The Handmade Dress

I've been writing this post in my head for the past week. It made me remember why I started this blog in the first place, it reminded me of all of the friends I've met along the way, I thought about the ups and downs we've shared, and how this little corner of my life has become one of my favorite places to be. I'm not a very good writer (believe me, I know this ) so I choose to believe that you all come back here over and over because you love my family and you consider us "family friends". Well, if that is true (and even if it isn't!) we love you too. You are a very special group of people to put up with me and my crazy family! You've stood by me for three years now and I want to say THANK YOU!! Can you believe how much my babies have grown in these three years? So I bet you are wondering what I'm going to be giving away....well, that would be a SIGNED COPY of Anna Maria's new book! Handmade Beginnings is an  awesome book , and

I do believe that this is the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.... ....hand embroidery, a good Jane Austin movie that I've seen at least a hundred times, and flavored coffee. It just couldn't get much better. It's been so long since I have done shadow work embroidery that I almost forgot how much I love it. I plan to have a lot more of these days this summer. I need more days like this. What are you going to make more time for this summer? You know they say if you write it down that you are more likely to follow through. Well I've written mine down! This will be the summer of embroidery. Come on, what will it be? Write it down here and we will hold each other to it.....xo, Sam P.S. The giveaway post will be up on Monday.

I didn't mean for it to take me so long to post about market, but home just felt so good when I first got here and then life threw us a few curve balls....and well, now it's Thursday.  Dawn and I had so much fun! It was all so overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. We stayed up late, got up early, ate food that we didn't cook and didn't have to clean up after! We walked to Starbucks EVERY morning and ate chocolate without sharing! We talked and giggled and dreamed and got inspired. We had a blast and I miss her already!  I decided to tell you about one of my favorite moments of market first....Meeting Anna Maria ! I always thought from reading her blog that she would be such a sweet and down-to-earth mama, and believe it or not, she was even better than I ever imagined! She is such an inspiration, really. She has really MADE IT doing what she loves to do and her family is still her main focus...and to me that's the best kind of success! Thi

There are no words to describe the day that I've had. The phone rang and woke me up this morning...it was my mama with bad news, a 56 year old father in Ben's extended family died of a heart attack. A couple of hours later we got word that a childhood friend had her full term baby last night and he died soon after...they don't know why. My heart just aches...these families are in so much pain and there is nothing I can do to help but pray, send a meal, say a few words that probably won't make them feel any better. My heart is so heavy tonight. Will you help me pray for these dear grieving families? Thank you friends.

That's what I feel like singing right now! Dawn and I have been on the phone about fifteen times a day for the last week just counting down the days (and starting today, the hours!) until we leave! We are really going to Quilt Market! And believe it or not, I'm almost ready to walk out the door and I don't leave until Thursday morning. Yep, my bags are packed, my stuff is all laid out, and my "right before I leave" list is made. I'M READY!!! Now I just need to pray that I don't get lost. Ben is worried. LOL! And he probably has several good reasons too, bless his heart. I'm a bit of a free spirit like that. I never know my way, and I do tend to stop and look at the flowers (maybe a little to much), and I get lost, A LOT. Then there's the fact that I've only flown on a plane one other time in my whole life when I was 18. I flew home from Chicago once with a friend. I still remember vividly calling my Dad at 2am from a pay phone in down town C

So we got a phone call from the post office on Monday -we know the man pretty well because, well, there aren't many people that go to our little country post office and we are in there a couple of times a week- he says "Mr. Caffee? Did you order some chickens?" Ben laughed and said "Yes I did." Apparently there was a noisy box waiting for pickup! LOL! We ordered them a few weeks back and we were all curious about how in the world they were going to ship 25 assorted rare breed chicks to Alabama from Iowa! Since we were needing chickens and I wanted some Easter egg layers, we decided to give it a try. Can you believe that? They did it. They shipped 25 baby chicks across the country in two days. The kids were so excited to open the box that they couldn't hardly stand it! We have went and bought chickens at local farms, we have drove across town and bought chickens, we have hatched our own eggs, and we have had a hen hatch her own eggs, but we N

Grace: "My favorite mama moment is also my most embarrassing moment when my 2 year old son decided to moon the church congregation on Easter Sunday. :-)" Posie: "I have to say the favourite mother moments are deeper & more appreciated as my 4 get older. I'm finding my eldest, 11, has her moments of moodiness but it's when we're out alone together or just at home, when she holds my hand & just says a completely unexpected "i love you" or asks me something meaningful & really wants my advice. I can assure you, life just gets better & better, love Posie " Angie:   "It warms my heart to see my children make right choices. It makes me feel like I am doing my job well." Amy:   "My favorite mom moment is my mother telling me my birth story in the middle of the night on a cross-country Greyhound trip. She is amazing!" Alisa: "I don't know if I can pin down only ONE favourite Mama momen

I've been sewing, sewing, sewing. It looks like Miss Olivia Paige and Miss Claire will be ready this week, and I want to give one of you a free copy of both patterns! Leave a comment telling me about your favorite mama moment (it can be about you or your mother) and don't forget to leave your email address. I will pick one winner for every 20 comments to make the chance of winning higher :) I'll announce a winner on Tuesday morning. Happy Mother's Day friends!! 

 I hope these pictures make you smile! They sure had me smiling! This is our little Bo. He didn't realize until today that his horns are getting too big to put his head in the feed bucket! We laughed so hard at him, and we told him that's what he gets for being greedy. Little goats are so much fun! It was so cute, he kept backing up thinking he could back out of it! Molly finally helped him get it off and he ran straight to his mama and nursed like he had given up solid food for good after that. It was so stinkin cute! While Ben and the kids were down at the garden planting yesterday I walked down to take a few pictures. I'm always surprised at how fast things can change in the spring and summer from week to week. This is the old road that goes down to the garden but it looks so much different than it did a few weeks ago. Everything seemed normal when I first made it to the garden.....Ben's truck was parked with the tools and plants sitting

Well I'm back! And I proud to announce that after everyone's hard work at the yard sale we made over $1000!!!! Once again God has blessed us way beyond what we ever expected! Saturday night when we counted up our final tally we had exactly $1038.23! We will have our little Bulgarian babies home before you know it! The weather was perfect, we had tons of donations, lots of people came, and we had plenty of workers to handle it all, it was perfect! The last couple of weeks have been so busy, wonderful, and exhausting that when I got home from the fabric shop yesterday I just collapsed. I slept like a baby for almost three hours, then slept good again last night, and this morning I feel like a new woman! The plan for today is to get my house cleaned up (it's worse than it's been in a long time after all of this running around) and then do some sewing. I'm making the girls new Miss Olivia Paige and Miss Claire outfits so that I can get some good pictures for