeties last Easter) I am thinking of starting a "how to crochet" tutorial series. I want to know who would really use this before I start to see if it is even needed. If I have at least a few people interested I don't mind putting it together. This is what I want to do: The first tutorial will be how to hold the hook, tie a slip knot and how to chain. The second will be how to do a single crochet. The third will be a double croc...

Ya'll are always so much fun, so I wanted to have some sort of giveaway. There will be 2 prizes to win. The first will be a copy of my book, Samantha's Crochet Edgings, and the second will be all four of my crochet bootie patterns. To play everyone must comment on why they want the book, or what they think I should do to advertise for my book. The best comment-er wins the book, and I will let my kids draw for the person who will win the patterns. I will announce the winner on Sunday. I'm hoping to meet a few lurkers! Come on don't be shy! I think this will be fun. Here are some of the pictures from my book and a pair of the crochet booties. This was Molly's Easter dress last year. This is one of the edging patterns from the book. This was a dress I made for my niece Lily. This dress was for a very special baby named Isabella. The booties and blanket below were for my niece Iris. NOTE: If you want to comment but do not have a blogger account, comment as anonymo...

Molly got a sewing machine, Tim got a train table, and Maddie got a baby bed and a little kitchen. Then a lot more small stuff! I thought my house was so destroyed when I took this first picture! Then my mom and dad came and brought a VAN LOAD of gifts! Then I knew for sure it was destroyed! It took me half the day to my house to the point where it was tolerable! We were loving every minute of it! We had the best Christmas ever! Ben says I say that every year, but it seems to get better every year. The older the kids get the more they look forward to our little Christmas traditions. I love that, that it's the same every year and you know just what to look forward to. I will be back soon with all kinds of sewing and crochet projects, I promise! I am so busy right now with parties (yes, we are still partying!) and I am now working on book #2. I hope to have the book finished by March. Hope. The phase I am working on now is "the sewing phase", so for the ne...

I taught the first class this week on my book . I was a little nervous at first, but after meeting these women, everything was just fine! We had the best time! They said they expected an old lady to be teaching. LOL! I am going to teach another class for these girls in a month or so, on making booties. I hope all my classes will be this fun and easy. What a nice lookin bunch! From left to right there is Barbra, Mary, "Lady", and Ann. Thanks so much girls for making my first class so much fun! I can't wait to do this again! This is the bootie pattern I'm sending you. I want to say a big thank you to the gals at Elizabeth Annes in Hoover, they have taken me in and been so incredibly kind. This little heirloom sewing shop is wonderful! If you live in the area you should realy stop by, they offer a lot of classes, and the best heirloom fabrics and laces. Thanks again girls! If you want to leave a comment but do not have a google account; click on com...

Yay! I have a finished product! Now I have some baby gifts to get caught up on. I hope to be able to finish everything Monday. Click this pic to read the front cover. Ben, AKA the best dad in the world, has been finishing up the best tree house in the world. He says he will be completely done by next saturday. The kids are in love with this tree house, they have saved Birthday, Christmas, and Tooth Fairy money for about a year and a half! Dad is putting the roof on. Front view Side view The kids have decided that the toy boxes are better for watching movies than for toys!

I am exausted, but so excited! I hope everyone will take a look and tell me what you think! Thanks to all the sewmamas ! You have all been so encouraging. Happymama , thanks for your help, you are amazing! Well I'm goin to bed now, night night!

These are som pics I took for my crochet edgings book. Tell me what you think! ......Her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Proverbs 31: 18 & 19 I know you are sick of seeing this dress, but I love this pic! I want this one to be the cover background, but I can't figure out how to do that in microsoft word! Any advise would be great! This is one of the edging patterns in the book. For those of you who haven't heard, I am writing a little book. "Samantha's Crochet Edgings", an instructional guide on how to crochet edgings to fabric, including seven edging patterns. All the instructions for preparing fabric for crochet are in this book. I hope to have it ready soon, I had no idea that this book could take this long! I honestly thought I would type it up one night after the kids were asleep and be done with it! LOL! I mean seriously it's only like 13 pages! But then I dec...