It's been a while

I've been MIA for a while. This summer has been rough and I have not kept up with my blog as well as I should have. Since my last post I have had a nephew and a niece born, my grandmother who was a rock for our family passed away, we took the kids to Disney for their first time just to name a few things. Now that the kids are back in school I have really been working hard to get back on top of things. I have recently created a couple of new things for my etsy shop. They have not been listed yet, because I need to make up some more stuff before I'm ready. I will add a few pics of my newest creations who were inspired by a few of my new found online friends... who are cowgirls. ;) My cousin who is a graphic designer is going to help me make a new banner for my store, so keep your eyes peeled. I'm so excited!

The Cowpoke Tote

Bandana Onesie/Shirt

The Skinny Drawstring Bag

I finally got my day off yesterday. It is the first day I have been able to touch my sewing machine in probaby at least two weeks. I rethreaded it for the hundredth time and it has finally stopped telling me it was threaded improperly. I made a drawstring bag that I hope to debut in my etsy shop sometime in the near future. I think the next one I make I will change the dimensions somewhat. This bag I made thinking it would be great for a small project bag for crochet or knit or other crafty things, but after creating it I also found it to be a great size for all those little kid things that get hung under the sofa. This bag would be perfect for the boys' Bakugan cards and brawlers.... or if you have a girl Polly Pockets or doll clothes.

Presenting the Noah's Ark

This week has been one hectic week. It started off with lots of excitement as my sister-in-law was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor at 34 weeks. Even though the baby is now weighing about 5 lbs. they want his lungs to have more time to mature. They did manage to get her labor stopped and they sent her home telling her it should be at least 2 weeks before she goes back into labor, but hopefully it will be 4 weeks. That night I woke up incredibly sick and it has taken me the past 3 days to get back to some resemblance of normal, but thankfully I'm feeling much better now.

Considering now that my little nephew has now tried to make his appearance and the fact that my sister-in-law's baby shower is next week I decided to finally add the finishing touches on her baby gift. Lots of pics to follow! I hope she loves it. :-)

One project down!

The one thing I have been trying to get around to for over a week now is making the boys tooth fairy pillows. Below is a picture of the front and back views. I'm still not a great seamstress, but it is a work in progress, and I have come a long way from the woman who was scared of the sewing machine. The boys seemed to like them and I got them done in time. My oldest has two loose teeth right now and I finished it before they fell out. ;)

It's A.......

Yesterday was such a packed day that I didn't have time to post until it was late, and by then I frankly didn't feel like getting the computer out. I worked out in the morning and that afternoon I got to go to my sister-in-law's OB appointment for her big ultrasound which was pretty exciting.

Along with my nephew who is due next month, I am going to have a NIECE in June!


We ended up at the OB office for 3 hours! There was no one there because the weather was nasty here, and the doctor still made her wait for 2 hours before seeing her! When he came in he spent a whole 3 minutes in there after all that time. I was not impressed with this place at all.

I also broke down and took Bessie apart. She had me to the point of wanting to swear and I don't do that, so I said enough is enough. I will get around to working that out later, but hopefully I can get around to sewing a little over the weekend. All the projects are piling up and it's starting to get under my skin. I now have to add another baby blanket to the list since I know she is having a little girl now.

Changes... They are a coming!

Bessie (the embroidery unit on my otherwise sweet little Singer) and I have been fighting for two days. I haven't quite figured out what it is she wants from me. I bought the tear-away stabilizer and now I'm having a thread breakage problem, so I'm going to do my homework and break out the "Embroidery Tips" disc that came with the machine later and see if I can learn anything. For some reason I can't resist the urge to sing "I'm Not Givin' Up" by Gold City every time I sit down at the desk. I think the next thing I'll try is changing the needle. I'm going to resist the urge to remove the embroidery unit until I have conquered this!

For those of you who have been watching my Etsy shop I have some big changes coming. I think I'm going to completely revamp my shop. I have ideas for several new items that will be of interest to all you crafters out there! Now I just have to find the time to make up some inventory. Keep your eyes peeled for the unveiling of new handmade items!!!

