The Handmade Dress

Wow I didn't mean to stay gone so long! My computer is finally up and running again (which is good) but I have to admit....I sort of liked my computer vacation. I think a little laptop vacation is good for a body every now and then. We had a great week on my little vacation and now I'm back to tell you all about it! Our week started out with these two little munchkins! My nieces Lily and Iris got to spend the night and that meant that I ("Aunt Panta") got to get as many kisses as I wanted for two days! And I got to be a part of those sweet just-woke-up moments that aunts don't get a lot of...it was so heavenly! I woke up super early and went back to sleep on the couch so that I would be the first to hear them get up. When I heard Iris stirring I ran in to find this....How stinkin cute is that? They woke up excited about feeding the animals! The first thing they did was look out the window to see them all lined up at the gate waiting for bre...

So can you stand it? I know I may sound prejudice, but seriously, this has to be the cutest set of twins on the planet! Lily is in the purple "Miss Lily" dress, and Iris is in the "Miss Alice". These two angels just melt me! They call me "Pantha". Most of my friends and family call me Sam, but Ben's brother's name is Sam too, so to curb any confusion I started calling myself "Aunt Mantha" to them. "Mantha" is what all of the Caffee kids started off calling me so I thought it would be easy for them too, but they changed it! I'm "Pantha" and proud of it! LOL! My brother Simon is "Himon"! LOL! I guess I should mention the trunk show now....not as much fun to talk about, but I guess I should! (Fabric # 646) All of the fabrics are from Fabric Finders. If you've never tried their fabric before you are really missing out, it's top notch! The day they delivered all of th...

Yep. Super slacker here checking in. This is my first official day back on the job after the holiday, and let me tell ya it's slow-goin, so I'm just saying hi and I will be back tomorrow with lots of handmade goodness and the sweetest holiday stories. For the rest of the day there is lots of serious work to be done, I have about a million emails to answer, homeschooling to be done, a doctors appointment to go to, and lots of laundry calling my name....and maybe one more go-cart ride with Tim...who knows? We can't be all seriousness on our first day back! I miss you all and I can't wait to hear about all of your most special holiday moments! This was our Christmas picture this year. Can you believe how big Lily and Iris are? (Just in case you are new around here they are my sister Rae's twins, my sweet little nieces) They are both walking now and they are going to be big sisters in just a few more months! Yep. In June Rae will be having another baby. We are all very ...

My three little lovelies have never had snow, so when the weather man said we may get a couple of inches, they took to the windows waiting (not so patiently). We were supposed to have snow when we woke up, but there wasn't the first flake. Rae and Jake came over and spent the night and we were hoping to get snowed in! Soon we started to see SNOW! REAL SNOW! They were so excited, it was like a dream to them. Ben soon joined in their little snow vigil. The flakes were really tiny, but they were there! As soon as it started to stick to the ground, they were off............. they hit the front porch for some hot chocolate on their first ever snow day! This little guy is what we call an Alabama Snow Man. Bless his heart. OK and while we are blessin hearts, lets go on and bless my poor children's hearts because they are wearing plastic baggies on their hands ........(said in an embarrassed whisper) and feet............ Look, we can't help it! It's like we have hillbilly...

I miscarried my fourth child one year ago today. I try to keep my blog a happy place, so I want you all to know that I am happy. I just felt too guilty about letting the day pass with no mention of that precious gift. I miss my baby deeply. I've had a very emotional year but I feel stronger. I thank God for bringing TWO precious little nieces into my life, Lily and Iris. They have such a special place in my heart. The moment I found out my baby sister was having twins my heart just exploded! My first words were, "your going to need me!", and she did. God never closes a door without opening a window. I have learned so many things in the last year and the thing that stands out the most was this, God opens and closes the womb, he knows just what I need, just when I need it. I have never mentioned this baby on my blog before, but I want you all to know that you have helped me heal. All your sweet comments about my children and family are always so encouraging. There were day...

Yep. For what seems to be a second of my life, but was really two months, I was consumed by drawing. That's why I had to quit! I have never been soooo addicted to something in my life! It all started when I saw this man on the street (when we visited the mountains) drawing portraits for money. I asked a few questions and bought a book- of course! My drawing career lasted 12 drawings. I was way to obsessive about drawing, it had to be perfect or it would just eat at me (and not one was ever perfect). For those couple of months laundry, dishes, food(!), and even occasionally poor hubby took a back seat. I couldn't think of anything else! But I remembered these drawings today and I decided to share them with you. I can still look at these charcoals and see exactly what I hate about each one, but I am over it! These are all copies, I had to give the originals away or I would never stop working on them. LOL! This is my brother Simon, he was number 5. I am sure you know old A...

Today is Lily and Iris' due date. Today is the day they should have arrived, but we have had them here for eight weeks now. They're perfect. It is hard to imagine not having them here for all this time. As I write this it is hard to keep from crying. There was only a 50% chance that both our babies would make it here. Rae (my sister) was told at her first ultrasound that the babies (my nieces) shared the same amniotic sac, there was a very high risk of the babies becoming entangled, or one twin getting most of the nourishment. We did not believe the report. We all decided that this pregnancy was in God's hands and there WOULD be two babies in the end. We were all so excited in the waiting room waiting to see our angels, there was no fear present. The doctor came into the waiting room and explained, with tears in his eyes, how shocked he was to find two healthy baby girls, with SIX TRUE KNOTS in their cords! They were so entangled that when the doctors pulled Lily out Iris...

First up, cuteness! Lily left and Iris right This was my latest project, a slipcover, uurrgghhh....... I hate to sew slipcovers! I have sewn a few in the past but I think I hate it more every time! I am so glad to be done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have always enjoyed before and after pics so I took some for you. I needed another couch for my living room cause we couldn't all fit on just one anymore. My living room has always needed another couch anyhow, because it is so big but I never found what I wanted for the right price(CHEAP!). A very dear friend of mine when I mentioned my hunt for a couch offered her couch that had been in storage. Yay! Free, I couldn't pass up that deal, but as you see it was a little out of date. I loved the bones of the couch so I decided a slipcover would be perfect. I waited until I found a good deal on fabric (CHEAP!) and I started the never ending project! Four days later, a slipcovered couch. So what do you think?