New Addition

I added this bag to my Etsy shop today. You can look here to see more pictures and details. I am mighty proud of this bag because it is my first ever completely original design. I've adapted patterns and added to patterns before, but this is the first time I've drafted a pattern from my own idea. So, take a look if you want!
I also renewed some of my expired listings, so in case you were wondering, no, I did not permanently close up shop. I have plans for several other new listings over the next few weeks, but first I have a huge bag of alterations to finish up (I've decided to exit the alterations business altogether after this) and whip up a bag that my sister's mother-in-law graciously requested from me.

In other news, just as I was pondering ridding my storage closet of a few tubs of yarn because there are no cool crochet patterns out there anyway, and I have decided I am just not a knitter (I think it's so cool-looking, but it takes forever), I came across this website. There are some great patterns for kids' toys there and some of them are even free. The for-sale ones are only between 2 and 5 bucks, though, and no shipping charges are necessary because they are emailed to you in a pdf file! So, if you like to crochet, go check it out.

Also, I was asked for the Sangria recipe I mentioned in a previous post, so I'll just put it right here for all to enjoy. You can make this virgin or not, ingredients for both are included:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice
1 cup vodka of lemon-lime soda
2 medium peaches or nectarines, thinly sliced, slices cut in half
1 medium orange, thinly sliced, cut in galf if desired
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
1 bottle (750 ml) dry while wine or white grape juice, chilled
1 bottle (1 liter) club soda, chilled

Instructions:
In half-gallon glass or plastic pitcher, stir sugar, orange liqueur and vodka until sugar is dissolved. Into another half-gallon glass or plastic pitcher, pour half of vodka mixture. Divide fruits and wine evenly between pitchers. Refrigerate until serving. Just before serving, pour half of club soda into each pitcher; stir gently to mix. Serve immediately. If desired, serve over ice.

For a Special Little One

My dear friend Jenn and her hubby have recently been blessed with the 19-month-old sister of the now 7-month-old baby they adopted when she was born earlier this year. I was so thrilled when I found out and wanted to make something special for Kayden Grace, so I made her this little pillow and case. It was so much fun and even more so since I'm so happy that God saw best to put both these baby girls in a godly home, where they have the opportunity to be nurtured in His love and raised with the wonderful knowledge of Him. Praise the Lord! As you can imagine, adopting two little ones in six months has been a challenge for Jenn, so drop by and offer up some encouragement if you can. You can find her here.

This, That and the Other Thing

Here is a picture of the lovely apron I made for Becky for her b-day on Wednesday. Her hubby was at school, so we had a girls' night here. Melissa made amazing fondue, I made some non-alcoholic Sangria, (since half of us are pregnant) and a chocolate pound cake and we watched the new Hairspray movie, which I really love.

Second, here's a picture of Layla, since someone complained that she has not appeared here for a little while. And, third is a picture of Natalie, when she fell asleep face-down on the floor yesterday at nap time, after making quite a mess of her room, as you can see. She rarely takes naps these days, so it was pretty funny.

Last, but NOT LEAST, there is a very inspiring post here about a girl and India and sari blankets that is a must-read. Follow the links there to get the whole story, it is pretty amazing.

Happy Friday!!!

A Battle of Wits

This is a picture of the lovely dresser that Casey's Dad (P-Pa) built when Natalie was born. The ribbons and hooks are NOT part of the actual dresser, they are just the solution to Natalie emptying her drawers, climbing INTO the drawers and changing her clothes five times a day, now that she is no longer constrained to a crib. I think God gave me Natalie to keep me on my toes. About a year ago was when I was trying to fix the taking-off-the-p.j's-and-diaper-and-pooping situation. (I finally thought to turn the p.j.'s around and zip them up the back, which worked like a charm, until somehow she figured out how to get them off that way too.) Anyway, I refused to spend $50 on these fancy magnetic locks, which are the only ones that won't ruin the wood with holes, so I sat in front of that dresser until I figured out a remedy! So far, it's working. I don't expect it will last too long, though. Natalie has been given some fitting nicknames over the last few years: Master of Destruction, Elastigirl, and Future Reverse Engineer being a few of them. If we had only had Layla, I don't think we would have had to baby-proof one single thing in our house. Ah, how different God makes us!

Anyway, on to other things :) Here are a few pics of Natalie and Daddy playing in the snow. He took her out while he shoveled the walks and she had a blast, of course.

I have the quilting bug again. I'm finding it could be really expensive to buy all the fabrics for a whole quilt all at once, so for now I'm working on building my stash. I ordered a retro flowers stash builder collection from Keepsake Quilting and and I bought some great remnants from my semi-local quilting store, which I love and have resolved to get to more often. I was looking at The Fat Quarter Shop last night and they have some GREAT patterns and some good free ones too!

Lastly, there is a great, encouraging and liberating post about Bible reading on Femina, if anyone is interested.