In family news, I get to go with my other sister-in-law tomorrow to her OB appointment for her ultrasound! Did I mention I'm going to be an aunt twice this year?? I think she is having a girl. We'll find out tomorrow, but if it is then I'll have a nephew and a niece within 3 months of each other. I just love babies! Why do they have to grow up so stinkin' fast?

How exhausting!

Today was spent grocery shopping. I really hate grocery shopping. I had my coupons clipped and throughout the course of the day made a trip to 3 different stores. Thankfully my freezer is officially stocked now. My 4-year-old was a trooper to hang in there through all that and my oldest son was actually glad to be going to school when he found out we were hitting multiple stores LOL. On the bright side though while I was out I did score some awesome fabric for a little project I'm working on. The picture is kind of dark, but hopefully you get the idea.

Since today was technically my day "off" I usually set it aside for crafting, but my time was quite limited today. I tried to get it out and work on a little monogramming, but apparently Bessie and I need to work on our communication, because we were not seeing eye-to-eye tonight. Here she is hard at work. I think I'll be heading back to Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart tomorrow in search of a better stabilizer as I was not really that pleased with the final outcome. (This is all trial and error for me, but I will conquer this!)

If anyone has any pointers on machine embroidery I would love to hear them. This seems to be a great machine, but I just haven't quite gotten the hang of the embroidery yet.

Since I'm Going To Be An Aunt

We are thawing out today from our little ice debacle. It looks like it is raining ice from the trees now that the sun has come out. Taking advantage of this weather I have been working on the finishing touches of a project I have been working on for months. For those of you who don't know already, I am going to be an aunt for the first time in March! My sister-in-law and her hubby are expecting a little boy and I'm so excited! This is the first picture of my nephew. These 3D ultrasounds just amaze me.


They have decorated his nursery in Baby Noah's Ark decor, so her gift I felt should be of a matching theme. This is the only little tidbit I'm giving you for now. Pictures of the completed project will be coming soon! I just love the little turtle and I hope she loves this just as much as I do. I hope I can finish it up in the next week so it will be ready in plenty of time of her shower.

The "Snow" Storm of the Century

Ok. So the weather people have some kind of conspiracy with the grocery business. They were calling for this huge storm, possibly lots of power outages, and probably 2 good days snowed in the house. I was actually looking forward to having a few days of just being home with the kids and the hubby. We went out to Ace Hardware yesterday and bought the kids a big plastic sled just in case "the event" occurred. When we brought the sled in my 4-year-old being the true southerner says, "Why did you buy a boat??" He is too funny sometimes.

Living in the south, we have learned that it is hit or miss and most the time miss in our case, so I really try not to get my hopes up about these things. So without further ado I present you pics of our "snow" we woke up to this morning. Impressive right? (note the sarcasm)

While the ice looks really cool in these pics it is not even excessive like they were calling for. (Not that I'm really complaining about less ice by any means.) Our biggest thing now is that it is supposed to get really cold tonight, so it could refreeze whatever melts between now and then. This isn't even fun bad weather. :-P

Looks like the boys will have to continue to pretend to sled in the house. Here's hoping for one good snow this winter!!

And so it begins!

So, I am back to the blogging world from a long hiatus. My main goal here is just to share the things I have created or that I am working on at present. I have really had that itch to craft lately and I got a new sewing machine with the embroidery feature which should be great fun to play with! It is a Singer, and I'm already loving it so much more than my Brother I used to have. I have learned so much since I got it.

I made my first pillowcase dress and I'm so excited (even though I don't have a little girl to put it on. haha) Guess I'll borrow a friend's kid.


The other thing I have been working on is a great bunny hat. I found the pattern on etsy probably a year ago from a great seller, www.tiptopapplesauce.etsy.com . I thought this hat would be perfect for Easter this year, and I will be adding this to my own etsy shop very soon. I'll post new pics when I have my cutie pie model lined up.