The Handmade Dress

Preparation for fall market is in full swing around here! There are samples to be made up (and shown to you!), patterns to be printed, and pattern stands to be built, just thinking about it all gets me excited! Today we got all of this lovely fabric from Fairytale Frocks and Lollipop's new sister site Abigail and Elise , and I can't wait to see how the dresses look all sewn up! The colors are soft and muted with a very earthy fall feel. There is going to be a lot going on around here for the next two weeks, including a diorama for our Keepers at Home class with a Proverbs 31 theme. Molly, Maddie, and I are really excited about this little project but we were surprised to find Tim wanting in on it too! So today we gave him the job of building some of the furniture that we will be needing. It was so cute how his chest puffed out and he took the job so seriously. Right now he is gathering his tools from around the house and bringing out some pieces of his Lincoln Lo...

Anna, Rachel, Emily, Debbie B, and Katherine! Congratulations ladies! (And sorry to be so late! I somehow forgot that I had two birthday parties yesterday, which left NO time for the computer! See you all tomorrow!)

My online bud, Ivey , made this little outfit for an ad for Sew Blessed and I fell in love with it! It's our Miss Olivia Paige paired with our Miss Claire skirt, and I think she did a wonderful job of bringing this pattern into fall. And guess what! From now until Saturday you can enter here in the comments section to win your very own set of the Miss Olivia Paige and Miss Claire patterns! Leave us a comment, remember to leave me your email address, and on Saturday I will announce one winner for every twenty comments (that will give everyone better chances!). Best of luck! xo, Sam

Wanna hear something cute? One of my best buds (Cindy) and I both had a pattern featured in this latest issue of Sew Beautiful...the cutest part is that it was in the SAME outfit! How sweet is that? They paired her Pleated Skort pattern with my Miss Madeline. Cindy (of Sew Blessed) has been on this pattern making journey with me from the very beginning. Not one pattern is published without Cindy's council, she is the best editor out there! I'm lucky that she lives about fifteen minutes from where all of my pattern sheets are printed and so every time I go to the printer I get to visit her and her sweet children (and she lets me kiss her cute baby as many times on his downy little head as I want, that makes me so happy). She is such a good friend and I was pumped that we got to share this little honor. If you have never met Cindy pop on over to her blog, but be warned her kids will steal your heart! And that baby! I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday! I'll be b...

...ah, what the hey! It's Saturday! ....I'll fix biscuits and eggs for lunch. Yeah, that'll work.

I don't think I've ever told you about "Paw Paw Day" have I? Well let me see...we would have to start waaaay back at the very beginning, over twenty years ago, no, over twenty five years ago! Back when my husband, Ben, was just a little boy. Back then as Ben and his little brothers were growing up their Father's Father, Paw Paw, decided that he wanted to set aside a special day just for the grand-kids. He decided that Friday would be that special day. Every Friday the children knew to expect Paw Paw to come and pick them up, get them whatever they wanted to eat (even if it meant going fifteen different places), pick up whatever new toy or gadget they just had to have, and head to his house to spend the weekend doing whatever they wanted -including things that could have made their mother STROKE if she had only known (playing with fire and power tools, oh the stories I've heard)! But those are the things that make a story like this extra good, right? So...

We are back in the land of the living!!! Maddie was feeling well by Friday, but we were still behind on sleep. We lounged around all weekend and again yesterday and we are feeling much better all the way around now. Boy it's good to be back! My sweet baby had a pretty rough go last week and it nearly broke my heart. I am SO GLAD it's all over so quickly! She's a little rotten (spoiled) from the whole thing (you know the getting whatever you want because you're sick stuff) but I guess we can work on that now. One morning she woke to the sound of little tweets. Ben had stopped by the post office on his way home from the station and picked up these sweet little chickadees! Of course Maddie thought that they were just for her since she was sick, and who are we to bust a bubble like that?? So Maddie has thirty something new babies, that got to stay in the house and be loved on for two days, before they moved out to the brooder. I took this picture really quick when ...

Today you can enter to win the Miss Madeline pattern over at Sew Mama Sew! Go check it out!

Oh my. The last few days have been rough. Somehow over the last few years I have forgotten what it was like to have to function off of NO sleep. When the kids were little I was a professional! I could juggle all kinds of stuff along with three babies and housework off of just a couple of hours- no problem! Now I'm like an old slug! I've completely lost my super powers in the sleep department. Maddie is doing pretty good during the day as long as there is something interesting going on, like a princess movie, a new set of markers, Sissy playing UNO with her, that kinda thing. BUT if she's not being entertained or doing something to keep her mind off of it she is hurting and restless. She has been able to get good naps (I'm not so good at the sleeping during the day thing). Night time......oh, night time is a whole other story. They hurt much worse at night and she is so restless that even when she does sleep she is still talking and whimpering. She tosses and turns an...

....you thought that the Shingles were something that only seventy year old men could get.... IT'S NOT TRUE! As a matter of fact the smallest person in this house, my little four year old Madeline, was just diagnosed with them this morning. Poor baby! She can't even stand to wear a shirt the poor little thing :( She acts like she has a really bad sunburn. Anyone have any tricks for relieving the pain? The doctor put her on an antiviral hoping that since we have caught them early they won't last the usual four to six weeks. Let's hope not :( If you know of any natural soaks, creams, or foods that may help let me know. I'll be here holding "The Baby" and watching princess movies if you need me. xo, Sam

Hey guys! We are stuck here at home with a virus. Not fun. But the gals over at Sew Mama Sew seem to be having loads of fun! Head over and enter to win a Miss Mary pattern. I'll pick up where I left off when we all get to feeling better here. xo, Sam

Tuesdays around here are always exciting during the Summer months. On Tuesdays we head out to the theme park for some water slides and rides with the whole Caffee Crew. First we hit the water park to get cooled off and when they get tired of that we go ride some rides. By the way, in case you are wondering....yes, Tim is rocking a mini mohawk. Sometimes we do crazy hairstyles before when we buzz his head in the summer....and sometimes he wants to keep them for a week or two before we finsh the job :) Abe's rocking a nice little fohawk too! The bumper cars are a big favorite. I think that they feel grown up driving those little cars around. See, Molly takes driving pretty seriously. :) Tim even makes car noises with his mouth. Too cute. Here is the Crew (we are missing a few) waiting on the log ride. Is that a cute bunch of kids or what? Today was our last trip of the season, next week they won't be open, so today we did it all! I know...

This is what mornings look like around here. "The Baby" in mama's lap, mama doing something with her hands..... .....mama's boy on "his" couch watching toons on PBS kids, Molly still in there on the bottom bunk snoring, all of us still a little fuzzy from sleep.....just like the picture. This is home.