A Quilt from Granny

Granny finished Natalie's quilt for her "big-girl-bed" and gave it to Natalie this morning. I LOVE how it turned out and these fabrics are so amazing. The colors are great, everything is so great! In case you're wondering about these pictures, we tossed the quilt over her little table to make a tent. It makes for long periods of great fun. (The fabrics are from this collection from Purl Soho, although I noticed they now have less than half of these fabrics left.) Hmmm, this puts me in a quilting mood.

My Mom is Coming!

So, my mom is flying in as I write this and since she's on a plane and won't be checking my blog before she gets here, I suppose it's safe to share what I made for her! It's called a "Bagsket" and I got the tutorial off of someone's blog, which I suppose I'll share a link to, although I would NOT recommend Timtex for the interfacing and she also uses some strange measurements, so a little tweaking is necessary. BUT, I am happy with it and it was a good way to use up those crappy JoAnn quilting fabrics that were already cut into a bazillion strips. (I'm not bitter. Yes I am.) It has several pockets around the inside, in which I put lots of little goodies for her. Yes, those are kitchen gloves, my mom refuses to do dishes without kitchen gloves. But, there are several less-slave-like things in there too, I promise! Notice the Lindor truffles??? Mmmm.

GREAT NEWS!!! AMERICAN IDOL IS STARTING TOMORROW! YAY!!!!

More of Layla's Birthday

Here are some of the pictures Angela sent me from Layla's party. Can you believe these blue eyes??? I LOVE the one of Natalie and the balloon, she looks too pooped to pop and also the one with 4 generations of Casey's family on his mom's side, even though Natalie's picking her nose.

I have two people joining me in Psalm 139. Any other takers? I got the first four verses down yesterday, but don't be impressed because I've actually memorized those four verses before.

So, lastly, Natalie came in our room this morning after Casey woke up and said, "Daddy, are you the man?" Can you imagine how thrilled he was?? He kept asking her all morning who the man is and she says, "You're the man, Daddy." I have no idea where she learned this.

Thank you Aunt Carol!

My Aunt Carol sent Layla the coolest, biggest, cuddliest sock monkey EVER for her b-day. Thanks, Aunt Carol, she loves it, AND the purple outfit, AND the little zebra book. It's all great. This morning Angela emailed me a few of the pics she took at Layla's party and they are amazing, FAR superior to the few I posted from my own camera. She said there's more to come, so when I see them all, I'll post some here. I can't wait! You're so talented, Miss Ang!

I finished a pretty cool sewing project today, but I can't post it yet because it's a special surprise for someone. Let me just say, though, that I won't be posting a link to the tutorial because it was horribly hard to follow and I had to redo things better ways, many times.

On a side note, I'm going to start memorizing Psalm 139 today. Anyone want to join me?

I love my iPOD

My iPOD spends most of its time on my little player in my kitchen--the messiest room in our house :) They don't make cases that can stay on while the iPOD is on the dock and mine was getting things like little fingerprints and flour all over it all the time so I designed this little slip cover. It's shorter so it can stay on all the time. I'm mighty proud. Stay tuned for some of these coming soon to my Etsy shop, which, I know, I know, desperately needs an update!

Birthday Girl

My baby girl turned one yesterday!! We had a BIG day, a great party, some great presents and tasty cake. My butterfly cake turned out a little over-decorated, but still cute, I must say. Layla couldn't finish her piece, she eventually sat back and stuck her thumb in her mouth. The first picture here is of Layla looking at her scrapbook. She turns the pages and everything, she loves it. The last is a picture of the paint can my Aunt Teddi decorated for Layla's time capsule. We're still collecting items, but so far we have a pair of her shoes, a list of what things cost this year, a list of what's in style (written by the three teenage girls at the party, of course), some pictures, a post card from my parents from Singapore. Casey's going to write a prediction of what Layla will be like when she's 18 and I'm going to write a letter too. Anyone have any other ideas??

Happy New Year!!!!!

As promised, here is a picture of the scrapbook page I made last night. Yes, there's only one. sigh. But, there was fondue to be had and gals to chat with and birth stories to exchange. What would a girls' get-together be without birth stories??? Anyway, we had fun, but I regretted the late night this morning, since my kids woke up early like normal and my coffee pot stopped working on Sunday (can't have that, I exchanged it for a new one today.) Thankfully, New Years Eve only comes around once a year. Here are some pics of my sweet Layla girl too. Her New Years resolution is to grow some hair :) Natalie's is to learn to use the potty, hehehe. MY resolution this year is to keep in better touch with my out-of-state family members--sending pictures, cards and letters more often than I have in the past. My resolution last year was to cook dinner more and I kept my resolution for the first time in my life and now, miraculously, I really enjoy cooking and think I'm pretty good at it! What are your resolutions?? Pleeeease leave me a comment, I would love to know!